Great Value Baseball Card Sets for 1960 -- 1963 Added at Dean's Cards

by Dean Hanley
Owner of Dean's Cards

In 2012, we introduced a "value added" product for card collectors that has proven to be very popular -- our exclusive Near Complete Sets. Since many collectors enjoy the challenge of building their own sets, we wanted to give you a way of obtaining most of the baseball cards in a set at a more reasonable price and then let you build the rest of the set on your own.

We just added Near Complete Sets for the following years:

• 1960 Topps baseball cards -- grade 5
• 1961 Topps baseball cards -- grade 3.5
• 1962 Topps baseball cards -- grade 4
• 1963 Topps baseball cards -- grade 4

But you also can click here to find baseball card Near Complete Sets for other years in the 1950s and 1960s.

Ron Santo from the 1961 Topps Near Complete Set.

Depending on the year and the grade, our Near Complete Sets consist of 60%-80% of the baseball cards you would get in a Complete Baseball Card Set. This leaves collectors like you plenty of room to go in and individually purchase the last 100-300 cards in the set.

The best feature of our exclusive Near Complete Sets is the discount. While most of our Complete Sets are priced at 20-30% off of our individual card prices, our Near Complete Sets are priced even lower. Our Near Complete Sets are priced so that you receive 35%-45% off of the individual card prices.

Duke Snider and Gil Hodges from the 1963 Near Complete Set.

Dean's Cards Near Complete Sets are a great way to get a majority of the cards in a particular set for just a fraction of the cost. Our Near Complete Sets are custom built by hand by our team of baseball card grading professionals to give you a consistent grade. For collectors who shy away from purchasing complete sets because they like the challenge of finding and buying the cards individually, Near Complete Sets are a fun challenge -- and a great value.

Please click here to see the Near Complete Sets we currently have in our online inventory.

Mickey mantle and Ken Boyer from the 1960 Topps baseball cards Near Complete Set.

And if you are looking for a Near Complete Set from a year that we currently don't have available online, please Contact Us and we will try our best to accommodate your specific needs.

Here at Dean's Cards, we’re always trying to think up new and unique products to bring even more fun to the baseball card collecting hobby, and Near Complete Sets have proven to be very popular for our customers.

Dean Hanley, founder and owner of DeansCards.com, is considered one of the foremost experts on the subject of vintage baseball cards, other sports and non-sports cards and has a regular column in the Sports Collectors Digest and publishes articles on his blog. Dean has also written two books on vintage sports cards: The Bubble Gum Card War: The Great Bowman & Topps Sets from 1948 to 1955 and Before There Was Bubble Gum: Our Favorite Pre-World War I Baseball Cards.

Dean's Cards Recently Added Cards (RAC): The Hottest Cards Are Here First

by Dean Hanley
Owner of Dean’s Cards

Every week we add thousands of cards to our Dean’s Cards inventory of vintage baseball cards, football cards, basketball cards, hockey cards, other sports cards and non-sports cards – but there is one place where you can easily find the hottest additions to our inventory. Just go to the Recently Added Cards (RAC) page, which you can find linked on the right side of our Home page.

Our Recently Adds Cards (RAC) page shows our latest vintage cards.

Since we are always buying card collections, our team of card experts first personally inspects and grades all cards. Then the cards are scanned so you can see the actual cards that you buy – that takes the guesswork out of knowing how your cards will look when you receive them.

Our customers routinely tell us that are very pleased with the quality of the cards they purchase from us since we use the Grading Standards of PSA as the minimum baseline for grading the cards in our inventory. One positive aspect of Dean's Cards grading standards is that we take into account a card's "eye appeal."  Other grading companies, such as PSA do not always take "eye appeal" into account when grading cards. As collectors ourselves, we tend to be a bit more critical of a card's eye appeal than the professional grading companies. Collectors who are accustomed to purchasing ungraded cards from other vendors are usually amazed at our tough grading standards.

I encourage you to visit our RAC page regularly to find the latest additions to our inventory, since many cards go quickly. Here are a few recent “Star Card” additions that may interest you:

• 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle rookie card – The card was rated by PSA as authentic, but it has been trimmed. Still, the card is a beautiful example of this highly sought card.

• 1933 Goudey Babe Ruth baseball cards – This set actually featured four Babe Ruth cards and we now have two of them available: Babe Ruth #144 and Babe Ruth #181, both graded as PSA 3.

• 1949 Leaf Joe DiMaggio baseball card -- The 1949 Leaf set was the first to be printed in color post-war and DiMaggio’s card was No. 1 in the set.
• 1950 Bowman Ted Williams baseball cards – available in PSA 3 and 5
• 1952 Bowman Willie Mays baseball card -- The 1952 Bowman Baseball cards are one of the first to feature the players' printed autographs.  

• 1953 Topps Willie Mays baseball card -- The 1953 Topps baseball cards feature numerous large close-up portraits of the players.
• 1953 Topps Jackie Robinson – Card No. 1 in this popular set.

• 1955 Topps Sandy Koufax rookie card – You’ll find this card in a variety of grades.

And, of course, you can find all the latest Mickey Mantle baseball cards by visiting this special page we created to celebrate The Mick’s career in baseball cards. You'll also see a special video about Mickey Mantle baseball cards.

If you’re looking for early 20th century baseball cards, the RAC page will show you our latest additions, including T3 Turkey Red baseball cards, T206 baseball cards, T204 Ramly baseball cards, and T205 Gold border cards.

If you are a set collector, you’ll also find our latest complete sets, near complete sets, starter sets, near complete sets, and additions to sets on the RAC page. Some of the latest additions include:

• 1933 Goudey baseball cards
• 1934 Goudey baseball cards
• 1953 Topps baseball cards complete set
• 1959 Topps baseball cards complete set
• 1966 Topps baseball cards complete set

The RAC page is updated many times throughout the week, so we hope you will visit often to see the latest and greatest we have to offer you at Dean’s Cards!

Dean Hanley, founder and owner of DeansCards.com, is considered one of the foremost experts on the subject of vintage baseball cards, other sports and non-sports cards and has a regular column in the Sports Collectors Digest and publishes articles on his blog. Dean has also written two books on vintage sports cards: The Bubble Gum Card War: The Great Bowman & Topps Sets from 1948 to 1955 and Before There Was Bubble Gum: Our Favorite Pre-World War I Baseball Cards.

Selling Baseball Cards: Earning Your Trust at Dean's Cards

By Dean Hanley
Owner of DeansCards.com

Dean’s Cards recently purchased a large baseball card collection from a collector that included full sets of baseball cards from the 1950s and 1960s, as well as various baseball star cards and rookie cards, which you can see in the photos in this blog.

Part of a collection we recently purchased from a Seller. Click here to sell your baseball cards to Dean's Cards.

Even though this was a large baseball card collection that we purchased for a cost well into five figures, it was handled with the same, simple, trusting and personal process as all collections we buy:

• The seller completed the form on our Sell Baseball Cards page with details of baseball cards in his collection.
• Elana, the head of our baseball card buying team, replied to the seller by email, and then Elana and I spoke to him by phone to get further details on the baseball card collection.
• The seller then sent us the baseball cards by mail so Elana and I could personally evaluate them.
• We offered a bid for the collection based on our review of the seller’s collection.
• The bid was accepted, and we mailed the seller a check.

Dean’s Cards buys more than 500 card collections every year, and we are proud that sellers trust us to send their collections for our evaluation that they often personally have built over many years.

Some of the baseball star cards in a recent large collection we purchased. To sell your baseball cards to Dean's Cards, please click here.

Of course, it is a valid concern to be skeptical of sending anything of value to someone that you do not know personally. That’s why we work so hard to earn trust from our customers – which is proven by the fact that we receive card collections worth thousands of dollars almost every day, as well as glowing testimonials form sellers.

The best reason that I can give you for why we try so hard to treat people fairly is that it is simply good business. We do all our business by mail -- both buying and selling -- and I have taken great care to protect the reputation of our business. Dean's Cards has never kept a card that does not belong to us, and we never will. If we treated people wrong, we would be finished as a business.

As far as giving you a firm offer on your collection, there is simply no way to do it without physically seeing your cards. For us to determine the value of your cards, you need to send them to us. Any reputable dealer will tell you the same thing. Bidding on scanned images of cards is way too uncertain and would force me us bid very conservatively – and that would just cost you money.

We are proud to sellers trust us to send their collections. Please contact us if you are ready to sell your baseball card collection.

It usually costs a dealer about $1000 (not counting at least a day of his time) to fly out to bid on a collection. No matter what a dealer says, this expense has to be passed along to the seller. What about the people who decide NOT to sell their collections? Guess who pays for those trips? If you said, "the seller,” you are correct. We would much rather give the travel money saved to a seller for cards, than to the airlines for transportation costs.

Our "secret" to buying so many baseball card collections is that we simply pay more for cards. Our goal is to keep our costs down, so that we can continue to pay a higher dollar amount than other dealers. We have the bidding process down to a science and an art and it works extremely well for us – and for sellers. Please understand, we are very motivated to buy your cards, which is why we offer more than other dealers – simply put, if we can’t buy cards, we can’t sell cards.

If sending the cards by mail makes you uncomfortable, then we suggest sending us part of your collection first.  We will value the cards and contact you with an offer. If you agree to our offer, I will send you a check. Usually, after sellers receive the first couple of checks, mailing the cards becomes a non-issue. If my offer is unsatisfactory, then I will pay for the postage to send the collection back to you.

More star cards in a recently acquired collection. Please visit our Sell Baseball Cards page if you are ready t sell your  baseball cards.

The bottom line is that there is nothing that I can really say to totally assure you, the seller. At some point it will take an element of trust on your part. In reality, it all comes down to business ethics. If you do decide to send us your collection, we will certainly not violate your trust – and you can visit our testimonials page to read the positive comments from sellers and see how they feel about doing business with us.

If you have a collection of baseball cards, football cards, other sports cards or non-sports cards from 1869-1969 and you’re ready to sell, please fill out the form on our Sell Baseball Cards page so can begin talking. You have my personal guarantee that we will work hard to earn your trust, just as we have for thousands of sellers since I started Dean’s Cards in 2001.

We look forward to learning more about your card collection!

Sincerely,

Dean Hanley
Owner of Dean's Cards

Dean Hanley, founder and owner of DeansCards.com, is considered one of the foremost experts on the subject of vintage sports cards and has a regular column in the Sports Collectors Digest and publishes articles on his blog. Dean has also written two books on vintage sports cards: The Bubble Gum Card War: The Great Bowman & Topps Sets from 1948 to 1955 and Before There Was Bubble Gum: Our Favorite Pre-World War I Baseball Cards.

Click here if you have vintage baseball cards to sell -- 1869-1969.

1933 Goudey Baseball Cards: The First Important Bubble Gum Cards

by Dean Hanley, Owner of Dean's Cards

The 1933 Goudey Baseball Card Set is recognized as the first important gum release. America was deep in the depression in 1933 and kids did not have many pennies to spend. For a product to get that penny, there had to be value. In these tough times, the Goudey Gum Company of Boston launched its revolutionary “Big League Gum” product.

The 1933 Goudey Baseball Cards includes 240 cards, and they were printed on thick cardboard stock, with bright colorful pictures, and they came with a nice big slab of gum. They were a great improvement over the smaller, thinner cardboard tobacco and candy cards that preceded them. It is important to remember that the 1933 Goudey baseball cards were the first color portraits of these stars that most people ever saw. The baseball card set represented a chance for kids to see their heroes up close and personal for the first time.

Click here to find the 1933 Goudey Babe Ruth at Dean's Cards.

The Goudey Gum Company tried hard to give the customers what they wanted. The greatest stars of the game had multiple cards. There are four different 1933 Goudey Babe Ruth cards, and the #144 Ruth was double printed. The 1933 Goudey baseball card set also has three cards of Joe Cronin and two cards each of Jimmy Foxx, Lou Gehrig, Rogers Hornsby, Carl Hubbell and Mel Ott.

In 1933, while businesses were closing all across the United States and a quarter of the population was out of work because of the Great Depression, Goudey Gum more than quadrupled its sales over the previous year. The bubble gum baseball card was born.

Click here to find the 1933 Lou Gehrig baseball card at Dean's Cards.

Because of the financial success of the 1933 Goudey Gum baseball cards, three other U.S. bubble gum companies issued a baseball card set to keep pace with Goudey and to help sell their bubble gum. These included: a 32-card set by George C. Miller & Company, a 24-card set by the Delong Company ,and a 60-card set by the Orbit Gum Company. None of these sets were in the same league as the 1933 Goudey baseball card set, and none of the three ever issued another set of cards.  

A fifth competitor, the National Chicle Company produced a set of baseball cards the following year. Both National Chicle and Goudey would issue baseball cards sets from 1934 to 1937 – greatly reducing the sales from both companies.

Goudey sold $460,000 worth of baseball cards in 1933, but sold half as many cards ($220,000) in the following year of 1934. The declining trend continued again into 1935, when Goudey sold a measly $116,000 worth of baseball cards. By this time, Goudey was selling five times as much bubble without baseball cards as with them. Since a slab of bubble gum cost a penny, with or without the cards, it was much more profitable for the gum companies to exclude the cards.

You can read more about the 1933 Goudey baseball cards and the resulting bubble hum card war in my book: The Bubble Gum Card War.

Dean's Cards has a great selection of 1933 Goudey baseball cards.  And If you cannot afford the original Goudey cards, please check out the affordable 1933 Goudey Baseball Card Reprint set.

Buy 1933 Goudey Baseball Cards

Buy 1933 Goudey reprint baseball cards

Click here to sell your baseball cards.

Dean Hanley, founder and owner of DeansCards.com, is considered one of the foremost experts on the subject of vintage baseball cards, other sports and non-sports cards and has a regular column in the Sports Collectors Digest and publishes articles on his blog. Dean has also written two books on vintage sports cards: The Bubble Gum Card War: The Great Bowman & Topps Sets from 1948 to 1955 and Before There Was Bubble Gum: Our Favorite Pre-World War I Baseball Cards.

1952 Topps set and 1953 Dodgers and Yankees Team Sets Custom Built by Dean’s Cards

By Dean Hanley, owner of Dean’s Cards

Baseball card collectors continue to come to us with some very specific requests – and thanks to the inventory we have built with more than 1.5 million vintage cards, we are able to fulfill those requests.

1952 Topps baseball card set custom built in Excellent+ 5.65 condition.

We just shipped a complete set of 1952 Topps baseball cards to a collector at a consistent set grade of Excellent + (5.65). The 1952 Topps Baseball Card set was the first mainstream set issued by the Topps Gum Company and far surpassed all earlier sets in size, quality and quantity. The giant sized cards symbolized America’s new postwar prosperity and became an instant hit with collectors and set a new benchmark for the hobby.

Dean’s Cards is currently offering the best selection of 1952 Topps baseball cards that we have ever seen. And we are always building custom sets of 1952 Tops baseball cards for collectors from our inventory to give our customers a complete set of baseball cards at consistent quality.

Of course, the 1952 Topps baseball card set includes the most sought after baseball card for collectors – the Mickey Mantle Topps rookie card. Interest in the 1952 Topps baseball card set has only grown over time, and we look forward to helping other collectors build more custom sets in the future.

Another baseball card collector also made a special request which we were also able to fulfill quickly from our inventory of vintage baseball cards. The request was for a full 1953 Topps Dodger Complete Team Set and a 1953 Yankees Complete Team Set.

1953 Topps New York Yankees Team Set build by DeansCards.com.

The 1953 Topps baseball card set is considered the most personal set of the 1950s. Everything from the hand drawn sketches on the front, to the signature, biographical paragraph and thorough statistics on the back demonstrates that Topps had hit its stride with the 1952 set and now was ready to push the envelope with the 1953 baseball card set. While these cards did not live up to the popularity of the 1952 Topps set, they have their own special place in sports card history.

1953 Topps Brooklyn Dodgers team set built by DEansCards.com. 

The major drawback of the 1952 Topps baseball card set was that many of the players depicted in it inaccurately look very similar, particularly in terms of hair and skin color. The 1953 Topps baseball card set corrects this flaw, especially on the head shots. The color paintings of the player’s faces have warm, relaxed and friendly expressions and completely dominate the large cards. The 1953 Topps baseball cards showcase more “flesh” than any other set ever made.

Do you have a specific baseball card set you’d like us to build for you for the baseball card period of 1939-1959? If so, please contact Dean's Cards so our team of baseball card specialists can get to work for you.

Dean Hanley, founder and owner of DeansCards.com, is considered one of the foremost experts on the subject of vintage sports cards and has a regular column in the Sports Collectors Digest and publishes articles on his blog. Dean has also written two books on vintage sports cards: The Bubble Gum Card War: The Great Bowman & Topps Sets from 1948 to 1955 and Before There Was Bubble Gum: Our Favorite Pre-World War I Baseball Cards.

Click here if you have vintage baseball cards to sell -- 1869-1969.