Vintage Sports Cards – Baseball – Basketball – Football – Hockey
After a six-year absence, The National returned to Chicago for its 10th convention in 1989, and its program featured advertisements for a few sets you might recognize!
The 1989 Upper Deck and Fleer sets are two of the most written-about sets in the hobby, and these might come in handy for many of you. Upper Deck also gave away commemorative sheets at the show.
Here’s the program’s cover.
Happy collecting!
PS, imagine if the Fleer ad featured the FF error!?
Team cards are photographs of all the players on a team, on the front of a sports card. They’re a great collectible for folks who focus their collections on particular teams they’re fans of. This makes them particularly popular, regionally, and when it comes to vintage, they’re particularly prized by kids who grew up ripping packs. Topps usually put great information on the back of the cards, describing team history, records, or championship details. In this article, I’ll run down 10 Topps baseball team cards that are particularly interesting or coveted by collectors.
One of the earliest Topps releases, there are nine different 1951 Topps Teams cards, which are rarely found in nice condition.
1956 is the first year Topps issued team cards in its major sets. This makes the 1956 Yankees Team Card the crown jewel of team cards to me. There are 1,948 graded examples in the PSA Population Report (remember, high-value cards are more likely to have a larger subset of their existing cards encapsulated). In January 2025, a PSA 8 sold for $2,186 on eBay, and PSA 9s are >$5k.
Another solid Yankees team card. PSA 8s sell for >$250.
You have to love the faux wood borders from a set many consider “the standard” for the hobby.
There are both alphabetical and numerical variations for 1958 Topps team cards. The numerical are far tougher to find. Regarding the Milwaukee Braves team card, there are 619 alphabetical and only 181 numerical examples in PSA’s Population Report.
I’ve just always loved the color and look of this card.
The 1959 Topps Phillies Team card is a short print and high-priced in high-grade, with PSA 9s fetching over $1k.
In August of 2020, a PSA 9 of the 1961 Topps Pirates team card sold for $1350, making it another example of a tough high-numbered team card.
The 1962 Twins Team card is both a high number and a short print, so most examples on the market have been sent to third-party grading companies, with PSA grading 527.
1971 Topps cards are already tough enough to find in decent condition due to the chipping of the black ink. When you add in the popularity of team cards, and one that’s a short print, you get the 1971 Topps Astros Team card in PSA 9 condition selling for >$3,500.
Other great cards are the 1959 Topps Chicago Cubs, 1960 Boston Red Sox, 1961 Topps New York Yankees, and 1967 Topps St. Louis Cardinals team cards. Additionally, teams themselves or regional companies made cards featuring the local ball club you might want to track down. Are you a team card collector? Let me know in the comments.
And happy collecting!
Here’s another historically significant Topps contract, signed by Tom Seaver on March 8, 1969 – the spring of the year the Amazin’ Mets would win the World Series!
Mastro auctioned off this contract in September 2000 with the following description:
Not just any Topps contract extension, this one is dated 1969! Who would know that Seaver would finish with a 25-7 record fueled by a 2.21 ERA? Or that the Amazin’ Mets would win the World Series? Seaver got the Cy Young, and Topps got a two-year extension for the bonus payment of a whopping $75 or a gift – whichever he wanted to choose. The contract, signed and dated March 8, 1969, has a bold ballpoint Seaver signature that extends over two portions of the typing on the contract. It grades at least a 9.
The contract reads:
Agreement between George Thomas Seaver Player, and TOPPS CHEWING GUM, INC.
We, the undersigned, hereby agree to extend the term of our present contract, plus extensions, if any, for an additional period of two years or two full Baseball Seasons, as the case may be, on the same terms and conditions contained in said contract. This extension agreement shall be governed by the Laws of the State of New York.
A bonus payment of $75.00 (or as his choice an extension gift as offered by Topps in lieu of his bonus payment), will be due the player the first time after signing this extension that he is or becomes an active member of a Major League Baseball Team between May 15 and August 15.
Here’s a cleaner copy of the contract courtesy of PSA’s Tom Seaver AutographFacts page.
And here’s another extension contract signed by Seaver in March 1975. Lelands tried to sell it, but by the final bid of $838 in August 2006, failed to meet the reserve.
Happy collecting!
A few weeks ago, after sharing an article from Baseball Cards Magazine about 1952 Topps cards, a collector wrote how much he missed baseball card journalism’s good old days. So here’s another excellent example about 1963 Fleer cards!
Rober L. Parker wrote this piece, which Baseball Cards Magazine published in their 2nd issue (Vol 1, No.2) in 1981.
“Reports of Fleer’s demise as a baseball card power in 1963 were, as Mark Twain would say, ‘greatly exaggerated.’…”
Happy collecting, but also happy writing!
Back in the middle of 2022, I was browsing through X (then Twitter), and a fellow hobbyist shared a photo of a 1951 Bowman Warren Spahn baseball card they picked up for their collection. It reminded me of three things:
Warren Spahn won 363 games in Major League Baseball, the most by a left-handed pitcher in the game’s history. He made 16 All-Star Games for the Boston/Milwaukee Braves, leading the team to three pennants and one World Series Championship in 1957, the year he won the Cy Young award. He had remarkable longevity, proven in 1963 when he threw against Juan Marichal in the greatest game ever pitched. He retired in 1965 with those 363 wins, 2583 strikeouts, and a 3.08 ERA. Spahn was a first-ballot hall of fame inductee in 1973 and, to me, is one of the game’s most underappreciated players.
In researching Spahn’s early cards, I ran across an original news photo that REA sold for $960 in the summer of 2019.
The photo’s letter of authenticity from PSA describes it as being from the 1940s and the one used in the production of Spahn’s 1950 Bowman baseball card.
But, that famous pose, featuring Spahn as a member of the Boston Braves (hence it has to be pre-1953), was also used for the 1949 and 1951 Bowman baseball cards.
In terms of early Bowman baseball cards, I’ve long believed that their 1950-52 run is the hobbies best trio from a single manufacturer. Obviously, a lot of collectors love the 1949 Bowman set, too. And the 1949 Bowman Warren Spahn’s bold red background pops and gives the card a great look. This PSA 9, which uses the same image as the Type 1 photo described above, sold for $9k in the Fall of 2021 by Robert Edward Auctions.
Spahn’s next card in this identical photo run is his 1950 example, card #19, which is a more complete replica than the 1949 example. There aren’t a lot of high-end copies of early post-war cards, and this 1950 Bowman Spahn example is the only Gem Mint 10 around. Memory Lane Inc sold it for $28k in their Spring 2021 Rarities Auction.
Finally, there’s Spahn’s 1951 Bowman card. Memory Lane Inc sold the pictured PSA 9 in their Winter Classic 2019 auction for $3,888. The same card, cert 02107600, was resold on eBay for $5,500 in February 2021. Memory Lane sold another PSA 9, more recently in May 2023 for $17,764. One PSA 10 does exist and appears in Donald E. Spence’s collection on the PSA Set Registry; I’ve never seen a picture of it.
Despite Spahn’s popularity being limited by not being an everyday position player on a small market team, his incredible accomplishments warrant any of these cards additions to a post-war baseball card collection, happy collecting!
Ever “wonder what Topps basketball cards might have looked like during the hiatus years, 1983-91, when Topps discontinued its hoops series?” Topps presents the 1992-93 Topps Archives Basketball set, with designs matching their baseball counterparts!
That Pippen card was available on eBay in late March 2025 for $145.
Topps highlighted the release in issue 14 of Topps Magazine (Spring 1993) and gave away 20 boxes via a random drawing.
Since I write an Unopened Newsletter and maintain the Unopened Archive page here on the site, here’s a photo of the box, case, factory set (where collectors would find the gold parallels), and factory set case.
For more, check out this great piece from Sports Collectors Daily and the set’s page on TCDB; happy collecting!
Here’s an original New York Yankees payroll check signed by Thurman Munson—a tough and highly sought-after autograph from the beloved captain.
Mastro sold the check in April 2006; here’s what they wrote about it:
In 1973, Thurman Munson had already established himself as a New York Yankee mainstay. He enjoyed one of his finest seasons that year by batting .301 and smashing a career-high twenty home runs. This colorful Yankees payroll check measures 3-1/2” x 7-7’16” and presents in overall EX/MT condition. Dated December 14, 1973, it is made payable to Thurman Munson for the amount of $1,740.54. Munson has endorsed the back “Thurman Munson” in blue ballpoint. The signature is clearly readable, projects “10” in strength and is free from any back stampings. A small area of peripheral paper loss on the reverse is removed from Munson’s quality endorsement. The Yankee captain and seven-time All-Star tragically died in 1979 in an airplane crash. A very difficult signature to acquire on an official New York Yankees check. LOA from Steve Grad/PSA DNA and LOA from James Spence Authentication
Minimum Bid $300
REA sold this exact check in the spring of 2010 for $1,998. But more recently, checks like this have been selling for ~$4k.
Happy collecting!