Changes at Krause (F&W)

[Rich Klein]

This is not breaking news -- but as an FYI Tuff Stuff will no longer be printed after their next issue and SCD will become twice a month.

In addition, TS O'Connell and both their price guide guys were let go as part of this latest move.

My 2nd thought was what will do to the Standard Catalog. I know from my experience at Beckett that editing a tome like that is almost a full-time job in itself and Bob L is working mostly with the Collect.Com Auctions.

And he was not working on post-1981 at all.

This year Book(s) should be OK because the deadlines are so early -- but this makes you wonder about the Standard Catalog issued in 2012. Will Bob's role expand or will they hire Joe Clemons (their BB guy) as a contractor to help

Just wondering about the future of that book which is obviously very important as a good starting point to many people in this room

Regards
Rich

[Jay Wolt]

Originally Posted by Rich Klein

and Bob L is working mostly with the Collect.Com Auctions.


Regards
Rich

Rich, I had heard that the latest Collect.com auction has been cancelled and someone bought the auction & that the next one will be in April

[Bob Lemke]

What the dismissal of the price guide staff at F+W will mean to the long-term future of the Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards is an open question.

I have nearly finished my additions, corrections, revisions, etc., to the vintage sections for the 2012 edition, which will be published on its usual schedule.

Whether or how new card issues going forward will be added to the catalog's content is information that I am not privy to. Remember, it is book marketing people making these decisions, not hobby people.

[FrankWakefield]

Sad news to me. The Standard Catalog is a great resource for us... maybe they'll find a way to continue with it. Bob, thank you for what you've done for us collectors!

[Leon]

I also want to personally thank you, Bob, for what you have done for us with the vintage cards. The Krause SCD for Baseball cards is an invaluable resource for us in the hobby. I sure hope F+W finds a way to keep it in the lineup. It would be a shame to see it go.

Also, sad to hear TS is leaving. My few conversations with him were good. He took a ton of heat for things that were beyond his control and made the best out of some poor circumstances. I hope he finds a good home in the hobby.

As for the news about Collect.com auctions, I have mixed feelings. It is a crowded market and the folks at the top just didn't give it enough time to get steam up. They had some good people trying very hard to make a go of it. Some form or iteration of that auction could pop up in the future. It seems like they were making some progress, albeit not as fast as needed, I guess. It's a crowded auction market so who knows? It certainly is not as easy as some would think it is, to run an auction.

[benchod]

This is sad news as I enjoyed TS's columns

[Orioles1954]

Originally Posted by Leon

It certainly is not as easy as some would think it is, to run an auction.

No, it is definitely not easy. Honestly, I thought Tuff Stuff had stopped printing 5-6 years ago.

[Tony Gordon]

I find the Standard Catalog as the most valuable resource in the hobby and really appreciate Bob Lemke's efforts. If it wasn't for that book, I'd still be pulling my hair out trying to learn about the Piedmont Art Stamps I purchased at a flea market back in the late 1970s. TS O'Connell has done excellent work and I hope he continues blogging about the hobby and his experiences. As a vintage collector, I was never a fan of Tuff Stuff. As for SCD, as long as Bob Lemke is on staff, it is worth a read. I also purchased quite a few items from Collect.com and am sorry to hear of its demise. With eBay turning into a dumping ground for reprints and every common issue from 1992, I welcome every and all independent auction sites.

[blades3]

Guys,

There is no demise of Collect.com Auctions. I have launched and ran the business the entire time and I'm currently working (with others) to purchase the assets from F+W Media so there will be a seamless transition. There may be a slight name change and an address change, but that will be the only difference (besides quicker payouts for consignors). The new-and-improved version will have its next big auction from March 22 through April 7, with a consignment deadline of Feb. 12.

As for the rest of it, I'm saddened to see friends leaving the building. Having been at the company for 16+ years, it's difficult to see Tuff Stuff go and SCD continue to get thinner, but it's especially difficult to see someone like TS go. He showed me the ropes when I arrived here and has been a close friend the entire time. I don't post here much but thought I should in this case. Thanks.

Steve Bloedow
director of auctions

[Tony Gordon]

Steve,
Sorry, I didn't intend to express misinformation. I look forward to your future auctions!

[Leon]

Originally Posted by blades3

Guys,

There is no demise of Collect.com Auctions. I have launched and ran the business the entire time and I'm currently working (with others) to purchase the assets from F+W Media so there will be a seamless transition. There may be a slight name change and an address change, but that will be the only difference (besides quicker payouts for consignors). The new-and-improved version will have its next big auction from March 22 through April 7, with a consignment deadline of Feb. 12.

As for the rest of it, I'm saddened to see friends leaving the building. Having been at the company for 16+ years, it's difficult to see Tuff Stuff go and SCD continue to get thinner, but it's especially difficult to see someone like TS go. He showed me the ropes when I arrived here and has been a close friend the entire time. I don't post here much but thought I should in this case. Thanks.

Steve Bloedow
director of auctions

Steve,
I know we have discussed this and I wouldn't have brought it up had someone not already mentioned it. I fully support whatever you do. You are one of the good guys in the hobby and regardless of what you do, I support you in your endeavors. The hobby needs more good guys like yourself!! Good luck and Godspeed.

[blades3]

Tony,

No problem at all. I have been wanting to communicate about what is going on, but many things were still up in the air. I'm kinda glad someone mentioned it so I could explain what was really taking place. I'm very excited about the chance to do this privately and working hard to get any kinks out which may have existed.

[bbcard1]

Anybody else remember Ernie White hawking Tuff Stuff at his various very small shows in the south...it did have a good run...Trivia question: What failed product led to White selling Tuff Stuff?

[Bob Lemke]

It looks like I, too, need to post a clarification or two.

As of now, the Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards is staus quo. The 2102 edition is scheduled as normal.

To clear up another apparent misconception, I am not now, and have not been since 2006, on the staff of SCD, or its parent company. I have allowed T.S. O'Connell to pick up material from my blog for reprinting in SCD, since much of it is pertinent to my work on the SCBC.

[toppcat]

TS was a large part of the magazine-this is going to be an interesting transition. I just hit my 30th year as a subscriber and while they have been sparse, there are still some good stories and tidbits in SCD. I thought they should have gone back to biweekly a long time ago. I hope this does not mean my other F&W Subscription (Goldmine) is about to enter uncharted territory as well.

[Rich Klein]

Which is always dangerous, but I did post that I suspected because of the early deadlines that both baseball annual volumes are not affected for their 2011 calendar release.

I am concerned about the 2012 releases though

Rich

[Bob Lemke]

Rich,

Actually, the smaller annual Baseball Card Price Guide (modern stuff) HAS been killed.

The pre-press work on a catalog is cheap compared to the cost of putting the ink on paper. Evidently projected sales weren't there for that title.

[Rich Klein]

So what we know for calendar year 2011 is that there will be for the first time in years NO "modern" baseball card price book and there will be a Standard Catalog again this year but we're not sure how modern prices will be updated for any future tomes.

I appreciate the clarifications

Rich

[Exhibitman]

If you really think about it, there is no need for a price guide on modern stuff. Except for the signed and relic stuff, the values should always be the same: squat and diddley-squat. Just take MSRP for a pack, knock it down 90%, divide by the number of cards, and you have a pretty accurate price point for nearly anything made after 1989.

[FrankWakefield]

In agreement with Exhibitman... but one utility of The Standard Catalog is the listing of modern stuff. It isn't the associated pricing, but the listing itself that is useful. I bought some of those Topps Cracker Jacks when they first came out, was it 6 years ago? And I wanted to see them all listed in a catalog. Not for the pricing, but to see who was in the set, who wasn't, and what variations existed.

Again, The Standard Catalog is a fantastic tool for the vintage collector. Let's hope someone figures out a way to keep it viable.

[Rich Klein]

and I hate to say it on THIS board -- but the modern listings are as important if not more so than the vintage listings.

Because for so many collectors, the way we draw them into vintage cards is for them to start as new card collectors as that is still much more accessible and then they can come back into our world.

And any resource that is now taken away which covers those modern cards is a real shame. The price point for the modern card yearly price guide was much cheaper than the Standard Catalog and thus again made that book more accessible to collectors.

I'm not crunching the numbers like the folks at F&W but I suspect they will determine by next year not producing the "modern" tome was a mistake. In addition, the modern tome was needed last year because the post-2000 cards were put onto a CD Disk and not part of the book.

All of this is an unintended consequence of the overproduction of number of products issued in some of the middle years of 2003-2005. We had over 90 mainstream products issued in 2004 and thus who knows how much space had to be used for those products which still have a lasting effect today.

Regards
Rich

[judsonhamlin]

Originally Posted by bbcard1

Anybody else remember Ernie White hawking Tuff Stuff at his various very small shows in the south...it did have a good run...Trivia question: What failed product led to White selling Tuff Stuff?

I saw Ernie White a couple of years ago at a postcard show - I fondly recall snooping through his store in Richmond for Goudeys and T-cards when I was in college - although I still don't know why I bought the Topps Big Baseball cards or whatever the pre-57 sized cards were called then.
What was the failed product, anyhow?

[buymycards]

I am going to miss the monthly articles by TJ Schwartz in the now defunct Tuff Stuff's Sports Collectors Monthly. His article is usually on the last page, and I always read his article before I look at the rest of the magazine. I have been a subscriber for many years and I will miss the magazine. Maybe TJ can write weekly items for SCD?

Rick

[bbcard1]

Originally Posted by judsonhamlin

What was the failed product, anyhow?

Ernie made a deal with Charles Schulz to do a licensed set of "Peanuts" cards. It was a serious bomb...the kind of bomb that you could hardly conceive of in those days. The printer took Tuff Stuff as payment for the printing of the cards and flipped it to Krause...or at least that is my recollection. I always thought the publication had pretty good content and decent writer, but a name that was seriously stupid and also pretty misleading.

[Rich Klein]

Concept of who would believe this -- I just received a subscription flyer from Tuff Stuff today.

I don't know who is charge of mailings at F&W -- but somehow the word should have gotten out to stop those mailings.

Rich

[timzcardz]

Originally Posted by Rich Klein

Concept of who would believe this -- I just received a subscription flyer from Tuff Stuff today.

I don't know who is charge of mailings at F&W -- but somehow the word should have gotten out to stop those mailings.

Rich

And as of this morning you can still go online to subscribe!

http://shop.collect.com/product/spor...92910-shoppage

[buymycards]

Hi Rich,
I received my renewal notice this morning. If I didn't read this board I would have renewed. I wonder what would have happened?

Rick