1958 Topps Race to the Finish

[Samsdaddy]

Originally Posted by Bob Lemke

Thanks, Erik,

I consider the Spring, 1981, issue (#1) of Baseball Cards magazine to be the highlight of my 32+ years with Krause Publications. I was able to convince the owner and the publisher of a multi-million dollar hobby publishing company that baseball cards were the next hot collectible (well, at that time they were).

BBC was the first baseball card magazine to include full-size, full-color images of cards, and was the ever to be sold on national newsstands. The 125,000 print run of that first issue was the largest circulation of any card periodical ever and blew away the combined circulation of every other card publication at that time.

Putting even that rudimentary price guide into the public's hands really cheesed off the motel buyers who were rampant at that time, stealing shoe box collections for pennies on the dollar.

If I am not mistaken, you even mention that in your editorial in the first issue of BBC regarding the fact some dealers/sellers are going to upset with you for publishing the magazine and including the price guide.

Two memories of that first issue stick out. The article on plastic sheets ruining collections and the two page full color spread of some of the most collectible baseball cards of all time provided by the late Larry Fritsch.