1952 Topps #117 Sherman Lollar (White Sox)

Select a different Sport or Vintage Baseball Cards set
or Find:
Enter words, partial words or phrases
1959 Topps displays vintage 1959 Topps Baseball sports cards.
Bowman Mickey Mantle displays all Bowman Mickey Mantle sports cards.

Gateway Stamp Company has provided collectors well over 1 MILLION authenticated certified autographs over the last 30 years.
Silk Cachets from Gateway Stamp Company
Even though a "stamp company", Gateway rarely dealt in stamps, going down a new and creative road becoming one of the world's most unique secrets in autograph collecting combining the best in art, color photographs, history and autographs with their full-color silk cachet envelopes. Gateway's first client was Cardinals Hall of Famer Lou Brock with hundreds to follow.

WHAT ARE FULL-COLOR SILK CACHETS?
A "cachet" is a message or design on an envelope marking a postal event. "Full-color silk" refers to the delicate material into which the original art and photography are printed. After which each silk is applied to the envelope, signed by the player and then officially post-marked by the U.S. Post Office IN THE CITY OF THE EVENT !!!

WHY POSTMARKS?
The key to EVERY Gateway cachet is the postmark.The best way to mark a date in history is with a postmark. The rules governing the granting of postmarks GUARANTEE that NO Gateway issue can EVER be re-issued protecting the value of the autographed, postmarked cachets !!!

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.

Team Signed Baseballs Values
Pricing team signed baseballs is difficult due to subjectivity and factors involved suce as: Signatures placement, quality, strength, number of autographs, stars, age, team significance, and eye appeal considering fading, whiteness, scuffs, shellacking, staining, overall wear...

Team autographed baseballs on official league balls get higher values. They are "official", made better, preserve better and even help in dating especially with balls signed at "Reunion" baseball card shows which brought together great teams of the past.

Facsimile Autographed Balls
1960's/1970's machine-printed "autographed" team baseballs were sold at stadium gift shops for around $1.95. Easy to identify as all signatures were uniform in ink, color, size and look. "Facsimile" signatures are also often found on baseball cards.

These beautiful official government issued postage stamps from Manama were made of a plastic like material and used a an advanced printing technique to show multiple images as the card was moved. This technique was later used on a baseball card issue called "Sportflics".

Each of these postage stamps pictured 2 different players as the stamp was titled. There were 8 different stamps issued, 4 with American player-combos and 4 with Japanese player-combos.

A special stamp picturing BABE RUTH alongside the famous Yankees "MURDERS ROW" was also issued and appears to be significantly scarcer than the others.

Tobacco Cards

Starting approximately in 1886, sportscards, mostly baseball cards, were often included with tobacco products, for promotional purposes and also because the card reinforced the packaging and protected cigarettes from damage. These sports cards are referred to as tobacco cards in the baseball card hobby. Over the next few years many different companies produced baseball cards. Tobacco cards soon started to disappear as the American Tobacco Company tried to develop a monopoly by buying out other companies.

They were reintroduced in the 1900s, as American Tobacco came under pressure from antitrust action and Turkish competition. The most famous and most expensive, baseball card is the rare T206 Honus Wagner. The card exists in very limited quantities compared to others of its type because Wagner forced the card to be removed from printing. It is widely (and incorrectly) believed that Wagner did so because he refused to promote tobacco, but the true explanation lies in a dispute over compensation.

Soon other companies also began producing baseball and football cards. Sports magazines such as The Sporting News were early entries to the market. Candy manufacturers soon joined the fray and reflected a shift toward a younger target audience for cards. Caramel companies were particularly active and baseball cards were one of the first prizes to be included in Cracker Jacks. World War I soon suppressed baseball card production.

1952 Topps #117 Sherman Lollar (White Sox)

Autographed Gateway Cachets

Team Autographed / Signed Baseballs

1972 Manama
Official Postage Stamps

1952 Topps #117 Sherman Lollar (White Sox)

Autographed Gateway Cachets

Team Autographed / Signed Baseballs

1972 Manama Official Postage Stamps

1972 Manama
Official Postage Stamps