My turn
Jeff Schwarz
53 years old
Strikingly handsome bald guy
Like sunsets and walks along the beach...........oops, not a dating site...
Anyway, been married for 25 years this Oct. to someone who liked wrappers and press pins because they are cool sports art, so those have been a collecting concentration.
Have 3 great kids, a boy who graduated from the University of Illinois and actually got a job (Yippee!), another boy who is a senior at the University of Iowa is an RA and is taking the LSAT in a couple weeks. The princess is last in line and is a senior in a suburban Chicago high school, playing tennis and badminton. They like my collection because I get into it but don't really collect.
Luckily had a pack rat for a mom so all my cards survived. On my wedding day, as my wedding present, my uncle comes up to me during the reception and hands me the flap of a cardboard box with about 40 Orbit Gum pins on it. I ask where they came from, and he says there is a box of stuff that came from my late grandma's house. Turns out Dad's collection from the 30's survived!
Dad and I were staples at all the Chicago area shows for years. Even brought the kids when they were little to get their pictures taken with the autograph signers (luckily, no extra fees for a photo op back then). Dad worked on sets from his era (Goudeys, Play Balls, DeLongs, Tatto Orbits, premiums, and exhibits) and I did Topps from 1953-1990. After that, I went to tobacco and finished T200, T201, T205, T206. Also did some autographs and have a complete Perez-Steele set and all the Gold HOF plaques signed. After discovering this Board about a year ago, I was sucked in by the passion for caramel cards and finished sets of E93, E95, and E98.
Dad is 89 now and I miss going to the shows with him but I am trying to finish the sets he started (Exhibits from 1923-24, 1925 - need only Terry, 26 31/32, 33, 25-31 Exhibits, Dietsche, Grignon, Morgan Red Belt, $ in Shield, E121 series of 80, R303-A, R314, R315, and a couple elusive Orbit Gum unnumbered pins).
After getting out of teaching, coaching, and athletic directorship in an elementary district, I coordinate 225 sports officials in 5 sports and assign over 12,000 games per year. Also, I run basketball and baseball tourneys and a 55 team Fall baseball league that started this weekend.
In my spare time, I walk our cock-a-poo, Kelsey (the only female in the house that listens to me), and will come out of retirement this Tuesday to play slow pitch softball with my eldest son. It is a dream come true, but after our two hour practice earlier today, various body parts are screaming in agony and I am being reminded why I stopped playing in the first place.
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