[Chris Counts]

Originally Posted by brian1961

Chris, that story was a scream! Nice going, my friend. Two sides to every story, and the jerk goes and bawls to his mommy about how this bad boy caused this horrible accident. "And I did'n do nuttin' to him!", I can just hear him whine.

You know, Chris, maybe it's just as well that you didn't get that bully's cards. I have found if I have a very bad memory associated with an object, I don't want the object anymore. Whatever you might have gotten from the boy, over time you probably would not have treasured them, all because it came from that jerk.

My wretched " the one that got away" was at the big 1974 Midwest Card Collectors Convention in Troy, Michigan. I saw a 1954 Wilson Franks Ted Williams at a dealer's table in EX-MT condition. He wanted twenty bucks. I asked him to save it for me while I went to my hotel room to get the twenty. Upon my return, he had just sold it to another collector. Classic example of why teens (I was 19) hate adults sometimes. The sad story with all its details became chapter 12 of my book on regionals, Never Cheaper By the Dozen. Yes, in the chapter I answer the obvious question, "WELL, STUPID, WHAT WERE YOU THINKING, GOING DOWN TO THE CONVENTION WITHOUT YOUR MONEY?*%@!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As I recall, you love regionals, Chirs, so I thought you would appreciate and empathize with this succinct version of my yarn. I quoted you in my book, too!

----Brian Powell

Brian, I went to a show in Pontiac, MI, in 1976. I arrived on a red eye from California with my mom and my brother — and no sleep. I was 15. I stepped through the doors into this big room and walked up to the first table, and the guy had a shoebox full of 1953 Bowman Color Hall of Famers. Just about every card was perfect mint, and there were about a dozen of each, including at least that many Mantles. I spent all I had in the first five minutes of the show — I paid $11 for one of those Mantles — and then I wandered around the room for another two or three hours looking at all this amazing stuff I couldn't buy until I couldn't keep my eyes open anymore.