Share a great hobby story

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

With all the negativity currently dominating the boards (and understandably so) I thought it might be a good time to share a feel-good hobby story. It would be great if it highlights someone in the hobby positively like a dealer, or fellow collector, but any happy story will do.

I'll start with how I got into the hobby.

In 1981 my older brother was having his tonsils out and I was at H & L Greens looking to buy him something for his hospital stay. I wound up seeing baseball cards (somehow for the first time) and bought him 2 1981 Topps Rack Packs.

We were the last generation that played with our cards and we were both hooked. We played Flip, Knock Down the Leaner and other games. We also invented baseball games based on the statistics on the back of the cards.

For whatever reason our first packs seemed very Royals heavy and I remember several of their players making our All-Pro (that's what we called it) team. This was denoted by writing "AP" in black crayon on the back.

Our cards went through a lot of the regular child hood purges but somehow we managed to hold onto 1 card up until only a few years ago. When I moved in with my future wife I somehow lost track of the George Brett "AP" card. I don't know how, but I did. It had heavily rounded corners, tons of surface wear and, of course, the crayon "AP" designation on the back. Still if someone somehow stumbled across that card I'd pay more than the PSA 10 price for the same card to have it back. don't try and make one, I know that card like the back of my hand!

Why is a story about losing a card positive? because when I tell it I can still recapture the feeling of opening those first two packs with my brother; the feeling of learning how to fling cards around from my dad; the games we created, and the players we developed a love for based on those games. That little piece of cardboard is so powerful that THINKING about it can bring me back almost 40 years.

Your turn!

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

OK, maybe "great" is too strong a criterion. How about a merely good story?

[Leon]

Our power went out last night, I went to bed and when I got up it was back on. That is a good story.

Many years ago I had a D304 sent to me in a plain white envelope inside a bubble mailer. Somehow it came out of the bubble mailer and fell on the street outside of my work. Someone brought it in, it was in the envelope with no writing on it and a car tire track was on it from being run over. The card was undamaged.

[mikemb]

I was never a fan of Brooks Robinson, the 3rd baseman for the Baltimore Orioles in the 1960s and 1970s.

Don't get me wrong, he was a fabulous player who is in the Baseball Hall of Fame. But he played for the Orioles, who were a rival of my team, the New York Yankees.

My opinion changed in 1972.

There was a baseball card show at Montclair State University in Montclair, New Jersey, about a 45 minute drive from my house. The show was in late fall of 1972. Since I was only 15 years old, my dad drove me there and my mom also came along.

I was working 4 hours every Sunday morning at the local stationery/newspaper store bringing in the Sunday papers and assembling them. At $2.00 an hour, I had saved some big bucks to spend on cards.

Anyway, Brooks Robinson was signing items that day so I brought my 1968 Topps card of him to get autographed. Back then, autographs were free and there were not long lines to get your items signed. I looked around for a while and then got in line for his autograph since the line was short, only about 10 people. My mom tagged along with me.

When my turn came, he stuck out his hand to shake mine and asked me what my name was. We chatted a while and then I introduced my mom. She was excited to shake his hand. After some more chatting, my mom asked him if his ring was one of his World Series rings. He said yes, it was his ring from the 1970 World Series. He then took off the ring and gave it to my mom to try on. Mom took the ring and tried to try it on but it was huge! She finally got it on her finger and we both admired it. Mom gave him back the ring and we both thanked him.

What a class act! Brooks took time to talk with us, not just sign my card and move on. I watched the rest of his career in a different light. I even got the chance to see him play a few times at Yankee Stadium.

Here is my card from that day over 45 years ago.

[Chris Counts]

My favorite hobby story is my first. Back in the days when moms could let their kids run wild through the neighborhood, mine handed me a few coins one afternoon in the spring of 1970 when I was 9, and sent me on a walk to the nearest grocery store to get her some broccoli. It was a Lucky supermarket, and just inside the door there was a counter with candy. As I walked past it, my eyes were drawn to a box of baseball cards. I have no recollection of even caring the slightest for the game at the time. My friends and I were actually more interested in bugs and astronauts than sports. But as I passed that box, I found myself drawn to it. Before I really knew what I had done, I spent all my coins on baseball cards. I'll never forget pealing open the first pack of 1970 Topps cards. I can't recall the players in the pack, but it contained a poster of Ollie Brown.

As I walked home with my cards and poster, my dad drove by in the family station wagon on his way home from work. He rolled up beside me, smiled, and asked what I was doing. I told him I was sent to the grocery store for broccoli, but spent the money on baseball cards. He didn't seem upset in the least, and drove me back to the grocery store, where he bought the broccoli — and some more baseball cards. My next pack had a Willie Davis poster in it. It took me a little while before I figured out he wasn't Willie Mays, but I didn't care. I also didn't care about bugs or astronauts anymore. Before long, I was knocking on doors in my neighborhood and asking, "Hi, do you have any old baseball cards lying around?" After picking up a 1968 Mantle at a garage sale for a penny, the chase was on — and i guess it still is.

[Mike D.]

Not sure I'd call it a "great" or "good" story, because it came out of a pretty sad event...a fire at the 200+ year old farmhouse where I grew up, in the early morning hours of Super Bowl Sunday about a year and a half ago.

Scary stuff, but thank goodness everyone got out OK, although the house had to be torn down. My parents moved into their new house a week shy of a year after the fire.

The day after the fire, my brother, my father, and I went back to the house to see what could be saved.

At one point I'm walking through the dining room, which was one of the rooms that was not as badly damaged, except for areas of the ceiling that were damaged (likely by water) and had collapsed.

Flash back roughly 30 years...we have a story in our family about the day my brother dropped a Wade Boggs baseball card in our room (directly above the dining room) and the card had slipped right through a tiny crack between the floorboards. Thousand to one shot.

Flash back to the dining room on the day after the fire. I say to my brother "Hey, you remember that Wade Boggs baseball card you dropped through the floor?"

He replies "Do I? It was a 1987 Fleer Baseball's Best Wade Boggs. He was my favorite player and I was excited to get it. I held it up to show you and it fell."

Me: "Yeah, and dad didn't react well to our request to pull up the floorboards".

Him: "It was a Sunday, and I was so upset mom let me stay home from church."

Me: "Yeah, anyway, it's over there..."

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Not happy, but still somehow great. Feels like my Brett story, except you actually have the card!

[T206Collector]

When you buy the signed Lajoie M101-2 and the next day Dan Bretta makes sure you get the correspondence between Doc Steen and Nap Lajoie that immediately preceded the signing — all within a few weeks in June 1939, three years before my parents were even born. Thanks again, Dan!

[mrmopar]

I think I only shared this on one board. I just cut/pasted, so there may be some issues as it was shared on a different site (user name, for example). Not sure if the pics will show up either here.

I wrote a version of this story last year right after it happened and I was still in Connecticut and when I went to post it, it was lost. I was too tired and frustrated to rewrite it, as I thought I crafted one hell of a story and I would not be able to recreate the magic, but still wanted to share eventually. This time I wrote it in word and transferred it to the forum. It is probably not as good as the lost original, but I hope you get some enjoyment out of it. WARNING: This is a long read and there may only be 2 people on the site that really care at all to get through it, [MENTION=10970]Yanks2151[/MENTION] and myself.

This is a story about a hobby meeting over 20 years in the making and it involves Yanks2151 and myself. This particular part of the story begins around 1996 or so, but first I must take you back to 1978, the year it ALL began.

Our family moved into a new house in 1977 located on an island just West of Seattle called Bainbridge Island. We had left a lake front home that my older siblings certainly appreciated much more than I did, as I was only ages 3-8 while we lived there. I wish we still owned the place now, but that is another story. The old property was a bit larger and ran from the main road around the lake down to the water and so there were not as many neighbors, especially kids. This new neighborhood was just being developed and consisted of a long street with another side street branching off the middle of the first, like a “T”. We were one of the first to move in and had the house on the first corner where the two streets intersected. Later on, our house would be the outfield wall that many wiffle ball HRs were launched against or over. It was more of a traditional suburban neighborhood with 1 acre lots side by side and as other houses were finished and sold, it turned out that a great number of families moving in had kids in my general age range. By summer, the neighborhood was filled with kids playing wiffle ball, football, tag or whatever else we could come up with to amuse ourselves.

One of the new families that had moved in not too long after us was from southern California. They had 2 boys and one was a year older than I was. We soon became good friends and that is when I was introduced to baseball cards. Steve was a big baseball fan and Steve Garvey and the Dodgers were his favorite. I can’t recall, but I don’t think I had ever been to a game yet and probably never watched one on TV. The Mariners were in their inaugural season that year, but I am fairly certain I was oblivious to this fact at the time. I mean I was only 8. Steve and his brother both had a small baseball card collection and showed them to me. Something about them just clicked with me. With very little prior knowledge about the sport, I nonetheless instantly became hooked and started spending any money I had on packs of cards. Those first packs I experienced were 1978 Topps baseball. I would go on to buy just about any card issue that the local grocery store sold in the following several years, from all other major sports (Basketball, Football, Hockey) to Movie cards (Star Wars, Jaws, Moonraker) to TV shows (Mork & Mindy, Hulk, Battlestar Galactica, etc) to anything else (Music, Stickers, etc). I also started to trade with friends and eventually would have limited opportunities to buy singles and packs from shops, so my collecting interest expanded to older cards as well.

Since I was not really a fan to begin with, I copied Steve and became a Dodger fan and a Steve Garvey fan. I would soon begin to take in Mariner games, several per year and really start to learn about the history of baseball and other sports as well. I ended up playing Little League and just because an all around sport fanatic. I loved everything sports.

I would continue to follow the game and collect trading cards up through High School and even a little while after, while I was away in the Navy. Eventually I just had no room to keep the cards and I was spending my very limited free time doing more adult things anyway, so cards took a back seat for the first time since 1978. It was now around 1988 or so and everything I had was packed away safely at home with my parents while I served.

Shortly before I was due to separate from the Navy in 1993, I went with a friend into town and he made a stop to pick up some baseball cards. I had no idea he collected and when we got back to the base, he showed me some of the stuff he had. I had been out of circulation only about 5 years, but things had really changed and it was exciting. The spark ignited and I began collecting again for the few months I had left in Hawaii with the Navy. I packed up all my things and returned home and took some time off before starting college. I had been saving money for the last several years, so I had a nice stash and spent most of my free time running around the area, visiting card shops, retail stores, shows and such. I started community college in 1994 and continued to spend time growing my collection, eventually getting a retail job to help support the habit.

When I transferred to the University in 1996, things changed forever. I discovered the internet, but more importantly, I discovered the online card marketplace that opened up so many more opportunities. There was so much good stuff to choose from that I never saw locally. There was Beckett, some other trading sites I don’t recall and I even created a simple personal website for trading card collectors that advertised my collecting interests. Trades began to happen across the country and this is where we pick back with the story.
I don’t recall exactly when, but one day I returned home from school and my mom said some guy had called for me regarding baseball cards and left his number. This didn’t sound good at all. I enjoyed the simple process of emailing people and negotiating trades. I didn’t need or want to talk to anyone about cards, besides my parents had trained me well in limiting my phone usage anyway. This was when you still paid by the minute for long distance calls and they were not cheap, especially before 7PM. My mom said he had found my name online and had ended up speaking to him for a good 20 minutes or so and learned that we had a few things in common and eventually talked me into calling him back, as I had originally planned to ignore the call.

So, I reluctantly called this guy back. I don’t actually remember anything about that first call, but know now that he was living in Connecticut, was a Navy vet who was also stationed in Hawaii, liked American muscle cars and collected New York Yankee cards. Oh, and his name was Kevin. We eventually began talking back and forth, a little more frequently as we were sending trade packages to each other at the same time. He wanted Yankees and I wanted Dodgers. The thing that made this relationship work so well was that neither of us cared about the nitty gritty details of individual card values. Where as most online trades at that time were card for card counts or detailed values added up to the penny, as long as the trade packages were reasonably close in content to what the other sent, we were both happy. Best of all it was random and like opening a gift each time, at least for me. We continued to talk and trade, although the trading started to fade a bit over time. We were basically tapping each other out of Yankees and Dodgers, but we continued to talk. To this day, I credit him with introducing me to most, if not all of the current trade sites I use or did use like The Bench, Topps, FCB, Sportslots, etc. I also believe he convinced me to finally check out ebay in early 1998, after thinking Beckett marketplace was good enough for my needs for quite a while. He probably sent he to COMC too! He was very active in finding new people to trade with and I was more stuck in my ways with the old and familiar. I honestly don’t know where I might be in the hobby world today, had Kevin not called me that one day in 1996.

If you are still reading at this point, we now jump ahead to 2018 and the big meet. Kevin and I have become good friends who talk on the phone fairly frequently. Now it is not just about cards, but other things. Our jobs, our families, life in general. We have been talking and trading for over 20 years by this time, but we have never actually met in person. Numerous times, he shared with me about trips made where he would drive right by Cooperstown, NY. I half-joked several times that we needed to meet up some day and visit Cooperstown. After all, it is the mecca of all baseball fans. I had never been and really wanted to see it at least once in my life.

A passing comment over the phone looked like it might finally become a reality, when I found out I was going to Hartford, CT for work in July of 2018. I would be there for a full work week and if I planned it right, there would be some free time on either end of the trip as well. My company was paying my way, so what better time than to try to do this Cooperstown dream? I called Kevin a few months before the trip and gave him the details. As the trip grew closer, we hashed out plans to hang out for a few days, possibly more. I had one other thing pop up that just happened to coincide with that trip, a former Navy buddy was retiring after 30 years the Friday before my business trip. That was happening in Groton, CT. Close enough from my hotel to drive, I said I would be there for that as well. What a trip this was going to be for me. I have never been so eager to take a business trip before.

I flew in to Hartford late Thursday after the 4th of July. The retirement ceremony was Friday the 6th and then Kevin and I were planning to hit Cooperstown Saturday. I rented a car only for Friday’s trip to Groton, then I would be relying on Kevin for any transportation during our time together and thankfully he lived only about an hour away from where I was staying. Everything went well in Groton Friday and Kevin planned to meet me that evening and we were going to grab dinner and maybe catch a minor league ball game. He came by my hotel and a meeting that was over 20 years in the making finally happened on July 6, 2018. After we got past the slight awkwardness of meeting someone for the first time that you have been talking to for 20+ years, we returned my rental and hit the town to grab some dinner before the ballgame. As it turned out, parking was a ***** and I was pretty tired from the late flight/long & early drive to Groton so we never made the game, but enjoyed some pretty tasty pizza from Frank Pepe, a local favorite.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]86931[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]86932[/ATTACH]

The next morning he picked me up and we headed towards Cooperstown. It was about a 3 hour trip, but it was not bad. We talked like we have been doing for years to easily pass the drive time and before we knew it we rolled into town a little before lunch time. We parked near the ballpark and walked to the museum. We’d get the tour out of the way, then check out the shops and the town. The museum and town were great. It was not super crowded yet, but the inauguration was later that month, so I’m sure it got crazy later on. We walked from one end of the main street to the other and then down to the lake. We decided to scope out the town and scenery, grab some lunch and then hit the card stores. If any of you have been to Cooperstown, you know the stores are mostly aimed at tourists, although some had better selections that true collectors would appreciate. Kevin was on a break from cards at the time and although he checked everything out with me, I don’t think he left that day with anything from any of the shops. He did comment that he wanted to see me find a Steve Garvey card I did not have to make the trip all that more memorable. I figured that was a pretty tall order, especially from a place so commercial and widely visited as Cooperstown. I didn’t have high hopes.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]86930[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]86937[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]86936[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]86929[/ATTACH]

Most of the shops were fairly disappointing to me. I like unique stuff and I like bargains. There was an endless supply of HOF cards and autographs and the steep prices to go with them, but not a whole lot else. I did enjoy Yastrzemski’s and spent a few bucks there on some neat bargains, but my hands down favorite was Baseball Nostalgia. This was the first (and last) shop we saw, as it is located adjacent to the ballpark parking lot. Likely one of the older shops there (Established 1974 I think it said) and an obvious connection to the old TCMA gang, this is a shop after my own heart. It was loaded with oddball stuff and cram packed with stuff in general. I felt like I got an eye on a good majority of it, but would have loved the opportunity to go several times over a period of time.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]86935[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]86933[/ATTACH]

Not wanting to haul a bunch of stuff home on the plane, I was mainly looking for anything that I might not be able to get elsewhere. A hidden treasure that nobody else had yet uncovered, hidden away in a shop that is the way they used to be and still should be today. Nearing the end of our day, I stumbled upon a box of error/wrong backs. I started sorting through I and found a number of 1979 Topps front/1978 Topps backs. Most of the cards were listed at a buck each, so I grabbed a few Dodgers and star players and struck gold when I flipped over a 1979T Dave Radar card to find a 1978 T Steve Garvey back! I did not have this card and it was only a buck too. I caught Kevin’s attention and showed him my find. It was a perfect way to cap a very nice trip.

We drove back to CT and decided that we would hit the Basketball HOF in Springfield, MA the following day. It was only about 20-30 minutes from my hotel and a must see for any sports fan. I only wish my boys could have joined us, as both are big NBA fans themselves. The NBA trip was not as exciting, only because I am more a baseball fan and I have dreamed about Cooperstown since I was a kid. The NBA, NFL and NHL Hall of Fames would always be an afterthought, but now I can say I am 50% there.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]86934[/ATTACH]

Attached are a few photos to commemorate the event. I hope you enjoyed the story.

[VintageVinnie]

I recently completed my '54 Topps baseball set. I was inspired by my Dad. When I was 14 years old, and not even into baseball cards, he told me he found a box of his old baseball cards in the attic. So cliche, right? "Cool", I said to myself. He had some '52, '53, and '54 Topps. Not knowing the values, I bought a price guide (no internet) and was surprised to learn that even the "nobody's" had some value. The small collection peaked my interest in cards and kicked off my love for the hobby.

My Dad was between 8 and 10 years old when he bought these in packs. I asked what he spent on packs in those days and he told me he remembers buying the 54's for a penny. My Dad only had 15 54's in the collection, so I'm guessing he bought 15 packs that summer of '54. Just thinking about that was kind of neat. My Dad was also pretty lucky. Of the 15 cards, he had the Al Kaline and the #250 Ted Williams. Long story short, I took the Kaline and the Williams and built the rest of the set around them. Now I can say my set is complete with those two stars my Dad pulled decades ago front and center

[mrmopar]

I posted on this thread and came back to see if there were any other good stories since. I had to find it down on page 3, after all the complaining about scandals, trimming, etc. This is the problem with these forms now, all of them. It's all about controversy and drama. That is what the majority seem to want now. Interesting (at least to me) threads like this wither and die quickly, while investigatory threads about altered cards run for dozens and dozens of pages.

I don't have high hopes this will spark the thread, but giving it a shot.

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

I hear you Curt, but I think throwing light on the dark corners of the hobby IS crucial. Yes the threads have gotten bogged down in lots of irrelevant nonsense, but I'd rather not have my head in the sand pretending it's all OK.

That being said I did also want to use this thread to remind us about how much there is still to love in this hobby, whether it's guys like Al from LOTG, or Brian Dwyer and the gang over at REA, to some local dealer giving away free cards to kids, or someone on the board sending you the last card you needed for a set with no strings attached. We've all, I hope, been touched by moments of generosity, camaraderie and good faith repaid in the hobby and it does my heart good to hear those stories from time to time, especially at times like this.

Thanks for focusing on the positive!

[ALBB]

Frank pepe Pizza... that's one of the best around !

[todeen]

I remember running around the old wood baseball stadium in the early 1990s at the Billings Mustangs baseball games. The stadium was so beautiful to a 6/7/8 year old. My parents let my sister and me run wherever we wanted. What made it so cool was that the food vendors were all underneath the wooden grandstands. The team store was on right field side and the snow cones and hand spun cotton candy were on the left field side. When something exciting happened the noise was deafening underneath the wood as 1,000 people came to their feet and shouted. Before the games you could go crowd the season ticket holders and get autographs right above the team dugout. In 1994 a pitcher threw a perfect game. I went to the next game with the newspaper article to get signed, and also a team program. Although the pitcher never made it big, Aaron Boone was on that team and I still have those autographs. Today's stadiums are just so boring compared to that old rickety stadium that gave me so much freedom. And I can still remember the Marlboro Man peering over the outfield wall. I don't advocate smoking, but a cowboy in Montana is very symbolic.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

LOL I first read it as the Marlboro man peeing over the outfield wall.

Still anyone who has a similar childhood experience can't help but be taken back by your description, thanks!

[brianp-beme]

A good deed that didn't have to be done needs noting. Recently I sold some various cards to Net54 member Androolius from my BST listings. I accidentally sent him an extra card. He notified me immediately about my mix-up and sent it right on back without waiting for a response.

A small thing, but it is always possible that it would have been weeks or months before I noticed the card was missing.

Just a small reminder that most of us are not half bad...in fact most of us are way more than half good.

Brian

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Kudos Androolius. Lots of great guys on the boards!

[Exhibitman]

My collecting changed immeasurably around 1990 owing to a card show. At one, a fellow had 1948 Leaf cards of Barney Ross and Benny Leonard. I sort of knew that boxing cards existed but seeing these, I was instantly smitten. I bought the pair for a few bucks and took them home to show my father. He looked at the Ross card and said the words that changed my collection forever: “I think my cousin Ray fought him.”

You could have knocked me over with a puff of air.

“Dad,” I said, “if you have a cousin who was a boxer that means I have cousin who was a boxer.”

He then told me about Ray Miller for the first time and I realized that I was related to a world-class athlete, which I would have thought impossible given my athletic performances. At least it gave me a ready answer for when my father asked why I was so pugnacious: it runs in the family.

I later found a cousin in CHI who was a bit of a family boxing historian because her father Bennie Berris was a boxer and close friends with Ray too. We all share a common (at my generation) great-great-grandfather.

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Very cool. My love of boxing cards is also family inspired, though my family members are nowhere near as illustrious. My great uncle Carl Russell was an amateur champ and a recorded 2 -0 as a pro. He was great friends with Tony Galento. Also have another great uncle who was a Navy champ and trainer.

[Jobu]

I picked up a few photos from Dennis (photomoto) and he tossed the following snapshot into the deal for free:

Army Players - Lancellotti a.jpg

Army Players - Lancellotti b.jpg

I saw the writing on the back and decided to go hunting. Lancelotti, Curacao, and the army were where I found some traction, as I found some info in an army database and that led me to this online memorial:

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/...iel-lancelotti

A bit of time going through Facebook, Google, and online White Pages in the area led me to the Facebook profiles of who I believed to be Daniel's son and grandson. The former never replied, but after a few messages the latter did. It turns out that he showed the photo to his grandmother, Daniel's wife, and she was thrilled to see this never-before-seen photo of her late husband. I immediately dropped the photo in the mail - it is now back where it belongs.

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Originally Posted by Jobu

I picked up a few photos from Dennis (photomoto) and he tossed the following snapshot into the deal for free:

Attachment 356406

Attachment 356407

I saw the writing on the back and decided to go hunting. Lancelotti, Curacao, and the army were where I found some traction, as I found some info in an army database and that led me to this online memorial:

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/...iel-lancelotti

A bit of time going through Facebook, Google, and online White Pages in the area led me to the Facebook profiles of who I believed to be Daniel's son and grandson. The former never replied, but after a few messages the latter did. It turns out that he showed the photo to his grandmother, Daniel's wife, and she was thrilled to see this never-before-seen photo of her late husband. I immediately dropped the photo in the mail - it is now back where it belongs.

That's many level of awesome in one story!

[brian1961]

Originally Posted by mrmopar

I posted on this thread and came back to see if there were any other good stories since. I had to find it down on page 3, after all the complaining about scandals, trimming, etc. This is the problem with these forms now, all of them. It's all about controversy and drama. That is what the majority seem to want now. Interesting (at least to me) threads like this wither and die quickly, while investigatory threads about altered cards run for dozens and dozens of pages.

I don't have high hopes this will spark the thread, but giving it a shot.

Curt, we need guys like you more than ever right now, to balance the hobby boat, so to speak. So, please keep punchin' your threads out for the good, 'CAUSE THERE STILL IS A LOT OF GOOD. --- Brian Powell

[byrone]

Share a great hobby story?

I don't have a great hobby story

I have so many

And that's a good thing.

[Jobu]

Here is one I posted in the thread about the earliest HOFer that people had met. My first National, and I think worth the read:

http://www.net54baseball.com/showpos...7&postcount=72

[mikemb]

Originally Posted by Jobu

Here is one I posted in the thread about the earliest HOFer that people had met. My first National, and I think worth the read:

http://www.net54baseball.com/showpos...7&postcount=72

Thanks! That story made me laugh! Mike

[Rich Blackburn]

My story from September 29, 2015

I started buying cards before I can remember, my father took me to my first card show in Willow Grove in 1976, I was thirteen. We have continued to collect since.

In 1980 , we purchased the 1st Beckett Football price guide. Upon going through the guide I saw a 1956 Parkhurst Football set and card number 33 was Calvin Jones. I was born and raised in Steubenville, Ohio, and Calvin was a star, the road to the stadium is Calvin Jones Way. He was on the 7th issue of Sports Illustrated, the first Afro-American, and in 1955 won the Outland Trophy for the University of Iowa. For various reasons he chose to play Football in Canada.

Following a successful rookie season, Calvin played in the East-West All Star game in Vancouver. He died in a tragic plane crash after playing in the Canadian Shrine Game, December 9 1956. He was headed home to try and attend the 1957 Rose Bowl game his friends were playing in for the Iowa Hawkeyes. His plane crashed in the side of Mt. Slesse. Calvin's number 62 is the only other jersey retired by the University of Iowa besides that of Nile Kinnick's number 24.

Today in the mail, after 35 years of searching, I let my father open the package, he didn't know what was in it other than I told him a surprise. It was my white whale, a 1956 Parkhurst Football Card Calvin Jones. It brought a smile to my fathers 85 year old face. This evening he took the card to the Booster's Club Meeting.

There are a total of three graded by PSA, and now WE have one. Collecting never gets old!

[Leon]

I agree. There is far more good in the hobby than bad. Negative press always gets more coverage than positive press. I have tons of stories but they are best told with beers in hands. (double fisting beers)

I like reading all of them above. Thanks for sharing.

Originally Posted by brian1961

Curt, we need guys like you more than ever right now, to balance the hobby boat, so to speak. So, please keep punchin' your threads out for the good, 'CAUSE THERE STILL IS A LOT OF GOOD. --- Brian Powell

[Exhibitman]

Oh, as far as my father's recollection about Cousin Ray fighting HOFer Barney Ross:



He did!

[Throttlesteer]

When I was in college, I worked for my favorite, local sports card and memorabilia store. Most of my collection was modern (junk wax era), with the exception of a couple cards my neighbor had given me (a 1969 Mantle and Drysdale). My boss was very knowledgeable about vintage cards and used to show me all of the different HOFers in the lots he bought. Once day, I was checking out one of his most recent purchases and saw this bright orange caramel Cy Young card. It immediately caught my eye and I knew I had to have it. Being a college student, I could hardly feed myself. My boss knew I liked the card and wanted me to have it. So, he put it aside and let me make small payments towards it until I could pay it off (I believe it was $250 or so). That E101 Young ended up starting me down the path of building the E101 set and going all-in on pre-war.

I ended up having to sell my E101s for family reasons, but still really appreciate what that Young meant. It's come up for auction a couple of times (I believe a board member currently has it), but I was never able to get it back. It's an SGC 3 and significantly off-center. But, I still love it.

[Jobu]

I was discussing old photos and how I am always a bit sad that there are so many unidentified photos out there because I think of how happy many of them would make people today if they could be returned to living relatives. I know if someone wrote to me with a photo of someone in my family from 100+ years ago I would be pretty thrilled.

That reminded me of the Lancelotti family (post 20) and this thread, so I thought I would bump it to see if anyone else has any other good hobby stories to share.