A shot in the dark...
 

Back in the 80's, when I was a kid just getting into collecting, I remember my dad had a subscription to a price guide. It was a very simple publication printed on low quality paper that I believe was published monthly. Heck, it may have even been called Baseball Card Prices Monthly, or something along those lines. I don't remember much about it other than the last "issue" amounted to a rambling letter to the subscribers.

Does anyone remember such a guide, or even have a scan of that last letter? I'm mostly interested for nostalgia's sake.

CPU--- Card Prices Update?

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Ccp
 

Current Card Prices was all the rage in 1987 in suburban New York. It was printed on newspaper stock.

I still have all of mine. They are still fun to flip through.






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That's the one I remember using in Northeast Pa. Very aggressive pricing from what I remember!!:D

Even the very early issues of Beckett (called "Beckett Monthly") were fairly low budget (printed on stock similar to newspaper). Baseball Card magazine was another classic during that time period, but that was like a real magazine.

Besides Card Prices Update and Current Card Prices, the third monthly price guide that was around back then was Card Values Review. I'm not sure which one the OP is thinking of, because that would depend on when that last issue with the rambling letter to subscribers was. Just based on what the OP wrote, the most plausible candidate is CPU, which had the largest circulation of the three. It was forced out of business in the summer of 1984 after publisher Mark Lewis lost his longtime legal battle with Jim Beckett and Dennis Eckes, who had sued him for plagiarizing their annual price guide. I have the June 1984 issue of CPU, but not the July 1984 issue, which I think was the last one. (The court's injunction against Lewis was on July 12.) CCP, on the other hand, continued into the early 90s and then kind of petered out. I'm not sure how long CVR lasted, except that it was still around in early 1984.

That's the one! I remember that cover pattern. I didn't remember it having such a limited year range. Anyone happen to have a scan of the "final issue", which if I remember right, was just a single sheet of paper with a letter to subscribers.

The latest issue of CCP that I have is November 1991, and it's a regular one. Would the "final issue" you're describing have been after that?

When the CPU arrived, we had neighborhood trading sessions - good times!

I bought a few off eBay several years ago and it brought back a ton of memories.

Maybe it wasn't the last issue then. It could be my dad just cancelled after the "issue" I'm remembering. If I remember correctly, it was a long, poorly written, rambling, conspiracy laced letter to subscribers.

At any rate, thanks for refreshing my memory on the name of the magazine.

I can imagine a few auction house curmudgeons in the hobby doing that. Not that I would know of any or anything.:)

That's awesome. Gosh, it's almost hard to imagine a time when a printed book would actually have a price associated with a 1989 Donruss Andre Dawson.

You do remember that correctly. We tossed that away at Beckett when we received our copy but it was very sad to see. I'd love to see another copy of that missive again.

That is hilarious!! A conspiracy laced letter to subscribers. Ha ha ha!!!! Man, I hope someone posts a pic of it.