Baseball Cards

I'm not sure how much that one is worth, but I do know that at home (I'm in college now) I have at least 8 different Micheal Jordan baseball cards. However, each one of them is with him on his minor league team. I can't recall which card company this was, but I know that they released a series of baseball cards about him attempting to cut it in the minors.

My mom took mine and put them neatly in 8 shoe boxes and thought she'd give them to me when I grew up. When I turned 40 she said she couldn't wait any longer. From 1961 - 67 both baseball and football almost 80% complete sets of fleers, topps, Pacific, extras of many legends now all in books and video taped for insurance. I wish I had the ones I put in the spokes of my bike.

I am a die hard collector of baseball items, although I have ceased to be an active baseball card collector. I do collect some minor league cards and vintage cards. I currently collect vintage gloves, wooden bats and autographed baseballs.

My baseball card collection contains a number of vintage cards, I have Musial, Mantle, Maris, Mays, Koufax and Clementes. Like most of us, many of my valuable cards were destroyed by flipping cards, in bike spokes or creased by a rubber band then thrown away.

In response to your question, Michael Jordan baseball cards are not highly valued. Most of his cards are minor league issues showing him in the White Sox spring training uniform or the Birmingham Barons uniform. They can be had for as low as $1 and up to $8. There were some game used bat slice and uniform cards made up after he left baseball that command prices in the low $20's.

As a curiosity they are easily obtainable, as a baseball collectable they are not especially desirable. There are many thousands of MJ cards available.

A Barry Bonds rookie card is much more desirable and valuable. A Barry Bonds
1987 Fleer #604 Rookie Card rated in "Near Mint" condition is currently selling around $60.00

My hubby has some great cards...doubles and triples of most....(mom saved them all).

He has 3 or 4 Roberto Clemente cards, 3 or 4 Mantle, Kolfax and numerous others....
I keep telling him to sell all but one of each
but he won't hear of it!

He keeps threatening not to die so that they will never leave his house! He takes them out every now and again and looks at them. Boy what would you guys do without us moms!

Would appreciate any thoughts on the following item, i.e. is it a collectors item etc.?

RC Cola can- "RC collectors series no. 2". Can has a pitcher of Eddie Murray (hall of famer) and a short blurb about his career. The can is dated 1978. I picked this can up at a convienent store when I was in HS (1979 approx). It caught my attention because the can had not been opened but was empty (i assume there is a pin hole in the bottom which allowed all contents to leak out). I have held on to it all these years because of that very fact and also Eddie Murray is now in the Hall of Fame.

Any feedback would be apprectiated.

I collect baseballs, but only autographs that I don't pay for. Have been doing it since I was a kid and have over 100 real good ones. My favorite is a ball that I got signed by Ali. Getting them signed was the fun part. They will go to my Grandkids someday.

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He has 3 or 4 Roberto Clemente cards, 3 or 4 Mantle, Kolfax and numerous others....

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I found it unusual that in the early Clemente cards he was listed as "Bob Clemente". I don't know if that was MLB and/or the card companies idea to "Americanize" is name, or if it was Clemente who reverted back to Roberto in respect for his heritage later in his career.

What's more rare?

A Honus Wagoner in mint condition or a kid getting a free autographed bat by Bonds.

Is that true that he wouldn't even sign a bat for Jackie Robinson's widow?

As far as baseball cards, outside of a handful, my mom threw the rest out. bummer

Bob Clemente on the cards was clearly an attempt at "americanizing" Clemente who was very proud of his heritage.

Here in Pittsburgh, its has become clear that Clemente suffered greatly from a number of local sportswriters who went out of their way to portray him as unintelligent and a malingerer. His quotes in the local paper were often written in the broken english dialect he used. eg: "I heeet de ball reeel good today".

Any attempt at this type of bigotry of an athlete today would be unacceptable. It is said that the only person Clemente did not mind calling him anything other than Roberto was the late Bob Prince. The long time voice of the Pirates always called him "Bobby".

There is an amazing documentary on Clemente narrated by Jimmy Smits that is available. I reccommend it highly. Roberto Clemente was an amazing athlete and a humanitarian who gave his life living out what he believed. Clemente died tragically on December 31, 1972, when he and four others boarded a small DC-7 to deliver food, clothing and medicine to Nicaragua, to aid victims of a devastating earthquake. Clemente, who headed the Puerto Rican relief effort, and the four others died when the four-engine plane, with a questionable past and an overload of cargo, crashed into the Atlantic Ocean.


Even the Hall of Fame has made a change to the plaque featuring Roberto Clemente. In Latino heritage, a person's mother's maiden name traditionally follows their surname. Though Clemente was born Roberto Clemente Walker, he was known throughout his baseball career as Roberto Clemente.

When Clemente was posthumously inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1973, the Hall of Fame plaque had his mother's maiden name and father's last name reversed, reading "Roberto Walker Clemente." The Hall of Fame has rectified the inaccuracy and the new plaque reads "Roberto Clemente Walker."

"By rectifying and recasting my father's plaque to reflect Roberto Clemente Walker, the Hall of Fame has shown the respect and honor of our rich heritage and culture that my father was so proud of," said Luis Clemente, president of Sports City and son of the late Roberto Clemente. "The Clemente family and all Latin descendants are extremely grateful to the National Baseball Hall of Fame for this recognition."

"We could not be happier with the administration of the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown," said Clemente's widow Vera, from her home in San Juan. "The Hall of Fame's desire to rectify this cultural inaccuracy means a great deal to my family, the entire Puerto Rican nation, and Hispanics everywhere. We are so very grateful that Roberto's plaque in the Hall of Fame Gallery will be accurate for the hundreds of thousands of visitors that travel to Cooperstown annually."

SBK - regarding your above reference to Bonds. The great one is shaking hands this weekend at a big time convention for $7500 a handshake.
I know TRHit, Bonds is a great hitter, clean, innocent till proven guilty (won't happen as mlb all but encouraged steroid use) and is just trying to put food on the table.
Myself, I'd like to pay maybe $75 to spit at Barry. Wait, maybe if I shake his hand some of "the clear" will rub off on me and I'll be hitting my driver 475+

I have collected baseball cards off and on since I was a child. I had a box full and since I was born and raised in Ohio I had a few Reds. I had a Pete Rose rookie, Johnny Bench rookie, and a few of the other players in that shoebox. When We moved to KY the box was lost between there and here. But now I like to collect memorabilia cards. I have bat cards of Harmon Killebrew, Bonds and jerseys of Randy Johnson and Arod.

i'M a baseball memorabilia nut (nutjob ) and have, along with my son, some stuff we're pretty proud of.

We have a Jackie Robinson card, several of Koufax and a pretty complete collection of Drysdale. I have most of the '59 Topps series, my favorite card series.

My son has a dozen or so game used bats, one signed by Piazza.

My favorite stuff is our collection of Hartland (plastic statues). They were made in the late '50's/early 60s' I believe. Ruth, Mantle, Mays, Spahn, Musial, Williams, Berra, Groat are among them.

My favorite autograph experience was getting the signature of John Roseboro, a catcher for the Dodgers in the 60's. We had about a half hour conversation about his "famous" fight with Juan Marichal and an incident when a ball went through his mask. He couldn't believe I remembered him or that mask incident. It was great.

When my son was younger we'd go to 20+ Dodger games a year 'hounding for autographs-got hundreds. The nicest guys I remember off hand have been Ramon Martinez, Brett Butler, John Smoltz, Ken Caminitti, Darren Dreifort, Ozzie Smith, and Pete Harnisch. The worst- Barry Bonds, Tony Gwynn, Lee Smith, Kenny Lofton, Ken Griffey Jr. and Sr. and Jeff Kent.

I always find it funny when players won't sign 'cause many have collections themselves.
And for all the knocks he gets from some, Pete Rose' son played in our little league for a while and Pete would oblige anyone that asked for his autograph and would help out any kid that asked for hitting advice.

I have a few http://www.lloydsbaseballcards.com/

I had cards that either I collected or was given them as a child dating back to the 20's 30's on into the 60's. My Mom kept them and for whatever reason never threw them away. In the mid 80's, I did not have children and my next door neighbor's kid was a collector. I was naiive and did not realize how "collecting cards" had become a business.....I gave them to him.

Two years later after having a son, there was one card in particular that had sentimental value to me. It was Mantle's rookie card that he had signed for me when I was a kid. I was hoping to get that card back to give to my young son as he grew up...."sorry" I was told, "I sold your cards". Arghhhhh!!! That was an eye opener.

As time went on and I learned more about sports card collecting, I reflected on the cards that I gave to this young entreprenuerial...It paid for his Duke education