Baseball's Other Sport: Trading Cards

Vintage Topps baseball cards are often collected as a hobby by those who are dedicated and passionate about the sport of baseball. These days, baseball cards are bought and sold online, at flea markets, in malls and shops. The modern collector is much different from those who took up the sport of collecting a few decades ago when it was created as a marketing vehicle for the sport.

Many collectors find solace in their project of collecting an entire set of cards be it a particular team from a particular season, or of a vintage brand which only distributed a small amount of them. Modern baseball hobbyists truly enjoy tracking down older cards and these of course, can be quite valuable. The fact that so many people have come to collect them means that the market for them is vast, if a collector comes across a rare one that he has been searching for, chances are he will pay quite a lot for it.

The value of a particular one is determined by its rarity and the condition in which it was kept. A youngster who ate, lived and slept with his favorite card probably will not get much money for it decades after the fact. They are often kept in hard plastic cases to ensure that they are kept safe and their value kept high. Rookie cards are sought for their value -- after all, a player is only a rookie for so long, making these a rare find. A player's first published card, his rookie card can be a big earner, especially if that rook went on to make a name for him in the sport. Sometimes, they are printed with an error featuring a shell of printing that was only made on a few cards is also highly prized by collectors. And of course, the value is also determined by how well a player performed throughout his career. Whether it is collectible is determined by a grading process, determined by companies who are considered neutral to the card industry but who are baseball experts all the same. You may have heard of the Honus Wagner card -- its price went up to $2.35 million during a 2007 auction. The 1909 rookie card is well-known for fetching such a courageous sum.

A pack of cards that was almost as desirable would be the first collection of cards to ever come off the printing press -- those manufactured during the years 1886 or 1887. These 55 cards were made to enshrine some of the best players to feature in the sport up until that time -- including Cap Anson and Charles Comiskey. These collections, which are devoted entirely to baseball players of old, are among the sought-after items of baseball collectors.

Old Judges, a brand which produced many of these old, unnumbered cards, is the brand behind 172 recently identified old cards. They feature actual photographs instead of drawings and are some of the oldest examples of vintage cards out there for the collector.