How the baseball card game is played

Shortly after the 1952 World Series, executives at the Topps Co. had a problem. They had boxes and boxes of baseball cards that nobody wanted to buy. So, in a decision that would echo through the baseball-card market for decades to come, they tossed the extras into the cold waters of the Atlantic Ocean.

And so, only a fortunate few ended up with that year's Mickey Mantle rookie card. Today, a near-mint condition Topps No. 311 Mickey Mantle from 1952 is worth more than $20,000.

Back then, baseball cards were for kids. They were made of cardboard. Each one-cent pack of cards included a wide stick of (usually dried-out) bubble gum. Kids would wrap their stacks of cards with rubber bands and stash them in shoe boxes. Cards got lost, worn, and thrown out. Few knew they'd be valuable. Not many of those cards survived to the present.

Today baseball cards are mostly a grownup hobby. Twenty or 30 years ago, the cards were marketed mostly to kids. Most collectors now are over 30. And in this age of PlayStations and the Internet, kids are less interested in baseball cards.

"We are competing with lot of other things that get the kids' attention these days," says Lloyd Pawlak. He's senior vice president of sales and marketing for cardmaking company Fleer.

Trading-card companies like Fleer, Topps, Upper Deck, and Donruss still make cardboard varieties (for $1 to $2 a pack), but they also make lots of expensive cards designed to appeal to older collectors. Topps removed the bubble gum from most packs of cards in 1991 after numerous complaints from collectors that the gum was staining the cards.

Even seawater would not be able to destroy some of today's cards, made from high-tech "chrome board" or "foil board." "Relic" cards come with embedded slivers of players' bats, gloves, jerseys, even dirt. New packs can sell for as much as $200 - hardly within a kid's budget. Topps makes 15 kinds of baseball cards, in three series.

'The price of cards - it's way up there," says Alan Vinogradov of New York City. He's been collecting cards for 12 years now, ever since he was 6. "You've got to do your research."

A typical baseball card today may look simple in design, but it takes up to six months to produce.

The process begins when trading-card companies negotiate new contracts with the Baseball Players Association. The BPA represents the players collectively. At the end of the year, money earned from the cards is divided among the players, based on how many days each was on a team roster. It doesn't matter if a player was a bench-warmer or a superstar - each is treated the same.

That arrangement does not satisfy every player. Last year, San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds became the first major-leaguer to withdraw from the BPA and make more money from his cards by signing an exclusive contract with Topps. Spokesman Clay Luraschi won't say how much Topps paid Bonds, but it was more than $1 million. (Topps sold nearly $300 million worth of collectible cards, candy, stickers, and comic books in 2003.)

First, baseball players are photographed in various poses, often during spring training. Using a computer, card designers crop and position the photo. Cards are redesigned every year to give them a new "look."

Photos may need a minor touch-up. A shadow may be removed or a player's face brightened. Sometimes, though, the changes are major. A player's uniform may be switched from one team to another. Spectators may be added to empty seats in the background.

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