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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. Protecting and Storing your Baseball and Football Card Collection (T7) There are many different ways to protect, organize and store your sportscards. Soft Sleeves The most basic protector for cards are "soft sleeves" which are often called "penny sleeves". A "soft sleeve" is a thin plastic pouch into which the card can be placed protecting it from scratching and having the gloss rubbed off. Soft sleeves are very inexpensive. They come in packs of 100 with prices as low as around 3 soft sleeves for a penny. Top Loads Top-loads are rigid plastic holders that also provides protection against bending and creasing. They are called top-loads because they have a thin opening at the top allowing you to insert the card. They come in a large variety of sizes from 3-1/2 by 4-1/2 for the normal recent issues upto 8-1/2 x 11 for magazines and even larger. There are also thicker ones perfect for the thick game-used memporabilia cards. We highly recommend putting the card in a soft sleeve first to prtoect it from scratching and moving around before putting it in the top-load. Screw-Down Acrylic Holders These are appropriate for your better, more expensive cards. As the name implies, small screws hold two pieces of acrylic together. They come in a variety of thickness upto 1 or 2 inch acrylic slabs that not only protect the card but can funciton as a paper weight. A type of screw-down called single-screws are the most popular. They are named for the fact that they only use 1 screw to open or close the holder. This makes them easier and quicker to use while providing the same type of protection. They are also much less expensive costing as little as .39 each in quantity. while the thicker 1 inch or 2 inch acrylic screw-downs can cost upto several dollars each.

1956 Topps Baseball Cards I have a particular fondness for the 1956 Topps issue. When I first started collecting back in 1964, my friends and I would wander nearby neighborhoods in a search for "old cards". Back then, the oldest cards we ever found in dealing with other kids were 1957 Topps. Eventually I saw my first 1956 Topps card - I was hooked. It was a larger card, on a thicker, fluffier card stock making it look much, much older than the 1 year younger 1957. We even thought it looked "ancient" !!! We changed neighborhoods leaving my childhood friends behind. Before I left, I gave away all my cards except for a small cigar box full and stopped collecting in 1966. I had a great 3 year run but it sure wish I would have been collecting in 1966 and 1967 with those tough high numbers !!! Can you imagine if they would have made my cigar box instead of those 1964 Topps Felix Mantillia ! The regular 1956 Topps baseball card set, is my favorite ! Topps again went with a slightly larger (3-3/4" by 2 5/8") horizontal card design, similar to their 1955 Topps cards. Several of the portraits are even the same used on 1955 Topps cards and even back to 1954 Topps. 1956 Topps was the first issue to feature Team Cards and include checklists. In addition Topps also included cards of the 2 league presidents, William Harridge and Warren Giles. Now that Bowman was gone, Topps could make cards again of greats like Mickey Mantle and Ted Williams, both who were missing from prior years. Once you get past the Mickey Mantle, this is a fun and relatively simple set to complete as there are no high numbers or extremely expensive rookie cards with Hall-of-Famer Luis Aparicio being the top rookie. The set does contain over 200 variations making things even more interesting for master set collectors. Most are the gray and white card back variations. There are also several cards that have color line variations on the card front. Most notably is the Ted Williams card which has either no line over his name or a thin green, red, blue, or yellow line between the white border for a total of five variations. Whitey Ford and Early Wynn are two other cards which have no line or a thin red or yellow line. In addition, many team cards had 3 different variations with the team name either on the Left, Centered or Right. The only errors in the set are a handful of uncorrected errors the most famous of which is card #31 of Hank Aaron which actually pictures Willie Mays sliding into home. Card #135 Mickey Mantle is also an interesting card. The card pictures Mantle leaping into the stands and making a fantastic catch. An awesome play to put on this great card - right ? Only problem is that on the real play, Mantle missed the ball. If you do some research you can find the exact photograph that the card was painted from. The artist did a great job and in his version, Mantle makes the catch ! And as always for vintage Topps sets, take a quick look at Don Mossi and his famous ears ! Collectors of 1956 Topps should also take a look at their side issue '1956 Topps Pins'. In addition to their 1956 Topps baseball card set, Topps released their 1956 Topps Pins set using the same portrait photos as the cards. In the end, collectors of the day preferred cards to pins and Topps cut back the 1956 Topps Pin set from a planned 90 pins to just 60.

1962 Topps Baseball Bucks Another Hit Topps Test Issue from the 1960's !!! The 1962 Topps Bucks were one of Topps most creative Test Issues. Each "Buck" resembled U.S. currency and measured 1 3/4" x 4 1/8" but instead of George Washington staring at you, it could be Mickey Mantle !!! A drawing of the player's home park along with a brief write-up also appeared on the front. The backs included team and league logos. The 1962 Topps Bucks test issue was sold in it's own 1 cent wax packs and was not an insert in 1962 Topps wax packs. Most examples exist with a fold line but it should not be overly noticeable. Player selection was great as the set is packed with numerous Hall-of-Famers including MICKEY MANTLE, Willie Mays, Sandy Koufax, Roberto Clemente, Carl Yastrzemski, Stan Musial, Al Kaline, Brooks Robinson, Don Drysdale, Ernie Banks, Hank Aaron and more !!!

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