Barry Bonds - 1996 Summit Big Bang Mirage #5 [#d/600]

Individually serially numbered and LIMITED to ONLY 600 MADE. Lowest price seen on eBay was $39+.

Book Value	$ 60
Our Price	$ 35 Add to cart

Barry Bonds - 1996 Summit Big Bang Mirage #5 [#d/600] 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

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.

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

1986 Topps Football
The 1986 Topps Football set contained (528) cards. Top rookies were Jerry Rice, Steve Young, Reggie White, Andre Reed, Boomer Esiason, Bernie Kosar, Bruce Smith...
Click for complete 1986 Topps Football Checklist and Prices
Note: You may be on that page right now.

1966 Topps Rub-Offs

Click above image for complete image.

1966 Topps Rub-Offs COMPLETE MASTER STRIP
20 different Rub-Offs with Sandy Koufax and 4 other Hall-of-Famers !

From the days when inserts were neat !!! 1966 Topps Rub-Offs have colorful, attractive pictures, which by rubbing the reverse side with a coin (quarters worked best), could be applied to surfaces like desks, books or walls. YEAH - A great item for kids - a HUGE nightmare for parents and teachers !!!

In 1961 Topps issued a similar item called "Magic Rub-Offs". There were 36 different in that set. Topps went way further with their 1966 issue of (120) rub-offs (100 players & 20 pennants). The rub-offs were inserts, one per 1966 Topps wax pack. The 2-1/6 inch by 3 inch rub-offs were printed in rolls of 20 different.

Apparently some kids placed rub-offs of certain players on their bats to help them hit like the player. I wish I would have known ... I could have used the help.

COMPLETE STRIP DETAILS:
(5) Hall-of-Famers: Sandy Koufax, Juan Marichal, Joe Morgan, Frank Robinson & Ron Santo
(3) Team pennants: Astros, Cubs, Giants
Also:John O'Donoghue,Mickey Lolich,Pete Ward,Ed Kranepool, Cookie Rojas,Sam McDowell,Denis Menke,Tim McCarver, Mel Stottlemyre,Tony Oliva,Pete Richert & Bobby Knoop

Grades EX/MINT to NEAR MINT with just a little aging on the edges.
$34.95 for complete (20) Rub-Offs Master Strip w/Sandy Koufax Koufax
Add to cart

How long have sports cards been around ? (part 2)

The first important and mainstream basketball set was issued by Bowman in 1948. Other than a Topps set in 1957-58 and a 1961-62 Fleer set, there were no mainstream basketball sets issued until Topps started producing yearly sets beginning with their 1969-70 set featuring the rookie card of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who then went under the name of Lew Alcindor.

In hockey, there were a few sets issued in the 1910's and while O-Pee-Chee issued some sets in the 1930's, the real modern sets began in 1951 with the itroduction of Parkhurst's first set.

In racing, while cards go back as far as the early Indy car days of 1911, modern racing sets began in 1988 with the issues released by MAXX.