Your Information Resource for Vintage Baseball Cards
  eNews Issue #98 (June 2012)         www.oldcardboard.com


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Welcome to Old Cardboard, the most complete reference resource for information about collecting vintage baseball cards and related memorabilia.  More information about this eNewsletter and its companion website and magazine are found at the bottom of this page.

Contents:
1. Updated Auction and Show Calendar
2. Hobby Magazine Profile: Sports Scoop
3. Latest Additions to the OldCardboard.com Website
4. News Briefs (A Digest of Recent Hobby Happenings)


1. Updated Auction and Show Calendar

The following is a summary of vintage card events coming up in the next 30-45 days. For the most current listings on additional vintage card shows and auctions, see the Key Events Calendar on the Old Cardboard website.


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June 2012

16San Leandro, CA San Francisco Bay Area Show (see web page for details)
20Phone/Internet Goodwin & Co. Auction (see website for details).
21Phone/Internet Mile High Auction (see website for details).
22-24King of Prussia, PA Philadelphia Sports Card & Memorabilia Show (see website for details).
27Internet Sports Card Link (see website for details).
28Phone/Internet Sterling Sports Auctions (see website for details).

July 2012

3/30-4/1Chantilly, VA CSA Chantilly Show (see website for details).
26Phone/Internet Huggins & Scott Auctions (see website for details).
26Phone/Internet Greg Bussineau Sports Rarities Auction (see website for details).


2. Hobby Magazine Profile: Sports Scoop

[Editor's Note: Below is the first of a series of articles about early hobby publications that we will run from time to time in the Old Cardboard eNewsletter. We have also added a new section to the OC website so that website users can readily access information about early hobby publications in a format similar to that used for card sets. Thus, where available, checklists of full runs of magazines will be provided along with galleries of their front covers. The Sports Scoop web pages have now been posted and others will follow. We hope that you enjoy the new section and welcome input from readers to help complete the checklists and gallerys for other early hobby publications.]


Format for Issues 6-20

Format for Issues 1-5

Four West Coast friends--John Eichmann, Steve Mitchell, Russ Dille and Frederick Mahler--teamed up in early 1973 to launch Sports Scoop, a highly regarded hobby publication of the period.

The four brought varying experiences and interests to the project but each spent the many hours required to make even this small publication a going concern. Eichmann, Mitchell and Dille were collectors with a passion toward books. Eichmann's main interest was statistics; Mitchell's, cards; and Dille, the minor leagues. The late Frederick Mahler was a non-collector but a stalwart friend who devoted countless hours assembling each issue.

Mitchell had distributed an earlier hobby publication, the Sports Collector's Journal, beginning in 1967. SCJ was published over the next five years, with a significant break while Mitchell was in the service, through early 1972. It was about that time the foursome began planning the launch of Sports Scoop.

Sports Scoop's first issue of 36 pages featured Johnny Mize on the cover (example shown above) and was distributed in February of 1973. It was printed in a 7 by 8-1/2 inch format on heavy paper stock. The content included a balanced mixture of news, articles and advertising. The black and white offset printing included liberal use of images throughout.

Starting with Issue #6 in July 1973, the magazine moved to a larger (8-1/2 by 11 inch) format. The cover was "upgraded to two colors (blue and red) with inside pages printed on thinner newsprint. subscription rates remained unchanged at $6 per year.


Lindstrom

Lindstrom Back
Among Sports Scoop's goals, Mitchell recently told Old Cardboard, was to serve as an advocate for worthy players for nomination to the baseball Hall of Fame. As part of that effort during its first year of publication, the magazine combined efforts with photograph seller and collector Jim Rowe to produce a 16-card "Hall of Fame Nominees" set. Fourteen of the cards, according to Mitchell, were of players who should have been in the HOF but were not at that time. Three of the former greats--Earl Averill, Johnny Mize and Fred Lindstrom--are each shown in three different poses in the set (one of the Lindstrom examples is shown at left).

Other players featured on one card each are Shoeless Joe Jackson, Barney McCosky, George "Tioga" Burns, Bob Johnson and Jacques Fournier. Two other players--Jeff Heath and Erl Torgeson (also veteran baseballers)--are featured in the set as National Co-Chairmen on the Earl Averill Hall of Fame Committee, which was directed by Sports Scoop publisher Eichmann.

The Sports Scoop "Hall of Fame Nominee" set is postcard-size (3-1/4 by 5-1/4 inches) and printed in black and white on thin card stock. The player's name is printed on the back along with references to set sponsors, Sports Scoop and Jim Rowe.

In addition to its HOF advocate role, the magazine ran dozens of in-depth articles ranging from N172 Old Judges to postcard sets to gum card sets to the 1947 Signal Gasoline issue and more. Editor Mitchell was able to enlist the support of a number of leading collectors and writers of the period including some names that are very recognizable to collectors today, nearly 40 years later. They included Don Steinbach, Ron Greenwood, Bill Haber, Mike Aronstein, Larry Fritsch, Richard Egan and a very young Keith Olbermann.

The magazine continued for two years with a run of 20 issues. It's last issue was distributed in October 1974 and featured an action photo of Earl Averill on its cover with the caption "Hall of Fame 1975?"

As the record shows, Averill was selected in January 1975 by the Veteran's Committee for enshrinement at Cooperstown--on the basis of his outstanding record and brought to light, at least in part by the efforts of collectors like those who supported Sports Scoop.

A Magazine Profile, Issues Checklist and Gallery of Covers for all issues of Sports Scoop have been added to the Old Cardboard website.



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3. Latest Additions to the OldCardboard.com Website

We are continually expanding the Old Cardboard website with more set profiles, checklists and card galleries. Recent (past 30-40 days) additions include:

Set Profiles have been added for:
1973-74   Sports Scoop Magazine
1985-94   The Old Judge Newsletter

Set Checklists have been added for:
1973-74   Sports Scoop Magazine

Set Galleries have been added for:
1973-74   Sports Scoop Magazine

Updating the website with checklists and full set galleries for additional vintage sets is an ongoing project, so check back often to check out the latest additions. There are now many thousands of card images on the website and the list continues to grow. We welcome and encourage feedback with checklist additions, card images, error corrections and suggestions. Please send all input to editor@oldcardboard.com.

In addition to these additions to the Old Cardboard website, we continue to expand and refine our eBay Custom Search Links to make finding vintage baseball cards on eBay easier than ever. The results of these searches are continuously changing, so check back often to find the most recent listings.


4. News Briefs (A Digest of Recent Hobby Happenings)

PSA Launches Collector Resource. Card grader Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA) has launched the first phase of a new online resource for collectibles and memorabilia. The initial phase can be viewed at PSA CollectibleFacts. According to the company, it plans to expand site to include additional sports and non-sports trading cards as well as PSA's extensive information and images about autographs, tickets, professional model baseball bats and other historic memorabilia.

Reports of Our Death have been Greatly Exaggerated. A recent report of the demise of Old Cardboard Magazine has been greatly exaggerated--to borrow a quote from Mark Twain.   Last month, an article in Sports Collectors Digest reported that OC had "ended its 22-issue run in the spring of 2010."   . . . Whoa, guys, not quite so fast.  In fact, Old Cardboard is alive and well and living in Austin, Texas. We just completed the worldwide distribution of our Spring 2012 issue (Issue #27) and with unwavering support from the hobby, plan to continue for many more years to come.  In addition, we are rapidly closing in on Issue #100 of this monthly OC eNewsletter and continue each month to expand the already massive Old Cardboard website.  We sincerely appreciate the steadfast support of our subscribers, authors and sponsors for helping us to achieve these goals.


Lyman and Brett Hardeman
Old Cardboard, LLC.

Old Cardboard, LLC. was established in December 2003, to help bring information on vintage baseball card collecting to the hobbyist.  Produced by collectors for collectors, this comprehensive resource consists of three components: (1) Old Cardboard Magazine, (2) a companion website at www.oldcardboard.com and (3) this eNewsletter. The Old Cardboard website contains more than 500 pages of descriptive reference information for baseball card sets produced fifty years ago or longer.  Each of these set summaries has a direct set-specific link to auctions and a similar link to 's powerful search engine for further research.  The website also includes a Show and Auction Calendar, an eBay Top 50 Vintage Sellers List, and much more.  As a result, the Old Cardboard website makes a great "Alt-tab" companion for vintage card shoppers and researchers.  Old Cardboard eNews provides current hobby news, upcoming shows and auctions, and updates to the website and the magazine.  It is published around the middle of each month.  For a FREE subscription to the eNewsletter, or for subscription information on Old Cardboard Magazine, please visit the website at www.oldcardboard.com.  If you find this information resource helpful, please tell your friends.  We need your support and your feedback. Thank you.