The History of Football Card Collecting
April 8th 2008
Football Card Collecting has kept many football game lovers totally connected with all aspects of the game and their favorite football players. Football is the most popular sport in the United States with a lot fans following their team in and out of season. The Super Bowl is akin to an undeclared holiday for fans and non-fans alike.
The popularity of football is marked by its players and their stats. There is no better way to keep in touch with football players then by collecting their football cards. Sports cards were first introduced by tobacco companies who used player cards to increase sales of their products. Later on, of course, tobacco products were replaced by gum and it was only past the Second World War that companies were set up that actually sold football player cards as collectibles. Of course, those old football cards are now valuable football cards.
The first company to actually sell player cards was Bowman, way back in 1948. Topps was the second company to be established in 1951 and they took over Bowman and became the sole ruler of the player cards market till very recently. Companies like Upper Deck, Donruss and Fleer, entered the market much later some time after 1980s. Ever since, there has been a big boom in the business of football player cards, with each company vying with each other for the best lists about the cards an avid collector should have. Now football card collecting has become a multi million dollar industry.
If you are new to the vintage and modern football card collecting hobby, then it often becomes a daunting task to decide what to collect and how. Well, there are basically four categories of cards that you can collect, namely, rookie cards, inserts, complete sets and unopened sets.
