Baseball Cards
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Dylan, C. (2017). Family photo cabinet card of a young player. [Digital Image] SABR Baseball Cards. https://sabrbaseballcards.blog/2017/01/16/are-cdvs-and-cabinet-cards-baseball-cards-yes-no-and-maybe/. This artifact is of what most consider the first signs of a baseball card called cabinet cards. These cards dated from the 1800s and died off in the early 1900s. This card's material is made out of is a paper photograph fixed onto a cardboard backing. The intentionality of this card was just a visual communication technology with solely a player or sometimes team photo. It functioned more like a private card for family and close friends and was not commercially collected or distributed. (Cycleback, 2017) |
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| George Gore, New York Giants, baseball card portrait [Digital Image]. (1870-1890). Library of Congress. URL (https://www.loc.gov/resource/bbc.0264f/) |
This artifact is a baseball card of George Gore preserved by the card collector Benjamin Ewards. Edwards has collected and kept over 2,000 baseball cards from 1887 to 1914. This George Gore photographic card was produced by Goodwin & Co in 1888. The cards made by the company were shared and spread in cigarette packs to support flimsy packaging but also to advertise different teams and their players. George Gore was one of the many great players from his time, and this scared portrays his memorable career playing for the New York Giants. (The Library of Congress, n.d.)
#3. Start of Trade Cards
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| National Baseball Hall of Fame. (n.d.) The 1951 Topps set, which was the first baseball card set released by Topps, fell failty flat, leading the company to rethink their design for the next set in 1952. (National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum). [Digital Image] National Baseball Hall of Fame. https://baseballhall.org/discover/baseball-history/topps-entered-baseball-card-market-with-first-set-70-years-ago This artifact is a card from the first set that Topps company released in 1951 that was a product of its own and not an ad like the cigarette cards or bubble gum backings. Although Topps was originally a bubble gum production, the trading cards were popular with baseball fans and the culture, and other card brands like bowman were in the same market. This card of Phil Rizzuto and any other Topps trading card for 1951 featured a picture with small stats (pictured bottom left). The intentionality of these cards was to communicate baseball players' origins and a visual image. Together these functioned as a start of a more complex modern baseball card production that is more known today. (Murray, 2021) |
#4 Autograph Cards
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| 1990 Upper Deck Heroes Reggie Jackson Baseball Card Set. (n.d.) Upper Deck Heroes 1990 Reggie Jackson Autograph Card. [Digital Image] Vintage Card Prices. https://vintagecardprices.com/set/baseball-card-set-values/1990-upper-deck-reggie-jackson-heroes/16582. |
This artifact is a baseball card of Reggie Jackson made in 1990 by a card production company called Upper Deck. Upper Deck is a brand that started producing trading cards in 1988. Upper Deck was the first trading card company to have an autograph made into the card. Ir gas its first collection with autograph cards called "baseball heroes" in 1990. An autograph card like these communicates to viewers that they have " documented proof of a famous person" while also communicating visually and textually different photos and information about the player and team like the modern cards we know today. (Upper Deck, 2020)
#5 Historic Events Cards
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| Topps 1991 Desert Storm Series 3. (2011). [Digital Image] Desert Storm Cards. https://www.desertstormcards.com/topps-desert-storm/series3/homecoming-edition/html. This artifact is of a Topps baseball card company trading box made in 1991, and the set is called Desert Storm, which has a total of 3 series. Historical events with the Gulf War were unfolding at the time, and Topps created these graphic cards to document and communicate the action of the war. The cards displayed key heroes, weapons, aircraft, locations, mottos, and scenes. The intentionality of these cards was to show images and texts of information of the US during the Gulf War. The material was the same as early baseball cards but functioned as moral and collectible. (Collector Cards Headquarters, 2011) |
#6 Modern-day Trade Cards
This artifact is a Panini 2021 card of Jake Chronenworth. This card is a good representation of the current modern-day baseball card because of its materiality, functionality, and intentionality. The materiality of this card is ink and cardboard with the intentionality of communicating information on this baseball player. This specific artifact displays short textual biography and a quote from the player. It's common in modern-day cards to have biological and or statistical information on the back of the card with a visual photo in the front. This card functions as the of all standard cards in card collecting.
#7 Refractor Cards
This set of artifacts is the refractor cards of Adonis Cardona manufactured by Topps in 2011. Refractor cards have the same intentionality as other modern cards by communicating information and visual image. What sets this card apart from others is the materiality. Refractor cards are cards that refract light and produce shiny colors. A rainbow reflection coating is put into the card in the production process, making it rarer than regular cards. These function as a drive in the card collecting culture to pull something that is not common and "chase the rainbow," meaning collecting all of the exclusive colors. (The Cardboard Connection, 201 )
#8 Jersey Cards
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The Cardboard Connection. (2020). Topps 2020 Mike Trout Jersey Card. [Digital Image] The Cardboard Connection. https://www.cardboardconnection.com/2020-topps-series-2-baseball-cards. |
This artifact is a jersey card of Mike Trout that was produced b Topps in 2020. Jersey cards share the same intentionality as modern-day cards communicating player and team information along with a visual photo. However, the materiality is different because the manufacturers embed game-worn jerseys and uniforms into the card itself. The functionality is similar to the autograph cards. It communicates "documented proof of the famous person" while visually and textually different photos and information about the player and team. Jersey cards also fuel the baseball card culture because few are not produced. (Be -Ephraim, 2021)
#9 Printing Plates
#10 NFT Cards
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| Topps. (n.d.) Angels Trending 2021 Topps Collectibles NFTs. [Digital Image] Topps NFTs. https://toppsnfts.com/. |
Ben-Ephraim, S. (2021, June 20). Understanding jersey sports card types. Card Lines https://www.cardlines com/understanding- he-different-types-o -jersey-sports-cards/
Murray, J. (n.d.). TOPPS ENTERED BASEBALL CARD MARKET WITH FIRST SET 70 Y ARS AGO. National Baseball Hall of Fame. https://baseballhall.org/discover/baseball- history/Topps-entered-baseball-card-market-with-first set-70-years-ago
The Cardboard Connection. (2019, December 20). Refractor mania: A history of sports card refractors. The Cardboard Connection. https://www.cardboardconnection.com/refracto -guide
The Library of Congress. (n.d.). Collection: Baseball Cards. The Library of Congress. https://www.loc.gov/collectio s/baseball-cards/about-this-collection/ Topps. (n.d.). Angel Trending 2021 Topps Collectibles NFTs. Tops NFTs. https://toppsnfts.com/.
Upper Deck Co. (2022). Upper Deck Company History. Upper Deck. http://www.upperdeck.com/corporate/history.aspx
Weeden, B. G. (2020, December 20). 1/1 sports cards: Holy grails or traps? Last Word on Sports. https://lastwordonsports.com/2015/03/13/11-sports-cards-holy-grails-or-traps/
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