[bbeck]

I was 15 years old back in 1976 and my dad took me to the Hotel Roosevelt in NYC. I had $9 in my pocket from snow shoveling and I purchased the T206 Johnson. I remember the dealer wanted $11 and I waited to the end of the show and the card was still there. He sold it to me for $9 after I explained my story. In 1977 we went back to the same location and we purchased the 1933 Ruth for $35. My dad thought it was absolutely crazy to spend so much money on a baseball card. He passed away 18 years ago and he loved to tell the story of how I had to beg him to purchase the card and what it was now worth. In 1978, we went to Montclair State College and I purchased the 34 Gehrig for $20. I was actually very condition conscious as a kid and would never buy a card with even a slight hairline crease. I never minded a little bit of corner wear. You really did not have to worry about trimming or restorations as the only trimming was not done maliciously, but typically to fit a card into an album page. In 1978, I purchased a beautiful condition autographed 1939 Playball Joe Dimaggio (that I still own) at a card store on Springfield Avenue in Union, N.J. In the late 1990's I went to have it authenticated and it turned out Joe's sister had signed the card. She did a pretty good Dimaggio and I guess signed a lot of his mail auto requests. I always set aside a portion of my earned dollars (summer jobs, snow shoveling) back then for cards. I looked for Hall of Fame Allen and Ginter's, Gypsy Queen's, T206's and Goudey's and fortunately saved them all (except for one trade I regret with an adult dealer when I was around 16). I have graded the majority of the cards but I never had the heart to entomb the 3 cards in the scans. The Johnson is beautiful and should grade extremely well. At the time, I never thought of any of my cards as an investment, just a great time with my dad and some great memories.