Baseball cards tend to be the most common cards to collect, but what a lot of people don’t know is that there are other types of sports card collections. This includes football, soccer, hockey, and even basketball. As with everything in life, each of these collections have a story. Today, we’re going to focus on the history of basketball cards. (Related topics: selling my baseball cards, where to sell baseball cards)
Although the first professional league, the National Basketball League, was established in 1898, the first official set wasn’t issued until 1948. Of course, there were basketball cards before 1948, but they were just small parts of large multi-sports sets.
Some of the most memorable cards when basketball card collections were new are the 1948 Bowman, 1957-58 Topps and 1961-62 Fleer. Starting in 1969, Topps became a major manufacturer of basketball cards, which helped grow their popularity. Some of the professional athletes that also helped grow this market in the 80’s were Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, and Michael Jordan. When we move into the 90’s, many basketball cards were issued, but there are two sets that collectors tend to love: 1993-94 Finest and its Refractors inserts and 1996-97 Topps Chrome which included the rookie card of Kobe Bryant.
In the 21st century, companies began to try different things to make their cards stand out. One company included cards in packs of lego NBA players, others started including gum with their sets.
Today, with the popularity of rookies Zion Williamson and Ja Morant, collectors have become very interested in growing their basketball card collection. The great thing about card collections is that you get to choose how to build them. Do you want to focus your attention on a certain basketball team? Your favorite player? A specific era? A complete set? In your search to make the perfect collection, you may realize that you have some cards that no longer interest you. If so, you can sell your collection to our sports card buyers in NJ. Our sports card buyers in NJ will give you a great price, allowing you to use that money to find the missing card to your set.
