When did people stop using Beckett?
craig44
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I got to thinking the other day that I cannot remember when people stopped using Beckett monthly magazines for pricing cards. it must have been a long and gradual decline. I know I used it religiously in the 80s through the 90s. I am pretty sure I also used it for at least the first few years of the 2000's. I know that at some point I started looking at ebay sold listings. i started using Ebay in 1999, but was still mostly using Beckett monthly's then.
I think most everyone was about done with Beckett by 2010 or so. what do you guys remember?
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
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I quit Beckett the exact moment a dealer pointed to a low column price and said "I'll give you half of that".
Hell hath no fury like a Northside slump.
After about the 5th time a card dealer said "Beckett is high on that card" (one of mine), and "Beckett is low on this card"........one of his.
I did pay attention to the little up and down arrows to see if a card was possibly going up or down in value.
eBay and endless inserts were the end of Beckett. I started on eBay in 1999 and realized Beckett no longer had value at that point.
I remember thinking how eye opening eBay was on the actual availability of cards. I went from hunting cards down in a small town in Michigan to suddenly having everything available at once. Game changer right as PSA was hitting its stride.
Interesting topic. I stopped collecting from 1991-2010 so
I stopped in 1991.
What Chris said about ebay tho. I do remember going on ebay and seeing how insanely easy it was to get cards and everything else. As it were, I was selling anything and everything to fund college/life. Made a “fortune”! Several thousands on D&D books, comics and random stuff. Oddly enough I didn’t sell my cards.
John
I remember how big Beckett was in the 90s. I couldn't wait to get my new copy and see if my cards went up or down. I think with all the cool new price guides they have now and of course ebay sold items, it has little value today. I think I stopped using it around 2000 or so.
i went from 1991 - 2007.
yeah the internet/ebay changed everything.
If I remember back that far, we didn't really put much importance on the Beckett pricing as much as it was just nice to read collector stories and such, but the advertisements were the thing, and we turned to Tuff Stuff for awhile because every well-stocked dealer was in the back pages and also private parties selling collections.
Hell hath no fury like a Northside slump.
Beckett was fine and I never got the fever, but I LOVED Tuff Stuff. That was fun to read and go through. Fabulous.
For sure. The price guide was tried by buyer/seller to their best advantage based on their interpretation of it.
One thing Beckett did prior to eBay etc was to somewhat "freeze" prices for a month. So one could conceivable get a good deal before the next issues price rise. Or make out if you sold before the next issues dip. But conversely if one sold prior to a price rise one could lose out on a few extra $. Either way it still was a guide and should of never been interpreted as "etched in stone".
I've been on both sides of the showcase. Many times a person would bring to the store what they thought was an extremely high value item. I had to shoot 'em down. They'd go seek a better offer. Sometimes they came back.
Negotiating aside from pricing authorities is what we had to learn. If we were solely dependent on what the publishers of monthly propaganda were saying, we would have been wrecked.
Hell hath no fury like a Northside slump.
Checking stocks in the paper was fun back then too. The up and down arrows for a .10 were fun.
i use to love Beckett. I remember back in the day using it as a guide for trade values with my buddies. I remember trading an 86 fleer plunk/canseco for a 84 donruss mattingly. Beckett had them valued about the same. At some point i sent in my mattingly and got a psa 7. He never got his graded so i don't know who won that trade.
I remember dealers going to certain tables, buying the new Beckett, then going back and adjusting their prices before the doors opened. Some players had up arrows seemingly every month during their hot years. Mattingly, Henderson, Ryan, Strawberry, Clemens, Gooden, Puckett, McGwire, Canseco, etc.
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Loved this exact way of checking on stocks as well. Now the smart phone gives INSTANT access to buy and sell stocks!
Yowza... I think I nailed this one... remember about 2 years ago when I mentioned on this board that graded Beckett's would be a thing. Well walla now look at this discussion and at ebay and see how both CGC and PSA graded becketts are doing... I loaded up on a complete run of beckett baseballs from issues #1 to like #100 (the # monthly sequence are collectible much like comic books)... I bought numerous beckett baseball #1-#6 in the best condition I could find (extremely tough to find in NM or better)...and bought runs of early first 10 issues of beckett Football, basketball and hockey... also was fortunate enough to find sealed cases each of Beckett Basketball #1 with Michael Jordan cover and Beckett Baseball #64 with Ken Griffey's first cover (graded mint are $500 and $1000 respectively). Oh yeah buy some silver for the future... it's way cheap compared to Gold and you can get government backed pure silver coins... Your days in the sun have come and are coming as well... Rock on!
Exactly 100%
I stopped using,buying Becketts when the news stand price increased.
Hey and If you slab them all nobody will ever be able to see what's inside.
yes but one can always get a ready copy! It is fun to look at early 90's beckett articles and prices... I also find the old ads pretty intriguing and I know most everyone prolly liked the state by state show calendar at the back pages of the becketts...
Only if it was the sole copy in existence
It's the singer not the song - Peter Townshend (1972)
Not even a minute do I buy the whole buh buh buh I'm a man-child japery - Me (2025)
It's pretty surprising how many copies of Beckett are available. You could get uncirculated examples of pretty much any issue real cheap last time looked. 5-10 bucks. A couple years ago.
I bought a real nice Beckett Basketball #1 for less than 20 bucks, I believe, a couple years ago. The pages are a little yellowed. Jordan cover.
Awesome... you can still get unread older becketts from like 1990 on for basically the same price as two years ago on ebay... That Beckett #1 I think is kinda like a grail of sorts... They are very delicate and the paper is thin unlike the later becketts which are much tougher and can withstand a lot of use... Hard to find one the baseball Beckett #1 under $200 now any any condition... I bought a #1 already graded CGC 9.6 NM+ for like $800 awhile ago... there is only a few of these graded a 9.6 NM+ and 1 CGC 9.8 NM/MT which I was the second highest bidder on at $1800... Great investment on your #1 beckett... can't go wrong it seems...
People stopped using Beckett once SMR hit the scene.
I bought it for what's inside. I like seeing price history.
I think there are a ton of them available. They're only low pop because nobody submits them. If they have dried up it's because someone bought them up and put them in their closet. Trickling stuff like this out is totally a thing now.
I really enjoy flipping through and reading my old copies of Beckett (and other hobby magazines) having a "slabbed" copie that I couldnt look through would not be of any interest to me.
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
I have the entire first year of Beckett hockey in mint condition. Issue #1 with Gretzky on the cover, it was worth a few bucks.
A slabbed 9.8 sold for $350.00 in April!
Think you folks mean nm/m aka 9.8. Mags graded mint aka 9.9 or 10 are more rare than Beckett black 10 in cards.
It's the singer not the song - Peter Townshend (1972)
Not even a minute do I buy the whole buh buh buh I'm a man-child japery - Me (2025)
9.9 and 10 appear to me to be joke grades from CGC.
Graded SMR's will likely be a thing as well
Looking on eBay at all these Baseball Beckett #1 reprints from 2001.
I wonder if the Basketball Beckett #1 I bought could be a 2001 reprint? I wonder how I could tell.
Possibly by the quality texture of the paper. You would have to have an original #1 to compare the paper. Much like to differentiate between a counterfeit paper money bill and a genuine bill with original paper.
If its very high grade its most likely a reprint. Those polluted the pool to the extent you must know what you are doing to not be taken.
There is or was a site with details on how to Id the reprints.
It's the singer not the song - Peter Townshend (1972)
Not even a minute do I buy the whole buh buh buh I'm a man-child japery - Me (2025)
Someday they're gonna dig up all the piles of mags we saved since G-D knows when. The Becketts are probably buried somewhere near the kids toys. The SMRs are piled up high like a New York deli sandwich.
Hell hath no fury like a Northside slump.
I have other Becketts from the same era. Everything looks right to me. I don't think that paper is hard to find even today.