Who's Cataloging The New Stuff - Vol. 2

My post about reference books on cards had about four times the audience that I normally draw.  I'm really not sure why that was, but I'll expand my audience when I can.

Anyway, so I pointed out that there has been no detailed documentation (in physical book form) of any sets beyond 2010.  There are no currently available books that describe or provide checklists, values, or configurations of anything past that point.  Vintage - from the earliest issues up through 1980, is well covered.  There are older texts available for the 80's, 90's, and 2000's.  And the latest of those goes up through 2010 (printed in 2011.)

After that, nothing.

There are actually a couple choices for vintage, I've discovered.

The SCD catalog, last published in 2016:

There is also a Beckett version that I just saw ads for:

I haven't ever seen one of these, so I don't know what's in it, though the descriptions say that it's full listings, descriptions, photos, and of course pricing (however irrelevant) for cards from 1887 to 1980.

So we're good thru 1980.  That stuff really doesn't change much.  So whichever book you have should do for a long time.

Now, the last complete guide to newer sets was 2011's Standard Catalog.

Which is much more thorough than the regular Beckett Price Guide.

There's no way anyone can expect Beckett to be able to cover every set ever made in 816 pages.  So they pick their favorites.  One reviewer on Amazon said this:

Over 800 pages of prices. No Fleer Flair, no Leaf, no Select, no Pinnacle, no Skybox, no Collector's Choice. Yet, every card from the 1987 Fleer set, all 660, is listed and the entire set is worth $15. That's just one of many many examples.

Thanks for trying, Beckett.

What they really need to do, as I said before, is this:

Leave the vintage book as it is.

Produce either a couple smaller volumes for each decade afterwards, or one or two comprehensive books on the 80's, 90's, and 2000's.  I mocked up the covers of my proposed books.

The 80's book could either cover the whole decade, or just up to about 1985 or so.  That stuff is mostly just the first variations, and the emergence of Donruss and Fleer.

The next one would be 1990's or the Overproduction Era - otherwise known as the "Junk Wax Era".  Though that term has some resistance or resentment, apparently.  Years include 1985 thru 1994-ish.

 

OR

Continuing the series, 1994 through 2000 could round out the decade.  Then you have a nice dividing line since there is so much more volume by then.

And finally, conclude with 2000 through 2010.  Or maybe 2015 if it all fits in a reasonably sized (and priced) tome.

At that point, you can update the editions or just wait for the next chunk of time.  2015 thru 2020, published in 2021, etc.

Who's Cataloging The New Stuff?

In 2011, the last edition of the Sports Collector's Digest Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards was published.  It covered basically every single card issue of any company from the dawn of the sport to the present day.  Thoroughly cataloging every set, insert, parallel, and hit.  Arranged alphabetically by company and then by year, you could find any card product you wanted and there would be at least a little blurb on the production or features of the cards.

The next year, they came out with the "Standard Catalog of Vintage Baseball Cards".  It covers everything from about 1863 to 1980.  I agree with 1980 being the threshold of vintage.

 Since then, they have published six editions of the Vintage book.   The 2016 edition looks like this...  I have the 5th edition from the year before.

That's all fine and good.  The vintage stuff doesn't really change that much.  Makes sense to separate it from the rest of the years.  Not to mention the sheer bulk of the information.

My question is, Is anyone working on the next edition of the book about the newer stuff?

They should make another book with just the 80's and 90's.  All the bloat and variations would fill a big book.  Everything from the 80's to the turn of the century, including the Junk Wax Era.  I'd buy that.

Then go back and finish the third book that would keep getting updated.  The modern cards edition - 2000 through the present year.  Lord knows the Topps section would be 4/5 of the whole thing.

There hasn't been a catalog about every significant modern set produced since 2010 Topps Series 2.  That's eight years of modern cards with no reference other than online.

My guess is that since the passing of Bob Lemke, no one has taken over the reins.  Hopefully, the company isn't just full of millenials who don't have the attention span to type out a checklist longer than 132 cards.

The Trading Card Database is awesome, but I'd still like a hard copy (yes, I'm old school like that), to browse through and discover more obscure issues.  It is easy to call up the TCDB on my phone if I need to put a name to a card number, but there is no complete substitute to a real book you can hold in your hands, even though it would hurt to drop it on your feet.

What say you?  Would you still like a full Standard Catalog for the newer sets?