Vintage Baseball Card Books - Help Me Add to the List Please

[that T206 Guy]

I am Trying to Learn as Much as I Can About Vintage Baseball Cards.

So I Decided to Buy Every Book I can on the Subject.

I am Currently Reading "The Card: Collectors, Con Men, and the True Story of History's Most Desired Baseball Card"

I ordered "The Cracker Jack Collection: Baseballs Prized Players" and will Read that Next.

So Far I have This List Going.



BASEBALL CARD BOOKS
1. The Card: Collectors, Con Men, and the True Story of History's Most Desired Baseball Card
2. The Cracker Jack Collection: Baseballs Prized Players
3. The T206 Collection: The Players & Their Stories
4. Before There Was Bubble Gum: Our Favorite Pre-World War I Baseball Cards
5. Mint Condition: How Baseball Cards Became an American Obsession
6. The Bubble Gum Card War: The Great Bowman & Topps Sets from 1948 to 1955
7. Top 200 Sportscards: An In-Depth Guide for the Card Collector
8. Cardboard Gems: A Century of Baseball Cards & Their Stories, 1869 - 1969
9. The Photographic Baseball Cards of Goodwin & Company (1886-90)
10. Lew Lipset's Encylopedia of Baseball Cards
11. Card Sharks: How Upper Deck Turned a Child's Hobby into a High-Stakes, Billion-Dollar Business
12. The Great American Baseball Card Flipping, Trading and Bubble Gum Book
13. The Modern Hobby Guide To Topps Chewing Gum: 1938 To 1956 by David Hornish
14. The League of Outsider Baseball: An Illustrated History of Baseball's Forgotten Heroes

1. Old Cardboard Magazine ( 34 issues )
2. The Vintage & Classic Baseball Collector ( 38 issues )
3. The Trader Speaks Publications
4. 21: The Illustrated Journal of Outsider Baseball

NON-BASEBALL CARD BOOKS
1. Ballparks Yesterday & Today, by Phil Trexler
2. Lost Ballparks, by Lawrence S. Ritter




So My Question is What Books am I Missing that I Need to Buy?

I am Especially Looking for Books on 19th Century Cards like Old Judge.

[barrysloate]

The Photographic Baseball Cards of Goodwin & Company (1886-90), by Jay Miller, Joe Gonsowski, and Richard Masson. My vote for the best book ever written about vintage baseball cards.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Didn't Alan Rosen have a book?

[that T206 Guy]

The Photographic Baseball Cards of Goodwin & Company (1886-90), by Jay Miller, Joe Gonsowski, and Richard Masson. My vote for the best book ever written about vintage baseball cards.

Awesome.

I Added that to my List.

Thank You :)

Anybody have any other Books they can Suggest :)

[that T206 Guy]

Didn't Alan Rosen have a book?

Isn't that Mr. Mint?

Is He Still Around?

[brianp-beme]

Isn't that Mr. Mint?

Is He Still Around?

He passed away a year a two ago. Someone who is still around and whose book is a must have for vintage bb collectors is Lew Lipset's Encylopedia of Baseball Cards. There are three volumes, one covering 19th century issues, one tobacco issues, and the third Early Candy and Gum issues. They are most commonly found in a later reprint that grouped all three into one book. It is still the most comprehensive compilation of info on these that the hobby has seen.

Brian

[that T206 Guy]

He passed away a year a two ago. Someone who is still around and whose book is a must have for vintage bb collectors is Lew Lipset's Encylopedia of Baseball Cards. There are three volumes, one covering 19th century issues, one tobacco issues, and the third Early Candy and Gum issues. They are most commonly found in a later reprint that grouped all three into one book. It is still the most comprehensive compilation of info on these that the hobby has seen.

Brian

Added it to the List.

Thank You :)

[JollyElm]

Not to stray too far off topic, but if you're into old baseball cards, it's a trip looking through and reading illustrated books about the old ballparks. Check these two out:

1. Ballparks Yesterday & Today, by Phil Trexler
2. Lost Ballparks, by Lawrence S. Ritter

[that T206 Guy]

Not to stray too far off topic, but if you're into old baseball cards, it's a trip looking through and reading illustrated books about the old ballparks. Check these two out:

1. Ballparks Yesterday & Today, by Phil Trexler
2. Lost Ballparks, by Lawrence S. Ritter

Yep. I saw those when I was looking online.

I am Getting Those as Well.

Added those to the List.

Thank You :)

If anybody else has any Good Non-Baseball Card Book Recommendations Please Post those as Well :)

[Tabe]

There's also the infamous history of Upper Deck:

Card Sharks: How Upper Deck Turned a Child's Hobby into a High-Stakes, Billion-Dollar Business by Pete Williams


Edit: Sorry, not exactly vintage, but hey, 30 years is fairly old, right?

[insidethewrapper]

I would recommend reading the following publications to get a lot of information about card collecting :
1) Old Cardboard Magazine ( 34 issues )
2) The Vintage & Classic Baseball Collector ( 38 issues )
3) The Trader Speaks Publications

[whitehse]

I cant believe the The Great American Baseball Card Flipping, Trading and Bubble Gum Book has not been posted yet. While you wont learn allot about baseball card history, this book will certainly help deepen your love for this awesome hobby we all share. I would venture a guess that many of us here read this a time or a hundred when we were younger.

Goodnight Sibby Sisti wherever you are......

[PowderedH2O]

I bought the Great American book in 1975 in Gulfport, Mississippi. I have easily read it 250 times. Just a joy!

[that T206 Guy]

There's also the infamous history of Upper Deck:

Card Sharks: How Upper Deck Turned a Child's Hobby into a High-Stakes, Billion-Dollar Business by Pete Williams


Edit: Sorry, not exactly vintage, but hey, 30 years is fairly old, right?

Thanks :)

I Added it.

[that T206 Guy]

I would recommend reading the following publications to get a lot of information about card collecting :
1) Old Cardboard Magazine ( 34 issues )
2) The Vintage & Classic Baseball Collector ( 38 issues )
3) The Trader Speaks Publications

Thanks :)

I Added Those

[that T206 Guy]

I cant believe the The Great American Baseball Card Flipping, Trading and Bubble Gum Book has not been posted yet. While you wont learn allot about baseball card history, this book will certainly help deepen your love for this awesome hobby we all share. I would venture a guess that many of us here read this a time or a hundred when we were younger.

Goodnight Sibby Sisti wherever you are......

Thanks :)

I Added that.

[1880nonsports]

didn't know Alan Hager had died. He wrote an interesting EARLY coffee table book / price guide that was ahead of it's time - as were the prices :o His peeps would dress in suits and sell cards out of an attaché case along with the book.

Oooops. Hopefully for all Alan Hager is alive. I misread the post. I didn't know mr. mint had passed. His book Mr. Mint was mostly self-promoting.

I have a run of Old Cardboard magazines I would sell along with a few of the other books on your list including the Goodwin book...… Hopefully I will get a few on the BST by the end of this/next week.

[tiger8mush]

If anybody else has any Good Non-Baseball Card Book Recommendations Please Post those as Well :)

EXHIBIT AND RELATED SPORTS ARCARDE CARDS, author is a fellow net54 member.
Link to net54 thread on the book:
http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=254840

Link to book itself:
http://www.lulu.com/shop/adam-warshaw/exhibit-and-related-sports-arcade-cards/paperback/product-23637151.html

[tiger8mush]

Baseball History Through Photography - a rare set of books that has received good reviews from fellow members.

http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=255502

[brianp-beme]

So My Question is What Books am I Missing that I Need to Buy?

I am Especially Looking for Books on 19th Century Cards like Old Judge.


The only two books that deal with 19th century baseball cards that I am aware of are #'s 9 + 10 on your list...and they are really good ones.

Brian

[1880nonsports]

:D

[Yoda]

didn't know Alan Hager had died. He wrote an interesting EARLY coffee table book / price guide that was ahead of it's time - as were the prices :o His peeps would dress in suits and sell cards out of an attaché case along with the book.

Oooops. Hopefully for all Alan Hager is alive. I misread the post. I didn't know mr. mint had passed. His book Mr. Mint was mostly self-promoting.

I have a run of Old Cardboard magazines I would sell along with a few of the other books on your list including the Goodwin book...… Hopefully I will get a few on the BST by the end of this/next week.

Hagar's book was a glossy, misleading, self-promoting piece of junk, as was his card company, ACG, now thankfully gone by the wayside.

[that T206 Guy]

Baseball History Through Photography - a rare set of books that has received good reviews from fellow members.

http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=255502

I added Both of your recommendations.

Thank You :)

[that T206 Guy]

The only two books that deal with 19th century baseball cards that I am aware of are #'s 9 + 10 on your list...and they are really good ones.

Brian

Those are the Two I want Most :)

[toppcat]

I'll blow my own horn and add:

The Modern Hobby Guide To Topps Chewing Gum: 1938 To 1956 by David Hornish

It covers baseball, other sports and non-sports plus has a history of Topps and its founders. Free color version available (you can order the book too but it's B&W only), with a link to my much neglected blog with updates:

http://themodernhobbyguide.blogspot.com/

[that T206 Guy]

I'll blow my own horn and add:

The Modern Hobby Guide To Topps Chewing Gum: 1938 To 1956 by David Hornish

It covers baseball, other sports and non-sports plus has a history of Topps and its founders. Free color version available (you can order the book too but it's B&W only), with a link to my much neglected blog with updates:

http://themodernhobbyguide.blogspot.com/

Thanks :)

Added to the List.

[jerseygary]

While not a true baseball card book, my book The League of Outsider Baseball: An Illustrated History of Baseball's Forgotten Heroes (https://studiogaryc.com/product/the-league-of-outsider-baseball-signed-inscribed-copy/) tells the stories of some famous but mostly not-so-famous ballplayers with very interesting tales. Besides writing and researching the book I illustrated it as well, with most of the portraits done in a tobacco card style. Here are some shots of it:

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321258

321259

321260

And I also publish a 68 page magazine called 21: The Illustrated Journal of Outsider Baseball (https://studiogaryc.com/product/21-illustrated-journal-of-outsider-baseball-spring-2017/) which like the book tells the story of obscure players and stories illustrated with my baseball card illustrations:

321261

321262

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[that T206 Guy]

While not a true baseball card book, my book The League of Outsider Baseball: An Illustrated History of Baseball's Forgotten Heroes (https://studiogaryc.com/product/the-league-of-outsider-baseball-signed-inscribed-copy/) tells the stories of some famous but mostly not-so-famous ballplayers with very interesting tales. Besides writing and researching the book I illustrated it as well, with most of the portraits done in a tobacco card style. Here are some shots of it:

321257

321258

321259

321260

And I also publish a 68 page magazine called 21: The Illustrated Journal of Outsider Baseball (https://studiogaryc.com/product/21-illustrated-journal-of-outsider-baseball-spring-2017/) which like the book tells the story of obscure players and stories illustrated with my baseball card illustrations:

321261

321262

321263

Thank You :)

They Were Added to the List.

Do you do the Artwork?

It looks Amazing.

[bigfanNY]

Jeffrey Burdick's American card catalog. Is the canon of baseball card books.
The 3 book lew Lipsit set should be at top of your list. It will bring a better understanding to everything else you read.
I would also get sports collectors bible 1st or 2nd edition
Any sports card diagest's
And you can pick up old SCD or Beckett catalogs cheap I would get a couple maybe every 5 years or so you can see how prices have changed over the past 40 years or so they have been around.
Hope this helps
Jonathan

[JLange]

Two very good baseball postcard references:

Sports Postcard Price Guide, J.L. Mashburn, 2nd ed. 1998.

Tuff Stuff's Baseball Postcard Collection, Ron Menchine, 1999


One very good book for researching cards / players / teams:

Baseball Uniforms of the 20th Century, Marc Okkonen, 1993

[jerseygary]

Thank You :)

They Were Added to the List.

Do you do the Artwork?

It looks Amazing.

Yes, I do all the illustrations as well as write the stories and conduct the research. The books came out of my website, The Infinite Baseball Card Set, which I started back in 2010 after my father passed away suddenly. He and I had a great relationship and would talk several times a week about baseball and odd ball characters that played the game. When he died, I was living in Hollywood, and none of my friends like baseball, let alone the history of the game, so I had no one to talk to about characters like Benny Kauff or Memo Luna. So late one night I started this little blog on which I drew a simple baseball card. Because the players were not well known, I had to write their story to make it interesting, and before I knew it people were coming to the site.

Over the years the stories and drawings have become more involved. I still write the blog as well. Keeps me off the streets at night...

[Leon]

It took this long for someone to mention the most important book there is to vintage card collecting, The American Card Catalog. Blasphemy. That, the Big Krause SCD and Lew's Encyclopedia(s) would be stalwarts to any baseball card book collection. I believe it's the first 3 I acquired.


Jeffrey Burdick's American card catalog. Is the canon of baseball card books.
The 3 book lew Lipsit set should be at top of your list. It will bring a better understanding to everything else you read.
I would also get sports collectors bible 1st or 2nd edition
Any sports card diagest's
And you can pick up old SCD or Beckett catalogs cheap I would get a couple maybe every 5 years or so you can see how prices have changed over the past 40 years or so they have been around.
Hope this helps
Jonathan

[jerseygary]

There was a book that I had back in the early (I think) 80's called "Baseball Cards: A Collector's Guide" by the editors of the Consumer Guide. It was spiral bound and had all these great cards and wrappers in full color. I pored over that book for hours! I still keep a look out for one when I go to used book stores, but no dice so far. I think I recall one of the editors was a member on this board.

Anyway, it might not be that interesting today with the internet and all, but back then it really brought those old cards to life!

321299

[olecow]

The Great American Baseball Card Flipping, Trading and Bubble Gum Book. This book isn't about the history of vintage cards per se, but it has numerous pictures of cards, and oftentimes hilarious descriptions of either the card or the player. It's out of print, and I've noticed the price has gone up quite a bit since I bought mine, but I highly recommend it if you can find it for a reasonable price or at a library.

https://www.amazon.com/American-Baseball-Flipping-Trading-Bubble/dp/0395586682/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1530283419&sr=8-1&keywords=baseball+bubble+gum+collectors+book

[Kawika]

An important adjunct to my card collection is the small library of books and magazines I have accrued. Most are not so much about baseball cards as they are about the players and the era they played in. They bring the cardboard to life. Some titles which I consider indispensable:

The SABR Deadball Stars series - two volumes of brief biographies of the players that populate our beloved pre-war tobacco and candy cards. There is also a similar book about nineteenth century players.

https://www.amazon.ca/Deadball-Stars-National-League-American/dp/B008SLJZBS

https://www.amazon.ca/Deadball-Stars-American-League-Baseball/dp/1574889826

https://www.amazon.ca/Nineteenth-Century-Stars-Robert-Tiemann/dp/1933599286

Two retrospectives of the photography of Charles Conlon. Utterly sumptuous portrayals of our bygone heroes. You are there. You can smell the cigar smoke.

https://www.amazon.ca/Baseballs-Golden-Age-Photographs-Charles/dp/1419701975

https://www.amazon.ca/Big-Show-Charles-Baseball-Photographs/dp/1419700693

Last but certainly not least the one book no collector should be without. Baseball recounted by the men who played the game.

https://www.amazon.ca/Glory-Their-Times-Baseball-Played/dp/0061994715

http://photos.imageevent.com/kawika_o_ka_pakipika/sportscardsetc/mischidden/miscellany2/huge/DSC04951a.jpg

[toppcat]

Here's the bibliography from my book. I may have a list I did a few years before that with the hobby books in my library, will rummage. There's a lot more than you might think.

BOOKS
America’s Great Boxing Cards 2008-2009, self-published by Adam S. Warshaw. A major trailblazing boxing card guide by a collector who also is expert when it comes to the Exhibit Supply Company and their arcade cards. Updated annually and the current edition is available at http://www.lulu.com/ . Adam also has a companion boxing card website at http://www.americasgreatboxingcards.com/
American Card Catalog 1953, by Jefferson Burdick. The Advertising Director was Woody Gelman.
American Card Catalog 1960, by Jefferson Burdick. The final version of Burdick’s life’s work. I use a reprint edition from Nostalgia Press that was issued in 1988 and refer to it often.
American Tobacco Cards, by Robert Forbes & Terence Mitchell, (Tuff Stuff Books, 1999). One of the best hobby books ever written, impeccably organized, offering a detailed look at the subject matter.
Baseball Card Variation Book, Vol. 2, The Post-War Years 1948-1989, self-published by Dick Gilkeson in 1989. The E&V Bible.
Beckett Almanac of Baseball Cards & Collectibles, 10th ed. 2005. Comprehensive and massive guide.
Beckett Football Card Price Guide, 25th ed. 2008-09. A solid guide that includes information on many obscure sets.
Checklist & Prices of U.S. Non-Sport Wrappers, 3rd ed. 1993, self-published by John Neuner. An indispensable early guide to non-sports wrappers.
Classic Baseball Cards - The Golden Years 1886-1956, by Frank Slocum (Warner Books, 1987). Lavishly illustrated book that shows full sets of Bowman cards, among many others.
Encyclopedia of Baseball Cards Volume 3 - 20th Century Tobacco Cards, self published by Lew Lipset in 1986. Already a pioneering hobbyist well before this was published, his comprehensive look at early 20th century tobacco cards capped a three volume series of groundbreaking research.
The Great American Baseball Card Flipping, Trading and Bubble Gum Book, by Brendan C. Boyd and Fred Harris, (Warner Paperback Library, 1975). This is the one, the book that started it all and not just for me. The section on Sy Berger and Topps is essential reading and the entire book is a joy. This is the mass market edition I have owned for almost forty years and is thumbed almost to dust.
Mint Condition, by Dave Jamieson, (Atlantic Monthly Press, 2010). Interesting look at the early and current days of the hobby.
Non Sports Bible, by Dr. James C. Watson, (Sheridan Books, Inc. 2007). Massive guide concentrating on E & R cards from the 1920’s to the 70’s, with many details on foreign issues derived from U.S. sets. Contact non-sportsbible@comcast.net.
The Sport Americana Baseball Memorabilia and Autograph Price Guide, Number 1, by Dr. James Beckett and Dennis W. Eckes, (Edgewater Book Company, 1982). A fairly obscure work, this had the first faint workups of checklists for Hocus Focus and made me wonder for years why none of the other guides listed them. A number of non-cardboard Topps issues are also detailed in this guide.
The Sport Americana Price Guide to the Non Sports Cards 1930-1960, Number 2, by Chris Benjamin (Edgewater Book Company, 1993). The old Sport Americana Guides spurred my interest in the history of the hobby and oddball and hard to find sets. This particular volume has a heavy concentration of early Topps material displayed within.
Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards 2011. The “big book”, full of checklists for tough sets.
The Standard Catalog of Vintage Baseball Cards. The first 110 years of baseball cards, covered here.
Topps Baseball Cards: The Complete Picture Collection- A 40 Year History, by Frank Slocum and Red Foley, with an Introduction by Sy Berger (Warner Books, 1990). Forty years of Topps cards, with photographs of card fronts from all regular issues.
Topps - The Auction – Guernsey’s Catalog from 1989 has hundreds of illustrations of production material.
Total Television, by Alex McNeil, (Penguin Books, 1996). A guide to TV programming from 1948 onward, fun to read and quite informative.
Updates & Additions to the American Card Catalog, pamphlet compiled and self-published in 1990 by Chris Benjamin. Twelve years of updates and corrections to the 1960 American Card Catalog, as originally published in the Card Collectors Bulletin.
Vintage Hockey Collector Price Guide 1910-1990, self-published by Bobby Burrell in 2006. This is an invaluable and superbly illustrated guide to hockey cards and memorabilia. A high water mark In the field of hobby guides, it’s filled with looks at both well known and ridiculously obscure sets.
The World’s Best Unopened Pack, Wrapper & Display Box Guide, 2nd. ed., self-published by Mark Murphy in 2002. An educational, well illustrated guide to unopened packs, wrappers and boxes.
1948 Through 1986 Unopened Baseball Wax Packs, Boxes and Wrappers Price Guide, 2nd ed., self-published by Darren Prince in 1993. Early pamphlet on unopened material and wrappers addresses a number of obscure issues.
BASEBALL CARDS MAGAZINE
Early volumes of this magazine were filled with great stories and full color “collector porn”. The following articles were of particular relevance:
Baseball Cards Magazine Aug. 1984 – “ ’53 Topps Sheet Rarities” by Lew Lipset.
Baseball Cards Magazine Aug. 1984 – “Two Cards for the Price of One” by Bill Bossert.

[toppcat]

Kawika gave me a thought, so I took pix. I have a few more titles to post, will do so in a following post. I note Made in the 20th Century (last pic) is not a hobby book and the tan spine with no info is the 1989 Topps Auction Catalog (Guernsey's).

[toppcat]

Obscured or missing titles, many had multiple editions:

Japanese Baseball Card Checklist and Price Guide - Gary Engel

19th Century U.S.A. Tobacco Issues Index & Handbook - The Cartophilic Society of Great Britain Ltd.

Glossary Drawn Up For The Special Use of Collectors of Cigarette and Other Trade Cards - The Cartophilic Society of Great Britain Ltd. (reprinted by The London Cigarette Card Company)

The Mistake Manual - Ralph Nozaki

The American Collector Series Presents Bread End Labels Illustrated Price Guide - Christopher Benjamin & Don Shelley

Zeenuts 1911-1938 - Jim Horne

Sports Cards Presents The Comprehensive Guide to Fleer (Magazine March 1995)

T206 The Monster - Bill Heitman

Baseball & Tobacco - Jon Canfield

Stirling Sports Card Catalog - John C Stirling Jr. (1977)

Guide to Starting Lineup Figurines & Other Figures (SCD Supplement 5/30/97)

Baseball Card Variation Book: The Post War Years 1948-89 - Dick Gilkeson (many editions and updates)

Handbook to U.S. Early Candy & Gum Baseball Issues - Richard S. Egan

Don Mabey published a host of Post/Jello Guides in the 80's, maybe into the early 90's but I don't have them all, maybe someone can post a full list of those.

[toppcat]

Almost for got John Neuner:

[1880nonsports]

I ordered the tintype book now entrenched in my library. Easier than chasing the images themselves :) Quite beautifully done.