The hobby needs a standard catalog!

by Al Crisafulli

Back in late 2014, we received a consignment of several die-cut cards that were known at the time as “Scapps Tobacco” cards. Printed on a tab connecting some of the cards in red ink was “H.D.S. & Co.,” a clue which sent us on a lengthy mission. We knew the story of how the “Scrapps Tobacco” cards got their name, as it was a result of a misunderstanding between hobby pioneer Lawrence Kurzok and a young Robert Lifson, who was working on the 1975 edition of the Sports Collectors Bible. After some lengthy research, we discovered that the cards were actually produced by a gum company called H.D. Smith & Co., of Cincinnati. Upon making the discovery, we did what all collectors did when they made a hobby discovery that needed to become a matter of record:

We presented our findings to the Standard Catalog, so the next issue could be updated to reflect the new discovery.

It wasn’t the first time we reported a discovery to the Standard Catalog, nor would it be it the last. Though it contained pricing information, the Catalog was, first and foremost, a scholarly publication, perhaps the last of its kind in the hobby. Looking through the “Acknowledgements” section of the 2014 edition reveals credits contributions from dozens of names of the hobby’s great collectors and researchers, names we still know today: John Brigandi, Scott Brockelman, Ryan Christoff, Jeff Emerson, Bob Fisk, Larry Fritsch, David Hall, Terry Knouse, David Levin, Rob Lifson, Lew Lipset, Marc Macrae, Bob Marquette, Richard Masson, Dan McKee, Frank Nagy, Keith Olbermann, Al Richter, John Rumierz, Kevin Savage, Corey Shanus, Barry Sloate, Frank Ward – the list goes on and on. Knowledgeable collectors, sharing their research and their discoveries to create a single document that served as the bible for the hobby. A way for collectors to learn and discover, and a central point to report new findings, errors, variations and more.

The last printed Standard Catalog was published in 2016. It is nearly 2024.

Krause Publications was a division of F&W Media in 2017, when the editor of the Standard Catalog, Bob Lemke, passed away. F&W filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2019, and in June, the book publishing assets of the company were purchased by Penguin Random House with some individual properties sold off separately. The Krause imprint, under Penguin Random House, continues to publish such titles as US Coin Digest; Collecting Rocks, Gems and Minerals; Pokemon Cards: The Unofficial Ultimate Collector’s Guide; Warman’s Depression Glass Handbook; and The Spells Bible: The Definitive Guide to Charms and Enchantments.

In 2019, Active Interest Media acquired the “collectibles” magazines from F&W, including Sports Collector’s Digest, whose logo appeared prominently on the cover of the Standard Catalog each year. Sports Collectors Digest still does a wonderful job presenting hobby news in its magazine and website format. In addition to SCD, Active Interest media produces such publications and websites as Woodshop News, CabinLive.com, Old House Journal and Log & Timber Home Living.

To my knowledge, nobody is producing a Standard Catalog of Vintage Baseball Cards.

In our Fall, 2023 auction, we highlighted a discovery of 39 cards from the 1921 Herpolsheimer’s set. Previously thought to consist of just 69 or 70 known examples, the new find included six new additions to the checklist, plus 33 cards that are now 1 of 2 known. Subsequent research shed light on the number of cards produced in the set, along with information about precisely how and when the cards were distributed. This is a major hobby discovery that changes everything we know about this set. And everything in the last published edition of the Standard Catalog about this set is now wrong.

Where do we report this?

This is not the first time we’ve asked this question, not even this year. At Love of the Game Auctions, we specialize in difficult to find vintage cards, and that means we sometimes encounter things nobody has ever seen before. We try to spread the knowledge far and wide, but without a single, widely-accepted resource for this information, we still read major auction house descriptions of “Scrapps Tobacco” cards, and see grading companies continue to mislabel them as such. We see grading companies rejecting uncatalogued variations because there’s no place to catalog them, and we see a steady stream of misinformation about rare cards being disseminated on social media. As the hobby boom of the 2020s creates unprecedented income for businesses and collectors alike, I fear we are losing sight of the fact that this hobby is, at its core, built on the scholarship and research of its pioneers, and continued on by groups of passionate collectors, working together to learn and share knowledge in one place. We’re building vaults, and not building knowledge, and the hobby is worse off for it.

The hobby needs a Standard Catalog.

The Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) is perhaps the most important organization dedicated to the game. With more than 7,500 members worldwide, SABR is, in the words of the great Tigers broadcaster Ernie Harwell, “the Phi Beta Kappa of baseball, providing scholarship which the sport has long needed…An excellent way for all of us to add to our enjoyment of the greatest game.” It is an incredible community of passionate baseball fans, many of whom are accomplished researchers and authors in the field. SABR members have access to an incredible resource library to conduct their own research, or simply learn more about the game and its history.

SABR’s Baseball Cards Research Committee is devoted to encouraging more interactive knowledge sharing about the history and importance of baseball cards, and to provide a forum for discussion about the hobby itself. Its members are knowledgeable, friendly and devoted to promoting the hobby. The SABR Baseball Cards Research Committee is the perfect group to take stewardship of a Standard Catalog. They have the research capabilities, they have a dedicated group of members, and with the backing of SABR, they have experience and resources necessary to publish such a catalog, both electronically and as printed volumes.

The hobby has any number of up-to-the-minute resources for obtaining pricing information. There are multiple websites tracking transactions, where collectors can search and obtain data-driven values for their cards. Publishing pricing in a Standard Catalog is, at this point, superfluous and unnecessary, outdated almost as soon as it is published. However, producing and updating checklists, cataloguing new variations and discoveries, and updating the hobby’s knowledge base is a critical function, the responsibility of which should not fall into the hands of auction houses, grading companies and online communities. The role should be served by an independent, third-party organization staffed by hobby scholars with little to no profit motive. With SABR, profit motive is not an issue, and since the organization is funded by members and donations, there should be little concern with issues like bankruptcy. SABR is perfect.

We don’t know who owns The Standard Catalog. We’ve asked folks who are currently or formerly affiliated with it, and they don’t seem to know, either. Meanwhile, the information in the 2017 Catalog has gotten old and stale, and in many cases inaccurate, while the publication waits to be updated. Publication of the Standard Catalog is a responsibility to the hobby – not something to be done only if there’s enough profit to make it worthwhile. At the same time, we recognize that these companies are businesses, and exist to make money. That’s why we’re calling on AIM and Penguin Random House to consider donating the rights and assets of the Standard Catalog to SABR, so that the SABR Baseball Cards Research Committee can begin the hard work of compiling nearly eight years of uncatalogued hobby discoveries and research into those assets to get the Catalog up to date, and then to keep it updated annually. If they are not going to publish the Standard Catalog, they should give it to an organization that will, so that hobbyists can continue to benefit from the vast amount of information it provides – information that was, in many cases, provided free of charge by collectors looking to share their knowledge with others.

The hobby needs a Standard Catalog. SABR is the perfect organization to publish it.