[Archive]

Posted By: Paul

Around 1975, I started getting the Card Collectors' Company catalog. If I remember correctly, the first few catalogs went back only to 1948. But then, suddenly, T206 Hall of Famers appeared -- for $5.00 each. No cherry picking here either. Cobb was five bucks, Young was five bucks. They were all five bucks.

I was about 9 or 10 years old at the time and even then was a little suspicious. I had never heard of baseball cards that old. I smelled a rat. Something just didn't seem right. It was too good to be true. I passed.

It was probably two or three years later when I actually picked up my first prewar cards. I'm not sure what convinced me they were real. I think my first prewar card was a 33 Goudey of Bill Terry in "fair-good condition" (name crossed out in pencil) that I bought from Paul E. Marchant for $2.50.