1972 Topps #770 Jim Wynn SCARCE HIGH # (Astros)

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

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 ...

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.

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.

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.

1972 Topps #770 Jim Wynn SCARCE HIGH # (Astros)

1991 Topps Desert Shield cards
Checklist & Values

Team Autographed / Signed Baseballs

1952 Topps Baseball Cards
Checklist & Values

1972 Topps #770 Jim Wynn SCARCE HIGH # (Astros)

1991 Topps Desert Shield cards Checklist & Values

Team Autographed / Signed Baseballs

1952 Topps Baseball Cards Checklist & Values

1991 Topps Desert Shield cards
Checklist & Values

1952 Topps Baseball Cards
Checklist & Values