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BATTER UP BASEBALL CARDS

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Batter Up baseball cards have been a staple in the world of sports collecting for over 50 years. What started as a small side business for a former minor league baseball player has grown into one of the most iconic and beloved brands in the trading card industry. Here is a look back at the history and legacy of Batter Up cards.

In the late 1950s, former minor league infielder Joe Montgomery was working as a sales representative for a sporting goods company. During his travels to baseball stadiums across the country, Montgomery noticed how popular baseball cards were becoming with young fans. He saw it as an untapped business opportunity. In 1959, Montgomery founded Batter Up to produce his own line of baseball cards.

For the inaugural 1960 Batter Up set, Montgomery designed simple yet classic looking cards featuring current major and minor league players. Each card contained a black and white photo on the front with basic stats like batting average on the back. Montgomery printed the cards himself and sold them directly to ballparks, mom and pop card shops, and candy stores near ballfields. The low production cost cards were an instant hit with collectors.

Word of mouth and grassroots marketing led to exponential growth for Batter Up in the 1960s. By 1965, Batter Up was producing over 1,000 new baseball cards each year. Montgomery expanded from selling single packs to complete factory sets. Batter Up also began issuing annual sets each year to keep up with the rapidly changing rosters and new players reaching the majors.

While Topps remained the dominant brand due to exclusive major league player licensing deals, Batter Up carved out its own niche. The brand focused on coverage of minor league players, notable Negro League stars, and international players rarely found in other sets. Batter Up also gained a reputation for timely issue dates that beat Topps to market on the new season.

In the 1970s, Batter Up took its production and distribution to new levels. Color photography was introduced in 1972. Montgomery also formed strategic distribution partnerships with larger card and candy manufacturers like Top Card and Planters. This allowed Batter Up products to reach general retail outlets like drug stores and supermarkets nationwide for the first time.

The increased availability fueled even more popularity for Batter Up in the 1970s. Annual set sales regularly topped 10 million cards. Subject matter also expanded beyond baseball to include other sports. Batter Up issued sets for basketball, football, hockey and auto racing during this decade. Specialty subsets highlighting award winners or All-Star teams became another Batter Up signature.

Montgomery maintained hands-on leadership of Batter Up until selling the company to Card Collector Corporation in 1981. Under new ownership, Batter Up maintained its tradition of quality, affordability and coverage of obscure players. Key sets from the 1980s like ’84 and ’87 are still considered some of the most iconic in the hobby. Batter Up also found success producing premium sets with higher end inserts during the trading card boom years.

In 1993, Batter Up was acquired by Fleer corporation. Ownership changes continued when Fleer was later purchased by SkyBox International. Through it all, Batter Up retained its brand identity. The company celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2009 with a highly sought after retro-style reissue set. Batter Up remains committed to its grassroots approach focused on accessibility for collectors of all ages.

While competitors have come and gone, Batter Up has endured through six decades because of its consistency and connection to baseball’s past. Countless fans have fond memories of ripping open their first pack as a kid at the local candy store. Even in today’s high-priced hobby market, Batter Up still produces affordable sets that allow new collectors to build complete teams and learn the history of America’s pastime. That tradition and accessibility looks to continue well into baseball’s future.

1934 BATTER UP BASEBALL CARDS

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The 1934 Batter Up baseball card set is one of the key issues from the early era of modern baseball cards. Produced by the Batter Up Company, the 1934 set marked a transition point between the classic tobacco cards of the early 20th century to the gum and candy cards that became the standard in later decades. With its focus on active major league players from that season, the 1934 Batter Up issue captured the sport at a fascinating moment in its history.

The idea of including sports cards as incentives to promote tobacco products had been around since the late 1880s. It was the iconic T206 Honus Wagner card from 1909-1911 that is largely credited with sparking sustained interest in collecting baseball cards as a hobby. In the following years, several tobacco brands like American Caramel, Sweet Caporal and Iran Leaf issued colorful multi-player baseball cards. By the early 1930s the Great Depression had cut deeply into tobacco sales and card production had virtually ceased.

It was into this vacuum that the Batter Up Company stepped with their 1934 baseball card set. Unlike earlier tobacco issues, Batter Up cards were inserted in bubble gum packs as a kid-friendly promotional item rather than related to smoking. The gum was said to provide “extra chewing satisfaction and enjoyment.” Each wax-paper wrapped pack contained a single card along with a stick of Dynamite gum. Depicting that year’s top big league sluggers and hurlers, the cards were meant to get young fans excited about the upcoming season.

The 1934 set contains 167 individual player cards and spans all 16 major league clubs of the time. Some of the biggest stars featured included Jimmie Foxx, Lou Gehrig, Dizzy Dean, Earl Averill, Lefty Gomez and Chuck Klein. Uniforms and logos are sharply rendered in full color. The front of each card displays a large action photo of the player along with their name, position and team. Short bios on the back provide career highlights and stats from the 1933 season. Conditioned are generally lower than vintage tobacco issues due to the thinner cardboard stock used for gum cards.

Several factors make the 1934 Batter Up set so iconic and valuable among collectors today. It represents a true transition point between tobacco and candy/gum insert cards. It was one of the last pre-war issues to feature many of the game’s biggest stars from the 1930s before several retired or their careers were interrupted by World War II military service. Rosters also included visual representations of defunct franchises like the St. Louis Browns and Philadelphia Athletics before they relocated. Perhaps most importantly, limited production means high-grade specimens from the set are quite rare surviving over 85 years later.

Pricing for 1934 Batter Up cards very substantially based on condition, player and scarcity. Lower-tier commons may sell for $25-50 in poor shape while all-star rookie cards can reach $500 or more graded high. The true keys of the set are even scarcer and more sought after. The Lou Gehrig PSA 8 just sold at auction for over $27,000. Other expensive individual cards include Jimmie Foxx, Dizzy Dean, Lefty Gomez, Earl Averill and Chuck Klein when graded highly. Even run-of-the-mill cards have shot up sharply in value in recent years as set collectors seek to complete their rookie collections of 1930s legends.

For historians, the 1934 Batter Up issue also serves as a unique time capsule. It brought the national pastime into the midst of the Great Depression via its promotion of chewing gum and baseball cards. The set featured the last glimpses of iconic ballplayers before wartime service or retirement changed the sporting landscape. Perhaps most remarkably, it helped keep the fledgling hobby of sports card collecting alive during tough times, inadvertently preserving the memories and imagery of a storied baseball era for future generations of fans. The 1934 Batter Up cards remain a cherished link to baseball’s storied past.

The 1934 Batter Up set deserves its place among the most historically significant early issues for collectors, researchers and fans alike. Coming at a transitional moment, it bridged eras between tobacco and modern-style candy/gum cards. Roster highlights the biggest stars and teams of the 1930s in their uniforms. Limited production means high grades are especially rare and valuable today. It serves as a nostalgic window back to a special time in baseball before World War II that is cherished by collectors for its pivotal yet increasingly scarce place in the growth of sports cards as a genuine American pop-culture phenomenon.