Vintage Baseball Cards

Potato chips. Four bags down and all I've got to show for it are two Nippon Hams, a Daiei Hawk and a Chiba Lotte Marine. I'm 34 grams fatter, the roof of my mouth hurts and I still haven't found the Tuffy Rhodes card I want. But this is the price you pay for collecting baseball cards in Japan.

That's how it has been since 1973, anyway, when the Calbee Co. first began including a single baseball card with its snack chips. Over the years, others have joined Calbee in the baseball card business, but only Baseball Magazine (BBM) has made a lasting impression. Unlike Calbee, however, BBM's attractive, high-quality cards are aimed directly at the collector's market, and are sold in flashy foil packs in sets of five and ten. The beauty of the Calbee card is that it's essentially free. It's the chips you pay for; the card is an extra treat. If only Nippon Ham would renew its sausage card campaign of 1975 and Pino Ice Cream its Frozen Choco Ball card set of 1978, then you could enjoy a free baseball card with every meal.

Of course, not everyone collects cards one at a time or even one pack at a time. In New York City, archaeologist Dr. Rob Fitts buys his Japanese baseball cards by the collection. And while Fitts has more than a few Calbees and BBMs, a cyber trip to an online Japanese baseball card website reveals an extraordinary array of vintage Japanese cards, spanning a century of baseball and featuring greats of the game like Oh Sadaharu, Nagashima Shigeo, Betto Kaoru, and foreign stars like Chico Barbon and Victor Starfin.

Fitts, who is one of the foremost experts on Japanese baseball cards, started his collection in the early 1990s while writing his archaeology dissertation in Tokyo. A trip to the Tokyo Dome was enough to make Fitts a fan of the Japanese game, and a decade on, he makes a living not as an archaeologist, but by collecting Japanese baseball cards and selling off the doubles on his web site.

As a collector, Fitts has a special interest in Oh Sadaharu cards. Fitts recently published a checklist of Oh cards (available from his website) and has over 500 of the home-run king's cards in his collection. But as Fitts says, collecting by player is only one way to approach baseball cards. Collections can also be built based on teams, years, manufacturer and card type.

Vintage Japanese baseball cards come in a variety of types. Pre-WWII, cards were generally bookmarks or postcards, often of generic players and teams. But despite the popularity of the sport, few cards were made and they are now extremely rare. After the war, however, two types of cards came to dominate, bromides and menko.

"Bromides" (black-and-white photos on thin card stock) are interesting enough for the variety of players presented; as artifacts, however, they pale in comparison to the colorful menko. Menko are round, rectangular or die-cut cards, usually used by boys in sumo-inspired games in which the contestants try to knock each other's menko out of a ring in a kind of menko-to-menko combat. According to Japanese Baseball Card Quarterly's brief history, the menko dates back over 250 years to the mid-Edo Period. Made from a variety of materials - clay, lead, tile and eventually cardboard - menko were an important socializing toy for boys, who used them for friendly competition and training for life's challenges. Typically, menko featured heroic Japanese figures, such as samurai and soldiers, but during the Occupation, when the glorification of traditional national heroes was prohibited, baseball players filled the void, becoming the new menko warriors.

In his handbook, An Introduction to Japanese Baseball Cards, Fitts describes the die-cut menko of the late 1940s as "some of the most beautiful baseball cards ever made." An airplane-shaped Betto Kaoru (Hanshin's gentleman of baseball), a face mask of Bessho Takehiko (the Hawks and Giants pitching ace) and a bottle-shaped Fujimura Fumio (Hanshin's Hall of Fame 3rd baseman) confirm that die-cut menko are fascinating pop-art objects.

Because Japanese baseball cards haven't been catalogued like their American counterparts - a major part of Fitts' project - it's difficult to know with any certainty what cards were manufactured. Fitts is searching, in particular, for one card, though he's doubtful he'll ever find it. "The card I'm looking for," he says, "is a mythical card, really, though it occasionally shows up on lists. It's a card of Sawamura [Eiji], who pitched consecutive strike outs against Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Jimmie Foxx in a 1934 exhibition game against the Major League all-star team."

Finding the mythical Sawamura card, or any other pre-1973 cards, is not so easy, even in Japan. Most sports card shops carry a large selection of post-73 Calbee and BBM cards, but little of an older vintage. Card Dynasty in Osaka, is an exception. The small shop offers a good selection of bromides and rectangular menko, as well as some rare postcard-style cards.

If you're hunting for vintage cards, antique shops and collectible hobby shops are probably the best bet, or, of course, at Rob's on the web. But if you want tomorrow's hall of famers today, there's always Calbee. My last pack contained Seibu Lions slugger Matsui Kazuo: Great batting average, plenty of home-run power and a good-tasting chip.

This article was written by Brad Quinn for Konsai Time Out Magazine.

If you cannot find a collector's shop that offers a baseball card grading service in your local area you might want to think about sending your cards to a third party baseball card grading service. The baseball card grading services will evaluate your card and determine it's condition by grading it on a variety of criteria, including centering, sharpness of edges, surface quality, border color quality, and general wearing.

Which Companies Offer Baseball Card Grading Services?
Although there are many baseball card grading services there are a few well known companies that you should be aware of. Not every company has a standard criteria for baseball card grading so you will find some variances with the grades handed out by each of these companies. Perhaps the most well known baseball card grading company and recognized leader in the field is Becket Publications. Professional Sports Authenticator is probably the second most well known company and a couple other baseball grading companies that you should know that offer baseball card grading services are Global Authentication,, and Sportscard Guarantee.

Why Have Your Baseball Cards Graded In The First Place?
The answer to this question depends on what type of baseball card collector you are. If you are a serious collector then the reason for getting your baseball cards graded is to ascertain and protect the value of your card collection. Many collectors will only buy and sell graded cards. Knowing the value of a baseball card is is a requirement for any collector who is seriously pursuing buying and selling baseball cards as an investment; especially old and vintage baseball cards. In addition, baseball card grading companies will return your card back encased in a sealed hard plastic folder that will ensure that your card holds its value. For the not so serious collector, baseball card grading might be an occasional event. I know that at times, I've become curious about a not-so-valuable card and have sent one in to be graded; not so much as an investment but just for fun. Baseball card collectors are a curious bunch and therefore the desire to know the value of our passion is only human nature. Baseball card grading can be fun even if you're not collecting rare and vintage baseball cards.

Alternatives To Baseball Card Grading
If you don't want to pay the money to have your baseball cards graded but still want to know the general value of a card you can consult a baseball card price guide. Beckett's Baseball And Sports Market Report are two monthly publications that can help you keep up to date on recent baseball card market fluctuations. Additionally, there are the larger yearly baseball card price guides which provide market prices for nearly every baseball card printed but since they are generally printed once a year, the information may not always be up to date. Beckett's also provides an online baseball card price guide for a small monthly fee. Another method of evaluating your baseball cards is to take a look at online baseball card auctions. Ebay has plenty of these types of auctions but there are a variety of companies on the internet that provide the same service.

As you can see, if you are thinking about getting your baseball cards graded, there are a variety of methods and services available. Even if you are not yet a serious collector, you may choose to have a few cards graded just to get your feet wet and experience the process for yourself. Always remember though that even after you have your baseball cards graded, your cards' true value can only be determined by how much a buyer is willing to pay for it. Keep all this information in mind and you're sure to have a great time with baseball card grading services.

There is no universally agreed upon baseball card grading system. There are companies that specialize in grading cards but in the grand scheme of things, the ultimate judge of baseball card condition is the collector. We can however, provide a basic understanding of the baseball card grading system and give a general blueprint of accepted definitions that collectors use for describing baseball cards. I cannot stress enough that the definitions below are in no way authoritative and should only serve as a general outline for baseball card grading.

MT (Mint) Four sharp corners and a centering ratio of 55/45 or better (perfect balance is 50/50) with smooth edges and with original color border and gloss.

NM-MT (Near Mint-Mint) At first glance may seem like a mint card but when looked at closer with the naked eye or under a microscope has a slight imperfection to corners or print spots. Card should have a entering ratio of at least 60/40 with original color border and gloss.

NM (Near Mint) These cards may also look like a mint card at first glance but again when looked at closely reveals a minor flaw pertaining to either slightly rounded corners, noticeable print spots, minor color border discoloration, focus imperfections, or minor discoloration. Cards should have a centering ratio of 65/35 or better.

EXMT (Excellent-Mint) These are cards are similar to Near Mint cards but have more than one minor flaw with slightly rounded or fuzzy corners, noticeable print spots, minor border discoloration, focus imperfections, or minor discoloration. Cards should have a centering ratio of 70/30 or better.

EX (Excellent) These cards normally show signs of wear with light creases and/or slight notching. May contain other minor imperfections with focus, print spots, or minor discoloration. Cards should have a centering ratio of 75/25 or better.

VG (Very Good) These cards show noticeable signs of wear and can have soft, rounded corners, chipping and slight creases. Cards may also exhibit some minor scuffing, minor discoloration, and some light stains. Cards should have a centering ratio of 80/20 or better.

As you can see some of the criteria for grading baseball cards is entirely subjective. A collector, adept at baseball card grading, could assign a grade to a particular card which is one grade below or one grade higher than an equally adept baseball card collector's appraisal of the very same card. Some card collectors are met with frustration when faced with this situation. Other collectors revel in this fact and state that it is the beauty of baseball card collecting. Regardless of which side of the coin you reside that baseball card grading is in the eye of the beholder.

Hi and welcome to Vintage Baseball Cards where we will be writing about collecting and buying vintage baseball cards; including old tobacco baseball cards, Japanese baseball cards, and other baseball memorabilia. Please have a look around and if you have any questions about vintage baseball cards, feel free to leave a comment as we always appreciate any feedback.