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.
1955 Topps Baseball Cards
Checklist & Values
1955 Topps was the first of 2 years of horizontal card designs.
As with 1952, 1953 & 1954, cards were again a tad larger than today's
standard. A nice feature, facsimile autographs, again appeared on the cards.
The set came in 2 series, #1-160 and scarcer "High Numbers" #161-210.
Due to the contract battles between Topps & Bowman, Cards #175,186,203 & 209
were never issued. Topps eventually won the war, buying Bowman making 1955
the last year for Bowman cards. But the damage was done as Topps had to
leave out many stars including Mickey Mantle & Stan Musial.
There were a total of (15) Hall of Famers in the 1955 set !!!
Top ROOKIEs: Roberto Clemente, Sandy Koufax & Harmon Killebrew
Top Stars: Hank Aaron, Ted Williams, Al Kaline, Ernie Banks, Warren Spahn,
Jackie Robinson, Eddie Mathews, Willie Mays, Yogi Berra & Duke Snider.
"The Golden Greek" Harry Agganis, a popular 1955 Topps card, is a tragic
story, Agganis, a rising young star, died after his first card was issued.
A football star at Boston U., he turned down an offer from the Cleveland
Browns and became the starting first baseman. Shortly after he came down
with pneumonia and died of a Pulmonary Embolism.
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1962 Topps Baseball Bucks
Checklist & Values
Another Hit Topps Test Issue from the 1960's !!!
1962 Topps Bucks were one of Topps most creative Test Issues.
Each 1-3/4" x 4-1/8" "Buck" resembled U.S. currency but instead of
George Washington staring at you, it could be Mickey Mantle !!!
1962 Topps Bucks were sold in 1 cent wax packs and were
NOT inserts in 1962 Topps wax packs.
Most exist with a fold line witgh some unfolded proofs around.
Set packed with Hall-of-Famers featuring MICKEY MANTLE, Willie Mays,
Sandy Koufax, Roberto Clemente, Carl Yastrzemski, Stan Musial,
Hank Aaron & more !!!
Click for complete
1962 Topps Baseball Bucks checklist and prices
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Click for complete
1962 Topps Baseball cards checklist and prices
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1952 Topps Baseball Cards
Checklist & Values
1952 is often thought of as Topps 1st baseball card set, but it was not.
Topps issued several smaller baseball card sets prior to their huge 1952 set.
Topps buzz word was "BIGGER is BETTER" for their 1952 Topps set which
Topps described as: "GIANT IN BOTH SIZE and NUMBER of CARDS" (407).
Key card in the 1952 Topps set is #311 MICKEY MANTLE.
Often called Mickey Mantle's Rookie card - BUT IT IS NOT. That honor
goes to his 1951 Bowman.
1952 Topps "High Numbers" (#311-#407), are very, very scarce with an
interesting story:
This HUGE set was released in series weeks apart. By the last (6th)
series, baseball season was over and football starting.
Candy shops had plenty of baseball cards from earlier series
so most cancelled their orders for the last series creating the scarcity.
Adding interest is how Topps disposed of the now un-needed cards including
THOUSANDS of 1952 Topps MICKEY MANTLE's. They dumped them into the Atlantic
Ocean like most of New York's trash in those days.
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Baseball card collecting terms (part S-Z)
Series are groups of cards in an issue released together.
Example: Series #1 (cards #1-100) are released in April;
Series #2 (#101-200) released in July; and so on. This allowed
kids to easier complete sets. A side-effect was the creation of scarce
"High Numbers".
Short Print (SP) is a card printed in lesser quantity than other cards
in the set. Recent short prints are often serially-numbered.
Team Set is a group of all the cards of players for a certain team.
Test Issue is a small printing by a card company to see if
products are of interest to collectors. Some of Topps neatest items
are "Test Issues" like 1956 Topps Pins & 1974 Topps Puzzles.
Tobacco Card is typically from the early 1900's and were issued with
tobacco products, the most famous of which is the T-206 Honus Wagner card.
Traded/Update Set is a set issued after the original issue primarily featuring rookies
or players who were traded since the original issue came out.
Trimmed Card is a card reduced in size mostly to hide
damaged edges or corners. Trimmed cards have very little value compared
to the un-trimmed version. In some cases such as the 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle,
even trimmed cards can go for thousands. The most famous 'trimmed' card
is the T206 Honus Wagner purchased by Wayne Gretzky. The card was actually
too large before it was trimmed down to size.
Unauthorized Issue is a card release which is not licensed by the
league, player's association or player.
Variation is a card printed by the manufacturer that differs
in some way from the normal card.
Wax Pack is a generic term for a pack of cards.
The "wax" came from a time when packs were sealed in wax paper wrappers.
Today it is still used for packs even though they no longer use wax paper.
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