This 1978 Topps Basketball Earl Monroe #45 has achieved a PSA 10 Gem Mint grade, a remarkable result for a late-1970s Topps basketball card. Vintage cards from this era were prone to off-center cuts and rough edges, so a PSA 10 copy of the Hall of Fame guard stands out in any vintage basketball collection.
Earl "The Pearl" Monroe starred at Winston-Salem State before the Baltimore Bullets drafted him 2nd overall in 1967, and he won 1968 NBA Rookie of the Year. Traded to the New York Knicks, he helped win the 1973 NBA championship and earned four All-Star selections. Monroe is a Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame (HOF) inductee (1990).
