Perhaps no card was more responsible for ushering in the hobby's rookie card craze than the 1963 Pete Rose, the first card we can recall reaching $1000 in value.  As Rose continued to pile up career achievements, chasing Joe DiMaggio's hitting streak in 1978, winning the World Series with Philadelphia in 1980, and then setting his sights on one of the game's untouchable records, his rookie card rose in value accordingly.  After the ignominious end to his career, the value stalled somewhat, but it has resumed its northward trajectory of late.

Culled from the #4 Master Set on the PSA Set Registry, this is a sharp and bright example, lacking most of the print flaws typical in this issue, particularly the examples as saturated with background color as this one is.  In this case the printing is quite clean, a testament to its owner, one of the hobby's legendary eyes for beautiful, high-grade cards.  With centering ever-so-slightly to the Southwest on the canvas, and a few very faint touches to the upper corners, the card is as bold and sharp as can be.  The key card to a condition-sensitive set, one of the most important of all postwar rookie cards and certainly among the most important Topps cards of the 1960s.