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Q2: How long have sports cards been around ? (part 2) The first important and mainstream basketball set was issued by Bowman in 1948. Other than a Topps set in 1957-58 and a 1961-62 Fleer set, there were no mainstream basketball sets issued until Topps started producing yearly sets beginning with their 1969-70 set featuring the rookie card of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who then went under the name of Lew Alcindor. In hockey, there were a few sets issued in the 1910's and while O-Pee-Chee issued some sets in the 1930's, the real modern sets began in 1951 with the itroduction of Parkhurst's first set. In racing, while cards go back as far as the early Indy car days of 1911, modern racing sets began in 1988 with the issues released by MAXX. 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 !

1970 Chemtoy Superballs Chemtoy and MLB teamed up in 1970 to offer a set of major league baseball player "superballs". The 285 "superball" set has 12 from each AL & NL team except Minn., Chicago and Oakland with 11 and is packed with HALL-OF-FAMERS !!! Each "superball" has the player's photo inside the ball. On the back is the player's name, team name, position and a Chemtoy inventory number. This is one of the more interesting collectibles from the late 1960's, early 1970's and highly sought after by Team and player collectors.

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