Once a school boy hobby, collecting baseball cards for sale is now big business. A card showing Babe Ruth as a rookie, a card that used to come in a pack of five along with bubble gum, now sells for tens of thousands of dollars on eBay. Never mind the prices of oil, diamonds or gold, it is the price of vintage baseball cards that we should all be watching for our next big investment.
The items were traded, flipped, tossed and even attached to bicycle spokes using clothes pins. Just imagine fixing hundreds of hundred dollar bills on the wheels of a bike just to hear the cool sound they make. Among the famed idols whose faces graced what eventually became a license to print money were Ty Cobb, Joe DiMaggio, Lou Gehrig, Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris and Babe Ruth.
Born George Herman "Babe" Ruth, the legendary pitcher and outfielder was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1895 and died in New York City in 1948. He batted and threw left-handed. He was named the best baseball player of the 20th century by Sports Illustrated Magazine.
Lou Gehrig (1903-1941) played first base and pitched for the New York Yankees for 17 years between 1923 and 1939. His lifetime battering average was . 340. His impressive stamina earned him the nickname "The Iron Horse." He was diagnosed with the neuromuscular disorder, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS, or Lou Gehrig's Disease) on the day of his 36th birthday. When he died in June 1941, the Mayor of New York, Fiorello La Guardia ordered the city's flags be flown at half mast.
Joe DiMaggio was almost as famous for being married to Marilyn Monroe as he was for his 13-year career with the New York Yankees at the position of center field. His 56-game hitting streak in 1941 has never been matched. He had two brothers named Vince and Dom, both of whom played professional baseball in center field.
Mickey Mantle was a first baseman and center fielder for the Yankees for 18 seasons in the middle of the 20th century. The combination of hepatitis, cirrhosis and liver cancer meant that Mantle received a life-saving liver transplant. He later founded an organization with the mission to inform the public of the issues surrounding organ donation.
"Georgia Peach, " Tyrus Raymond (Ty) Cobb was born in a small, rural community in Georgia in 1886. For the first 22 years of his pro baseball career, Cobb played outfield for the Detroit Lions. He finished his career with the Philadelphia Athletics. A film of his life was made in 1994 in which Tommy Lee Jones played the leading role. Clever investments in General Motors and Coca Cola enabled Cobb to establish a college scholarship for students from Georgia.
Baseball cards for sale featuring this famous names and countless others can be found on eBay and other auction sites. Cards are most often found in the United States but Canada, Japan and Cuba also have a large and active fan base. The fronts of most cards have an image of the player, his name and club affiliation. The reverse side of the card has statistics and maybe some biographical information. Many cards were sponsored by tobacco and bubble gum companies.
The items were traded, flipped, tossed and even attached to bicycle spokes using clothes pins. Just imagine fixing hundreds of hundred dollar bills on the wheels of a bike just to hear the cool sound they make. Among the famed idols whose faces graced what eventually became a license to print money were Ty Cobb, Joe DiMaggio, Lou Gehrig, Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris and Babe Ruth.
Born George Herman "Babe" Ruth, the legendary pitcher and outfielder was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1895 and died in New York City in 1948. He batted and threw left-handed. He was named the best baseball player of the 20th century by Sports Illustrated Magazine.
Lou Gehrig (1903-1941) played first base and pitched for the New York Yankees for 17 years between 1923 and 1939. His lifetime battering average was . 340. His impressive stamina earned him the nickname "The Iron Horse." He was diagnosed with the neuromuscular disorder, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS, or Lou Gehrig's Disease) on the day of his 36th birthday. When he died in June 1941, the Mayor of New York, Fiorello La Guardia ordered the city's flags be flown at half mast.
Joe DiMaggio was almost as famous for being married to Marilyn Monroe as he was for his 13-year career with the New York Yankees at the position of center field. His 56-game hitting streak in 1941 has never been matched. He had two brothers named Vince and Dom, both of whom played professional baseball in center field.
Mickey Mantle was a first baseman and center fielder for the Yankees for 18 seasons in the middle of the 20th century. The combination of hepatitis, cirrhosis and liver cancer meant that Mantle received a life-saving liver transplant. He later founded an organization with the mission to inform the public of the issues surrounding organ donation.
"Georgia Peach, " Tyrus Raymond (Ty) Cobb was born in a small, rural community in Georgia in 1886. For the first 22 years of his pro baseball career, Cobb played outfield for the Detroit Lions. He finished his career with the Philadelphia Athletics. A film of his life was made in 1994 in which Tommy Lee Jones played the leading role. Clever investments in General Motors and Coca Cola enabled Cobb to establish a college scholarship for students from Georgia.
Baseball cards for sale featuring this famous names and countless others can be found on eBay and other auction sites. Cards are most often found in the United States but Canada, Japan and Cuba also have a large and active fan base. The fronts of most cards have an image of the player, his name and club affiliation. The reverse side of the card has statistics and maybe some biographical information. Many cards were sponsored by tobacco and bubble gum companies.
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