* Now hear this: Baseball book merchant Bobby Plapinger

February 7, 2009 · 4 comments

The Bookshelf is interested in all aspects of the field: writers, publishers, and those who are the last stop on the way to getting those materials into our hands. Not all of it comes from large retails outlets. In fact, some of the more interesting outlets are small merchants with a love for their product.

Bobby Plapinger of Ashland, OR has been providing eclectic baseball fare for more than 20 years. His catalog contains hundreds of rare titles and other hard-to-find items (regional to team-specific publications, for example) ranging in prices from $5 to $500 and beyond and his descriptions of the products are quite thoughtful and entertaining on their own, going beyond the standard dates, pages, photos, etc.

Plapinger spent a few minutes with the Bookshelf discussing how he comes by his merchandise, how he sets prices, and why he hasn’t read a new baseball titles in a long time.

For more information, contact Plapinger at P.O. Box 1062, Ashland, OR 97520 (sorry, no website), 541-488-1220, or via email at baseballbooks@opendoor.com. As an added bonus: if you mention you heard about Plapinger at RKs Baseball Bookshelf, you get a 10% discount.

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Tagged as: baseball book industry, Bobby Plapinger

{ 4 comments }

1 * Ron Henry February 8, 2009 at 9:24 pm: Whatever became of Floridian Jim Elder?
2 * ronkaplan February 8, 2009 at 10:19 pm: Pardon my ignorance, but who is Floridian Jim Elder?
3 * Ron Henry February 9, 2009 at 2:50 am: Jim Elder bought and sold used baseball books in the 1960’s & 1970’s – I did a lot of business with him and his catalogue was most impressive
4 * ronkaplan February 10, 2009 at 5:23 pm: According to Bobby Plapinger:

Jim Elder had pretty much STOPPED issuing lists/catalogs by the late 1980’s…

However, he, like many others, “migrated” to e-bay… Judging from his listings, he was specializing in media guides, yearbooks & other “publications” – as opposed to the sort of books that I tend to deal in… but he had lots of listings & even maintained an e-bay store.

I have NOT come across him recently (last year or two) – not sure if that’s because he’s no longer active or just because he doesn’t really sell the type of material that I’m seeking to buy…(and therefore his stuff doesn’t turn up in my “searches”).

But.. as of a few years ago at least, he was alive & well, still living in Fla. & selling on e-bay….