The Famous Faces Behind Baseball Cards For Sale

By Marissa Velazquez


The printing of baseball cards for sale goes back to the middle of the 19th century. Packaged with products as diverse as cigarettes and bubble gum, the modest little collector's items were swapped by school boys. Today, they offer a lucrative investment opportunity. A card depicting the legendary Babe Ruth sold not long ago for tens of thousands of dollars.

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.

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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