5 'Goodbye' Baseball Cards that Will Make You Cry ... and Smile

It's always hard to say goodbye, but at least we have our cards

The late Roy Campanella was born 102 years ago today. Whenever I think of Campy, I think of his 1959 Topps card.

That’s the “Symbol of Courage” card that shows him in a wheelchair in the aftermath of the car accident that left him unable to walk.

It’s a special card of a special man and player, but it’s elevated even more for me by the dad factor. See, this card showed up under the Christmas tree one year when I was a young (barely) adult — it was one of those dad specials.

If you’re lucky, you experienced dad specials firsthand. If you’re luckier, you have unleashed a few dad specials of your own.

And if you don’t know what a dad special is, watch the denouement of A Christmas Story again.

Anyway, this card showed up wrapped up in a too-big box so I wouldn’t know what it was. It was a complete surprise, but something my dad had run across in his travels and thought I had to have it.

Thanks, Dad. I loved the card then, and love it even more now.

So, in the spirit of Campy and dad specials and cards that celebrate players after they’ve made us sad, here are five special pasteboards that might require some Kleenex.

1959 Topps Roy Campanella Symbol of Courage (#550)

This card is the star of our show.

Campanella was driving home from the liquor store he ran in Harlem on a cold and icy night in January of 1958. He hit a slick spot, then careened into a telephone pole, flipping his car and breaking his neck.

At 36, Campy was on the downside of his historic career with the Brooklyn Dodgers, and the accident put a quick end to his run on the diamond. It was something of a miracle that he survived at all, but he was left paralyzed from the shoulders down.

This card, the last card in the last series of the 1959 Topps set, captures Campy’s story well over a year into his post-playing life. Eventually, Campanella would regain some use of his arms and hands, and he stands as an inspiration — and a symbol of courage — all these years later.

1964 Topps Ken Hubbs In Memoriam (#550)

At just 20 years of age, Ken Hubbs grabbed the starting second baseman job for the Chicago Cubs in 1962, then went out and won the National League Rookie of the Year Award.

In 160 games that summer, Hubbs hit .260 with five home runs and nine triples, and he also won a Gold Glove. He slipped to .235 in 1963, but the future looked bright for the burgeoning Wrigley favorite.

But Hubbs was intent on improving himself in every way he could, so he decided that he needed to overcome a longstanding fear of flying. He went whole-hog in that effort, taking flying lessons and getting his pilot’s license during the 1963-64 offseason.

Alas, in a story that has become all too common over the years, Hubbs decided to push his luck after a trip to Utah with buddy Denny Doyle (not the future Phillies & Red Sox player). Trying to beat a snowstorm on the trip home to California, the inexperienced Hubbs instead crashed his plane on February 13, 1964.

Topps issued this stark “In Memoriam” card in the final series of their 1964 set, somewhat chillingly coming in at #550, just like the Campy card above (though there were 587 cards in the 1964 Topps set).

1972 O-Pee-Chee Gil Hodges (#465)

By all rights, Gil Hodges and his New York Mets should have been back from Spring Training and all wrapped up in Opening Day festivities on April 2, 1972.

Instead, a player’s strike put the game in limbo. So Hodges and his coaches spent the morning playing golf in West Palm Beach, Florida. Walking back to the motel, Hodges collapsed, falled by a massive heart attack. He was dead within minutes.

Topps included Hodges in the 4th series of their 1972 set, as they had planned all along. But it’s the O-Pee-Chee version of this card, with “DECEASED APRIL 2, 1972” stamped on the front that really makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.

It’s a constant reminder the man with the haunting, piercing blue eyes died just two days short of his 48th birthday.

1973 Topps Roberto Clemente (#50)

Clemente, of course, tragically died in an airplane crash while delivering relief supplies to victims of a devastating earthquake in Nicaragua on New Year’s Eve of 1972.

Just a few months later, Topps released this majestic and eerie card of the Pirates great in the first series of its 1973 set. Whether or not Topps changed the picture they intended to use for this card after Clemente’s death, this shadow-washed shot of a gone-too-soon legend in profile at dusk is as classic and iconic a baseball image as you’re likely to ever find.

1980 Laughlin Famous Feats Thurman Munson (#13)

Yet another victim of a plane crash, Munson’s untimely death in August of 1979 gutted a Yankees team that already stood 14 games back at the time of his accident.

Any hope New York had of three-peating as World Series champions died along with their captain, and Munson’s loss is one that still stings old-time Yanks fans even today.

Back in those days, Topps was the only game in town when it came to “real” baseball card sets, and they also steadfastly refused to produce cards of players who were not on active rosters for the upcoming year (save for extenuating circumstances — see card #1 in the 1980 Topps set).

So it was left to R.G. Laughlin to issue the last card of Munson as an active player, albeit one that showed him as a cartoon and called out his feats from three years earlier.

Still, if you wanted a new Thurman Munson card in 1980, this was the only game in town, and it gave the could-be Hall of Famer an interesting set of oddball cards to bookend his career.

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Sorry if this post was a downer, but these are pretty nifty cards, dark or not.

And it’s always a good time to reach back and remember the men who helped make the game so great, don’t you think?

Until next time, enjoy what you have and what you know and what you love. Stuff will be different tomorrow, one way or another, guaranteed.

As for me, I’ll be over here in the corner soaking in some sunshine from my 1983 Donruss Cesar Cedeno, 1979 Topps Kent Tekulve, and 1983 Topps everything. Winter’s coming, and I need to stock up on my vitamin D.

Thanks for reading.

—Adam