I'll trade you Derek Jeter for Johnny Appleseed!

Who the heck would trade a card of Derek Jeter for Johnny Appleseed?

Most baseball card collectors despise the select pieces of cardboard that don't feature a professional baseball player.

Not me. I absolutely love them. And they're yet another focus of my card collection.

Music and history are two of my favorite things to learn about (with baseball, of course). For this reason, the 2001-02 Topps American Pie sets are among my favorites in recent memory.

I'm not sure that a card can get much "cooler" than one that pictures Jimi Hendrix or Duke Ellington. Or the madness known as Woodstock. (Believe it or not, there are still some college students out there who listen to music from the '50s-'70s, I'm proud to say. I've met a couple.) American Pie also features figures such as Buzz Aldrin and Ernest Hemingway and events such as D-Day and Iwo Jima.

It came as a great surprise that Topps decided to put out not one...but two (!) American Heritage sets in 2009. I'm not sure that anyone but me bought them, however. About half of the Topps American Pie cards feature baseball players from the '60s and '70s (great cards for my HOF collection), but the American Heritage is all history, no baseball (well, there's cards of Jackie Robinson and Frank Robinson, but they're not in baseball uniforms).

The Mark Twain shown above is the initial card of the first series, and the George Washington is the initial card of the second series (a.k.a. "Heroes Edition"). Each base set is 125 cards, and I've got all 125 from both series. Really didn't take all that long either. The gracious people of thebenchtrading.com (my favorite trading site!) were eager to get rid of these, it seemed. I chatted with a few people who mistakenly bought these thinking they were actual baseball cards, with Pujolses (PS-- Good Luck with those Angels!) and Jeters and stuff.

Plus, how many people can say they have a baseball card of Rasputin? (Comes from the 2011 Topps Allen and Ginter Mysterious Figures inserts.)

However, none of the above sets come close to my favorite non-baseball set of all time. 2007 SP Legendary Cuts "Legendary Americana" insert set. All history, all the time (save for cards of Babe Ruth and Jackie Robinson). The insert set consists of 100 cards, all numbered to 550 copies a piece. I've got 82/100, which is pretty good progress, I think. It's gonna be tough to find those last eighteen though!

Just look at them. How could anyone not like them? A baseball card of Johnny Appleseed? There's also ones of Crazy Horse and even the Sundance Kid.

In conclusion, yes, I will trade my Derek Jeter for Johnny Appleseed.