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.
1971 O-Pee-Chee Baseball
Also referred to as OPC or Topps Canada, most vintage OPC sets were near replicas
of the Topps cards from that year. Exactly same in design they usually only
differed with the addition of French to the backs and some fronts.
To the benefit of collector's OPC made several changes in their 1971 set.
The most obvious and useful was a complete redesign of the card backs and the
addition of another player photo ! Additionly, over 20 cards were changed including
the inclusion of what could be considered the first "Traded" cards. Another
difference: Topps cards #202 and #289 were changed to allow the addition of 2
more Expos to the set.
The 1971 OPC set is legendary for its short print run, estimated at perhaps
just 5% of Topps’ Production. This issue is considered quite elusive, even in Canada.
TOP ROOKIE: Steve Garvey
TOP STARS: Nolan Ryan, Roberto Clemente, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Ernie Banks,
Pete Rose, Ted Williams, Thurman Munson, Reggie Jackson, Don Baylor/Dusty Baker RC & MORE !!!
Click for complete
1971 OPC/O-Pee-Chee Baseball checklist and prices
Note: You may be on that page right now.
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1952 Topps Baseball Cards
Checklist & Values
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.
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1991 Topps Desert Shield cards
Checklist & Values
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 ...
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Baseball card collecting terms (part D-F)
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.
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