Beckett 20 Questions on … your collecting tastes
By Chris Olds | Beckett Sports Card Monthly Editor
With the latest issue of Beckett Sports Card Monthly, we’re taking you behind the scenes inside some card companies to show you things you may not have seen before and talk shop with some people whose daily routines include helping your cardboard come to life.
As part of that, we’ll have our typical 20 Questions in the issue but, honestly, there may not be 20 questions that fit that concept — so instead we’re asking questions that take us behind the scenes in your minds.
Here are 20 questions asking what you think about collecting today as well as your collecting tastes and habits.
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See the rest of the questions … after the jump.
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Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Baseball and Beckett Sports Card Monthly magazines. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an email to him at colds@beckett.com. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here.
Good 20 questions. Other things I would like to see; better way to package retail. I stopped buying retail over a year ago because so many cards were damaged from pack searchers.
Also, on the beckett front I like that you have recently added the up/down arrows scrolling on the bottom of the site. I’ve been hoping for a way to search for these online for awhile now and this is a good start.
I remember back in the 90’s during the autograph cards insert boom there were a lot of articles in Beckett regarding Skybox Autographics, and how they came about, building the checklist, interactions with the players signing the cards, the short print/variations, where they can be found, etc. Nowadays I really don’t see that in the magazine anymore, it seems that there is too much of a focus on product review.
7. Which size of smaller cardboard do you like best???????????
SERIOUSLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THE SIZE OF THE 75 TOPPS MINI IS NOT ON HERE????????????
OMG I’M SO MAD RIGHT NOW
HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAT THE C0LLECTO (IDEA) OF THE COLLECTOR: REFRACTOR, PARRALLE INSTERT AUTO PATCH JERSEY PLATE PROSPECT 1/1 SUPER ON AND ON SUPER NINJA CARD!!!!!!!!…. I’M SUPER PISSED ABOUT THESE COLLECTORS… HAVE OF THEM STARTED AFTER 06 AND KNOW NOTHING ABOUT THE HOBBY…. THERE ARE A FEW THAT APPRECIATE AND COLLECT VINTAGE STUFF BUT I’M SO FED UP WITH THE MEGA HIT SO AND AND SO FOURTH THAT I MENTION…. I’M DONE AND MOST OF YOU SUCK. WHAT ABOUT GOING INTO A CARD SHOP AND ASKING FOR A 89 MURPHY REV-NEG OR A 89 RIPKEN FF CARD OR A 83 SANDBERG RC…. THIS IS WHY WERE ARE DIEING BECAUSE SOME TOOL WANTS A “PROSPECT AUTO PLATE JERSEY PATCH SO ON AND SO ON! LEARN THE HISTORY OF CARDS AND GO BUY A 68 RYAN.
I agree with Jeremy. The older issues of Beckett from the 80s and 90s were filled with so much more useful information. Now it seems like the majority of the articles are product reviews and box breaks. I actually stopped my print subscriptions, and stopped buying the magazine in general because almost all of the info can be found online.
DAVID J!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! RIGHT ON AND BOOM GOES THE DYNOMITE… THINGS CERTAIN PEOPLE DONT KNOW
David, Jeremy, Rick: I’d suggest you pick up some recent back issues of Beckett Sports Card Monthly. Might surprise you.
14. Why would anyone trust PSA more? That was the very first card they graded. They kicked off shady.
CHIRS: I have forgotten more about cards then you will ever know.
Rick: You betcha. Thanks for your input.
Rick, calm down man.
I like the info on the new stuff thats coming out, the old cards are cool but i have seen them at every card show ever put on….
In retail its always new, new, new…that’s what sells
Beckett will go broke telling me another story about the 68 Ryan, everybody knows, ones that are to young to know about Ryan them update them yourself but don’t expect Beckett to run another story about another Vintage Card….
The new stuff is very different and where else can you buy a case of cards and pull a card that can buy you a car!!!! Surely not a 68 Ryan
Actually, our last two BSCMs have had a vintage presence — the rookies issue with a roundup of notable shared RCs and the newest one with a 10-page cover story on the Stan Musial auction. (Not purely vintage but a vintage player.) Won’t be in every issue, but there’s always a place for some vintage here and there depending on the topic.
Pick them up … they might surprise you.
Rick, why are you even commenting here? And shouting? Go find another hobby if you are that upset.
I just pulled a Bowman Chrome Will Middlebrooks Superfractor 1/1, AND I own a ’68 Ryan! How about them apples!
I can’t believe that the same thing dominates the answers for questions 4 and 5. Topps has destroyed my will to collect MLB AND NFL!!! Panini is helping drive my interest further down the hole. One company is doing horrible things for the hobby and the other is producing nothing but childish-looking cards.
I would love to see Press Pass get the rights to either sport. They are a great company that constantly listens to the buyers AND has excellent customer service!!!
I like the hobby, as always, but there is always room for improvement in everything we know. Right now, I am getting tired of chasing multiple parallels of my favorite players: same picture, different color border, different print run, etc. They are fun to get but hard to find, sometimes. I am not sure we need so many, personally. However, as long as they are there for players I collect, I will look for them. Good marketing!
Another Great Survey (I know. It is not really a survey but questions and reader’s answers). This is important information for the retailer. The perception of health of this hobby is so “Rookie Class” influenced and I believe that is why most readers graded “hobby health” a “C.” 2012 was a fantastic collecting year. 2011 was great until collectors fell in love with 2012. The Rookie Classes of 2011 and 2012 make 2013 look boring, but I ask my customers, “Name four years better than 2013.” As a collector for 56 years and a retailer for 29 years I give the “hobby health” an “A.”
Cards are better than ever, with overall designs and manufacturer’s innovation continuously improving. From the retailer’s side, risk has been reduced more than ever as not too many products retail below manufacturer direct cost. However, there is still much room for improvement. We still need to attract many more new collectors and work harder to keep them interested/happy with the hobby.
Who took the P off of Rick’s name?
One thing I’m really curious about, and would like to see as a future question:
On a scale of 1-10, how much FUN do you have with the hobby (1 = no fun at all, 10 = I’m having as much or more fun as I ever have had with the hobby).
More and more I find myself trending downwards. I still buy the occasional box, but more and more find myself feeling dissatisfied with the experience. I swear I feel like I buy now more out addiction that enjoyment. Maybe I’m just getting old. I used to always look forward to having kids so that I could share the hobby with them, but now that I have a pair of 15 month olds, I want to keep them away from the whole industry. I remember lining up outside “The Ballpark” in Peoria, AZ on that glorious day that Topps would arrive, and that rush of seeing my favorite player’s picture on the new design. Or the rush of finally finding that last card that I needed to complete my favorite team’s team set. I wish that my kids could experience that, but I guess it’s time to accept those days are long gone. I wish that I could make it fun for them, but I can’t even find the fun myself anymore.
Another potential future question: Have you ever eaten a food product that you didn’t like just to get the card(s) that came with a particular promotion?
To this day, I can’t drive past a Denny’s without getting a little sick. Do they even make Cookie Crisp cerial any more? I remember buying boxes of doggie biscuts just to get the cards. I didn’t even have a dog!
Dan … I’d be half the man I am today (in the most literal sense) if it weren’t for my frequent trips as a kid to 7-11 to get a Slurpee (with the Sportflics-style “coins” in the bottom) and a box of Drake’s Cakes (with the cards either in the box or printed on the bottom). Still also miss opening a fresh box of Frosted Flakes as a kid and getting the 3-D card inside.
come on peeps! Refractor king over Prizm! Geez, Prizm’s have more 3d’ish etching look to them, while refractors are pretty boring with no depth-like etch or if there is some type of depth etching, it’s like a scratch in comparison.
I like topps with licensed images to panini’s airbrushed or logoless ones for the content, but for the quality of the chrome depth-like etchinga, prizm is the best!
Rick, lol, you make me laugh, lol I love the ENERGY, man!
Chris, I LOVE these surveys (sincerely), keep’em coming!
Do I trust PSA “more”, lol, hmmm … nah, lol. (Didn’t trust’em much to begin with, for so very MANY reasons.)
I’d buy the magazines more (like I used to do) but frankly, I just don’t check prices that often (since they don’t really change that often, for my purposes).
So, I have to say, I’d like to see more pages devoted to collector’s custom subset collecting. There are SO MANY types of subsets I collect (of vintage Topps – current).
One, I’d like to read about (but it would take some work on some writer’s part) is some unique (card) angle on just Hall of Famers.
But, I think I could think of an endless number of subsets that readers would like to read … to the point of ACTUALLY BUYING the magazine and taking it home, (as opposed to just standing in the bookstore for 20 minutes and reading through it real quickly, which I’m guilty of doing.)
Robert Braxton: THANK YOU!
Chris Olds: I was teasing!
MARK: I am passionate about my hobby and love it. I was expressing my feeling! And I deff don’t need to go find another hobby. Maybe you should have as much passion and love. Maybe you should go find another. OR MAYBE YOU SHOULD GO BUY A HIGH END BOX AND SELL ALL THE CARDS ON EBAY…. A true collector. HA
And the 1968 Ryan was simply an example.
I guess someone was just teasing with the personal insults in a comment that went into the trash can instead of being approved …
If that was me I am sorry. To much suds that night.
I like the effort Panini is putting forth, but can”t stand that they have no licensing. I love autographs, but i thought 2012 SP Signature was the worst product ever! I would say the health of the hobby is pretty decent considering TOPPS’s stronghold. The redemption process is a complete joke. Just number the cards and put them in packs! I don’t buy the magazines because they’re too expensive. I can buy a jumbo pack for the same price. The website is cool though. Keep up the good work Chris Olds. I was not a fan of Reggie years ago, your story just reminds me of why.
I agree with Jonathanl 100%.
I also agree with Mark 100%.
I’d like to see the card companies work with the teams to clean up the memorabilia card market. Make sure the card consumers get what the cards say in terms of Game used….. And not rely on ‘dealer’ you have a dollar benefit to lie or misrepresent. Start with Rookie class and move forward.