Dating Baseball Memorabilia

Founder of Keymancollectibles.com, and a long time collector, Steven KeyMan has more than 30 years of experience in researching, and cataloging information on Baseball Memorabilia. Researching his own personal collection, and helping others find information on their collectibles, the website grew into the largest online resource for baseball memorabilia

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	Establishing a definite timeline as a starting point before doing research on dating your baseball memorabilia, will save you time. The information below might put you within a wide range of years, but knowing that an item could not be dated before, or after a certain time will be helpful. Team Logo Insignias, and team logos could help date a large range of baseball memorabilia, uniforms, caps or souvenirs. Teams would also use the same artwork on souvenirs such as pennants that were used on programs, or yearbooks making it possible to date to a specific year. Visit SportsLogos.net for a breakdown in years teams used logos & Insignias. MLB Logo Starting with the Baltimore Orioles and New York Mets in 1969, World Series souvenirs featured the official MLB logo and was then to be placed on all licensed products, thereafter. The MLB logo is more evident on products in 1970 but still borderline. Racol symbol The first use of the Racol symbol AKA, Registered Trademark circled (R) dates to about 1947 with the enactment of the Lanham Act in 1946. (It went into effect in 1947) but you don't see too many uses of it before the mid 1950's. Prior to 1947 the registrant was to mark the goods with something like "Reg. U.S. Pat. Off." Just to put it into perspective the Hillerich & Bradsby Co. Louisville Slugger used "REG. U.S. PAT. OFF." on their bats up until 1963 when they replaced it with the Racol symbol (R) in 1964. Zip Code Mr. Zip was officially unveiled to postmasters at a convention in October, 1962, when the new "Zone Improvement Plan" (ZIP Code) was introduced. The official implementation of the ZIP Code system, went into effect on June 31, 1963. Shipping Label - In 1921, Postmaster General, Will H. Hays order allowed articles of merchandise to be accepted for mailing at the fourth-class rate of postage, If properly labeled with "Postmaster this parcel may be opened for postal inspection if necessary" This can date the label to 1922 and after. Phone Number Seven digit phone numbers became standardized in 1931. A system of two-letter/five digit dialing was phased in thru the 1930s. The letters in all cases were the first 2 letters of an exchange name for example MUrray Hill 5-4321 (MU5-4321) The first unassisted coast-to-coast direct dialing with a three-digit area code began on November 10, 1951. The changeover to all-number dialing was very gradual, beginning in 1958 and continued into the 1970s. Large cities where the last to make the transition. New York City held out the longest, with some of the old exchange names in use as late as 1978. Bar Code In June of 1974, the first U.P.C. scanner was installed at a Marsh's supermarket in Troy, Ohio. The first product to have a bar code was a packet of Wrigley's Gum. If an item you are dating has the Universal Product Code (U.P.C.) bar code, it cannot be dated before 1974, chances are it was made after 1976 and more than likely in the 1980's or later.

	This information could prove to be useful for a quick reference before buying "vintage" memorabilia, for example; when viewing an ebay auction with an item such as a baseball listed as 1920's but it has a Racol symbol, or a "1950's pennant" that has the MLB logo, et al. A simple thing as a Zip code can show, the seller got the dating wrong.

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