1976 O-Pee-Chee/OPC # 95 Brooks Robinson (Orioles)

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

In 1958 Topps started a continuing feature with their first "All-Star" subset. A part of the All-Star subset, the Mickey Mantle 1958 All-Star card is famous for being in the back pocket of famous sportscaster Bob Costas.

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.

Tobacco cards were instrumental in the start of the baseball card industry but were pretty much unheard of since 1920. That is until RED MAN TOBACCO got in the game issuing baseball cards in 1952, 1953, 1954 & 1955.
For just 20 cents you got a pouch of Red Man tobacco and one awesome 3-1/2 x 4 inch baseball card with it's tab (3-1/2 x 3-5/8 without). Exchange FIFTY tabs and you got one free big league style felt baseball cap of your favorite team. This made cards with tabs much, much harder to find and values 2 to 10 times higher.
25 players from each league were selected by "Sporting News" editor J.G. Taylor Spink. A Player's artwork with different backgrounds was used year after year. If a player changed teams, new team name & logo were painted over the old one. To determine the year, just subtract 1 from the expiration date on back of the card. The 1954 set had four variations.

Baseball card collecting terms (part G)

Grade/Condition 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.

Graded Card As values increased the condition of cards and the determination of fakes and alterations became increasingly more important. Various companies became "graders" of your cards. For a fee they would grade your card (usually on a 1 to 10 scale) and then placed in a sealed plastic holder with labelling of the vital information.

From past experiences, most people are NOT HAPPY with the grades they receive. To keep values up, graders can be extremely picky. Things you don't see, they do so don't be surprized when the NEAR MINT card you send in ends up with an EX or EX/MINT grade.

There are TOO many grading companies - if you do, do choose carefully. PSA / SGC / GAI / BGS are some of the many companies. It is good to know that getting a card graded by a company that people do not recognize or respect will usually just cost you time and money and not help you in any way.

1976 O-Pee-Chee/OPC # 95 Brooks Robinson (Orioles)

1958 Topps Baseball Cards
Checklist & Values

Vintage Baseball Wire Photos

UPI/AP Wirephotos

1952,1953,1954,1955 Red Man TOBACCO
Checklist & Values

1976 O-Pee-Chee/OPC # 95 Brooks Robinson (Orioles)

1958 Topps Baseball Cards Checklist & Values

Vintage Baseball Wire Photos

UPI/AP Wirephotos

1952,1953,1954,1955 Red Man TOBACCO Checklist & Values

1958 Topps Baseball Cards
Checklist & Values

1952,1953,1954,1955 Red Man TOBACCO
Checklist & Values