2011 Standard Catalog in hand
 

I received my copies of the 2011 Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards the other day and have a chance to give it the once-over to see how my first year as an outside contributor went.

Frankly, it could have been better. Working at arm's length negatively impacted my ability to co-ordinate with the in-house staff to make sure the changes I came up with were properly incorporated. It also prevented me from being able to proof read the vintage sections, which would have insured that some of the problems that are evident would have been corrected before the book went to press.

Those were mostly minor problems with spelling and punctuation errors in the set introductions, prices that added or dropped a couple of decimal points . . . 1895 Mayo Ward (Retired) in EX should be 4,000., not 4; 1916 M101-5 Complete Set should be 130,000, not 13,000, etc.

The majority of the several dozen additions to the vintage set listings and even more additions to existing checklists went off as planned, although for some reason none of the new sets include their card photos. And, probably because I failed to communicate it properly, the dozen or so additions intended for the vintage minor league section appear in the major league pages.

On the positive side, most of the thousands of vintage card price changes were made as planned, although inexplicably NONE of the major T-card sets (T201, 202, 205, 206, 207, 227) were changed. That's not good.

Because of deadlines, it's a shame that some of my later additions, corrections, etc., produced after late March could be incorporated. These included some really major work done on several 19th Century sets by Patrick Preece. All that will be reflected in the 2012 edition.

As mentioned earlier, the book went from 1,368 pages in the 2010 edition to 1,848 in the 2011. Unfortunately, most of those added pages are the 2001-date cards that were excised from the print version of 2010 and put on an accompanying CD. To keep the page count from jumping even further, the modern minor league section was omitted for 2011.

Those format changes were the result of book-buyer feedback to publisher Tom Bartsch, who, in my experience, is extremely receptive to constructive commentary and criticism from the hobby.

All in all, it's good to see my name back on the cover of the big book and I hope to be on board for the 2012 book.

We should all adopt a section of the book to check for accuracy and typos, etc. There should be enough people here up for that-I can certainly do some of the vintage Topps or R sections. I assume the deadline is sometime before Groundhog Day for the 2012 edition?

Bob
 

As an editor of several volumes in the areas of psychoanalysis and ethics
(much less interesting than your work!!), I must say how impressed with how
self-critical you are in analyzing your own efforts. Most of the folks in my
field,including myself, tend to be perennially thin-skinned and seldom self-critical.
I,for one, applaud you for your critique and am quite pleased to see you back at the reins of this difficult yet most needed work. I am also pleased to hear that you will continue to have the reins in 2012.
Dave has a great idea in getting a number of us to help with editing of sections. I would be glad to help and I'm sure others would be eager as well.

Again, congratulations on the volume. I will certainly get one and will be
especially pleased to see the name Lemke in bold print.

all the best,
barry

Big book
 

I wasn't planning on purchasing the 2011 issue, but I am pleased to see that the 2001 and newer section has been restored and I won't need to mess around with the CD. It looks like I will be ordering the 2011.

Thanks for listening to the feedback from customers.

Rick

Help is always appreciated
 

Any assistance that forum participants can provide will be gratefully accepted.

Many of the errors, typos, etc., in the 2011 edition are embarrassingly glaring and are the unfortunate result of providing my input to the book at arm's-length, rather than in-house.

I'm working with the staff to improve my communications and expect that the 2012 book will be a much cleaner presentation. There will again be sets added to the vintage sections, as well as additions, corrections, clarifications to existing listings.

While I don't have specific deadline information yet, I expect that Dave's estimate of early Feburary is accurate.

I do appreciate that so many veteran collectors take a proprietary interest in the Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards and that I am merely a front man for much of that effort. Keep up the good work!

Bob Lemke

Question - Has the CD version of the catalog been eliminated with the 2011 edition?

As you've pointed out on several occasions that you are primarily contributor and editor of the vintage section, where can additions/corrections be directed for modern sets? And have the modern minor league sets been completely abandoned?

Unless you ever edited a book like that
 

You have NO idea just how embarrassing any typo is. Please take my word for that, I'm still upset at myself for mistakes of 10 years ago :)

Rich

Answers
 

Christopher . . . yes, the CD has been eliminated. In an ideal world it would resurface in the future as the vehicle for every card/collectible in the data base.

DaClyde . . . Given the staffing levels at F+W's sports periodicals/books, I'm unsure anyone is responsible for doing any more to the modern major league section than adding each year's new issues. I can try to incorporate significant changes, additions or corrections post-1980 as part of my input as long as time permits. The modern minor league sectionis currently in limbo; given the lack of hobby interest, I don't see it returning any time soon.

Just got mine, it really is the BIG book; this thing is massive!

1906 fan craze national league header card ?
 

When I tried to add my NL Fan Craze Header card to the PSA Set Registy I was informed that the Fan Craze AL Header card is listed in the most recent Standard Catalogs but that the NL Header is not.


If this is true it should be corrected. I have had a few NL Headers over the years and have no reason to believe that they are phonies.

The AL ad/header card is mentioned in the text, but is not included in the listings. It is not mentioned in the NL write-up.

I expect they will be added to the listings in the 2012 book.

Thanks for pointing that out.

Big Eater...Big Typo?
 

The 2011 lists the Big Eaters as jumping from last year's $2,750 to $7,750. that's a $5K jump! Typo or for real?

probably
 

Listed in VG they are around 2300, which is about right. Since I doubt there are more than 1-2 in NMT, (actually I have never seen one in a 7 or 6 holder) I think it's hypothetical. I don't know that if one came up for sale it would reach that top price but it might. It's certainly not far fetched in my opinion. The 2750 price in NMT was way, way low. Of course Bob can probably answer better but I do have a bit of experience with the issue. I have perused the new 2011 and it looks good though some of the vintage pricing could still use a little refreshing...(I haven't, nor will I, look at the new card portion of the book...it's just not my focus). It's another fine edition though and well worth the price of admission. regards

I just got mine yesterday and that is an understatement. There are also quite a few flat out errors.

I'm still waiting for the day that the M116 blue background Cobb books for more than its pastel counterpart, but Bob and I have had this discussion before and I'm not holding my breath.

And finally for those of us who cut the book down the spine to separate the vintage from the modern, wouldn't it be nice to have the vintage minor league section right after the vintage major league section at the front of the book??

Big Eaters (and many others) . . . Leon is exactly right; the $7,500 theoretical price is there to support the VG price. This is one of many sets which could stand to have only the VG price listed, but given current in-house technical considerations, that is easier said than done.

M116 Cobb . . . Now that I have a nice representation of actual recent sales figures for pastel vs. blue, you casn be assured that the 2012 book will reflect pricing more in keeping with the rest of the pastels vs blues in the set.

Please also keep in mind that current sales of the Standard Catalog only support a very limited part-time contract to maintain and improve the vintage sections, and that all of my pricing changes have to be submitted by about the end of February. The book's pricing will never be truly fresh in the way that on-line and auction sales results are fresh, but it's the best that can be done in an ink-on-paper format.