Make Don Mossi’s card the Top of the Pack

They’ve filled binders and boxes. You use them as bookmarks and investments. They’re art pieces that fit in the palm of your hands, and they can make your bicycle sound like a (very weak) motorcycle.

Whether you’re a collector, dabbler, or simply a baseball fan, there’s no way to escape baseball cards. Before baseball was broadcast on TV in stunning hi-def — heck, before Major League Baseball was on the West Coast — baseball cards were a way to bring fans closer to their heroes. And now, when every highlight you could ever want is simply a click away, they still capture our attention and dreams like few things can.

But just which single card is the people’s favorite? Is it the famous Honus Wagner card that just sold for more than $6 million? A Mickey Mantle rookie that is so rare because thousands were dumped and left to rot at the bottom of the ocean? Could it be a more recent card, like a Griffey rookie or one featuring Mike Trout? Or maybe the very best card of all-time is one that makes us laugh, like Mickey Hatcher’s infamous giant glove card?

Well, now that’s up to you. This is the Top of the Pack Bracket and your votes will help make that determination. Consulting with a team of MLB.com experts, we picked a card from every team — with two wild cards — to fill out the bracket. We then divided them into four divisions: The Golden Age for the earliest cards through the ’60s, the Post-Expansion era which tracks the heights of the baseball card industry, the Off-Center cards — those that can’t help but make us laugh — and then cards from the 21st century, featuring the game’s current stars.

With so many cards to choose from, there are certainly some beloved favorites and all-time classics that just missed the cut. But now it’s up to you to help us figure out just which card will reign supreme. And make sure you download the Loupe app and create an account for a chance to win $10,000 in free cards!

Now then, get voting in the polls below.

Here we’ve got active players whose cards are all crisp, bright, and brilliantly photographed. While they may not be as well known, that’s simply because they haven’t had the time to enter the cultural zeitgeist. Be in the know and get on these cards today.

In one corner, we have the reigning best player in baseball, an almost guaranteed first-ballot future Hall of Famer and a guy whose rookie cards are always in demand. While his 2009 Bowman Chrome might be setting some records at auction, more fans had a shot at getting Trout’s first Topps card and will be remembered by collectors long after he’s hung ’em up.

In the other corner, there’s the Marlins’ exciting, blue-haired rookie shortstop Jazz Chisholm Jr. While we have no idea what the future may hold for the player, we can’t wait to watch and find out.

Two of the very best — and youngest — players in the Majors square off. Before recently landing on the IL, Franco put together an on-base streak that had his name being mentioned alongside some notable Hall of Famers, including Mickey Mantle. Soto’s card shows the menacing slugger at the plate — where he’s never posted an on-base percentage below .400 in the Major Leagues.

Before he had the long locks or the variety of bright yellow and pink accessories, Tatis had his rookie card out there as fans eagerly awaited his big league debut. Meanwhile, deGrom’s card is back when he had the long locks. Never a top prospect, deGrom got his rookie card only after he impressed with a 9-6 record and a 2.69 ERA for the Mets.

If you’ve been saving up to try and buy Guerrero’s rookie card — you may want to get on that right now. After all, the Blue Jays slugger has reached a new level this year and could even end up winning the Triple Crown when the season’s finished.

No matter how good he’s been on the field, he may have a hard time winning this battle against the ever-popular Andrew McCutchen. Sure, the card’s a short print, but it’s also one of the coolest photos ever put on a card. Cutch himself agrees.

This is when cards were king, when fans bought them, flipped them, put them in their spokes and buried them in shoeboxes in moldy attics. There were few color TVs during this time, so if you wanted to feel close to the sport and your favorite players, baseball cards were the way to do it. The very standard of what baseball cards could be and look like began with these 2 1/2 by 3 1/2 inch cards (and some don’t even fit that measurement).

Wagner’s card is the most famous card in history. People who don’t collect cards and don’t follow baseball know about this card. Wayne Gretzky famously owned one and it recently broke the record for most expensive card at auction — again — when it sold for more than $6 million.

While many may not know the Play Ball brand, Ted Williams has helped keep it in collectors eyes. The ’39 card features Williams taking one of his legendary swings — and is the first Williams card that was widely available to the public.

It’s almost impossible to pick a winner here. Both are amazing players with absolutely gorgeous cards. While this isn’t Paige’s first card — or the team he’s best known for — his portrait is absolutely beautiful and the spirited little logo is a lot of fun, too.

Robinson’s comes on one of Topps’ most iconic sets. While there were plenty other Robinson cards that came close, this one has the benefit of being printed the year he helped the Dodgers to their first World Series title.

It’s hard to find a better rookie card than this one for Mr. Cub himself, Ernie Banks. The shortstop, known for his endless well of enthusiasm, is pictured smiling on the card with the adorable Cubs logo in the top right corner.

Meanwhile, Musial’s 1948 Bowman is one of the most sought-after items in the collectible game. Barely a baseball card by today’s standards — it looks closer to a Yearbook photo than what we would call a card today — it’s an all-time classic of the hobby.

The two greatest center fielders of their time — who were always vying for top billing in the sport — now have to face off in the first round of the bracket. Life can be cruel sometimes.

Mantle’s is one of the most famous cards in history, thanks in part to all the excess stock being dropped in the Atlantic Ocean. (And you thought your parents were bad for throwing away your old cards.)

Mays’ Bowman card is also his earliest rookie offering and not only does it feature a great painting, but it has a distinctive background you likely won’t see many others places. Apparently Mays was taking his hacks this day at the Army barracks or perhaps some sort of barnyard?

The ’70s and beyond. With new teams joining the league, hair and mustaches growing longer and bushier and clubs staring to don bright yellow or powder blue uniforms, the cards changed, too. New brands emerged, and what you found inside the wax packs changed, too. Bright photos, colorful backgrounds — heck even cards made to look like wood grain all started popping up in the post-’70s era. This was when card collecting reached its zenith, so it’s not surprising that some of the most popular cards in history are from this time period, too.

We should all thank Tom Geideman, the first employee in Upper Deck’s history (at only 18-years-old, too!) for Griffey’s card. Helping make the selection for which card should lead Upper Deck’s set, Geideman wanted to pick a hot new rookie for collectors to go crazy for. He had a shortlist of players he thought would be good, but eventually chose the player who would define baseball, style and the baseball card industry for the next decade. Good choice, Tom.

Biggio has an uphill battle against one of the most iconic cards of all time, but his is still an excellent looking piece of cardboard. His rainbow-striped Astros uniform pairs nicely with Fleer’s red, white and blue stripes. That this was the card at the start of his 3,000-hit career only makes it better.

Cal Ripken Jr. has a lot of cards out there. That makes sense — after all, he played in a a lot of games. It was kind of his thing. So, we chose to honor his rookie card — one that looks extra good with Topps’ iconic two-color border.

Meanwhile, this was the Frank Thomas card at the time — often going more than $100 a pop. While other Thomas cards — or perhaps beer brands — may have taken up the space in our minds since then, it’s important to not forget the cards that were wildly popular the minute they dropped.

We’ve got a kaleidoscope of colors in this matchup. In one corner, we’ve got the always entertaining Rickey Henderson, with flashy yellow-and-green all over the place, pairing nicely with one of the game’s most exciting players.

Yount’s card comes in one of the most iconic Topps sets. The broad bands of orange-and-brown practically screams the ’70s and Yount’s card is perhaps the greatest one in Brewers team history.

To hear some people talk about it, Don Mattingly was baseball in the 1980s. (I guess that helps explain his nickname: Donnie Baseball.) His ’84 Donruss card is gorgeous in its simplicity — there are no gimmicks here. This card was also valued at $100 only three years after its release, which helped fuel the baseball card boom of the late ‘80s.

Meanwhile, Bench’s card could go in a photography exhibit. There’s the young catcher, his eyes piercing through the camera lens, seeming to blend a mixture of wariness and youthful confidence. And while it’s not his rookie card, for plenty of fans it had something even better: Topps’ iconic All-Star rookie trophy on the front.

After gazing at all the classic cards, ones that could easily be included in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection, it’s time to get positively weird. These are the cards that we show to friends, that we buy for a few dollars and give away as gag gifts and, at times, become more famous than the player who is on them.

There were plenty of gorgeous Aaron cards we could have picked, but in the end, we went with his 1957 Topps card. “But wait” I hear you saying, “there’s nothing funny about this card.”

Ah, but there is: Hank Aaron was a right-handed batter and appears as a lefty on his card, making it one of the most famous “error” cards in collecting history. While there are example of players purposefully posing backwards — Bob Uecker did it — this one is the result of Topps accidentally reversing the image. You can see if you look at Aaron’s No. 44 on the front of his uniform.

And then there’s Ryan’s offering, featuring the Texas hurler looking as tough as possible while counting up all of the record strikeouts he’s thrown. With a literally smoking baseball and some mean mugging, you can tell a lot about Ryan from just one painting. As Indiana Jones would say, this belongs in a museum.

How do you tell the story of baseball history — even card history — without Cracker Jack? Honestly, you can’t. So, of course we need to include the legendary Shoeless Joe’s Cracker Jack card from 1914. While the card itself is gorgeous and there’s nothing all that strange about it, if you have enough dough to get one, you’ll notice something odd: Nearly all of them are heavily stained. Why? That’s because they came packaged among caramel corn and candied nuts.

Meanwhile, the legendarily grumpy Buck Showalter has the honor of appearing on the very first D-backs card. Posed with a bat and a cactus while dressed Arizona’s now-iconic purple pinstriped uniforms that would look good on the local milkman, this card is proof of what every Instagram user knows: Never take a photo from below. It’s never flattering.

1986 Fleer Mickey Hatcher vs. 1996 Upper Deck Collector’s Choice Dante Bichette

In one corner, we have a man with a giant glove, one that could catch even the nastiest knuckleball. And in the other, we’ve got Bichette, the former Rockies slugger and proud papa of Jays shortstop Bo Bichette. As for his shirt, well, yeah, sometimes Bichette does happen.

1990 Score Bo Jackson vs. 1960 Topps Don Mossi

Jackson’s card is the kind of thing made for posters, the type of image that would get passed from dorm room to dorm room. How to best show off the amazing two-sport athlete with the body of a Grecian myth? Why, have him pose shirtless with his pads and a baseball bat, of course.

And then there’s Don Mossi, who remains famous today for his nickname — Ears — and for the line that Jim Bouton used to describe him in “Ball Four”: “He looks like a cab coming down the street with the doors open.” It may not be kind, but it’s better to be a Major League player who is remembered years after his career ended than to not be remembered at all.

Design by Mario Clavasquin, Xavier Murillo and Cate Nolan. Interactive elements by Bryan Rogalski.