Mike Schmidt Collection

If you can afford to drop $4,800 on a sticker album, can we be friends?

I bought this first-generation print from a guy in Eugene, Oregon. I paid $90 in 2026, which was quite a bit more than the $7 reprints available. But the foxing and wear on this print tells such a great story, I couldn’t turn it down. Schmidt is in row two, 7th from the left.

One of those cards I’ll probably never find (or won’t be able to afford if I do). It’s not as valuable as the ‘72 sticker or even the ‘73 rookie, so I've heard, but given Schmidt's late-season ‘72 call-up, there likely weren’t many of these made. It's a wonder they were made at all.

I picked up quite a few Phillies yearbooks — not so much for the collectibility, but for research. I’m less concerned about the condition of these and more interested in any context they provide for dating images, etc.

I was so close to having this sticker. I made a compeitive offer on a raw listing and the eBay seller accepted. Only … he never sent it. Each week I’d ask if he’d sent it, and he always said he’d do it that day. Eventually I had to involve eBay and get a refund. I think the card was an Etsy fake and the seller chickened out on sending it to the authenticator — it was too good to be true.

A PSA 10 copy of this card sold on eBay in 2026 for $70,888. I'd settle for a beat up raw copy, but this card is just hard to find at a reasonable price.

This is probably the closest I’ll ever get to owning the ‘73 team-issued photo of Schmidt.

The ‘73 yearbook gives us a nice alternative official team photo of Schmidt.

The Topps Schmidt rookie was always just out of reach for me as a kid — my holy grail. 35 years later, I finally bought it as a 50th birthday present to myself … and then fell headlong back into the hobby where I find myself doing nerdy shit like coding a personal searchable database for my cards.

These are so cool. Hard to find as a single — I had to buy the team set just to get the one I wanted.

I love how the ‘74 OPC backs are yellow instead of green. A hard card to find centered.

Schmidt’s “mustache rookie” (MRC). I found this in an eBay lot of multiple Phillies cards with a poor description. Part of what makes these team issue cards hard to find is that a lot of sellers don't know what they are, and they rarely provide exact years in the listings.

Yikes, I’m glad they didn’t use this yearbook portrait for his team-issued photocard.

I'm not a fan of calling team photo cards part of the collection, but I begrudgingly list them in this catalog because others do. Go ahead — try to pick Schmidt out in this photo. I'll wait.

My older brothers had tons of these “Twinkie cards,” as we called them. I was always so jealous. Hostess had stopped making them by the time I started collecting, and my brothers wouldn't trade any of them.

Some collectors have to own both the single and the panel of issues like these. Personally, I feel like owning one or the other satisfies the slot, but there are several cards where I have both versions as well.

These cards were beautiful. My older brothers had binders full of them, possibly complete sets. Man, those guys must've eaten a shitload of cereal.