New Baseball Card Book Just Published

[barrysloate]

You're in there David...go for it!

[Bicem]

just ordered one, thanks for the heads up.

[Kawika]

Did a little googling around and found this article about BB cards by Jamieson at Slate http://www.slate.com/id/2224864/ . Guy looks to be an entertaining writer. Love the Über-nerd self-reference. Plus Crazy '08 author Cait Murphy's dust jacket blurb counts for something (that was one helluva book) so just ordered a copy of Mint Condition from Amazon.
Hey, Barry. Do you know if they had any good vintage baseball card shops back in 1910?

[barrysloate]

You would have had a pretty tough time making a living as a baseball card dealer back in 1910. Maybe you could sell Old Judges five for a penny, or something like that.

[Kawika]

I guess I'll leave the time-space jokes to Steven Wright from now on.

[toppcat]

Appreciate the heads up Barry-just ordered one.

[barrysloate]

It's a great read Dave. I'm a little deeper into it and I am learning something new each chapter. Jamieson takes subjects we already know something about but handles them in great depth. Everyone on the board should read it.

[wolf2039]

Thanks for the tip; just ordered my copy as well!

Another book-related question: has anyone read the book Operation Bullpen, which is recommended by REA in the back of this year's auction catalog? Any thoughts?

Brian W.

[justmike]

Originally Posted by wolf2039

Thanks for the tip; just ordered my copy as well!

Another book-related question: has anyone read the book Operation Bullpen, which is recommended by REA in the back of this year's auction catalog? Any thoughts?

Brian W.

Operation Bullpen is a fantastic read.If own autographs you will never look at them the same again though.It was another book I couldn't put down for 2 days.I have read it twice more since.
Mike

[WhenItWasAHobby]

I recently read Operation Bullpen too and definitely recommend it. It's sad how many people got duped with worthless fake autographs between the mid-1990s into the new millenium and I'm sure it's still going on today.

Some of the highlights include how the scammers would take brand new baseballs, remove the modern stamping, age the balls, put on an old manufacturing stamp on the ball, put a fake signiture on it and produce a convincing high-priced vintage fake. Another story describes how they would go to used book stores and a buy real old books and tear out the first several blank pages and use those for vintage autographs. Another big problem is that fake Certificates of Authenticy were almost as common as the bad signitures.

One other good story is how the Feds caught some crooks by seeing if they could get Muhammad Ali autographs on a stack of rare photographs of him boxing a Japanese sumo wrestler in 1979, which Ali's agent guaranteed that Ali never signed during his career. Sure enough, the crooks produced autographs on those furnished photos claiming they had Ali sign them privately on a certain date in New York while it turns out he was in Miami on that same day.

It also mentions Shelly Jaffe's involvement, who later posted on these boards after getting out of jail.

[toppcat]

Originally Posted by Kawika

Do you know if they had any good vintage baseball card shops back in 1910?

I think the friendly corner tobacconist a century ago would fit this bill nicely.

[Kawika]

The other week I was over in Victoria, British Columbia and dropped into one of my favorite shops, Old Morris Tobacconist, in continuous business in the same location downtown for 116 years. Betcha they moved a lot of Obak product in 1911.

[barrysloate]

Just finished the book and I will say it's an excellent read. For those who felt O'Keeffe's book was too negative, the Jamieson book is well balanced with the good, the bad, and the in-between parceled out in equal portions. It's very well documented and it was hard for me to find any errors at all.

I do have to tell you there is a chapter near the end about our own Kevin Saucier that will give anyone who collects high grade slabbed cards a good case of the heebie jeebies. It's pretty scary stuff. But I don't want to spoil the plot, so I'll wait for others to read the book and hopefully post their thoughts on this thread.

[onlychild]

do have to tell you there is a chapter near the end about our own Kevin Saucier that will give anyone who collects high grade slabbed cards a good case of the heebie jeebies.

Had to be the unflattering picture made while recovering from surgery #1 and two days before surgery #2. Was fubar during our time together.

To top it off, Dave Jamieson is just an all around nice guy and a terrific human being...smart, humble, inquisitive with strong writing ethics. Every collector will learn something from it. After reading my copy, I realized my true hobby ignorance. Even a better reason to buy the book.

Kevin