Who had a positive impact on your collection ?

VintageBen · #1 12-02-2017, 10:25 PM

My dad got me hooked when I got a 1954 Topps Willie Mays for Xmas. Thanks Dad.

but

Orlando Rodriguez got me to refocus my collection. I stopped going to the card shop every week ( I usually would spend $40-$50). I started to sell off my modern cards and the vintage cards that I could live without. It was hard at first but became easier once I saw the cards i could then afford. I was getting rid of the cards that I could find all day, everyday. I used the cash flow from the sales to fund higher end vintage cards. My collection now is nicer than I thought it ever could be... I now own cards I thought I'd never own. Thanks Orlando.

Exhibitman · #2 12-02-2017, 11:34 PM

John Spalding. Got me addicted to prewar Exhibit cards. Some of the first ones I bought from him around 1990:

Dewey2007 · #3 12-03-2017, 12:02 PM

Unfortunately, I never got to meet John Spalding in person but he was such a nice person and so giving with his time and knowledge. We exchanged many emails as I was researching athletes from my hometown for my Alameda Sports Project website and even helped him add a few names to his Bay Area Sports Stars project. He was even nice enough to send me a copy of his book "Always on Sunday" about the CA Baseball League.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

John Spalding. Got me addicted to prewar Exhibit cards. Some of the first ones I bought from him around 1990:

Dewey2007 · #4 12-03-2017, 12:30 PM

I'd like to give a shout out to Mark Macrae. Mark is one of the true good guys in this hobby. In addition to putting on great collectors shows where I have found some nice pieces for my collection, he is friendly and so free with sharing his knowledge on cards and memorabilia. He always takes time to answer my emails when I have questions about pre-war cards, etc.

rainier2004 · #5 12-03-2017, 12:38 PM

To the OP - Great idea for thread, and I mean great and thank you for starting this...nice to see positive in the hobby.

Rick Rockwood and Anthony Nex dragged me into CJs and always showed a lot of respect...I miss Rich.

As others have said, Prizner is THE guy for PCs and is also a good guy so to Jeff..."F#ck postcards".

Pete Fishman is a kindred brother to me as well and motivates me to find the joy in the hobby.

Brian Terjung isn't around much anymore but he is just a great person and has motivated me to treat others as good as I can.

There are some great people in the hobby.

brian1961 · #6 12-03-2017, 01:06 PM

1. My dear Mother. My Mom was already a widow, but strove to get me to the big 1972 Midwest Sports Collectors Convention at the Troy, Michigan Hilton. It was my first big convention. That meant so much to me; I was 18 at the time.

By the end of that year, SEVERAL DAYS AFTER CHRISTMAS, I wrote to major dealer Larry Fritsch about the availability of a major dream card I wanted---a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle. Larry wrote me a nice letter back. He had only one left, in near mint condition, and would hold it for me. The cost of $25 was high, he said. Somehow, I was able to convince my poor mother that this was the dream card I had long wanted. God bless her and her memory, she wrote out a check for $25 dollars and sent it off to him. I knew very well this was a sacrifice of funds for her, but I guess she sensed this might be my only time to get one. Long to short, the card was perfect to me, and in technically Excellent - Mint condition, but the colors and picture registry were perfect; there was not a mark or print spot on that dazzling beauty. The centering was about 37.5 - 62.5 both directions, which was fine with me.

You can best be sure I thanked and kissed my dear Mother after I opened the package and looked at the card.

2. Ron Greenwood. During the aforementioned 1972 Midwest Convention, Ron Greenwood, a college professor, had brought his album of mounted 1953 - 1955 Stahl-Meyer Franks cards for show. I had never heard of them before, nor seen any cards like them. It was love at first sight. He did not bring any of his Mickey Mantles; smart move on his part. Didn't matter, as I was awestruck with the card of Roy Campanella. I kept turning the album pages back to see Campy again. I must have stared at the card for an aggregate of 15 minutes, burning the memory of that masterpiece into my brain.

Mr. Greenwood had an extra chair at his table, and allowed me to sit and admire his Stahl-Meyers. That was mighty thoughtful and generous of him. As an educator, I think he appreciated my studious attitude toward those cards, as well as the good manners my parents taught me. Aside from the cards I purchased that glorious weekend, seeing Mr. Greenwood's Stahl-Meyers was the highlight for me.

3. Lionel Carter. I got to meet Mr. Carter at, again, that Midwest convention. I had read with the utmost fascination, and enjoyment, his article on the 1933 DeLong Gum cards that appeared in the fall, 1971 Sport Hobbyist. I hung onto every word. Late the following winter, I saw an ad in The Sporting News for a reprint set of the DeLongs. They were skillfully done by TCMA's Mike Aronstein.

So, when I met Mr. Carter, it was honestly as if I was meeting a hobby celebrity. Little did I know how major of a celebrity he really was. At this tender point in the burgeoning adult card collecting hobby, Mr. Carter invited me to his home to see his collection. At the time, I lived in close-by Elk Grove Village, Illinois, not far from his Evanston home.

I was EXTREMELY PRIVILEGED to make 2 visits to Lionel's home, and the Carters were wonderful hosts. His collection was the finest I ever saw in person. We exchanged several letters through the years. He was a dandy letter writer, as well as hobby writer. By no means did I always agree with him. He was able to build his collection back in the days when the cost of cards was minuscule; good for him.

If youse guys are still with me, you must like stories. I love to tell them, and my book on postwar regionals is stuffed with yarns and sea stories, 'cause there were numerous chaps who had a very positive impact on my collecting, and really, part of the reason I wrote NEVER CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN was to pay tribute to them.

Well, I best be getting back to my darling wife. Loved reading all your stories, guys. Keep it up.

---Brian Powell

mechanicalman · #7 12-03-2017, 02:44 PM

Jeff Foy and Brady Hill passed along their centering "sickness" to me, which has made collecting more painful and rewarding at the same time.

Wite3 · #8 12-03-2017, 03:31 PM

I have had several over the years...

Dave Hornish and Larry Tipton...both were influential in getting me back into vintage when I was just a teenager, Dave really was the start of my Phillies journey.

That journey led me to some great people who shared their knowledge with me over the years and treated a teenager back then with respect and kindness. Those include in no particular order: Lew Lipsett who lent me copies (not scanners back then) of cards he had and showed me who to contact for more info. Gar Miller, Lionel Carter, and Mark Macrae, Terry Knouse and Kit Young all helped me to understand vintage, improve my knowledge, and improve my phillies list. Bob Lemke whose knowledge was invaluable to me and I was just glad to help him once or twice over the years too.

Geno Wagner and Tim Newcomb who inadvertently started my obsession with T205s.

Leon Luckey (and Bill Cornell and other Net54 people, too many to mention) that have continued to drive my passion for pre-war cards. It has been tough lately to find time to get on and post or even read like I used to (used to be on every day multiple times a day) but I still drop in every now and then.

If I missed anyone, I am sorry...I have been fortunate to have a great many people have a positive impact on my collection and I thank them all.

Joshua

bigfanNY · #9 12-03-2017, 04:21 PM

Like most here My Father was my first and greatest hobby influence. But right away I met collectors who helped me for no other reason than the joy we all get passing this hobby along. First was Paul Gallagher who I met at an antique show at Madison square garden in 1973. He ran the pioneer shows in NYC. And at my first in 1974 I met Paul Pollard, George Lyons, Carlto Schooley, Steve Kaczynski, Rob Lifson. All of who gave freely of there knowledge and love for this hobby. A year or so later I met Dennis Eckes who was a great friend and a person who helped card collecting grow leaps and bounds. The price guide Denny along with Jim Beckett published helped countless collectors. Tony Carafel John Ramierez John Scott Tom Collier I met at the first show in Silver Spring M.D.. All of who gave freely of their hobby knowledge and friendship.
I am forever grateful all these Friends and Collectors and so many more who make this the most enjoyable hobby.

pokerplyr80 · #10 12-03-2017, 07:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mechanicalman

Jeff Foy and Brady Hill passed along their centering "sickness" to me, which has made collecting more painful and rewarding at the same time.

I know what you mean. I started focusing on centering more after seeing MattyC's stuff, but have picked up a few cards from Jeff and Brady as well. It makes such a difference. I end up passing on a lot of cards but it's nice when you finally track a centered card down.

Peter_Spaeth · #11 12-03-2017, 07:34 PM

I got back into vintage a few years before the internet, so for me it was the guys who owned card shops in downtown Boston -- Peter Leventhal and Kenny Tong (RIP) -- and the guy who had the best vintage at local shows and an early PSA guy, Peter Lalos.

mrmopar · #12 12-03-2017, 07:46 PM

I suppose an early neighborhood friend who got me interested in cards would be the #1 influencer. He and his brother moved into my neighborhood around 1977-78. They both had card collections and I am pretty sure it was them that got me spending my allowance on cards in general. In those days, I tried just about anything that came in a wax pack. I don't think either continued to collect must past those early days, but I am not sure. By the time I moved away in 1982, I was completely hooked on cards.

Most of my early buying was from retail stores. The Lynnwood Center store on Bainbridge Island, WA, where I formed my early collecting interests, was where I would buy most of my new packs of cards, candy and even some of those RC Cola baseball cans.

I didn't much venture into card shops early on, but somehow discovered the mail order catalogs of TCMA and Renata Galasso, probably from those Baseball Magazines they used to publish in the 70s/80s. I began to receive those catalogs and spent a lot of time looking through them, imagining what I would buy, sadly I never bought too much. I remember buying a bunch of those TCMA all time sets and those HOF postcards. I did start buying the 3 main brands of complete sets in 1981, I believe mostly from Renata's company. I continued that each year until leaving for the Navy in 1987. I remember a few others that I bought from through the mail, like Paul Marchant and Stan Martucci.

Besides a rare trip into Seattle to the Pike Place Market and a few neat old shops that sold cards, an early card store that I eagerly visited as often as my parents would take me, was Pacific Trading Cards in Edmonds, WA, owned by Michael Cramer. I don't remember if I interacted with Cramer himself or not. This would have been the early to mid 80s. I suppose he was probably there some of the time. They had catalogs I used to get and every once in a while, they would mail some neat postcards advertising a sale or a signing. I met Bob Feller at one such signing as a teen. His shop is what shaped my mind as to what a card shop was like. Like anything, I wish I had had more opportunity to visit (His shop was on the way to my sisters house, who we only visited a few times per year) and that I would have bought more stuff, like those X's out 1984 Topps football boxes he was blowing out for $5 each (but I was mostly a baseball collector, so I only grabbed a couple)!

Lastly, I had all but quit collecting cards while I was in the Navy. About a year before I was due to separate, a shipmate of mine and I got to talking about cards for some reason and he ended up showing me what he had been buying. I had stopped mostly around 1988-89 and it was now 1993. The cards he had were nothing like what I had collected before. They were shiny and used foils and such. They were much fancier. I ended up going to one of the stores with him and got myself hooked back into it immediately, buying boxes or cards from the years I had missed. I got back home in late 93 and started buying cards, hitting local shops and attending local shows with most of my free time.

In 1997, I was nearing the end of my college time and discovered the world of online card dealing. Beckett, message boards and then in early 1998, eBay. I have never looked back since.

orly57 · #13 12-02-2017, 11:47 PM

Wow, I'm honored Ben. Thank you. I can say that JC (Beantown) really took me under his wing and taught me a lot about rare cobb postcards.

kailes2872 · #14 12-03-2017, 06:57 AM

I have told this story before, so please forgive any repetition. I immediately had a name that came to mind. Melanie Lain was the most influential person for my collecting for several reasons.

I had collected a couple of packs in '78 and '79 - both in baseball and football. However, '80 was the year that I had a break through. I was 8 years old and in second grade. Melanie was a senior in high school and our teacher's aid. One day, I brought a box of cards for some variation of show and tell. Melanie came up and looked at my cards. She told me that she collected as well and asked me if I wanted to trade.

As an 8 year old, I had two thoughts - 1) No one was coming near my cards and 2.) Eww a girl? She has baseball cards?

I agreed to consider it, however, I had my reservations. Melanie went to the same church and lived close, so the next week, she came by with a shoe box. She told me that she didn't want to take my cards but went through her collection to give me some. It was '70-'75 with the majority in '72 & '73 but there were stars in every year. Aaron from all the years, Mays up until he retired, Clemente, Gibson, Kaline, rookies of Brett and Yount, Killebrew, Frank and Brooks Robinson - she just gave me all. She decided to go through her basketball and football collection and gave me a lot of 71-72's and 72-73's - Chamberlain, West, Baylor, Alcindor, Robertson, Unites, Staubach, Namath - they were all there pack fresh.

This was an awesome day. I immediately went to a friend's house and gave him some of them - I figured that I had 3 Willie Mays' in there, so he could have one of them. Same with Aaron, etc.

From there, it was disaster. A card show was coming to town. I heard that baseball cards were worth money so I wanted to go. Melanie went with me. In the first 5 minutes at the show, I proceeded to sell the box. The guy at the front of the show picked through the best cards and offered me $8. I then took the rest and they guy offered me $5. I needed $14 for an '80 Topps set. I had to borrow $1 from my mom.

I collected through high school, but it was 80's junk wax and a bunch of topps, fleer and donruss sets from those years. In my sophmore year of college in the fall of '91, I decided to sell everything. I posted them in the trader. A guy came and looked at them. I didn't want to hover. He looked at my albums that had some of my stars - some stuff I had gathered over the years like a '68 Seaver. He stole 15-20 cards out of my binder and told me that he wasn't interested. I then looked through them later and realized that he had taken those better cards. I ended up selling the collection for $250 and put it towards a used big screen TV so that I could be the BMOC (in my mind at least) in the college dorm.

Fast forward to 2012. I took my boys to Cooperstown and they had both the Ken Kendrick collection and a baseball card room. While in the baseball card room, I showed the boys all of those '70-'75's that I used to have and it bummed me out like it was 1980 all over again. Later that weekend, after we got back home, I was on ebay looking at those cards and lamenting selling them all for $13. My wife, tired of my whining, says with exasperation - "If you want those cards, just go buy them." By the end of that day, I bought complete sets for '80-'85. Within the next week, I had bought complete sets back to '76. Over the next two weeks, it was '73-'75. I then found someone who was selling '66 and '72. I found someone on Craigslist who had near sets of '71 and '68. The race was on.

5 years later, I have '54-current in Topps, '50, 53 (Color & B&W), '54, and '55 Bowman plus 60-63 Fleer, '52 Red Man and some other test issues. My wife reminds me on occasion that her invitation was to buy the '70-'75 shoe box back - not every card ever made.

Through it all, I think of Melanie Lain. Not only did she give me the cards with no strings attached, she went to the card show and watched me sell them - never stepping in to say - "that was not the idea when I gave them to you. If you are going to sell them, just give them back." She was friendly and positive the entire way.

Given the 1-2 sentence responses to most of these, I have probably emoted way too much, but it does make me go back and think about how I acquired this collecting illness and why I remain borderline obsessive with it even today.

jb217676 · #15 12-03-2017, 08:38 AM

Jeff Prize-ner, guru of postcards!

Joe_G. · #16 12-03-2017, 09:04 AM

My focus quickly migrated from available wax at local grocery store (84 Topps) to older cards as I attended local card shows. The older the better although it was tough to find anything in the Upper Peninsula of MI. My ability to collect older cards improved once I subscribed to SCD which opened the door to impressive dealers and collectors alike.

I ordered Lew Lipsets encyclopedias and quickly narrowed my Detroit interest to Old Judges. By the late 1980s I had contacted Bob Richardson and we wrote each other many times. It was always a special treat to receive a letter as it would typically include xerox copies of cards I had dreamed about. I managed to obtain Detroit Old Judges of Rowe, Thompson, and Twitchell from Bob before graduating HS and temporarily leaving the hobby. I returned to the hobby in 2003 and immediately wrote Bob to see how similar/different his interests and the hobby were. He was still collecting and we traded far more material as it was easier for me to find cards on his wantlist thanks to eBay.

Bob was single most influential collector, always willing to take the time to answer questions and help a fellow collector out regardless of age, knowledge, etc.

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