I have enjoyed collecting sports cards since my father introduced me to them over 30 years ago. I feel it is a wonderful hobby that can help connect families with a common bond. The fun of trading cards and sports autograph collecting with my father (and now my daughter) has left me with life long memories.

The history of baseball cards and collecting is also very interesting. The best site I have found that details baseball card history can be found at the Library of Congress - American Memory website. Here is my brief overview of the beginning of baseball cards and collecting. In the early 19th Century (over 100 years ago) the Goodwin & Co. began including cards in with their cigarettes packs. Other tobacco companies, such as the American Tobacco Company, began to create sports cards of their own between 1909-1911. Out of these baseball cards came the now famous T-206 set, which includes the industries most valuable baseball card of Honus Wagner which Beckett.com values at an amazing $400,000!

Collecting cards became much more prominent in the late 1940's when Bowman began selling them with their chewing gum for mere pennies per pack (currently packs can range from about $.99 per pack to over $100 per pack) Wow! Bowman was soon purchased by Topps Inc. and became the first company to mass produce baseball cards. Topps continued as the only major baseball card producer from 1955 to 1980

Following a successful Monopoly lawsuit in 1980 against Topps, two other companies (Fleer & Donruss) also began mass producing sports cards (primarily baseball). The added competition created a race for better baseball card quality and design. Trading cards in today's market include a variety of items including autographed cards, game used memorabilia (i.e. pieces of jerseys, face masks, hats and sports autographs. inside the card) and some contain both. The baseball card quality has improved dramatically and the condition of the card has become much more important in today's market. Grading Services including Beckett Grading and PSA now offer to rate the condition of your card which can add (or sometimes detract) from the value of your card.

Beckett publications also began to print and sell Baseball Card Price Guides (along with other trading cards - sports cards guides) in the late 1980's, which many dealers feel transcended baseball card collecting from a simple hobby to its' current billion dollar a year industry.

We here at Magoo's Baseball cards have enjoyed collecting for over 30 years and I now currently enjoy collecting and trading sports cards with my daughter (Age 6). I hope you enjoy this site and would welcome any suggestions to make it better.

Sports Autographs - Football Cards - Basketball Cards
Hockey Cards - Golf Cards - Bowman - Topps
Sports Cards - Trading Cards - Upper Deck

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Specials
1987 Topps 320 Barry Bonds RC $10
1987 Classic Update Yellow/Green Backs 113 Barry Bonds $25
1986 Fleer Update 14 Barry Bonds XRC $50
1986 Topps Traded 11T Barry Bonds XRC $38
1987 Donruss 361 Barry Bonds RC $15
1987 Donruss 361 Barry Bonds RC $15
1998 Collector's Edge Advantage Peyton Manning RC $8.00
1998 Bowman Peyton Manning RC $12.00
1998 Aurora Peyton Manning RC $15.00
1998 Press Pass 1 Peyton Manning $5.00