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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.

***  HITS  -  ALL-TIME Leaders  ***
Rank Player (age)          Hits
 1.  Pete Rose             4256
 2.  Ty Cobb HOF           4189
 3.  Hank Aaron HOF        3771
 4.  Stan Musial HOF       3630
 5.  Tris Speaker HOF      3514
 6.  Carl Yastrzemski HOF  3419
 7.  Cap Anson HOF         3418
 8.  Honus Wagner HOF      3415
 9.  Paul Molitor HOF      3319
10.  Eddie Collins HOF     3315
11.  Willie Mays HOF       3283
12.  Eddie Murray HOF      3255
13.  Nap Lajoie HOF        3242
14.  Cal Ripken            3184
15.  George Brett HOF      3154
16.  Paul Waner HOF        3152
17.  Robin Yount HOF       3142
18.  Tony Gwynn            3141
19.  Dave Winfield HOF     3110
20.  Rickey Henderson      3055
21.  Rod Carew HOF         3053
22.  Lou Brock HOF         3023
23.  Rafael Palmeiro       3020
24.  Wade Boggs HOF        3010
25.  Al Kaline HOF         3007
26.  Roberto Clemente HOF  3000
27.  Sam Rice HOF          2987
28.  Sam Crawford HOF      2961
29.  Frank Robinson HOF    2943
30.  Willie Keeler HOF     2932
31.  Jake Beckley HOF      2930
     Rogers Hornsby HOF    2930
33.  Al Simmons HOF        2927
34.  Zack Wheat HOF        2884
35.  Frankie Frisch HOF    2880
36.  Mel Ott HOF           2876
37.  Babe Ruth HOF         2873
38.  Harold Baines         2866
39.  Jesse Burkett HOF     2850
40.  Brooks Robinson HOF   2848
41.  Charlie Gehringer HOF 2839
42.  George Sisler HOF     2812
43.+ CRAIG BIGGIO (39)     2795
44.  Andre Dawson          2774
45.  Vada Pinson           2757
46.  Luke Appling HOF      2749
47.  Al Oliver             2743
48.+ BARRY BONDS (40)      2742
49.  Goose Goslin HOF      2735
50.  Tony Perez HOF        2732
51.  Roberto Alomar        2724
52.  Lou Gehrig HOF        2721
53.  Rusty Staub           2716
54.  Bill Buckner          2715
55.  Dave Parker           2712
56.  Billy Williams HOF    2711
57.  Doc Cramer            2705
58.  Luis Aparicio HOF     2677
59.  Fred Clarke HOF       2672
60.  Max Carey HOF         2665
61.  Nellie Fox HOF        2663
62.  George Davis HOF      2660
     Harry Heilmann HOF    2660
64.  Ted Williams HOF      2654
65.  Jimmie Foxx HOF       2646
66.  Lave Cross            2645
67.  Jim O'Rourke HOF      2643
68.  Rabbit Maranville HOF 2605
     Tim Raines            2605
70.  Steve Garvey          2599
71.  Ed Delahanty HOF      2596
72.  Reggie Jackson HOF    2584
73.  Ernie Banks HOF       2583
74.  Richie Ashburn HOF    2574
75.  Willie Davis          2561
76.  George Van Haltren    2532
77.  Heinie Manush HOF     2524
78.+ JULIO FRANCO (46)     2521
79.  Joe Morgan HOF        2517
80.  Buddy Bell            2514
81.  Jimmy Ryan            2502
82.  Mickey Vernon         2495
83.  Fred McGriff          2490
84.  Ted Simmons           2472
85.  Joe Medwick HOF       2471
86.  Roger Connor HOF      2467
87.  Harry Hooper HOF      2466
88.  Ozzie Smith HOF       2460
89.  Lloyd Waner HOF       2459
90.  Bill Dahlen           2457
91.  Jim Rice              2452 
92.  Red Schoendienst HOF  2449
93.  Dwight Evans          2446
94.  Mark Grace            2445
95.+ STEVE FINLEY (40)     2426
96.  Pie Traynor HOF       2416
97.  Mickey Mantle HOF     2415
98.  Stuffy McInnis        2405
99.  Ryne Sandberg HOF     2386
100. Enos Slaughter HOF    2383

***  HITS  -  Active  ***
Rank Player (age)          Hits
 1.  Rafael Palmeiro (40)  3020
 2.  Craig Biggio (39)     2795
 3.  Barry Bonds (40)      2742
 4.  Julio Franco (46)     2521
 5.  Steve Finley (40)     2426
 6.  Gary Sheffield (36)   2345
 7.  B.J. Surhoff          2326
 8.  Jeff Bagwell (37)     2314
 9.  Ken Griffey (35)      2304
     Sammy Sosa (36)       2304
11.  Omar Vizquel (38)     2301
12.  John Olerud (36)      2239
13.  Bernie Williams (36)  2218
14.  Luis Gonzalez (37)    2214
15.  Ivan Rodriguez (33)   2190
16.  Ruben Sierra (39)     2147
17.  Kenny Lofton (38)     2142
18.  Frank Thomas (37)     2136
19.  Jeff Kent (37)        2070
20.  Juan Gonzalez (35)    1936
     Derek Jeter (31)      1936
22.  Garret Anderson (33)  1929
     Mike Piazza (36)      1929
24.  Manny Ramirez (33)    1922
25.  Moises Alou (38)      1901
     Alex Rodriguez (29)   1901
27.  Robin Ventura (37)    1885
28.  Benito Santiago (40)  1830
29.  Vinny Castilla (37)   1821
30.  Chipper Jones (33)    1811

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.

1974 Topps DECKLE EDGE This 72-card test issue set was released with a very limited distribution on only the East Coast around Massachusetts making them quite scarce. They were Officially simply called "Topps Baseball Photos" but their serrated or "DECKLED" edge gave them the name they go by today. The 2 7/8" x 5" inch cards were sold in either a 2 card pack with gum or a 3 card pack with no gum for 5 cents. The cards were meant to have the look of the black and white movie star photos from the 1950's and feature a black & white photo with a blue facsimilie autograph on the front. The backs make this very scarce test issue even more interesting ! They feature handwritten script of the player's name, team, position & date and location of the photograph as well as a mock newspaper article on the player's career. This was Topps 2nd "Deckle Edge" issue, their first being their smaller and much more common 1969 Topps Deckle Edge which were inserts in certain series of packs of 1969 Topps cards. Variations of 1974 Topps Deckle Edge do exist, making this issue even more fun and challenging to collect. The backs can be found in either gray or a much scarcer white version. Also, a more limited proof version with non-scalloped edges exists and occasionally can be found.

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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