1975 Topps MINI #195 '1957 MVPs' - Mickey Mantle/Hank Aaron (Yankees/Braves
| Grade | NEAR MINT |
|---|---|
| Book Value | $ 20 |
| Our Price |
$ 23.95
Add to cart
|
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Team Autographed / Signed Baseballs
Team signed baseballs were the thing well before single-signed
balls exploded on the market.
Click for our current
Autographed/Signed Team Baseball inventory
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
Note: You may be on that page now. |
1932,1933,1936 Chicago Cubs |
Oversized, approx 6x9 inch b/w on construction paper
like card stock with facsimile autographs.
1959 Fleer Ted Williams baseball cards |
This special 80-card set from the Frank H. Fleer Company honors Ted Williams,
"The Splendid Splinter." While other companies vied for Topps' exclusive player
rights, Fleer successfully secured Ted Williams, who, nearing the end of his
career, remained one of the best and most popular players.
Of particular note is Card #68, "Ted Signs for 1959," which pictures him signing
his contract. The photo also included Red Sox GM Bucky Harris, who was under one
of those exclusive deals with Topps at the time. This led to the card being pulled,
making it extremely scarce. Unfortunately, reprints of the card surfaced in the
1970s. This is widely considered the first baseball card to be
reprinted/counterfeited. Interestingly, the counterfeits were allowed to remain
on the market, so caution is advised when dealing with this card.
Cards were sold in both six-card and eight-card wax packs. For some reason,
the scarcer 8-card packs contained no gum.
Die-Cut A special card that differs from a basic card by "Die-Cutting", cutting away portions of the card to create a special design. Most are serially numbered & limited.
Error Card Baseball card history is filled with error cards, many of them very interesting. Hank Aaron is on 2 of my favorite error cards. Aaron's 1956 Topps card action photo shows Aaron sliding home but it is actually Willie Mays not Aaron. Topps again goofed on Aaron's 1957 "reversed negative" card showing Aaron batting left-handed.
"Error Cards" are usually found early in print runs and often corrected. When this correction happens a VARIATION is created. Some variations are extremely interesting and very expensive while others are totally boring and you wonder why they were even made.
Extended Set Also frequently called Update Set or
Traded Set.
They are sets issued after the original release to update the regular set
with new and traded players.
Facsimile Autograph is an autograph printed on a card to show what the player's actual signature looks like. They are not "real" autographs.
Factory Set are complete sets usually in special boxes produced by the manufacturer. "Hand-Collated Sets" are sets collectors have put together card by card from packs.
