When discussing the first great home run hitters, Babe Ruth's name usually jumps to the top of the list. But before the Babe came onto the scene, players such as Roger Connor and Home Run Baker were even earlier kings of the long ball. From 1911-1914, Baker led the league in home runs each season and, despite having only 96 in his career, he was one of the game's early great … [Read more...]
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5 Bargain Hall of Famers in the 1909 E90-1 American Caramel Set
Issued around the same time as the T206 issue and looking somewhat similar, the 1909 E90-1 American Caramel set is one of the most popular early candy/caramel issues among pre-war collectors. With numerous short prints and tough cards as well as expensive cards including the Joe Jackson rookie, it isn't an easy set to complete. There are several Hall of Famers in … [Read more...]
10 Second Year Card Bargains of Vintage Stars
Rookie cards of star players are some of the most popular and desirable baseball cards ever produced. Unfortunately this also makes these cards some of the most expensive and unaffordable. Second year cards of these same players can offer a significant discount for simply being produced one year later. In addition, a player's second year card might be the first time they were … [Read more...]
5 Bargains in the T205 Set
The T205 gold bordered set is considered one of the most popular pre-war issues. With its biographies on the back and colorful, detailed lithography on the fronts, this issue is a favorite of vintage collectors. The artwork was so great, in fact, that the pictures were re-used in the T202 Triple Folders set a year later. The set has its fair share of expensive cards from Addie … [Read more...]
5 Great Cards of Baseball Pioneer Larry Doby
He was the first player to go directly from the Negro Leagues to Major League Baseball. His struggles as the first black player in the American League are sometimes overlooked by the focus on Jackie Robinson but they were every bit as real. The vast majority of his Cleveland teammates were chilly at best in those early days. On the field, he struggled too, in the … [Read more...]
Seven Affordable Pre-War Cards of Hall of Famers
Collecting pre-war cards isn't always cheap. And when you add Hall of Famers to the mix and want them in halfway decent condition, things get progressively more expensive. However, if collecting Hall of Famers is your thing, there are still plenty of early pre-war cards to be had at affordable prices. Here are seven of them in no particular order. 1. Hank Greenberg 1939 Play … [Read more...]
1910-1912 Sweet Caporal Pins Won’t Break Your Piggy Bank
If you've never collected the 1910-1912 Sweet Caporal Pins set because they were, well, pins rather than cards, it's time to get over it. You're missing out on the opportunity to collect a century-old set that's among of the coolest, most affordable, most attainable issues in the hobby. Sweet Caporal Pins: The Basics Sweet Caporal, of course, was a brand of cigarettes and … [Read more...]
10 Affordable Vintage Ty Cobb Cards
More than 90 years after he took off his spikes for the last time as a player, he's still making headlines. Even if you can't fork over six figures to own one of those rare ones that generated all the recent media attention, you can still find some cheap original Ty Cobb cards to call your own. In fact, there are plenty of great cards from Cobb's career that … [Read more...]
10 Surprisingly Cheap Vintage Sports Card Sets
With so many trading card sets being produced over the past 130 years, there is no reason for a collector to have to overpay for quality, vintage material with a girth of material on the market. For every set like 1909-11 T206 and 1952 Topps that increase in value as collectors pursue registry sets and key cards, there are others that remain under the radar, unappreciated, or … [Read more...]
10 Great 1930s Baseball Cards For Budget-Minded Collectors
It was the tail end of Ruth, the final heroics of Gehrig and the beginning of Feller, DiMaggio and Williams. It was Connie Mack's A's and the Gas House Gang. You can blow a big wad of cash commemorating the 1930s but there are a lot of great ones throughout the decade, many picturing Hall of Famers, that won't put a hole in your wallet. We've come up with a list of 10 … [Read more...]
