2003 Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards

[Archive]

Posted By: Tom Lawrie

list every conceivable OJ variation, first by player, then by year, then by pose, then by typeset variation (e.g. different 1888 printing widths), then by name/position/team listing variations

The problem with the current checklist in the Standard Catalog and the other major almanacs is that a particular player might only have one tough card (say an 1887 script or an 1889 script or a PL or NL designation), but it is impossible to ascertain that from the current checklists. The result is that in some cases the pricing information may only be accurate for one or two cards of a particular player (say in a particular pose) but is inaccurate for all of the other cards for that player. And unless collectors are really familiar with Old Judge's, they could easily be misled by the pricing information as it now appears. Better to leave it out altogether than to be sometimes right and sometimes wrong.