1997-98 Upper Deck 'ICE' POWER SHIFT GOLD #85 Paul Kariya (Ducks)

Great looking VERY SCARCE parallel issue on see-thru acetate.

Grade	NM/MINT
Book Value	$ 36
Our Price	$ 14.95 Add to cart

1997-98 Upper Deck 'ICE' POWER SHIFT GOLD #85 Paul Kariya (Ducks) cards value

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.

1959 Fleer Ted Williams baseball cards

This special 80-card set from the Frank H. Fleer Company honors Ted Williams, "The Splendid Splinter." While other companies vied for Topps' exclusive player rights, Fleer successfully secured Ted Williams, who, nearing the end of his career, remained one of the best and most popular players.
"Teddy Ballgame" had a remarkable career, and the set captures many of his highlights, including his two Triple Crowns. He is still the last hitter to reach the .400 mark! Several popular cards feature Ted with other stars, including Babe Ruth, Jimmie Foxx, football star Jim Thorpe, and golfer Sam Snead.
Of particular note is Card #68, "Ted Signs for 1959," which pictures him signing his contract. The photo also included Red Sox GM Bucky Harris, who was under one of those exclusive deals with Topps at the time. This led to the card being pulled, making it extremely scarce. Unfortunately, reprints of the card surfaced in the 1970s. This is widely considered the first baseball card to be reprinted/counterfeited. Interestingly, the counterfeits were allowed to remain on the market, so caution is advised when dealing with this card.
Cards were sold in both six-card and eight-card wax packs. For some reason, the scarcer 8-card packs contained no gum.

Click for complete 1959 Fleer Ted Williams baseball card set
Note: You may be on that page right now.
Other baseball issues from Fleer:
1960 Fleer Baseball Greats
1961 Fleer Baseball Greats
1963 Fleer Baseball

Vintage Baseball Wire Photos

UPI/AP Wirephotos

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.

Click for a complete listing and images of our UPI/AP Sports Wirephotos.

How long have sports cards been around ? (part 1)

The first baseball trading cards date back to 1869. For many years, baseball cards were packaged in packs of tobacco as a way to increase sales the same way that today prizes are packaged in boxes of cereal. In the 1920's and 1930's, candy and gum companies started packaging baseball cards in their products as well.

Baseball card production was virtually halted in the early 1940's due to paper shortages created by World War II. The "Modern Era" of baseball cards began in 1948 when Bowman Gum Inc. offered one card and one piece of gum in a pack for a penny.

The first important football set was the Mayo set featuring college players in 1984. Other than the 1935 National Chicle set no other key football set was issued until 1948 when noth Bowman and Leaf produced sets.