Do current baseball card magazines still exist

[livealoha]

Back in the day there use to be a monthly baseball card magazine published (no not Beckett monthly) which was pretty cool. Now with hard copy magazines fading away. Does anyone know if there is still any good baseball card magazines still being published (not Beckett, because 95% of the magazine is just a price guide) looking more for a baseball card magazine like they did in the 80s) thanks

[Triple B]

Sportslook was the best. Tuff Stuff was a close second. Those are long gone and replaced with message boards and much better ways to get info and articles.

[abcd1234]

I did see a glimpse on tv, I think it was fox sports network, they have sports card 30 minute show.

[mfw13]

Originally Posted by livealoha

Back in the day there use to be a monthly baseball card magazine published (no not Beckett monthly) which was pretty cool.

Back in the early 90's there was a magazine called "Baseball Cards Magazine" which often has cards inserted in the spine.

During that period there was also "Legends Sports Memorabilia" magazine in the early 90's, which also frequently contained card inserts.

Are either of those what you were thinking of?

[livealoha]

Originally Posted by mfw13

Back in the early 90's there was a magazine called "Baseball Cards Magazine" which often has cards inserted in the spine.

During that period there was also "Legends Sports Memorabilia" magazine in the early 90's, which also frequently contained card inserts.

Are either of those what you were thinking of?

Yes! This exactly! The Baseball Cards magazine with the cards in them! I know they went out of business (I think) but was looking for something similar. Thanks

[SaveMeTheGum]

Now it's just "influencers" and breakers barking all over the internet.

[mg444]

Maybe Sports Collectors Digest? Published 2x a month.

[livealoha]

Originally Posted by mg444

Maybe Sports Collectors Digest? Published 2x a month.

I was going to subscribe to them but then when I was signing up for a subscription it said “by subscribing you agree to auto renewal unless you cancel” in the past it has been my experience 100% of the time that when it says “auto renewal” it is always easy to sign up but a real pain in the $&@ to cancel. Too many hoops to jump through. It’s never easy, so I skip when I see things with “automatic” auto renewal (just my experience with it)

[1989FF]

Originally Posted by livealoha

I was going to subscribe to them but then when I was signing up for a subscription it said “by subscribing you agree to auto renewal unless you cancel” in the past it has been my experience 100% of the time that when it says “auto renewal” it is always easy to sign up but a real pain in the $&@ to cancel. Too many hoops to jump through. It’s never easy, so I skip when I see things with “automatic” auto renewal (just my experience with it)

I see what you're saying but SCD has been around 50 years. I don't think their business model is to keep customers by deceit. I see a cancel subscription link on their site under the subscription area. Doubt it's as hard as you think.

[Carlton]

Originally Posted by abcd1234

I did see a glimpse on tv, I think it was fox sports network, they have sports card 30 minute show.

It's called The Card Life, hosted by Phillies reliever Matt Strahm. There were new episodes once a month during the season, airing on my regional sports network and you can find most of the episodes also on Youtube.

[hermanotarjeta]

Originally Posted by Triple B

Sportslook was the best. Tuff Stuff was a close second. Those are long gone and replaced with message boards and much better ways to get info and articles.

I loved collectors sportslook.

It was like the wizard magazine for sports cards. They had the same type of quirkiness.

[livealoha]

Originally Posted by 1989FF

I see what you're saying but SCD has been around 50 years. I don't think their business model is to keep customers by deceit. I see a cancel subscription link on their site under the subscription area. Doubt it's as hard as you think.

Thank you! I will give them a try! I know one time I got this time life music CDs “oldies but goodie” cd set where they send you a new cd every month. The tv info Mercial lied! It was extremely hard to cancel that subscription! I’ve been wary ever since however, I will trust you on this one!

Any other card magazines out there that I can subscribe too? Thanks guys! I appreciate you!

[Crosby 87]

Originally Posted by livealoha

Thank you! I will give them a try! I know one time I got this time life music CDs “oldies but goodie” cd set where they send you a new cd every month. The tv info Mercial lied! It was extremely hard to cancel that subscription! I’ve been wary ever since however, I will trust you on this one!

Any other card magazines out there that I can subscribe too? Thanks guys! I appreciate you!

welcome back!

[smapdi]

The whole magazine sector has been decimated by the web, and I'm always amazed when I see a new Beckett on the shelf. I believe that's the last surviving regularly issued hobby magazine. And last I looked it had a $10 cover price, which is ridic, but the subscription price was a lot more economical.

There were several magazines from the 80s through the 10s that were entertaining and informative, and losing them was kind of sad. Fortunately, old magazines can still be entertaining and informative if the articles are new to you. If you find some at a show, go ahead and dig in.

Sportslook definitely hit a peak. The first few issues were pretty boring and straight but eventually they decided to inject a bit more attitude and have fun with it, and had a nice run. They weren't afraid to call bad product bad product, though they did so sparingly. Can't alienate your advertisers every single month.

Baseball Cards was a quarterly that started in spring 1981, and eventually became Sportscards, covering all sports plus some non-sports, I think around the late 80s. I highly recommend some of the early issues for good articles and for insight into the collector mind of that era.

I was never really a fan of Tuff Stuff but I bought it most months just for something to read. Sometimes they'd have an interesting article, usually not, as I recall.

Beckett was a must-read throughout the 80s and 90s until ebay came a long and basically made the whole price guide irrelevant. Plus, by then they had stopped creating original, full-length articles and mostly just printed press releases from the card companies and financial speculation, which was tough because print magazines had to be created so far in advance. The advice proved to be either very late or simply wrong by the time you read it, a failing of all print magazine. However, Beckett has had several versions of a "Vintage Collector" magazine and some issues were great with articles on a wide range of material that most people never even get to see but can be intensely interesting. Looks like they still make that but I haven't read it in many years.

And there was Sports Collectors Digest, a weekly newspaper on the hobby. I only randomly came across issues of that, but as I recall they were mostly ads from dealers and individual collectors with just a few actual stories. I guess that's unavoidable for a hobby that didn't change much from week to week in the era before the internet.

Just never look at the price guides. We all know that a 51 Bowman Mantle was $250 at one point, and a Nolan Ryan rookie was a couple bucks. Can't get wrapped up in that.

[DynaEtch]

It’s not baseball, but it is cards….Non-Sport Update is surprisingly still going (existed since early 90s). It is now owned by Beckett, which seems committed to continuing print magazines.

Since Beckett took over it’s a rather sterile, corporatized magazine these days, with not lots of articles. Back in the 90s Non-sports cards had some magazines with a little more spunk (and tbh nonsports as hobby is lots of spunk)- mags like Cards Illustrated, Tuff Stuff Collect (nonsports arm of Tuff Stuff), the old Nonsport Update, and Wizard.

One of the biggest things I miss from all the magazines out is the promo cards, which are now becoming almost irrelevant in the hobby.

For baseball cards for me growing up was always Beckett and Tuff Stuff. From Beckett I remember most the Hot/Cold list and the monthly Reader’s Write article. From Tuff Stuff I mostly just remember all the ad pages of stores selling their stuff (helpful in the days of pre-eBay where you could buy nationally). I’m pretty sure I even bought a box of 1992 Marvel Masterpieces from a listing in Tuff Stuff…for like $50, not too shabby looking back.

[daveyc1]

Dont forget Sports Card Trader from the early 90's. It was must reading for me. Tuff Stuff was my favorite though.

[spuds1961]

I was cleaning out my closet looking for our passports for a trip we are making next year. I found an old 2016 Beckett thick yearly magazine. It was actually refreshing seeing something pre Ohtani. Not saying I don’t appreciate Ohtani just found it funny reading something before he was around.

[Chicosbailbonds]

SCD, also Beckett Vintage for us old guys.

[1989FF]

At the time those magazines were my only source for hobby knowledge, and I valued them greatly. I was not lucky enough to get the magazines every month. But the ones I did get, I read those so many times. Good memories.

[no10pin]

Originally Posted by livealoha

I was going to subscribe to them but then when I was signing up for a subscription it said “by subscribing you agree to auto renewal unless you cancel” in the past it has been my experience 100% of the time that when it says “auto renewal” it is always easy to sign up but a real pain in the $&@ to cancel. Too many hoops to jump through. It’s never easy, so I skip when I see things with “automatic” auto renewal (just my experience with it)

It's madness. Madness I tell you!

[SliderCutter14]

From spending some time in the sports analytics realm for publishing/media(podcasts), there is nearly zero market for actual deep content as print media lost a chunk of their "research teams" to build a good cycle of content.

While not "sport card specific", there are sports journals that can give you a heads up in tracking minor league "rebuild cycles" and you can use that to build a decent sports card trading cycle before the "big media" catches onto those pipeline trends. I'm sure back in the day Beckett had hired former sports prospects that found it better paying vs actual playing.

[csmtampa]

Originally Posted by 1989FF

At the time those magazines were my only source for hobby knowledge, and I valued them greatly. I was not lucky enough to get the magazines every month. But the ones I did get, I read those so many times. Good memories.

Same! I memorized all the HOF rookie card prices and sets.

[Quake1028]

Originally Posted by no10pin

It's madness. Madness I tell you!

I'm cool with this, but for me, the issue is Paypal checkout seems straight up broken. I hit Paypal, it takes me back to the site, I hit subscribe, and it just tells me to select an order method. Odd.