1951 Bowman #277 Roy Hartsfield SCARCE HIGH# (Boston Braves)

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1959 Topps displays vintage 1959 Topps Baseball sports cards.
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Official authentic vintage UPI/AP Wirephotos/Laserphotos are very limited, normally only 1 sent to subscribing newspapers. Photos were black & white printed on electro-static printers, usually sent in 3 stages, Cyan, Magenta & Yellow, then combined into a color photograph. Photos are work products and VG to NEAR MINT. As a bonus, some have editor's blue-line cropping marks.

Scarce, interesting and snapshots of history, wire photos of major subjects and moments make for great collectibles. Wirephotos and laserphotos are no longer transmitted in this manner (stopping around the early 90's). Images are now transmitted from computer to computer with no need for hardcopies.
old UPI wirephotos old AP wirephotos Wirephotos images taken with low res camera so images do not do then justice. The wirephotos are nicer than in the image. Most wirephotos from San Diego Union Tribune archives and make nice additions to your collection.

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.

2 reasons auctions are popular way to sell vintage sports cards.
#1 Desirable items tend to get top dollar (or better !)
#2 Everything goes
... This can be good - Everything gone, happy with final total
... or can be very bad - Everything gone, but at super low prices

OTHER WAYS TO SELL YOUR CARDS
•eBay Buy-it-Now •card store •swap meet •Craigslist •garage/yard sale
or •DONATE to a charity for tax write-off
Not selling but perhaps easiest with possible $$$ return.
ASSUMPTIONS:
#1) You are one of the RARE tax payers left in America
#2) You have mostly late 80's & 90's "junk"
Consider donating the "junk" and keep better stuff to sell later. Tax deduction was based on LESSER of "what-it-cost" & "What-it's-Worth". For "What-it's-Worth", I use Beckett which can be higher than what you paid. Check with your tax guy.

Cut/Paste TurboTax discussion link below:
https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/3372284-are-trading-card-donations-deductible-if-so-how-much Possible Charities for Donations
•Goodwill •Salvation Army •Cerebal Palsy •Children's Hospitals •Cubs scout troops
...or an online charity
•Cards 2 Kids •Commons4Kids.org •CollectiblesWithCauses.org
Verify all "charities " before donating.

Baseball card collecting terms (part B)

Bazooka Bazooka Bubble Gum put baseball cards on the back of their boxes from 1959 thru 1971. Complete boxes and panels can get extremely costly. Most kids back then could not afford complete boxes of bubble gum at one making Bazooka cards quite scarce. I actually don't recall ever obtaining a Bazooka card directly from a box as a kid. Do you ???

Black Sox Scandal Name given to the the most famous scandal in baseball history after the 1919 Chicago White Sox versus the Cincinatti Reds World Series when 8 White Sox players were accused of throwing the series. Details have remained somewhat unclear. The players were acquitted of criminal charges but 8 players still received a lifetime ban from professional baseball including the All-Time great "Shoeless" Joe Jackson.

Blank-Back a card in which nothing is printed on the back. These cards are usually not in packs and are either "PROOF ISSUES" or were removed from the factory in some way.

Blanket a term used for collectibles in the 1910's made of fabric .

Border is the part of the card that surrounds the photo or image.

Bowman was a card manufacturer in the 1940's and 1950's that was bought out by Topps. In 1989 Topps started issuing cards using the Bowman brand.

Break a term used to indicate the opening of a set, pack, box or case.

Break Value is the total book value of each card added up individually. The break value of a set is usually way, way more than the value of the complete set.

1951 Bowman #277 Roy Hartsfield SCARCE HIGH# (Boston Braves)

Vintage Baseball Wire Photos

UPI/AP Wirephotos

Team Autographed / Signed Baseballs

Ways to sell your baseball cards