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#1
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Southern California Sports Club in the 1970s
Posted By: Chris Counts
In response to a thread by Jack Goodman about Goodwin Goldfaden, another board member (Griffins) brought up the Southern California Sports Club. As a teenager in the late 70s, I always looked forward to these meetings, which I recall were held in a place called the Isacc Walton School (in Garden Grove?). Later, they were moved to a recreation center in Fountain Valley. There were other locations scattered around (San Feranado Valley, San Gabriel Valley), but I recall the Orange County events were the best attended. |
#2
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Southern California Sports Club in the 1970s
Posted By: Griffin's
I certainly remember them- at one point I was the vice president, for what little that was worth. |
#3
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Southern California Sports Club in the 1970s
Posted By: barrysloate
Do you remember seeing any really rare stuff back in those days? My first year in the hobby was 1982, and I remember that most of the business that transacted was in Topps and Bowman. Back then Pete Rose rookies were so hot that dealers would put them in their display cases with "not for sale" signs on them. They were holy grails back then. Today you can put them back in your bicycle spokes. The sense I have is that in those days the very rare and early cards barely ever transacted. When you look at old copies of the Trader Speaks, you almost never see them listed for sale. |
#4
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Southern California Sports Club in the 1970s
Posted By: Gilbert Maines
What I most remember from that era was card shops. And the proprietors always trying to sell goudeys, playballs and when pressed, t206s. They had other stuff, but it was a hassle to get it out - and then they "knew nothing about it" and neither did I. It was the '80s before I got to see an OJ up close and personal. And I bought it, and another and had enuff left from my $100. to get a Dockman common (a card with color) and a w502 Hornsby. |
#5
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Southern California Sports Club in the 1970s
Posted By: Bruce Babcock
I got started around 1981. I went to a monthly show in Granada Hills (CA) run by Eric Cooper & David Hamilton. Clay Hill set up there as did Tony Galovich, and the guy who got busted for printing up the fake Rose rookie cards. I was focused on 50s & 60s stuff for the most part. Some dealers dealt exclusively in Topps complete sets of the 50s-70s. There was tobacco era material and some caramel issues but the most exotic cards I remember were N172s. The new Fleer and Donruss issues were big that year. My first exposure to the exotic stuff was through Lew Lipet's books and his Old Judge newsletter. |
#6
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Southern California Sports Club in the 1970s
Posted By: Mike Ernst
This brings back memories--I was an early 20-year old in the early 70's, collecting contemporary cards as well as vintage ones. |
#7
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Southern California Sports Club in the 1970s
Posted By: warshawlaw
It was the West Coast Card Club. I usually took a dealer table there and generally purchased some stuff through the auctions. That show was the highlight of my month. Looking back, I was awash in old cards by then due to so many family friends giving me their adult kids' cards. Mostly all 1950s and 1960s stuff, although I did have a handful of prewar, mostly stuff I purchased in low grade for a few bucks. I also used to attend the Anaheim shows; did great there. My parents would drop me at the hotel in the morning, take my sister to Disneyland, and pick me up later. |
#8
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Southern California Sports Club in the 1970s
Posted By: Dan Bretta
There weren't any card shows or shops in my area until about 1986 except for a guy who ran a shop out of his basement. I run into people to this very day who when we start to discuss cards will bring up that little basement shop. At that time I never even paid any attention to anything besides Topps/Fleer/Donruss so I didn't really care much about the older stuff, but I distinctly recall a guy at the local once a month flea market that would bring a big binder full of T206, Cracker Jacks and other assorted prewar cards....I never bought any, but I always looked through the binder. I guess I thought the $5-10 prices he had on the cards was outrageous when I could buy 10-15 packs of 1985 fleer cards at the next guys table. I'd probably still be buying that crap if my dad hadn't introduced me to the N172 Old Judge set. |
#9
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Southern California Sports Club in the 1970s
Posted By: Chris Counts
When I come to think, I can picture Clay Hill, Jim Nowell and Merv Williams. I don't have any recollection about the guy who reprinted the Rose rookies, but I probably knew him. I'm curious who he was. I remember the Rose rookie craze. It was like a plague What I do recall was that going to those meetings was like being a little kid in a candy store. Discovering cards from the 1950s was such a revelation to me I hardly had time to consider the possibilities of pre-war cards. I certainly had no idea so many varieties existed. There were white borders, gold borders, Goudeys and Play Balls. I hardly noticed the rest. |
#10
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Southern California Sports Club in the 1970s
Posted By: Griffin's
Barry- I don't recall any rarer stuff, but it was out of my realm then so I probably didn't notice as much. I always wanted a T3 and an Old Judge, but could never afford them. I did see them pretty regularly, but as Chris related there was a pretty heavy slant towards west coast regionals, and Kahn's if you were really exotic. The holy grail was probably something like a '58 Bell Brand Cimoli, it's still a very tough card in a tough set and being in LA very desireable at the time. Remar's got a lot of play, but interestingly they may be the only thing back then that didn't keep pace with inflation, let alone go up. |
#11
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Southern California Sports Club in the 1970s
Posted By: TONY
Hey Chris: Are you the one that drove the yellow 924 Porsche? If so I wondered what happened to you.... |
#12
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Southern California Sports Club in the 1970s
Posted By: Scott M
Mike E. |
#13
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Southern California Sports Club in the 1970s
Posted By: Mark Macrae
I remember going to the Labor Day shows at (I believe) the Quality Inn in Anaheim. The ballroom was on the second floor. Although there were only 75 or so tables you could spend a few days there. Goodwin Goldfaden was set up just to the right of the entrance, Dave Mathews was in the far right corner, John Spalding off to the left & Will Davis with his table of '64 Giants dead ahead in front of you. I seem to recall Tony Galovich was along the back aisle near a window (Tony, you've been out of circulation for so long , I thought someone pushed you out that window)........ Barry there wasn't much of the exotic stuff on display. Most of those types of transactions were discreetly handled before the show started.... During that period there were great shows here in the Bay Area, especially at Acalanes High School in Lafayette. My vintage fix and available budget at the time were taken care of at our shows. Material is much more readily available today, albeit at slighter higher (100-200 times) price.... |
#14
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Southern California Sports Club in the 1970s
Posted By: Matt federgreen
I've been a long time lurker, but after reading this post I couldn't resist keeping off any longer. Oh the memories. My first meeting was in 76'. I was 13 and was brought by Al Savage. (I use to mow his lawn for cards) . He also lived across the street from Nelson Katz another old timer who I heard past away a few years ago. What ever happened to Mark Christensen (Wasn't he 6' 10'' tall). I remember buying 65' Carltons from him for a buck. He pulled them out of a 500 count vending box filled with just Carltons. |
#15
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Southern California Sports Club in the 1970s
Posted By: Griffin's
Mark- the Quality Inn must've been after my time, I still have the badge somewhere for the Hyatt show, it was August 9,10, and 11, 1974. |
#16
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Southern California Sports Club in the 1970s
Posted By: Rich Mueller
Mike, |
#17
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Southern California Sports Club in the 1970s
Posted By: barrysloate
As Mark said all the rare material is more available today. My real question is where was all the great stuff back then? All the Kalamazoo Bats and Four Base Hits and Yum Yums and G&B's and rare candy cards, etc. that are in collections today were somewhere back in the 1970's. But where were they? I don't know if anyone has the answer, but did it have to do with the fact that they weren't worth enough for people to consider selling them? Or was there a complete disinterest and lack of knowledge? Even with the proliferation of vintage collectors today, rare material is available in nearly every good auction. But with only a tiny number of collectors back then, you would have expected the stuff to be everywhere with few if any takers. It just seems to me a bit incongruous. |
#18
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Southern California Sports Club in the 1970s
Posted By: Richard Masson
I set up a few times on one of the lunch benches at the elementary school in Garden Grove. I was only a pre-teen at the time (so my Dad had to drive me down there-about an hour)and I was mostly dealing with autographs. I was an early fan of Jack Smalling (Ames, Iowa) and his sheets that checklisted players alphabetically by debut year. I've still got my checklist, but the autographs were mostly sold to start another business. |
#19
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Southern California Sports Club in the 1970s
Posted By: Gilbert Maines
Incongruous my eye! |
#20
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Southern California Sports Club in the 1970s
Posted By: Dan Bretta
I think more material is available today because of Ebay. Ebay has given the incentive for ordinary folk to look up in grandma's attic. Anyone can be an antique dealer today...back then you needed a shop. |
#21
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Southern California Sports Club in the 1970s
Posted By: barrysloate
No question higher values and more publicity brought cards out of the attic, but were these very rare cards still undiscovered in the 1970's? Was there a cache a Four Base Hits sitting in a cigar box unknown to the collecting world? I was fortunate in my early days in the hobby, mostly the 1980's and early 90's, to buy maybe a couple of dozen original family collections. But virtually every one contained primarily T205, T206, maybe a few t210, small groups of e-cards- but nobody every offered me a shoebox of Yum Yum's. Have any oldtime collectors- Mark Macrae or anyone else- ever found cards of that magnitude in a shoebox find? I remember Ron Oser's great Kalamazoo Bats find in the 1980's, an N321 find sometime later, but that's one or two in twenty years. I believe most of the rare cards known today were known in the 1970's, and some collectors had them- but nobody seemed to offer them for sale. Again, go back to the hobby publications from 25 years ago and notice that virtually nothing rare and exotic was being offered. |
#22
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Southern California Sports Club in the 1970s
Posted By: Matt O
I am also a long time lurker that couldn't resist this topic. In the early 70's I was involved in the card shows in the Cincinnati and Dayton Ohio areas. T-206 Cobbs were $5, 1933 Goudey Ruths were $30. Unlike some of the other posts I just read, I did see a lot of rare stuff. I once bought a World Series Program from the 50's that was in a plastic holder. After walking away I pulled the program out of the plastic and 2 Kalamazoo Bats Cabinets fell out from between the pages. Hard to believe, but I actually returned the 2 cards to a surprised Cliff and Ron Lambert who I had just purchased the program from. Carmel cards didn't seem very popular and I remember seeing quite a few of them. Anyway, those were the good old days and its really interesting to read everyones recollections. |
#23
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Southern California Sports Club in the 1970s
Posted By: Leon
I would politely disagree a little bit. I think there are still many good finds hidden away in attics, old sheds, inside walls, etc.....Look what has come out in the last 3-4 yrs. I sort of like the SGC graded '14 CJ set last year. A 96- Mint Jackson....doesn't get too much better than that!! Look at what Dave Levin has found in the last few years, the Ruth cards coming up in REA...the great stuff Mastro always has that's new to the hobby......and many others....even I had a little find that was fairly significant. I do think they're still more out there. These "finds" will be harder for dealers to acquire with the accessability of technology though. I would think most Americans have at least heard of that little company "Ebay". Anyone can hop on there and search for an old baseball card, find dealers, auction houses get contact info etc.. and go from there. I strongly believe there will be significant finds for the next several years....We shall see....btw, I agree that a lot of the marque cards have been around for years I just think there will be many more...kind regards |
#24
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Southern California Sports Club in the 1970s
Posted By: warshawlaw
The cards on the tables at those shows were everyone's dupes. No one at those 1970s meets and shows (except Goldfadden) made a living at this stuff; they all had "straight" jobs. Real rarities of today were every bit as rare then, perhaps more so since all of the attic finds of the last 20 years were still in attics then. |
#25
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Southern California Sports Club in the 1970s
Posted By: Mike Ernst
Rich Mueller--where did you grow up in central Wisconsin? Dick Millerd was still around a couple of years ago. |
#26
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Southern California Sports Club in the 1970s
Posted By: Steve Dawson
I grew up in San Diego and went to the monthly shows at Parkway Bowl in El Cajon starting around 1977 or so. There were also occasional shows elsewhere in San Diego County that I'd go to. I remember seeing Tony Galovich, Steve Brunner, Will Davis, Charlie Seaver, Bill Heitman and I think Gavin Reilly at them pretty regularly. The only pre-war cards I remember seeing were Goudeys, and T205s, T206s and T207s. I bought nearly all the T206 HOFers back then in probaly around vg-ex shape. I absolutely loved the early tobacco cards and bought every HOFer I could find and afford. I don't remember seeing any 19th Century stuff until the first "San Diego Show" in 1981 or 1982, and that was from Larry Shane, who came out all the way from Philadelphia. I bought N28s of Clarkson and Keefe from him. I also remember my main interest seemed to be 1955 Topps baseball, as each one of the Parkway Bowl shows would see me head straight for Steve Brunner's table and pick through his '55s (commons were going for 25 cents each, and high #s were 75 cents each! ) |
#27
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Southern California Sports Club in the 1970s
Posted By: Bruce Babcock
Matt, I was there when Tony Galovich ran after that guy and caught him at the Universal Sheraton. I was only a couple of tables away from Tony's table when I saw him start yelling and take off like a bat out of hell. I never mentioned it on this forum before because I didn't think anyone would believe me. Now I have corroboration! Ah, the good old days . . . |
#28
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Southern California Sports Club in the 1970s
Posted By: Rich Mueller
Mike.. |
#29
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Southern California Sports Club in the 1970s
Posted By: JimB
Matt F. |
#30
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Southern California Sports Club in the 1970s
Posted By: Andrew
I grew up in Garden Grove and attended elementary school at Brookhurst. I also worked at the aforementioned Hyatt of Anaheim. I entered the show scene around '80, where I have fond memories of the monthly Fountain Valley rec center meetings; I think a very tall shop owner named Mark Christiansen ran them. One of my earliest dealer purchases was a ’71 Kelloggs set for $150 purchased from a young David Kohler out of the trunk of his corvette. |
#31
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Southern California Sports Club in the 1970s
Posted By: barrysloate
Leon- I agree there are some great things still to be found and perhaps I didn't express myself as clearly as I wanted. What I meant to say was if you look at some of the early hobby publications, you virtually never see great 19th century cards being offered, and we can't assume all of them were found in the last 10-20 years. Somebody somewhere had this great stuff and knew what it was and had it as part of their collection/inventory, but it never seemed to be for sale. Pull out a 1976 Trader Speaks and look at what percentage of the material being offered was Topps, Bowman, Goudey, etc. and then try to find some great 19th century rarities in those ads. Likewise, when I went to shows in the early 80's, every other table had a 52 Mantle or a 63 Rose, but virtually none had early material. Where was the rare stuff hiding? |
#32
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Southern California Sports Club in the 1970s
Posted By: leon
Ok...that makes more sense. I think you are right. I have about 50-60 Trader Speaks and look over them often. I can only remember a handful of rare 19th Century cards being mentioned.... |
#33
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Southern California Sports Club in the 1970s
Posted By: TONY
Hey Bruce, I almost forgot about chasing the kid who stole a binder of my baseball cards, |
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