The Future of Baseball 'Hard-Copy' Libraries:
 

Leon- I hope it's okay to post this here:

I have seen this day coming, but it doesn't come with any assurances. For years, I have collected around 200 Hard-Cover books about Baseball and Yearly Issues of TSN Baseball Guide (1962-2006), the USA-Today Baseball Weekly Almanacs (1992-2000) followed by Baseball America Almanacs (1993-2019) and Baseball America Prospects Handbooks (2006,2008,2014-2019).

This week, I was told that the 2019 Atlanta Braves Media Guide will not be produced in hard-copy form. This ends my quest to have every Braves Media Guide since they moved to Atlanta (53 not including WS, AS and Aaron Specials).

With all the changes, I'm wondering how to at least 'cull down' my collections. I have donated many to my local library, but I'm short on ideas.


Anyone have any good ideas?

Is anyone looking for a book that I may have?

I also have a bunch of 'real pretty' auction catalogs.

Bury your books under a tree. With less printed material books, newspapers, catalogs etc, fewer trees will be needed by publishers, but let's not forget the plants that will still be needed to convert CO2 to O2 to keep us all alive.
Plants benefit from our carbon footprint and from your books. Come to think of it, when you bury your books, toss in an oxygen tank before you cover them up.
Your elm will thank you.:eek:

Have you asked the Braves if they can send you a digital copy?

It's probably in PDF, so you could print your own with nice paper and ink.

Good Idea, Steve...Thanks

Did you or a child graduate from college? You could think about donating it to the college archives upon your death. Every college has some sort of estate planning / donation / trust set up to accept collections - especially if it is a complete "set" of something, because then it has historical value. WA State has a buttload of colleges and universities, and I doubt all of the them have complete runs of the Mariners' media books.

Media guides
 

I would keep all of the media guides from your favorite team, or anything that has a roster page. I’ve noticed in doing my own research on Cleveland players that the rosters within the media guides contain a bunch of info not easily found online. Often the rosters are a snapshot either during spring training or right at opening day that is not captured elsewhere or that you could not find online after the fact. Even though now a days you can find 25 and 40 man rosters online, they are in the moment and can change and it’s hard to find the digital snapshot of one from a specific date thereafter. If you look at any of your Braves rosters from pre internet you will see names and faces of obscure players that either did not make the team coming out of spring training or had just a cup of coffee in the majors. If you research and /or collect these players you just won’t find this info online easily. The only thing I have found comparable online are subscription services to historic newspapers, and even then it is not so simple to find.