Tons of Newbie Questions.

[Mark]

I concur about reading all the essential texts listed above. I'm glad that you have read about pre war baseball. Knowing the players makes all the difference to me. For anyone who isn't familiar with that era, start with The Glory of Their Times and read everything else after.

Affordability? There are some wonderful players/ cards from t206 that can be had for a reasonable price in a low grade. It also seems to me that the Goudey and Diamond Star sets from the 30's are relatively affordable, especially in low grade. They have great names and a great look, and I don't think they are as common as dirt, either. You might look into w573's and w575's. Not easy to complete but available and apparently unwanted.

[timber63401]

Thanks for all the info. Where the best place to get some of these used books and encyclopedias at. Thanks.

[FrankWakefield]

Mr. Lipset's Encyclopedia is occasionally found on eBay, or at ABEBOOKS, or Alibris. The Encyclopedia of Baseball Cards, by Lew Lipset. Vol 1 is 19th century cards, 2 is gum and candy cards, 3 is 20th century tobacco. There's a reprint that has all 3 combined.

Get that, and a copy of The Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards, read Scot Reader's work a couple of times... If you were going skydiving would you just want to strap something on and jump out of the plane, or would you like to figure out how it supposed to go down, first? Read this stuff.

[dstudeba]

I would use the search function here and read about whatever issues might interest you. You can see plenty of different issues in the pickups thread. If you are interested in T206s then Scot Reader's book would be a great read. If you are interested in other sets just search on them on this site and you can find plenty of information.

As for references, The Old Judge book is the best piece on baseball cards I have. Another good one is the Sotheby's auction catalog of the Barry Halper collection.

[Matt]

One other tip - go to the web sites of the auction houses that publish free catalogs (Goodwin, REA, Legacy, Legendary, Mile High, Memory Lane) and sign up to get the catalogs. You'll learn a fair amount about the issues being sold from reading through the listings.

I'd suggest not getting in too deep in a particular issue right away, but instead investigate several issues; almost like taking an intro level survey course in college before you chose what you want to major in.