Collecting Sports Legends - Ultimate Hobby Guide

– A visually impressive new book, Collecting Sports Legends – The Ultimate Hobby Guide by well-known sports collectibles expert, Joe Orlando, is the first of its kind to blend career highlights of America’s top sports stars from yesteryear to today with some of the hobby’s best memorabilia related to them.  

“It’s a book for all sports fans, not just collectors.  You don’t have to be a collector to enjoy sports history as seen through the collectibles.  It’s a way to learn about and appreciate the greatest legends and their careers through their sports cards and other items.  It helps bring these sports heroes to life,” explained Orlando, President of Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA), the world’s largest, independent sports collectibles certification company, and Editor of Sports Market Report magazine.  Both are divisions of Collectors Universe, Inc. (NASDAQ: CLCT).

The glossy, 376-page, large 10” x 12” coffee table-size format provides readers with over 500 eye-catching photographs of diverse athletes from Babe Ruth to Wilt Chamberlain, from Joe Namath to Tiger Woods, and vintage to modern hobby collectibles.  The book also gives experts’ tips on starting or building collections of trading cards, autographs, game-used baseball bats, historic game tickets and unopened packs.  

Orlando and various hobby experts selected what they believe are the best memorabilia items related to their selections of the icons of baseball, basketball, boxing, football, golf, hockey and other sports.  

The rankings lists include:

·                            The top 250 individual sports cards and experts’ rankings of the top 20 of all time (the famous 1910-era T-206 Honus Wagner card is number one);

·                            The top 30 complete card sets of all time; the top 100 sports autographs with a ranking of the top ten (Babe Ruth’s signature is number one);

·                            The top 40 game-used baseball bats (Ruth again number one); a chronological list of the top 15 sporting event admission tickets of all time; and

·                            The top 25 unopened packs (1952 Topps baseball card packs are ranked number one).

Orlando tells readers the top ten tips for building collections, emphasizing important guidelines for both beginning and experienced collectors who are looking for direction to enhance their hobby enjoyment as well as what to look for and what to avoid.

“Nothing quite like this has ever been done in our hobby on this large scale.  It’s the first time a book has blended all these collectibles areas into one book, providing insight and details about the sports stars’ collectibles,” Orlando explained.

“People love sports, and our hobby is an extension of that love,” said David Kohler, President of SCP Auctions of Mission Viejo, California, one of the country’s largest sports collectibles companies.  “It is sometimes hard for a collector who has recently come to the hobby to fully understand sports collecting.  This book will provide them with a clear path on how to move forward from the interest stage to becoming a knowledgeable collector.”