1965 O-Pee-Chee/OPC #155 Roger Maris
Book Value |
$ 100 |
Our Price |
n/a
Out of stock
|
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.
1956 Adventure cards

Issued by Gum Products Inc., this 100-card set
covered a variety of subjects. Featuring mostly non-sport like
military or wild life, it also had a few sports related cards.
The most famous being Max Schmeling's card, removed very early from
the set for featuring the Nazi symbol, making it by far the
scarcest and most expensive in the set.
The information on back of many cards was somewhat spotty and
sometimes wrong. Card #39 claims Yamamoto was shot down in 1953
rather than 1943. Another in demand and interesting card is
Boston Red Sox Rookie sensation Harry Agganis and mention of
his death on back.
Click for complete
1956 Adventure (Gum Inc.)
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1993 Topps Finest Refractors Checklist & Values
Topps went all in in 1993 with their most premium baseball card set to date,
the famous 1993 Topps Finest set with RARE parallel issue REFRACTORS.
With only 199 cards, 7 per team, the 'Finest' set only had room for
the 'Finest' players !
Rare REFRACTORS were randomly placed in some packs.
REFRACTORS looked exactly like regular cards unless you knew where
AND how to look. Tilting a REFRACTOR in sunshine released a rainbow of
colors, "refracting light" Topps scientists liked to say.
Current info is only 241 REFRACTORS were issued of each card making
this parallel issue one of the scarcest. Collecting a complete set is made
even more difficult by the hoarding of certain cards by collectors AND even
major league baseball players !
Click for complete
1993 Topps Finest Refractors checklist, values & prices.
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Vintage Topps 1956 Baseball Cards Checklist & Prices

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.
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.
The 1956 Topps Pins used same portrait photos as the cards.
Click for complete
1956 Topps Pins Checklist and Prices
Click for more info and complete
1956 Topps Baseball card checklist, values and prices.
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Tobacco Cards
Starting approximately in 1886, sportscards, mostly baseball cards, were often
included with tobacco products, for promotional purposes and also because the
card reinforced the packaging and protected cigarettes from damage. These sports
cards are referred to as tobacco cards in the baseball card hobby. Over the next
few years many different companies produced baseball cards. Tobacco cards soon
started to disappear as the American Tobacco Company tried to develop a monopoly
by buying out other companies.
They were reintroduced in the 1900s, as American Tobacco came under pressure from
antitrust action and Turkish competition. The most famous and most expensive,
baseball card is the rare T206 Honus Wagner. The card exists in very limited
quantities compared to others of its type because Wagner forced the card to be
removed from printing. It is widely (and incorrectly) believed that Wagner did
so because he refused to promote tobacco, but the true explanation lies in a
dispute over compensation.
Soon other companies also began producing baseball and football cards. Sports magazines
such as The Sporting News were early entries to the market. Candy manufacturers
soon joined the fray and reflected a shift toward a younger target audience for cards.
Caramel companies were particularly active and baseball cards were one of the first
prizes to be included in Cracker Jacks. World War I soon suppressed baseball card
production.