Friday, January 24, 2014

Collecting Baseball Cards For Sale

By Marissa Velazquez


Once the sole preserve of enthusiastic school boys, baseball cards for sale are now an investment opportunity to rival precious metals, diamonds and oil. A vintage card from the rookie days of Babe Ruth was originally packaged with four others in a pack of bubble gum. That same card recently fetched more than 80 thousand dollars at auction.

Some of the biggest names in baseball appear on these valuable trading cards, Roger Maris, Ty Cobb, Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio, Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth. Cards were tossed, traded and flipped. The term flipping refers to a simple card game, where the card is tossed in the air, landing either face down or face up. The next player tosses a card and tries to match which side lands face up.

Born George Herman "Babe" Ruth, the legendary pitcher and outfielder was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1895 and died in New York City in 1948. He batted and threw left-handed. He was named the best baseball player of the 20th century by Sports Illustrated Magazine.

Lou Gehrig (1903-1941) played first base and pitched for the New York Yankees for 17 years between 1923 and 1939. His lifetime battering average was . 340. His impressive stamina earned him the nickname "The Iron Horse." He was diagnosed with the neuromuscular disorder, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS, or Lou Gehrig's Disease) on the day of his 36th birthday. When he died in June 1941, the Mayor of New York, Fiorello La Guardia ordered the city's flags be flown at half mast.

Joe DiMaggio was almost as famous for being married to Marilyn Monroe as he was for his 13-year career with the New York Yankees at the position of center field. His 56-game hitting streak in 1941 has never been matched. He had two brothers named Vince and Dom, both of whom played professional baseball in center field.

Mickey Mantle (1931-1995) was a first baseman and centerfielder for the Yankees of New York City from 1951 to 1968, a total of 18 years. Entered into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1974, Mantle featured in 12 World Series, of which his team won seven. The recipient of a liver transplant for cirrhosis, hepatitis and cancer, Mickey Mantle started a foundation to raise the public's consciousness of the issues surrounding organ transplants.

Tyrus "Ty" Cobb, nicknamed the Georgia Peach, was born in December 1886 in a small rural community in Georgia. He played outfield for the Detroit Lions for his first 22 years in baseball, retiring after playing for the Philadelphia Athletics. Actor Tommy Lee Jones starred in a biopic of Cobb's life in 1994.

Baseball cards for sale may be found on a variety of auction sites. Countries where they are most popular are Canada, Cuba, Japan and the United States. The face of the cards would bear the image of the player, along with his name and club affiliation. The back sides would contain extra biographical information along with the players' statistics to date. Common sponsors of the cards included bubble gum manufacturers and tobacco companies.




About the Author:



Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...