BY MARK A. LARSON
Most collectors of sports memorabilia subscribe to at least one of the national Hobby papers. But since the publications are unique, a review of each would probably be helpful to those new to collecting – or those who haven’t seen all of the papers. There are currently four major Hobby publications: Baseball Hobby News; Baseball Card News; The Trader Speaks; and Sports Collectors Digest (which also publishes
Baseball Cards magazine). Let’s take a look at each paper individually:
• BASEBALL HOBBY NEWS: BHN is now one of two major sports collectors publications located in or near San Diego, California. It is a monthly paper that is printed in large tabloid size (like The Sporting News) with a subscription rate of $17.00 per year. The November 1983 issue had two sections totalling 80 pages. I find BHN to be the most newsy of the four papers, with numerous articles and columns on sports collecting – primarily focused on baseball card collecting. Articles have included: autograph collecting; interviews with retired players; a crossword-type puzzle; a price poll; book reviews; collector profiles; a Hobby show calendar; plus other timely stories and commentaries. As with all four national publications, there are many pages filled with ads. However, most of the ads are for fairly easy-to-obtain cards – cards from 1960-1984. There are relatively few classified ads. And there aren’t many ads for other sports collectibles, and I get the feeling BHN is geared more toward the beginning to intermediate collector. BHN is for the collector who wants to read more about the Hobby itself, as opposed to just reading buy-sell-trade ads.
• BASEBALL CARD NEWS: BCN, the newest of the Hobby publications, is in many ways a carbon-copy of Baseball Hobby News. It too, is located near San Diego. It too, is a large-size monthly tabloid. It too, emphasizes news over ads – maybe even more so than Baseball Hobby News. A one-year subscription to BCN costs $15.00. Again, for the Hobbyist who is primarily interested in obtaining material to improve their collection, ads in BCN do not have much in the way of older, scarcer material. This publication seems to be more oriented to the west coast, with many of its writers hailing from California. However, that’s not to say a midwest collector wouldn’t find articles of interest in BCN. If you like Baseball Hobby News, you’ll probably like BCN as well.
• THE TRADER SPEAKS: TTS is the oldest of the current Hobby papers, having begun publication in 1968. Located in Lake Ronkonkoma, New York, TTS used to be known as the serious collector’s paper, but apparently something went haywire during the past few years. TTS changed hands last fall and is now officially called The New Trader Speaks. I have seen two issues since the new publisher took over and to be blunt: TTS is atrocious. It is printed in a smaller format than either Baseball Hobby News or Baseball Card News – each page of TTS is about half the size of a large tabloid page. Yet the subscription rate is $16.95 per year for 12 monthly issues.
The January issue only had 36 pages and the typestyle is computer-like, but very small and extremely hard to read. The writing is generally not that good and pictures of a recent New York convention were just plain dumb – silly captions, silly poses, unidentified people, etc. If you’re an advanced collector, you’d be thoroughly disappointed. There are few ads for rarer or older items, so few, in fact, as to no longer make TTS a viable national publication for any collector – beginner or advanced. Classified ads, the backbone of any good Hobby publication, are lacking. And you can usually tell the quality of any paper (Hobby or general) by the number of classifieds.
TTS has the look of a dying magazine. Actually, it looks like something out of the Hobby’s early days – 1970 or so. It is simply the poorest excuse for a national Hobby publication that I’ve seen. This is not to blame the new owner, though. TTS had to have been ailing for some time to sink this low. For someone on a limited budget, $16.95 for a year of TTS is crazy. TTS would make a good newsletter, but as for its claim as a national publication that should be taken seriously by the Hobby – forget it.
Unfortunately, a paper in TTS’s condition will have a difficult time making a comeback. Collectors won’t subscribe until there are more ads and features. But dealers won’t advertise until there are more readers. My advice: Cut subscription rates in half and double the amount of news and feature articles. Then and only then will subscribers and advertisers return. Maybe the Hobby just can’t support four major papers.
• SPORTS COLLECTORS DIGEST: Not enough kind words can be said about SCD since it was taken over by Krause Publications of Iola, Wisconsin two years ago. It is the most professional, the largest, the most frequent, and the least expensive of the big four Hobby papers. An average issue of SCD has about 200 pages. Like The Trader Speaks, these are half-size tabloid, but that still equals 100 large-size tabloid pages per issue. And SCD comes out every other week – 26 times a year – at an annual subscription rate of only $15.00. Truly, with SCD you get more bang for your buck.
Yet SCD doesn’t stop there. It has the most display ads, the most diverse ads, and by far the most classified ads. A beginner, an intermediate collector, or an advanced Hobbyist will all find something to cheer about with SCD. Yes, SCD emphasizes buy-sell-trade over extensive news articles, but it doesn’t skimp on interesting editorials, interviews, and features. I look forward to each issue of SCD and can’t get enough of it.
WRAP-UP: My choices for the best and the worst of the Hobby’s four major publications:
• #1 – Sports Collectors Digest (excellent, far out in front).
• #2 – Baseball Hobby News (good for those who want more news).
• #3 – Baseball Card News (a close third, a lot like BHN).
• #4 – The Trader Speaks (lousy, but new publisher might help).
• • • • • •
• Originally Published in Feb. 1984 “Twin Times” •
THIS ARTICLE FROM THE “TWIN TIMES” NEWSLETTER – OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE TWIN CITIES SPORTS COLLECTORS CLUB – IS REPRINTED WITH THE PERMISSION OF THE AUTHOR. IT HAS BEEN RETYPED, BUT NO CONTENT HAS BEEN CHANGED (EXCEPT FOR VERY MINOR ADJUSTMENTS, CORRECTIONS TO ANY TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS AND THE ADDITION OF GRAPHICS). COMMENTS OR INFORMATION IN THE ARTICLE MAY BE OUT-OF-DATE.
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