1965 Topps #130 Al Kaline (Tigers)

Kaline (at 20 years young in 1955) is still the youngest batting champ ever !
Grade
EX/MINT to NEAR MINT
Book Value
$ 40
Our Price
$ 49.95
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1965 Topps #130 Al Kaline (Tigers)  cards value
Baseball
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.

1934,1935,1936 Diamond Matchbooks

During much of the Great Depression, matchbook collecting swept the country ! Sports matchbooks started appearing in the 1930s, most issued by Diamond Match Company of New York. Over the next few years, several series were issued with similar designs; b/w photo of the player on front with short write-up and stats on back. The player's name and team was also printed on the 'saddle'.

Please consider the following info as approximate.
1934's first baseball release featured 200 players, in 4 different background colors (red,blue,green and orange) for a total of 800 different covers. The set features plenty of Hall-of-Fame greats like Dizzy Dean and Mel Ott.

1935's issue was tiny with only 24 total covers (8 red,8 blue,8 green).

A third series was later released with 200 or more different covers (players/colors).

1930's matchbook covers appear to be huge bargains for collectors as their current values are fractions of the value of Goudey and other baseball cards from the same era.

Click for complete 1935-1936 Diamond Matchbook Checklist and Prices
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Baseball

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
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Baseball

1993 Topps Rockies Inaugural logo

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
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Baseball
Protecting and Storing your Card Collection

There are many different ways to protect, organize and store your sports cards.

Soft Sleeves also called "penny sleeves" are the most basic protection for your cards. Made of thin plastic, they come in packs of 100 and are very inexpensive.

Top Loads are rigid plastic holders and a step up in protection over "soft sleeves". Called top-loads because you place the card thru a thin opening at the top. They come in many sizes for regular cards upto 8-1/2 x 11 for magazines and even larger.

Screw-Down Acrylic Holders
These are sometimes used for better, more expensive cards. Small screws hold two pieces of clear acrylic together. In a variety of sizes and thickness that not only protect the card but can funciton as a paper weight or display item.

There are also Single-Screw Screw-Downs that use only 1 screw to seal the holder. They are easier to use and provide the same type of protectionas regular screwdowns and they are also much less expensive costing as little as .30 in quantity while 1 inch or 2 inch acrylic screw-downs can cost upto several dollars.

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