1971 Kellogg's1971, Kellogg's second and by far scarcest and most valuable set, contained 75 different players on 2 ¼” by 3 ½” cards. The cards were plastic coated giving them a 3-D look !!! The plastic coating also made high grade cards nearly impossible find. Over time and the elements, most cards would curl making light and heavy cracks very common.As opposed to Kellogg's other issues which were available from the company as complete sets, 1971 Kellogg's cards were ONLY available one in each specially marked box of Kellogg's cereal. The only way to complete your 1971 Kellogg's set was to pester mom to buy, buy, buy more boxes of cereal.
In addition to the 75 different players, numerous scarcer variations exist
with minor differences in the stats on back. In addition, all 75 cards and
some variations are found with 2 different forms of copyright on the back: The "toughest" cards appear to be: # 7 Alou (1970 Oakland NL) # 28 Wright (Angles Crest Logo) # 54 Johnson (Angles Crest Logo) # 64 Fregosi (Angles Crest Logo) # 70 Osteen (No Number on back) # 2 Seaver (ERA 2.81) # 41 Gaston (113 Runs) # 65 Rose (RBI 485) |
Team Autographed / Signed Baseballs
Team signed baseballs were the thing well before single-signed
balls exploded on the market.
Click for our current
Autographed/Signed Team Baseball inventory
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
Team Signed Baseballs Values 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 Note: You may be on that page now. |
1954 Bowman Baseball |
Cabinet Card Were oversized trading cards featuring paintings issued mostly 1910-1915.
Card Show is a gathering of dealers & collectors looking to buy/sell/trade sports cards and memorabilia.
Card Stock is the material a card is printed on. Usually paper-based, today companies play with the card stock and sometimes it appears to be wood or leather or see-thru acrylic ...
Cello Pack is a card pack whose wrapper is see-thru plastic. Usually the top & bottom cards are seen. Unopened cello packs showing major stars and rookies sell for heavy premiums.
Centering is the balance of the borders: top/bottom & left/right. On perfectly-centered cards, top/bottom borders match as do the left/right borders. Centering is presented as a set of numbers & directions and often included with the grade. Perfectly-centered is "50/50 t/b" AND "50/50 l/r". As centering gets worse, one number increases and the other decreases. For example: 90/10 t/b is considered extremely off-center top to bottom. The numbers add up to 100 (50/50, 60/40, 90/10 ...).
Certificate Of Authenticity (COA) A document used to verify legitimacy of a collectible. NOTE: Keep in mind that COA's are easier to fake then autographs.
Common A card of a non-star player is considered a "Common" as opposed to cards of a star players or specialty/subset cards such as league leaders, teams cards, World Series cards...
Condition (Grade) Centering, corner wear, photo clarity, edges, creases, print flaws ... all combine to determine a card's condition or grade. Along with rarity/scarcity it is the major factor in a card's value.
Crease Defect usually caused by bending the card. Hard to see, or not, a crease lowers the card's grade (VG or lower) and greatly diminishes it's value.