1952 Topps #108 Jim Konstanty (Phillies)

Konstanty became the first relief pitcher to win the MVP Award when he won in 1950 !

Book Value	$ 60
Our Price	n/a Out of stock

1952 Topps #108 Jim Konstanty (Phillies) 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.

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.

1955 Topps Baseball Cards
Checklist & Values

1955 Topps was the first of 2 years of horizontal card designs. As with 1952, 1953 & 1954, cards were again a tad larger than today's standard. A nice feature, facsimile autographs, again appeared on the cards. The set came in 2 series, #1-160 and scarcer "High Numbers" #161-210.
Due to the contract battles between Topps & Bowman, Cards #175,186,203 & 209 were never issued. Topps eventually won the war, buying Bowman making 1955 the last year for Bowman cards. But the damage was done as Topps had to leave out many stars including Mickey Mantle & Stan Musial.
There were a total of (15) Hall of Famers in the 1955 set !!!
Top ROOKIEs: Roberto Clemente, Sandy Koufax & Harmon Killebrew
Top Stars: Hank Aaron, Ted Williams, Al Kaline, Ernie Banks, Warren Spahn, Jackie Robinson, Eddie Mathews, Willie Mays, Yogi Berra & Duke Snider.
"The Golden Greek" Harry Agganis, a popular 1955 Topps card, is a tragic story, Agganis, a rising young star, died after his first card was issued. A football star at Boston U., he turned down an offer from the Cleveland Browns and became the starting first baseman. Shortly after he came down with pneumonia and died of a Pulmonary Embolism.

Click for complete 1955 Topps Baseball card checklist, values and prices.
Note: You may be on that page right now.

1993 Topps Inaugural
Colorado Rockies Set

In 1993 Topps produced a limited number of special factory sets to honor the Colorado Rockies first season. A special gold foil Rockies logo was added to each card.
The initial print run of 5,000 ran out quickly so the Rockies had 5,000 more sets made. Cards were only available as factory sets so singles and team sets are a bit tougher to find.
Click for complete 1993 Topps Inaugural Rockies checklist & prices
Note: You may be on that page now.

Are sports cards valuable ?

Like all collectibles, over time some sports cards go down in value, others go up and some can even become very valuable. Card values are based on many factors: player popularity, scarcity, condition & collector interest. A card can be scarce but without demand value may not be great.

Q: What are some ways to collect cards ? * Complete sets by year & issue
* Cards of your favorite player
* Cards of your favorite team "TEAM SETS"
* Rookie cards
* Hall-of-Famer cards
* I even had a girlfriend that collected Don Mossi (checkout his ears), players whose last name start with "Z", and the Brett brothers George & Ken (she had a crush on George).
* "TYPE COLLECTING" (everyone should at least do a little of this !)

"Type Collecting"
is collecting at least one of each different "type" of issue. On scarcer issues you can add a less expensive common while on others you can select your favorite player or team.

1952 Topps #108 Jim Konstanty (Phillies)

Team Autographed / Signed Baseballs

1955 Topps Baseball Cards Checklist & Values

1993 Topps Inaugural Colorado Rockies Set

1955 Topps Baseball Cards
Checklist & Values

1993 Topps Inaugural
Colorado Rockies Set