''Tuff Stuff'' is an

online magazine An online magazine is a magazine published on the Internet, through bulletin board systems and other forms of public computer networks. One of the first magazines to convert from a print magazine format to being online only was the computer magaz ...

that publishes prices for

trading card A trading card (or collectible card) is a small card, usually made out of paperboard or thick paper, which usually contains an image of a certain person, place or thing (fictional or real) and a short description of the picture, along with other ...

s and other

collectible A collectable (collectible or collector's item) is any object regarded as being of value or interest to a collector. Collectable items are not necessarily monetarily valuable or uncommon. There are numerous types of collectables and terms t ...

s from a variety of sports, including

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

auto racing Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organise ...

and

mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, inc ...

. The print edition of the magazine was published from 1984 to 2011, when it ceased publication,Tuff Stuff Ceases Publication; SCD Goes Twice Monthly
by Rich Mueller on Sports Collectors Daily, 11 Jan 2011 As a result, ''Tuff Stuff'' has remained as an online publication to date.

History and profile

The magazine was launched in April 1984 by a store owner, Ernie White, who named the magazine for his ability to offer the "tough stuff" to find in his store and to write about in the magazine. The magazine was originally an 11¼ by 15½-inch newsprint publication. It grew to a tabloid-sized, glossy-covered magazine in the late 1980s before shrinking back to standard magazine size (8 by 10 7/8) with a glossy cover in 1990. The Richmond, Virginia-based magazine was sold to Landmark Communications, which sold it to

Krause Publications Krause Publications is an American publisher of hobby magazines and books. Originally a company founded and based in Iola, Wisconsin, they relocated to Stevens Point, Wisconsin, in April 2018. The company was started by Chester L. Krause (19232 ...

in 1999, publisher of the competing ''Sports Cards Magazine''. The two magazines' content merged in 2000, taking the 'Tuff Stuff' name. The magazine took on the F+W Publications Inc. label after that company obtained Krause in 2002.About us
on Tuff Stuff In addition to columns and feature stories, the magazine included yearly pricing for cards in six sports —

and

— with roughly 100 pages of card pricing in each issue. This approach differs from its major competitor, Beckett, which published magazines devoted specifically to each sport. Issues of the magazine also included values and checklists for sports autographs, figures, and other sports collectibles. In January 2011, F+W announced that ''Tuff Stuff'' ceased publication, due to declining advertising revenue, according to magazine staffers. Readers switching from print to electronic devices accelerated the demise of the magazine. In addition to the closure, ''Sports Collectors Digest'', returned to a bi-monthly publication schedule. In January 2018, with the CEO and two other top executives leaving the company, F+W slashed its workforce by 40%. F+W filed for

Chapter 11 bankruptcy Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, whe ...

protection on March 10, 2019. The book publishing assets of the company were won by

Penguin Random House Penguin Random House LLC is an Anglo-American multinational corporation, multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate publishing company formed on July 1, 2013, from the merger of Penguin Group and Random House. On April 2, 2020, Bertels ...

at a bankruptcy auction in June 2019. The grouping of the assets drew criticism. Several properties including '' Sky & Telescope'' were sold individually.

References

External links

* {{Sports cards Sports magazines published in the United States Magazines established in 1984 Magazines published in Virginia Hobby magazines published in the United States