2 comments about Beckett Almanac of Baseball Cards & Collectibles 2009 (Beckett Almanac of Baseball Cards and Collectibles).

1. Beckett Almanac of Baseball Cards & Collectibles 2009 is 1,320 pages thick. The almanac covers major and minor league baseball cards and baseball memorabilia. It covers tobacco cards to modern day to 2008. Though it is missing some information like Classic 4 Sport Minor League cards and the pricing for the All American Girls Professional Baseball cards and due to scarcity the pricing of other baseball cards as well. Also the print is smaller then it was last year; so if you have weak eyes get a magnifying glass. I believe Beckett really needs to start to come out with three of these almanacs: one for major league, one for minor league, and one for baseball collectibles. Beckett Almanac of Baseball Cards & Collectibles 2009 gets a B+.



2. While in the midst of opening a box of cards this week, I found a few cards containing game-used material that were not the normal bat, jersey, or pants swatch and was of a material I could guess but didn't know for sure. I went to check my Beckett 2003 Price Guide and quickly figured out my price guide was too old to list details for that card product I was opening.
   
   It was that discovery, and the fact I know tons of cards have been issued since 2003, that motivated me to buy an updated Beckett price guide. Looking over a few of the available books on Amazon, I decided the most comprehensive guide might be the Beckett Almanac of Baseball Cards and Collectibles, 14th Edition, 2009.
   
   It arrived quickly from Amazon and upon going over the book for an hour, I definitely feel I made the right call. The Beckett Almanac covers most everything baseball card related from tobacco cards up to the very first 2009 releases from Upper Deck and Topps (series 1 cards from each).
   
   Minor League cards are covered and some haphazard collection of baseball memorabilia is listed as well.
   
   I was about to write that a few products I was looking at from the mid-1990's were missing, but I later discovered it was the layout of the index in the back that was my problem and not the exclusion of some card products to keep the book at about 1264 pages of actual listings/pricing. The index is laid out basically by manufacturer, then year and base product, followed by all the sub-brands and year from that manufacturer. Definitely more confusing and not as logical as my 2003 Price Guide that was laid out by year, then by manufacturer, and then everything alphabetically that the manufacturer released in the given year.
   
   The front contents is also needed because there are some things you won't find -- or find easily -- in the back index that you will in the front. Another reviewer said they couldn't find the All American Girls Professional Baseball cards listed. I didn't find it in the back index but I found it in the front index. Only the set price was listed for that particular item.
   
   In summary, the Major League cards section seems very comprehensive. I tried to think what other releases might be too narrow of scope or long forgotten about to appear in this book and the ones I thought of were all there.
   
   Beckett's policy is usually not to list pricing for cards whose quantity is at 25 copies or less. I found a few products in my spot check for autographs or game-used item cards that should have been priced because of being 99 copies, 50 copies, or other quantities over 25 copies but simply were not priced. The cards I looked at with copies of 1, 2, 5, 20, or 25 had missing pricing but that is to be expected considering Beckett's pricing policy.
   
   The Minor League section lists mainly national releases -- Just and TriSTAR to name some national product manufacturers, and the section adds the USA Baseball box set entries. I did not find very many entries for regional/local team issued sets so there is a better reference available than the Beckett Almanac for those who really want detailed info on regional/local minor league card issues.
   
   Memorabilia is not what I would have expected. It seems just a few items are put there and it doesn't seem logical to me why unless they are the most desirable memorabilia collectibles that people who also collect trading cards might possess. I would have found a more useful memorabilia section to be a listing of semistars, superstars and Hall of Famers along with expected price range of their autographs on a card, a ball, a bat, a jersey, etc.
   
   Type is indeed small, but not much more so than the typesize used the last time I looked at a Beckett baseball monthly magazine. The print does seem lighter than used in my 2003 price guide so it is a little harder to read.
   
   All in all, I am satisfied with this purchase. I saved quite a bit by buying from Amazon than from Beckett direct and I have a great updated resource for product checklists, error, variation, shortprint, and quantity of cards made information. The only thing I would really add to the guide would be team abbreviations for the players listed so one would know what team the player is depicted with on a given card, but the way things are done in the Almanac is the way Beckett has always done things.

No comments about The T206 Collection: The Players & Their Stories.

3 comments about 2009 Standard Catalog Of Baseball Cards.

1. Excellent book, however, it's time to GET RID of the new card section and cut the book in HALF. Needs to expand sections of the book to include boxing, golf and tennis card prices of the era.



2. The amount of information included in this catalog is outstanding. The catalog covers vintage cards from the early Tobacco cards of the 1800's all the way up to current sets. It also includes a very good section on minor league cards and sets. Despite being the 2009 edition, the catalog only gets up to some sets from 2008. However nearly every set lists, including inserts, has a decent-sized image of a card from the set. Overall a quality guide and catalog of cards compared to the waning efforts of Beckett.
   Perhaps the most useful feature of this catalog is the included DVD. The DVD is simply a duplication of the catalog in PDF format. However this extends the usefulness of the catalog in a few ways. With the PDF file, you can zoom in for better detail on the card images as well as easier reading. Also, since you can search PDF files for names, teams, etc. Finding the information you want is much quicker than the printed version. I find this quite useful for creating checklists of my favorite players.



3. This book was bought for my husband.
   He got a collection of cards from an estate. He knew little about them and I knew even less. So we went book hunting to see what we could find to help him. He found this one book that was as thick as a dictionary. Got to be good, right??? WRONG!!!
   That's wehn I came into it. I went to Amazon and put a subject search on found this book. The price was right and when it arrived it's been a big help to a novice with the cards. My husband is organizing the collection beautifully all because of this book.
   
   Thank you for providing such a good book that is easy to read and follow. With there be so many different titles and authors and not knowing what we were doing, this book and Amazon was a huge help!

No comments about 2009 Baseball Card Price Guide.

1 comments about Beckett Baseball Card Price Guide 2009.

1. There are two columns of prices for each card, each column for a different condition card. At a bare minimum, the book should label its columns of prices. Nowhere in this book does it say what condition the left column of prices is for, nor does it come right out & say what the right column of prices is for. On p. 10 of the book, it states "Prices in this issue... generally mean(s) Near Mint-Mint condition for modern era cards." But which column are they referring to? And if one column is for M-NM, what condition does the other column represent? And they say it "generally means" something? What about the cases that don't fall under the "general" category? What does it mean then? I think in an 800 page book that costs $20, there must be room to spell it out so that everyone can clearly read "In this book, the right price column is for M-NM condition, & the left price column is for VG-EX condition." Which, by the way, I don't believe to be the case. In previous Beckett baseball price guides, the two columns were for different conditions, based on the year/rarity of the card. E.g., a 1909 card series wouldn't have a M-NM column; one column would be VG-EX & the other would be G or something like that. In this book, who knows what column is for what condition? It's clearly a very serious omission on their part. Also, what's a "modern era card"? I have to look that up somewhere & memorize it? Each card series should have price guidelines with headers, as in past editions. The reader should not have to do research just to find out what price condition is being viewed. And a price guide that doesn't tell you what it's price columns represent is a worthless book.

No comments about Mint Condition: How Baseball Cards Became an American Obsession.

No comments about The Official Beckett Price Guide to Baseball Cards 2010, Edition #30.

1 comments about Beckett Official Price Guide to Football Cards 2010, Edition #29.

1. My wife purchased this book for me to look up my football cards from my youth. I was excited to receive it as I used to own beckett magazines as a teen to look up the prices of my cards. The problem soon became apparent, this is by no means a complete listing of prices and doesn't even come close to allowing me to look up prices for even a quarter of the cards I have. I'm sure it is okay for mainstream collections of brands such as Topps and UpperDeck but when it comes to even smaller collections of Topps specialty cards you won't be able to find them in this book, just keep that in mind.

5 comments about 2010 Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards.

1. If you have ever been fed up with trying to look up a card in one of the monthly price guides only to find that the set isn't even listed or the subset totally omitted this is the book for you. The catalog has just about every thing from all the major brands to obsure issues. While the formating is a little hard to follow, the two indexs with both alphabetical and chronological makes it easy to find a set you are looking for.
   Not only is it worth the price but the 2010 edition even has some of this years sets on the cd that comes along with it.
   I've read the other review that poopoo the fact that all the modern issues are on the cd in pfd format but to be honest to have put all that in print would have required a whole nother volume or two. The listings are huge with even commons listed. Being a player collector this tome is invaluable looking up cards to get a base line on pricing. Another great feature is that each set has a little blurb about production and other interesting facts. Not to mention the book alone is huge and the information on the accompaning cd even more so. This book is the holy grail of baseball cards. Everything from the 1800's to 2009. Highly recommended for the serious or not so serious collector.



2. Bar none - This is the best baseball card collector's resource. Complete - from a comprehensive list of early cards to a CD update of the card available up to printing time. While one may not always get the price listed as the value in any of these guides, it is also great for insuring cars and collections. I would consider this a must have for anyone with a baseball card collection. You may be amazed, as I was, that some of you cards are worth quite a bit - while others really are best for putting in bike spoke to make the motorcycle sound!! A great investment!!



3. We weren't very satisfied because the book is nice., but the data isn't up to date., we thought we were purchasing a data book with all the prices in the book...well the current pricing is on a disc...Not in the book, therefore we weren't very happy...people should be aware of that., not all pricing is written.,



4. I haven't purchased a copy of "Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards" since 1997. I must say that they have really improved it 10 fold.



5. Important!
   All cards after the 2000 year are NOT in this book, rather they are on a CD that is included with the book
   in a PDF format. This is fine if you have access to a computer when you want to look something up, otherwise
   you will not have it available to you.
   
   The Annual SCD has always been useful for me as it lists cards that I do not find in other references.
   Additionally, the prices seem to fairly represent, for the most part, what I see them selling for, or at
   the very least, asking for.
   
   Where the book fails, however, is when they fail to list cards they know exist.
   As an example, in 2005 Donruss produced an autograph set. In some case the production levels of the cards are
   very low, under 30, but are known to exist. While it is perfectly acceptable to say that pricing information
   is insufficient, it is NOT acceptable to not list the card at all, thus depriving the reader/collector the
   tools they need to pursue a full set. If they have to get an additional reference guide to find this out,
   why bother getting this one? I have emailed the company and have hope they will correct this in future editions.

No comments about Beckett Baseball Card Price Guide 2010.