1958 Topps FB #116 Pittsburgh Steelers TEAM card

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1959 Topps displays vintage 1959 Topps Football sports cards.
Bowman Mickey Mantle displays all Bowman Mickey Mantle sports cards.

1956 Topps were slightly larger (3-3/4" by 2 5/8") horizontal cards similar to 1955 Topps cards, some even sharing portraits with 1954 and 1955 Topps cards. Team cards & checklists appeared for the first time in 1956.

With Bowman gone, after missing the last 3 years, Mickey Mantle was back !!! A fun & simple set, 1956 Topps had no high numbers or expensive rookies but for serious 1956 collectors, there are over 200 variations. Most variations deal with card stock (gray or white back). For #101-180 gray appears to outnumber white about 9-to-1. Many team cards had 2 or 3 variations with team names Left, Center or Right.

1956 Topps Hank Aaron 1956 Topps Mickey Mantle
There are 2 great cards: #31 Hank Aaron which actually pictures Willie Mays sliding home and #135 Mickey Mantle. Mantle shown leaping high into the stands robbing a home run ! Artist did a great job showing Mantle making the catch ! BUT ... Mantle looked great leaping but the ball flew over his glove. 1956 Topps Mickey Mantle Catch

The 1956 Topps Pins used same portrait photos as the cards.

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1956 Topps Pins Checklist and Prices

1974 Topps Stamps set had (240) 1x1-1/2 inch stamps, 10/team. Issued in 12-stamp panels in diff. combos of rows for 24 DIFFERENT panels in a complete 1974 Topps Stamps PANEL set.

NOTE: Your favorite may be on 2 different panels !!!
Set suffers from HORRIBLE centering and bad perforations. 1969/1974 Topps stamps are very similar except: 1974's oval vs 1969's banner.

1974 Topps Mini-Albums - seen - perhaps not released.

PACKED! Ryan, Aaron, Bench... With Pete Rose and seldom seen Winfield & Parker rookies.

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.

Baseball card collecting terms (part H-R)

High Numbers - vintage cards were issued in the �50s-�70s in a series. During the baseball season, the largest number of cards were made. As the schedule progressed into September, when there would be less interest in baseball cards , Topps for one, specifically decreased production and hence much less product was available. As a result, a scarcity-factor was created and a premium holds for these first type of "short-printed" cards.

Inserts - special randomly-inserted cards which are not part of the regular set. Many modern inserts are sequentially-numbered and rarer than the card sets into which they are inserted.

O-Pee-Chee / OPC - a subsidiary of Topps, this card issue was produced specifically for distribution in Canada.

Promotional Card - generally referred to as cards issued to show what the product will look like on release and intended to help spur future sales. Often called a "promo" card.

Reprint - cards issued to reproduce the originals. With the current trend of vintage reprints, the new versions have a distinguishing characteristic evidenced by numbering.

Restored - a card or piece of memorabilia which someone has tried to return to a "like-new" condition. A restored card is considered to be of very little value.

Rookie Card - any league-licensed, widely distributed card to feature a player in his first year of trading cards.

1958 Topps FB #116 Pittsburgh Steelers TEAM card

Vintage Topps 1956 Baseball Cards
Checklist & Prices

1974 Topps Stamps
Checklist & Values

Team Autographed / Signed Baseballs

1958 Topps FB #116 Pittsburgh Steelers TEAM card

Vintage Topps 1956 Baseball Cards Checklist & Prices

1974 Topps Stamps Checklist & Values

Team Autographed / Signed Baseballs

Vintage Topps 1956 Baseball Cards
Checklist & Prices

1974 Topps Stamps
Checklist & Values