By Chris Olds | Beckett Baseball Editor

When Panini America‘s latest baseball card set arrives in late August, it will include many — if not all — of the residents of the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.

Hence the product’s name, Cooperstown.

So, while that means we’ll have more cards of the pitchers and catchers of the Hall of Fame world, we’ll also have cards — and autographs — for a few others.

Who? Sportswriters. Broadcasters. Umpires. Managers. General Managers.

While there may not be as much demand for the autographs of umpire Doug Harvey or Astros broadcaster Milo Hamilton — they certainly have fewer signatures out there than the Carlton Fisks and Andre Dawsons most commonly found in baseball card sets of this style.

A checklist for the product has not yet been released, but the Hall of Famers found away from the field of play, based on autograph previews, will include sportswriter Murray Chass, Royals broadcaster Denny Matthews, New York broadcaster Bob Wolff (honored by both the baseball and basketball Halls), Padres broadcaster Jerry Coleman and Hamilton to name a few.

They were winners of either the J. G. Taylor Spink (writers) or the Ford C. Frick (broadcasters) Awards, groups that include some legendary names that are a part of the game. Unfortunately, many of the most-memorable names are not around to sign autographs, but they may be included in the product. Some of the past winners include Grantland Rice, Damon Runyon, Red Smith, Jerome Holtzman, Peter Gammons, Tracy Ringolsby, Bill Madden (who selected many Rated Rookies in Donruss‘ earlier years), Mel Allen, Red Barber, Harry Caray, Ernie Harwell, Jack Buck, Curt Gowdy, Vin Scully, Marty Brennaman, Harry Kalas and Bob Uecker.

How many of them will make the set? We’ll find out when it arrives. Look for more on Cooperstown right here on Beckett.com closer to its arrival. Look for a gallery of autographs from this one in the next issue of Beckett Baseball coming next month.

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Update: A preliminary checklist since released by Panini shows the base set including just players, executives and managers. The autograph set is where the non-athlete honorees will be found. Among the signers on the initial checklist? Scully, Joe Garagiola, Brennaman, Uecker, Gene Elston, Jon Miller, Dave Van Horne, Tim McCarver and Gammons.

Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Baseball magazine. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an email to him at colds@beckett.com. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here.

By Chris Olds | Beckett Baseball Editor | Commentary

If you’ve read an item or two mentioning Barry Halper‘s name recently, the portrayals of the deceased iconic collector have been far from flattering in items published by both Deadspin and The New York Post.

But there’s also a reason you didn’t read about the pieces here.

Why? The background of the writer (legal issues with auction houses and others) as well as his potential motives (readying a book to sell) are at a definite conflict to be pointing the finger at the supercollector of all supercollectors who, yes, had bad items in his collection. (He had the means to buy what he wanted … meaning it could happen.)

This wasn’t lost on a very qualified writer, Murray Chass — a former New York Times and Associated Press reporter who received the J.G. Taylor Spink Award from the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2003.

He called the Post piece “journalism at its worst” and I completely agree.

Read his item here.

Read it carefully. Note what is said by Halper’s son, Jason. Here’s one telling statement:

“My father was not a forensic expert,” Jason Halper told Chass, “and he never claimed to be an authenticator, and he certainly may have been gullible when he was presented with exciting finds.”

One should also note that Chass talked to several of the parties involved — and note the writer’s reply to him when he didn’t disclose his background. Note the lack of a response from the Post.

The telling passages come toward the end. Why did Halper buy the items he owned? Well, he wasn’t in the business of selling them … again, read the story.

There can be a lot of mud hurled in the hobby — perhaps moreso than in other businesses — and the first thing one should do is consider the source … and potential motives.

Consider the source on this one … Murray Chass.

Update: Baseball Digest has an even lengthier item about this — with additional comments from Jason Halper. Read it here.

Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Baseball magazine. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an email to him at colds@beckett.com. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here.