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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

1961 Topps Baseball Cards AUTOGRAPHED Set info/information The 1961 Topps baseball card set included 587 standard size 2½" x 3½" cards (#1-#598 with several skipped numbers). 2 cards were accidently numbered #463, one of them (the Braves Team card was supposed to be card #426). The 1961 Topps set included the following special "subsets": * League Leaders (10 cards) * World Series highlights (10 cards) * Highlights (11 cards) * MVP's (16 cards) * Checklists (7 cards plus several variations) * Team cards (xx cards) * Special Multi-Player cards (xx cards) * Managers (xx cards) * Topps Rookie All-Star Trophies (xx cards) * Sporting News All-Stars (#566-#589) 1961 Topps was the first of the very popular and continuing Topps Rookie All-Star Trophies subsets. Cards from the last series (#523-#589) are scarce "High Numbers" making the set fairly expensive to complete. MLB Baseball expansion led to one of the least attractive aspects of the 1961 Topps baseball card set. The American League made several changes. The Los Angeles Angels were added, the Washington Senators became the Minnesota Twins and a new franchise was granted to the Washington Senators who also debuted in 1961. Possibly because of these team changes, many players had their portrait photos taken without their baseball caps. Not only did most of the players look awful without their caps, they looked more like your old, not so handsome uncle then athletes! Card backs were black print on an army green background on a dark card stock making them somewhat difficult to read. TOP ROOKIES: #35 Ron Santo, #141 Billy Williams, #417 Juan Marichal, Willie Davis, Zoilo Versalles & Jim Maloney; are popular players but still reasonably priced. More interesting tid-bits from the 1961 Topps set: Card #1 features All-American basketball player Dick Groat Card #2 features Roger Maris, right prior to his record breaking 61 Home Run season ........Maris once ran back four kickoffs for touchdowns in a single game! Mickey Mantle had 6 cards making the 1961 Topps set that much more costly.   #.44 American League Home Run Leaders   #300 Mickey Mantle's regular card   #307 Mickey Mantle 'Slams 2 Home Runs' World Series   #406 Mickey Mantle "Blasts 565 ft. HR"   #475 Mickey Mantle MVP card   #578 Mickey Mantle's scarce high # All-Star card Other than the checklists, the set has no other variations. Collectors of 1961 Topps cards may also want to take a look at 3 other baseball issues Topps released that year: a Topps Dice Game, Topps Magic Rub-Offs and a series of Topps Stamps. Although some dealers and collectors consider this set boring, with it's clean design, many special subsets and multiple cards of some of the games top stars including 6 Mantle's I rate it much higher. And, as I end most of my write-ups on vintage Topps sets, grab a glance at Don Mossi and those famous ears !

1963 Fleer Baseball In an attempt by Fleer to circumvent Topps exclusive rights to baseball cards, Fleer issued their 1963 baseball cards with cookies instead of gum. The 1963 Fleer baseball card issue was intended to be a much larger set issued in multiple series but Topps sued Fleer after their first series was released. Due to Topps deep pockets Fleer soon pulled the set from the market and cancelled their plans for the remaining series leaving this very, very popular set at just 66 cards plus one unnumbered checklist. But what a 66 cards !!! The 1963 Fleer Cards are attractive and feature an extremely high percentage of stars. Some of the top stars in the 1963 Fleer baseball card set are Brooks Robinson, Willie Mays, Carl Yastrzemski, Sandy Koufax, Roberto Clemente, Don Drysdale and Warren Spahn.. The set also included 2 very scare Short Prints, Joe Adcock and an unnumbered checklist. The most interesting card in this set is the Maury Wills Rookie card. Even though Wills started his major league career with the Dodgers way back in 1959 quickly becoming a superstar, his 1963 Fleer card is considered his rookie card ! How is this possible ? Well, back in 1959, 1960 and 1961, Topps did not consider Wills worthy enough to have a baseball card. Needless to say, Wills was very upset at this slight from Topps. After Wills won the 1962 N.L. MVP award, Topps quickly came a courting but Wills answered with a large "NO". From 1961 thru 1966, Wills prevented Topps from making any of his baseball cards. Wills and Topps finally made up making his 1967 Topps high number short print his first Topps card and also his most expensive card. Adding interest to the Wills baseball card story, Post Cereal released a Maury Wills card in their 1962 set making that the earliest Maury Wills rookie card. Wills was also pictured on a special 1960 Topps card featuring the 1959 World Series. The card features Luis Aparicio stealing 2nd base with Wills pictured trying to make the tag.

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