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The first recorded baseball game was played in Hoboken, NJ in 1846 between the NYC Knickerbocker Base Ball Club and the New York Baseball Club (the Knickerbockers lost). By 1858, the National Association of Base Ball Players was formed, consisting of around 30 small teams. After the Civil War, the Cincinnati Red Stockings became the first professional fully-paid team.
Over the next hundred years, a number of leagues emerged, including the National Association, American League, National League, Federal League, and Continental (items from defunct leagues are highly sought after today).
Baseball cards are widely collected today. The earliest incarnations (1840s) were cardboard-backed photos of local players and teams, which came in cabinet card size and the smaller carte-de-visite size. Commercial baseball cards emerged in the late 1860s when a sporting goods dealer called Peck & Snyder printed cards with an ad on one side and a baseball player on the other. Within a few years, cards began appearing in packages of Old Judge tobacco and other tobacco, candy and chewing gum brands...
Other promotional items such as baseball programs became popular in the 1890s. Advertisers bought space on these score cards, and cards from famous games (e.g. the World Series) are highly sought-after. Other collectible promotional items include gloves, statuettes, plaques, posters, and pins.
And of course, there's a huge market for authentic baseball memorabilia linked to specific players, including greats such as Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Joe DiMaggio, Hank Aaron, Mickey Mantle, Jackie Robinson, Ted Williams, and Willie Mays. They produced plenty of signed baseballs, bats, gloves, photos, and other autographs. But be careful, as fake sports memorabilia is a lucrative business.
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by Interviews & Articles
How To Build a Killer Baseball Collection: Scouting the Minors With Dave Bloomer
Like most people my age, when I was growing up, baseball memorabilia meant baseball cards. The great thing about baseball cards at… [more]
The Secrets of Collecting Baseball, From Cards to Signed Bats and Balls
I played baseball, basketball, and ran track from the time I was eight years old all the way through high school. Like the other k… [more]
Hitting a Home Run with Baseball Cards
I started collecting in 1986. If you’re in Boston and you’re a baseball fan, the Red Sox may take over your life. They take over y… [more]
Now Batting, National Baseball Hall of Fame Curator Tom Shieber
The Baseball Hall of Fame officially opened in 1939, so we’re coming up on our 70th anniversary. If you include baseball cards, we… [more]
19th-Century Tobacco Cards
Dave Campbell contacted me after reading a post on The Baseball Card blog. He's been collecting baseball cards non-stop since 1981… [more]
Best of the Web (“Hall of Fame”)
Old Cardboard
Check out this well-organized collection of 500 sets of baseball cards, each over 50 years old. Browsable by type a… [read review or visit site]
The Baseball Card Blog
Ben Henry's lively vintage baseball card blog, started in January 2006, offers hundreds of great posts on (and pict… [read review or visit site]
Cardboard Junkie
Dave Campbell's in-depth blog on old baseball (and some football) cards lives up to it's motto: 'do cards, not drug… [read review or visit site]
Baseball Cards 1887-1914
Roll up your socks for this Library of Congress collection showcasing hundreds of players on colorful early basebal… [read review or visit site]
Baseball Hall of Fame
A home run for baseball collectors, this site features special online exhibits, ranging from a baseball-uniforms da… [read review or visit site]
Other Great Reference Sites: Baseball
Top eBay Auctions
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1966 Topps,#35 Bobby Orr Rookie, Psa 2.5
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Recent News: Baseball Memorabilia
Source: Google News
Vintage Baseball Game Returns Memorial Day
Patch.com, May 21stFor a few hours on Memorial Day, Pickering Field will return to 1863. Newtown's annual vintage baseball game will be held Monday at noon. Players from the Newtown Strakes will face the Flemington Neshanock Base Ball Club, a squad that wears uniforms...Read more
Big Money In Baseball Memorabilia
Call to the Pen, May 21stIt is wise to save all sports memorabilia because it might make you rich someday. Here a display case filled with memorabilia in the third row rests at the spot Bob Feller normally occupied in the Progressive Field press box as seen during the game...Read more
Vintage baseball coming to Beach Revue
Daily News - Galveston County, May 16thVintage baseball coming to Beach Revue. Story · Comments · Image (4). Print: Create a hardcopy of this page; Font Size: Default font size: Larger font size. Previous Next. Vintage baseball coming to Galveston. DEBI BEAUREGARD/The Katy Times...Read more
Peanuts, Cracker Jack, and Vintage Baseball
Fox17, May 14thThe Dutchers travel the United States throughout the year playing other vintage baseball teams, where the game is a little different, the uniforms are old, and gloves/mits are not used. Things are simple, they play for the fun of it, and it's...Read more
Lemont Historical Society Hosts Civil War Picnic, Vintage Baseball Game
Patch.com, May 8thThe Lemont Area Historical Society will commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation with a Civil War-era picnic on Friday. The picnic will be held at 6:30 p.m. at the Old Stone Church, 306 Lemont St. Civil War re-enactors will...Read more
Vintage baseball returns to Mid-Michigan
minbcnews.com, May 5thDespite the loss, Dr. Henthorn says the experience of bringing vintage baseball back is enough. "Nobody wants to go home without the W, but I think at the end of the day, as long as we just have fun and we enjoy what we're doing, I think that is what...Read more
Vintage Baseball Team Prepares For Season
NewsChannel5.com, April 28thNASHVILLE, Tenn. – A new type of Baseball league is taking shape in Middle Tennessee, but you may have a hard time finding anything "new" about it. That's because it's a vintage league that re-enacts how baseball was played in the 1860s. The players...Read more
Weekend Planner: Photography Contest; Vintage Baseball
Patch.com, April 26thThe eighth annual Lustberg Community Amateur Photography Contest is taking place now through May 5. Pick up an entry form at the circulation desk of the Hauppauge Public Library Yard Sale for Nature. Sweetbriar Nature Center in Smithtown will be...Read more