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Below are some tidbits on baseball and sportscard collecting along with a listing of the All-Time and Active Leaders in a selected statistical cateogry. Visit our web site for more info on vintage and current baseball, football, basketball, hockey, sports and non-sport cards and card collecting.

Q7: What are some additional useful to know baseball card collecting terms ? (part 3) High Numbers - vintage cards were issued in the ‘50s-‘70s in a series. During the baseball season, the largest number of cards were made. As the schedule progressed into September, when there would be less interest in baseball cards , Topps for one, specifically decreased production and hence much less product was available. As a result, a scarcity-factor was created and a premium holds for these first type of "short-printed" cards. Inserts - special randomly-inserted cards which are not part of the regular set. Many modern inserts are sequentially-numbered and rarer than the card sets into which they are inserted. O-Pee-Chee / OPC - a subsidiary of Topps, this card issue was produced specifically for distribution in Canada. Promotional Card - generally referred to as cards issued to show what the product will look like on release and intended to help spur future sales. Often called a "promo" card. Reprint - cards issued to reproduce the originals. With the current trend of vintage reprints, the new versions have a distinguishing characteristic evidenced by numbering. Restored - a card or piece of memorabilia which someone has tried to return to a "like-new" condition. A restored card is considered to be of very little value. Rookie Card - any league-licensed, widely distributed card to feature a player in his first year of trading cards. Series - a group of cards within an issue deliberately split up by the manufacturer to distribute at different times of the year. (i.e.- vintage 1st series cards 1-100 were released in April and 2nd series cards 101-200 were released in July, etc.). Short Print (SP) - a card printed to a lesser quantity than other cards in a set. Many recent short prints are also individually & serially-numbered. Modern Sports Cards (T2) The drop in production from World War I was compounded by the Black Sox scandal and cards were not produced in significant quantities for over a decade. In the 1930s, baseball cards finally began to reappear with candy products. Beginning in 1933, Goudey, a chewing gum company, began producing cards. Gum became the product associated with baseball cards. Goudey produced larger sets of cards than usual and a boon to collector's they numbered them ! For the next several years, Goudey released new sets of cards to coincide with the baseball season. Again a World War (II) curtailed baseball card production. Bowman Gum Company resurrected baseball cards in 1948 soon to be followed by another bubblegum company, Topps. The two competed not only for consumers but also for rights to baseball players with each trying to sign players to exclusive contracts. In 1956 Topps bought out Bowman and enjoyed a relative monopoly for decades. While Topps was dominant nationally, various regionally-produced sets, usually on or in packages of foods. Post Cereal and Jello printed baseball cards on the backs of their boxes from 1961 to 1963 in both U.S. and Canada. In 1962 Post also produced a football card set featuring players from the two countries in each respective country. Fleer and Donruss ended Topps baseball card monopoly in 1981. Topps sued both but the courts ruled that Topps' exclusive rights only applied to sports cards sold with gum. Score in 1988 and Upper Deck in 1989 joined the market. In 1989 Topps reintroduced tje Bowman brand. The baseball card hobby quickly became saturated with cards. The baseball player's strike in 1994 started a rapid decline in interest. Baseball card companies, trying to remain profitable, started introducing improvements in card quality and also measures to prevent counterfeiting. They released many different brands of cards as well as rare and unique cards. Now baseball cards have come full circle and in 2006 there are only two companies marketing and selling baseball cards: Topps and Upper Deck. Fleer went bankrupt and Donruss lost their license. Upper Deck did buy Fleer and began issuing Fleer brand again.

***  DOUBLES  -  ALL-TIME Leaders  ***
Rank Player (age)         Doubles
 1.  Tris Speaker HOF       792
 2.  Pete Rose              746
 3.  Stan Musial HOF        725
 4.  Ty Cobb HOF            724
 5.  George Brett HOF       665
 6.  Nap Lajoie HOF         657
 7.  Carl Yastrzemski HOF   646
 8.  Honus Wagner HOF       640
 9.  Hank Aaron HOF         624
10.  Paul Molitor HOF       605
     Paul Waner HOF         605
12.+ CRAIG BIGGIO (39)      604
13.  Cal Ripken             603
14.  Rafael Palmeiro        585
15.  Robin Yount HOF        583
16.  Cap Anson HOF          581
17.  Wade Boggs HOF         578
18.  Charlie Gehringer HOF  574
19.+ BARRY BONDS (40)       564
20.  Eddie Murray HOF       560
21.  Tony Gwynn             543
22.  Harry Heilmann HOF     542
23.  Rogers Hornsby HOF     541
24.  Joe Medwick HOF        540
     Dave Winfield HOF      540
26.  Al Simmons HOF         539
27.  Lou Gehrig HOF         534
28.  Al Oliver              529
29.  Frank Robinson HOF     528
30.  Dave Parker            526
31.  Ted Williams HOF       525
32.  Willie Mays HOF        523
33.  Ed Delahanty HOF       522
34.  Joe Cronin HOF         515
35.  Edgar Martinez         514
36.  Mark Grace             511
37.  Rickey Henderson       510
38.  Babe Ruth HOF          506
39.  Tony Perez HOF         505
40.  Roberto Alomar         504
41.  Andre Dawson           503
42.  Goose Goslin HOF       500
     John Olerud            500
44.  Rusty Staub            499
45.  Bill Buckner           498
     Al Kaline HOF          498
     Sam Rice HOF           498
48.+ LUIS GONZALEZ (37)     495
49.  Heinie Manush HOF      491
50.  Mickey Vernon          490
51.  Jeff Bagwell           488
     Harold Baines          488
     Mel Ott HOF            488
54.  Lou Brock HOF          486
     Billy Herman HOF       486
56.  Vada Pinson            485
57.  Hal McRae              484
58.  Dwight Evans           483
     Ted Simmons            483
60.  Brooks Robinson HOF    482
61.  Zack Wheat HOF         476
62.+ JEFF KENT (37)         474
63.  Jake Beckley HOF       473
64.  Larry Walker           471
65.  Frankie Frisch HOF     466
66.  Jim Bottomley HOF      465
     Jim O'Rourke HOF       465
68.  Reggie Jackson HOF     463
69.  Dan Brouthers HOF      460
70.  Sam Crawford HOF       458
     Jimmie Foxx HOF        458
72.  Jimmie Dykes           453
73.  George Davis HOF       451
     Paul O'Neill           451
     Jimmy Ryan             451
76.  Joe Morgan HOF         449
77.+ FRANK THOMAS (37)      447
78.  Rod Carew HOF          445
   + IVAN RODRIGUEZ (33)    445
80.  George Burns           444
     Andres Galarraga       444
82.  Gary Gaetti            443
83.  Dick Bartell           442
     Don Mattingly          442
85.  Roger Connor HOF       441
     Barry Larkin           441
     Fred McGriff           441
88.  Luke Appling HOF       440
     Will Clark             440
     Roberto Clemente HOF   440
     Steve Garvey           440
     B.J. Surhoff           440
93.  Eddie Collins HOF      438
94.  Cesar Cedeno           436
     Joe Sewell HOF         436
96.  Wally Moses            435
97.  Billy Williams HOF     434
98.  Joe Judge              433
99.  Joe Carter             432
     Tim Wallach            432

***  DOUBLES  -  Active Leaders  ***
Rank Player (age)         Doubles
 1.  Craig Biggio (39)      604
 2.  Rafael Palmeiro (40)   585
 3.  Barry Bonds (40)       564
 4.  John Olerud (36)       500
 5.  Luis Gonzalez (37)     495
 6.  Jeff Bagwell (37)      488
 7.  Jeff Kent (37)         474
 8.  Frank Thomas (37)      447
 9.  Ivan Rodriguez (33)    445
10.  B.J. Surhoff (40)      440
11.  Ken Griffey (35)       430
12.  Ruben Sierra (39)      427
13.  Steve Finley (40)      425
14.  Bernie Williams (36)   420
15.  Gary Sheffield (36)    413
16.  Manny Ramirez (33)     411
17.  Garret Anderson (33)   403
18.  Julio Franco (46)      394
19.  Juan Gonzalez (35)     388
20.  Carlos Delgado (33)    384
     Shawn Green (32)       384
22.  Omar Vizquel (38)      376
23.  Moises Alou (38)       375
24.  Todd Helton (31)       373
25.  Bret Boone (36)        366
26.  Jim Edmonds (35)       362
27.  Ray Lankford (38)      356
28.  Chipper Jones (33)     355
     Sammy Sosa (36)        355
30.  Ray Durham (33)        354

1956 Topps Pins In addition to their regular issue 1956 Topps baseball card set, which in my opinion, was Topps' nicest regular issue set, Topps released a special pin set. This was the first pins ever issued by Topps. Few issues can compare to the 1956 Topps Pins set. The colorful and attractive 1-1/8" diameter pins, just like baseball cards from the era, were packaged with bubble gum. The pins featured a full color photo of the player with a pin clasp on the reverse. Interestingly, some images for the pin set are the same as those on the regular 1956 Topps cards. Even if you don't want to collect the set, if you collect 1956 Topps cards than YOU MUST add at least one 1956 Topps Pin to your collection. The 1956 Topps Pins set features most of the eras Hall-of-Famers including Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Jackie Robinson, Ted Williams, Ernie Banks, Duke Snider, Al Kaline, Yogi Berra, Eddie Mathews and also includes some super tough scarcities such as Chuck Stobbs, Hector Lopez and Chuck Diering. There is not firm opinion as to which of the 3 scarce short prints are the toughest to find. In the end, collectors in the day preferred their cards to pins and Topps cut back the 1956 Topps Pin set issue from a planned 90 pins to just 60.

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.

1952,1953,1954,1955 Red Man TOBACCO Red Man Tobacco issued baseball cards in 1952, 1953, 1954 and 1955, making them the only tobacco company to do so since 1920. The cards are very attractive with a large, painted portrait and a short player's bio on the front. On the back is company advertising. 1/2" tabs at the bottom of each card could be exchanged for a prize. The exchange rate was 50 tabs for one free Big League style baseball cap. Thus, cards with the tabs still intact are much, much, harder to find making them more valuable. Without the tabs it is difficult to determine which year certain players were issued. It is usually easiest to determine the year by looking at the expiration date on the back. Subtract 1 from the expiration year to determine the year of the card. Each set is made up of 25 players from each league all personally selected by Editor J.G. Taylor Spink of the "Sporting News". Managers from each league were included in the 1952 and 1953 sets. The 1954 set had four different variations. That brings the total to only 208 cards to complete your Master Red Man Tobacco Baseball Card Set !!! Start collecting now !

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