Blog, Batta, Blog!

Well, what do you know? A card in a Global holder gets submitted for crossover, and it turns out to be trimmed. Who woulda thunk it?

Guys, there comes a time when you just fold up your tent and call it quits. It's time.

Picked up my first red Cobb this week, thanks to James from 54. Also got a Delong Chuck Klein in the same deal - my first Delong. On the flipside, I'm mourning the departure of my very nice T213 Sam Crawford, as I had to dangle Sam out there to get the Cobb.

Everything's a give and take. Red Cobbs are easy to come by, but this is a nice one and I was able to help James with a T213-2 set he's working on. Those are two good things. I'll find another T213-2 HOFer at some point; they're not that tough.

I also got a fairly large (for me) submission back from SGC this week. A 38-card submission of tobacco cards as part of their January tobacco special - my T205 set has suddenly grown quite a bit, and my T206 Cy Young is now in the right holder. Next week I'll get back the balance of the submission, which consists mostly of PSA stuff I'm crossing over to SGC. If the stuff crosses, that is. There's also a few W502s in the submission that I'll be able to add to my set.

I also shipped a submission off to PSA last week - two cards, both '38 Goudeys, both resubmissions. I'll let you know, of course.

That means I an never ollet raker Jaks.

So I attended the big summit, as stated, and have thus far refrained from commenting, because I didn't think anybody cared. But Jason L asked, so...

I left my office a little late, stopping off at SGC to drop off a bunch of cards. I just bought a new car, and I got the navigation system option, so I decided it would be fun to let the car tell me the best way to get to the meeting. Of course the car thought it would be fun to drive over the GWB instead of the Tunnel, so a 1 hour delay ensued. The car kept telling me I was just 8 miles away, 10 minutes from my destination, and I was stuck on the Jersey side to the bridge and couldn't move. For almost an hour the car said I was 10 minutes away.

Damn car.

Anyway, I arrived late and walked into a host of folks, some of whom I knew and some of whom were introduced to me when I arrived.

My basic observation, which I communicated in the meeting and then later in a 54 post, is that any "association" who's goal is to create some sort of watchdog group that develops a code of ethics and some sort of penalty for anyone who doesn't abide by the code is doomed to fail.

There currently isn't any single resource to find out information about individual sets. If you ask questions, you may be lucky to find someone like Mark Macrae or Rob Lifson, who are both unbelievable resources and very willing to pass along information that can help you learn. But too many others keep their knowledge close to the vest, and spit out garbage like "If you want to learn how to detect an altered T206, you just have to buy a bunch of them and get to know them over 40 years like I have. Then you'll know."

Until then, presumably you have to be duped by people selling you trimmed cards.

What's funny is that there were many long-time collectors in the room that night, and when Dave Forman of SGC passed around a bunch of slabbed samples (some of which were altered and some of which weren't), I don't think there was a guy in the room who guessed - and most were guessing - all of them right.

Don't get me wrong here. I think card alteration is bad. I think it's rampant. I think guys like Rob Lifson deserve to sit at the top of the hobby, not only figuratively but LITERALLY - in terms of sales dollars.

But I don't think you can hand an unethical person a code of ethics, have him sign it, and expect that he won't keep on doing what he's always done.

I'm talking about a large hobby resource here, someplace where you can go to find out not only how to determine if a Goudey has had rebuilt corners or if an OJ has been rebacked, but also to find out just how many different parallel sets Upper Deck issued in their 2006 set, and how to determine if a Refractical Shinything has had a 64th of an inch sliced off the top edge.

A place where you can go and read up on people's experiences with Auction House A or Dealer B or Grading Company C. Sort of like a Better Business Bureau, only without the heavyhandedness.

My suspicion is that the cream will rise to the top, and maybe some people will have to change their business practices and take the high road for a change.

And I also suspect that the people I choose to do business with today - including Rob Lifson, SGC, Huggins & Scott and others - won't have to change a thing.

Nine days til pitchers and catchers. Reminds me of what this hobby is all about, yo.