Which Was Your Favorite Old-Time Baseball Cards Publication?
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Baseball Cards Magazine was the first sports card magazine I purchased and that magazine in particular held an elevated position in my heart for many years to come. By the late 1980s, Beckett was quickly becoming the hobby standard as far as pricing cards (whether you were trading cards with friends or buying cards at a shop or show). However, Beckett magazine contained more “fluff” content and less insider information about the hobby. For someone who even at a young age liked to read, a publication like Baseball Cards Magazine offered far more substantive knowledge (the good and the bad of the hobby) than Beckett. Beckett seemed to concentrate primarily on promoting the stars of the hobby with its colorful layout and “sunny disposition” content.
I loved both of them early on, but Baseball Cards Magazine was definitely more gritty and irreverent. The Constant Rater feature was always a fun read.
Thanks for chiming in!
Excellent summation of the 2 publications which explains why I also preferred BBC Mag.
My first publication that I received was The Sport Hobbyist in 1973 — gave me the info on the new Hostess cards hitting the bread aisles in 1975, and yes, had classifieds selling the 1972 Topps Football rare 3rd series at the somewhat low price of $9.50!
I wasn’t even aware of The Sport Hobbyist … I’ll have to look it up! Good deal on the ’72 football cards, though $9.50 was about as much as my parents paid for their house back then. 🙂
Wow, what a great topic! I bought Baseball Cards magazine every month primarily because of the cards (which were of a very high quality), but the rest of the magazine was such a mixed bag. Sometimes it could be brilliant, other times sloppy and sophomoric. I always thought the editor (Kit Kiefer) had a ginormous ax to grind against Topps for a number of reasons, and he clearly showed biases toward other companies (Pro Set, Upper Deck). But then “BBC” would surprise you with something great and unexpected. (I distinctly recall a first-person piece in which the author complained about having to dole out $25 for a Choo Choo Coleman to complete a ’66 Topps set. Another time, Kit Kiefer predicted — in 1989 — that current-issue cards would ultimately be worthless because of high print runs and collecter hoarding.)
Beckett was so much more professional in writing and design, but also quite bland, corporate and predictable. But it also was what the “cool” kids in school read to see how that ’89 Upper Deck Jerome Walton was doing, so there was that peer pressure to buy an issue here or there to keep up appearances. And as the above poster noted, Beckett definitely had a “sunny disposition” to it that could be annoying at times.
Great memories!
Kiefer could be quite acerbic, but I generally enjoyed his stuff. I always liked the “silly” types of pieces, so one of my favorites was Pepper Hastings in the back of Beckett.
Thanks for helping to keep the memories flowing with your recollections and the Choo Choo mention — I’ll have to look that one up!
Baseball Cards magazine is what I have the most of; looking through my old magazines, it looks like I bought a Beckett about once per year, but I must have had a subscription to Baseball Cards at one point. I have a few other magazines, also from Krause Publications who published Baseball Cards. The main reason I think that I preferred Baseball Cards over Beckett was the large number of ads. I would only order from them occasionally, but I would read all the ads and imagine buying much more than I was actually able to.
It’s funny to think of it that way, but I loved the ads, too. As an adult, I usually prefer magazines and websites with no ads, but Baseball Cards and Sports Collectors Digest were like Christmas wish books when I was a kid!
I remember something from the early 80s called “The Baseball Advertiser” – it was mostly sales but also had a couple of feature articles. Lots of oddball stuff in it…i enjoyed it as a kid.
I never heard of that before but did some searching and found that the Baseball Advertiser was a catalog put out by TCMA in the 1970s and 1980s. Seems like lots of folks have the same fond memories of it that you do. Thanks for pointing it out!
I liked a basic price guide in the 1980s. CCP aka Current Card Prices.
I could never find copies of that one but always wanted to … it was coveted (by me, at least)!
CCP was my dad’s publication… I worked for him on weekends & summers when I was a kid. Glad to hear you have fond memories of it!
That’s awesome. What a cool summer job, especially since you were working with your dad.
We would get the CCP from the local card shop. Every week, say mid week, we would wait with excitement For the new one to arrive. Love the CCP!
I always heard about it but could never find a copy. Still sounds like it was pretty fun to read thorugh!
CCP was our card price bible growing up. We bought it, and other publications religiously throughout the 80s. I had a rather massive (for kids standards) collection of about 95k cards, all lost in a burglary. I felt like my heart was ripped out. They never found who did it, but my love for the hobby died that summer of 1990. Thanks for creating this website. I read it regularly, love all the articles and pictures, and think from time to time about resurrecting my collection. At least somewhat. Thanks again for all you do.