Net54baseball.com Forums - Overdue New Member Introduction

Hello everyone,

It just dawned on me I never did a New Member Introduction, sorry about that. I have been posting on many of the threads lately, and realized that I should probably introduce myself before I post anymore.

I found this forum because about six months ago I got back into the hobby and needed some expert insight. I was an avid collector of baseball cards/memorabilia when I was 9-12 years old. Unfortunately, I stopped collecting once my grandfather died. Not because I didn’t love baseball anymore but to the mere fact I had no money… He was the one that got me into baseball. He then got me into collecting. We went to card shows every weekend and tons of modern baseball cards, mostly, SP Legendary Cuts. He would occasionally pick up Mickey Mantle cards/memorabilia. Once he died so did my collecting.

I played baseball throughout high school and college then suffered a career ending injury. Needless to say the injury left a very large void in my heart and so I decided to fill it with collecting baseball cards again. Thankfully, that the void is now filled. :D

Anyways, six months ago I was very concerned with a Jackie Robinson autograph I purchased from a dealer at a card show in Oklahoma City. After hours upon hours of research, I decided to put it up on Net 54 for the final verdict. I was right it was fake… At this point I was very disappointed about collecting and decided to stay away from autographs. I then chose to pursue collecting vintage cards instead. It became addicting… Almost too addicting. I also had much more knowledge in this part of the hobby, so it was easier to buy with confidence. I’ve been buying up cards around Oklahoma for the past few months and have come across cards that I never really wanted to get into. This was due to the fact the information I needed to be comfortable buying them appeared seemingly endless… It happened to be Pre-War cards, specifically t206s.

I came across an old lady who had a couple complete sets (1954 Bowman & 1959 Topps) and a handful of t206s. She just happened to live next to Oklahoma State University, which is the school I go to. So obviously I went over to her house to check them out. I ended up buying the sets and the t206s, but I began to quickly feel very troubled about the authenticity of the t206s. After hours of research on t206s I was beginning to become overwhelmed. All the things to identify a t206 checked out. My judgment alone was not enough though. I didn’t sleep that night and did not have time that week to drive two hours to Roger Neufeldt’s Sports Memories shop to have him look them over. The thought of me spending a large amount of money on yet another fake item was killing me... So I came to the forum again to ask about the authenticity for another final verdict… Fortunately, you guys said they were legitimate and you were certainly right! I later sent in the Matty to SGC and it came back today a 40/3. :D From there on I have been fascinated by Pre-War cards.

All in all, looking back I feel I took advantage of this forum for the sole purpose of getting its expert opinions, and I am sorry for that. After about a month of being on Net 54 daily, I realized that the threads and posts are not anonymous interactions but conversations among friends.

Lastly, I just wanted to say thank you to all the members for the welcoming arms and insight.

Best regards,

Colby

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8252/8...e86a78b8_z.jpg

-Yes I did just purchase a scanner only for the use to post pictures to Net 54.... Commitment baby:cool::cool::cool::cool::cool: