2010 Standard Catalog...1st Impression

[Bob Lemke]

The 2010 edition, at 1,368 pages, is 26% slimmer than the 2009. That's the result of the 2001-date major league cards being moved onto the accompanying CD.

No vintage sets or cards were removed, but none were added, either.

The page count for the book is set by corporate bean-counters with an eye towards print-cost efficiency and a cover price point that will maximize sales.
Once the editors are told what the page count will be, it is up to them to fill it with an eye towards serving the widest possible audience, not just vintage/advanced collectors.

This resulted in recent years in many "non-card" collectibles being removed from the book, so that the latest 20,000 new cards from Topps, UD, etc., could be presented.

Based on what I've seen happen in Krause/F+W's coin catalog division, I would expect that some attention is being given to the notion of putting the entire data base of vintage and modern issues onto a set of CDs, independent of the print edition. In the interim, I'd like to see some of the vintage stuff added to the CD that rides along with the print edition.

In the limited time that I have available by my contract with KP/F+W to maintain/enhance the vintage major and minor league sections, I have been trying to cast a critical eye on pricing that has remained virtually unchanged since the 2007 book. Many of the price revisions you'll see in the 2011 book will be the result of a rather ham-handed process, as opposed to card-by-card analysis of each set. Fine tuning will continue with each subsequent edition to try to bring the book's pricing columns into the real world . . . or as much so as can be done with an annual book that deadlines 6-9 months before it reaches readers' hands.

I am also, mostly on my own time, adding vintage issues to the data base in hopes that some day they will be made available in some fashion.

The reality of hobby reference book publishing is that ink-on-paper is SOOOO 20th century and that new ways have to be found to put this information into the hands of collectors on a basis that makes business sense for the publisher.

The collective expertise on this fourm, and the willingness to share information to benefit the continued future of the hobby is a big facotr in my willingness/ability to try to keep this project alive.