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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Recent News: Baseball Memorabilia

Source: Google News

Vintage baseball coming to Beach Revue
Daily News - Galveston County, May 16th

Vintage 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 14th

The 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 8th

The 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 5th

Despite 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 28th

NASHVILLE, 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

Seeking Kin: Retrieving baseball memorabilia from attics and memory banks
Heritage Florida Jewish News, April 26th

Seeking Kin: Retrieving baseball memorabilia from attics and memory banks. April 26, 2013 | Year 37, No. 32. National Museum of American Jewish History. A baseball signed by Sandy Koufax is displayed in the National Museum of American Jewish History...Read more

Weekend Planner: Photography Contest; Vintage Baseball
Patch.com, April 26th

The 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

MLB: Bret Saberhagen auctioning off all his baseball memorabilia for charity
Toronto Star, April 25th

With his large collection of baseball memorabilia gathering dust in a storage unit, former Kansas City Royals ace Bret Saberhagen decided to auction off his two Cy Young awards, 1985 World Series ring and MVP trophy and dozens of other items to raise...Read more