SCD Drops Coachs Corner from advertising

[HOFAUTOS]

http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/ite...est-drops.html

June 12, 2009

Sports Collector's Digest drops major advertiser

by Michael O'Keeffe
Here's one sign that the scandal-stained sports memorabilia biz is getting serious about cleaning up its act: Sports Collector's Digest, the hobby Bible, will stop accepting advertising from Coaches Corner, one of its biggest advertisers.

Collectors and memorabilia industry leaders have complained about Coaches Corner for years, saying the autographed balls, game-used bats and other memorabilia offered by the Souderton, Pa., auction house appears fraudulent and doesn't pass the sniff test.

The marketplace certainly doesn't have much respect for the company's offerings. As the Daily News reported in a story last year, prices for items sold by Coaches Corner are often a fraction of the prices for similar items offered by other auction houses. In a January 2007 Coaches Corner auction, a Josh Gibson-signed ball sold for $1,158, a real steal, since the Negro League star's autograph is very rare and expensive. Robert Edward Auctions, meanwhile, sold a Josh Gibson postcard for $81,000.

Coaches Corner executives did not return calls; SCD publisher Dean Listle declined comment.

Robert Edward Auctions president Rob Lifson was one of those who urged SCD to purge Coaches Corner from its pages. "I think there was a groundswell of opinion that forced them to do something," Lifson said.

[aelefson]

Wow! Congratulations to SCD for finally doing the right thing!
Alan Elefson
aelefson@hotmail.com

[batsballsbases]

As most would say its been a long time in coming. It may be to late for SCD as the paper which looked like a phone book back in the day now can line the bottom of an animal cage!

[whitehse]

Well maybe they can regain some of the advertisers and subscribers they lost all these years while carrying the CC garbage. I might even think about subscribing again

[Rich Klein]

Bringing back Bob for the Standard Catalog and now this.

Amazing what real public pressure can do for a company

Regards
Rich Klein

P.S. I emailed Don Fluckinger this week when I heard about Bob and he was very gracious and wished him nothing but the best. Trust me; I know how hard it must have been for Don to do that job as an freelancer.

[19cbb]

Good news.

It may be to late for SCD as the paper which looked like a phone book back in the day now can line the bottom of an animal cage!

[oldjudge]

Nice. Why did it take them years to do this? When they can provide a satisfactory answer to that I will consider subscribing again, not before.

[RichardSimon]

Too little, too late. This will probably be like a pin prick to CC, I would be willing to bet that the vast majority of their bids come from the website.

[philliesphan]

was needed to warrant this change? Obvious forgeries for years, declining subscriptions, declining advertisers. I'm with Richard on this -- seems too little too late. I wish SCD the best and hope that they will do well with advertisers displaying integrity. But it will take an exceptionally long time to win back readers and advertisers...an almost insurmountable obstacle in an increasingly digital age.

Kudos on the move, at any rate.

[barrysloate]

This is great news...will SCD be able to survive without their ad revenue?

[toppcat]

SCD needs to move to a twice a month format like Goldmine to save on costs I think and revamp their whole approach. Some issues there is literally nothing of substance being written about. Not sure what will happen after this though but since most of the articles are written by T O'C it may not affect things much from the editorial side. Ad revenue is another story.....

[Jay Wolt]

Good New!
Glad SCD finally gave C.C. the boot

[Bill Stone]

I just received a renewal notice in the mail today which I promptly threw away BEFORE I read this news. They will still have to convince me that it is worth it but this is a positive step.

[Vintagedegu]

-

[bobbvc]

Like Bill- I just threw away my Subscription offer, but for 54 cents an issue, I'm going to call them and subscribe, just to send a positive message....

[Aric]

Kudos to SCD. And to those who say too little too late, I say better late than never.

[glynparson]

It's been a couple years since I let my subscription run out, I used to actually have it Fed Ex shipped overnight in the early to mid 1990's, but I am going to renew my subscription and let them know this is exactly why I am renewing it.

[GoldenAge50s]

I also got a renewal notice Thurs & just this AM used their postage free return env to tell them "I'll never renew to your publication as long as you continue to support Coaches Corner"" and dropped it at the PO!

How weird the timing!

[Al C.risafulli]

Michael O'Keeffe hates autographs!

-Al

[Jim VB]

I like O'Keefe's writing a lot better when he's crapping on Bruce.

[J.McMurry]

Wow, great news. News I thought I would never hear, actually.

I too will take a "wait and see" approach before renewing,as it wasn't just the CC BS that I had against the magazine, but also a lack of content.

But for me, this is a big step in the right direction for SCD.

[calvindog]

Before we pat SCD on the back too much, keep in mind that they were partly responsible for the proliferation of the crap put out by CC .... for a long, long time.

[RichardSimon]

O'Keeffe does not hate autographs, he hates the scum who sell bogus autographs.

[Rob D.]

Originally Posted by RichardSimon

O'Keeffe does not hate autographs, he hates the scum who sell bogus autographs.

Oh.

[HOFAUTOS]

I agree they should only do 2 issues a month. By the time you get the magazine, the news is already on the internet. But I do like to read articles, advertisements, etc....though I usually only take it to the bathroom to read

[Rich Klein]

These changes may portend a move to every other week. I've actually suggested to TS on several occasions that at this pt SCD would be better served as every other week. Since it appears that SCD is challenging all their past beliefs; the feeling the need to be weekly may go away as well

Rich

[illini805]

Good to hear!

[shelly]

That is the good news. I would like to thank Leon, Richard ,Dc and all the others that put pressure on Lemke to admit that SCD was a big part of the problem. If they had not decided to open and auction house this never would have happened. My mother told me one thing you dont every have to remember is the truth. Well we all know the truth about SCD .

[shelly]

I would also like to thank Mike. Everytime he would write anything about this board it was like the devil took over this site. Well he finally wrote what you wanted to see. Send him an email that might make him feel good. I just sent him one.

[HOFAUTOS]

The whole SCD pressure has been going on alot longer than the beginning of their auction. This has been YEARS of boycotting and the pressure SCD received on other forums and blogs. Even if they never opened an auction house, this was bound to happen. I know of 100+ individuals who would constantly email SCD's higher ups complaining and what not for the past year and a half. Mike just reported it, no need to give him credit. I give the credit to all the INDIVIDUALS who did something about it and not just complained on a forum.

[Wite3]

Finally!!!!!

[David Atkatz]

Originally Posted by Jim VB

I like O'Keefe's writing a lot better when he's crapping on Bruce.

Where is Bruce?

[shelly]

Let us not forget the largest thread on this site , over eight hundred post finally made our voices heard.

[HOFAUTOS]

Yes, and also CU, Sportscollectors.net, Gameusedforum.com, sportscardforum.com, waxheaven.com, etc. etc..

[GrayGhost]

This is awesome. Their stuff is so phoney, its almost ridiculous. Anyone bid on that Giants ball they had w Mathewson and Ross Youngs, amongst others? Its a steallll

[Al C.risafulli]

Where is Bruce?

David, you're a college professor. It would serve you well to use proper grammar.

The correct grammar is "Where are Bruces?"

-Al

[Mr. Mitt]

Appears as if the powers that be at SCD have had an epiphany (I sound like Don King! ). Hell, I'll subscribe again and give them another shot. They're moving in the right direction. It's going to take time for them to reestablish themselves, if that's at all possible in the digital age. Without some of us going back to them out of good will, they're doomed.

[martyogelvie]

Wow.. that took long enough.

I will consider resubscribing now.

[TATSR]

SCD is a lost cause. Six months from now, the publisher will say:

"You [meaning all the former subscribers] said you abandoned us because of Coach's Corner. We dropped them and you didn't come back. It's not our fault SCD is folding."

Just my hunch.

[danc]

...but the are still listed on the site in a portion dedicated to links worth checking out and their outstanding customer service, blah, blah, blah.

Twenty years of carnage..and now what? You know "the journalist/authenticator" will have something to say about this injustice and SCD will be heading in the right direction if they cover his mouth with electrical tape.

I have a feeling that while it's a great start, there is A LOT more work to do to increase readership and get the advertisers coming back.

DanC

[mark927]

I think it's great news and I hope collectors will 'reward' them by giving them another chance. O'Connell writes well and they have had a number of decent articles recently. Dropping their largest advertiser cannot have been easy and I'm certainly going to renew my subscription.

[LOUCARDFAN]

SCD is doing the right thing but it may be too little too late.
If they really want to prove they are sorry and want to clean
up the hobby then they need to do an investigative piece on
Coach' Corner and where all the crap material originates.
They need to come clean and say that they were aware that
questionable material was being sold through Coach's Corner.

Once SCD comes clean and starts being pro active in cleaning
this hobby up I will then continue to subscribe. SCD has made
the turn in the right direction but will they go all the way or will
they try to sweep the whole Coach's Corner problem under the rug?

[three25hits]

Originally Posted by calvindog

Before we pat SCD on the back too much, keep in mind that they were partly responsible for the proliferation of the crap put out by CC .... for a long, long time.

Exactly. Being a party and profiting from what they now condemn? I guess they can afford a nice soapbox with all the dirty money...

[tinkereversandme]

While away, good news comes. But how good is this news? You can't snap your finger and think everything that has happened, hasn't happened. They did a great deal of damage to the very fabric of the collecting world. They acted as the police, giving us articles about autograph fraud and then looked the other way.

The million dollar question is...how will they handle this fiasco? What do they tell the readers to why this company has been let go? And how will the collectors respond who have purchased from them? Have they even issued a statement of some sort?

As this all happens, the Coach's Corner auction hasn't skipped a beat and will be ending on Friday for those of you interested.

They have lost me for good. There is nothing they can do to get me back.

Larry

[sporteq]

WOW ... the best news i`ve heard in the industry in years ... way to go SCD!!

aL

[oldjudge]

I find it hard to believe that this move was percipitated by some new found sense of morality. My guess is that it was solely a financial decision, possibly fearing that the Coaches' Corner association would adversely impact their new auction venture.

[autograf]

Jay....I think it was pretty evident that it would affect their auction venture by the sheer number of people here that said they would not bid in their auction SOLELY because they had Coach's Corner in their magazine. As someone said earlier, they need to go to an every other week format and, at that point, they might hit 50-60 pages and have a little more push.

[calvindog]

Originally Posted by oldjudge

I find it hard to believe that this move was percipitated by some new found sense of morality. My guess is that it was solely a financial decision, possibly fearing that the Coaches' Corner association would adversely impact their new auction venture.

Of course, you're correct. There was no moral epiphany here, just a financial one.

[slidekellyslide]

I think this just signals that the magazine was going down even with the Coach's Corner ad $$$'s. It's a last gasp effort to see if people will come back.

[keithsky]

I agree with some of you that there is more to SCD dumping C.C. They have been supporting these guys for 20 years even back in the late 90's when C.C were auctioning off stuff with certs from Stan's Sports, J.Dimaggio and a few others that the FBI found there companies were selling fake stuff. I think the main reason for parting ways is SCD or the parent company is starting there own auctions now with certs from PSA,JSA, and the major ones, and leaving out Morales and Stat so how can they support C.C. and say there stuff is real and SCD not use there authenticators. I don't see SCD appolize for anything but well see.