Do you remember who Leon Ames was? Well, more specifically, Leon Kessling “Red” Ames? He was a major league baseball pitcher for the New York Giants back in the early 1900s. The reason I remember reading about him is because of the record he held for wild pitches. In fact, I believe he still holds it today. He set the record for most wild pitches in a single season back in 1905.

Perhaps the reason I even remember him at all is because I can identify with him in a way. I mean, had you seen me play little league, you would realize why I was a first-baseman instead of a pitcher! Oh well, in any case, not too long ago I found myself looking up Leon Ames baseball cards. My favorite one I found was in very good condition (the bottom of the quality list), and was from 1910 I believe. It was a #3 in the series, and was a baseball card that had come in a package of Piedmont cigarettes.

I laughed a little bit to myself when I read the back of the card that said, “Piedmont, the cigarette of quality”. It is so funny, but in another way very, almost sad… so much history in that baseball card. What do you think Ames was doing back then… how about the Piedmont people? They were probably so excited about selling baseball cards, surely that would help them sell a ton of cigarettes, fine quality and all. The card was on sale for $55. A little over my budget at the time, but it sure was fun to look at.

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Recently, in my online wanderings, I was looking at baseball cards on eBay. I was browsing through the 1955 Topps section,  and stumbled across a card that for some reason caught my eye. Perhaps I stopped to look because I happened to be a fan of the player featured on the card, even though he played long before my time. Or, perhaps it was the $339 price tag the prompted my curious “click” on the item description tag.

Yes, it was indeed a 1955 Topps issued Brookly Dodgers, (not Los Angeles Dodgers, yet) Sandy Koufax Baseball card. #123 to be exact. It was a rookie card as well I noticed. Not being a huge expert on cards from this era, I could still imagine why the card would be worth so much. After all, it looked as new as the day it came out of the package. Maybe 1955 doesn’t seem like that long ago to some, but for a card made of little more than paper to have survived so long?… I couldn’t help but wonder, who first opened the rookie baseball card?

Was it actually opened back in 1955, or did it lie in a warehouse until 1972? I can’t help but picture a small boy, buying the card with his allowance. He runs outside the drug store, tearing at the tiny package. He pulls out the Koufax card. He looks at it. Is he happy? Was it what he wanted? Or is he disappointed? Who knows. Who will ever know. Right now, there are no bids on the baseball card, but the auction doesn’t end for another 28 days… Perhaps I will watch this item…

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Baseball card collecting started as a small hobby among diehard baseball fans who wanted to stay connected with all the action, even after the season. The entire baseball card manufacturing business started with a baseball equipment company distributing cards to promote their products. Later, tobacco companies and confectionaries used the same method to promote their products. It was during this stage that the hobby that collecting baseball cards flourished. People often visited their neighborhood store just for the cards within the packs. However, if you did not start your collection at that point of time and you are lost in the present world of baseball card collection, then do not fear for this will help you begin your collection.

The first step towards starting a baseball card collection is to buy yourself a price guide as this will tell you the different kinds of baseball cards available and their prices. Another source of information could be family and friends who are already into baseball card collecting. They could help you identify the correct cards to buy, according to your tastes and needs. This will also help you to make new contacts

The next step is to identify what to collect that will make you happy. There are different types of baseball cards to choose from like the rookie cards, serial cards, memorabilia cards, autographed cards, card sets, veteran cards and many more. It is obviously not possible for a single individual to collect all kinds of cards and hence it is important to make a choice and decide on the type of card that will dominate your baseball card collection. Once that is decided, then you can either visit your local store or an online retail shop or the official website of card manufacturers or online auction sites to get your cards. Of course, you can also search here in BaseballCardChase.com. Coupled with your research and price guides and the information on the site, you will not have any problem buying your card.

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Baseball gained popularity during the middle of 19th century. Quickly, baseball became a medium for various companies to promote their products. Baseball cards became a tool to endorse various company products and as a result many companies started producing baseball cards. During this era, even photography gained popularity. Baseball teams and players posed for various pictures, some of these pictures were printed on small cards comparable to modern wallet photos. During the late 19th century, Baseball became a professional sport and various companies started using these cards to promote their products. Later these baseball ‘cards’ became the professional cards where baseball players were featured.

The first set of baseball cards to be printed in the 20th century was introduced by Breisch-Williams Company, a confectionary located in Oxford, Pennsylvania. Several other companies followed suit and they also started producing baseball cards.

Baseball cards were included in packs of cigarettes by the American Tobacco Company to advertise their tobacco products with the issue of the T206 white border set. The most expensive baseball card produced by the company was the Honus Wagner.

Even huge numbers of non tobacco companies started producing baseball cards to promote their services and products more than 100 years ago. In the early 20th century some companies like sporting news magazine and Caramel Company started sponsoring card issues and were among the first to put prizes in the boxes. They produced and issued the first of the two “Cracker Jack Cards” which featured players both from the major and minor leagues.

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After your initiate the search by entering in a baseball player name and, optionally, the baseball card year, BaseballCardChase.com will display search results for you. Typically, results will have prices and values, some will display the vintage baseball card you searched for.

On the left column of the results is a list of baseball card dealers and retailers of sports cards. The right side of the page will show the results of your baseball card search.

To see dealer results of old baseball cards, click on the name of the online sports card retailer. The baseball player search that you initiated will be displayed from the dealer’s website. Click on the next baseball card dealer if there are no matching player cards. For any match, the baseball card will be displayed in the right column of the results page. Usually a price or value will be displayed with the player card, but not always.

If you find a baseball player card that interests you, click on the image or link to the baseball card. The page will refresh and take you to the dealer site to purchase the baseball card or to send an email for more information.

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Finding old baseball cards is as simple as using a search engine. BaseballCardChase.com is a meta-search engine for collectible player sports cards focused on the rare and old through modern baseball cards.

Conducting a search for your hard to find baseball card requires that you only need to know the name of the baseball player that you are searching for. In the first search field, enter the name of the player you are interested in. You can enter the baseball player’s first name, last name or, first and last name. This field is required to conduct your sports card search.

The second field is the year. Year refers to the player year of the card you are looking for. If you are explicitly looking for a baseball card from 1980 or 1927, just type the year into the box. Entering the year is an optional search feature. It is not required that you enter a year to search for a baseball player card, it is optional. If you do enter a year, make sure you enter all four number. For example, a baseball year of 1967 is ok to type. However, it is not ok to type just 67, or ‘67.

When you have entered the player name and year, you click the search button. That’s it, you’ve now just told baseballcardchase to search for a baseball player card with a name and year that you are interested in. Baseball cards from all over the Internet will be displayed in the search results.

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