A basketball card is a type of trading card relating to

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

, usually printed on cardboard, silk, or plastic. These cards feature one or more players of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

Olympic basketball Basketball at the Summer Olympics has been a sport for men consistently since 1936. Prior to its inclusion as a medal sport, basketball was held as a demonstration event in 1904. Women's basketball made its debut in the Summer Olympics in 1976 ...

Women's National Basketball Association The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) is an American professional basketball league. It is composed of twelve teams, all based in the United States. The league was founded on April 22, 1996, as the women's counterpart to the Natio ...

Women's Professional Basketball League The Women's Professional Basketball League (abbreviated WBL) was a professional women's basketball league in the United States. The league played three seasons from the fall of 1978 to the spring of 1981. The league was the first professional w ...

, or some other basketball related theme. Some notable producing companies include

Panini Group Panini is an Italian company that produces books, comics, magazines, stickers, trading cards and other items through its collectibles and publishing subsidiaries. It is headquartered in Modena, Italy, and named after the Panini brothers who found ...

(present days),

Bowman Gum The Bowman Gum Company was a Philadelphia-based manufacturer of bubble gum and trading cards. It was founded by Jacob Warren Bowman in 1927. Bowman produced a line of baseball cards, which were highly popular in the 1940s. Bowman also produced ...

and

Topps The Topps Company, Inc. is an American company that manufactures chewing gum, candy, and collectibles. Formerly based in New York City, Topps is best known as a leading producer of American Football Card, American football, Baseball card, baseb ...

(in early days).A Brief History of Basketball Card Sets
by Rich Mueller, 31 Oct 2012

History

The first basketball cards were produced in 1910, in a series cataloged as "College Athlete Felts B-33". The complete series included ten different sports, with only 30-cards being associated with basketball. The cards were issued as a cigarette redemption premium by The number of packages needed to redeem for the tobacco cards is not known. The next series of basketball cards were issued in 1911, in two separate series, "T6 College Series", measuring approximately 6" by 8", and "T51 College Series", measuring approximately 2" by 3". These series included a variety of sports, with only 6-cards being associated with basketball. One card from the T6 series, and five cards from the T51 series. Both series were produced in two variations; one variation reading "College Series", the other, "2nd Series". The cards were acquired in trade for fifteen Murad cigarette coupons. The offer expired June 30, 1911. NatHolmanGoudeycard

Basketball cards were not seen again until 1932, when C.A. Briggs Chocolate issued a 31-card set containing multiple sports. In exchange for a completed set of cards, Briggs offered baseball equipment. The number of basketball cards in the set is not known. Bud Palmer 1948

produced the first NBA cards, starting in 1948, releasing a 72-piece set that included the

George Mikan George Lawrence Mikan Jr. (; June 18, 1924 – June 1, 2005), nicknamed "Mr. Basketball", was an American professional basketball player for the Chicago American Gears of the National Basketball League (NBL) and the Minneapolis Lakers of ...

rookie card A rookie card is a trading card that is the first to feature an athlete after that athlete has participated in the highest level of competition within their sport. Collectors may value these first appearances more than subsequent card issues. Ath ...

.Basketball Cards - 1948 Bowman
on PSA Card website Another US company,

, began to manufacture cards during the 1958, returning to production in 1969–70.

Fleer The Fleer Corporation, founded by Frank H. Fleer in 1885, was the first company to successfully manufacture bubble gum; it remained a family-owned enterprise until 1989. Fleer originally developed a bubble gum formulation called ''Blibber-Blub ...

had its peak in 1961-62, returning in 1986–87, to resurrect the basketball card industry by releasing its set which included the

rookie cards A rookie card is a trading card that is the first to feature an athlete after that athlete has participated in the highest level of competition within their sport. Collectors may value these first appearances more than subsequent card issues. Ath ...

of Michael Jordan and

Charles Barkley Charles Wade Barkley (born February 20, 1963) is an American former professional basketball player who is a television analyst on NBA on TNT, TNT. Nicknamed "Sir Charles", "Chuck", and "the Round Mound of Rebound", Barkley played 16 seasons ...

. This set is seen by many basketball card collectors as the "1952 Topps of basketball." In the 1990s/2000s, several companies produced basketball cards, including Topps, Fleer, and

Upper Deck The Upper Deck Company, LLC (colloquially as Upper Deck and Upper Deck Authenticated, Ltd. in the UK), founded in 1988, is a private company primarily known for producing trading cards. Its headquarters are in Carlsbad, California, United State ...

. In 2009, the NBA licensed the rights to manufacture and commercialize basketball cards to

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

, which became the only licensor for the league and players. Panini has been NBA licensee since then.

References

External links

Basketball cards
on Panini America {{Basketball Trading cards Sports memorabilia

Card Card or The Card may refer to: * Various types of plastic cards: **By type ***Magnetic stripe card *** Chip card *** Digital card **By function ***Payment card ****Credit card **** Debit card ****EC-card ****Identity card ****European Health Insur ...