Billy Wagner - 1995 Classic 5-Sport AUTOGRAPH (Astros)

1964 Topps Stand-Ups
Checklist & Values

One of Topps most popular 1960's test issues !!!
Blank-backed, unnumbered & 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 could be folded so the player's picture could "stand up" alone. 1934-36 Batter Up and the 1951 Topps All-Star sets are 2 other popular stand-up issues.
22 of the 77 cards are single prints making them twice as scarce and much higher in demand. Thanks to the green and yellow borders and that most cards have been folded, 1964 Stand-Ups extremely difficult to obtain in high grade.
On the left and right are images of a pack and box. Set packed with 19 Hall-of-Famers including the Top-5: Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Roberto Clemente, Hank Aaron & Sandy Koufax.

1991 Topps Desert Shield cards
Checklist & Values

The 792 card 1991 Topps Desert Shield Baseball card set was issued by Topps for the soldiers serving in the Gulf War. The Desert Shield set is a variation of Topps regular 1991 baseball card with each card having a special gold-foiled 'Desert Shield' stamp added to the front. Many of the cards, scooped up by military personnel stateside, never made it overseas. The equivalent of approx 6,500 sets of cards were made. Cards are still sought after and fairly scarce with complete sets nearly impossible to find. Be aware of counterfeits. Fakes can easily be determined by comparing the gold foil logo with a real Desert Shield card.

The Chipper Jones rookie is the key card in the set along with the usual super stars like Nolan Ryan, Ken Griffey Jr., Cal Ripken ...

1991 Topps Topps Desert Shield checklist, values and prices.

1952 Topps Baseball Cards
Checklist & Values

1952 is often thought of as Topps 1st baseball card set, but it was not.
Topps issued several smaller baseball card sets prior to their huge 1952 set.
Topps buzz word was "BIGGER is BETTER" for their 1952 Topps set which Topps described as: "GIANT IN BOTH SIZE and NUMBER of CARDS" (407).

Key card in the 1952 Topps set is #311 MICKEY MANTLE. Often called Mickey Mantle's Rookie card - BUT IT IS NOT. That honor goes to his 1951 Bowman.
1952 Topps "High Numbers" (#311-#407), are very, very scarce with an interesting story:
This HUGE set was released in series weeks apart. By the last (6th) series, baseball season was over and football starting. Candy shops had plenty of baseball cards from earlier series so most cancelled their orders for the last series creating the scarcity.

Adding interest is how Topps disposed of the now un-needed cards including THOUSANDS of 1952 Topps MICKEY MANTLE's. They dumped them into the Atlantic Ocean like most of New York's trash in those days.

1952 Topps Baseball card checklist, values and prices.

Baseball card collecting terms (part S-Z)

Series are groups of cards in an issue released together. Example: Series #1 (cards #1-100) are released in April; Series #2 (#101-200) released in July; and so on. This allowed kids to easier complete sets. A side-effect was the creation of scarce "High Numbers".

Short Print (SP) is a card printed in lesser quantity than other cards in the set. Recent short prints are often serially-numbered.

Team Set is a group of all the cards of players for a certain team.

Test Issue is a small printing by a card company to see if products are of interest to collectors. Some of Topps neatest items are "Test Issues" like 1956 Topps Pins & 1974 Topps Puzzles.

Tobacco Card is typically from the early 1900's and were issued with tobacco products, the most famous of which is the T-206 Honus Wagner card.

Traded/Update Set is a set issued after the original issue primarily featuring rookies or players who were traded since the original issue came out.

Trimmed Card is a card reduced in size mostly to hide damaged edges or corners. Trimmed cards have very little value compared to the un-trimmed version. In some cases such as the 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle, even trimmed cards can go for thousands. The most famous 'trimmed' card is the T206 Honus Wagner purchased by Wayne Gretzky. The card was actually too large before it was trimmed down to size.

Unauthorized Issue is a card release which is not licensed by the league, player's association or player.

Variation is a card printed by the manufacturer that differs in some way from the normal card.

Wax Pack is a generic term for a pack of cards. The "wax" came from a time when packs were sealed in wax paper wrappers. Today it is still used for packs even though they no longer use wax paper.

Billy Wagner - 1995 Classic 5-Sport AUTOGRAPH (Astros)

1964 Topps Stand-Ups Checklist & Values

1991 Topps Desert Shield cards Checklist & Values

1952 Topps Baseball Cards Checklist & Values

1964 Topps Stand-Ups
Checklist & Values

1991 Topps Desert Shield cards
Checklist & Values

1952 Topps Baseball Cards
Checklist & Values