lundi 20 janvier 2014

The Famous Faces Behind Baseball Cards For Sale

By Marissa Velazquez


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.

Some of the biggest names in baseball appear on these valuable trading cards, Roger Maris, Ty Cobb, Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio, Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth. Cards were tossed, traded and flipped. The term flipping refers to a simple card game, where the card is tossed in the air, landing either face down or face up. The next player tosses a card and tries to match which side lands face up.

Born George Herman Ruth (11895-1948), renowned outfielder and pitcher "Babe" Ruth was a south paw at both throwing and batting. Sports Illustrated Magazine named "The Bambino" the best baseball player of the twentieth century. He played for a total of 22 seasons on three separate teams.

First baseman and pitch hitter Lou Gehrig (1903-1941) played for the New York Yankees for 17 seasons (1923-1939). Nicknamed "The Iron Horse" because of his amazing stamina, Gehrig had a batting average of . 340. Diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS aka Lou Gehrig's disease) on his 36th birthday, New York Mayor La Guardia ordered the flags of the city to be flown at half mast when he died on June 2, 1941.

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 Charles Mantle (1931-1995) played first base and centerfield for the New York Yankees for 18 seasons between 1951 and 1968. He played in 12 World Series and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1974. Himself the recipient of a liver transplant, Mantle established a foundation to raise the public's awareness of the need for organ donations.

Tyrus Raymond Cobb, the "Georgia Peach, " was born in a small rural farm community in December 1886. An outfielder for the Detroit Tigers for the first 22 years of his career in American Major League Baseball, Cobb retired after a stint with the Philadelphia Athletics. A film about his life was made in 1994 and starred Tommy Lee Jones.

Baseball cards for sale may be found on a variety of auction sites. Countries where they are most popular are Canada, Cuba, Japan and the United States. The face of the cards would bear the image of the player, along with his name and club affiliation. The back sides would contain extra biographical information along with the players' statistics to date. Common sponsors of the cards included bubble gum manufacturers and tobacco companies.




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