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 was a pitch hitter and first baseman for the New York Yankees for his entire 17-year career. He was known as The Iron Horse owing to his enduring stamina. His career batting average was 340. On his 36th birthday, Gehrig was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a neurodegenerative disorder that was ultimately christened, "Lou Gehrig's Disease." Gehrig had such stature with the city, that New York Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia had the flags of the city flown at half staff when Gehrig died in 1941.

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 Raymond Cobb, the "Georgia Peach, " was born in a small rural farm community in December 1886. An outfielder for the Detroit Tigers for the first 22 years of his career in American Major League Baseball, Cobb retired after a stint with the Philadelphia Athletics. A film about his life was made in 1994 and starred Tommy Lee Jones.

Baseball cards for sale featuring this famous names and countless others can be found on eBay and other auction sites. Cards are most often found in the United States but Canada, Japan and Cuba also have a large and active fan base. The fronts of most cards have an image of the player, his name and club affiliation. The reverse side of the card has statistics and maybe some biographical information. Many cards were sponsored by tobacco and bubble gum companies.




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