[barrysloate]

Today I received a new book about the history of baseball card collecting by a talented young author named Dave Jamieson. It's titled "Mint Condition" and was published by Atlantic Monthly Press. It came in today's mail and I am already 90 pages into it. It's beautifully written, well researched, and insightful. And I don't think I've even hit the best parts yet.

Dave called me a year or two ago and we had a few phone interviews about the hobby. It kind of slipped my mind but he contacted me a couple of weeks ago to say the book was out. He kindly sent me a gratis copy.

The early sections deal with the history of the tobacco wars in the late 1880's and early 1900's; there is an excellent chapter on Jefferson Burdick that is much more thorough than anything I've read before; there's a humorous and bittersweet profile of Mike Gidwitz; and later chapters look like they will cover the good and the bad of the hobby, and how collecting baseball cards has become an obsession.

Many hobby notables are quoted in the early sections, including Rob Lifson and Bill Mastro, and I even saw Bruce Dorskind and David Cycleback cited (maybe I'm in there too, but I haven't finished it).

Anyway, this has the look of a must read book. I'll add to this thread when I finish it.