Whatever happened to your card dealer of the past?

[Jayworld]

I began ordering from Richard Gelman's Card Collector's Company about 1977 when I was 10. I remember ordering T206 cards in poor condition for 50 cents each, and also filling out my 1977 Topps sets (he offered all singles at different price points), as well as buying lots of cards (he would offer lots of 25, 50 and 100 different from various years). That's how I started my 1976 Topps set.

I also ordered from Donn Jennings out of Alabama, as I received his catalog about once every other month in the late 1970s.

Others that come to mind were the Mid-Atlantic Coin Exchange (dealt in lots of Bowman cards), Hal's Nostalgia, and of course, Renata Galasso.

I never ordered from Larry Fritsch cards, even when he advertised (full page ads) in Baseball Cards magazine and SCD back in the early 1980s. I always thought he was too high, and he sold his sets for at least $3-5 over other dealers at the time.

Best deal I ever got from a catalog dealer; $9.99 postpaid 1979 Topps mint set from Leon Rock. Still have the set. Also paid $3.50 for the Wonderbread Battlestar Galactica set from Leon. Have no idea what happened to him or the others, although I did read somewhere that Larry Fritsch bought out the Card Collector's Company stock....