Baseball Cards Years and Manufacturers Ranked by Strongest and Weakest Cardboard!

Hi Folks,

   For those of you that have been collecting for many years, or for those that collect vintage baseball cards, at some point in time, you might have noticed a trend among certain years of baseball cards, and among certain manufacturers. There are just some years of cards that are close to impossible to find with sharp corners, without paint chipping... cards that will hold up if you look at them the wrong way!

   For the sake of "Vintage", which I have defined as 20 years or older, I've ranked the Top 3 strongest cardboard years with the manufacturers, and I have also ranked the Top 3 weakest cardboard years with the manufacturers. Included in deciding these ranks are considerations of the wear and tear effects of what I call "Pokemon" corners (rounded corners), wavy edges, and easy creasing. Again, please remember, this is from my experience of collecting, buying, selling, and handling thousands upon thousands of these cards over the past 30+ years that I have been in the hobby.

TOP 3 STRONGEST CARDBOARD BASEBALL CARD YEARS AND MANUFACTURER:

1) 1983 FLEER: After a decent showing in 1981 and 1982 with their first 2 re-emergence years in the hobby, the Fleer set from 1983 is built to last. This is extremely fortunate, because 3 major Hall of Famer Rookie Cards (Wade Boggs, Tony Gwynn, and Ryne Sandberg) are included in this set, among many other major HOF Stars. There is something different and almost space-age to the 1983 Fleer cards, and they can "take a punch" and survive, unscathed. The Winner!!

2) 1991 UPPER DECK: Another set in the 3rd year of the company's baseball card set issue, the 1991 Upper Deck issue is made of quite a strong cardboard! Although they were certainly over-produced, there are still some great cards in this set, like the 3rd year Ken Griffey Jr. Card, as well as another HOF'er, Jeff Bagwell, with his rookie card in this set.

3) 1969 TOPPS: OK, I had to throw one in for Topps, and honestly, with 50 years of time on them, these cards have held up extremely well, but, whatever Topps did in 1969 did not last, because the 1970 Topps cards went downhill!

TOP 3 WEAKEST CARDBOARD BASEBALL CARD YEARS AND MANUFACTURER:

1) 1976 TOPPS: My absolute favorite set, as I remember going to a store as a 5 year old and buying a pack (I wish I bought a few cases...what was I thinking??). However, even with 1976 cards acquired via set breaks, which is where a majority of cards on CardboardandCoins.com come from, there is still a major inherent weakness to the corners and the paint on these cards, and errant creasing building from the corners inward. Unless they are stored in a sleeve and a top loader, avoiding any type of handling or exposure to air, these cards are tough! The 1975 Topps card stock was not nearly as bad, however the 1976 Topps and the following year, 1977 Topps, were the two worst, in my experience.

2) 1977 TOPPS: As mentioned above, this is another set that yields very easily to excessive handling, and also, to open air exposure. Paint chipping is more evident on the 1977 cards vs the 1976 cards, but these are slightly less susceptible to errant creasing.

3) 1970 TOPPS: After a relatively banner year for cardboard strength in 1969, the 1970 Topps became one of the most crease-likely cards that have been made. The cardboard is not necessarily super weak, but there is something to the internal structure of the cards that makes them develop stacking creases, as I call them (creases that build in size and spider out across the card). It seems the lower/earlier series of the 1970 Topps baseball cards are the worst (perhaps due to the lesser amount of handling on the higher series?)

   Aside from having to deal with the issues highlighted above, I would not want the composition of baseball cards to be anything but cardboard...but to the manufacturers, we ask; Please try to copy the formula that made the 1983 Fleer baseball cards the "Iron Mike Tyson" of the baseball card collecting hobby!!

   How has your experience been with the Cardboard treasures that we all know and love? I'd love to know!


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Phillies Prospect Scott Kingery Might Truly Be "Mike Trout 2.0" (Re-Post with Footnote)

Hi Folks,

   Welcome Back!!
 
   How many of you have heard of a fella by the name of Mike Trout? He's just the best player on the planet! Do you have any of his early Rookie cards, Baseball Cards, autos, etc, or did you miss the boat? What if you had a second chance with someone revving up to be just as good or maybe even better than Trout?

   Before I get too far ahead of myself, I'd like to take a look at one of the brightest stars in the Minor Leagues right now, and then see how he ranks vs. the Game's greatest.

   First we'll do numbers. Then, the name.

   2016 A+ and AA .281 BA, 5 HR, 46 RBI, 30 SB.
   He slapped 149 hits, with 36 doubles, 3 triples, and an On Base % of .335

   The most recent season stands out and shows hard work results in improvement;

   2017 AA + AAA .304 BA, 26 HR, 65 RBI, 29 SB.
   He also scored 103 Runs, smashed 165 hits, including 29 doubles and 8 triples,
   on his way to a .530 Slugging % and an On Base % of .359

NOT BAD, RIGHT?!

   Before I give you his name, he plays a hard-nosed 2nd Base, with 11 errors in 2016, but down to 6 Errors in 2017, along with some dazzling plays. Overall, a formidable batter, runner, defender.

   The Mystery Prospect (In case you didn't read the Title of this Post)? Scott Kingery of the Philadelphia Phillies farm system. Kingery just jumped 18 spaces in the latest Top 100 MLB prospects, with him coming in at #35, and #31 with Baseball America. Not too shabby, considering Aaron Judge was much further down the list at this stage.





   I have watched countless videos of this kid playing ball and I've seen some truly mature hitting, staying away from some dirty pitches that others may swing at, and watched him launch some powerful home runs. His patience at the plate reminds me of Michael Conforto, of the New York Mets. In April of 2016, I wrote in an article on Conforto, one of the Bright Young stars of the New York Mets ("Conforto Factor")

   "... there is one factor that simply awes me, and it is not the power and consistency that we want in our hitters, both of which Conforto has. It is the "no fear" mentality with eyes always open watching and observing. Mike Trout has this. Bryce Harper has it. Going further back, Tony Gwynn certainly had it as well. It's almost as if an older, wiser soul resides within him. Pull up some of his at-bats online. How can he take pitches like that and know they are not strikes? He's a tough out, and he makes each pitcher earn their pay. Let me be clear. He's 23. What 23 year old has an eye like that?"

   So, after almost 2 years have passed, we know the potential of Confortos patience and power, barring the freak accident he had swinging the bat.

   There is that common thread among good hitters, really good hitters, and it's like they have a few spare seconds more "mentally" than the next guy, and when the pitch comes, it's a beach ball they see sailing over the plate.

   I can't help it when I watch Kingery play to think to myself this is the next Mike Trout. This is the next version of Mike Trout. I put my money where my mouth is and stocked up big on Kingery. They are already going up since recently, the MLB Top 100 Prospects for 2018 were released, and Kingery jumped about 18 slots to #35 of 100 and #31 of 100 for Baseball America. That's higher than Aaron Judge was ranked before being called up.

   Another factor contributing to his increasing popularity is that the MLB named him the Top 2nd Base Prospect in all of Baseball.

   Every interview that's been done with him shows a well-spoken, humble guy with a desire to play the game and just be happy. This positive attitude reminds me of Ken Griffey Jr. Between Trout and Griffey Jr., he's in good conversation company.

   Earlier, I was wondering if I had a conflict of interest because I bought so many Kingery cards, but then I realized I don't need to write a story to make his card value increase, because it's driving itself on it's own. Second, I'm not even selling one of these cards until he fully develops in the Major Leagues, so you can rest assured this is truly a post from the heart. I did feel that it is my responsibility with the volume of readership I have, to inform everyone of the opportunity so they, too, could get in while the prices are still reasonable.

Why Mike Trout ?

   An interesting article was written in May 2017 titled, "Reading’s Scott Kingery Battling With Mike Trout For Baseball’s Home Run Lead, Game by Game" in which it said, "It seems with almost a third of the Eastern League season in the books, the Phillies have a budding superstar in their minor league midst in Scott Kingery.  All he is doing is matching the best player in baseball, Mike Trout, for the home run lead almost “game by game!"

   He's got the power, speed, fielding agility, intelligence, and a profound love of the game, so not only was the author correct in comparing Kingery to Trout, I take it a step further and I see Kingery emerging as big or even a bigger star than Trout. It is not a shot in the dark. I have chewed up his stats and spoke with many others in the industry that are thinking the same thing about Kingery and his future.

  Scott Kingery was invited to 2018 Spring Training, and that should make for another show like the one he put on last year for Spring Training. This Rookie is a crowd-pleaser, hustles, and can make or break a game. That's Power!! Mike Trout 2.0 Power!

FOOTNOTE ADDED 7/29/2018:

   First of all, I am still a huge fan of Scott Kingery, even though he did turn a blind eye at Citi Field when I was trying to get his attention by yelling out his Twitter handle!

   Look, I think he might need the "Conforto Crunch", as I call it, named after Michael Conforto, who came to the Mets from the Minors and was on a mega roll. Somewhere along the line, he lost his usually perfect knowledge of the strike zone. After a while, he got sent down, hit everything they threw at him, and came back after 2 weeks like a brand new Conforto!

   I think the solution is the combination of a dose of reality, nerves, and re-adjustment, and I think it's something Gabe & the GM should consider. With Kingerys natural talent, it would do a world of wonders for him.

Have a great week, enjoy, and be safe!!

Many thanks and Regards,
Your friends at CardboardandCoins.com

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