A request for Bob Lemke

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Posted By: Cy

Hi,

I have a request for you concerning the Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards book. In this book you organize it in two sections, Vintage and Modern. Would it be possible in the future to actually make two books? I wouldn't mind if you didn't sell them separately. You could place both books in a shrink wrap so that we had to purchase the entire volume. But it would make it much easier for the vintage collector to carry around one, smaller book. Is there any thoughts to do this in the future?

Thank you.

Cy

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Posted By: Julie Vognar

that you were going to do that this year. Whoops, I think that was major and minor leagues. Anyway, vintage and modern would be a great division.

Julie Vognar

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Posted By: Anthony

I ended up taking an exacto knife to the book, cutting it in half, and taping the cover back on. Always seems to get a vote of approval from the tables I stop at. My only regret is that I threw away the shinyrefractorinsertchasecard part of the book- if it was a two volume set I could find a kid to give it to.

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Posted By: David

I commiserate with the members of the bad back club (I own the Becket and SCD monsters so I know what you talk about), but I would think that if SCD cut the big book into two, it would actually hurt sales. If given the choice, most people at amazon.com or wherever would choose a complete 1869-2002 Beckett instead of an SCD with half the content.

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Posted By: Jaime Leiderman

I think the catalog can be sold as a whole, but divided into vintage and modern, including the minor league listings.

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Posted By: leon

the idea of it being shrink wrapped as two volumes. And my vote goes to ALL cards from say pre-'80, including minor leagues, and all cards post-'80, including minors......would make flipping through pages much easier....regards

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Posted By: Jaime Leiderman

Can the Old Judge N172's be listed as it used to be, with poses/variations?

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Posted By: runscott

Thanks for the suggestion. Also, I like the SCD much better than the Beckett. SCD in conjunction with Lipset's guides and the t206 museaum back-multiplier list and VCBC mag's (I hope they start coming again!) seems to cover my needs pretty well.

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Posted By: runscott

There is a natural binding break after the vintage section. To cut extremely cleanly:

1. Bend the binding after page 500, from top to bottom, until the glue shows.
2. Re-load your "PRO" large x-acto knife with a fresh blade.
3. Cut carefully from top to bottom with the binding bend as far as it will go with the non-knife-wielding hand (left for normal people), making sure you don't cut page 500 on the left!
4. Cut off the back cover and tape to the "good" section of the book.
5. Cut out OBAK stuff from "bad" section and throw rest away

Works like a charm and all pages are still firmly attached!

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Posted By: Jaime Leiderman

You forgot instruction #6


6. List "bad" section on eBay ASAP...

Maybe we can get some extra cash!

Jimmy

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Posted By: runscott

...

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Posted By: MW

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Posted By: Bob Lemke

Thanks for all the interest and suggestions relative to the Standard Catalog. The 2003-dated edition is currently planned for more than 1,700 pages. By the way, the fact the 2002 book divided after Page 500 was coincidental. With the number of new listings added to the vintage section for 2003, it will be somewhat longer. Because it takes so much space, and is of interest to a relatively small number of collectors, we don't plan to include the Old Judge pose variations this time, either. Producing the work in separate vintage and modern editions is not going to happen. Besides putting us at a competitive disadvantage with the Beckett Almanac, the costs of binding the printed pages is a large part of the total production cost and essentially double in that scenario. We do not shrink wrap the book so that potential buyers can flip through it and see if it meets their needs. I had hoped to be able to spin off the minor league listings into a Standard Catalog of its own, but the volume we produced two years ago did not meet sales expectations. We do have a scenario in mind by which we will be able to maintain page count, and hopefully cover price, for several more editions to come. For those who choose not to lug around the whole book, take a clue from Larry Fritsch. He has a friendly local print chop cut off the spine of the book, then punch the vintage section pages for a three-ring binder, thus allowing it to lay flat for ease of use.
I do have some thoughts on making the Old Judge section more comprehensive than it is currently but time constraints don't allow for it to happen now. I may be asking for help and floating some trial balloons in SCD later this summer. Again, thanks for your thoughts . . . and keep 'em coming.

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Posted By: David

If its any consolation, we on the West Coast use the SCDs to prop the walls up during earthquakes. And I'm sure many of you Wisconsonites put it in the back of the car to help drive during the winter. I also understand that Donald Rumsfeldt is considering attaching a small exploding device and usuing them as daisey cutters.

Actually, I have the new copy at work and an old edition at home, so lugging it back and forth is not an issue.

On a side note, perhaps you could consider issuing it on CD-- kind of like Total Baseball--, or online for pay. I would think the publishing cost would be low. Though, I don't know what kind of demand there would be.

Best wishes

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Posted By: David

I also understand that if something is working, you don't mess with it.

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Posted By: Jaime Leiderman

Thanks for your input on the Old Judge set list.

I second David's on the CD version...

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Posted By: Tom

Bob.......I would agree with a CD version OR having the information available at the SCD website. You talk about competition and that's one place Beckett has you firmly beaten. I have a subscription to the online Beckett PRIMARILY for the online checklists that they have. Kalamazoo Bats, Old Judges (MINUS THE POSES) but they have all their checklists that I guess are in the Beckett Monitor at the end of the year (still YET to purchase my first paper Monitor). The checklists are great. If SCD/Krause did that, I could eliminate the need to even go to Beckett. Yet more comments from peanut gallery........CD version OR online version means more POTENTIAL revenue......

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Posted By: Tom

Bob.....you could take the priceguide database on that AS400 and put it on a web server, create a few dynamic html pages and have it where you could pull all KINDS of info out.......

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Posted By: Bob Lemke

Thanks, again, to all for your interest. We've kicked around the idea many times. In past years, it often came down to a matter of security. Once a CD or on-line version was available, it would be no challenge for someone to pirate a print edition. We have roomsful of people working on electronic initiatives. One which I endorse (and at least understand) is to make our Standard Catalog data bases available on our website to those with a certain level of access, such as subscribers to SCD or purchasers of the most recent edition of the print version. I keep my nose out of that end of things, but I know the mucky-mucks are working on this type of thing.