THE TIMES THEY ARE A-CHANGIN’
Readers will notice that we’ve made some significant changes to the Beckett
Baseball Price Guide this month. Below, you’ll find some questions and answers regarding the changes.
WHY WERE THESE CHANGES MADE?
Over the last several years, the trading card industry has become hotter than it has ever been. It’s a great time for collectors, dealers, and manufacturers, as it seems like the rest of the world has finally taken notice of our little hobby. The products being released are bigger – and many argue better – than they have ever been. And therein lies the problem: new products have become bigger than ever.
Every month, we have to fit anywhere from two to five pages worth of new product pricing in the Price Guide. This means we need to remove anywhere from two to five pages worth of older pricing. For many years, we’ve made do, chipping away at the older years here and there, reducing the font, and making the difficult decision several years ago to remove all of the pre-1980 pricing. We’ve gotten to the point where “chipping away” is no longer freeing up the space that we need each month.
“Why don’t you just add more pages?” This was certainly a discussion that we had at length. While adding pages sounds like a simple solution, it does not come without added costs for additional paper, printing, and shipping. At this time, we don’t want to increase the price of the magazine, but adding additional pages might require us to do just that. Even if we were to add 16 or 32 more pages to the Price Guide, at our current rate, this time next year we’d be right back in the position we are in today.
So, after many thoughtful discussions and deliberations, we’ve decided to adjust what products and years are covered in the pages of the Beckett Baseball Price Guide.
WHAT’S LISTED?
The Beckett Baseball Price Guide begins with 2000 Bowman and contains the most popular and heavily traded products from the last twenty-one years.
WHAT’S NOT LISTED?
Everything before 2000 has been removed from the Price Guide. Additionally, we have removed many of the Fleer and Upper Deck brands that are no longer produced. We have also removed many of the ancillary brands from Topps and Panini. From 2018 to the present, the Price Guide still contains virtually every popular and heavily traded Major League product.
DOES THIS MEAN THAT BECKETT IS NO LONGER TRACKING SALES OR MAKING PRICE ADJUSTMENTS ON PRE-2000 CARDS?
Absolutely not! The Beckett Pricing Team remains committed to tracking secondary market sales information on every card in our database, and we’re making price adjustments when necessary. We continue to track sales information from various sources, including online auction sites such as eBay, The Beckett Marketplace, and major auction houses. Throughout the year, we receive pricing feedback from dealers and collectors from around the world. This feedback is analyzed and taken into account when making price adjustments. In fact, over the last thirty days, the Beckett Baseball Price Team alone has made nearly 50,000 price adjustments on cards ranging from pre-war to the newest releases.
WHERE CAN I FIND PRICING FOR CARDS THAT ARE NOT LISTED IN THIS PRICE GUIDE?
Beckett provides several different resources for collectors who are interested in additional pricing. The most popular option is the Beckett Baseball Online Price Guide (becket.com/OPG). The Baseball Online Price Guide contains complete listings and pricing for every card listed in our baseball database. Pricing and checklists update daily in the Online Price Guide, and it is the best source for accurate and up-to-date pricing on the hobby’s hottest cards and players. In addition, OPG subscribers have access to the Online Graded Card Price Guide for professionally graded cards. For those who prefer print publications, the best option is the Beckett Almanac of Baseball
Cards & Collectibles. Released annually, this massive book of over 1,300 pages contains pricing for virtually every Major League - and many Minor League – card in our database. Another print option is the Beckett
Baseball Card Price Guide annual book. The most recent edition of this book contains pricing on more than 800,000 cards, including a Minor League section covering most products released since 2002. In addition, readers will find complete checklists and pricing for every important baseball card set from 1909 through late 2020. Both books can be found at beckettmedia.com/baseball and in hobby shops and books stores around the world.
COMMENTS? QUESTIONS? CONCERNS?
Collector feedback is always welcomed and encouraged. If you have a comment, question, or concern please do not hesitate to reach out to me at bfleischer@ beckett.com.
NEW IN THE PRICE GUIDE
2021 Topps Heritage and 2021 Topps Tribute are making their debut in this month’s Price Guide. 2021 Bowman, 2021 Diamond Kings, 2021 Topps Definitive, and 2021 Topps Tier One went live shortly before our pricing deadline, not allowing sufficient time to establish secondary market values. 2021 Topps Transcendent Hall of Fame, 2021 Panini Prizm, 2021 Topps Sterling, and 2021 Absolute were scheduled to go live in the weeks following our deadline. Be sure to check out the Online Price Guide on Beckett.com throughout May and June for pricing on these products - weeks before it will appear in the next issue of Beckett Baseball