By 1980 Ryan had come home — signing with the Houston Astros as one of the sport’s first million-dollar free agents, pitching in the state where he was born and would become a folk hero.

The 1980 Topps card catches him mid-career, already a legend and nowhere near done: the 4,000th and eventually 5,000th strikeouts, the sixth and seventh no-hitters, all still ahead.

A card of the long, impossible middle of a career that simply refused to end.

Affordable and everywhere, and precisely for that reason the card most collections begin their Ryan run with.