Archive for 'Baseball'
Autographed Card
29 April 2007Clearly, this is a baseball, basketball, football, hockey, or other sports card that has been signed by the player depicted. Don’t expect a facsimile signature printed on the card during the printing process to be a true autographed card. Also, stamped signatures, like the one this author received on a card sent to NFL commissioner […]
All-Star Card
29 April 2007An All-Star card is pretty much what you would think it is - a baseball or other sports card depicting a popular player. However, it’s not just a card of an outstanding athlete. The term "all-star" derives from the elite team of players from a league, conference, etc.
Therefore, an All-Star card depicts a baseball, football, […]
1933 Goudey Big League R319
29 April 2007After a very slow 1920s for the hobby, another unique advancement influenced the rebirth of sports cards. Prior to about 1930, chewing-gum, as the world called the product, was simply gum you would chew; no bubbles could be blown. But that changed with the discovery of the material that enables us to blow bubbles. It also […]
1932 National Chicle Diamond Kings
15 April 2007In 1932, just prior to their first major set of cards, National Chicle of Springfield, Mass. issued three test cards. Known as the Diamond Kings, these baseball cards are considered premiums and look just like the R327 National Chicle effort issued from 1934 to 1936.
Each card is 3-1/2" by 5-3/8" and was sold as premiums at […]
1911 T205 Gold Borders
15 April 2007The hottest looking set from 1911 definitely has to be the T205 Gold Borders. Issued by the American Tobacco Company, the complete set consists of 208 colorful, lithographed cards.
Actually, 11 different cigarette companies - all under the ATC - distributed the Gold Borders. The set features players from both the major and minor leagues.
The cards could be […]
Cabinets
15 April 2007Oversized cards issued in the "tobacco" days of baseball cards (late 19th and early 20th century), cabinet cards usually measure 5-3/4" by 8".
A cabinet card will feature either a photograph attached to a cardboard backing (making it a true cabinet card), or a lithographed image card.
Cabinets were premium cards that typically could be obtained by sending in coupons from […]
1911 Turkey Reds
13 April 2007The American Tobacco Company distributed the Turkey Reds (designated T3) in 1911. It is a set of full colored (lithograph) premium cabinet cards similar to the M110 Sporting Life series. The cards were originally issued in panels. Loaded with hall of fame players, the set is one of the most desired by early card collectors […]
1893 N142 Honest Duke Cabinets
11 April 2007Honest Long Cut Tobacco, of the Duke Tobacco Company issued the Honest cabinet cards in 1893. Probably the most popular of 19th century baseball cards, the set is designated as the N142.
These cards are much to be desired for their beauty as their scarcity. Plus, the mystic of Hall of Fame player Delehanty, who is […]
1889 No. 7 Cigars N526
11 April 2007Released in 1889 were the N526 No. 7 Cigar baseball cards. The 15-card set features cards measuring 3-1/2" by 4-1/2". The fronts show a black and white drawing of a Boston bseball player.
The player’s name and position played are printed in capital letters at the bottom of the card. Below that are the words, "Boston Base […]
N174 Gypsy Queen Baseball
10 April 2007Issued in 1887 by Goodwin and Company is the N174 Gypsy Queen baseball card set. Issued in two sizes, with the large cards measuring 2" by 3-1/2" and the small cards at 1-1/2" by 2-1/2", these cards are similar to the Gypsy Queen series in the N172 Old Judge set, making it a closely related set […]
Understanding Goodwin & Company
8 April 2007Goodwin and Company’s massive yet, sometimes confusing N172 set of baseball cards was the first widely distributed set devoted to baseball players only. Consisting of six series of printings over four years, I’ll try to explain the set here.
1887 N172 Goodwin and Company
8 April 2007While Allen & Ginter were busy releasing exciting tobacco cards, competition in the tobacco market was growing at an extremely rapid rate. Not to be outdone, several additional cigarette manufacturers were also issuing cards. One, the Goodwin and Company, issued a sepia-colored baseball set promoting their Old Judge and Gypsy Queen cigarettes.
It’s known as the enormous […]
1887 N370 Long Jack Baseball
8 April 2007The 1887 N370 Long Jack set is one of the toughest sets of cards to collate from all 1800s tobacco sets. It was distributed by the Long Jack Cigarette Company of Lynchburg, Virginia. It depicts 13 cards of players for the early St. Louis Browns of the American Association, and champions of all baseball teams in […]
1887 N28 Allen & Ginter Introduces Tobacco
8 April 2007The first nationaly disseminated baseball card set is the Allen & Ginter’s N28. The set of varying sports cards is considered the first of the tobacco issues. It’s fitting to know that Allen & Ginter’s prior standard included a set of cards picturing shocking young women in their tightest swimwear!
But because jealous females didn’t approve, this norm […]
1886 Old Judge N167 Baseball
8 April 2007Although the 1869 Peck & Snyder Cincinnati Red Stockings card is recognized as the first tru baseball card, the first pure domestic baseball card set was issued by Old Judge in 1886. This was a time when Mike "King" Kelly, Adrian "Cap" Anson and Charlie Comiskey ruled the early diamond.
Classified as the N167 set, the […]
1859 Harper’s Weekly Woodcuts
8 April 2007The 1859 Harper’s Weekly Woodcuts is a set of baseball team cards issued from 1859 until 1891. There are at least 40 baseball images in the set, and likely more. These were published in the Harper’s Weekly newspaper. Each card size varies.
1886 Red Stocking Cigar
8 April 2007One of the earliest baseball cards ever printed, the 1886 Red Stocking Cigar baseball card set actually consists of three known cards. The three players depicted are C. G. Buffington, Capt. John F. Morrill, and Charles Radbourn. These unnumbered cards were discovered by a collector named Jim McClean. Each lithographed card features black and red, […]
The First Baseball Card: 1869 Peck & Snyder
8 April 2007Though Harper’s Weekly - a nationally distributed newspaper first published in 1857 - had printed baseball woodcuts for at least a decade - the first American baseball card was circulated in 1869. It is a team card that was distributed by desperate retailers trying to spread the word about their company. Known as the Peck & […]
Card Definitions and Designations
8 April 2007According to the American Card Catalog, all 19th Century sports cards are known as "N" cards. Other numerical codes used to describe sports cards are:
T - Twentieth-century tobacco E - Early gum or candy R - Gum cards produced after 1930 B - Felts, or "blanket" issues F - Food […]
Problems Tobacco Card Collectors Face (Part II)
6 April 2007Early Food Issues
After several years of success with tobacco cards, manufacturers of candy, bread, and other food companies were showing an interest in creating their own baseball cards. They believed that if sports cards would sell tobacco products, then why not candy? Thus, candy issues began appearing throughout the hobby. It was the birth of "E" […]
In the Big Inning: 1869-1900 (Part I)
5 April 2007America’s sports cards have been around for more than a century. In fact, the typical baseball, basketball, football, and hockey cards - measuring 2 1/2″ x 3 1/2″ with action photos, player biographies, and career statistics - didn’t appear until the 1950s. This was a time when collecting sports cards was a simple pastime for […]
In the Big Inning: 1869-1900 (Part II)
5 April 2007Few people realize the American sports card hobby is much older than 50 years. The roots of card collecting can be traced back to the 1700s in Europe - a time when "trade" cards were first circulated. Businesses used painted or "drawn" cards as promotional items. Owners would give out small, interesting cards touting people […]
In the Big Inning: 1869-1900 (Part III)
5 April 2007Sports have always been a popular way to pass the time. And although there has been a number of different sports since the dawn of civilization, baseball has played the most influential role in the origin of the American sports card hobby.When the National Association of Baseball Players (NABP) was formed in 1858, little did […]
Baseball Cards and Smoking
5 April 2007During the late 1800s cigarette smoking had become ever popular. Smoking was previously reserved for the upper class since the cost of hand-rolled, tin packaged cigarettes was steep. But now, courtesy recently invented machines, they could be produced more effeciently. In fact, the Bonsak Machine could produce thousands of cigarettes per hour.
While myriad tobacco companies […]
Problems Tobacco Card Collectors Face
5 April 2007There are a number of problems with candy and tobacco cards that irritate collectors today. Perhaps the most annoying of these intricacies is the confusion created when trying to determine which cards belong to which sets. Sports card produced from about the 1950s on do not present this dilemma since virtually all consisted of a […]
Early Baseball Card Design
4 April 2007The design of the hobby’s pioneering sports cards can vary. Almost all entail some type of cardboard. This could be thin and brittle paperboard, thick pasteboard, delicate paper, paper mulches, or clothe. sizes range from as small as 1 3/4" x 2 3/4" to composite sheets measuring about 8 1/2" x 10". In between is […]
