About Sports Cards

Features

• Most sports cards contain player information on the front of the card and statistics on the back. Depending on the manufacturer of the card, it will likely have the player's name, team and position on the front along with a large photo, either an action shot or a set pose.

  The back contains the player's relevant statistics such as touchdowns, passing yards and completions for a football quarterback or wins, losses, earned-run average and strikeouts for a baseball pitcher. The statistics are usually year-by-year, with a line for the player's career averages--although some card companies will list only the most recent season's statistics and career totals.

  There will also be biographical information about the player such as age, birthdate, hometown, residence, college, draft position, height and weight.

  Sports cards produced by major manufacturers almost exclusively feature professional athletes and mainly those playing in major leagues.

Types

• There are several different types of sports cards. Each sports trading card manufacturer--the largest two in the United States are Topps and Upper Deck--produce multiple different sets of trading cards for each sport. Topps, for example, produces baseball cards, football cards and basketball cards. It produces more than a dozen baseball varieties, including Stadium Club, Opening Day, Bowman, Topps Chrome and two series of its traditional Topps baseball product.

  Upper Deck produces sports cards for all four major sports and also has multiple varieties of each. For example, with basketball, Upper Deck has its regular set in addition to First Edition, Hot Prospects and MVP editions.

  Within all of these sets, there are different types of sports cards. In addition to regular base sets, there are randomly inserted subsets such as cards honoring rookies, award winners or other milestones. These subsets are rarer than the basic types. Depending on the set, there are also parallel versions, such as gold foil cards of the base set. Some card companies also randomly insert autographed cards or ones with swatches of game-worn uniforms.

History

• The first sports cards produced were baseball cards during the middle 1800s. These early cards were often manufactured by cigarette or tobacco companies and inserted in their products. Hockey cards were first produced in Canada but came to the United States around 1910. These early hockey cards were also usually produced by tobacco companies as marketing and promotional tools.

  The first sports cards that were manufactured by companies to be sold on their own were in 1951, when Topps produced its first baseball card set. There were actually two sets, one with red backs and the other with blue backs. Each set contained 52 cards and was designed to be used to play a baseball-themed game similar to traditional playing cards. Topps produced its first hockey set in 1954, three years after being produced in Canada by Parkhurst. Football and basketball cards were later introduced in the the late 1950s and 1960s.

  Other manufacturers, including Donruss and Fleer, joined Topps in the sports card market, with Donruss and Fleer becoming baseball competitors for Topps in 1981 following legal challenges in the courts. The three companies were the major ones until 1989, when Upper Deck launched its first baseball card set. Featuring glossy photos, heavier card stock and a security hologram, Upper Deck quickly became a fan favorite as Fleer and Donruss quickly lost market share. Fleer went bankrupt in 2005 and was bought out by Upper Deck; Donruss lost its Major League Baseball license in 2006 but still makes other sports cards.

Benefits

• Sports cards are low-cost collectibles when compared to other forms of sports memorabilia. A pack of a basic variety of Topps or Upper Deck retails for just a few dollars, allowing people--including children--to collect cards of their favorite players without the expensive costs of other sports collectibles, such as autographs or sports figurines. However, the market is full of more expensive varieties. Some single packs that have the potential of containing ultra-rare autograph cards can cost hundreds of dollars.

  Sports cards, particularly those from before 1980, have also turned into good investment opportunities. Because they were produced in fewer quantities than today's cards and few are still around in mint condition, sports cards from this period can be sought-after collectibles. Rookie cards of stars such as Mickey Mantle, Nolan Ryan, Willie Mays and many others from this era have sold for thousands of dollars.

Warning

• While older sports cards are a good investment and can be worth a lot of money, the market for cards from the 1990s and 21st century is not as lucrative. This is because sports cards were produced in higher volumes and have been viewed as collectibles, thus having been preserved in better condition than older cards. In a basic set of Topps baseball cards, hundreds of thousands of a single card are produced, so they have little or no resale value.
  In today's market, autographed and relic cards--such as those with game-worn material and slivers of game-used bats or balls--are the most sought-after cards. These rare, randomly-inserted sports cards have the highest value and can fetch anywhere from a few hundred dollars up to $1,000 or more, depending on the card.

Potential

• If you stumble across an old sports card collection in a basement or attic, you should contact a qualified sports memorabilia expert to determine the value of the cards before deciding to sell them. Cards from the early 20th century are extremely rare and potentially valuable; one of the rarest cards, a 1909 T-206 Honus Wagner card, has sold for more than $1 million. Cards from the 1950s and 1960s can also be worth in excess of a few thousand dollars as well. The value of any card should be checked before selling.