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JoeI thought this may interest some people. For X-mas I bought my mom a copy of Ritter's book as she is the person who got me interested in baseball at a young age. (She was, and still is, a Yankees fan). She loved it! And, being a teacher of gifted kids in the Charlotte, N.C. school district, she used it in one of her class projects.
The project was to research a 19th or early 20th century figure (sports, or otherwise) using traditional means, ie. no Internet! She offered the use of the book because it contains first-person accounts of life in those times, as well as the baseball stories. One kid chose Rube Marquard as his subject. For those of you who've read the book, you remember Rube's stories about riding under rail cars and sleeping in fire stations during his rip up to the big leagues.
The point is: this kid went on e-Bay (cheating?) and was able to purchase a few Marquard cards (probably reprints, but oh' well) and use them in the presentation. This, of course, interested my mom, and, after seeing some of my vintage team photos, she has begun scouring the antique shops of Charlotte looking for vintage memorabilia and cards (sometimes for me).
She's 55, and the kid is 12 or 13 - which proves that you're never too old or young to start. Just thought I'd share that.
joe