Sports Card Glossary of Terms

Blank Back -- A card that has no printing on the back because of a manufacturing mistake.

Blanket -- A 20th century collectible consisting of a square piece of fabric or felt distributed with early tobacco products, some of which had baseball players pictured on them. They were sometimes used in making quilts.

Centering -- The position of a cards picture when compaired to a cards borders. A card that has an evan amount of border would be well centered and a card that has more border on one side or on the top or bottem would be called off center.

Certificate of Authenticity -- A written guarantee indicating the authenticity of an autograph, issued by the seller directly or from a third-party authenticator. Remember - a COA is only as reliable as the issuer.

Common -- A card that is not of a star player, the lowest priced cards in a set.

Condition -- The state of preservation of a sports card. An important factor that helps determine the value of the cards.

Dealer -- A person or company that sells and or buys and trades in sports cards and memorabilia.

Distributor -- A middleman between memorabilia manufactures and retailers.

Game-Used/Game-Worn -- Terms referring to uniforms and equipment that have been worn or used by a player during a sports event. When used along with the words sports card or card as in Game-Used jersey card it means that a peice or swatch of the game-used item is on the card.

HOF -- Hall of Fame

Insert card -- Also known as chase cards or special cards, inserts are bonus cards which are not considered to be part of the regular issue set. Insert cards are produced in smaller quantities than the regular cards which makes them more valuable. Most of the time inserts will stand out from the regular set in some way making it easier to tell they are not part of the regular set.

Memorabilia -- Term usually referring to sports collectibles other than cards like photos, figurines, programs, tickets, uniforms, and equipment.

Pack -- A random assortment of cards packaged by manufacturer for a particular year and brand.

Price Guide -- A directory of estimated values for sports cards. There are many price guides available, such as Beckett and Tuff Stuff.

PSA -- Professional Sports Authenticator one of the leading grading companies in the sports card market.

Rookie Card -- A players first year card from a Major League baseball card set. A rookie card has nothing to do with when the player was an actual rookie year in MLB was but rather when the player had his first major league card made. It can happen that a player may have a card made many years before he is a rookie in baseball or after he has been playing for many years but no matter if the player has played at all of if he has played for 10 years, his rookie card or cards would be from the year that he first had cards made in a Major League set. It does have to be a Major League set and not a minor league or special set to be called a rookie card.

SCD -- "Sports Collectors Digest" a leading sports card industry hobby publication issued weekly by Krause Publications.

Team Set -- A baseball card team set or a football card team set is one of each regular card made by a given manufacturer for a given year and brand. Not every player on a team will have a card made so every player that plays will not be in a team set.

Tuff Stuff -- A Popular sports card price guide magazine, issued monthly by Krause Publications.

Wheeler-Dealer -- A wheeler-dealer is not an actual hobby dealer but rather an individual collector who in whole or with a set aside portion of his collection buys, sells and trades cards with the sole purpose of increasing the value of his collection.

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