Why do you collect what you collect?

[Exhibitman]

I started collecting when I was a tyke, with Topps baseball and football cards. My first big year for those sports was 1971. In 1972 I started ripping packs of basketball cards. 1975 is the year I started buying hockey cards in earnest. I quickly moved on to the chase for older cards. My uncle gave me The Great American Baseball Card Flipping, Trading and Bubble Gum Book (Little Brown, 1973; Brendan C. Boyd & Fred C. Harris) and I read it until it fell apart. It was my first real exposure to the art of golden age Topps and Bowman and those cards were now on my radar. I found The Complete Book of Baseball Cards: For the Collector, Flipper and Fan [1975; Steve Clark] and was hooked on T cards.

My first card show was Thanksgiving 1976 at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York, sponsored by the ASCCA. I’d become a Willie Mays fan when he returned to New York in 1973, so my first great project was to collect an example of every Mays card. I finished the Topps run at that show with the 1952 and 1953 cards. My mother nearly ripped my father’s head off when she found out that he loaned me $45 to buy them.

We moved to L.A. in 1977. I quickly became involved with the West Coast Card Club, which held monthly meetings in a church basement and later a social hall in Northridge. I also lucked into several collections that were given to me by family and friends.

My collection at that point was pretty much about the four sports, Topps, Bowman and a smattering of T cards. It was during that time that I focused on a few Western regional issues that have ever since fascinated me: Zeenuts, Bell Brand, 1968 Atlantic Oil.

I put away the cards after the 1980 baseball season and really did not return to them for nearly a decade, when I decided to attend a massive show at the Moscone Center in San Francisco as a welcome diversion from law school. When I returned to L.A. after graduating and got a job and started having disposable income, I really got back into collecting, aided by the abundance of shows. It was a rare weekend that I did not have at least a show a day to attend.

My collecting changed immeasurably around that time owing to two meetings at shows. At one, a fellow had 1948 Leaf cards of Barney Ross and Benny Leonard. I sort of knew that boxing cards existed but seeing these, I was instantly smitten. I bought the pair for a few bucks and took them home to show my father. He looked at the Ross card and said the words that changed my collection forever: “I think my cousin Ray fought him.”

You could have knocked me over with a puff of air. “Dad,” I said, “if you have a cousin who was a boxer that means I have cousin who was a boxer.” He then told me about Ray Miller for the first time and I realized that I was related to a world-class athlete. That started the boxing card thing.

The other collection-changer for me was meeting an old-time collector named John Spalding. Some of you might have known John. He was a collector from the Bay area with a strong background in PCL history and sports. But that isn’t what got me interested. It was his album of prewar Exhibit cards. I knew of and had collected the postwar cards from time to time, but I’d never seen anything like these. Over the course of several shows I purchased stacks of them from John, while making a general pest of myself picking his brain about the issue and others as well.

So what do I really collect? Well:

--A world boxing type card collection and postcard type collection, represented whenever possible by favorite fighters Benny Leonard, Joe Louis and Jim Jeffries

--Some boxing memorabilia, mostly premiums.

--A boxing HOF collection represented by career-contemporary cards whenever possible, which I use as the backbone of the type card collection (e.g., I have a type card from the 1931 Bigott set from Venezuela that happens to be HOFer Pedro Montanez).

--Some prewar baseball cards and ephemera,

--Exhibit cards from all sports and some entertainment sets too.

--Postwar mainstream collections of baseball, basketball, football and hockey, especially the 1970s

--Autographs and cards of musicians and comedians i admire.

I really don't 'do' sets except for a few quixotic pet issues: H815 Adam Hats, 1950s Rodine baseball PCs and premiums, 1904 anon. boxing cabinets, 1910 Rob Roy Jeffries-Johnson, pre-1907 D & K boxing PC, 1968 Atlantic Oil baseball (down to the prize-winner SSPs). And I am three portraits from my T206 HOF portraits set (not counting Plank and Wagner, of course). Added Joss and McGraw in the recent LOTG.

And since every thread needs a card, here is the Rodine premium with Ruth, Grove, etc.:

[68Hawk]

I love paper and I love sport. An artistic representation of one onto the other is just perfect for me.
Can't really explain it any other way.

[mrreality68]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

I started collecting when I was a tyke, with Topps baseball and football cards. My first big year for those sports was 1971. In 1972 I started ripping packs of basketball cards. 1975 is the year I started buying hockey cards in earnest. I quickly moved on to the chase for older cards. My uncle gave me The Great American Baseball Card Flipping, Trading and Bubble Gum Book (Little Brown, 1973; Brendan C. Boyd & Fred C. Harris) and I read it until it fell apart. It was my first real exposure to the art of golden age Topps and Bowman and those cards were now on my radar. I found The Complete Book of Baseball Cards: For the Collector, Flipper and Fan [1975; Steve Clark] and was hooked on T cards.

My first card show was Thanksgiving 1976 at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York, sponsored by the ASCCA. I’d become a Willie Mays fan when he returned to New York in 1973, so my first great project was to collect an example of every Mays card. I finished the Topps run at that show with the 1952 and 1953 cards. My mother nearly ripped my father’s head off when she found out that he loaned me $45 to buy them.

We moved to L.A. in 1977. I quickly became involved with the West Coast Card Club, which held monthly meetings in a church basement and later a social hall in Northridge. I also lucked into several collections that were given to me by family and friends.

My collection at that point was pretty much about the four sports, Topps, Bowman and a smattering of T cards. It was during that time that I focused on a few Western regional issues that have ever since fascinated me: Zeenuts, Bell Brand, 1968 Atlantic Oil.

I put away the cards after the 1980 baseball season and really did not return to them for nearly a decade, when I decided to attend a massive show at the Moscone Center in San Francisco as a welcome diversion from law school. When I returned to L.A. after graduating and got a job and started having disposable income, I really got back into collecting, aided by the abundance of shows. It was a rare weekend that I did not have at least a show a day to attend.

My collecting changed immeasurably around that time owing to two meetings at shows. At one, a fellow had 1948 Leaf cards of Barney Ross and Benny Leonard. I sort of knew that boxing cards existed but seeing these, I was instantly smitten. I bought the pair for a few bucks and took them home to show my father. He looked at the Ross card and said the words that changed my collection forever: “I think my cousin Ray fought him.”

You could have knocked me over with a puff of air. “Dad,” I said, “if you have a cousin who was a boxer that means I have cousin who was a boxer.” He then told me about Ray Miller for the first time and I realized that I was related to a world-class athlete. That started the boxing card thing.

The other collection-changer for me was meeting an old-time collector named John Spalding. Some of you might have known John. He was a collector from the Bay area with a strong background in PCL history and sports. But that isn’t what got me interested. It was his album of prewar Exhibit cards. I knew of and had collected the postwar cards from time to time, but I’d never seen anything like these. Over the course of several shows I purchased stacks of them from John, while making a general pest of myself picking his brain about the issue and others as well.

So what do I really collect? Well:

--A world boxing type card collection and postcard type collection, represented whenever possible by favorite fighters Benny Leonard, Joe Louis and Jim Jeffries

--Some boxing memorabilia, mostly premiums.

--A boxing HOF collection represented by career-contemporary cards whenever possible, which I use as the backbone of the type card collection (e.g., I have a type card from the 1931 Bigott set from Venezuela that happens to be HOFer Pedro Montanez).

--Some prewar baseball cards and ephemera,

--Exhibit cards from all sports and some entertainment sets too.

--Postwar mainstream collections of baseball, basketball, football and hockey, especially the 1970s

--Autographs and cards of musicians and comedians i admire.

I really don't 'do' sets except for a few quixotic pet issues: H815 Adam Hats, 1950s Rodine baseball PCs and premiums, 1904 anon. boxing cabinets, 1910 Rob Roy Jeffries-Johnson, pre-1907 D & K boxing PC, 1968 Atlantic Oil baseball (down to the prize-winner SSPs). And I am three portraits from my T206 HOF portraits set (not counting Plank and Wagner, of course). Added Joss and McGraw in the recent LOTG.

And since every thread needs a card, here is the Rodine premium with Ruth, Grove, etc.:

Great Story and Great Card

Looks Like the Love of the Game and The Love of the Stories behind the cards and those that we attach to them is what it is all about

[Leon]

I like variety so I like scarce type cards...and T206 HOF'ers with big borders....and a few other things....
I like the history of the hobby too...

[Exhibitman]

Originally Posted by mrreality68

Great Story and Great Card

Looks Like the Love of the Game and The Love of the Stories behind the cards and those that we attach to them is what it is all about

Shameless Plug: I consigned a Rodine to the current Sterling Auctions auction.

My piece of Burdickiana:




JB's E80 Jack Johnson

[bnorth]

Because it is what makes me happy. What that is has changed many many times over the last 30+ years. The last 2 years I have focused on Wade Boggs bats. A fellow member and great hobby friend got me into collecting bats. After a couple years of him showing me his awesome new bats I started buying them. I currently have around 30 different Wade Boggs bats.

[Troy Kirk]

Thanks for posting that photo of Burdick, Leon. I've seen that newspaper photo of Burdick before, but never saw the original photo, very cool to see.