Brand New Ballgame Discover what the pros know with this hands-on, how-to guide to picking baseball memorabilia. Learn what seasoned collectors look for and what they value in this easy-to-follow and indispensable pocket guide. You'll Uncover: • The Triple Play--Who, what, and how of baseball picking and collecting • Hot Prospects--Baseball cards, balls, bats, jerseys, pennants, photographs, board games, and more • Major League finds • How to Play Ball--Practical strategies for valuing and flipping items • The Sweet Spot--How to negotiate deals Whether for pleasure of profit, the Picker's Pocket Guide is a real find.

A completely updated guide features the latest information on the popular hobby, including information on more than 57,000 baseball cards and featuring pricing, grades, and variations. Original.

“An entertaining history of baseball cards . . . An engaging book on a narrow but fascinating topic.” —The Washington Post When award-winning journalist Dave Jamieson’s parents sold his childhood home a few years ago, he rediscovered a prized boyhood possession: his baseball card collection. Now was the time to cash in on the “investments” of his youth. But all the card shops had closed, and cards were selling for next to nothing online. What had happened? In Mint Condition, his fascinating, eye-opening, endlessly entertaining book, Jamieson finds the answer by tracing the complete story of this beloved piece of American childhood. Picture cards had long been used for advertising, but after the Civil War, tobacco companies started slipping them into cigarette packs as collector’s items. Before long, the cards were wagging the cigarettes. In the 1930s, cards helped gum and candy makers survive the Great Depression. In the 1960s, royalties from cards helped transform the baseball players association into one of the country’s most powerful unions, dramatically altering the game. In the eighties and nineties, cards went through a spectacular bubble, becoming a billion-dollar-a-year industry before all but disappearing, surviving today as the rarified preserve of adult collectors. Mint Condition is charming, original history brimming with colorful characters, sure to delight baseball fans and collectors. “Jamieson explores the history of card collecting through an entertaining cast of characters . . . For anyone who can recall being excited to rip open their newest pack of cards, Mint Condition is a treat.” —Forbes

This is the largest and most authoritative baseball card price guide ever publsihed for modern issues of baseball cards. More than 75,000 cards and over 225,000 values are listed, giving any user current market prices for their baseball cards.

A national bestseller every year, this price guide offers the most up-to-date information available on baseball cards dating back to the tobacco cards of the late 1800s. Includes valuable tips on buying, selling, swapping and finding cards, plus new evaluations of prices for thousands of cards as well as advice on preserving the collection. Illustrated.