When I was in High School and College I managed a Baseball Card Shop in Portland, OR. In 1994, I started noticing certain Insert Sets in Baseball, Basketball and Football were sky rocketing in prices from one month to the next. I decided to write Beckett to get their side of the story and get to the bottom of these price hikes. Here is my letter to Beckett (obviously shortened by there editors).
After reading Beckett's response, I started calling around to our friends that owned other shops, locally and out of state. None of them had any out of the ordinary requests for these cards, nor did we. Even at card shows, there wasn't a high demand for these Inserts. I'm sure there may have been some added interest in these cards, but not to the extent that required prices to jump 2 fold. My thinking is that Beckett wanted to stir up the market a bit and cause a frenzy with various Sets. That's just my opinion. Back in the day, there use to be a section that listed the Card Shops across the country that Beckett used as mediums for card prices. I haven't see those listings in years. Not sure if Beckett is still using that system anymore and not listing the shops or if they are using different online auctions and stores as references.
Sorry for the long read,
Billy
P.S. I've been trying to find a new copy of this August 1994 Beckett to update my old one I had. I finally found one on Ebay for $8.00 shipped. The one in the photo is the one I cut up and framed back in 1994. My new one will stay intact and I will probably frame it with a photo copy of my letter to place on the outside.

After reading Beckett's response, I started calling around to our friends that owned other shops, locally and out of state. None of them had any out of the ordinary requests for these cards, nor did we. Even at card shows, there wasn't a high demand for these Inserts. I'm sure there may have been some added interest in these cards, but not to the extent that required prices to jump 2 fold. My thinking is that Beckett wanted to stir up the market a bit and cause a frenzy with various Sets. That's just my opinion. Back in the day, there use to be a section that listed the Card Shops across the country that Beckett used as mediums for card prices. I haven't see those listings in years. Not sure if Beckett is still using that system anymore and not listing the shops or if they are using different online auctions and stores as references.
Sorry for the long read,
Billy
P.S. I've been trying to find a new copy of this August 1994 Beckett to update my old one I had. I finally found one on Ebay for $8.00 shipped. The one in the photo is the one I cut up and framed back in 1994. My new one will stay intact and I will probably frame it with a photo copy of my letter to place on the outside.