1960 Topps #157 Rocky Nelson (Pirates)

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1959 Topps displays vintage 1959 Topps Baseball sports cards.
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Team signed baseballs were the thing well before single-signed balls exploded on the market.
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
"Official" league balls have stamped signatures of current league presidents on the "sweet spot". Starting 1934/1935 balls were produced by Spalding (NL) and Reach (AL). Rawlings took over in 1977/78. Have a possible team roster at hand, ESPN & baseball-reference.com have great sites), decipher a few signatures then solve the puzzle.

Team Signed Baseballs Values
Pricing team signed baseballs is difficult due to subjectivity and factors involved suce as: Signatures placement, quality, strength, number of autographs, stars, age, team significance, and eye appeal considering fading, whiteness, scuffs, shellacking, staining, overall wear...

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
1960's/1970's machine-printed "autographed" team baseballs were sold at stadium gift shops for around $1.95. Easy to identify as all signatures were uniform in ink, color, size and look. "Facsimile" signatures are also often found on baseball cards.

1933 Goudey baseball cards were issued during the worst part of The Great Depression. The set ended up at 240 cards (239 printed in 1933 and one in 1934). In an effort to attract collectors, several of the games top players were honored with multiple cards including "The Great Bambino" who appeared on 4 different cards.
The Babe was once asked why he made more than the President of the United States, the Babe answered simply: "I had a better year than he did."

The Elusive Nap Lajoie
One of the most important facts regarding the 1933 Goudey set was their infamous marketing ploy. Goudey took "marketing" to a whole new level to keep people buying packs by never issuing card #106. Collectors wrote the Goudey Card Company complaining. They were rewarded with Goudey sending them the un-issued card #106 (Nap Lajoie) in 1934.

The 792 card 1991 Topps Desert Shield Baseball card set was issued by Topps for the soldiers serving in the Gulf War. The Desert Shield set is a variation of Topps regular 1991 baseball card with each card having a special gold-foiled 'Desert Shield' stamp added to the front. Many of the cards, scooped up by military personnel stateside, never made it overseas. The equivalent of approx 6,500 sets of cards were made. Cards are still sought after and fairly scarce with complete sets nearly impossible to find. Be aware of counterfeits. Fakes can easily be determined by comparing the gold foil logo with a real Desert Shield card.

The Chipper Jones rookie is the key card in the set along with the usual super stars like Nolan Ryan, Ken Griffey Jr., Cal Ripken ...

Baseball card collecting terms (part B)

Bazooka Bazooka Bubble Gum put baseball cards on the back of their boxes from 1959 thru 1971. Complete boxes and panels can get extremely costly. Most kids back then could not afford complete boxes of bubble gum at one making Bazooka cards quite scarce. I actually don't recall ever obtaining a Bazooka card directly from a box as a kid. Do you ???

Black Sox Scandal Name given to the the most famous scandal in baseball history after the 1919 Chicago White Sox versus the Cincinatti Reds World Series when 8 White Sox players were accused of throwing the series. Details have remained somewhat unclear. The players were acquitted of criminal charges but 8 players still received a lifetime ban from professional baseball including the All-Time great "Shoeless" Joe Jackson.

Blank-Back a card in which nothing is printed on the back. These cards are usually not in packs and are either "PROOF ISSUES" or were removed from the factory in some way.

Blanket a term used for collectibles in the 1910's made of fabric .

Border is the part of the card that surrounds the photo or image.

Bowman was a card manufacturer in the 1940's and 1950's that was bought out by Topps. In 1989 Topps started issuing cards using the Bowman brand.

Break a term used to indicate the opening of a set, pack, box or case.

Break Value is the total book value of each card added up individually. The break value of a set is usually way, way more than the value of the complete set.

1960 Topps #157 Rocky Nelson (Pirates)

Team Autographed / Signed Baseballs

1933 Goudey Baseball Cards
Checklist & Values

1991 Topps Desert Shield cards
Checklist & Values

1960 Topps #157 Rocky Nelson (Pirates)

Team Autographed / Signed Baseballs

1933 Goudey Baseball Cards Checklist & Values

1991 Topps Desert Shield cards Checklist & Values

1933 Goudey Baseball Cards
Checklist & Values

1991 Topps Desert Shield cards
Checklist & Values