Despite the abundant popularity of magazine cards no doubt fueled by the enormous interest in phenoms like LeBron James, Michelle Wie (more on Wie below), Alexander Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby , most people don’t know that these intriguing collectibles have been around for half a century.  In fact, inside the first two issues of Sports Illustrated there were sheets of baseball cards.

The first issue of the legendary publication, released August 16, 1954, had a three page fold out of 27 cards that included, among others, baseball greats Willie Mays, Ted Williams, Duke Snider, Gil Hodges, and Eddie Matthews. The second issue, August 23, 1954, had another three page fold out of 27 baseball cards of New York Yankees that included an up and coming Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Phil Rizzuto and other Yankee greats.

According to Ed Ebeling with Collector’s Crypt in Camp Hill, Pa., the first SI issue with cards has a value of around $450.00 and the second issue between $500-650.00 (prices as  of 6/2/03). Additionally, Post Cereal cards of Mickey Mantle were inserted and attached along with teammate Roger Maris in the April 13, 1962 issue of Life Magazine. Ebeling estimates the value of the Life Magazine with the Mantle and Maris cards at around $225.00, provided the cards are mint and states that without the M & M Boys’ cards the magazine is probably worth around $10.00.  Ebeling made it clear, “Everyone wants this magazine for the cards of Mantle and Maris.”

In the early 1990s there was another star emerging in basketball that we now know simply as “Shaq.”  The LSU superstar had participated in the 1990-91 Kentucky Big Blue Basketball Dream Team Classic and magazines were issued containing trading cards that featured him in his LSU uniform as well as other players such as Jamal Mashburn, Allan Houston and more.  According to a source familiar with the cards, The Wildcat News was a publication of Kentucky basketball that had 18 card inserts and was printed from the late 1970s until the early 1990s.  Of the issues that featured O’Neal, there were between 7,500 to 8,000 copies made and an additional 1,200 to 1,500 single cards printed that were non-perforated. PSA graded 9’s of these cards are virtually non-existent and command high premiums.

For many years, Legends magazine also served as the official program for the National Sports Collectors Convention and always provided collectors with a great looking program containing collector cards inside. The Legends magazines each year were both attractive and informative and had cards of athletes in all sports, contained on an uncut sheet. In many instances, these cards have been removed and sold separately in shops and venues such as eBay and remain popular among collectors.

The now defunct Legends, serving as the program for the National in 2001, issued magazine cards of Muhammad Ali, Jim Brown, Hank Aaron, Joe Namath, Tim Couch, Willie Mays, Sergio Garcia and collegiate stars Drew Brees, and Josh Heupel.   

In 2001, Sports Card Investor magazine debuted and with it came perhaps the most attractive magazine cards ever printed. Each issue contained cards of future superstars and the brilliant photography was embellished with gold or platinum foil and micro-perf edges that make the S.C.I. card really stand out. The company did various parallels and limited editions which all have amplified the popularity of the mag’s borderline psychic selection of players like Albert Pujols, Ichiro, Maria Sharapova, Jimmie Johnson and Amare Stoudemire. The gold version Pujols has become one of the most popular magazine cards ever produced and a component in many card collections. A 2001 issue of the magazine also marked the trading card debut of a high school junior from Ohio named LeBron James.

The year 2002 marked the entrance of Rookie Review as the “Official Program of the National” in Chicago and the magazine, which “Searches for the Stars of Tomorrow,” offered collectors a primer on what was soon to be the next big thing(s) in the hobby. Prior to the 2002 National, few collectors knew very much about the now-expected hobby savior LeBron James, let alone the many others that would follow. From 2002-2004, Rookie Review introduced us to young phenoms such as the aforementioned Wie, , Sidney Crosby, Dwyane Wade, Ben Roethlisberger, Alexander Ovechkin and soccer prodigy Freddy Adu. The 2003 Rookie Review Sidney Crosby card, which features Sid in his midget Dartmouth Subways hockey uniform, is his first card ever made and can be graded at Global (GAI), PGI, and others. 

James has made such an impact on the basketball hobby that not only has Beckett graded cards cut from a sheet issued by SAGE in unprecedented fashion but also published a special edition “Tribute to LeBron James” through Beckett Basketball Card Plus that provides insight into the greatness, present and anticipated, of James. Hall of Famer Bill Walton provides the foreword in this tribute and Beckett did a masterful job of compiling this periodical.

Notably, in this special issue Beckett provides a list of James collectibles that features prominently James’ cards issued by Rookie Review at the 2002 National and the magazine’s subsequent issues reflecting James.

Of course, when discussing magazine cards, undoubtedly Sports Illustrated for Kids has been the standard bearer after creating the “greatest magazine card ever.” Most collectors know well the story of the 1996 issue of S.I. for Kids containing Tiger Woods rookie card, a card that once sold for a whopping $125,000.00 in PSA 10 condition. For many years, S.I. for Kids has created attractive and perforated magazine cards widely collected and revered by enthusiasts. Many athletes have seen their first, and often only appearance on trading cards, in the Time-Warner publication.

Estimates bandied about the web hold that roughly 1,000,000 of the 1996 Tiger Woods cards exist though undoubtedly many were destroyed in mailboxes or by kids not anticipating their future value. The 2004 S.I. for Kids Michelle Wie card has also become popular and appears to be printed in similarly large quantity. Comparatively, the 2003 Rookie Review Michelle Wie card was limited to less than 30,000 produced, 1/33 of the S.I. Kids printing.

Rookie Review's primary distribution was eBay or the National which is why many collector's assume that there are more Rookie Review Wie cards than S.I. for Kids. There isn't. But if you gauge it from ebay auctions you'd think there was more Rookie Review Wie's then S.I. Kids.

When grading magazine cards, grading companies treat the cards like any others, closely examining the card’s edges, surface, corners, etc. However, the perforated edges on magazine cards are a critical area and graders examine the manner of the perforations to look for even, non-ragged separation from their sheet.

Magazine cards have been here for almost fifty years and will continue to be a part of the collecting spectrum in the future and the public will continue to enjoy the publications and cards that come with them. Undoubtedly, the hobby “buzz” created by these publications for stars like LeBron James and Tiger Woods inevitably assists the major manufacturers in marketing their later, mainstream issues to an informed and eager marketplace.

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Excerpted and updated from original article published in 2003.