Sports Card Collecting

Sports card collecting appeals to a wide variety ofstarted production. These upper end cards went
people from different age groups andfor a premium price and led the way for the later
backgrounds. These people collect for variousmore expensive card lines.
reasons which range from the love of sports toSince the late 80's and early 90's the number of
monetary gain. The sports cards themselvesvarious sports card sets have increased
have grown to represent most of the majorconsiderably. Each of the 4 main card companies
sports including Nascar.produced many sets in each sport category.
My first recollections of sports card collectingSome produced under different labels such as
were in the early 50's when baseball was a majorTopps Stadium Club etc. Along with this increased
part of my life. These were the good times whenproduction came a dilution of card values. Each
I looked on life as being simple with my greatestproducer also over produced the lines that they
concerns being good grades in school and findinghad.
another pickup game of baseball to play in.Even though this lowering of values came along, it
This was the era when a few extra penniesprobably just did away with some of the inflation
meant that I walked or rode my bicycle about aof prices due to hype and demand. Some felt
mile to the store below my house and purchasedthat the newer cards didn't carry their true value
Topps baseball cards. It meant that they wereand were overpriced when they first came onto
separated into teams and put into a small toolboxthe scene anyway. Some of the new cards had
that my father had made for me. I collectedinflated value that caused their prices to be as
Yankee baseball and Mickey Mantle cards alonghigh as the true collectable older cards. There was
with others until I graduated from high school andno real reason for the new cards to carry the
went off to college. This was the year that myprices that people were asking.
cards were given to a younger boy in theNo matter what the price, true or not, there a still
neighborhood by my mother. To this day I still geta lot of people collect the sports cards for various
a funny feeling when I walk into a store and seereason. These people collect in different ways and
the new packs of sports and racing cards.concentrate on different areas of collecting.
When these sports cards were first produced,One of the main areas of collecting is the individual
they were used primarily as promotional items forplayer rookie cards. These cards may not
products such as tobacco which was laternecessarily be from the first year that a player
replaced with bubble gum. By this time, the cardsplays in the major leagues but it is his first card
were taking over the focus more so than theproduced within a set. Generally a player has a
products that they were advertising. Sportsfirst card produced by several manufactures and
cards, to this day, are still used to draw attentionmay even be in some subsets. The number of
to various products.each sets produced helps determine the value of
One sports collectable that some may notthe individual players card in that set. His card
consider a sports card but has always been avalue is also affected by his statistics in his
fascination to me is the 1952 and 53 Dixie Cupcareer, others expectations of him at the plate
lids. These were Dixie Cup ice cream lids withand how popular that he has become on his way
famous pictures under them and covered with ato the major leagues. Some collectors lose money
paper similar to wax paper for protection. Thedue to the fact that the player does not live up
Dixie Cup company produce these picture lidsto his expectations. I have also seen other players
from the early 30's until the mid 50's but the 2card values change because of his life off of the
afore mentioned years were the only ones thatplaying field. In some cases, drug use by a player
produced sports figure pictures.has greatly affected the value of his career and
After WWII major league players returned fromalso his sports cards.
the war and the paper stock was no loner needAnother type of collecting is the area of special
for the war effort, the first nation wide baseballcards or insert cards added to the regular. This
card set was produced by the Bowman Gumbecame popular in the mid to late 80's and early
Company of Philadelphia in 1948. Compared to the90's. The insert cards can be special player cards
standards of today, these cards weren't veryfrom other sports. One of the first popular inserts
much to look at and contained no color. The facesthat comes to mind was the Michael Jordan card
were black and white pictures of players. Thesein the Upper Deck packs. Signature cards are also
contained not writing referring to the playersa popular type of insert card. Most of these cards
name or position. The backs had writing but werewere produced in a limited number thus increasing
kept very simple with some player informationtheir value due to lesser quantities. Sometimes
included. There was an advertisment at theredeemable cards are used that you can turn in
bottom of the back. These were smaller thanfor other products or cards. The practice of
most of the cards produced at a later date. Thisinserting older valuable cards into packs have been
was the first nationally issued set since the earlyused.
40's.Some individuals collect cards by buying and
These 48 Bowman cards were produced in twokeeping unopened packs. This practice seemed to
series and were printed in sheets of 36 cards.be more prevalent before the price inflation
This was the size of the sheets that the factorycaused the values to drop. Unopened cases and
could produce. This whole set contained a total ofboxes were kept as investments for the future.
48 cards and the twelve additonal cards wereSome of these unopened cases were like gold.
were substituted for 12 of the original cardsSome of their values were unbelievable.
printed on the first sheet. This resulted inComplete sets from certain years are very
short-prints of some of the cards from thepopular collectables. If Topps or one of the other
original series.manufacturers had a very good card for a certain
Naturally, this first set since the war had anyear or the set contained a lot of good rookie
abundance of rookie and first time printed players.cards the sets became more collectable and
Included in these, were players such as Berra,sought after. Some collectors only kept factory
Musial, Spahn, Sain, Henrich, and Rizzuto. Some ofsets and others built sets from boxes and packs.
the popular and rookie players fell into theMost ot those that built their own sets looked for
short-print group making their cards even morethe perfect card with the highest grade. Which of
sought after.the sets, factory or hand built, has the greatest
Topps, probably the most know bubble gum andvalue is still debatable.
sportscard producer, came onto the scene in 1951A card collector that collects for the enjoyment
and along with Bowman were the only carddoes it for many different reasons. Some collect
producers until the early 80's. Topps purchasedcards of their favorite teams, players, regions, or
Bowman in 1956 and was the only producer untilsports. Whatever the reason for collecting, sports
this time. In the early 80's Fleer and Donrusscard collecting has in the past and still is a very
began producing sportscards. In 1989 Upper Deck,popular and sometimes moneymaking hobbie.
what I consider the supreme sports card maker,