Penny Marshall's collection was far too serious for her cards

Millions of people probably knew her as "Laverne" from her years on a hit sitcom, but Penny Marshall was a ground-breaking director who hit movie-making plateaus for the first time with Big and then gave baseball fans one of their all-time great films in A League Of Their Own, which helped tell the story of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.

But people might not know that she was also a serious collector of sports memorabilia -- one of the people profiled in a book with lofty standards, Smithsonian Baseball. (Click here to watch a past ESPN video about her stash that's worth a look.) In that piece, she notes that the Baseball Hall of Fame will be getting some of her collection in the future and talks about her fandom, which went beyond just baseball.

Us everyday collectors have a few cardboard options if we want to something to our collections following her death at age 75. Although she didn't appear on a certified autograph until 2012, decades after Laverne & Shirley ended its run and long after League, which arrived in 1992, Marshall has about 50 different signed cards and about 70 overall card appearances.

Her first auto was in 2012 Leaf Legends of Sport and then that was followed by cards in 2013 Panini Golden Age and 2013 Topps Allen & Ginter. On the non-sports side, she appears on autographs in boxes of 2013 Leaf Pop Century -- many along with Laverne & Shirley co-stars Cindy Williams and David Lander as well as some with her iconic producer/director brother, Garry. There were no other auto or standard card appearances after that other than cut autograph appearances.

Big was the first film directed by a woman to bring in $100 million at the box office, while A League of Their Own did the same with a cast that was loaded with pop culture A-listers like Geena Davis, Tom Hanks and Madonna but also small roles for her brother and her daughter, Tracy, who played Betty "Spaghetti" Horn. (See some highlights in the video below.)

For more on her life, career and fandom, check out this piece from The Washington Post.

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