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Below are some tidbits on baseball and sportscard collecting. Visit our web site for more info on vintage and current baseball, football, basketball, hockey, sports and non-sport cards and card collecting.

Q1: How long have sports cards been around ? (part 1) The first baseball trading cards date back to 1869. For many years, baseball cards were packaged in packs of tobacco as a way to increase sales the same way that today prizes are packaged in boxes of cereal. In the 1920's and 1930's, candy and gum companies started packaging baseball cards in their products as well. Baseball card production was virtually halted in the early 1940's due to paper shortages created by World War II. The "Modern Era" of baseball cards began in 1948 when Bowman Gum Inc. offered one card and one piece of gum in a pack for a penny. The first important football set was the Mayo set featuring college players in 1984. Other than the 1935 National Chicle set no other key football set was issued until 1948 when noth Bowman and Leaf produced sets. A few Frequently Asked Questions from MLB.com (T9) What is the best way to start collecting baseball cards? The first rule to starting a collection is to remember to buy what you like. You want to collect items that are of interest to you. Make sure to enjoy what you are collecting! A few ways to accomplish this are to collect by your favorite player, team or set of cards. There is also collecting purely for the enjoyment of opening packs. The advantage of buying your favorite player is that they are cards you enjoy looking at, as well as following their stats over the course of a career. Collecting team sets presents the challenge of building a whole collection of a certain type of card. You will have to buy each card individually or buy unopened boxes in search of that missing card(s). Finally, collecting by set is a great project to do over a period of time. The "got it, need it" method is employed here as you rifle through packs to see what you have. Topps offers the ability to purchase some full sets, if choose to go that route. Opening packs to see what you get provides the enjoyment of not knowing what you are getting. The other nice thing is that you get the surprise of game used cards or other special cards included in the pack. However you collect, the designs and photography of the cards capture baseball at it's finest. Why should I collect baseball cards? By collecting cards, you will be continuing a tradition started over 100 years ago. In the present, collecting provides another forum for you being a fan of the game. You can collect in the manner that provides you with the most enjoyment. Besides it’s present value, your baseball card collection will be something to pass down, similar to family photographs. Future generations will enjoy looking at cards of the past to see images and designs. A great guardian/child activity that fosters communication, teaches children about statistics and how to complete a project (i.e collecting a full team set.). What was the first baseball card or set of cards produced? The first baseball cards were produced in the late 1800's. They were originally designed as a cardboard insert to give a pack of cigarettes a rigid inner, keeping cigarettes from breaking in shipping. One of the most famous of these cards is the Honus Wagner, which holds the record as most expensive card sold. Honus Wagner objected to smoking, and thus requested his card be pulled from the packs, creating the first "short print" Baseball Card. There are very few copies of these that have ever been found. A similar scenario just played out in 2006 Topps on the Alex Gordon Rookie Card. Alex Gordon was not yet eligible for his card to be produced, and Topps pulled his card from the set, but apparently not all of them as a few copies have been found in packs! How do I determine the value of my cards? Certainly, a card is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. You should always remember as well that most price guides list a retail selling price - it is not realistic to expect a retail store owner or dealer to pay you what the price guide may show for a card. Most cards that are being sold by collectors will sell for less than the guide, as stores have to buy at a wholesale level. Having said all of that, Beckett price guides are one of the oldest and trusted price guides that have been in use for over 20 years. Another reputable price guide is published by Tuff Stuff. Both will give you an idea of retail selling prices for cards. What is the production schedule of the card companies? Most cards are begun to be planned appox 13 months out. It takes time to design a card look, a theme that the set will fall under and the player selection. From there, players have to be approved for inclusion by the Players Association. The statistics and the biographies written and approved, and photos chosen. Finally, any insert programs that involve Autographs or Game Used Memorabilia items have to be acquired from the athletes, and made into cards as well. It takes time to put a set together. Once a baseball season ends, is that the last time cards for that year are produced? No - Baseball cards are being produced year round, as collector interest and different markets need different items. Rookies are often included heavier in late season releases to reflect call ups later in the Baseball season. What is a factory set? A factory set is the complete set of cards issued by a manufacturer. The most common and issued factory set is from Topps, but Upper Deck, Fleer and Donruss have also issued these over the years. The set will contain all of the base cards issued for that brand by the manufacturer. There will not normally be any shortprinted insert cards included in these sets, but any Rookie Cards that were part of the basic set will be included. Some of the famous Rookie Cards included in factory sets are the 1993 Topps Derek Jeter Rookie Card, 1987 Topps Barry Bonds, 1989 Topps, Fleer or Donruss Randy Johnson or the 1985 Topps Roger Clemens Rookie Card! Cards that were pulled from the set, like the 2006 Topps Alex Gordon, or the 1989 Fleer Variant Billy Ripken card that had a swear written on the end of his bat will not be included in the sets. Sets make a great "Legacy Collection" for yourself, or an excellent annual birthday or holiday present for a loved

1959 Fleer Ted Williams Ted Williams was one of the greatest hitters ever to play the game ! The 'Splendid Splinter' played from 1939-1942 and 1946-1960 all with the Boston Red Sox. He missed 1943 thru 1945 due to military duty when he was a pilot during the wars. For his career he hit .344 with 521 home runs. Ted Williams was one of the biggest stars baseball has ever seen, and his baseball cards remain very popular and valuable. Ted's rookie card was in 1950 Bowman and he was exclusive with Bowman from 1950 thru 1954. In 1954 he also allowed Topps to make his cards which they did from 1954 thru 1958. In 1959 Fleer signed Ted Williams away from Topps and assumed the star Ted Williams would be retiring, put out an entire 80-card set of cards highlighting Ted Williams and illustrating his life both in and out of baseball. Williams decided late in the fall to resign for another year perhaps damaging the sets impact. Today these cards remain extremely popular with most of the cards in teh set still quite affordable. There is one very rare card in this set, #68 picturing Ted with Bucky Harris. UNFORTUNATELY Topps had Bucky Harris under exclusive contract and Fleer had to quickly halt production of this card making it a significant SHORT PRINT. Only a few made it out to the public. This card is quite rare, hardly ever seen and a plain old simple checklist making it the perfect candidate for counterfeiting. NOTE: This card has been counterfeited in significant quantities so you should be very, very careful when looking to acquire this card. Other interesting cards are those that picture Ted with Babe Ruth, Jimmie Foxx, Sam Snead and Jim Thorpe. In addition, cards of Ted fishing or with his airplane are also very popular.

1969 Topps Stamps This was Topps 3rd stamp issue in the last eight years and it was a good one !!! The stamps were not inserts but a totally separate issue . For a nickel you got a strip of twelve stamps plus a mini album. The 1969 Topps Stamps complete set contains 240 stamps. The 1 x 1-7/16 inch stamps were unnumbered and featured a color photo with the player's name, team and position inside a colored banner at the bottom of the stamp. The stamps were released in both vertical and horizontal strips of 12 stamps. The 1969 Topps Stamps are often confused with Topps' 1974 issue. The 1974 Topps Stamps have ovals rather than banners at the bottom and were released only in 12-stamp horizontal panels. Along with the stamps, Topps also issued a set of 24 albums, one per team, to store them in. The 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" orange albums were the same size as a baseball card and held a complete 10-stamp team set. To add even more collecting fun, the album's back cover had facsimile autographs of the ten players shown in the album. The 1969 Topps Stamps set is packed with stars like Pete Rose along with tons of Hall-of-Famers including MICKEY MANTLE, Willie Mays, Roberto Clemente & many, many more !!!

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