I have a few influences/mentors...
My three biggest hobby influences are/were Larry Tipton, Mark Macrae, Leon Luckey...
Larry was a founding member of possibly the first online baseball card trading group dedicated to collecting older cards (pre-1980), OBC (Old Baseball Cards). I was lucky enough to stumble on a bulletin board on the old Prodigy network while i was looking to see what my mid-70s to early -80s cards might be worth in 1988...the rest was history. Larry helped rekindle my passion for cards and the history behind them. OBC itself is still around and going strong and has become a hobby mainstay and its members are spread throughout the country. Proud to still be a member.
Mark Macrae sold me my first Old Judge Phillie at a National and spent a good hour teaching me about Old Judges and Obaks that day. I would say that Mark has forgotten more about baseball cards than most people know but Mark has one of the best memories of anyone I have ever met. After seeing him that National in Anaheim, I did not meet him again for another 5 years. Not only did he remember my collecting habits but remembered my name! Over the years, I have spent some serious cash with Mark but more importantly, he has spent some serious time educating me and any other collector that comes along. He taught me a lot about the joy of collecting and how customer service and time is more important than the dollar...that philosophy has served me well over the years.
Leon was just starting to take over the mentor job here on Net 54 about 10-12 years ago when I joined. His type collection was a huge help with some of my Phillies list and his encouragement to me to share on the board and ask questions to protecting me from some of the more nefarious people out there. Net54 has become a habit I cannot break and Leon's stewardship of the site has been a large part of that.
Those three stand out but a few honorable mentions.
When I started on my Phillies quest there were two people who really helped me. Gar Miller was a great help in providing me with cards through the mail. It was a different time before paypal and ebay. I used to send him a check for $20 and he would just send me stuff back. He was a great wealth of information but not really on cards...Gar put me in touch with Lew Lipset, Larry Fritsch, Kit Young, and Lionel Carter.
Lew really helped early on with some of my Phillies type cards that I honestly could not afford today (Close Candy, Crofts Candy, Red Cross, etc.). He also helped fill in blanks on my wantlist and cross off cards that were question marks for me. Lew also taught me about mail auctions and phone auctions. Lew also once sent me a near complete run of his Old Judge magazines...I think for no other reason than to stop an 18 year from writing him once a month with questions!
Larry was really helpful with newer sets and actually helped me with tips and tricks on telling what was real and what was not. He was the first to tell me to get a little loupe and to feel and smell the cards. I also took that to heart. Much of his advice has stuck with me and I am glad to say it has been at least 5 years since I bought a reprint (and it was a really really good one...Kendig's Chocolates anyone?).
Kit was a help with shows. I met him at my first National and he actually helped a young 17 year navigate the show. He was also one of the first online dealers that I dealt with and he always took the time to help other collectors. Kit introduced me to many dealers that I am still friendly with today.
I actually never met Lionel Carter but did speak to him on the phone once and wrote to him a few times. He was a wealth of hobby information and encouraged me to go out and grab several older magazines and books including Trader Speaks, Old Judge (already had most), Lew's Encyclopedias, Halper's book, etc. Great guy.
Joshua
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