1955 Armour COIN - Virgil Trucks [VAR:WhiteSox] PALE-GREEN (White Sox)
Grade |
NEAR MINT |
Book Value |
$ 25 |
Our Price |
$ 17.50
Add to cart
|
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.
|
1952 Topps Baseball Cards Checklist & Values
1952 is often thought of as Topps 1st baseball card set, but it was not.
Topps issued several smaller baseball card sets prior to their huge 1952 set.
The buzz word at Topps back then was "BIGGER is BETTER" for their 1952 Topps set
which Topps described as: "GIANT IN BOTH SIZE and NUMBER of CARDS" (407).
Key card in the 1952 Topps set is #311 MICKEY MANTLE.
Often called Mickey Mantle's Rookie card - BUT IT IS NOT. That honor
goes to his 1951 Bowman.
1952 Topps "High Numbers" (#311-#407), are very, very scarce with an
interesting story:
This HUGE set was released in series, released weeks apart. By the last
series, baseball was over and football starting.
??? Perhaps the set was too huge ???
Shops had cards left from earlier in the year so many orders
were cancelled, thus the scarcity.
Adding interest is how Topps got rid of the now useless cards, including
THOUSANDS of MICKEY MANTLE's. They dumped them into the Ocean !!!
Click for complete
1952 Topps Baseball card checklist, values and prices.
|
1955 Topps Double-Headers (Doubleheaders) Baseball Cards Set checklist/info

Without a doubt my FAVORITE SET - PERIOD. Regular issue, test issues,
inserts ... whatever ... this is # 1 !!!
Similar to the early 1900's Mecca Double Folders, these colorful
2-1/16" x 4-7/8" cards are actually 2-cards-in-1 !
Perforated in the center, you can fold to create cards of 2
different players. Unperforated 1955 Topps DoubleHeaders exist.
All 132 players (66 cards) in the 1955 Topps DoubleHeaders set were also in
the regular 1955 Topps set, with the same action image.
NOTE: Laid side-by-side the cards form spectacular scenes
from actual stadiums !!!
Old-timers - can you identify the stadiums ?
ROOKIES:
Harmon Killebrew, Hal Newhouser
STARS:
Ted Williams, Hank Aaron, Jackie Robinson ...
The Best !!!
Click for complete
1955 Topps Double-Headers (Doubleheaders) baseball cards Checklist and Prices
Note: You may be on that page right now.
|
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.