The back of a baseball card contains important statistical information about the player featured on the front of the card. Some of the key details included on the reverse are the player’s vital statistics, career accomplishments, and year-by-year stats. Let’s take a closer look at what baseball card manufacturers typically provide about each player.
One of the first things listed is the player’s vital statistics which includes their full name, date of birth, current age, batting handedness, throwing handedness, height, and weight. This gives an overview of the physical attributes and some identifying information about the athlete. Next are their career totals for some of the main offensive and pitching stats. Things like batting average, home runs, runs batted in (RBIs), wins, earned run average (ERA), strikeouts are commonly featured in a shorter career stats summary box.
After the brief career totals, more expansive year-by-year stats are then broken down for each season the player has been in the major leagues. The annual stats usually include the team they played for that year alongside the games played, at-bats (if a batter), innings pitched (if a pitcher), along with their stats in categories like runs, hits, doubles, triples, homers, RBIs, batting average, walks, stolen bases, wins, losses, ERA, strikeouts, saves and other relevant pitching metrics depending on their role. This provides historians and researchers a full statistical timeline to track a player’s progression and accomplishments season-by-season.
In addition to statistics, background details and highlights are included to give context about the player’s career path and successes. Information like what amateur team they played for, what year they were drafted or signed as an amateur free agent, what year they made their major league debut and with what franchise. Accolades such as rookie awards, all-star selections, Silver Slugger Awards, Gold Glove Awards and other major honors are usually mentioned. For pitchers, details on any no-hitters or perfect games they have thrown are commonly acknowledged.
Another important inclusion is what postseason records or World Series performances stand out, such as game winning home runs, crucial strikeouts or shutouts during playoff/World Series games. World Series champion years and statistics from those championship series are highlighted. For managers and coaches, their career win-loss record and any manager of the year awards are highlighted. For executives or owners, details on franchise championships and accomplishments during their tenure are recognized.
At the very bottom, career totals are often restated to provide an easy snapshot for comparison purposes. Things like career batting average, home runs, RBIs, wins, losses, ERA, strikeouts encapsulated in one place for quick glances. The reverse side frequently has information on the specific card details, copyright information for the card’s manufacturer and distributor, as well as no resell stipulations. In more recent years, a quick QR code is sometimes included at the bottom to learn even more about the player through an online database website.
The back of a baseball card provides essential biographical information, exhaustive statistics, career achievements and highlights to memorialize the noteworthy players, managers, executives and others involved with America’s pastime. It offers researchers, fans and historians alike an information-rich capsule on the featured person that encapsulates their baseball accomplishments, origins and place in history. With thorough details allowing card collectors to constantly learn more about the greats of the game through this portable relic enshrined in cardboard.
