I read that Geocities is closing. Is your site going to disappear?A: Geocities will be closing on October 26, 2009 but they decided to delete this site on June 27 (perhaps a clerical error, but they weren't willing to restore it so I could back up some of my files). I am currently looking to find another host and have migrated to Obaks.com until the permanent move is worked out. Once moved, the name and URL of the site will change. The new site will be similar to what you've seen here, and I'm considering having sponsorships available for set pages.
Exactly what kind of collector are you?A: I started collecting when I was six years old. While that may not seem unusual (and if you are a lifelong collector, you probably started your own collection around the same age), I turned six in 1978. So, the cards on this website are not the same cards I grew up collecting; in fact, the most recent card set I feature here was issued 11 years before I was even born. As my collection grew throughout the 1980's and I realized it becoming a hobby for me, there was already an established network of dealers nationwide and hobby publications, which made collecting much easier for me than for those who began thirty years before me.
In the small upstate New York town where I grew up, there was only one baseball card dealer in the mid 1980s. He had a "real job" teaching P.E. at a local elementary school and ran his card business out of his garage by appointment only. Most of my cards at that time were from store-bought packs and trades with neighborhood kids. I was able to find a few issues of Baseball Cards magazine on the news stands and our middle school library had a hobby book, which provided me with a great deal of knowledge about older sets. My first baseball card show was at the State Office Building in Watertown, NY in 1985, where I first saw vintage cards on display. It was not until I started going to baseball card shows regularly in the late 1980's that I began to add the classic cards I had been reading about for years to my own collection. At that point, I began to pay less attention to newer cards and begin to collect more vintage stuff.
In 1989, I became a part time dealer (Read about it), where my fellow dealers were impressed that a 17 year-old boy was so knowledgeable about the hobby. I dealt part-time until 1992, when I went to college. I never made any money because I was still more of a collector than a merchant; all my profits went to buy more cards for my collection. I quit buying new cards altogether in the early 1990s because there was just way too much product and individual packs were beginning to cost too much for me to justify the purchase.
Today, I collect only older baseball card issues, as well as pre-1990 Pittsburgh Steeler cards (Wantlist). I am also working on completing my Bowman, pre-WW2 and Pre-'78 Topps sets (Click here to see). While I understand the benefits of third-party grading, I do not collect card that have been slabbed. I believe that the hobby belongs to collectors -- not to investors.
What's with the Google boxes on every page? They weren't always there.A: I am a huge fan of Google. It's the first search engine I use when I do any type of online research. So I've added the search box to give visitors a way to search for anything they want to find without leaving the site. It's a great way to make this site more functional.
By the way...yes, I get a small commission if you use the search tool. All money gathered from this site's sponsors will be used to pay for additional server space and more functionality in the future. So here's another search box for you:
What happened to your newsletter?A: The Vintage Baseball Cards newsletter began in April 2002, continued like clockwork for a couple of years and then became irregular. By 2008, it had become inconsistent and my resources were directed elsewhere, so I retired it on Jan. 1, 2009. Past newsletter articles were available in an archive on the old Geocities site but the files were deleted when they prematurely killed the site. I may return with a blog in the future, however.
Why are there no values listed on your site?A: There are two reasons I have kept the dollar sign out of this site. The first reason is purely out of my own laziness: I do not want to have to buy every issue of Beckett, or Tuff Stuff, or any other magazine to keep up with prices, nor do I want to have to update the prices on the site on a regular basis. Then there's the issue of graded cards and their values, which don't always correspond to "book" values. There are plenty of sites on the internet which feature card values, so I'll leave that to the professionals.
The second reason for the absence of card values is that this site has been designed for the collector, and true collectors do not generally place a heavy importance on what their cards are worth. They do not look ahead to how much money they are going to make when they sell their collection. There are far too many sites on the internet where somebody wants to sell you their cards, and I'm not selling my collection.
Why won't you tell me what my card is worth? I sent a nice email, and did not deserve the sarcastic reply you sent back.A: I apologize for seeming so crass in some of my emails, but I really get a lot of emails from people who think that I am a living price guide. For some sets, the most recent price guide I own was printed in 1990 (not really recent), and I may buy one or two issues of Tuff Stuff or Beckett in a year; I am simply not a person who keeps up on values. I also get the occasional email from people who think that if I place a complete 1952 Topps checklist on my site, then I must have all of the cards available to sell. As it is, I am not a dealer, I do not sell cards on the side, nor am I going to make an offer for cards you are looking to get rid of.
Why I do not give prices of cards in my emails: A card's value is based on several factors, including its condition; ultimately, if you try to sell it, your card will only go for whatever somebody is willing to pay for it.
For example, let's say you have a 1955 Topps common card of "Rip" Repulski (#55). High Beckett on this card is $12, low Beckett is $6. But those prices are for a card in Near Mint condition; your card is maybe in Excellent condition. So realistically, the card price is somewhere around $4. Then, try to sell it to a card dealer...if he even bothers to take it, he may give you a $1 in-store credit or 75 cents. If you try to sell it on eBay, most bidders won't touch it at $3 unless they really need the card.
Result: a card that is listed at $12, that may fetch anywhere between $1 and $4. And you would be upset that I told you your card was worth $12 if you ended up selling it for $2. That's why I don't mess around with card prices.
Of course, I understand that most people who send me these emails don't bother to read my FAQ page, and will never see this particular tirade, but I really needed to vent about this. If you're still reading, thanks for letting me get this off my chest.
I'd like to know if I can buy some of the cards you have listed on your site. Why don't you have sell prices listed?A: This website is meant to provide a reference for collectors, not as a place to sell cards. The cards listed on each page are a complete checklist for the featured set, not a list of available cards or even the cards in my own collection. I'm not trying to make you think I'm trying to offer cards for sale that I don't have. Now, if you want to send money to me for no reason, just let me know and I will be happy to accomodate you (I'm joking...kinda).
Can I buy one of the cards you have pictured on your site?A: Again, no. While many of the card images shown on this site are scans of cards I own, there are a lot of cards shown that are borrowed images. Some are sent to me by other collectors, and a couple images were posted elsewhere on the web (obtained with permission). If you would like to borrow an image for your own use, simply drop me an email. As for the cards that I have in my collection, they're not for sale.
Can I use information from your site for myself?A: Absolutely. I built this site to help collectors and if you find that the info here can help you with your site, an eBay auction or a project, feel free to use it. There is a slight catch, however; the information here is copyrighted and protected. All I ask is that you give credit to me, and a link to my site if necessary.
There is one small caveat...Sellers using my info on eBay to sell a card that is a blatant fake, take notice: I will remove your listing from eBay if I find that you are attributing my site in a manner that defrauds any collector, whether you use my name or not.
Where do you get the information you put on this site?A: My descriptions for each card set, as well as on my history page, are partially from memory. I have retained a lot of information from old Baseball Card magazine issues from the 1980's, and own a number of hobby books. As this site is a work in progress, I appreciate all articles and information you have which will contribute to my site, and the same goes for any corrections. Despite writing about hobby matters, I am far from an expert. If you have anything that will help, email me.
I also have a separate page which lists several books and references for collectors of baseball cards. If you are interested in purchasing them, they are linked to Amazon.com and can be purchased. Click here to check out the "Recommended Books" page. Again, anything you purchase through that page will eventually earn me an Amazon gift certificate and will be used to buy more reference material for this site
Why aren't the cards you use on your pages all the same size? The card you show on your 1948 Bowman page is tiny compared to the huge card you have on your T3 Turkey Reds page.A: I show example cards in proportion to their actual size: 100 pixels is equal to an inch. That way, the tobacco cards, which were smaller than most cards printed since, actually look smaller than cards like the T3 Turkey Reds, which were huge cabinet-sized cards. My reason for this is simple: when the T3 Turkey Reds were reprinted in a "standard" size, some people mistook them for the real thing.
On your 1948-49 Leaf page, you mention that rookie cards of Warren Spahn, Enos Slaughter and Stan Musial are in the set. Aren't their real rookie cards in the 1948 Bowman set?A: Let me ask you this: Many of those same players also appear in the 1947 Homegenized Bond Bread and Tip Top Bread sets as major leaguers; shouldn't those cards be the legitimate rookie cards? It does appear that the 1948-49 Leaf set was issued after the 1948 baseball season, and some collectors do not consider these cards to be truly "rookie cards". So, I checked out a few online resources, such as Old Baseball Cards, and most indicate that the Leaf cards can be considered rookie cards. The final decision, in my opinon, belongs with the individual collector, and not some self-professed hobby "specialist" such as myself.
Note: Because the hobby prior to 1948 was marked by many periods where several sets were issued over a short period (for instance, 1909-1912 or 1933), and other eras where sets were largely regional issues or devoid of cards at all (for example, the years between 1891 and 1908, much of the 1920s, the worst years of the Great Depression, or World War Two), collectors disagree on exactly what constitutes a "rookie" card. As a result, there is not much of an emphasis placed on rookie cards in any of the pre-World War II issues featured on this website.
On your checklist for theExhibit sets , you have several players from the 1950s and 1960s listed in the 1947 set. Are these guys shown in their minor league uniforms? You list guys like Mickey Mantle and Ernie Banks, who were around 16 years old in 1947.A: The sets put out by the Exhibit Supply Company between 1947 and 1966 were issued over a 20-year period. Some of the cards were issued for a several years in that span. Since the design never changed, they are catalogued as a single set (except for the 1962 and 1963 issues, which feature statistics on the backs).
I have a card from the 1933 Goudey set. It looks a lot like the card you have pictured and has a 1933 copyright date, but it says "A DOVER REPRINT" on the back. What is this card and what is it worth?A: Your card is not an original, but rather part of a book called Hall of Fame Baseball Cards, written in 1983 by Bert Randolph Sugar. Inserted into the book were reprints of classic cards from the tobacco issues through the Topps cards of the 1960s. There are several things that make these cards easily identifiable: They have glossy fronts, perforated borders, and the notation on the card back that states that they are reprints. Although I stated earlier that I do not deal with card values, I will answer that part of the question here. These cards, since they are not authentic, have little collector value; in fact, I saw that book, "like new" with all the cards intact, available in 1998 for around $2 in a used bookstore. It's also available through Amazon.com (a sponsor of this site) for the same price. Click here to check out the "Recommended Books" page.
By the way...
I have had a couple of emails asking me which card set pages have been the most visited. The top ten:
I will update this list periodically.
Questions, Comments or Suggestions? email me.