While the big-money players in the baseball card industry have been in a bit of turmoil lately, the guys on the fringe have been quite industrious.

When I started blogging in 2006, there were two baseball-card-related books out there that you'd find with the normal books (not the hobby-specific catalogues): The Great American Baseball Card Flipping, Trading and Bubble Gum Book by Harris and Boyd, and Card Sharks: How Upper Deck Turned a Child's Hobby into a High-Stakes, Billion-Dollar Business by Pete Williams. And that was it.

Since then, there's been The Card by Thompson and O'Keeffe, and a slew of others: Mint Condition by Dave Jamieson, Cardboard Gods by Josh Wilker (which I haven't seen for sale anywhere), and my personal favorite: The T206 Collection: The Players and their Stories by Tom and Ellen Zappala.

I got an advance press packet for T206 and I have to say it looks awesome. The authors set out to document each player who appeared on a card from the original tobacco set, with a picture of the card and a short biography of the player. It's a huge undertaking, to say the least, and I've heard that the initial print run is going to be very low. It's going to be a coffee-table-type book: over-sized, full color on every page, the works. Sounds really cool.

Also, yesterday I got an email from Gary Joseph Cieradkowski, the graphic designer behind Oriole Park at Camden Yards, announcing Series 1 of his Infinite Card Set. And yes, I bought a copy immediately. Take a look at it here.

And speaking of baseball-card art, I've finally figured out how to present my "Casey at the Bat" project in a tangible form. I'm planning on offering the set as a poster and as individual cards (in their correct sizes). If you're interested in obtaining a copy of the finished piece (or pieces), let me know.

Because so much of the hobby revolves around eBay, I've decided that it would probably be helpful to point to a few interesting auctions now and then. Tonight's eBay of the Day (or Night, DOWYA) is an auction for the paperback 1987 Update to the landmark 1985 Topps Baseball Cards book.

If you're unfamiliar with what I'm referring to, in 1985 the Topps Company released a large coffee-table book containing photos of the fronts of every card the company ever produced, up until 1985. The true 'revised edition' came out following the release of the 1990 set, but in 1987 Topps released a short, paperback 'Update.' The best part of the 'Update' is the inclusion of the 1951 Connie Mack All-Stars (absent from the 'revised edition' of 1990).

This is not my auction, nor do I care if it sells. However, if you've done your homework, you know that the two coffee-table books usually go for big bucks. The paperback Update; not so much.

eBay: Topps Picture Book, 1987 Update

ABE Books.com search results