Rich Mueller's Page

This week's Sports Illustrated magazine has a feature on the sports card industry, but unfortunately it is kind of a microcosm of the zillions of newspaper articles that have appeared in the last few years. It focuses mainly on the "decline of the baseball card industry".

Here's the deal. Most of the writers 20 or 30-something. Many collected cards as kids in the late 1980s and early 90s. Now they're adults, rediscovering the collection they left at their parents' house. They dig them out and d… Continue

As someone who makes his living in journalism, it's been tough to see so many local daily newspapers either stop publishing, lay off workers or go all online. It happens almost every day now. There's a danger that one of the most important roles of the media is being severely weakened. The media is supposed to act as a watchdog--asking important questions of powerful people, covering tough issues and offering the opportunity for readers to make their voices known as well.

The decline of newspap… Continue

The story about the 1869 Peck & Snyder Cincinnati Red Stockings card found amid boxes and boxes of miscellaneous stuff inside a Fresno, CA antique shop has grown legs.

It first appeared in the Fresno Bee. Sports Collectors Daily grabbed on and linked to it...then it hit Yahoo this week and now, Al & Bernice Gallego are famous. They're going to be on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Martha Stewart has called and there were 142 news outlet… Continue

If I had bought nothing but 1950s and earlier baseball cards in high grade when I first started going to card shows back in the late-1970s I would probably not have a lot of money worries. The growth in this part of the industry has been nothing short of phenomenal. Who could have predicted grading companies, huge national sports memorabilia auctions conducted over the internet and, well, eBay?

But I didn't do that. I bought some 50s cards. Some 60s stuff. I've now got sets back to 1953 and som… Continue

I just wanted to draw your attention to this current post within the Editor's Blog on the Sports Collectors Daily main site. Not only do I offer a recommendation for the 2009 Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards which I just bought last night, but I want to encourage everyone to participate in something that's easy, will help the long-term future of the hobby and make you and your gift r… Continue