1955 Topps ALL-AMERICAN FB # 90 Charlie O'Rourke (Boston College)
Grade |
EX/EX+ |
Book Value |
$ 18 |
Our Price |
$ 9.95
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
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1954 Topps Baseball Cards Checklist & Values
No only did the 1954 Topps issue feature the rookie cards of some of the
greatest baseball players of all-time, it also was the 1st appearance of
Ted Williams on a Topps card. Topps was so proud of this they made
Ted the FIRST (#1) and LAST (#250) card in the set.
1954 Topps was released in three different series, (#1-50),
a tougher mid-series (#51-75), and finally (#76-250). Of note for fans
of variations, first series cards were issued in Canada with gray backs.
ROOKIE cards of future Hall of Famers Hank Aaron, Al Kaline & Ernie Banks
along with cards of SuperStars Ted Williams, Willie Mays, Duke Snider,
Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford, Jackie Robinson and tons more !!!
Click for complete
1954 Topps Baseball card checklist, values and prices.
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1974 Topps DECKLE EDGE Checklist & Values
This scarce 72-card test issue set was released with very limited
East Coast distribution making them quite scarce.

Officially simply called "Topps Baseball Photos", their serrated or "DECKLED"
edge gave them the name they go by today.
The 2 7/8" x 5" inch cards were sold in 2 card packs with gum or 3 card
packs without for 5 cents.
Click to enlarge Complete Proof Sheet on left
Fronts are similar to b&w Exhibit Postcards from the 50's
with photos and facsimile autographs.
The backs make this very scarce test issue more interesting !
They feature handwritten script of player's name, team, position & date
and location of the photograph as well as a mock newspaper article.
This was Topps 2nd "Deckle Edge" issue, their first being the smaller
and more common 1969 Topps Deckle Edge inserts in 1969 Topps packs.
Variations of 1974 Topps Deckle Edge exist,
making this issue more fun and challenging to collect.
Backs can be found in gray or a much scarcer white.
Also, more limited proof versions with non-scalloped edges exist and
can be found with and without card numbers.
Click for complete
1969 Topps Deckle Edge checklist and prices
Click for complete
1974 Topps Deckle Edge checklist and prices
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How long have sports cards been around ? (part 2)
The first important and mainstream basketball set was issued by Bowman in 1948.
Other than a Topps set in 1957-58 and a 1961-62 Fleer set, there were no
mainstream basketball sets issued until Topps started producing yearly sets
beginning with their 1969-70 set featuring the rookie card of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar,
who then went under the name of Lew Alcindor.
In hockey, there were a few sets issued in the 1910's and while O-Pee-Chee issued
some sets in the 1930's, the real modern sets began in 1951 with the itroduction
of Parkhurst's first set.
In racing, while cards go back as far as the early Indy car days of 1911,
modern racing sets began in 1988 with the issues released by MAXX.