Inventory In-Depth: Best Basketball Cards

#75 Lew Alcindor

#61 Oscar Robertson

In honor of the 2011 NBA Playoffs, we though we would take a look at some of our favorite basketball cards that we have in stock. We are always trying to buy more basketball cards, but we have found that they can be very hard to find, especially from the 1950's and 1960's.

One of our hometown basketball heroes is Oscar Robertson, so of course we love his 1961-62 Fleer basketball card. Many basketball fans remember that the current Sacramento Kings franchise was located in Cincinnati for fifteen years (1957 to 1972). Cincinnatians had the opportunity to watch Oscar Robertson play to a 79-9 record during his three varsity seasons at University of Cincinnati and then average a triple-double for the Royals during the 1961-62 season.

#57 Michael Jordan RC

Another office favorite comes from the memorable 1970-71 Topps basketball card set, which consists of the tall-sized cards. The #75 Lew Alcindor card is the very last card to feature that name because Alcindor would go on to change is name to Kareem Abdul-Jabar after the Milwaukee Bucks won the NBA Championship in 1971. Alcindor also won his first of six MVP Awards.

And, of course, we couldn't leave out our Michael Jordan rookie card from the 1986-87 Fleer set. Although Jordan made his rookie debut with the Chicago Bulls in 1984, this card is considered to be his rookie Fleer card because it was the first basketball set that Fleer released in the 1980's.

To check out these cards and many other basketball cards, please click here.

1938 Goudey Heads-Up Baseball Cards

#274 Joe DiMaggio

We currently have the most 1938 Goudey Heads-Up cards that we have ever had in stock, including two #274 Joe DiMaggio cards. In 1938, the Goudey Gum Company was starting to wind down its production of cards. They would produce only one more set in 1941. The 1938 set had some of the most unusual artwork ever produced on a baseball card. A realistic looking head was placed on a cartoon body and then, for the second series only, some tiny cartoons and phrases were written in the background.

#264 Bob Feller

The Goudey Gum Company decided to release these cards as a secondary set to the popular 1933 set. They would release two cards for all 24 players and number the cards 241-288. This numbering system meant that there would be two rookie cards for several players, including Bob Feller. Other stars in this set include Joe DiMaggio, Hank Greenberg, and Jimmie Foxx. Please click here to see our entire collection of 1938 Goudey Heads-Up baseball cards.  To see the reprint cards, please click here.

1941 Goudey Baseball Cards

The 1941 Goudey baseball card set is the last Goudey card set that was ever released. Goudey had made some of the best gum cards in its eight years of operation, so this set was somewhat of a disappointment. The set itself appears to be small at first glance, as it includes only 33 total players. However, there are four possible solid background colors for each card. The cards can come in blue, red, green, or yellow. According to PSA, the red background is the most difficult to find, while the other three colors are all equally abundant.

The 1941 Goudey set, or R324 set, is not popular with collectors for several reasons. It can be very difficult to build a master set with all four colors, but once the set is built, there are only two stars (Mel Ott and Carl Hubbell). These cards are also the only Goudey issue to have blank cardboard backs. Finally, many of the cards have rough edges or are badly miscut.

This type of card would go out of style, leading the Play Ball cards, which featured much nicer photographs and backs. However, these cards represent the end of the Goudey era, which gave collectors many wonderful sets to enjoy. Please click here if you are interested in viewing our inventory of 1941 Goudey cards. Please click here to see our selection of 1941 Goudey reprint cards.