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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. History of Basketball Cards (T4) The first major basketball card issue was released by Bowman Gum Company in 1948. Topps entered the market in 1957. At the time interest was minimal in professional basketball and the Topps issue was considered a failure. Basketball cards were in direct competition with baseball cards at a time when baseball was the nationally broadcasted America's sport. Collectors were not yet ready for basketball or basketball cards and Topps quickly left the basketball card market after just 1 year not to return till 1969. In the 1960's there was rising interest in basketball and basketball card collecting took off, much like baseball card collecting thirty years earlier. In the 1970's basketball cards started to gain popularity and reached a peak in the 1980's and 1990's, partially attribuable to the great Michael Jordan. Today, high grade vintage basketball cards of greats like Jerry West, Bob Cousy, Wilt Chamberlain and Bob Pettit can run into the hundreds and thousands of dollars. Joining them are more recent stars like Kareem Abdul-Jabar, Larry Byrd, Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan. Even though basketball cards got a much later start than baseball cards and football cards they are now a part of America's collecting heritage.

***  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

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.

1969 Topps Stamps This was Topps 3rd stamp issue in the last eight years and it was a good one !!! The stamps were not inserts but a totally separate issue . For a nickel you got a strip of twelve stamps plus a mini album. The 1969 Topps Stamps complete set contains 240 stamps. The 1 x 1-7/16 inch stamps were unnumbered and featured a color photo with the player's name, team and position inside a colored banner at the bottom of the stamp. The stamps were released in both vertical and horizontal strips of 12 stamps. The 1969 Topps Stamps are often confused with Topps' 1974 issue. The 1974 Topps Stamps have ovals rather than banners at the bottom and were released only in 12-stamp horizontal panels. Along with the stamps, Topps also issued a set of 24 albums, one per team, to store them in. The 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" orange albums were the same size as a baseball card and held a complete 10-stamp team set. To add even more collecting fun, the album's back cover had facsimile autographs of the ten players shown in the album. The 1969 Topps Stamps set is packed with stars like Pete Rose along with tons of Hall-of-Famers including MICKEY MANTLE, Willie Mays, Roberto Clemente & many, many more !!!

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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