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The Great American Baseball Card Flipping, Trading and Bubble Gum Book
A look at baseball in the 1950s presents more than two hundred cards, with amusing bios on some of the game's most colorful characters and observations on the baseball card phenomenon
144 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1973
133 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
April 26, 2023
When I was a kid (late 50's to mid 60's) the start of baseball season meant that it was baseball card season my favorite time of year along with the end of the school year and Christmas.
Finding this book in my local used bookstore was like that feeling all over again. Paging through it was like opening those wax packs of cards. The only thing missing was the smell of the bubblegum inside.
The two authors (one from Boston and one from Philadelphia) each have written introductions and insightful essays to lead-off the book. Then comes the meat of the order; reproductions of cards from the 50's and 60's, many of which I still have, each with informative, and or, humorous profiles of the players depicted on those cards.
So, if you're like me and still have all of those baseball cards you collected as a kid wrapped in rubber bands and tucked away in a shoebox, or even if your mother threw them all away, this book will bring back so many wonderful memories of the hunt for that elusive card of your hometown hero.
Finding this book in my local used bookstore was like that feeling all over again. Paging through it was like opening those wax packs of cards. The only thing missing was the smell of the bubblegum inside.
The two authors (one from Boston and one from Philadelphia) each have written introductions and insightful essays to lead-off the book. Then comes the meat of the order; reproductions of cards from the 50's and 60's, many of which I still have, each with informative, and or, humorous profiles of the players depicted on those cards.
So, if you're like me and still have all of those baseball cards you collected as a kid wrapped in rubber bands and tucked away in a shoebox, or even if your mother threw them all away, this book will bring back so many wonderful memories of the hunt for that elusive card of your hometown hero.
March 14, 2008
Is there any human endeavour that lends itself to irreverence more than Major League Baseball? One of my own all time favorite players, San Francisco's own, the Pride of Hercules, Mr. Willie McGee, always endeared himself to my by the manner in which he approached the batter's box: his head lost somewhere inside his switch hitter's helmet, standing in as if he wasn't entirely sure he wanted to be there, his expression indicated something akin to naked terror. This body language belied McGee's ability to send an inordinate number of liners up the middle and into gaps. Boyd & Harris have produced a wonderful box of valentines to their favorite ballplayers, the vast majority of whom played before I was aware of them as players.
March 21, 2013
Alternately reverential and hilarious, this is one of the best books on baseball I have ever read. If you collected baseball cards, are a baseball fan or want to read some of the funniest writing about the game, I highly recommend it.
July 23, 2008
I found this relic of a book at Kobey's Swap Meet. Whether you collect baseball cards or are jsut a fan, this book is a fun reading and I'm glad I found it. Surely it's worth more than the 50 cents I paid.
July 28, 2012
"Coot" Veal? "Cot" Deal?
Hilarious -- I've read this over and over again.
Hilarious -- I've read this over and over again.
January 19, 2013
You don't have to be a baseball fan, or a card collector. This is one of the funniest books I've ever read.
February 1, 2019
I loved this book as a kid, and have read it multiple other times in my life. Each time different passages strike me in new ways because I have changed, while the words have not. The authors walk the tightrope between reverence and irreverence throughout; never forgetting that their heroes are people while some “commons” are heroic in their own way. The close observation of the details of so many cards and players tell a story of joy and—at times bewilderment at what the people at Topps were thinking. It is easy to know about Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle, but Boyd and Harris introduced me to the likes of Sam Jones and Don Mossi (who happens to be alive and well in his early 90s now!) and I will be forever grateful.
July 7, 2021
It was a very fun and funny book. The faces on the cards were celebrities, baseball players but not people. It doesn't seem that the authors ever thought about reaching out to the players, or even following up on most of their post-baseball careers. And I like it that way, baseball fans and baseball players imperfectly frozen in time, connected mainly through baseball cards.
I would have loved the book even more if these were the players from my youth.
I would have loved the book even more if these were the players from my youth.
April 21, 2023
One of the funniest books I've ever read. I must have read this a dozen times or more and some jokes still make me laugh.
Of course its NOT for somebody who is not a baseball fan. This is for the guys who grew up in the neighborhood, played ball in the street and collected baseball cards. You don't even need to be familiar with all of the players either. The jokes hold up either way.
I have to check and see if they ever did a follow up. If they didn't, they should have.
Of course its NOT for somebody who is not a baseball fan. This is for the guys who grew up in the neighborhood, played ball in the street and collected baseball cards. You don't even need to be familiar with all of the players either. The jokes hold up either way.
I have to check and see if they ever did a follow up. If they didn't, they should have.
June 18, 2018
As a long time fan of snarky baseball blogs like Fire Joe Morgan and Deadspin, I've been wanting to read this cult classic for a long time. I finally found it at Bart's Books in Ojai. It was well-written and laugh-out-loud funny at times, but after a while I had trouble with all the Baby Boomer childhood references and the dozens of variations of describing how bad a player was.
April 26, 2020
Another re-reading of a classic. Great memories and generally witty commentary on the cards before expansion. Most of it holds up quite well. Highly recommended if your first card (like me) was Mel Roach.
March 15, 2021
Read it first time in the 1980’s. Even better this time, great and funny observations about baseball players from the 1950’s, most of whom were not great players. I remember many of the cards in the book and have many still today
June 19, 2019
one of my all time favorites books, about an all consuming hobby when I was a kid....
January 24, 2020
If you love the game of baseball, then this book is for. But if have memories of collecting baseball cards then all of your memories will rushing back!
March 28, 2020
I bought a first edition of this book in 1973. I have read it several times and it still brings a smile to my face.
April 15, 2021
Probably a wonderful trip down memory lane if you were really into baseball in the fifties. Otherwise, just a bunch of fairly amusing observations and anecdotes.
February 28, 2022
The authors share memories or make up stories about the players on their baseball cards. Players are from the 50s and 60s so not super funny if you don’t know anything about them.
March 19, 2024
Still good despite the fact that the players discussed were already old even when I first read this book over 40 years ago.
September 8, 2025
An odd little book with a ton of 1950s nostalgia.
More fun to look through than to read cover to cover (although I did).
More fun to look through than to read cover to cover (although I did).
January 20, 2013
after reading over 100,000 books, mostly older ones (no great shakes after 30 years in the book business - most editors read twice that much) i can confidently say that this is, quite simply, the greatest book of ANY kind ever written on ANY subject.
i find boyd and harris's take on life, in specific passages, and in its encompassing appraisal of a nation and of an era, to be unique in the world of letters. i use verbal constructions, entire memorized biographies (Hector Lopez? Earl Torgeson? Rocky Bridges?) and their way of thinking almost daily.
wherever they may now be ~ fellas, you hit a GRAND SLAM with this masterpiece. an annual read~
i find boyd and harris's take on life, in specific passages, and in its encompassing appraisal of a nation and of an era, to be unique in the world of letters. i use verbal constructions, entire memorized biographies (Hector Lopez? Earl Torgeson? Rocky Bridges?) and their way of thinking almost daily.
wherever they may now be ~ fellas, you hit a GRAND SLAM with this masterpiece. an annual read~
September 18, 2016
Probably the greatest, and funniest book ever written. A way of life for me ever since I first read it at age 11, and eminently quotable, "Jesus McFarlane was a living testimonial, on the other hand, that naming your son after a famous celebrity doesn't help. [your baseball career]," "you knew the Yankees pitching staff had hit rock bottom when Eli Grba managed to slither his way into their starting rotation," "Who the hell is Cuno Barrigan, and why are they are they saying such terrible things about him." I couldn't recommend a book highly enough.
February 8, 2017
Equal parts nostalgia, irreverence, and fun. I now know why this book has such a cult following. It also makes me appreciate my mom for not throwing out my baseball cards.
August 27, 2010
This is a timeless classic. I've returned to this one over the years and still find it a refreshing evocation of two boys' love of baseball in the 1950s and 1960s. Evocative, sometimes heart-tugging (in a good way), and if you lived through those times as I did (at least in the latter part of the '60s), seeing the cards you used to collect will give you that frisson of excitement (and regret, if you gave them away long ago).
July 17, 2007
two wags go through their old baseball card collections with commentary both hilarious and poignant. the pictures are all there, too! sadly it's out-of-print. eben lasker has my copy of it, so if you're in the boston area hit him up for it.
were i to indulge my man-crush on pat neshek [http://eteamz.active.com/PatNeshek/], with this book i would court and woo him...
were i to indulge my man-crush on pat neshek [http://eteamz.active.com/PatNeshek/], with this book i would court and woo him...
January 6, 2013
Brendan Boyd really knows baseball and really knows cards. He's also really funny. Other reviews say that his humor is mean. That's true. It was also written in a different era when skins were a little thicker. Regardless, Boyd's love and mastery of the material brings the images on the cards to life.
January 5, 2016
I've had this book in a drawer for years, finally pulled it out and couldn't put it down. Great stories about stars, semi-stars and the all too plentiful commons. Based on my own ample collection I know there are many more cards and stories out there, so many that we need a sequel. if not 2-3 more books that need to be written. Get started Brendan C. Boyd and Fred C. Harris :-)
January 29, 2012
Best baseball card book ever written...if you grew up playing with cards in any fashion or form.
June 10, 2013
Nostalgic musings on collecting baseball cards, complete with hilarious bios of old-timey baseball players. One of my favourite books growing up.
November 29, 2013
One of the great(and unheralded) baseball books of all time. Don't be put off by the title. Imaginative, colorful, nostalgic. A real beauty.
June 2, 2014
A random book of nuggets from 1950s childhood, told as asides under random baseball cards. Read 'Cardboard Heroes' instead if you're not a boomer.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews