Topps announced a new one-of-one triple autograph card Saturday, featuring Team USA images with signatures of Steph Curry, LeBron James and Kevin Durant following the team’s gold-medal victory over France.
It marks the first time the three basketball legends have ever been featured on the same card, and the first time James and Curry will be paired on an auto card.
This inspired cllct to put together its own list of different dual auto cards we’d love to see. Over the course of this week, we will release a new category of five dual autos each day.
OTHERS IN THIS SERIES:
The first set is rival autos as we put together cards of famous pairs who faced off.
Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier
Given the current state of boxing, it’s difficult in the present day to understand the gravity of a classic heavyweight title fight, even 30 years ago during Mike Tyson’s prime. The magnitude of Ali-Frazier was perhaps unlike any sporting bout in history.
Arguably the two greatest boxers in history, in the peak of their powers, fighting until one of them couldn’t stand. And to top it off, they hated each other.
Ali was one of history’s greatest trash talkers, and Joe Frazier felt the brunt of his force. Here is just one example:
“Frazier is so ugly that when he cries, the tears turn around and go down the back of his head,” Ali once said.
The pair flat-out did not like each other, but they put on some of the most spectacular fights the world has ever seen. Frazier was the first person to ever defeat Ali, breaking his jaw in their first bout, which was billed as “The Fight of the Century” in 1971.
It’s tough to top that name, but somehow their third fight, “The Thrilla in Manila," did in 1975.
“Down goes Frazier” remains one of the most iconic quotes in all of sports lore, even if some people say it without knowing its true meaning.
Ali won two of the three bouts, but the bad blood lasted throughout the rest of their lives. As recently as 2001, they jabbed at each other publicly.
A dual auto of the two would likely never happen. Neither would ever sign their autograph next to the other. And that hatred, as well as the legacy of the best rivalry in boxing history, amounts to this being one of the most desirable dual auto cards ever.
Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs
The “Battle of the Sexes” remains one of the most important events in the history of women’s athletics.
In 1973, long after his retirement from professional tennis, the chauvinist Riggs disparaged women’s tennis publicly, calling it an inferior game and claiming that in his 50s he would still easily defeat any active professional women’s player.
After King declined Riggs’ initial offer to play, Margaret Court — owner of 24 Grand Slam titles — accepted an offer, despite recently giving birth; and Riggs dismantled her, 6-2, 6-1.
The match, which became known as “The Mother’s Day Massacre," only energized Riggs’ sexist campaign against women’s tennis.
Following this, King changed course and accepted Riggs’ offer. The two played in front of a huge crowd at the Astrodome four months after Court’s defeat. A television audience of 90 million tuned in, making the spectacle still the most-watched tennis match in history.
It’s possible King faced more pressure in that match than any athlete in history, later saying, ““I thought it would set us back 50 years if I didn’t win that match.”
Despite the pressure, King bludgeoned Riggs, winning the “Battle of the Sexes” in straight sets. Now, 51 years later, King remains one of sports' and society’s most vocal leaders for equality.
Michael Jordan and Isiah Thomas
“I met the criteria to be selected, but I wasn’t.”
This is perhaps the No. 1 lasting memory from watching “The Last Dance" documentary: Thomas sitting on a couch telling the world he doesn’t understand why he wasn’t chosen for the 1992 Dream Team, specifically discussing that Jordan didn’t want him on the team.
The quote became a viral sensation, and also brought up 30-year-old NBA beef in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. There was NOTHING else to do but dig into the story.
So why is there beef?
As legend goes, it began in the 1985 All-Star Game, when Thomas told his fellow Eastern Conference All-Stars to “freeze out” Jordan and not pass him the ball.
Throughout the late ‘80s, the Bulls and Pistons proved to be one of the NBA’s most bitter rivalries, highlighted by the “Jordan Rules," which involved Detroit simply trying to pummel Jordan in every playoff game.
Then in 1991, when the Bulls finally trounced their bitter foes in the East finals en route to winning their first title, Thomas walked off the court before shaking hands and before the final buzzer sounded.
Ultimately, when Dream Team selection came around for the 1992 Olympics, multiple sources claim Jordan made it clear he did not want Thomas on the team. There were others who shared this sentiment, but Jordan appears to have been the ringleader.
The two have never reconnected, and many suggest Thomas remains upset to this day that he isn’t beloved in his hometown of Chicago, while Jordan is easily the most iconic athlete in the city’s history.
Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding
There have been many scandals over the course of Olympic history, but it is tough to top one competitor conspiring to assault another.
In January 1994, Harding’s then husband, Jeff Gillooly, and co-conspirator Shawn Eckardt hired hitmen to take Kerrigan out of contention for the United States Figuring Skating Championships and the Olympics, which took place the following month.
The hitmen damaged Kerrigan’s knee, clubbing her with a baton, before fleeing; and Harding went on to win the U.S. title.
Kerrigan healed in time though for the Olympics in February, in which she earned a silver medal, with Harding finishing eighth overall.
Over the course of the month in between the assault and the Olympics, the hitmen and conspirators were charged with assault. Although Harding denied knowledge of the plot until 2018, Gillooly plead guilty and stated Harding approved the attack.
Harding was later stripped of her U.S. title and banned from the sport for life. She also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to hinder prosecution, a felony. She never served prison time, but did receive three years of probation.
The attack remains the greatest eyesore in the sport’s history, as well as one of the lowest moments in Olympic history.
Jason Varitek and Alex Rodriguez
The Red Sox and Yankees have produced some of baseball’s greatest brawls ever.
Don Zimmer and Pedro Martinez. Graig Nettles and Bill Lee. Lou Piniella and Carlton Fisk. Joe Kelly and Tyler Austin. These are just a few of the names involved in some of baseball's most notorious fights.
But none were greater than that of Varitek shoving his glove in A-Rod’s face. The Red Sox-Yankees rivalry reached a boiling point in the middle of July during the ‘04 season.
The year before, we witnessed Martinez toss a 68-year-old Zimmer to the ground during a fight in the ALCS, before Aaron Boone and the Yankees crushed Boston’s dreams of breaking The Curse of the Bambino, which at that point extended to 85 years.
Boston was still reeling from that Game 7 walk-off home run the following summer when Bronson Arroyo pegged Rodriguez with a pitch.
Now, at this point, A-Rod was perhaps the most hated athlete in all of Boston. The Red Sox had tried to trade for him on several occasions, and he was heavily linked to Boston, before the Yankees snatched him from the Rangers.
After being hit by the pitch, Rodriguez stared down Arroyo before Varitek got in the middle. After several words thrown by A-Rod in his direction, Varitek went after Rodriguez, with a lasting image of his catcher’s mitt clouding Rodriguez’s entire face.
The Red Sox later went on to complete the only 3-0 postseason comeback in MLB history, when they avenged the ‘03 ALCS, by defeating the Yanks in seven games in ‘04. The Red Sox then swept the Cardinals to win their first World Series since 1918. The three most iconic moments from the Red Sox 2004 season:
- The final out of the World Series vs the Cardinals.
- Dave Roberts’ steal in Game 4 of the ALCS.
- Varitek taking down A-Rod.
Matt Liberman is a video producer and reporter for cllct.