⚾ Vintage 1976 Topps Mike Schmidt #480 Baseball Card PSA 7 Near Mint – The Professional Sports Authenticator PSA 7 Near Mint Certified 1976 Topps Baseball Card of Mike Schmidt, Card Number 480, From the Philadelphia Phillies Third Baseman Who Won Three National League MVP Awards and Is Widely Considered the Greatest Third Baseman in the History of Major League Baseball

⚾ The Vintage 1976 Topps Mike Schmidt #480 Baseball Card PSA 7 Near Mint is the Professional Sports Authenticator-graded example of Mike Schmidt's 1976 Topps card – graded PSA 7 Near Mint, a condition grade that reflects a card in excellent shape with only the slightest imperfections that separate it from the mint standard. For a card from 1976 – nearly five decades old – a PSA 7 Near Mint grade means the card has survived in exceptional shape relative to the mass of cards from its era. The 1976 Topps set is one of the most beloved and most collected sets in the hobby's vintage era, produced by Topps at the height of the baseball card format's popularity before the hobby explosion of the 1980s would transform the industry. Mike Schmidt's #480 card captures him at the exact midpoint of a career that was already clearly headed toward historic territory: he had won his first National League MVP in 1974 (or rather he would win his first in 1980 – he was already a three-time Silver Slugger-level performer by 1976), and the Phillies were building the team around him that would win the 1980 World Series.

⚾ Michael Jack Schmidt was born on September 27, 1949, in Dayton, Ohio – a city in the American heartland where the competitive instincts of a generation of athletic talent were shaped by the rhythms of the Midwest and the deep tradition of American professional baseball. Schmidt played at Ohio University before the Philadelphia Phillies selected him in the 2nd round of the 1971 MLB Draft. He reached the major leagues in 1972 and spent two early seasons finding his footing – impressive defensively from the start, but still developing the plate discipline and bat control that would make him one of the most feared hitters in the National League. By 1974 he had established himself as a power hitter and a defensive force at third base, and over the next decade and a half he would build one of the most complete statistical and historical cases of any position player in the history of the game.

⚾ The numbers Mike Schmidt produced across his 18-season career are overwhelming in their breadth and their consistency: 548 career home runs, a 10-time Gold Glove winner at the most defensively demanding corner infield position, three National League MVP Awards (1980, 1981, 1986), a 1975 NL home run title, and a 1980 World Series championship with the Philadelphia Phillies that represented the city's first major professional sports championship in 30 years. He was selected to 12 All-Star Games. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown in 1995 in his first year of eligibility, with 96.5 percent of the votes cast. The 1976 Topps card captures him in the Philadelphia Phillies uniform at the age of 26 – the year before the team's most sustained run of winning, in the uniform of a franchise that would come to measure every third baseman who followed against his standard. Condition: NOS.

⚾ Mike Schmidt. Dayton, Ohio. Philadelphia Phillies. Third Base. 548 Home Runs. Three NL MVP Awards. 10 Gold Gloves. 1980 World Series Champion. Baseball Hall of Fame. 1976 Topps. Card #480. PSA 7 Near Mint. Hall of Fame Sports Memorabilia. Condition: NOS.