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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Your friends at CardboardandCoins.com

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The 3 Game-Used Cards I'll Never Sell Anywhere, Even on CardboardandCoins.com

Hi Folks,
   Welcome back.

   After being surrounded by sports memorabilia for more than a quarter of a century at that time (a few years back), it struck me....."GAME USED" CARDS....this stuff has certifiably been used in real MLB baseball games! The bug for baseball cards was strong, but once the bug for authentic/vintage/original memorabilia and collectibles hit me, I began to stock up...it's how I buy! Well, with the cat out of the bag, here are my Top 3 Favorite Game-Used Cards that I'll never sell anywhere, even on CardboardandCoins.com

#1: 2004 Topps Series Stitches Relics #SSR-HK Harmon Killebrew Minnesota Twins Card

                        


   Sometimes, it all comes down to sentimental value. This is the card that drew me in to the Game-Used, or "GU" market. I've always collected Harmon Killebrew cards, so when I saw a piece of his actual bat on a card, I was mesmerized. Not wanting to buy simulated relics, I flipped over the card and saw the guarantee by Topps that this was truly game used by Killebrew. The price was reasonable, and earned a place in my permanent collection. My fire was lit and now I couldn't be stopped from buying up more GU cards!


#2: 2008 Upper Deck Sweet Spot Swatch Tony Gwynn Jersey Card #SS-TG

   What more can I say but this; I am in awe of what Tony Gwynn accomplished. Each time I look at his stats I am left scratching my head. How does someone strikeout only about 20 times during an entire season. He must have seen a beach-ball instead of a tiny baseball. He was to hitting as Greg Maddux was to pitching; a clairvoyant scholar of the game with superior intelligence. I'm honored to have his Jersey card and wish he never touched chewing tobacco, which sadly ended his life way too early.

   I picked up this card in Cooperstown when visiting the Hall of Fame with my son last year. What could be a more fitting purchase in "Baseball City" than a GU Tony Gwynn Jersey card?


#3: 2015 Mike Trout Topps Update ALL STAR GAME STITCHES WORKOUT JERSEY LA Angels

   Mike Trout has already been dubbed, "the best player the game of baseball has ever seen", and is on track to surpass Mickey Mantles lifetime figures in all of the major power offense categories. Add in his over-the-top fielding ability and the kid-like role-model way he carries himself, and they just might have nailed the description of Trout's place in Baseball history.

   When a player like this emerges, it's time to stockpile, and every true stockpile should have a GU item (or many GU items). I won this particular card at an auction, and by auction, I don't mean eBay. I mean a real Auction with a hammer, gavel, and a super-sonic speaking barker running the auction. For those of you out of the New York Metro area.....if you think we speak fast, then check out one of these real auctions. If you can understand them after while (it took me time...there is a learning curve), then us fast talking New Yorkers will be a piece of cake for you!


   Next on my list? Even though I am a die-hard Mets fan, I definitely will be adding some GU Aaron Judge items to my collection. I'm also interested in GU Ty Cobb items, so that fun shopping plan will come into action in the next month or so. What an awesome hobby we have, folks!

What are some of your favorite GU cards? We'd love to hear!

Regards,
Your friends at CardboardandCoins.com

CardboardandCoins.com - From Baseball Cards
to Wheat Cents, and everything in-between.
* * * * * * * * * * *
FREE U.S. Shipping Always
NO Minimum Order Size
www.CardboardandCoins.com


Tags: game used, mlb, baseball, memorabilia, jersey card, bat card, relic, killebrew, gwynn, trout, aaron judge, ty cobb, stitches, upper deck, topps, baseball cards, authentic, vintage, original, hobby, GU

 #gameused #mlb #baseball #memorabilia #collectibles #jerseycard #batcard #relic #killebrew #gwynn #trout #aaronjudge #tycobb #stitches #upperdeck #topps #baseballcards #authentic #vintage #original #hobby #GU

Why Card Sleeves contribute to Low Population!!

Hello Everyone,
   Welcome to CardboardandCoins.com, a site that was created to join two great hobbies, Card collecting and Coin collecting.

   I've been in the hobby, or "hobbies" I should say, for close to 30 years. I grew up during a time when Saturday meant cartoons in the morning, bowling with the Cub Scouts, a trip to the arcade, and baseball cards on the way home. Later in the day, it was time to go through the big change bucket from the past week, and to sort through all of the years of pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters, and to put them in the Whitman folders I was filling for each type of coin. Yes, I was...and I still am...a proud dork!

   As far as baseball cards, I remember laughing at some of the cards from the 1983 Topps baseball set, and in particular, the Wade Boggs card (his rookie). Well, as the title of this post reads, let me explain and use the Boggs rookie as the perfect example.

   Just last week, I decided to remove some old school sleeves off some cards and replace them with the new Penny Sleeves. Simple enough, right? I get to good ole' Wade and the darn penny sleeve lifted up the first layer in the lower left corner of the card! Really? How could these little plastic slips cause such destruction? It makes me wonder that if this happened to me (it does happen from time to time), then think of how many others are having the same issue.

   Perhaps some of you were trying to sleeve a 1977 Don Money card, but then this mishap prevents the card from fetching a 10. The end result is the 1977 Topps card of Don Money (a lifetime .261 hitter) being more valuable than the 1977 Topps card of Rod Carew (a lifetime .328 hitter). Oh, bittersweet population. For those of you who are not aware of population, it means the total amount of a certain card that was graded a "10" for example, by a specific grading company. So when you see a low population of high-grades for a specific card, just blame the Sleeves!

   Now, the alternative would be life without the penny sleeves. Think of all of the cards out there with scuffed up surfaces and greasy finger marks. No thanks. Penny sleeves are very important, and when used properly in a controlled environment with some peer supervision, they can prove to be quite helpful.

   Remember: do NOT top-load your card without putting the card in a sleeve first. It pays to have an extra layer of friction to hold the card in place, or you might have the same incident that happened to me with the 1985 McGwire Rookie (It's too painful; I don't want to get into it, but let's just say cards slide out of top loaders when they're not sleeved). Cards also have a tendency to fall with precision accuracy right onto one of their 4 corners. I know what you are about to ask; Yes, it did happen to me. Learn from that sad incident. Sorry, Mr. McGwire. I know you'd probably pick me up by the throat with one hand. Umm, but please kindly refrain.

   So, with all of that said, welcome to our site. Going forward, you'll probably notice I refer to our hobbies as our "industry". In the coming months, we have a lot of surprises planned for you here, including some Blog posts written by (and also written about) some pretty influential folks in our industry. We are in talks with a few different webstore providers, and our inventory should start appearing on the site within a few weeks. Be sure to bookmark us and check back often!

   In closing, who's going to the National at Hofstra University in Long Island this weekend?

Best Regards,
Rob Eisenstein
www.CardboardandCoins.com



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