Card Collecting in the Early 1900’s

Card collecting in the early 1900’s was before my time and my dad’s, but not my grandfather’s. He arrived in Ellis Island in 1907 but did not acquire a taste for baseball or card collecting in his lifetime. If he had it would have been great because the T206 cards (1909-1911) common cards are worth at least $50 each in the 520 card set.

Unlike later baseball cards the T206 cards came in packs of cigarettes, issued by the American Tobacco Company. And because of that, the most sought after card ever is the Honus Wagner card that was card number 500 in the set. For those unfamiliar, the card was part of the original issue but Wagner refused to allow production of his card. Most publications list his objections to the cards because it encouraged people, especially youngsters, to buy cigarettes to obtain cards. I have also seen where he objected because he had not received adequate compensation to appear on the cards. The American Tobacco Company halted production of the card when it received notification of Wagner’s objections, but there had already been a few of his cards printed and inserted into packs. The number of Wagner cards that escaped is impossible to verify, but the estimates range from 50 to 200.

In August of 2021 a Wagner was sold at auction for $6.6 million and was rated a SGC 3 (an independent appraiser rating where a perfect card is a SGC 10). In August 2022 a SGC 2 (lesser condition) sold for $7.25 million.

Being a long time collector myself, I bought a T206 a number of years ago, it was a Frank “Home Run” Baker card. Not sure how much I paid for it, but currently it is valued by Beckett from $250 to $400 depending on condition. I certainly didn’t pay that much at purchase time, but I would guess a card that is over 115 years old of a Hall of Famer should have decent value.

In addition to the T206 set, there was also a T205 set from 1911, also by the American Tobacco Company, a 1914 and 1915 issue by Cracker Jack and 1916 by The Sporting News.

Card Collecting in the 1930’s

Card collecting in the 1930’s was before my time, but not my dads. The main focus on cards in the 1930’s was the Goudey set. The cards were the first to contain gum and many of the cards had a Big League Gum banner on the front of the card. The card was square in shape and smaller than today’s cards. Rather than a photo of the player, it seemed like more of a painting. The 1933 Goudey set was the first issue since the 1916 Sporting News set.

Fortunately for me, my dad loved baseball and collected baseball cards, and unlike most kids, he or my grandmother never threw his cards away.

The highlight of the set were multiple versions of some of the greats. There were 4 different Babe Ruth card. One of the cards had a double run (had twice as many printed as the normal card), but still is a very valuable card. Two of the other three cards, however, are worth more. There were also multiple cards of players like Lou Gehrig, Jimmy Foxx, Mel Ott, Goose Goslin, Rogers Hornsby, Lefty O’Doul, Bill Terry, Carl Hubbell and 3 of Joe Cronin.

There was one card issued in 1934. It was card number 106. There was no #106 in the original set and to handle complaints from collectors they issued a card of a retired superstar, Napolean “Nap” Lajoie and sent this card numbered 106 to those that complained and offered the card through a mail in offer. Even though the Lajoie is more scarce, one of the Ruth’s is of equal value. Beckett places a value of $25,000 to $60,000 for both the Lajoie and the #53 Ruth, $20,000 to $50,000 for the Ruth #181, and $15,000 to $40,000 for Ruth #144 and #149. A Jimmy Foxx (2) is valued at $1,000 to $2,500 and Lou Gehrig # 160 at $800 to $2,000 and #92 from $6,000 to $15,000.

There is one card of high value for a player who had an average career. That player was Morris (Moe) Berg. Moe Berg would be a spy for the US during World War II and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his contributions during the war. Moe’s card #158 is valued from $400 to $1,000.

In all, there were 240 cards in the set and it was full of Hall of Famers. Included were: Dazzy Vance, Ted Lyons, Bill Dickey, Pie Traynor, Kiki Cuyler, Paul Waner, Jimmy Foxx (2), Tony Lazzeri, Al Simmons, Heinie Manush (4), Frankie Frisch, Babe Ruth (4), Red Ruffing, Waite Hoyt, Joe Cronin (3), Burleigh Grimes, Eppa Rixey, Mickey Cochrane, Red Faber, Tris Speaker, Lou Gehrig (2), Travis Jackson, Earle Combs, Nap Lajoie, Goose Goslin (2), Rabbitt Maranville, Rogers Hornsby (2), Bill Terry, Mel Ott (2), Chuck Klein, Sam Rice, Herb Pennock, Leo Durocher, Joe Sewell, Lloyd Waner, Earl Averill, Rick Ferrell, Gabby Hartnett, Hack Wilson, Lefty Grove, Charlie Gehringer, Dizzy Dean, Billy Herman, and Carl Hubbell (2). That’s 58 Hall of Famer cards in the set, almost 25% of the cards. And to add value to this series, it would be their rookie card also.

There would be other card sets from the 1930’s such as 1934 Goudey, 1935 Goudey (4 in 1), 1936 Goudey, 1933 Tattoo Orbit, 1934-36 Diamond Stars, 1935 Schutter-Johnson Candy, 1936 National Chicle and 1939 Play Ball, but none that would have the value of the 1933 Goudey set.

Card Collecting in the 1950’s

Growing up in the 50’s and 60’s was so different than growing up in later years, especially when it came to baseball card collecting.

If I could find a Delorian and go back in time, my first trip would be back to 1952 so I could spend my money hoping to open a pack or two or three to get the Mantle rookie. Next I would wait a couple of year and take all of my 1955 and 1956 Topps cards and store them in a hard case rather than “pitching” them at school with my friends or putting them into the spokes of the front wheel of my bike to get that awesome sound.

The 1955 and 1956 Topps were iconic sets. Both were set in landscape (horizontal) view rather than the more common portrait view. The 1955 set had some awesome rookie cards, namely Roberto Clemente, Sandy Koufax, and future Twin, Harmon Killebrew. Clemente is valued from $3,000 to $8,000, Koufax $2,000 to $5,000 and Killebrew $300 to $800. Non-rookies Mays and Robinson are $1,000 to $2,500, Aaron $750 to $2,000 and Williams is $500 to $1,200.

The 1956 set had no major rookie. However the 1956 had more cards in the set (340 vs. 206) and some major stars, especially Mickey Mantle, who was not in the 1956 set ($2,000-$5,000), Jackie Robinson ($600-$1,500)(his last card), Ted Williams ($300-$500), and Roberto Clemente ($750-$2,000).

But cards were not investments back then, they were sports toys. It was my first exposure to gambling where it was me against him in trying to win as many of his baseball cards as possible by pitching them.

It was called pitching and there was little regard for which card you chose to pitch at that moment. You would pitch your doubles because the collecting part of the hobby was getting the entire set of cards, not the stars or rookies. Maybe you would put your favorite player or team’s cards at the bottom of the stack, but for the most part you played with little regard for the players you may lose to your opponent.

Being from Rhode Island, I was a huge Red Sox fan, and naturally that would almost certainly mean that I was a Yankee-hater. Possibly the Yankee players were the first to be “pitched” since I had no issues with losing any of them in the competition. God knows how many Mantle, Ford and Berra’s I may have had in my stack and ended up losing.

But really what it boiled down to was that no card was handled with kid gloves, and every card was eligible to be altered by “pitching” them in a contest. To have a card with ideal corners was close to impossible since a corner was the most vulnerable part of a card when being tossed. Then the gloss on the top was next to take the brunt of damage because we played many games in the school yard and the cards would be sliding along on cement or asphalt.

The cards were also subject to the dreaded elastic band. There were no see-through cases back then. Cards were kept in shoe boxes, but kept together with elastic bands. And organizing cards was done by sorting in numerical order so you could quickly see whether you already had a player when opening up a pack of cards. Number 1 was always on the top and that is why when you go to a price guide and look up cards in the 1950’s, card number 1 was always worth more than many other cards even if that card was not a superstar. The top and bottom card would always have indentations that detracted from their value.

The first set I remember collection was the 1954 Topps set. I was 5 years old at the time, so it would have been my dad who bought the cards for me. Number 1 in 1954 was Ted Williams, a superstar. His card is only outvalued by the Hank Aaron and Ernie Banks rookie cards. Ted would have been in that select company even if he were not card #1. In 1955 the Topps set had Dusty Rhodes as #1. Hardly a superstar, and surely a common if he had any other number. His card is 5 times the value of any other common card because of its card number. Two other examples would be the 1956 Topps with American League President Will Harridge as #1. That was the last card you wanted to see in your pack. A league president?, seriously! Card #2 was Warren Giles, the National League President. Currently the Harridge card is 20 times the value of a common, while Giles is 4 times the value. Practically the same card, the number 1 card was valued 5 times higher because it would be exposed to abuse by being in the front of the number sorted stack.

Finding places that sold baseball cards was never a problem. On my way to school (there was no such this as a school bus for us) we would walk past 2 variety stores that sold penny candy and baseball cards. My easiest way of buying cards, especially with no school during the summer, was a traveling store that came through my neighborhood every weekday. This was the size of a self-contained RV and had shelves built into the vehicle that contained canned goods and other grocery items. God knows what would have happened if there were “sell by” dates back then. He was my main source of cards and would usually have cards on the truck except when he would sell out that day. Cards were usually 5 cents for a pack of 6 cards, but some places would sell a pack for 1 cent, but it only contained 1 card. There would be a rectangle piece of gum in each pack and the gum would normally stain the back of the last card in the pack. But the gum was great for sticking multiple pieces in your mouth and looking like you were chewing tobacco.

When it came to pitching cards, there were 3 different games you could choose from. If you played at someone’s house, that kid would pick the game. You could change games, so if you were not having luck with one of the options, you could pick another to try and change the outcome.

The most common games were “farzees”, “topzees” and “standeez”. Farzees would be one card pitched by every player (you could have an unlimited number of players competing against each other). You would toss against a wall (indoors or outdoors), and the person whose card came to rest closest to the wall would win all the cards. Topzees had an unlimited number of rounds and space. The winner would be the person who was able to get his (I use his because my experience with pitching cards never included a girl who participated) card on top of one of the cards already tossed. The winner just needed a very small overlap on the cards to win. The player who “topped” would win all the cards and if you were not confined to an area, you could win quite a stash. Standeez was the other contest and this was the game that caused the most abuse to the card. The first “pitcher” would place a card against a wall standing up at an angle of about 30 degrees. The game was won when you “pitched” a card that knocked the standing card from upright to flat on the ground (floor). The winner would collect all the cards already tossed. Because you were throwing against a wall and you would toss with greater speed than the other games, no card was unscathed from corner damage.

So, when you look at baseball cards from the 1950’s and see the value for premium condition, you’ll know that the likelihood of having a card in great condition was extremely unlikely. It was truly a game and not an investment.

I am eternally grateful that while I was away in the Army my mom never got the boxes of my cards and got rid of them just as my grandmother never did with my dad’s.

Many days and nights were spent reading and digesting the back of a card. Statistics were always part of the card, but other features would vary from year to year.

I can’t imagine growing up without the thrill of opening up a pack of cards or pitching them in a game with friends or classmates.