Tell me a fun hobby story...
AFLfan
Posts: 1,272 ✭✭✭✭✭
With all that has been going on recently, the fun times and reasons why we are in this hobby can sometimes slip to the backs of our minds. I'd like to hear some fun hobby stories. If nothing else, it will help me get to know you all a bit better. So please post away with stories about what got you into the hobby, fond memories, great acquisitions, friendships you have made... really, just anything that helps to illustrate why you enjoy the hobby.
I will start... When I was a kid, maybe 10 or 11 years old (roughly 1982-1983), I was at a swap meet with my dad. My dad had grown up loving baseball and collecting cards, but a house fire destroyed his collection right after he graduated college. Anyway, we came across a seller at the swap meet who had a couple boxes of mid-late 1960s cards. He was a younger guy, maybe mid-20s. Anyway, my dad asked him what he wanted for the cards. I don't know how it came up in the discussion, but somehow the guy mentioned that he needed a clothes dryer as his had died. We had just replaced our washer and dryer, and my dad offered to trade him our old machines for the cards.
At 10 years old, I remember thinking that my dad was really going big for these cards with his willingness to give up a dryer in trade! Looking back now, especially to those days when department stores didn't necessarily take your old machines away to recycle them, my dad was probably thrilled to have the guy take the machines off his hands. Getting the cards would have just been a bonus!
I recall getting a 1968 Topps Mantle and three 1969 Topps Don Drysdale cards in that lot, but the rest of the cards have faded from my memory.
So, tell me a story...
Comments
That's a cool story about your dad Todd. I wish I had memories of my dad collecting with me, but he never got into it.
I am not sure I can tell you one story, as much as just a lot of great hobby experiences I have had my entire life. I have been fortunate enough to really collect my entire life with my best friend Bobby. Even from the very instant we met, there is a great story. I was 14/15 years old and lived behind him in the same neighborhood. I was walking from my house to his next door neighbors house one day and noticed that he had a ton of baseball posters on his walls. So after a day or two, I just walked to the front door, rang the doorbell and when he opened the door, I said something like, "I collect baseball cards, not sure if you do, but if you do; Here is a Beckett price guide". We were friends ever since.
We grew up as kids canvassing Tampa area going to shows and baseball card shops endlessly. At that period of time, shows seemed like an every weekend thing, and shops were everywhere. We Got Bobby's car stuck in the mud many times trying to get to a shop more quickly as we would take a dirt road cut through from the back of our neighborhood rather than just drive out and around.
There was a time when Bobby wouldn't fill his car up until it was nearly dead empty. Well on this Friday night as we were heading to a show, Bobby ran out of gas on I-4 in Tampa which is a major interstate. As he hitchhiked to go get gas, I got pissed and said I was walking back to our house (10 plus miles away from where we were) and well before cell phones were a thing. When it started to rain, I turned around to go back to the car, only for Bobby to arrive shortly thereafter with gas and beginning to complain about discomfort in his "man region". He had been picked up and gotten gas, and in the process of being brought back to his car, spilled the gas in his lap, and it soaked his groin. Off we went to the card show, all the while he was complaining he was on fire "down there" After we left the show, we made our way back home, with a stop at the Hospital in between.
I remember the National in Baltimore where we went a Steiner party that many members of this board were at as well. Serious alcohol was flowing! There definitely was one of us who got up from bed, Threw up, showered, threw up again and then came out and said, OK, I'm ready for day number #2! There are great stories associated with other members about how their nights progressed after leaving the Steiner party as well. I will leave that to them to tell.
Even recently, We went to a local candy shop in North Carolina that has some older 80's/90's junk wax. We both bought a box of 1992 Stadium Club Basketball for like $15-$20 a box and came back to my place in the middle of the day to rip. So you have two mid 40's guys ripping wax....Bobby ends up pulling the Shaquille O'Neal Beam Team card, and maybe 30 seconds later, as I am ripping I pull the Jordan Beam Team card. You would have thought that we hit the lottery. We were high fiving each other and jumping up and down. Subsequently, both cards graded PSA 10's and its safe to say neither of us would ever sell those two cards.
Lastly, I can remember so many baseball weekend trips we have taken, where we would ship boxes of cards into the hotel in advance for us to rip in our hotel room. We literally would have stacks and stacks of worthless cards piled up in our room, laughing our asses off thinking about what the maids will say when they come in to make up our room.
These memories are priceless to me. Its funny, Bobby and I talk every day, and recently with all the seriousness around the hobby have talked about getting back to the fun of the hobby and have discuss what this years National is going to look like. We both just plan to have a great time seeing the friends we have made in this hobby, eating good dinners every night at the steakhouses, etc.. and ripping junk wax back at our room every night. I guess you cant ever take the kid away!
Great idea for a thread Todd, and I echo what others have said in previous threads, your doing a great job moderating this forum, yet allowing healthy and productive conversations to take place. Its noticed by the collective board members and appreciated.
I collect: 80’s Rookies and 86 Fleer Basketball
1970 Bart Starr card
My older brother and I both collected cards as kids. I was definitely much more into it as I also valued cards as a source of information and statistics. I started collecting at the age of around 6 so the first packs I opened were late 70's Topps. Of course I got obsessed pretty early on so I would open anything from Sports cards to Charlie's Angels cards. As long as it came in a pack I wanted to open it and see what was in it. My brother was 5 years older and was an athlete as well but his interest was not the same as mine. In fact, he generally used his cards as a leverage tool when he wanted me to do something. I would definitely do all the chores for some sports cards.
The oldest star card he had was this really beat up 1970 Bart Starr card. This was below PSA 1 standards. It was taped in multiple locations, the corners looked like a dog chewed them up. The card had been through a few wars. However, to me, that card was like a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle. Because i liked that card so much he ended up liking the card just as much as I did. For years I tried just about every kind of trade possible to get that card. Finally, some time in the late 80's I traded him for the card. It definitely was my top card. By that time I had a Reggie Jackson RC, 2 Jordan rookies as well as many of the major 80's rookies that at the time we all thought were going to be worth so much money someday. But that Bart Starr card was my card of cards. Around 1991 I became a bit disillusioned with the hobby. It started to become a business and not a hobby and I really hated that so I quit. I moved about a year after I quit and left all my cards in storage at my parents house. For the most part they were forgotten. I had no interest in the hobby at all for 20+ years. No clue at all where the hobby had gone. It just did not exist in my mind as even a mere thought.
Around 4 years ago my dad calls me up and mentions that I still have a bunch of stuff stored at his house. I had been living in South America the past couple of years and just got back to San Francisco so I decided to go up and dispose of most of the items. When I came into contact with the cards i was like "great! this ought to pay for a plane ticket to some where in the world". I loaded up the car and bought them over to my place. Oddly enough, there was a sports card show the next week so I figured I would go over and talk with some people to see if I could sell them. I walked into the show and immediately started talking to people and not really paying any attention to the cards. There was some interest but everyone was telling me that I probably had a bunch of 80's garbage and that it's pretty much worthless. After hearing this over and over i started wandering around looking at the cards. I have to admit I felt embarrassment even looking at sports cards to the point I was hoping nobody would see me. At the time it just seemed like such a kid thing and here I am a grown adult looking at this stuff. So after awhile I get to a dealer and as I am looking at his old vintage football I see a 1970 NM Bart Starr card. I must of stared at that thing for like 10 minutes. I was absolutely amazed at what the card looked like in a like new condition. Even more shocked was that the price attached to it was only like $15. In my unknowing head this card should hundreds of dollars. I walked away thinking wow that was so cheap. I continued to walk around the show and no matter what I looked at I kept thinking about that card. Pretty soon my head was filled with thoughts that someone is going to buy that card and for some odd reason i REALLY want to buy that card. So I hurried back to the dealer and not really knowing the lingo of buying sports cards I quickly spoke about a mile a minute about that I wanted that card. Once it was in my hand it felt like I was holding gold. It was a thing of beauty. Something to be treasured. By the time I got home from the show I had bought about another $100 worth of cards and now for some reason the idea of selling the cards I had as a kid became a non-option easily rationalized by the fact I really did not need the money.
Four years later my collection has grown far beyond what I ever imagined. The hunt for cards has become my biggest interest. Oddly, once I have the cards they just go in a box and probably won't be seen for 20+ years. It's all about the hunt and I only have one person to blame for this. Bart Starr.
Here's one of my favorite "card" stories i get to tell: about 15 years ago, i was walking a major flea market in the morning, going row by row looking for cards. at the midpoint of the market, i came across a stand that had tarped walls and ceiling (i thought for sun protection) and a weird panel swing door as its entrance. i saw about a dozen guys going through boxes and i thought i saw something catch my eye that was card related. i walk thru the swing door to find 30 some boxes full of adult dvds and vhs and a lot of guys "catching up on their collections"! before i could turnaround and walk out, i saw right in front of me a box that was full of baseball cards! The vendor yelled at me, "those are my son's cards. He wants twenty bucks for them. take it or leave it." i thumbed through the box to find some chipper jones rookies, 89 donruss schillings, bonds and Maddux rookies and a cool run of multiple Boggs, Sandberg, and Gwynn rookies from all three companies. i quickly bought the box, and ran out of there. But i suddenly realized that i was just as excited looking at the cards as the guys looking at the dvds! LOL!
That seems to be a norm at all flea markets. I would not touch those DVD's etc unless I had gloves on. I'm certain a black light would expose the kind of contamination that exists on those things lol
I collected cards as a kid. Then I placed all the years together in a rubber band and put them in 2 old movie film boxes. Fast forward to 1991 when a neighbor of my dad's came over (both of our friend as well) when I was there and gave me a box of 1989 Maxx racing cards. I had done a favor for him and wanted nothing. He said, "There are not worth much and he didn't pay a lot but some cards are worth a lot of money and he had started collecting them." I told him I had some old cards. The next day he brought over a beckett magazine so I could find out what I had. My dad had moved and somehow a box was lost. I opened up the one and started going through the cards. Pulled out a 1969 Reggie RC and looked in the book...$500. Started screaming and getting really excited. I would soon meet a card dealer that is still my good friend and learn condition is everything. My Reggie was worth $100 not $500.
Soon I was going to shops and card shows. In the early days of PSA we didn't care about graded cards. My first purchase was a psa 7 1966 Don Sutton. Neither of us had ever seen a graded card. I broke it out saying, " I don't need anybody telling me what grade I have."
I can remember being offered cards like a PSA 10 1975 Brett Mini for $600 and saying, " who would be stupid enough to spend hat kind of money on a card just because its graded." The list is long that I can remember like a 1956 Mantle PSA 8 for $1200, Clemente's, Aaron's and other RC of HOFers.
Now I don't buy anything unless it s PSA graded.
Was everyone as naïve as me back then?????
1948-76 Topps FB Sets
FB & BB HOF Player sets
1948-1993 NY Yankee Team Sets
My dad collected as a kid but never as an adult. In 1988 we were on a prolonged shopping trip to a local department store. He was looking for a way to bribe me into good behavior, so he told me a little bit about collecting in the 50s and early-mid 60s and promised to buy me a pack of Donruss If I was good. I wasn’t all that enthused..... until I got the pack and ripped it open. I was hooked instantly! I can still tell you almost every card in that pack.
Within a year, I was making constant trades with my neighbors and my cousin. He had a thick binder full of 87 and 88 Topps. Dad started to buy me Fleer Team Action football cards at the gas station. I finally landed my cousin’s 87 Topps Herschel Walker RC, the first card I really coveted. I collected straight through high school, but with no clear direction. I got excited if I pulled stars or guys from my favorite teams, but I mainly just liked ripping packs.
For about 6 years, through college and right after, I didn't give cards a second thought. At 24, I got that call a lot of us get from our parents, to get my stuff out of their house. I got the boxes home and as soon as I stumbled onto my cards, I was hooked all over again. Within a couple of months, I’d discovered eBay and started to buy all the vintage beaters I could get for less than a buck apiece. These were the first pre-1970 cards I ever owned. My wife and I had no money, so I was on a shoestring budget, but I had to scratch the itch. I remember offering to go to the PO Box to hide $3 purchases.
Within no time, I found focus for the first time. Yaz had been my favorite player since I was a tyke, and I started to look for his cards primarily. At the time, his RC was my holy grail. Low grade raw copies were going for $30 and that was still out of reach, with our finances at the time.
Over the years, I slowly accumulated Yaz cards. I remember hitting the 50 mark and realizing I should make a list. Then reaching 100 Yaz cards and so on. On Christmas Day 2012 I received my Yaz RC! My wife and kids had splurged (it really was a splurge) and bought me a Beckett Raw Card Review 2.5 . That card is still my favorite one I own to this day, largely because of the sentimental value.
In late 2013, I finally decided to see what graded cards were all about and bought my first 2 PSA cards. That Christmas, I convinced my mom to buy me a PSA gold membership. I sent in 5 cards for my renewal sub and decided at that time to cross over the Yaz RC, mostly for the better holder/protection. It got a PSA 2. Among the other 5 cards, there was another Yaz card. A few months later, I discovered this message board and, through here, I discovered the set registry. By that time my budget had expanded slightly, but the idea of collecting primarily PSA graded cards didn’t seem like a fit for me. But I got another PSA Yaz and shortly after that, I got a fourth. Out of the blue, Manny floored me by sending me 6 free slabbed Yaz items! At this point I was up to 10 items and I got the crazy idea to start a Yaz master set. I didn’t know much about a lot of the oddball issues, but my cluelessness helped my bravery. I entered the registry at #39. I told myself I’d acquire only 1 or 2 PSA Yaz per month and be content that I’d never make a dent in the checklist.
You can all guess how that went. First I was breaking the budget to buy several PSA cards a month. Then my taste got more expensive, as I sought out the highest grade I could afford of each item. As I knocked off the easy ones, I started to spend more on some semi-scarce oddballs. But what I would never do, I told myself, was upgrade an item once I had one. What a money pit! But of course, I’ve upgraded here and there too. I became a registry addict, starting player registries for 2 football players, and then a T206 team set, and then 1964 and 68 Venezuelan sets. I get “turned on” by the research and pursuit of scarce and foreign items. I’m more addicted to cards now, as I approach 40, than I’ve ever been.
And that Beckett RGR 2.5, that crossed to a PSA 2? People told me it had great eye appeal and was under-graded and after a while I started to believe them. I still didn’t have the impetus to review it or the balls to crack it out and resubmit. But one day I decided to crack it out and have Yaz sign it. I wasn’t concerned about the grade or anything at that point, I just wanted my favorite player to sign my favorite card. He did, it came out great, and when I submitted it to PSA/DNA for holdering, the card graded a PSA 3. Since then I’ve bought an unsigned PSA 5 and even landed a PSA copy of his Venezuelan RC. But that signed PSA 3, which started out as a crazy Christmas “splurge” by my family, is still my favorite card in my whole collection. Here it is, the card that started it all:
Yaz Master Set
#1 Gino Cappelletti master set
#1 John Hannah master set
Also collecting Andre Tippett, Patriots Greats' RCs, Dwight Evans, 1964 Venezuelan Topps, 1974 Topps Red Sox
Nice card Dan
I should mention that my wife thinks I am an idiot for collecting cardboard with pictures of men on hem.
About 10 years ago she gave me the one and only card for a gift. A 1968 Topps Yaz.
Just this past week I bought my last Yaz card I needed for a complete Topps run...1962. I don't collect beyond the basic Topps regular issue.
This is what I enjoy on these PSA boards. card collecting for pure fun and enjoyment. I get excited about peoples collections and what they have to share.
1948-76 Topps FB Sets
FB & BB HOF Player sets
1948-1993 NY Yankee Team Sets
As a child, I was mischievous and was constantly getting in trouble. I didn't do things I deemed terrible, I just did things to see what would happen. Most times, unfortunately, I acted impulsively. For instance, chucking a crescent wrench at the TV (chipped the screen) trying to move a pillow that was blocking my view, kicking out the side panel window on our front door while attempting to kill a fly or blowing pepper in my little brother's eyes just to see his reaction. The best part, believe it or not, was getting in trouble. My mom, being the sweetheart she is, always felt bad for spanking me.
One time (I don't remember the offense) when I came home from school, there were racks of 1976 Topps baseball on the kitchen counter. I didn't think they were for me because I was in trouble. I thought they were for my little brother but I opened them regardless. I remember seeing the Johnny Bench card #300. Him standing like a bada** amongst a cloud of dust, pure coolness. I thought it was the coolest card I had ever seen.
Before my mom came home, I did my best resealing job with scotch tape and put them back on the counter, hoping she wouldn't pick them up. She came home, went to the kitchen and proceeded to make me a grilled cheese sandwich. Then, in the midst of making the sandwich, she said I "oh I bought you some cards today". She felt bad for spanking me even though I'm sure I deserved it. That was the beginning of my card collecting.
1994 Pro Line Live
TheDallasCowboyBackfieldProject
My ex wife and my subsequent girlfriend were also both convinced I was an idiot, for the card collecting reason and for 100 others. Luckily, I met the woman of my dreams last year and she also happens to support my collecting.
Yaz Master Set
#1 Gino Cappelletti master set
#1 John Hannah master set
Also collecting Andre Tippett, Patriots Greats' RCs, Dwight Evans, 1964 Venezuelan Topps, 1974 Topps Red Sox
The Brown Bomber
I was having a bad day. I'll never forget it. I had bought a Wendy's chicken sandwhich combo with a Biggie fries. I took the food home to eat. I layed the chicken sandwhich doen in the ciffee table, and went to the kitchen for some extra salt. I turned around just in time to see our Golden Retriever trotting away with the chicken patty from my sandwhich in her mouth. Apparently she had seen me lay it down on the coffee table, and decided to grab it in her mouth and take off with it, leaving me nothing but the bun. A slobbery bun at that. So I had to go back to Wendy's. I ate my food at Wendy's this time, and decided to go to my local Library to get some DVD's. I grabbed a Joe Louis documentary that looked interesting and headed home. When I got home, I was I noticed trash strewn all across our front yard. Apparently the neighborhood Raccoon had been at it again. So I cleaned it up, and headed inside. I threw the DVD into the DVD player and started watching this Joe Louis documentary. I sat there for 2 hours and didn't move. Watching Joe Louis fights and seeing the old black and white footage fascinated me. His reign as heavyweight champion for 11 years, his dominance in the ring fascinated me. When he lost to Max Schmeling, only to fight him again and destroy him fascinated me. He was pribably the most significant boxer of the first half of the century. Muhammad Ali once said "Joe Louis is really the greatest of all time." Since that day, I have become ibsessed with him and his cards. I grab whatever I can get on Ebay, and have a pretty good collection so far. Whenever one of his rare cards turn up in Ebay, we fight like animals for them. It's wonderful.
Great stories, guys. Please keep them coming!
Here is an odd one for you all... About eight years ago, I bought a massive collection from the kids of a deceased collector. It took me five trips in my truck to get it all, was totally disorganized, and equally full of cool stuff and complete junk. Anyway, I hauled all of the boxes to my house, some of which I actually hadn't even looked in before buying. About two weeks after the purchase I was still going through stuff for the first time. I opened a box and among a bunch of cards and stuff I found a sandwich bag full of what looked like dust with a couple of chunky things in it. I couldn't think of what it was for several hours, until it finally dawned on me. I called back the lady I had bought it from and asked if they had cremated her father after he died. Her response was something along the lines of "Oh Sh*t! You found dad!"
Turns out that after he passed, they cremated him and put a portion of his ashes in with his collection, as he loved it so much. I didn't get the stuff until about three years after his death, and they had pretty much forgotten about the ashes by then. I ended up driving them back to the lady and we both got a pretty decent chuckle out of the situation.
I bring this story up often and I enjoy telling it. For many years, I have been trying to complete one of the rarest and most beautiful sets ever created. Released in 1951, the Wheaties Premium Photos are a set of 12 athletes on 5x7 cardboard stock cards. I know of only one complete set (in SGC slabs) and while you can complete about half the set without too much difficulty it becomes a major challenge thereafter. Raw or graded, there’s usually a few on eBay but the pop report is very low amongst all TPG. And believe me, I look. I had reached 10 and was missing 2 - Phil Rizzuto and Jack Kramer. One day, I received an email from someone I didn’t know with the subject line Rizzuto and Inclicked and inside was a scan and a note wherein the gentleman offered to sell to me one of those two rarities. After a brief negotiation, we reached a deal and I acquired the 11th card.
Now, as it turns out, it was these very boards that helped me land a white whale and for that I am forever grateful. You see, the gentleman saw me posting on these forums and saw my set on the Registry and as a result reached out to me. The card below is one I never (ever) thought I’d own, it is only the 2nd ever graded by PSA and it got me to just one card away from the only complete PSA graded set; and this card found me on the CU forums:
1951 Wheaties Premium Photos Phil Rizzuto B
Curious about the rare, mysterious and beautiful 1951 Wheaties Premium Photos?
https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/987963/1951-wheaties-premium-photos-set-registry#latest
Awesome, Tim!
Yaz Master Set
#1 Gino Cappelletti master set
#1 John Hannah master set
Also collecting Andre Tippett, Patriots Greats' RCs, Dwight Evans, 1964 Venezuelan Topps, 1974 Topps Red Sox
As a minority owner of a card shop in the mid-90s, it was my distinct pleasure to spend some time behind the counter with my son, back in the day when shiny cards and inserts were just starting to blow up and watching him pull favorites from packs while the store cash register was piling up holiday revenue, including his wages. We also facilitated him with price guides, posters, knick-knacks, and endless supplies of team issued sportswear.
The card store eventually closed down. His collection sits in monster boxes in the garage.
Ah the memories.
Enjoy the go.
I'm a lovin hat Rizzuto
The 51 premiums are some of the nicest Yankees pics out there
1948-76 Topps FB Sets
FB & BB HOF Player sets
1948-1993 NY Yankee Team Sets
Once you ‘figured it out’?
Curious about the rare, mysterious and beautiful 1951 Wheaties Premium Photos?
https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/987963/1951-wheaties-premium-photos-set-registry#latest
Thanks - I agree completely. They’re really something to see in hand...
Curious about the rare, mysterious and beautiful 1951 Wheaties Premium Photos?
https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/987963/1951-wheaties-premium-photos-set-registry#latest
Yep. That's pretty much just how it went.
My father and I were trying to complete the 1981 Fleer set with all of the error cards in it back in 1981. The hard card to find was the "Craig" Nettles error card. My father and 3 of his friends bought a case and only pulled 3 error cards out of it. At least we had it and our set was complete...until I decided to trade it to my friend for a 1980 topps Reggie Jackson. I was so happy to get that card I told my father. He was not happy and proceeded to go to my friends house to offer him $20 plus the Reggie Jackson card so that he can have that card back. Everytime I see the Craig Nettles card at shows for $.50 I have to buy them. I tell him now that they are not worth much but that is one of my favorite cards in my collection.
So my son (6 yrs old) and I are just now opening a box of 1988 Fleer cellos. And he is dying laughing because he's opened a few packs with the same exact cards in the pack. Now that's fun to me. He's having so much fun and laughing hysterically. He loves pulling Pirates (because he like pirates) and guys named Mike because he's a Michael. He hands all the Phillies to me as well as the rookie cards.
For many of us, this was our kind of euphoria once for this hobby.
Andy
That sir was what this hobby was meant for.
But please before he is ruined. Switch him over to being a Yankee fan.
1948-76 Topps FB Sets
FB & BB HOF Player sets
1948-1993 NY Yankee Team Sets
When I was 13, summer before my freshman year in high school, my mom got a call. Some friends of the family were opening a baseball card shop in front of my neighborhood. They asked if I’d like to help out.
I was able to ride my bike to the shop and spent a week pricing cards and helping get it set up. They then offered me 10 bucks a day to stick around and work. After about two weeks I was running the shop. I made all the buy and trade decisions and would bargain on the sale prices.
I decided on what packs we were selling and quickly I was the one calling distributors in Houston and purchasing cases and arranging for people who were old enough to drive to go pick them up.
They’d give me money to go to shows on weekends to buy stuff I thought we could sell at the shop.
I turned 14 that summer and was probably way out of my element, but I didn’t know any better. I was having the time of my life. If it was a slow day, I’d just bust a box of cards pull the stars out and sell and pull the rest aside for our set builders. It was summer of 91 so upper deck and stadium club was popular and we couldn’t keep Bagwells on the shelf.
When school started back it was harder for me to run the shop. The family ended up hiring someone to run it during the day and I’d stop in during the evenings to check on things. My visits slowed and by the next summer they sold the shop. It closed within a year after that.
I took my son to the Tri Star show in Houston last month. He’s 14 and my instincts as a father were to walk with him and help him talk to dealers. But then I remembered what I was doing at shows when I was his age. I’m nervous if he’s carrying around more than $50 and yet here I was at 14 waking into shows with more than $1000.
At the end of the day, I was just left wondering, “What were they thinking trusting me with all of that?”
Chipper Jones Basic Topps Set - All 10's for 10
Sam Houston State Alumni Rookie Set
That is a great story about you and your dad. Here is the story that happened to me today involving a Kyler Murray card at a doctors office.
"Pick up from the Neurologist.
Soooo my cheer coach of a wife has rotator cuff surgery next Wednesday. Today was her EMG appointment, pre op and us paying our side for the surgery ( 💰 YIKES). So, I see the January copy of Sports Illustrated for Kids on the table in the waiting area as my wife is called back. After about 30 minutes of entertaining my kiddo I start reading the magazine. For some reason when we left I still had the magazine in my hand walking to the car even though I hadn’t made it to the card page yet. I get my son in his car seat and as I get in the car seat I flip to the next page and see the cards. I right away notice the kyler Murray.
I go back into the surgery/doc/PT center and say
“I’m so sorry to bother you ma’am but I accidentally took this.” To which she replied “oh it’s ok sir.”
I then mention “you know I’m kind of a collecting nerd and a couple of these cards maybe worth a little money I’m not sure.”
I see my wife’s dr who had her appointment (dr Johnson) and she replies “you know what, you’d probably appreciate them more than anybody here, you go head and take them”
I say “are you sure? I can give you a few bucks for the magazine and cards” to which she replies, “Mr. Tullia your wife just paid us $2,000. The way I see it you just bought them.”
We all start laughing and she shares with us some autographed MLS jerseys from players she has operated on.
Anyways, that’s my story of how I acquired my first $2000 Kyler Murray card!
😂
Here is the Kyler Murray...$2000 right?! Haha
When the hockey card boom started in the early nineties i found it fun to be going to shows buying memorabilia that was laying dormant for 100 years it all started because Wayne Gretzky was traded to the Los Angelis Kings, the Americans took notice of Wayne with tears announcing the trade on the television and 5 new American companies who made picture cards of other sports produced hockey cards and this created a buzz..Gibraltar trade shows near Detroit had shows twice a month,"the big one"in Toronto had shows twice a year the floor was the size of a football field and it was a shark fest people with hard earned cash climbing over each other waiting in line at the dealers tables,many of my purchases during this time was sent in raw to PSA about 1,100 Montreal Canadian items, not all cards came back with flying colours but it laid the ground work for my collection. rocket52
mM dad returned a bag full of cards to me in 1983 - mostly 1964 and 1965 Topps in consistent ex/mt condition. That led me to discover the organized hobby and card shows. A few months later I took a binder of cards to a show and showed them around. I had one 9 pocket sheet with 1964 Pete Rose cards. At that time, the card was "booking" for $90; the hot rookie cards of the day were "booked" at about $3. Some guy offered me 30 of the "hot" rookies for 1 of the Rose's. I took the deal and I heard him smirking later to someone about how he took me: One (1) Ex/MT 1964 Topps Pete Rose for thirty (30) MINT 1983 Topps Tony Gwynn rookies. I still think I made the better deal.
"All evil needs to triumph is for good men to do nothing."
This is from another board. I don't think the pics will show up, unless they are actually uploaded to this site. If you want to see the photos, you'll need to find the thread on freedomcardboard.
I wrote a version of this story last year right after it happened and I was still in Connecticut and when I went to post it, it was lost. I was too tired and frustrated to rewrite it, as I thought I crafted one hell of a story and I would not be able to recreate the magic, but still wanted to share eventually. This time I wrote it in word and transferred it to the forum. It is probably not as good as the lost original, but I hope you get some enjoyment out of it.
This is a story about a hobby meeting over 20 years in the making and it involves Yanks2151 and myself. This particular part of the story begins around 1996 or so, but first I must take you back to 1978, the year it ALL began.
Our family moved into a new house in 1977 located on an island just West of Seattle called Bainbridge Island. We had left a lake front home that my older siblings certainly appreciated much more than I did, as I was only ages 3-8 while we lived there. I wish we still owned the place now, but that is another story. The old property was a bit larger and ran from the main road around the lake down to the water and so there were not as many neighbors, especially kids. This new neighborhood was just being developed and consisted of a long street with another side street branching off the middle of the first, like a “T”. We were one of the first to move in and had the house on the first corner where the two streets intersected. Later on, our house would be the outfield wall that many wiffle ball HRs were launched against or over. It was more of a traditional suburban neighborhood with 1 acre lots side by side and as other houses were finished and sold, it turned out that a great number of families moving in had kids in my general age range. By summer, the neighborhood was filled with kids playing wiffle ball, football, tag or whatever else we could come up with to amuse ourselves.
One of the new families that had moved in not too long after us was from southern California. They had 2 boys and one was a year older than I was. We soon became good friends and that is when I was introduced to baseball cards. Steve was a big baseball fan and Steve Garvey and the Dodgers were his favorite. I can’t recall, but I don’t think I had ever been to a game yet and probably never watched one on TV. The Mariners were in their inaugural season that year, but I am fairly certain I was oblivious to this fact at the time. I mean I was only 8. Steve and his brother both had a small baseball card collection and showed them to me. Something about them just clicked with me. With very little prior knowledge about the sport, I nonetheless instantly became hooked and started spending any money I had on packs of cards. Those first packs I experienced were 1978 Topps baseball. I would go on to buy just about any card issue that the local grocery store sold in the following several years, from all other major sports (Basketball, Football, Hockey) to Movie cards (Star Wars, Jaws, Moonraker) to TV shows (Mork & Mindy, Hulk, Battlestar Galactica, etc) to anything else (Music, Stickers, etc). I also started to trade with friends and eventually would have limited opportunities to buy singles and packs from shops, so my collecting interest expanded to older cards as well.
Since I was not really a fan to begin with, I copied Steve and became a Dodger fan and a Steve Garvey fan. I would soon begin to take in Mariner games, several per year and really start to learn about the history of baseball and other sports as well. I ended up playing Little League and just became an all-around sports fanatic. I loved everything sports.
I would continue to follow the game and collect trading cards up through High School and even a little while after, while I was away in the Navy. Eventually, I just had no room to keep the cards and I was spending my very limited free time doing more adult things anyway, so cards took a back seat for the first time since 1978. It was now around 1988 or so and everything I had was packed away safely at home with my parents while I served.
Shortly before I was due to separate from the Navy in 1993, I went with a friend into town and he made a stop to pick up some baseball cards. I had no idea he collected and when we got back to the base, he showed me some of the stuff he had. I had been out of circulation only about 5 years, but things had really changed and it was exciting. The spark ignited and I began collecting again for the few months I had left in Hawaii with the Navy. I packed up all my things and returned home and took some time off before starting college. I had been saving money for the last several years, so I had a nice stash and spent most of my free time running around the area, visiting card shops, retail stores, shows and such. I started community college in 1994 and continued to spend time growing my collection, eventually getting a retail job to help support the habit.
When I transferred to the University in 1996, things changed forever. I discovered the internet, but more importantly, I discovered the online card marketplace that opened up so many more opportunities. There was so much good stuff to choose from that I never saw locally. There was Beckett, some other trading sites I don’t recall and I even created a simple personal website for trading card collectors that advertised my collecting interests. Trades began to happen across the country and this is where we pick back with the story.
I don’t recall exactly when, but one day I returned home from school and my mom said some guy had called for me regarding baseball cards and left his number. This didn’t sound good at all. I enjoyed the simple process of emailing people and negotiating trades. I didn’t need or want to talk to anyone about cards, besides my parents had trained me well in limiting my phone usage anyway. This was when you still paid by the minute for long distance calls and they were not cheap, especially before 7PM. My mom said he had found my name online and had ended up speaking to him for a good 20 minutes or so and learned that we had a few things in common and eventually talked me into calling him back, as I had originally planned to ignore the call.
So, I reluctantly called this guy back. I don’t actually remember anything about that first call, but know now that he was living in Connecticut, was a Navy vet who was also stationed in Hawaii, liked American muscle cars and collected New York Yankee cards. Oh, and his name was Kevin. We eventually began talking back and forth, a little more frequently as we were sending trade packages to each other at the same time. He wanted Yankees and I wanted Dodgers. The thing that made this relationship work so well was that neither of us cared about the nitty gritty details of individual card values. Where as most online trades at that time were card for card counts or detailed values added up to the penny, as long as the trade packages were reasonably close in content to what the other sent, we were both happy. Best of all it was random and like opening a gift each time, at least for me. We continued to talk and trade, although the trading started to fade a bit over time. We were basically tapping each other out of Yankees and Dodgers, but we continued to talk. To this day, I credit him with introducing me to most, if not all of the current trade sites I use or did use like The Bench, Topps, FCB, Sportslots, etc. I also believe he convinced me to finally check out ebay in early 1998, after thinking Beckett marketplace was good enough for my needs for quite a while. He probably sent me to COMC too! He was very active in finding new people to trade with and I was more stuck in my ways with the old and familiar. I honestly don’t know where I might be in the hobby world today, had Kevin not called me that one day in 1996.
If you are still reading at this point, we now jump ahead to 2018 and the big meet. Kevin and I have become good friends who talk on the phone fairly frequently. Now it is not just about cards, but other things. Our jobs, our families, life in general. We have been talking and trading for over 20 years by this time, but we have never actually met in person. Numerous times, he shared with me about trips made where he would drive right by Cooperstown, NY. I half-joked several times that we needed to meet up someday and visit Cooperstown. After all, it is the mecca of all baseball fans. I had never been and really wanted to see it at least once in my life.
A passing comment over the phone looked like it might finally become a reality, when I found out I was going to Hartford, CT for work in July of 2018. I would be there for a full work week and if I planned it right, there would be some free time on either end of the trip as well. My company was paying my way, so what better time than to try to do this Cooperstown dream? I called Kevin a few months before the trip and gave him the details. As the trip grew closer, we hashed out plans to hang out for a few days, possibly more. I had one other thing pop up that just happened to coincide with that trip, a former Navy buddy was retiring after 30 years the Friday before my business trip. That was happening in Groton, CT. Close enough from my hotel to drive, I said I would be there for that as well. What a trip this was going to be for me. I have never been so eager to take a business trip before.
I flew into Hartford late Thursday after the 4th of July. The retirement ceremony was Friday the 6th and then Kevin and I were planning to hit Cooperstown Saturday. I rented a car only for Friday’s trip to Groton, then I would be relying on Kevin for any transportation during our time together and thankfully he lived only about an hour away from where I was staying. Everything went well in Groton Friday and Kevin planned to meet me that evening and we were going to grab dinner and maybe catch a minor league ball game. He came by my hotel and a meeting that was over 20 years in the making finally happened on July 6, 2018. After we got past the slight awkwardness of meeting someone for the first time that you have been talking to for 20+ years, we returned my rental and hit the town to grab some dinner before the ballgame. As it turned out, parking was a ***** and I was pretty tired from the late flight/long & early drive to Groton so we never made the game, but enjoyed some pretty tasty pizza from Frank Pepe, a local favorite.
The next morning he picked me up and we headed towards Cooperstown. It was about a 3 hour trip, but it was not bad. We talked like we have been doing for years to easily pass the drive time and before we knew it we rolled into town a little before lunch time. We parked near the ballpark and walked to the museum. We’d get the tour out of the way, then check out the shops and the town. The museum and town were great. It was not super crowded yet, but the inauguration was later that month, so I’m sure it got crazy later on. We walked from one end of the main street to the other and then down to the lake. We decided to scope out the town and scenery, grab some lunch and then hit the card stores. If any of you have been to Cooperstown, you know the stores are mostly aimed at tourists, although some had better selections that true collectors would appreciate. Kevin was on a break from cards at the time and although he checked everything out with me, I don’t think he left that day with anything from any of the shops. He did comment that he wanted to see me find a Steve Garvey card I did not have to make the trip all that more memorable. I figured that was a pretty tall order, especially from a place so commercial and widely visited as Cooperstown. I didn’t have high hopes.
Most of the shops were fairly disappointing to me. I like unique stuff and I like bargains. There was an endless supply of HOF cards and autographs and the steep prices to go with them, but not a whole lot else. I did enjoy Yastrzemski’s and spent a few bucks there on some neat bargains, but my hands down favorite was Baseball Nostalgia. This was the first (and last) shop we saw, as it is located adjacent to the ballpark parking lot. Likely one of the older shops there (Established 1974 I think it said) and an obvious connection to the old TCMA gang, this is a shop after my own heart. It was loaded with oddball stuff and cram packed with stuff in general. I felt like I got an eye on a good majority of it, but would have loved the opportunity to go several times over a period of time.
Not wanting to haul a bunch of stuff home on the plane, I was mainly looking for anything that I might not be able to get elsewhere. A hidden treasure that nobody else had yet uncovered, hidden away in a shop that is the way they used to be and still should be today. Nearing the end of our day, I stumbled upon a box of error/wrong backs. I started sorting through and found a number of 1979 Topps front/1978 Topps backs. Most of the cards were listed at a buck each, so I grabbed a few Dodgers and star players and struck gold when I flipped over a 1979T Dave Radar card to find a 1978 T Steve Garvey back! I did not have this card and it was only a buck too. I caught Kevin’s attention and showed him my find. It was a perfect way to cap a very nice trip.
We drove back to CT and decided that we would hit the Basketball HOF in Springfield, MA the following day. It was only about 20-30 minutes from my hotel and a must see for any sports fan. I only wish my boys could have joined us, as both are big NBA fans themselves. The NBA trip was not as exciting, only because I am more a baseball fan and I have dreamed about Cooperstown since I was a kid. The NBA, NFL and NHL Hall of Fames would always be an afterthought, but now I can say I am 50% there.
Attached are a few photos to commemorate the event. I hope you enjoyed the story.
I’d agree you got the better deal and it sounds like that dealer deserved to “lose” a trade. Well done!
Yaz Master Set
#1 Gino Cappelletti master set
#1 John Hannah master set
Also collecting Andre Tippett, Patriots Greats' RCs, Dwight Evans, 1964 Venezuelan Topps, 1974 Topps Red Sox
In the end, you did get the better deal. However, at the time it just as easily could have been 30 Willie McGee or similar cards. You can look back in some of the hobby magazines to see how how some of the new "hot" cards were at the time and people we gobbling them up! It was a gamble that ultimately paid off if you kept the Gwynns long enough. Still though, it was an equal trade from a Becektt value standpoint at the time, so no shame either way. Most trades as a calculated risk.
I must agree. At the time, Gwynn and Boggs were $3; Valenzuela was $2; Mattingly was $4. I was just really impressed with Gwynn after one season. But it sure was a leap of faith.
"All evil needs to triumph is for good men to do nothing."
Edit: what the hell? The post I was responding to is no longer there!
Yaz Master Set
#1 Gino Cappelletti master set
#1 John Hannah master set
Also collecting Andre Tippett, Patriots Greats' RCs, Dwight Evans, 1964 Venezuelan Topps, 1974 Topps Red Sox
+1
As a kid, (probably around 1967) travelling from Toronto to Florida on our family vacation, I recall along the way stopping at a card store, where for some unknown reason (perhaps a very kind dealer) he gave us a brown paper bag (not the small lunch meal kind, but the super large grocery bag type with the string handle) FULL of brand new Topps baseball cards.
They were probably all commons, but it would be nice to still have them.
"“Those who sacrifice liberty for security/safety deserve neither.“(Benjamin Franklin)
"I only golf on days that end in 'Y'" (DE59)
I was a baseball card dealer at one time or another. Used to go to the stadium to watch the Dolphins and the Marlins, (on their very first year). Here's the story....My wife was pregnant at the time. Took her to watch the Marlins. My goal was to buy some of the Topps inaugural sets, (which I did). However, I had to leave my wife behind as she was not feeling well. Well, it ended up that they took her to the car in a golf cart. I am still paying for that one-wife wise....but I do have my 5 sealed sets and 2 open sets which I enjoy to this day. (And my son is in his 3rd year of medical school). Not a bad combo.......
In the 4th grade, a friend and I took the city bus home from catholic school. We got to know the driver from seeing him every day. We told the driver that the nuns in school would take any sports cards from the students they could find, will at recess or before or after school in the school yard. One afternoon he says his son had a bunch of older cards that he didn't want any more. A few days later, the driver pulls out a huge paper bag out from under his set and gave them all to us. They weren't in the greatest condition. But we didn't care. They were all sports from the 40's to the 60's, Some major stars too. We spent the weekend trading back and forth. Good times.
Wow, I'm surprised this thread has died, time to resurrect it!
So last Summer, 2019, I'm searching on the worst selling/buying site you could ever punish yourself with......Craigslist, ungh! I've had a few crash and burns on that site over the years, mostly because sellers have flaked on me and some because they have no idea how to sell at all, but Craig's is like an awful car accident, you see the carnage and however awful or even gruesome it is, you can't stop looking. Anyways, I'm scanning not hoping to really find anything good and lo and behold I come across a ball that's listed as "Carl Yastrzemski autograph on Al Kaline Wilson baseball - $50". I was excited about the Yaz auto, but on an Al Kaline ball?, blech!! Well I reached out to the seller anyways to field some questions like, "Could you please confirm for me that the ball is indeed an Al Kaline Wilson ball?", "Are you the original owner of the ball or where did you get it?", "Got any "wiggle" room on the price?". Then it was like 2-3 days until I heard anything, surprise!
It was the beginning of the work week and I work the middle shift(Federal Facility) and I get an email. Q1 response: I didn't realize it, but the ball's a Spalding". HOLY CRAP!!, I thought, because I knew that Spalding was MLB's provider of baseballs until 1977, it was taken over by Rawling's the following season. Funny thing was that in the posting, there was a picture of an Al Kaline Wilson box and none of the markings on the ball were ever shown, just Yaz's autograph. Q2: "I am the original owner, got it when I was a kid". Interesting. I wondered how old this guy was. Q3: "I'm firm on the price". AT this point I didn't care. It was a Yastrzemski autograph on a Spalding ball which meant that the autograph IF real was from 1977 or earlier owned by a person that got it when he was a kid. This was beginning to get real interesting and from Craigslist no less!!
So I message back, "Ok sir, I'd like to purchase this ball from you", then we set things up to meet and the very next morning, I headed out to meet the man at his home about an hour away from where I live in some long forgotten part of Massachusetts. When I get there, this older gentleman comes out, ball in hand. We shake hands and introduce ourselves and I ask him for a brief history of the ball. He then told me that he'd gotten the ball at some charity event held in his town(the name of it escapes me) at some park, when he was 9. He talked about how excited he was to meet the man and after a few brief words, Carl reached over to a table nearby and produced the box containing the Spalding ball. As far as he knew, the ball was a Wilson, but I can't blame him for not knowing, he was a kid and super excited and I don't think I'd have cared either. He went on to tell me how it was the year that Yaz won the Triple Crown and how it was the "Impossible Dream" Season. I then asked him, "You were born in '58 sir?", "Yep, 1958". Man, the smile on my face could've rivaled the Cheshire Cat's. From all the information that I just heard, this ball was no doubt signed in 1967!!
So far so good, but I did have one final question. The autograph on the ball was so solid, it defied the norm as it wasn't faded. "How'd you manage to preserve the signature on this ball?", I asked. "It sat in a corner of my room for years and when I was in my twenties, I put it in a safe until a couple weeks ago when I decided to sell it". Fantastic! At this point, I couldn't wait to give the man my 50 bucks! I had found a gem. I told the guy that this ball has found a great home and would be among the many other Red Sox collectibles I had in my man cave and with that, I handed him $50, shook his hand said good-bye, jumped in my car and took off like I just committed a crime. I just couldn't believe the score I just had. it was amazing. I always say that just because something isn't "alive" doesn't mean it doesn't have a story and when I pass this piece of baseball history off to my son, he'll be able to add to the story of this ball too.
Currently seeking 1975 Hostess panels
Got one, two, more? Let me know!!
Good Day,
So here are two of my Collecting Stories....One of my Best memories, and One of my worst!
Late 1962-Early 1963. I was 6 years old and we were living in Sacramento, Ca. Normal Dad, Mom, 5 Kids, normal Baby Boomer WWII Vet stuff! My father was an Attorney. That fall Southland opened the first 7-11 in South Sacramento (Did research later to confirm this). It was about 1 mile from our house. My Dad, who tried to spend time quality with each of us, our special time he would tell us, I was the oldest. So when the 7-11 opened he invited me to walk up to the Store with him and he would buy me a candy bar. Our alone time! So when we get there, the first thing I notice is a Vending Machine with Cards in it right next to the Double Doors (Never Seen in Retail much before). And it was a split Vending machine with Ads on each Half' With Mars Attacks Card Illustrations on 1/2 of the Leader board. Can't remember the other set in the second half that was in the machine, but saw a few different over the next few months!
So anyway, I am Enthralled by the Leader board, Checklist, #21 Beauty and the Beast...#36 Killing a Dog....others....! For a 6 year old this was like Catnip to a Cat. So I tell my Dad that he can keep his Candybar, just give me a Nickel for 5 sets of 5 Cards for a Penny each time!!! So I buy 25 Cards, and yes there was a Checklist included! But no #21, and over the next 3-4 months until the machine disappeared, I got 10-25 cards every week, and after 400-500 Cards, I began to believe that Card #21 was a Mirage! Didn't exist, was straight up BS! So the day comes when we arrive at 7-11 and the machine is gone! Clerk told us they had nothing to do with the Vending Machines, and they come and go at somebody else orders.
In the crease of the building right where the Machine is/was there is a slight gap, as I'm looking and lamenting the loss of this machine, I notice some cards are stuck in it. I pull them, 3 cards, and of course #21 is there Twice!!!! I'd like to finish this story with a Feel Good, Kept them until I was an Adult, Graded them, Still Have them! NOT! I think I traded them for 2 frisbees when I was like 12!
One of my Worst Collecting Stories!
3-4 years later we are on a Family Vacation in Washington State. By then I am Deep Deep Deep into my Comic Collecting Saga, and my entire World revolves around Collecting Comics. At this time I probably had accumulated 30-50K in Comic Books, and my Dad was giving me some serious heat about Half of his Garage being taken up by Boxes of Comics! Also my Family was constantly giving me Crap about the whole Comic Book thing as family time was coopted for Neil's interests, and they were not happy!
So we visit relatives in Wash State and of course my familia is calling me Comic Boy, Nerd, Nerdlet....ect. Then one of my Relatives says I have some Comics in my Garage I'll give to ya. We hop in his Pick-up and head to his house, he opened the Garage and there are 20 stacks, 3 Ft tall of Comic Books, probably 10-15K of Books! I have no clue how this played out the way it did, but we loaded the stacks in his Pickup bed, took up about 3/4 of the Bed, then of course My Dad ends up driving. He gets on a Freeway, I'm in the back trying to Spread out my Body to cover all these stacks as I watch hundreds and Hundreds, then Thousands blow out of the Pick-up. When we arrived back there was about 400-500 left, my Father and Uncle claimed they never heard me yelling, we all know that is total BS, some sort of Passive Aggressive behavior against a 10 year old! Not my worst Father Story...But up there!
YeeHah
Neil