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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.

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. 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

1963 Bazooka ALL-TIME GREATS In 1963, competitive pressures compelled Topps to add a bonus to it's 1963 Bazooka boxes. These cards were inserted inside boxes of Bazooka bubblegum at 5 per box. The 41-card set of Hall-of-Famers features black and white photos of the player inside a gold plaque. A short biography appears on the back, a first (and last) for Bazooka. The 41 numbered cards measure 1 9/16" by 2 1/2". Scarcer silver colored plaques also exist.

1977 Topps CLOTH STICKERS One of the few Topps specialty issues of the late 1970's, the set contained 55 cloth stickers of the top players of 1977 along with 18 puzzle cards which joined together to form photos of the 1976 American League or 1976 National League All-Star teams. Very attractive visually, these cloth stickers/cards were a separate Topps test issue and sold in their own packs. Each pack contained 2 stickers and 1 checklist puzzle piece. According to S.C.D., player photos on the front are identical to their 1977 regular cards but the backs are different. The regulation card size 2-1/2" x 3-1/2" stickers have a paper backing which lists the player's career highlights and could easily be removed to allow the cloth to be adhered to a jacket, notebook, etc. TOP STARS: Pete Rose, Nolan Ryan, George Brett, Reggie Jackson, Mike Schmidt, Steve Carlton, Carl Yastrzemski, Johnny Bench, Robin Yount, Lou Brock & more! The 1977 Topps Cloth Stickers set also has a scarcer Mark Fidrych ROOKIE card !!!

HARTLAND STATUES Hartland produced it's first baseball statues back in the early 60's. Sports Collectibles Digest stated that the 1960's Mickey Mantle Hartland is the single most popular plastic sports statue ever produced ! In 1988 Hartland created their 25th Anniversary Editions which, except for some very minor details, were identical to the original. Hartland partnered with America's leading hobby-periodical publisher, Krause Publications, to create the SCD Authentic series offering the original 18 as you've never seen them with each statue dramatically different from prior releases. They are amazingly beautiful and exquisitely detailed in their road uniforms with painted pinstripes and wood grained bats making them a unique collectible opportunity for both veteran collectors and Hartland newcomers alike. Limited to only 2,500 pieces each, these statues are BRAND NEW, MINT and in THEIR ORIGINAL BOXES !!!

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