WIREPHOTO: Barry Sanders - [10/29/89] 'Picking Up Yards' (Lions)

Book = $ *BOOK*
Price = $ 14.95

Price = $ 14.95

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.

1948 Bowman Football Cards
Checklist & Values

1948 Bowman Football takes it's place in the early history of football cards. While not as flashy as the 1935 National Chicles football issue the 1948 Bowman Football set had great players in real photographs !
The set was tiny (in both card size and number of cards) containing only 108 smallish 2-1/16" x 2-1/2" inch cards. The honor of top rookie in the set is easily Sammy Baugh and there appear to be no variations in the set.

Click for complete 1948 Bowman Football cards checklist, values and prices.
Note: You may be on that page right now.

1954 Bowman Baseball
Cards Checklist & Values

Competition was raging between Topps and Bowman in 1953 and 1954 leading to problems with both companies sets. Bowman caused Topps to missing 6 cards in 1953 with Topps getting revenge by signing Ted Williams to an exclusive contract in 1954. Bowman then had to pull Ted Williams card #66 from their set shortly after they started printing, replacing it with Jimmy Piersall, who also was on card #210 making the 1954 Bowman Ted Williams #6 one of 50's scarcest cards.
Perhaps distracted by it's competition with Topps, the 1954 Bowman set was filled with errors and variations. Nearly 20% (40/224 cards) had some sort of variation, with some having more than 2.
The St. Louis Browns recent move to Baltimore also made things interesting. Bowman's artists had no idea what an Orioles jersey would look like - so they just madeone up.

TOP ROOKIES: Don Larsen, Harvey Kuenn, Frank Thomas
TOP STARS: Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Yogi Berra, Duke Snider, Roy Campanella, Whitey Ford, Phil Rizzuto ... Ted Williams is not considered part of a complete set.
Click for complete 1954 Bowman Baseball card checklist, values and prices.
Note: You may be on that page right now.

1932,1933,1936 Chicago Cubs
Picture Pack Team Issue

Oversized, approx 6x9 inch b/w on construction paper like card stock with facsimile autographs.
Set also has some Cubs execs like William Wrigley & Bill Veeck. The years are very tough to tell and may require an expert.

Click for complete 1932,1933,1936 Chicago Cubs
Picture Pack Team Issue Checklist and Prices
Note: You may be on that page right now.

How long have sports cards been around ? (part 1)

The first baseball trading cards date back to 1869. For many years, baseball cards were packaged in packs of tobacco as a way to increase sales the same way that today prizes are packaged in boxes of cereal. In the 1920's and 1930's, candy and gum companies started packaging baseball cards in their products as well.

Baseball card production was virtually halted in the early 1940's due to paper shortages created by World War II. The "Modern Era" of baseball cards began in 1948 when Bowman Gum Inc. offered one card and one piece of gum in a pack for a penny.

The first important football set was the Mayo set featuring college players in 1984. Other than the 1935 National Chicle set no other key football set was issued until 1948 when noth Bowman and Leaf produced sets.

WIREPHOTO: Barry Sanders - [10/29/89] 'Picking Up Yards' (Lions)

1948 Bowman Football Cards Checklist & Values

1954 Bowman Baseball Cards Checklist & Values

1932,1933,1936 Chicago Cubs Picture Pack Team Issue

1948 Bowman Football Cards
Checklist & Values

1954 Bowman Baseball
Cards Checklist & Values

1932,1933,1936 Chicago Cubs
Picture Pack Team Issue