John England

[whiteymet]

John was the first guy in the "organized hobby" I ever dealt with. As a 13 year old in 1963 I came upon some 1939 Play Ball cards from a guy named Bud Ackerman in VA who was also dealing in Japanese cards. He also gave me the first hobby publication I had ever seen. Forget which one. John had an ad in it looking for some 39 Play Balls I just got from Bud..

I had NO idea on the value of the Play Balls. I had a handful he needed and traded them to him for what must have been a very nice haul that he offered me.

The only reason I know this is because my next (attempted) deal in the "organized hobby" was with Chuck Blazina in Pittsburgh. He wanted some of the Play Balls too and sent a list of things he had for trade. He said pick out what you want. I sent him a letter asking for what I thought was fair based on what John gave me. Well, I got a BLISTERING letter from Chuck saying who do I think i am asking for so much for the Play Balls, trying to rob him etc. etc.!!

Met both men later at the early Detroit and Cleveland shows in the early 70's. Had a good laugh with Chuck when I explained the story to him.

Needless to say John was a SUPER nice guy.

oh.......and I had a big CRUSH on his wife Patti.

Fred

[Hot Springs Bathers]

Thanks for the news Jerry. I started visiting John's shop in Fort smith back in the mid-70's. A true gentleman in every respect.

On one trip I was helping a friend move back from college in Fayetteville. His Dad was the local Schlitz distributor so we were in a giant Schlitz truck. When we parked in front of Vivian's Bookshop where John had his shop upstairs we took up half a block. John never let me forget that stop!

I remember buying a complete set of 1958 Topps football on that stop for $8.00.

[gabrinus]

The lady that owned the bookstore...well some things are better left unsaid.....I was a little kid and would forget to close her door---her door didn't shut automatically---and she would always ask me if I was born in a barn....one time my dad actually took us and she asked the same thing...my dad said "of course he was born in a barn we're from Crawford County"....a little local humor....Jerry

[vintagebaseballcardguy]

Originally Posted by gabrinus

The lady that owned the bookstore...well some things are better left unsaid.....I was a little kid and would forget to close her door---her door didn't shut automatically---and she would always ask me if I was born in a barn....one time my dad actually took us and she asked the same thing...my dad said "of course he was born in a barn we're from Crawford County"....a little local humor....Jerry

LOL...I remember her. What a sweetheart! Also, she had that way of asking, "Can I help you?" and you could obviously tell she had less than no interest in actually helping you. Then, at the same time, she appeared a bit aggravated when she saw we were headed upstairs to the cards.

[Hot Springs Bathers]

I remember that iron spiral staircase going upstairs and at the top was a beautiful 1965 Martine Bercher jersey #17. Only older Razorback fans would understand.

[cardinalcollector]

I remember John England well. I sold him many complete Topps Baseball sets and a 1959 Fleer Ted Williams set in 1977 at a Kansas City Show at the Sheraton Royal Hotel.

I was 16 years old at the time and it was my first $1000 deal.

He was a real gentleman.