Casey Stengel (1,250 @ $9.50)

October 5, 1953, New York. In game 6 of the World Series against the Brooklyn Dodgers, Billy Martin (who, like Stengel, would become more renowned for managing the Yankees than being a player) scored the winning run to lead the Yankees and manager Casey Stengel to their record fifth consecutive World Series title. Stengel's playing and managing career spanned nearly 50 years, from playing for the New York Giants starting in 1912 to managing the New York Mets in the 1960s. He played for or managed every major league New York team-including the Giants, Yankees, Dodgers, and Mets-and led the Bronx Bombers to 7 World Series titles, including the 5 consecutive titles from 1949 to 1953. He summarized the dominance of the Yankees of that era by saying "The Yankees don't pay me to win every day, just two out of three." Casey Stengel is the only member of the classics baseball set that is predominantly remembered as a manager. As such, he may sell fewer than the other cards this week. His historical significance adds to the set's diversity, but unless he drops to become the set short print I doubt that there will be a lot of secondary market interest in the card. I recommend DO NOT buy at IPO.

Hank Aaron (1,250 @ $12.50)

April 4, 1974, Cincinnati. On Opening Day, the Reds' Jack Billingham served up the pitch for Hank Aaron's 714th career home run, tying Babe Ruth's career record. It is now well known that Aaron received death threats and hostile fan mail directed to his family as he chased Babe Ruth's record. Aaron was startled four days later in 4 later to find two young white men chasing him at second base when he hit the home run in Atlanta to break Ruth's record because he knew the hostility of some racist fans, but thankfully they were running onto the field to celebrate the historic moment. In the 30 years since breaking the career home run record, Aaron has matured into one of the ambassadors of the game, serving much of his post-playing career as one of the highest-ranking African American executives in major league baseball. Aaron played in two major league World Series and also led the Indianapolis Clowns to the Negro League World Series in 1952. Aaron not only is the career leader in home runs, but the all-time leader in RBIs (2,297), bases (6,856), and extra base hits (1,477), and ranks third to Pete Rose and Ty Cobb in hits (3,771). While many anticipate that Barry Bonds will surpass Aaron, Bonds himself has said that he may not, and at age 40 would need 97 more home runs. The magnitude of Aaron's career achievements can also be seen by the fact that Bonds currently trails him by 555 RBIs, 1,603 bases, 209 extra base hits, 1,176 hits. Regardless of whether Bonds or another player someday surpass Aaron's home run record, Aaron belongs in the pantheon of the top baseball players of all time, and these records will grow in significance over the decades. BUY this card at IPO, and hope not to be shutout.

Rod Carew (1,250 @ $9.50)

October 2, 1977, Milwaukee. The Minnesota Twins' Rod Carew gets three hits in four at-bats on the last day of the season to raise his season batting average to .388, just 8 hits shy of the magical .400 batting average. Carew won the American League batting title for the sixth of seven times in his career. Finishing his career with a .328 batting average and 3,053 hits, Carew also won rookie-of-the-year honors in 1967 and Most Valuable Player in 1977. He was also a base stealer, stealing 353 career bases including 17 steals of home. In fact, he stole home 7 times in 1969, second most of any major league player in a season. Carew's career remains underrecognized because he played for the Twins and California Angels mostly during years when the teams were mediocre. If Carew had played for the Yankees, Red Sox, or Dodgers during his career, he would have likely been one of the most prominent players of the 1970s. Carew makes a very deserving addition to the classics series, and I look forward to getting mine from the Trading Post or CardTarget Market, but not at IPO. I recommend DO NOT buy this card at IPO, but pick it up later for your collection.

Wade Boggs (1,250 @ $9.50)

August 7, 1999, Tampa Bay. In the sixth inning, Wade Boggs became the first player to join the 3,000 hit club by hitting a home run. Boggs hit 10 more times in 1999 to finish his career with 3,010 hits in 18 seasons, 16 of which were with the Boston Red Sox. Boggs' career records are very similar to that of Rod Carew, with an identical .328 career batting average, only 43 fewer career hits than Carew, and 5 American League batting titles. While in coming decades Boggs may be one of the less recognized players in the eTopps baseball classics set, he achieved one thing that no other player in the set achieved-he is the only card in the set that is not in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Finishing his career in 1999, he will be eligible to be elected by the writers in 2005. I think eTopps should have kept this set limited to hall of famers, but started a new series each year where it issues a new series of classics cards for each of the players inducted into the hall of fame. Boggs would have been a welcome addition to that hall-of-fame series in a few years, but is a weak link among this set of baseball classics. I recommend DO NOT buy this card at IPO.

This week's best buy is Hank Aaron, well-deserving of the return of the $12.50 price and the first likely major shut out in eTopps allocations in over a year.