1955 Topps # 48 Bob Kennedy (Orioles)

1974 Topps & Parker Brothers Football

Most Parker Brothers cards are similar to the ones from packs except on the back where most Parker Brothers cards had 1972 stats instead of 1973 and (2)* rather than (1)* in the copyright line. BUT NOTE: Some regular Topps cards have both * and ** --- It's complicated! Six of the cards have totally different designs; three All-Pros and three with horizontal designs that were changed to vertical to match the rest of the cards.

Team checklist cards were randomly included in the Topps wax packs.
TOP ROOKIES: Joe DeLamielleure, Ray Guy, Bert Jones, Harold Carmichael, John Matuszak, Ahmad Rashad, Chuck Foreman, John Hannah and actor Ed Marinaro.

1970/1972/1973 Topps Candy Lids
Checklist & Values

Topps has tried many crazy products, called "test issues". Mostly distributed in limited areas, test issues were scarce. "Candy Lids" were little tubs of candy with player's photos on bottom of a 1-7/8" lid. 10 cents/tub, 24 tubs/box.

Topps first Candy Lids in 1970 and they are very, very hard to find. They had small photos of Tom Seaver, Carl Yastrzemski & Frank Howard.

1970 Topps Candy Lids Front 1970 Topps Candy Lids Back 1970 Topps Candy Lids were called "Baseball Stars Bubble Gum", had 24 players, the 1973 Topps Candy Lids had 55.

Topps planned 1972 Candy Lids but never released it, a few proofs do exist.

Topps 1973 Pinups & Comics share many of the same photos.

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.

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.

Autographed/Signed Team Baseball inventory

Baseball card collecting terms (part C)

Cabinet Card Were oversized trading cards featuring paintings issued mostly 1910-1915.

Card Show is a gathering of dealers & collectors looking to buy/sell/trade sports cards and memorabilia.

Card Stock is the material a card is printed on. Usually paper-based, today companies play with the card stock and sometimes it appears to be wood or leather or see-thru acrylic ...

Cello Pack is a card pack whose wrapper is see-thru plastic. Usually the top & bottom cards are seen. Unopened cello packs showing major stars and rookies sell for heavy premiums.

Centering is the balance of the borders: top/bottom & left/right. On perfectly-centered cards, top/bottom borders match as do the left/right borders. Centering is presented as a set of numbers & directions and often included with the grade. Perfectly-centered is "50/50 t/b" AND "50/50 l/r". As centering gets worse, one number increases and the other decreases. For example: 90/10 t/b is considered extremely off-center top to bottom. The numbers add up to 100 (50/50, 60/40, 90/10 ...).

Certificate Of Authenticity (COA) A document used to verify legitimacy of a collectible. NOTE: Keep in mind that COA's are easier to fake then autographs.

Common A card of a non-star player is considered a "Common" as opposed to cards of a star players or specialty/subset cards such as league leaders, teams cards, World Series cards...

Condition (Grade) Centering, corner wear, photo clarity, edges, creases, print flaws ... all combine to determine a card's condition or grade. Along with rarity/scarcity it is the major factor in a card's value.

Crease Defect usually caused by bending the card. Hard to see, or not, a crease lowers the card's grade (VG or lower) and greatly diminishes it's value.

1955 Topps # 48 Bob Kennedy (Orioles)

1974 Topps & Parker Brothers Football

1970/1972/1973 Topps Candy Lids Checklist & Values

Team Autographed / Signed Baseballs

1970/1972/1973 Topps Candy Lids
Checklist & Values