Mint Condition: How Baseball Cards Became an American Obsession by Dave Jamieson

It's a form of megalomania, of course, one famous card collector once said of his hobby—and, as Jamieson explains, there are plenty of people willing to cash in on collectors' obsessions; the secondary market for baseball cards may be as much as a half-billion dollars annually. It used to be even stronger: Jamieson got interested in the history of baseball cards when he rediscovered his own adolescent stash only to find that its value had plummeted in the mid-1990s. His loss is our gain as he tracks the evolution of the card from its first appearance in cigarette packs in the late 19th century through the introduction of bubble gum and up to the present. The historical narrative is livened by several interviews, including conversations with the two men who launched Topps (for decades the first name in cards) and a collector who's dealt in million-dollar cards. Jamieson also digresses neatly into curiosities like the Horrors of War card set, the legendary Mars Attacks, and a profanity-laced card featuring Cal Ripken's little brother. It's a fun read, but it also shows just how much serious work went into sustaining this one corner of pop culture ephemera. (Apr.)
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Reader Reviews
As a kid growing up in the '50s & '60s, collecting baseball cards was a natural part of our existence. Abusing our prized possessions was also a part of the process; a '56 Yogi Berra made my Schwinn sound like a Harley (not really). At the time, I didn't realize that was a very costly sound effect; who knew that shoebox full of Musials, Williams, and Mantles could someday pay for junior's college education, if the owner of those gems had sense enough to keep them in "mint condition"? Needless to say, I didn't catch on until twenty some odd years later; and like everything that has a "market value", baseball card portfolios have been whacked in recent years; just like everything else. Dave Jamieson has compiled a wonderfully researched history of the baseball card phenomenon, which brought back many memories for me; not only of my innocent youth, but of my not so innocent adulthood, when I tried to grab the hottest cards at the best possible prices. I used to buy 'em by the set, and horde them like a miser, hoping they'd increase in value. Naturally, I now keep my collection in mint condition, and I'll spend hours gazing at baseball's not so distant past, and wonder why Roger Maris isn't in the Hall of Fame. If you're a baseball fan, regardless of your obsession with collecting cards, you'll certainly enjoy this book. It's a home run.

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