Below are short bits & pieces on sportscard & baseball trading card collecting.
Please wander around the website for more info, prices, values & images
on vintage baseball, football, basketball, hockey, sport and non-sports cards.

1953 Topps Baseball Cards Checklist & Values
The 1953 Topps set is a collection of gorgeous portraits drawn by the
leading sports artists of the day. Key cards in the 1953 Topps set
include: Jackie Robinson, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays & Satchel Paige.
Satchel Paige had his name spelled incorrectly (2 'L') on the card front.
As with all Topps sets from the 1950's & 1960's, 1953 Topps was issued in
series, (#1-85, #86-165, #166-220 & #221-280) with the final series
"High Numbers" the least produced, least available and thus the most costly.
Topps and Bowman still at war likely accounts for the 6 missing #'s
from the High Number series.
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1953 Topps Baseball card checklist, values and prices.
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1961 Topps Baseball Cards Checklist & Values
The 1961 Topps baseball card set had 587 cards (#1-#598 with some missing numbers).
In addition to the missing cards, 2 cards were accidently numbered #463
(the Braves Team card was supposed to be card #426).
1961 Topps set was packed with special "subsets":
League Leaders (10 cards), World Series cards (10),
Highlights (11 cards), MVP's (16 cards), Checklists (7 cards plus several variations),
Team cards, Special Multi-Player cards, Managers,
Topps Rookie All-Star Trophies, & Sporting News All-Stars
Of note - 1961 Topps were the first cards bearing the very popular Topps Rookie All-Star Award Trophies.
"High Number" cards (#523-#589) are very scarce.
The least attractive aspect of the 1961 Topps baseball card set
were the capless players !!!
Baseball expansion led to the problem when
Los Angeles Angels were added,
the Washington Senators became the Minnesota Twins
and the Washington Senators got a new franchise.
Because of these changes, tons of players were capless
and looked awful. picture you 50 year old grand-dad.
Life was obviously tougher back then.
More 1961 Topps card info:
Card #1 was All-American basketball player Dick Groat
Card #2 was Roger Maris, right before his record breaking 61 Home Run season
Mickey Mantle was on (6) 1961 Topps cards adding to the sets cost.
Topps released 3 other sets in 1961: Topps Dice Game, Topps Magic Rub-Offs & Topps Stamps.
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1961 Topps baseball cards Checklist and Prices
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1961 Topps Autographed baseball cards Checklist and Prices
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Team Autographed / Signed Baseballs
Team signed baseballs were the thing well before single-signed
balls exploded on the market.
What is a "Team Signed Baseball" ???
Simple answer: A ball with XXX signatures of a certain team
for a certain year. What is difficult is the XXX.
Baseball tons of roster moves make it nearly impossible to
"Get Them All".
Generally, team signed baseballs from early 1900's had 10 to 15
signatures, the 1940's that jumped to 18 to 25.
Joyce Sports Research Collection (Notre Dame) says "signatures must
include only members of a specific team from a specific year, and there
must be some approximation of completeness."
Not concrete but to me a "team ball" MUST have ALL the team's
STARS (unless a rookie or in season trade) and in today's market
at least 20, preferably more, and the manager.
Determining Age of Team Signed Balls
"Official" league balls have stamped signatures of current league
presidents on the "sweet spot".
Starting 1934/1935 balls were produced by Spalding (NL)
and Reach (AL). Rawlings took over in 1977/78.
Have a possible team roster at hand, ESPN & baseball-reference.com
have great sites), decipher a few signatures then solve the puzzle.
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Autographed/Signed Team Baseball inventory
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Baseball card collecting terms (part A)
Airbrushing is the art of touching up a photo prior to the card being printed.
It was generally done to remove imperfections or update or hide a players
jersey/cap logo. Because of advancements in print technology and computers this is
no longer needed.
All-Star card (AS) usually a subset card picturing a player who participated in the
previous season’s all-star game. Topps created these in their 1958 High Number
issue and has continued the practice fairly regularly to date. Such cards
are usually designated in price guides with the abbreviation of AS.
Assorted A general mix of cards often containing many duplicates.
Auction items are sold to the highest bidder. Auctions used to be live
or thru the mail/phone but today most auctions are online.
Auction Catalog lists the rules and descriptions and often images
of the items in an auction.
Authentication verification that an item (card, autograph) is genuine. Most "game-used"
material inserts have a written declaration of authenticity on the reverse.
Authorized Issue card or memorabilia item that has been properly licensed. If
the item is of a player, his written permission must be given in order for it to be considered authorized.
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