The 1933 Goudey set gets all the fanfare for being the first card set to issue packs of cards with gum.

But the underappreciated 1934-36 Diamond Stars Baseball card set deserves more attention. 

The 108 card set covered a three year period from 1934 to 1936, offering up real competition for Goudey. 

The lack of serious collector interest likely stems from the omission of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, contracted by Goudey at the time.

In this piece we take a closer look at the 1934-36 Diamond Stars set, showcasing the most valuable cards in the issue. 

The 1933 Goudey Baseball card set is one of the hobby’s most coveted treasures.

The card design is one of the most beautiful of all pre war card sets.

Colorful renderings of some of the hobby’s most popular players, the set is anchored by not one, but four Babe Ruth cards!

Plus, oh yeah, there’s the added bonus of two Lou Gehrig cards in the set, two of the hobby’s most valuable cards. 

The 1933 Goudey cards are not rare (aside from the Nap Lajoie), but are tough to find in great condition.

Sports card collectors have continued to bid up the big names in the set. 

For investment purposes, Goudey baseball cards should remain an excellent long-term investment. 

Here we explore the most valuable cards in the 1933 Goudey Baseball card set. 

The 1974 Topps Baseball card set certainly has that early seventy’s vibe. 

The set’s white borders are accentuated with colorful flags on each card’s top and bottom.

However, from a design perspective, the set is one of my least favorite designs of all the 1970’s Topps baseball card sets.

The set is chock full of the stars of the era, including Nolan Ryan, Johnny Bench, and Hank Aaron. 

The set features Hall of Fame outfielder Dave Winfield’s rookie card; however, the remaining rookie card class is weak.

Subsets throughout the set include a dedication to Hank Aaron (cards 1-6), team card issues, manager card, statistical leaders, all-star cards, and the ever-popular four-panel rookie cards. 

PSA has a card by card gallery, which is an excellent resource for viewing the 1974 set in its entirety. 

Here we explore the most valuable cards in the 1974 Topps Baseball card set. 

The 1976 Topps Baseball card set is a significant change from the prior year’s colorful, trippy-looking cards.

The set has clear white borders with a two-tone color scheme, matching the colors of the player’s uniform.

Not exactly one of my favorite designs among the Topps sets, but I’ve seen a lot worse. 

The set contains all the stars of the day, guys like George Brett, Pete Rose, Robin Yount, Thurman Munson, and even the last card of Hank Aaron. 

However, the rookie class here leaves a lot to be desired, headed up by HOF reliever Dennis Eckersley.

Subsets in the issue include Record Breakers (#1 to #6), All-Time All-Stars (#341 to #350), and the classic four-player Rookie Prospects (#588 to #599).

Here we explore the most valuable cards in the 1976 Topps Baseball set. 

The 1965 Topps Baseball card set is one of the classic baseball card sets from the latter half of the decade. 

Its clean design with white borders and baseball pennant also make it one of the better-designed sets from Topps in the 1960s. 

The 1965 set is chock full of star player cards including Mickey Mantle, Pete Rose, Hank Aaron, and Willie Mays, while also including several key rookie cards of Joe Morgan, Catfish Hunter, Tony Perez, and Steve Carlton. 

In this piece we take a closer look at the most valuable cards in the 1965 Topps Baseball card set, examining values, population reports, and overall investment potential.

The 1948 Leaf Baseball issue is probably one of my favorite vintage sets.  

The bright color images and the bold backgrounds make for one of the most attractive post-war designs, in my opinion. 

Some speculate that the Leaf set was issued in 1949, but many cards have a 1948 copyright on the back.

Also, note that the grading companies consider this a 1948 issue, so we will stay consistent and reference it as the ‘1948 Leaf Set’. 

The set’s importance lies in the fact that it was one of the major baseball issues released following World War II and the first full-color issue.

The beautiful colors provided collectors with a glimpse of what soon would become the norm with baseball cards.

In addition, the set is loaded with star power, including Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson, Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams, and even a rookie card for one Satchel Paige. 

Many collectors believe that the 1948 Bowman Baseball set preceded the Leaf issue; however, some of the key rookies from both sets share accolades as being a player’s first card.

The 1948 Bowman Baseball set is one of the more important baseball card issues in the history of the hobby.

It represents the first baseball card issue for Bowman, and the first baseball cards released following a seven-year hiatus of card issues post World War II. 

Bowman would go on to have a short-lived monopoly in the baseball card market, lasting from 1948 through 1951, ultimately ending when Topps came to town in 1952.

The early Spring of 1950 brought the release of Bowman Baseball Cards to local neighborhood corner stores. 

As kids ripped into new packs, a surprise awaited; beautiful full-color cards, a big improvement over the monochrome colors used in the 1949 Bowman issue.

The beautifully painted images in the 252 card set boast a mix of breathtaking ballpark backgrounds, action shots, and classic portrait photos. 

The thin white border leads the collector’s eye to focus on the brilliance of the artistry, a simplicity that makes it one of my favorite baseball sets. 

Like the 48 and 49 Bowman cards that preceded it, the cards are a smaller size (2 ⅙  x 2 ½), which was the norm, until Topps rolled into town in 1952 with larger size cards.

A few stars of the day are notably absent from the set, both Stan “The Man” Musial and Joe DiMaggio are glaring omissions. Neither had signed contracts with Bowman. (Note, however, that Joe’s brother Dom is a part of the set)

Bobby Orr is one of the greatest hockey players of all time.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get to witness much of his dominance in the league.

However, as a Bostonian, I’m forever reminded of the legacy of Bobby Orr. 

Orr is not only a Boston sports icon, but one of the most important figures in the history of hockey. 

Orr’s hockey cards have been hot in recent years, as all the GOATs have been bid up by vintage collectors. I still think despite the big increases, Orr’s cards are a great investment.

This is of course dependent on the card and the overall scarcity, so use your best judgment in evaluating any of these cards as an investment for your personal collection.

Let’s take a look at the ten most valuable cards of one Bobby Orr.

In continuation of our coverage of the most valuable sports cards of all time (see our Baseball, Basketball, and Football pieces) in this article we present the Most Valuable Hockey Cards of all time.

You might be surprised that a lot of your favorite hockey players didn’t make this list (such as Ray Bourque, Patrick Roy, or Mario Lemieux) but unfortunately, many of those late ’70s and early 1980’s hockey cards were produced in sizeable quantities, enough to make some of those high-quality rookies mostly affordable.

We focused here on vintage hockey cards worth in excess of $6,000.  The end list is 27 cards, and you’ll notice there are players that get a few places on the list–notably Howie Morenz, who has four of the most valuable hockey cards of all time.

Hopefully, this will be a bit of a hockey history lesson for collectors as well – we’ve tried to provide a background on each player along with some of the videos which we believed best captured the essence of each player.

The good news is that while our cutoff line was $6,000 (normally in Excellent to NM condition), many of these vintage hockey cards can be found for a lot cheaper if you’re willing to sacrifice on grade a bit. 

We try to update these lists every year, but if you see something that should be on the list, let me know via email at chris@allvintagecards.com.