1961 Topps #436 Jim Maloney ROOKIE SHORT PRINT (Reds)

One of the toughest cards to find when working on this set.

Grade	NEAR MINT
Book Value	n/a
Our Price	$ 31.95 Add to cart

1961 Topps #436 Jim Maloney ROOKIE SHORT PRINT (Reds) cards value

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.

Team Autographed / Signed Baseballs (P3)

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's 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.

Click for our current Autographed/Signed Team Baseball inventory
Note: You may be on that page now.

10 Best/Most Interesting Error Cards

I've always loved VARIATIONS but not just errors. ERRORs are just errors and not corrected. ERROR VARIATIONS are errors that have been corrected. Usually onw of the (2) is scarcer than the other, sometimes even rare.
Here's one person's list of his top "error" cards..

1990 Topps Frank Thomas NO NAME
1989 Fleer Billy Ripken F..K FACE
1989 Score Paul Gibson CROTCH GRAB
2006 Topps Alex Gordon NOT SUPPOSED TO EXIST
1987 Donruss Opening Day Barry Bonds PICTURES JOHNNY RAY
T206 Sherry Magee MISSPELLED MAGIE
1985 Topps Gary Pettis YOUNGER BROTHER LYNN
1989 Upper Deck Dale Murphy REVERSED IMAGE
1990 Pacific Jim Nettles "A--HOLE" BAT
1988 Topps Al Leiter WRONG PLAYER

Someone else had several of the above plus:

1969 Topps Mickey Mantle (Mantle in White Letters) 
1952 Topps Johnny Sain-Paige Bio
1948 Leaf Gene Hermansk (misspelled) 
1977 Star Wars C-3PO #207 PE.IS
1954 Bowman Emlen Tunnell (misspelled with Tunnel) 
Sam Vincent 1990-91 Hoops #223 (Jordan wearing jersey #12) 
1981 Fleer Graig Nettles (Craig on the back)

First couple of "Variations" that popped into my head:

1958 Topps Hank Aaron & Roberto Clemente [YELLOW LETTERs]
1966 Topps Don Landrum [3 different pants button issues]
1962 Topps #139 [3 different variations - one is Babe Ruth]

Click for a list of our variations.

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.