SCD/Coach's Corner still together?

[skipcareyisfat]

I haven't looked at an issue of SCD in quite sometime and nobody I know subscribes anymore. Does anyone know if Coach's Corner is still one of its major print advertisers? If they are, I think it's interesting that CC's auctions aren't included in SCD's online database of auction results.

Maybe Chris Nerat can offer some thoughts on this? Given the amount of money they pay SCD each month, one would think that Coach's Corner would be included there. Sure CC's results are often well below average, but still. I'd bid on some of their stuff but I already own a few Cap Anson and Christy Mathewson signed dollar bills.

[bigtruck260]

Not sure - but I know that Tuff Stuff still tracks CC auctions. I just happened to look at the CC site the other day out of sheer boredom...I was sorry that I did.

Dave

[ironmanfan]

something similar along these lines was recently posted on the Autograph Forum, but I thought it is worth noting in this forum as well. Unfortunately, SCD has allowwed CC to perpetuate fraud to their reader/subscription base for years. One of the reasons I'm sure they don't report the auction "results" is due to the fact that they are just a fraction of what legitimate items would bring. In my opinion, SCD has sacrificed journalistic integrity in exchange for dirty advertising revenue.

http://www.network54.com/Forum/153652/thread/1201896466/last-1203912017/Open+letter+to+STAT+and+Christopher+Morales

[skipcareyisfat]

something similar along these lines was recently posted on the Autograph Forum, but I thought it is worth noting in this forum as well. Unfortunately, SCD has allowwed CC to perpetuate fraud to their reader/subscription base for years. One of the reasons I'm sure they don't report the auction "results" is due to the fact that they are just a fraction of what legitimate items would bring. In my opinion, SCD has sacrificed journalistic integrity in exchange for dirty advertising revenue.

http://www.network54.com/Forum/153652/thread/1201896466/last-1203912017/Open+letter+to+STAT+and+Christopher+Morales

I hope the moderators don't delete this. I made a similar statement a while back and it was removed. I'm not sure what it's going to take for SCD to finally get a clue about these guys. Apparently plummeting readership and evidence upon evidence of shady offerings aren't enough.

Here's another SCD/CC oddity. No mention of CC in SCD's auction calendar (even though CC ads are all over the Web site):

http://www.sportscollectorsdigest.com/auctioncalendar/

[staindsox]

Yep, CC and SCD are still at it. SCD can't drop CC at this point, even if they wanted to. If they didn't get the CC money, they literally would go under, which I think it is inevitable anyway. I personally am surprised that the FBI hasn't done anything about CC yet...who wouldn't want a Christy Mathewson signature for $300?

Chris

[skipcareyisfat]

Wonder how long this list really is. Fool me once ....

http://www.myccsa.com/Prohibited.aspx

[skipcareyisfat]

Came across these two interesting posts made by someone on T.S. O'Connell and Nerat's blogs. No response from either SCD employee naturally, although Chris frequently responds to comments in his so I'm sure not what's keeping him from doing so here.

http://infielddirt.sportscollectorsdigest.com/CommentView,guid,d2fa1c72-4069-4f0a-b57b-a38a48a220c6.aspx

http://gavelchat.sportscollectorsdigest.com/CommentView,guid,d1052021-efaf-4922-ba3d-e154de707009.aspx

Here are the comments:

1/30/2008 4:38:01 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
There's been a lot of discussion in the past about Coach's Corner, and the fact that they seem to routinely sell autographed baseballs of guys like Josh Gibson, Amos Rusie, Jim Thorpe, etc. -- balls that should be worth tens of thousands of dollars if real, but typically sell in the high hundreds. There's also been a lot of discussion in the past about the fact that SCD lends credibility to Coach's Corner by running their multi-page ads twice a month.

I had always assumed that SCD agreed to run Coach's Corner's ads for one simple reason -- SCD needed the money. But I noticed today that the connection between SCD and Coach's Corner appears to run much deeper.

Coach's Corner's autographs are usually authenticated by Stat Authentic. The Amos Rusie in their current auction is authenticated by Stat, as are dozens of others. Who operates Stat? It turns out that one of the two owners / authenticators is Ted Taylor. Ted Taylor writes for SCD. In fact, he writes "news" stories for SCD about Coach's Corner's auctions. The stories he writes are full of fawning praise, using phrases like "fully certified" to describe the autographs in the auction. Coach's Corner uses the same phrase in its ads, so it may be that the "news" stories are actually written by Coach's Corner, with Ted Taylor's name just added by SCD. There's also a link on Stat's website to Coach's Corner's auctions.

So, the bottom line is that we have seemingly fraudulent material, authenticated by an SCD writer, advertised in SCD, and promoted by the authenticator in SCD's "news" stories. Am I the last person to notice this?

There may be a good explanation for all this. I'd sure like to hear it. I had always assumed Ted Taylor was one of the good guys.

[lund6771]

wow...that's an incredible paper trail that really stinks...this should be a sticky until someone from SCD replies to this thread!!!!!!

[bigtruck260]

It really shouldn't suprise anyone that something like this is happening. If you have seen any of the CC auctions lately and the subsequent ending prices, a smart collector would read the writing on the wall.

SCD used to be a really cool publication. Now, instead of important stuff, it is about 1/10th the size it was 10 years ago with nothing more than a bunch of ads. It literally took me 10 minutes to look through everything in the last issue.

With that in mind - you had to know that something like this would eventually break. It's sad, but it's not the first nor the last time something like this happens.

Dave

[thedegu]

Sigh...sad to see SCD turn into this. Coach's Corner is a big reason why I dropped SCD. How can they be the 'Voice for the Hobby' if they print their crummy ads every month?

I admit, being a mean-spirited type, I couldn't help but put a snide comment of my own on O'Connell's blog...

http://infielddirt.sportscollectorsdigest.com/CommentView,guid,91665a72-53b2-4ed7-b4e2-739f11a3cffe.aspx

Thank goodness for guys like Richard Simon and others who try to expose some of the questionable goings-on in this increasingly dirty autograph hobby.

[lund6771]

Sticky This Thread!!!!!!!!!!!