History Repeats ... again ... and again

There has been a great deal of talk of what is worth collecting, what should be invested and what should be produced by the card companies. The recent Topps Heritage set contains several historic figures and events using some of the classic baseball card designs.

A very generous board member over on Collectors Universe forwarded me samples of these knowing I am a fan of history - and in particular Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson.

I very much liked the 1962 baseball wood grain design for the Revolutionary Hero subset. The Presidential subset recycles the 1952 baseball design except in the standard size rather than the original 1952 cards.

This has been brewing for some time as the past few years leading up to the Presidential election, several makers have included the U.S. Leaders like the Turkey Red series (above).

But for my taste, and for my dollar, I think obtaining some of the vintage cards like the 1951 Topps Look-n-See series (below) is a better investment. Some of the very same personalities are included and the artwork on most is excellent.

although the 2009 Heritage contain numbered versions, chrome and refractors - I would dare say that value wise you can get several good deals getting these ...

... the Royal Bengal Cigarettes T68 series. These tobacco cards from 1910 are still very affordable - and original.

While you are enjoying your search for the T68s (above), you might come across some others like the American Carmel set - E50 with contemporary personalities like Teddy Roosevelt (below) ...

and contemporary Sea vessels like the one in the 1927 Phillip's Cigarettes series (below). These are far better than the recently released Mayo football set that to me is appalling.
Don't misunderstand me, I like the fact that card makers are adding history to modern cards - but it might be time to add more contemporary figures. This will be a factor in future sets and in your collection.

What Ever Happened to ... TEAM CARDS

One of the features of TOPPS sports cards through the years was the TEAM picture card. Beginning in 1956 the gum company included group photos with their baseball series. The last time they had these team pictures was the 1981 set.

It also just happens to have my favorite team photo - the 1981 SAN DIEGO PADRES - posing on along palm trees on the coast of California.

The traditional team photos were done inside the stadium or the very least at the practice facility. In 1956 and again in 1958 the Topps card photos included the line up names on the front of the card.

There were three instances where the club name was not used as with the rest of the team. Consecutively, from 1970 to 1972 "World Champions" was used for the Mets, Orioles and Pirates respectively.

Beginning in 1976 and intermittently to 1981 Topps determined that the Manager, who was omitted from having his own card, would appear as an inset on the team card.
Baseball was not exclusive to team cards as Fleer used them in their football sets and O-Pee-Chee hockey cards added them like their brothers at Topps.

There must be something about Chicago teams - maybe they couldn't get everyone together on picture day - but there are several examples where the Cubs and White Sox had individual photos made as a collage in their team cards rather than the group photo.

And it was not limited to Chicago baseball teams.

The team photo was a beautiful and useful card to have in your set. It is unfortunate that modern sets that number over 600 and 700 cannot find room for team cards. Topps did return briefly in using the team group in their Heritage series in 2008 - a throwback to the 1958 set.