Sports Card Magazine

1997 Sale of a Fully Signed 1959 Fleer Ted Williams Baseball Card Set

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Sports Card Magazine’s monthly auction report highlighted an incredible item in its April 1998 issue: the sale of a completely signed 80-card 1959 Fleer Ted Williams Set!

Based on the magazine’s date, the Sportsworld “All Boston” Auction must have been in December 1997 (I can’t find any other references to the auction). And, as you can read, the set of signed Williams’ Fleer baseball cards sold for $11,694.

While they highlighted card no. 69 in the text; I think they meant 68 because that’s the actual number for the “Ted Signs for 1959” card they featured in the image.

REA has recently sold a pair of these signed cards for some modern market context. This first example is a PSA 5, which sold for $1,920 in the spring of 2024.

The second example was this PSA 2, with a much nicer signature, that sold for $1,560 in October 2024.

Card 68 is definitely the key card in the set; other signed 1959 Fleer Ted Williams cards sell for a lot less; for example, this “Ted Reaches 400th Homer” sold for $276.50 on eBay back in November 2024.

The 10 Most Significant Action Photos Of All-Time

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Kit Kiefer was a former editor of Baseball Cards Magazine and the VP of Professional Hobby Consultants, so he knows a thing or two about sports cards. Here’s his list of the 10 most significant action photos of all time, in order of importance. Not bad, huh?

The list was part of a much longer article in the February 1997 issue of Sports Card Magazine, in which he mentioned that “action photos on sports cards were non existent for the first 100 years, but today they are as common as a new pack of cards.”

In terms of popularity, you have to consider adding the 1991 Topps Carlton Fisk card featuring Cecil Fielder barreling toward him; here’s the Desert Shield version (4 Sharp Corners was offering it on eBay for $759 in November 2024).

The Most Famous Private Memorabilia Collection The Hobby Ever Saw – The Halper Collection

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The Halper Collection is pretty legendary, but it’s also shrouded in controversy due to some fake/counterfeit items. I’ve hesitated diving deep into it for that reason. However, rediscovering a March 1997 Sports Card Magazine article on the collection gives me a great baseline from which to start on the blog moving forward.

Cardboard Dream Teams: Baseball Card Teams to Make Any Sorter Proud

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Kudos to Sports Card Magazine and its readers in late 1993 for the “All Most Valuable Rookie Card Team,” along with the Best Name, Not as Famous, and All Ears Teams.

Before I share the article, I have to question why the author acknowledges that the 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle isn’t his official rookie card but still includes it!! Okay, it’s a great card, whatever, but then at least give me the Worst Haircuts of All-Time Team!

The All-Most Valuable Rookie Card Team

The All-Best Name Team

The All-Not As Famous As The Other Guy With My Name Team

The I’m All Ears Team

Who among you has all the cards on one of these teams?