Card File

Rookie Baseball Card Hex for Tommy John?

Thu, 05 Mar 2009 03:13:10 GMT

Tommy John's rookie baseball card was not a good omen. On the 1964 Topps #146 he had to share space with another player, Bob Chance, a utility player who averaged fewer than 50 games over six seasons. Read More »

Joe Torre's Baseball Career Too Lofty for Boyhood Dreams

Tue, 24 Feb 2009 07:42:11 GMT

Joe Torre has had the kind of baseball career youngsters don't even dream about. So the Topps 1972 Boyhood Photos of the Stars series baseball card showing Torre as a neatly dressed teen and as a St. Louis Cardinals star is poignant for what could not be shown, for the future is always waiting to be revealed and grasped. Read More »

Oldest Rookie, a Pitching Legend, High in Baseball Card Esteem

Tue, 17 Feb 2009 01:22:10 GMT

The 1949 Bowman #224 baseball card has a few distinctions. It contains a misspelled name. It pictured the oldest rookie in major league history. And 60 years later it's value has climbed past all others in the 240-card set. Read More »

Alex Rodriguez Tampered with Baseball Legacies

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 20:45:30 GMT

Looking at the Flair Alex Rodriguez #340 rookie card from 1994, beautifully designed, it's easy to see how someone might project greatness from it. Read More »

An Unexpected Rarity Coming for John Smoltz Cards

Fri, 06 Feb 2009 08:25:11 GMT

The odds are poor these days for seeing a retired player with the same team insignia on all of his baseball cards, unless the career is mighty short. John Smoltz seemed destined to become the rare exception, because he and the Atlanta Braves seemed to have a perhaps the strongest ties in baseball. Read More »

Maddux Bunting Cards Show the Greatness Gap

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 08:57:57 GMT

Baseball greatness does not necessarily translate into baseball card value, especially in the case of modern players. Their likenesses might grace more cards than their early counterparts saw in a lifetime. Read More »

Wasted Space on Back of Some Vintage Card Series

Wed, 28 Jan 2009 00:34:12 GMT

Modern baseball cards of rookies or sophomores often hint at potential for the players to become stars. The 1938 Goudey series, known as the Big Head because the players' heads are attached to cartoonish bodies, is a great example of the opposite among early cards. Read More »

Seeing the Vast Span of Baseball History

Sat, 24 Jan 2009 20:37:10 GMT

Almost a century of playing or watching baseball ended for Bill Werber on Jan. 22. Read More »

Seven Stingy Pitchers

Wed, 21 Jan 2009 03:29:31 GMT

Here are seven baseball pitchers with a similar achievement, besides being pretty darn good in general at their profession. Read More »

Rickey Henderson, Basepath Terror

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 04:21:20 GMT

Rickey Henderson's recent selection to the Baseball Hall of Fame got me to thinking about how hard it is to capture his essence as a player on a card.

Revealing the true identity of any player is no easy task for a photographer or artist. But Henderson was something special in his prime. Read More »

On and Off the Street

Thu, 15 Jan 2009 02:13:36 GMT

Baseball cards have many uses. Happy ones, recalling happy times. And sad ones, recalling happy times that preceded hard times. Read More »