What do you do with seven million cards if you’re not a collector? If you’re Lowell Christensen, you sort them. Then you give them away. Christensen isn’t really an avid collector, but he hates to see things go to waste, so he takes in collections that no one wants, organizes them and stores them in his garage since his wife isn’t keen on having any in the … [Read more...]
Rookie Cards of New Hall of Famers Are Plentiful, Cheap
You've got a young man in street clothes. A 25-year-old prospect sitting on a dugout bench. A posed shot of a pitcher in a minor league uniform. Some of the rookie cards of the 2019 Hall of Fame class are not exactly artistic gems but they won't cost you much either. All of them date from the "junk wax" era of the late 1980s and early 90s, when there seemed … [Read more...]
Early 1990s Baseball Insert Cards Ushered in New Era
Insert cards are nothing new. But while many existed before the 1990s, that decade was really when things started getting interesting. By the early 1990s, new trading card companies were being formed. Score joined the ranks of Topps, Donruss, and Fleer in 1988. Bowman and Upper Deck followed in 1989. And by the early 1990s, companies were creating premium brands to appeal to … [Read more...]
Who’s Leaving Junk Wax Cards at NY Supermarket?
We’ve heard of all kinds of ways to unload those late 80s/early 90s baseball cards that generally aren’t worth anything other than memories. We’ve even suggested a few from time-to-time. Apparently, there's another. It’s a novel concept initiated by a mystery shopper (no, not a “mystery shopper”, just a person who hasn’t yet been identified). Bring … [Read more...]
Notes: Goldin’s Big Tease; Early Signed Mantles; Stolen Mail
Goldin Auctions says it will be offering “the most valuable and historically significant sports-related collectible ever to be sold” in its October Legends auction. Now that’s a tease. They’ll reveal it at a news conference soon. Sometimes such proclamations don’t live up to the hype but the company says “rest assured there will be zero doubt in anyone’s mind” it’s a … [Read more...]
1992 Topps Gold Cards Proved to Be a Trend Setter
In the early 1990s, Topps was still an industry giant but facing stiff competition from other brands. In 1991, Topps capitalized on its 40th anniversary, promoting that fact on all of its cards with a special logo. That year, Topps also printed the Desert Storm issue, a parallel set of its regular cards distributed in packs to members of the military and introduced its … [Read more...]
Editor’s Blog: Love for the Oddball Sets
It’s always nice when a story in our archives is discovered by someone who appreciates the subject matter. It’s even more fun when a little tidbit is brought back to the surface because of their discovery. In the latest post on the SABR baseball card blog, long-time baseball writer Rob Neyer wrote about the long-forgotten 1985 Circle K All-Time Home Run Kings … [Read more...]