Nice article on ESPN about our hobby

[BobbyVCP]

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2...s/intro/090805

[tbob]

Interesting article and fun pictures but he spent about 2% of his time looking at and snapping pictures of prewar baseball cards. He mentions next year in Baltimore he will spend more time with "our" part of the hobby and less with football, basketball and hockey.

For those who don't want to read the whole article or view all the pictures (worth a look), Bill Simmons does make this comment that I know some of us have uttered at one time or another at a National:

"Time for a tangent: One of my favorite rules of collecting is "never buy from a dealer who's an a-hole." It's just not worth it. You'll always have the stink of the jerk who sold whatever you bought on it. Unfortunately, many of these guys are unfriendly; it's a relatively lonely business filled with unhappy people who act like they have more power than they do and don't mind spitting chicken fingers on you as you're trying to negotiate a price with them. The way to combat these people is by not giving these people money. I know, crazy. What's amazes me is their willingness to throw away any rules for selling that work in any other walk of life: Being friendly and reasonable; having a sense of humor; avoiding any condescending or derisive remarks; not keeping a customer waiting because you're busy telling another dealer a stupid story about your personal life; engaging the customer immediately instead of appearing put-out because they've interrupted your lunch or your phone call; etc., etc. It's one of those professions in which, when you deal with someone normal and friendly, you feel obligated to thank them for being normal and friendly. Sad but true."

Luckily there are a lot of pre-war sellers who are the flip side- courteous, friendly, helpful and nice. But if you read the above and close your eyes, I bet some faces pop up in your mind.

[Anthony S.]

He also added the following (I have no affiliation with McAvoy, but they apparently provided the antidote to the curmudgeonly dealers):

"On the flip side: I liked the McAvoy Sports Card guys. Friendly, organized, possessed a killer collection and allowed me to look at their vintage basketball cards without spitting food on me or regarding me like I was a Crip walking into Bloods territory. They're based out of Nebraska."

[slantycouch]

Originally Posted by tbob

Luckily there are a lot of pre-war sellers who are the flip side- courteous, friendly, helpful and nice. But if you read the above and close your eyes, I bet some faces pop up in your mind.

Not in this hobby! Never!

[alanu]

If you like sarcasm, the gallery and captions are worth the time.

[Reginald Marsh]

Hmmmm......after reading the comments i do understand how alot of dealers can be frowned upon and i in no way shape or form consider myself a card dealer but i do like to buy,trade and sell cards, that being said i can say this in defense of the dealers- In no industry have i ever seen more people trying to get something for nothing like the card industry, half the time a 500 dollar card is worth somewhere around 50 to 70% SMR and a dealer can buy the card at that price and then up walks a guy and offers a 100 dollars for a T206 Collins in a PSA 6 holder. Once it happens over and over again dealers just get wore out dealing with folks that are borderline retarded and waste time with ridiculous offers.

I bought over 10,000 dollars worth of cards at the show and at no time did a make a offer so out of line where the dealer would look at me as if i may have popped like 5 viagra and was a walking boner.

I understand dealers can be to cool for school but all you have to do is just yell. If a dealer is on the phone and looks like he is talking to Donald Trump then just say hey boss i'm in at 2000 on the Aaron rookie PSA 7.5 cash now and watch how fast the phone hangs up, been there done that.

If O'Keefe is rambling on about his new hall of fame discoveries just interrupt and say what is on your mind. I learned along time ago to be yourself at all times and you will sleep easier at night.

Ty Cobb said it best- Your friends will always be your friends no matter what and those who are not your friends to hell with them. The only way to buy cards at a show is to throw cash on the case and watch how fast the guy responds, money talks and bullshit walks so enough with the Martha Stewart customer service act pay attention to me because i am important by god.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by Reginald Marsh

pay attention to me because i am important by god.

The older I have gotten the less important I care about being. As long as my wife and daughter (and dogs) love me, it's all good. No worries here. I just want to be happy and collect with my friends.

[Vintagedegu]

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