Vintage Sports Cards – Baseball – Basketball – Football – Hockey
I came across a fantastic piece of hobby writing in the December 1994 issue of Sports Cards Magazine. In it, O’Connell highlights his picks for the Top Five Horizontal Sets of All Time; do you agree with his list on the second page?
I really appreciated how much history he packed into the article and how he tied it all the way up to the horizontal cards being released in 1994. That kind of historical context is exactly what I hope to see more of from today’s hobby writers.
Happy Collecting!
Here’s a very cool piece of baseball history: a 1925 Babe Ruth New York Yankees payroll check! Mastro sold it in its raw state in November 2001, but it was later slabbed in a PSA holder and sold via SCP Auctions for $26,701.20 in August 2020.
Here’s how Mastro described it in 2001:
Official New York Yankees payroll check, dated September 1, 1925, is made out to “George H. Ruth” in the amount of $4,598.84. The check has been signed on the front by Yankee owner Jacob Ruppert (9/10) and countersigned by General Manager Ed Barrow (8/10). Ruth has endorsed the check “George H. Ruth” (8/10) in black ink on the reverse. The check exhibits one vertical fold line and normal bank cancellation stamps (neither of which affect the Ruth signature), and is in strong Excellent condition. 1925 was definitely a year for Ruth to forget. He began the season laid up for almost two months with the “belly ache heard ’round the world.” and upon his return began feuding heavily with manager Miller Huggins. On August 29th of that year the entire situation came to a head when Huggins suspended Ruth indefinitely and levied a $5,000 fine on the great slugger. Ruth appealed directly to Colonel Ruppert but was met with little sympathy by the stern owner as he backed up Huggins 100%. On September Ist (the very date this check was issued and cashed by Ruth) he would return to Yankee Stadium in an effort to apologize to Huggins, but to no avail. Ruth would spend the day watching the game from the stands in Ruppert’s private box. A magnificent Ruth payroll check dating from the height of his most tumultuous season in the Bronx. LOA’s from Mike Gutierrez/MastroNet and James Spence/PSA DNA.
And here’s the back of the check, with Ruth’s auto, that Mastro included a photo of in the catalog.
Finally, here are the front and back of the check, now slabbed by PSA, via SCP Auctions.
Happy Collecting!
Ever wonder how Maury Wills’ rookie card ended up in Fleer’s 1963 set instead of Topps? Daniel Stone explained the history in a great interview published in Trading Cards Magazine in August 1995—though the title might seem a bit clickbaity today.
It’s interesting that Wills also considers his first Topps card in 1967 a “rookie card”!
Happy collecting!
After a six-year absence, The National returned to Chicago for its 10th convention in 1989, and its program featured advertisements for a few sets you might recognize!
The 1989 Upper Deck and Fleer sets are two of the most written-about sets in the hobby, and these might come in handy for many of you. Upper Deck also gave away commemorative sheets at the show.
Here’s the program’s cover.
Happy collecting!
PS, imagine if the Fleer ad featured the FF error!?
Here’s another historically significant Topps contract, signed by Tom Seaver on March 8, 1969 – the spring of the year the Amazin’ Mets would win the World Series!
Mastro auctioned off this contract in September 2000 with the following description:
Not just any Topps contract extension, this one is dated 1969! Who would know that Seaver would finish with a 25-7 record fueled by a 2.21 ERA? Or that the Amazin’ Mets would win the World Series? Seaver got the Cy Young, and Topps got a two-year extension for the bonus payment of a whopping $75 or a gift – whichever he wanted to choose. The contract, signed and dated March 8, 1969, has a bold ballpoint Seaver signature that extends over two portions of the typing on the contract. It grades at least a 9.
The contract reads:
Agreement between George Thomas Seaver Player, and TOPPS CHEWING GUM, INC.
We, the undersigned, hereby agree to extend the term of our present contract, plus extensions, if any, for an additional period of two years or two full Baseball Seasons, as the case may be, on the same terms and conditions contained in said contract. This extension agreement shall be governed by the Laws of the State of New York.
A bonus payment of $75.00 (or as his choice an extension gift as offered by Topps in lieu of his bonus payment), will be due the player the first time after signing this extension that he is or becomes an active member of a Major League Baseball Team between May 15 and August 15.
Here’s a cleaner copy of the contract courtesy of PSA’s Tom Seaver AutographFacts page.
And here’s another extension contract signed by Seaver in March 1975. Lelands tried to sell it, but by the final bid of $838 in August 2006, failed to meet the reserve.
Happy collecting!
A few weeks ago, after sharing an article from Baseball Cards Magazine about 1952 Topps cards, a collector wrote how much he missed baseball card journalism’s good old days. So here’s another excellent example about 1963 Fleer cards!
Rober L. Parker wrote this piece, which Baseball Cards Magazine published in their 2nd issue (Vol 1, No.2) in 1981.
“Reports of Fleer’s demise as a baseball card power in 1963 were, as Mark Twain would say, ‘greatly exaggerated.’…”
Happy collecting, but also happy writing!
Back in the middle of 2022, I was browsing through X (then Twitter), and a fellow hobbyist shared a photo of a 1951 Bowman Warren Spahn baseball card they picked up for their collection. It reminded me of three things:
Warren Spahn won 363 games in Major League Baseball, the most by a left-handed pitcher in the game’s history. He made 16 All-Star Games for the Boston/Milwaukee Braves, leading the team to three pennants and one World Series Championship in 1957, the year he won the Cy Young award. He had remarkable longevity, proven in 1963 when he threw against Juan Marichal in the greatest game ever pitched. He retired in 1965 with those 363 wins, 2583 strikeouts, and a 3.08 ERA. Spahn was a first-ballot hall of fame inductee in 1973 and, to me, is one of the game’s most underappreciated players.
In researching Spahn’s early cards, I ran across an original news photo that REA sold for $960 in the summer of 2019.
The photo’s letter of authenticity from PSA describes it as being from the 1940s and the one used in the production of Spahn’s 1950 Bowman baseball card.
But, that famous pose, featuring Spahn as a member of the Boston Braves (hence it has to be pre-1953), was also used for the 1949 and 1951 Bowman baseball cards.
In terms of early Bowman baseball cards, I’ve long believed that their 1950-52 run is the hobbies best trio from a single manufacturer. Obviously, a lot of collectors love the 1949 Bowman set, too. And the 1949 Bowman Warren Spahn’s bold red background pops and gives the card a great look. This PSA 9, which uses the same image as the Type 1 photo described above, sold for $9k in the Fall of 2021 by Robert Edward Auctions.
Spahn’s next card in this identical photo run is his 1950 example, card #19, which is a more complete replica than the 1949 example. There aren’t a lot of high-end copies of early post-war cards, and this 1950 Bowman Spahn example is the only Gem Mint 10 around. Memory Lane Inc sold it for $28k in their Spring 2021 Rarities Auction.
Finally, there’s Spahn’s 1951 Bowman card. Memory Lane Inc sold the pictured PSA 9 in their Winter Classic 2019 auction for $3,888. The same card, cert 02107600, was resold on eBay for $5,500 in February 2021. Memory Lane sold another PSA 9, more recently in May 2023 for $17,764. One PSA 10 does exist and appears in Donald E. Spence’s collection on the PSA Set Registry; I’ve never seen a picture of it.
Despite Spahn’s popularity being limited by not being an everyday position player on a small market team, his incredible accomplishments warrant any of these cards additions to a post-war baseball card collection, happy collecting!