"The Vintage & Classic Baseball Collector" magazine [Archive]

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01-05-2009, 06:38 AM

Posted By: Big JAnyone else remember this publication? Issue #1 came out in March, 1995 and Issue #2 followed in June, 1995. Contained lots of good articles about the early baseball era and the pre-war card issues. How many issues were published? Any info would be appreciated.

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01-05-2009, 06:53 AM

Posted By: David AtkatzTake a look at <a href="http://www.19thcenturyonly.org/specials/vcbc_rates.cfm" target="_new" rel="nofollow">http://www.19thcenturyonly.org/specials/vcbc_rates.cfm</a>

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01-05-2009, 07:02 AM

Posted By: Robert KlevensThere were 37 issues produced from March 1995 until February 2004.

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01-05-2009, 07:56 AM

Posted By: Jim VBRobert, Actually, there were 38 issues, with the last being issued in June of 2004.

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01-05-2009, 08:09 AM

Posted By: James GalloI had bought a few issues of this mag way back and just picke dup the full run minus #7. I have started to read them and they are great. There was even an extensive artcial by Barry Sloate with a young looking picture too <img src="/images/happy.gif" height="14" width="14" alt="happy.gif"> I think this is a great mag and a very good reference point. You should see some of those 1995 prices..... James G Looking for 1915 Cracker Jacks and 1909-11 American Caramel E90-1.

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01-05-2009, 08:10 AM

Posted By: Pennsylvania Ted38 is correct....if any one is interested in back issues....email me. I have many VCBC's from issue #1 - 31 (sorry, but I have no copies left of the high demand issue #7). tedzan11@comcast.net

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01-05-2009, 08:12 AM

Posted By: Rob D.I always enjoyed VCBC. I remember there was an article in one issue about Cleveland Indians pencil clips that read like pure poetry.

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01-05-2009, 08:20 AM

Posted By: James GalloSo what is the deal with issue 7? Why isn't it as available as the others? Just wondering seems odd that every issue is available but this one. James G Looking for 1915 Cracker Jacks and 1909-11 American Caramel E90-1.

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01-05-2009, 08:52 AM

Posted By: barrysloateJames is correct- I was much younger then.

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01-05-2009, 09:37 AM

Posted By: boxingcardmanhad an expose/rant by Dennis Purdy (publisher of the magazine) about third party graders called "Card Grading Services; Smoke Detectors Without Batteries." The services excoriated were PSA and ASA (Hager's outfit) and covered all of what are now the usual bases: trimmed cards, fake prices in the guides, s******g where they eat (selling graded cards they graded), etc. It was very entertaining and quite a muckraking piece at the time and more or less made the rep of the magazine for hard-hitting criticism of the underbelly of the hobby. Sic Gorgiamus Allos Subjectatos Nunc

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01-05-2009, 10:19 AM

Posted By: Vincent . . . I've always suspected it was a short printed issue, due to some sort of publishing snafu, since it was the one back issue that VCBC didn't have ready available either. Unfortunately, issue #38 was the last one. I still had over 3/4 of a two-year subscription remaining (plus a free 1-issue extension for completing and returning a dealer survey) when production ceased. It was an enjoyable and informative publication that ended much too soon. Goes to show that we shouldn't take either Leon, or this wonderful web site, for granted. Thanks.

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01-05-2009, 10:23 AM

Posted By: Joe D."So what is the deal with issue 7? Why isn't it as available as the others? " This issue had a fold out centerspread of Barry Sloate, thus demand far exceeds supply.

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01-05-2009, 10:37 AM

Posted By: Todd Schultzit was the article on third-party grading that made #7 a great read and it's eventual sellout. I had never heard of the magazine and happened upon issue #7 in, of all places, one of those airport newstands while looking for something to read on the plane. There is some hobby lore attached to this issue as well-- I have heard that Purdy pulled many of the copies under threat of litigation from the graders--PSA and ASA, but also heard that it was the grading companies who bought out the inventory in efforts to minimize the bad publicity it was generating. I'd more likely believe the latter myself, but in any event, the issue presents an interesting story.

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01-05-2009, 11:08 AM

Posted By: barrysloateJoe- I had to buy back all the old issues and destroy them. I felt the picture left me a little....shortchanged. <img src="/images/happy.gif" height="14" width="14" alt="happy.gif"> Truthfully, what I heard is that one of the grading services that was under siege in the article bought the entire remaining supply and destroyed them. I don't actually know if that is true (even though I was assistant editor).

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01-05-2009, 11:18 AM

Posted By: Robert KlevensI bought a "complete run" of 37 issues on Ebay a while back, I guess I need to find #38.

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01-05-2009, 11:38 AM

Posted By: jdrum<a href="http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Classic-Baseball-Collector-VCBC-Issue-7_W0QQitemZ250352712152QQcmdZViewItemQQptZVintage_ Sports_Memorabilia?hash=item250352712152&_trksid=p 3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1205%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12 %7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318%7C301%3A1%7C293%3A1%7C294%3 A50" target="_new" rel="nofollow">http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Classic-Baseball-Collector-VCBC-Issue-7_W0QQitemZ250352712152QQcmdZViewItemQQptZVintage_ Sports_Memorabilia?hash=item250352712152&_trksid=p 3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1205%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12 %7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318%7C301%3A1%7C293%3A1%7C294%3 A50</a>

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01-05-2009, 11:40 AM

Posted By: barrysloate$20 is a great deal. Someone should grab it.

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01-05-2009, 11:55 AM

Posted By: jdrumSomebody did!

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01-05-2009, 12:04 PM

Posted By: Jim VBRobert, Be sure it's #38 you are missing. There is an ebay seller currently selling "complete, full runs" of 37 issues, but he doesn't include #7 in his lot.

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01-05-2009, 12:06 PM

Posted By: boxingcardmanat a bookstore. I'd seen the magazine before (at a show I think) but hadn't found anything listed on the covers to be of sufficient interest to get me to buy one. Once I got a bit into that article, however, I decided to not only buy it but also order all the back issues. Unfortunately, I think issue 7 took something away from the balance of the effort. Seemed to me that Purdy felt he had to either top that article or make muckraking the hobby his niche, which IMO seemed to burn him out on the work. It was still great fun but the mag began to fall seriously behind schedule, then was sold to the new publisher, who rapidly drove it into the ground (not all his fault; his wife/business partner passed away shortly after the sale and from what I gather she was really supposed to be the organizing force behind VCBC). I too had an unfulfilled paid scrip at the time of demise; I was a little miffed that no one from VCBC ever came across with a refund for the jilted subscribers. Sic Gorgiamus Allos Subjectatos Nunc

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01-05-2009, 01:43 PM

Posted By: AnonymousI stumbled across the VCB Magazines in a book store and after buying copies for a few months at the book store, I bought a subsription. I also bought the back copies. I thought it was a great Magazine, with Dennis's stories and enjoyed most of the contributers. Galovich was entertaining also. I have the complete run including #7 and still go back and read the articles. Joe Ty Cobb, Spikes flying!

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01-05-2009, 01:58 PM

Posted By: Rob LI was able to pick up issue #7 today. Nice to finally have the whole run. Rob L <a href="http://www.freewebs.com/loefflerrd" target="_new" rel="nofollow">http://www.freewebs.com/loefflerrd</a>/

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01-05-2009, 02:07 PM

Posted By: Frank WakefieldBarry, That is the most sensible explanation for issue 7 that I've ever heard. I believe it. I liked The Old Judge. I liked VCBC the best of 'em all. Wish it had kept going... Liked it so much that what I had left on my subscription was easy to lose, the magazine was great in its day. Dennis could give 'em hell! For folks who collect the older cards, VCBC remains an interesting source of information.

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01-05-2009, 02:16 PM

Posted By: Robert KlevensJim, I did buy the "complete run" from that seller on Ebay. I also bought the #7 separately. When I got the issues it was a mess. I did not receive 1, 10, 11, 21, 24, 25 & 35. I received duplicates of 3, 8, 13, 15, 17, 20, 21, 23 & 27. The seller told me to keep the extras (which was nice) and he sent the missing issues, but I thought it stopped at #37. I never did get #38. I will contact the seller now. Thank you, Robert

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01-05-2009, 03:47 PM

Posted By: dennis the publisher gave this issue out as a freebie to try to entice prospective subscribers. by #7 the mag was really hitting its full stride,coupled with #7's great content, as a result subcribers increased. and the supply of #7 decreased.

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01-05-2009, 04:01 PM

Posted By: David McDonaldEven after they stopped publishing one used to be able to access the vcbc.com website within which was an index of their articles. Can't seem to get their url to work anymore. Does anybody know if there is a VCBC index available anywhere else? It would be very useful to be able to find articles on specific sets etc without having to thumb through 38 magazines.

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01-05-2009, 04:02 PM

Posted By: Rob D.If I remember correctly, there was Hobby Panic just before Issue No. 7 was published, millions of collectors bailed on the hobby and canceled their subscriptions. Most of the issues went unsold and later were destroyed.

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01-05-2009, 04:35 PM

Posted By: Anthony N.David- Here's the link to the index - had to go to wayback machine to get it (which works great for seeing the old Full Count battles!) <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20060326171746/www.vcbc.com/vcbcindex39.pdf" target="_new" rel="nofollow">http://web.archive.org/web/20060326171746/www.vcbc.com/vcbcindex39.pdf</a>

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01-05-2009, 04:42 PM

Posted By: Dave HornishOld Cardboard has an article index for VCBC and a bunch of other hobby magazines

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01-05-2009, 04:46 PM

Posted By: David McDonaldThanks, Mr. Peabody! Edited to say "Thanks, Dave H!", too. Edited to say "Thanks, Lyman!", too. Just had a look the OC indexing feature. That's super!

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01-05-2009, 04:47 PM

Posted By: LymanYes, David. We provide a detailed index to all VCBC articles on the Old Cardboard website. More than 200 VCBC articles are indexed along with Issue Number, Number of pages in the article, Start page, number of graphics, a picture of the cover and more. To use the index, just go to the Old Cardboard home page and select the Article Index icon. From the main Article Index page you can filter by selecting the Publication pull-down list and choosing VCBC. A primitive Search Word function is also provided. Other publications that can be searched from the same page are the full 20-issue run of Sports Scoop, Old Cardboard magazine (not yet updated for 2008), Old Cardboard eNewsletters, The Old Judge newsletter and a few issues of The Trader Speaks. More are being added. Hope this helps, Lyman editor@oldcardboard.com <a href="http://www.oldcardboard.com" target="_new" rel="nofollow">http://www.oldcardboard.com</a>

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01-05-2009, 06:34 PM

Posted By: Jeff ORob D. is right - that Cleveland pencil article was a joy to read. In fact, we deconstructed it in a class that I took. The nuances... the images conveyed by the word Cleveland, and it's association with the history of graphite writing instruments was vivid, yet subtle, like a gentle breeze on a warm day while you're sitting in the shade... I have often wondered who wrote that masterpiece... He was way better than the dude who wrote all those stupid Obak articles. Jeff

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01-06-2009, 12:51 PM

Posted By: MikeVCBC was a great magazine, but I think Old Cardboard is much better. I also paid about $40 some dollars and renewed my subscription to VCBC and never received a refund. I emailed Don several times years ago and never received a refund. Mike

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01-06-2009, 01:46 PM

Posted By: dan mckeeI wrote an article or 2 for this magazine. I believe I introduced the 1938 Goudey Lombardi variations in it. Also, my good friend Tom Lawrie wrote a great article on the Baltimore Alpha cards and the company's history, a must read.

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01-06-2009, 02:10 PM

Posted By: Donny Mutha vintage card and memorabilia magazine like the VCBC can't make it. Not that it was anywhere near the same, but didn't Beckett's vintage card magazine also die out? I can't believe that there aren't other magazines still going strong that have a far smaller reader base than what our hobby would offer. I rarely buy Beckett's for $9.95/month at the newstand, but I'd more than likely be quite happy to pay that for a good monthly or bi-monthly vintage material magazine that told the history of the players, teams, etc and dealt with the cards and other memorabilia from that era. I can't imagine that all the stories and info to be shared about such stuff has already been printed and there is no demand for it today. Or is it just that everything is going electronic and online and all printed material is fading away? ---Donny

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01-06-2009, 02:17 PM

Posted By: dan mckeewww.oldcardboard.com

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01-06-2009, 02:37 PM

Posted By: BobTim N. and I wrote articles about the T207 set for the VCBC, I think they appeared in issue 37 and Tim had a follow-up in issue 38. It was really enjoyable to write. I still look forward to writing an article for Old Cardboard but getting the time to do something comprehensive and well-written is a problem. Tim and I planned on doing an M116 article together but when I started my own business, Tim took on the task himself. I look forward to reading it. tbob