Sports Collectors Digest was one of a group of 50 magazines sold in a bankruptcy auction last month. Publisher F+W Media filed for Chapter 11 earlier this year and the company’s assets, including magazine titles from various hobby and collectible realms, went on the block. The buyer for SCD and five other collectible-oriented publications was Cruz Bay Publishing, a division … [Read more...]
Editor’s Blog: When Auctions Were Done with Pen, Paper and the US Mail
It's been around now for more than 20 years so to many under the age of 40, it might seem like sports card and memorabilia auctions began with eBay. The truth is, if you went to a card show of any size back from the 1970s through the early 1990s, there was a decent chance they would hold live auctions at some point during the day or weekend. Some shows still have them. … [Read more...]
Ramblings: A Look at What Was Being Sold 27 Years Ago
I recently mentioned my good friend Mel Solomon sent me an Sports Collectors Digest (SCD) from November of 1987. Paging through the magazine shows where we were just at the beginning of the hobby boom and where we would go. This particular issue was a whopping 272 pages and was issued before SCD went to the larger size paper they would use for a while during the hobby boom. … [Read more...]
Remembering the ‘C’ Nettles and More 1981 Errors and Variations
There is little doubt that 1981 was a major turning point in baseball card hobby history. For the first time since 1955, more than one card company was producing comprehensive sets of active major leaguers without legal threats to hold back production of these cards. In the fall of 1980, a legal decision gave both Fleer and Donruss the right to produce cards. Now understand, … [Read more...]
Ramblings: Parsippany Card Shows and Trivia With Barry Halper
by Rich Klein The best part about these ramblings is I think of great leads all week, but when I sit down at the computer to write, the story always ends up going in a different direction than I planned. Last week, I had planned to write a tribute to my father in honor of what would have been his 91st birthday on October 29, but the little matter of World Series tickets and … [Read more...]
Rich’s Ramblings: Remembering Baseball Hobby News
by Rich Klein Last week, I wandered into the local Barnes & Noble store located at Stonebriar Mall in Allen, Texas after finishing up a walk within their confines. If you have lived in Texas in the summer, malls such as Stonebriar are a great place to walk. Not only is it fun to people watch, but also nice to walk in a climate-controlled atmosphere. Personally, walking … [Read more...]
Tuff Stuff Ceases Publication; SCD Goes Twice Monthly
Newspapers and magazines have taken the brunt of the rapid switch to an electronic-based information system in recent years. The impact has been felt in the sports memorabilia industry with various cutbacks taking place on the number and variety of print issues produced and the size of many of the hobby's long-running publications. Now, F+W Publications, parent company of … [Read more...]