5 comments about Collecting Sports Legends: The Ultimate Hobby Guide.

1. I had a chance to meet Joe Orlando a couple of years ago, and he was quite charismatic. His latest tome, Collecting Sports Legends, was a great read and featured some fantastic card/player images. Aspiring card collectors would be well-served by obtaining a copy for themselves, and they should pay close attention to Mr. Orlando's suggestions for a thematic collection.



2. This book provides an excellent overview of the sports card and memorabilia industry. Fantastic images of the great cards in the hobby really stand out! Recommended for novices, hobby veterans, or women who wonder why grown men are so interested in little pictures of athletes on cardboard.



3. SOME OF THE BEST AND GREATEST CARDS AND COLLECTIBLES THE HOBBY HAS TO OFFER ARE SHOWN. FROM HONUS WAGNER,THE BABE, AND MANY,MANY OTHER HALL OF FAMERS.THE BEST OF THE BEST IN EVERY MAJOR SPORT IS COVERED AND VIEWED IN THIS WONDERFUL HOBBY GUIDE.



4. This is a beautiful collection of photographs and information on the most desirable cards in the sports collecting hobby. I'll never be able to own most of these beauties, but the book is a good substitute.



5. Sports card collecting as been an enduringly popular hobby since their advent in the mid-19th century down to the present age. A 376-page compendium, "Collecting Sports Legends" author Joe Orlando provided insightful commentaries while showcasing more than 375 sports cards, some of them truly legendary, many of them extremely valuable, and all of them memorable ephemeria in celebration of outstanding athletes in their chosen fields of sport. Superbly and profusely illustrated throughout out, "Collecting Sports Legends" begins with an informative introduction, 'Ten Tips for Building a Collection', and 'Cardboard Classics: A Look Inside the Top 250 Sportscards in the Hobby'. Then this fascinating repository launches into Orlando's ranking of the twenty most important cards, following grouping sports cards into their own separate categories of baseball, basketball, football, hockey, boxing, golf, and miscellaneous. The next section is 'Building a Dream: A Look at Collecting the Top 30 complete Sets in the Hobby' by Brian Bigelow; 'Collecting Sports Autographs' by Rob Rosen; and 'The Top 100 Autographs in the Hobby' by Steve Grad. More informative sections by Joe Orlando follow including 'Legendary Lumber: A Look at Collecting Game-Used Bats'; The Top 40 Game-Used Bats in the Hobby'; 'Collecting Sports Tickets'; 'Top 15 Sports Tickets in the Hobby'; and 'Tempting Treasures: A Look at Collecting Unopened Packs'. Of special note is the concluding section, 'The Tope 25 Unopened Packs in the Hobby' by Steve Hart. Informed and informative, certain to be a popular addition to personal, professional, academic, and community library Antique/Collectibles reference collections, "Collecting Sports Legends" is a 'must' for the novice sports collector and has a great deal to offer even the more experienced and dedicated sports collecting enthusiast. Above all else, "Collecting Sports Legends' is a terrific browse for anyone who has ever laid claim to a sports card collection of their own!

No comments about The Official Price Guide to Movie Autographs and Memorabilia.

5 comments about The Celebrity Black Book 2008: Over 55,000 Accurate Celebrity Addresses for Fans,Businesses & Nonprofits.

1. Have only glanced at it so far, but looks like what I can use for contacts for fundraiser donations.



2. I was happy as I saw this man on TV, and it sounded great. I sent stuff to 4 people as they are workers on movies, and I have made three great screenplays and wanted them to read them. Perhaps someone would make a movie. Well, two of them have come back to me. I do not no why. I've very mad about that. I have asked the man who wrote the book if he has the people's address, as two of mine came back and probably the other two will also come back. GRRR. He has not answered yet. If I had written the book, I would answer someone right away. I hope he tells me their exact address.



3. I purchased The Celebrity Black Book 2008 Deluxe Edition and I must say that I am completely satisfied with the quality of the paper used in bringing this book to fruition. The major disappointment for me is the size of the print. I am elderly and find that I must strain when trying to read the names and addresses of celebrities. I wish the letters were a bit larger. Also, I would like to know if one can purchase a book that contains celebrities from movies and television only? Thank you very much. Beverly Badini



4. This is the third year I have bought this book for my classroom and it is accurate, excellent, and thorough in giving me what we needed to complete an
   assignment. Very happy with this reference guide!



5. The Celebrity Blackbook is a fine book if you are a fan looking for an autograph. I must say that the company did great research. But if you are an author or company looking for direct contact, please don't hold your breath. Most contact information in this book seems to go to the person's management firm or publicist so the chance of that person actually receiving your request is quite slim due to filtering. I could easily go online and find anyone's management/agent/publicist information.
   
   Worse yet, no email contact information. I actually bought this book for the emails info, wanting to send out respectable non-spam type offers to certain singers for a free copy of one of my books. Unfortunately, I misunderstood what type of information was actually in the book.
   
   So overall, it's not a bad book for basic info, but I'll need to dig deeper myself to find the correct information that I need so nI won't be buying next year's edition. I wanted to give this book a 3.5 rating but couldn't do 1/2 ratings so I figured I'd be nice and round up;)

1 comments about Hooked On Autographs: My favorite tales in collecting autographed golf balls from golfers, entertainers, sports figures and U.S. presidents. The stories will delight golfers and even non-golfers..

1. Joe does a great job of showing "another side" of famous people in his stories. No one else could tell these tales but an autograph hound who doesn't give up and cheerfully chases people until they give in!!!

5 comments about The Celebrity Black Book: Over 40,000 Celebrity Addresses.

1. I've never had this much research material for so many celebrities until now. For anyone wondering out there, don't second guess buying it.
   
   I also love how you get a free month of their online database which has even more stars, plus you can check to make sure the addresses are up-to-date.



2. If you are looking for movie stars, this might be a great book. I bought this book (the 2005 edition) primarily to locate artists (e.g., photographers, painters, sculptors). The book is basically useless in this regard. Proportionately speaking, there are extremely few listings of those types of artists. Ironically, even well-known, i.e., "celebrity" artists are omitted, as are lesser known but important ones. The few listed are seemingly random, including comic strip "artists." Worse, several of those listed are either very old (no longer working) or dead. I wonder if the addresses given are for cemeteries? Actually, the addresses for the few artists of interest to me were most often wrong based upon a simple cross reference search on the web. Of course, that also makes me question the accuracy of the other listings. This seems a useful resource for those interested in actors, random athletes and opera singers, but for any other interest--it simply needs to be updated.



3. This book's front cover boasts "over 40,000 celebrity addresses, everyone who is anyone." That's not quite accurate. I've discovered a number of people who were omitted or just plain forgotten. That aside, the book does include addresses for most mainstream celebs, musicians and athletes and presents them in a straightforward, alphabetical listing.
   
   But a word of caution: keep in mind that celebs change agents/managers often, which means their mailing addresses change often too. So this book's shelf life is limited.
   
   What this book sorely lacks is additional information to accompany each listing. For example, has the address for Brad Pitt been tested to see if it is accurate? And, if it has, has anyone (the author?) had success in contacting Pitt that way? This is the stuff that matters if you're a novice (or even exprienced) autograph collector. An address will do you no good if the recipient doesn't read (or get) their fan mail.
   
   Ultimately, though, the book only promises to give addresses, and that's what it does. These addresses have been culled from contactanycelebrity.com, which is
   the book's companion Web site. When you buy the book, you can mail/fax in a registration form, giving you one month's free access to the Web site's vast database. That's a nice extra. All in all, the book is good, but a bit pricey for what it delivers given its limited shelf life.



4. I must say I'm quite overwhelmed by all the people listed in this book. It's got almost everyone you know of and more! I'm very impressed. The only thing that I think is "wrong" with this book is that they haven't written the title of everyone, so on some people you don't know who they are, but it's not that many. I was very very surprised to find David Mark Chapman's address (prison) in there. Of course it didn't say what he is, although pretty much everyone knows anyway. It seems that some of the addresses are to people's homes. You've got addresses to musicians, politicians, journalists, actors, athletes, writers, Nobel prize winners, doctors, anyone you can think of in the whole world!! It's a treasure! On the website they've got about 10.000 more addresses (I wonder why they didn't put them all in the book??) This is really the ultimate Celebrity Address book I've ever seen. Buy it!



5. I purchased this book for my husband who collects autographs, mostly through the mail now that we don't live in LA. He loves it! He uses the book on a regular basis to write to sports figures, politicians and actors/actresses. So far we have had good luck with the addresses listed.

5 comments about Operation Bullpen.

1. This is a terrific story, chockful of Big Money and colorful characters. I thoroughly enjoyed it.



2. The book is fascinating, and I got it in a hurry.



3. Anyone who is interested in the hobby of autograph collecting should read this book! It's an eye opener. A roller-coaster ride of a story that draws you in. Thanks to the author for writing such a good story; a true story.....Buy It!



4. I have heard of the notorious "Mother Teresa baseball", but I had never imagined such a complex story behind it. I was totally blown away by the scale of the forgery. There must be tons of Marino's works in Japan since they really love the baseball players and Hollywood stars. Do they even know they may have fakes? Funny thing is that I started to want to have Marino's work. He sounds like such a talented artist himself.
   What I loved the most about this book was the realistic portrayal of the characters. You can relate to both the criminals and the FBI agents. Great work indeed.



5. Author Kevin Nelson smacks a home run that chronicles an FBI operation which entered the dark shadows of multi-billion-dollar sports memorabilia industry and snagged a California-based group that had cornered the illegal market in the 1990s.
   
   In the dugout for the crooks was a variety of individuals who had all the bases covered in the marketplace, including a "master" forger who signed at least one million bogus autographs - and pocketed $10 million during the scam - and a frustrated memorabilia dealer who turned "dirty" after he saw how the game was being played by others.
   
   The venue for a good chunk of the fraudulent merchandise was TV home shopping shows. The FBI confiscated a portion of the "collectibles," but not everything.
   
   Nelson covers all the bases through meticulous interviews of FBI agents, members of the gang and additional background research. Though a sordid tale of incredible greed and the pursuit of an easy score, it also demonstrates how an intoxicating lure of a superstar signature can get collectors plunking down serious dollars for a mirage.

1 comments about The Artist-Signed Postcard Price Guide, Second Edition: A Comprehensive Reference.

1. Mashburn writes terrific books. His Postcard Guide is the best general book out there. He also does specialized postcard books such as this one. Anyone who collects artist-signed postcards will want this book, no question about it.

   It is filled with hundreds of pages and pictures of all our favorite artists, like Harrison Fisher, Philip Boileau, Earl Christy, as well as the more obscure yet fabulous artists like Lupiac and others. He covers a variety of categories, like Beautiful Ladies, Beautiful Children, Nudes, Blacks, Sports, and Comics. He includes a reference section in the front which goes over important information such as how to determine the age of a card, grade a card's condition, and so on. My only quibble with this book is that all the inside images are in black and white, and I would have loved to see some in color. Perhaps in the next edition.

   If you're looking for a comprehensive reference on Artist-Signed postcards, this is the book to buy.

3 comments about The Adirondack Cabin.

1. I feel that Robin Obomsawin did a much better job with her previous books by adding alot more pictures of the insides of the homes she wrote about. I was sadly disappointed that there were not more pictures of Adirondack homes. I have been very happy with her other books because of the beautiful pictures taken on the interiors, but this book was lacking in pictures of just that- interiors. I really looked forward to this book being released and bought it "sight unseen" and was deeply let down that inside the book, it lacked more pictures of cozy cabin retreats, showcasing all the rooms and decorating where I get my inspirations and ideas from. The author was very clear and informative on the adirondack history though and the building materials used on these types of houses.



2. I mostly buy more practical Adk books, but I thought it would be nice to have something more glossy ... a coffee-table type book for fun. I have to give the author major praise for including a great variety of camps/cabins, all the way from big, million-dollar homes down to tiny one-roomers. (There is even a section called "Small Gems," which is what I want to build, so I was very happy.) It is, I should also say, a beautiful book. Fabulous photos. I got lots of ideas about authentic Adk architectural touches, types of siding, interior ideas, etc. And I really appreciated that I didn't feel "outclassed," that it wasn't a book full of mansions. The text is pretty random, but all the same, I'm glad I bought it.



3. In the late 19th century, the wealthy men who wanted to impress poured some of their money into large mansions like Biltmore Estate in Asheville, N.C., only in New York they opted for the "Adirondack style" with a rustic flavor. Floor plans for the cabins are included in this picture book complete with the history of this area. Later they were turned into camps for rich kids. Some of these camps such as Santanoni were operating for one hundred years, from 1850 to 1950. Only a few survive today.
   
   Resort hotels sprang up during that era as retreats to nature from the environs of New York City. Hotel Champlain and Sagamore resorts for the luxury and culture of a period in U. S. history of radical change, are still operating. In Giles County in Middle Tennessee, we have such a place called the Milky Way Farm. Not much of the farm is intact, as parcels were sold to people who desired to live there, not to investors. However, the intriguing home built in the center of the property by the Mars family used local labor and is still open and splendid, inside and out. It has passed from mostly spectulators trying for a bed and breakfast or some such money-making operation. Some rooms are decorated in the style of the times using the original furnishings. The outside stone horse barns ahve disappeared, but the stone fences surrounding the fields leading up to the house which were built by the WPA workers, are still visible. The dining room used for special events has a round table built in that room, as it is too large to get through any of the doors. I ate there when Vo-Tech hosted a supper for public officials and the school's teachers and staff. I was part of the staff at that time. In New York, they are seen as relics of a bygone world of the super-rich. Built by and for the Rockefellers, Astors, Roosevelts, Vanderbilts, etc. who needed to escape the industrial city life and reconnect with nature. Now, there are million dollar homes there.
   
   Santanoni is located hihg up in the peaks of the Adirondacks Mountains. The expanse is impressive and includes 12,500 acres in Newcomb. The main lodge build with a Japanese temple effect still shows the grandeur of the past as lived by the rich and famous.

4 comments about Secrets to Contacting Celebrities: 101 Ways to Reach the Rich and Famous.

1. Jordan Mcauley has done a masterful job in presenting the most effective strategies for contacting the celebrity of your choice.
   
   I really liked the chapters on Contacting Actors/Actresses and Talk Show
   Hosts. Jordan give examples of meaningful communication vs. creepy communication with the stars. The key is to be professionally persistent (and patient) and to avoid being viewed as a stalker.
   
   I also liked how Jordan explained the proper way to use search engines to identify mailing addresses of the stars. I thought that was really valuable.
   
   Jordan even included the addresses of television networks, publishing houses, and professional sports teams. This makes the book really
   user-friendly.
   
   This book would also be useful for people who sit on boards of
   non-profit organizations that are interested in aligning themselves with
   celebrities.
   
   I can speak from experience because I have two celebrity friends. More
   people definitely need to take his advice on approaching celebrities. I
   have seen people say and do the dumbest things in front of celebrities and blow it.
   
   This book is a must read for anyone looking to contact famous people. I am glad that I have added this book to my library!



2. The book is a good source to start looking for the information concerning the public personalities and celebrities. It may appear as a good stuff for researching the personality world.



3. 
   I thought it was a breakdown of address lists. I was disappointed!



4. A good find and a good read. It was packaged well and came in good condition. Thank you.

4 comments about The Sanders Autograph Price Guide, 7th Edition (Sanders Price Guide to Autographs).

1. This book has been my bible for autograph buying and selling for years. Richard Saffro has kept and surpassed the passed editions of this book. A rich tradition that George Sanders a collector and radio personality gave to the collector an idea of the value of autographs as they come in different forms, letters, signatures, or photos. I have been collecting for 40 years and have found this volume the most reliable as far as getting an idea to the true price of an item. With the thousands of names that are included in this book there are few of note, not included. If you are going to buy, trade or sell and autograph, or buy a item on Ebay, don't get stung by purchasing an item at 3 to 20 times its real value. Coin, Stamp, Book and antique dealers will have this book on their shelf as I do. Thanks Dr. Saffro for publishing your Sanders guide once again.



2. This is a good Price Guide for autographs, it is especially good for novices. It could go into more depth with obscure autographs but a must have for a reference guide



3. The book was brand new and at a discount used book price. Timely delivery - very pleased.



4. While this guide is very helpful, I was disappointed that it did not have many well known people in it. I recently purchased a quantity of more than 500 autographs of people who were mostly television, motion picture, or stage actors from the 30's through current years and found many names not listed. Yes, some people are more obscure, but names like Bill Cullen, comedian Jack Carter, Howard DaSilva, Denise Darcel, Dorothy Loudon, Julia Meade, Vaughn Meader, Jane Morgan, Tricia Nixon, Louis Nye, etc. were not listed. Howard DaSilva was one of a select few who was on the blacklist of the 50's, Tricia Nixon was the President's daughter. Vaughn Meader only had maybe THE MOST satiracle record album of all time, "The First Family", parodying the Kennedys. The movie "Seabiscuit" won honors for best picture a few years ago and was the life story not only of the horse, but it's famous owner, Charles Howard, who also is NOT listed in this book. So there are many oversites which I believe downgrades the guide's effectiveness.