Why don't you list any of the Star issues?
Good question. If you look through the two major guides, Krause's Standard Catalog Of Baseball Cards and The Beckett Almanac, both recognize Star issues.
But, and this is important, by intentional selection both guides do not include every card issue ever made. If you look closely at both guides you'll discover that their checklists showcase different cards, one guide might show this issue the other guide that issue - but neither guide completely matches up on a side-by-side comparison. Check it out yourself.
So clearly there is subjective (and selective) reasoning being applied. Their reasons are their own, but it usually boils down to a question of authenticity or provenance.
My Thomas Checklist uses a simple rule of thumb: You must be honest. And the Star Company fails miserably against that simple benchmark.
Star has a well
documented history of printing cards using false dates and fake issues types.
In fact, they were sued along with Shop At Home for selling fraudulent cards
of Michael Jordan. Remember the infamous 1988 Crunch-N-Munch Michael Jordan
lawsuit? Those were actually printed in 1996 - eight years after the fact. Well,
Star intentionally printed up those cards to profit off unwary collectors. You
might have also seen many of the so-called Platinum/Gold/Silver/Nova/Millenium
Star Promos of major stars like Thomas, Ripken,
Griffey, etc., which Star also claimed to have printed in the very early 1990's.
It's believed by many longtime collectors that those cards were printed sometime
between 1995 thru 1997, suggesting that they're fake by deception. Star
printed them yes, but with false dates.
Now it would be one thing if someone were counterfeiting Star cards and destroying their reputation - I would be the first to defend them and their products. But these fakes were printed by Star for the singular goal of enriching themselves at the expense of the collecting public.
Now given their history - would you list their crap? I won't, not because I question the validity of their pre-1992 issues, but because no manufacturer who goes out of their way to screw the common collector for money deserves to be included in any list. I did mention that this is my checklist right? When I created this site I used Mel Brooks as my inspiration when he said, "It's good to be da king". ;-)
This
site reprints the official press release regarding the NBA Properties lawsuit
brought against Star and several dealers, including the (now-defunct) Shop-At-Home
television sales programming: UPDATE 11.12.07: Note the original page I had
linked here was taken down after being up for several years. I found another
page which, while not as good, describes the lawsuit against Shop At Home and
unnamed card suppliers (Star Cards). I think I still have the content portion
of the previous webpage, if I can find it - I repost it in my own website. For
now this will have to do:
Star
Cards Sued
Here one long-time Star collector references the allegations and lawsuit in regards to collecting Star cards:
A
Star Collector's Warning
Update: 6/11/08:
SCD's Steve Bloedow's amazing investigation continues to uncover fake Star products
in 2007!
After opening the page, look to the left and click on "July
2007". It's the third article.
UPDATE (6/30/06): Well, it finally happened (we all knew it
would) Shop At Home is going out of business. The days of hollerin' and fakin'
are finally over. Loudmouth liars and bull**** con artists have to find a new
way to invade our homes and spoiling our hobby. Yes! :-)