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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.

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

***  TRIPLES  -  ALL-TIME Leaders  ***
Rank Player (age)        Triples
 1.  Sam Crawford HOF      309
 2.  Ty Cobb HOF           295
 3.  Honus Wagner HOF      252
 4.  Jake Beckley HOF      243
 5.  Roger Connor HOF      233
 6.  Tris Speaker HOF      222
 7.  Fred Clarke HOF       220
 8.  Dan Brouthers HOF     205
 9.  Joe Kelley HOF        194
10.  Paul Waner HOF        191
11.  Bid McPhee HOF        188
12.  Eddie Collins HOF     187
13.  Ed Delahanty HOF      185
14.  Sam Rice HOF          184
15.  Jesse Burkett HOF     182
     Ed Konetchy           182
     Edd Roush HOF         182
18.  Buck Ewing HOF        178
19.  Rabbit Maranville HOF 177
     Stan Musial HOF       177
21.  Harry Stovey          174
22.  Goose Goslin HOF      173
23.  Tommy Leach           172
     Zack Wheat HOF        172
25.  Rogers Hornsby HOF    169
26.  Joe Jackson           168
27.  Roberto Clemente HOF  166
     Sherry Magee          166
29.  Jake Daubert          165
30.  Elmer Flick HOF       164
     George Sisler HOF     164
     Pie Traynor HOF       164
33.  Bill Dahlen           163
     George Davis HOF      163
     Lou Gehrig HOF        163
     Nap Lajoie HOF        163
37.  Mike Tiernan          162
38.  George Van Haltren    161
39.  Harry Hooper HOF      160
     Heinie Manush HOF     160
     Sam Thompson HOF      160
42.  Max Carey HOF         159
     Joe Judge             159
44.  Ed McKean             158
45.  Kiki Cuyler HOF       157
     Jimmy Ryan            157
47.  Tommy Corcoran        155
48.  Earle Combs HOF       154
49.  Jim Bottomley HOF     151
     Harry Heilmann HOF    151
     Jim O'Rourke HOF      151
52.  Kip Selbach           149
     Al Simmons HOF        149
54.  Wally Pipp            148
     Enos Slaughter HOF    148
56.  Bobby Veach           147
     Willie Wilson         147
58.  Charlie Gehringer HOF 146
59.  Harry Davis           145
     Willie Keeler HOF     145
61.  Bobby Wallace HOF     143
62.  Cap Anson HOF         142
63.  Lou Brock HOF         141
64.  Willie Mays HOF       140
65.  John Reilly           139
     Jimmy Williams        139
67.  Tom Brown             138
     Willie Davis          138
     Frankie Frisch HOF    138
70.  George Brett HOF      137
71.  Babe Ruth HOF         136
     Jimmy Sheckard        136
     Elmer Smith           136
74.  Lave Cross            135
     Pete Rose             135
76.  Shano Collins         133
77.  George Wood           132
78.  Brett Butler          131
     Joe DiMaggio HOF      131
     Buck Freeman          131
81.  Buddy Myer            130
82.  Oyster Burns          129
     Larry Gardner         129
84.  Earl Averill HOF      128
     Arky Vaughan HOF      128
86.  Vada Pinson           127
87.  Hardy Richardson      126
     Robin Yount HOF       126
89.  Jimmie Foxx HOF       125
90.  John Anderson         124
     Hal Chase             124
     Frank Schulte         124
93.  Larry Doyle           123
     Duke Farrell          123
95.  Dummy Hoy             121
96.  Mickey Vernon         120
97.  Hugh Duffy HOF        119
     Fred Pfeffer          119
99.  Joe Cronin HOF        118
     Chick Stahl           118
     Lloyd Waner HOF       118

***  TRIPLES  -  Active Leaders  ***
Rank Player (age)        Triples
 1.  Steve Finley (40)     112
 2.  Kenny Lofton (38)      98
 3.  Johnny Damon (31)      80
 4.  Barry Bonds (40)       77
 5.  Jose Offerman (36)     72
 6.  Ray Durham (33)        70
 7.  Cristian Guzman (27)   67
 8.  Luis Gonzalez (37)     63
 9.  Neifi Perez (32)       60
10.  Reggie Sanders (37)    59
     Ruben Sierra (39)      59
     Tony Womack (35)       59
13.  Omar Vizquel (38)      58
14.  Bernie Williams (36)   55
15.  Carlos Beltran (28)    54
     Royce Clayton (35)     54
     Julio Franco (46)      54
     Ray Lankford (38)      54
19.  Craig Biggio (39)      52
     Jimmy Rollins (26)     52
21.  Nomar Garciaparra (31) 50
22.  Carl Crawford (23)     49
     Raul Mondesi (34)      49
     Michael Tucker (34)    49
     Fernando Vina (36)     49
26.  Juan Pierre (27)       48
27.  Brian Giles (34)       47
     Derek Jeter (31)       47
     Mark McLemore (40)     47
     Jose Vizcaino (37)     47

1959 Fleer Ted Williams Ted Williams was one of the greatest hitters ever to play the game ! The 'Splendid Splinter' played from 1939-1942 and 1946-1960 all with the Boston Red Sox. He missed 1943 thru 1945 due to military duty when he was a pilot during the wars. For his career he hit .344 with 521 home runs. Ted Williams was one of the biggest stars baseball has ever seen, and his baseball cards remain very popular and valuable. Ted's rookie card was in 1950 Bowman and he was exclusive with Bowman from 1950 thru 1954. In 1954 he also allowed Topps to make his cards which they did from 1954 thru 1958. In 1959 Fleer signed Ted Williams away from Topps and assumed the star Ted Williams would be retiring, put out an entire 80-card set of cards highlighting Ted Williams and illustrating his life both in and out of baseball. Williams decided late in the fall to resign for another year perhaps damaging the sets impact. Today these cards remain extremely popular with most of the cards in teh set still quite affordable. There is one very rare card in this set, #68 picturing Ted with Bucky Harris. UNFORTUNATELY Topps had Bucky Harris under exclusive contract and Fleer had to quickly halt production of this card making it a significant SHORT PRINT. Only a few made it out to the public. This card is quite rare, hardly ever seen and a plain old simple checklist making it the perfect candidate for counterfeiting. NOTE: This card has been counterfeited in significant quantities so you should be very, very careful when looking to acquire this card. Other interesting cards are those that picture Ted with Babe Ruth, Jimmie Foxx, Sam Snead and Jim Thorpe. In addition, cards of Ted fishing or with his airplane are also very popular.

1964 Topps Stand-Ups Topps most popular 1960's test issue !!! Blank-backed and unnumbered, these standard size cards were called "Stand-Ups". "Stand-Ups" refers to a type of card that was die cut around the player's picture. The background section then could be folded in half, so the card could stand up by itself while the player's picture stood alone. Directions for folding are on the background and when folded only the green background remains. 1934-36 Batter Up and the 1951 Topps All-Star sets are 2 other popular standup issues. Thanks to the green and yellow borders and the likelihood that most cards have been heavily folded, 1964 Stand-Ups are extremely difficult to obtain in top grades. The 77 card set features color photographs of the player on yellow and green backgrounds. 22 of the 77 cards were single printed making them twice as scarce and much higher in demand. The set is packed with Hall-of-Famers including MICKEY MANTLE, Willie Mays, Sandy Koufax, Roberto Clemente, Carl Yastrzemski, Al Kaline, Brooks Robinson, Don Drysdale, Ernie Banks, Hank Aaron, Willie McCovey and more !!!

1955 Topps All-American Football In 1955, college football was much more popular with fans than the NFL. This 100 card 1955 Topps All-American Football card set was Topps response to collectors. Topps first major football issue this unique set features the greatest college football players from the first half of the 20th century. The 1955 Topps All-American football card set was issued in one-card penny packs, nine-card nickel packs and 22-card cello packs. The set is jam packed with rookies and stars !!! One of the most valuable 1955 Topps All-American football cards is the rookie card of former Supreme Court Justice Whizzer White. TOP ROOKIES: The Four Horseman, Whizzer White, Fats Henry, Doc Blanchard, Don Hutson, Amos Stagg, Tom Harmon, Ernie Nevers & MORE !!! TOP STARS: Knute Rockne, Jim Thorpe, Sammy Baugh, Red Grange, Otto Graham, Johnny Lujack, Beattie Feathers & MORE !!!

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