Remembering the Great Mr. Mint Alan Rosen

trash4cash

I would like to take a moment to remember the man who pretty much invented the Modern Sports Card Hobby. I have read many discussion threads that do not talk kindly of the late great Mr. Mint Alan Rosen. To begin many of the complaints truly have to do with his not believing someone's crappy collectable was worth big money. I want to see the items people claim were so great and that he missed out on. One guy said he only looked at the first page of his 65 set- well if the first page has nothing but cards graded "good" why view everyone. Another once complained he wasnt interested in his 84 Donruss sets- really this just shows Mr. Mint was well ahead of the trend.

I bring this up because I recently reread a remarkable interview he gave in 1992. He came off well and gave financial advice that was very sound in hind site. He said you can't eat a baseball card and they should never replace traditional types of investments. He also advocated buying older cards and refused to anoint Upper Deck anything. It was a good read and if you listened to him at the time you would have made money.

Another reason I want to defend Mr. Mint- I am in my early 40s and can say without any doubt the worst, most miserable people I ever met owned baseball card stores in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Not all- one guy I will run into sporadically- he was great but the others leave much to be desired. Maybe they wanted to recapture happier times from their youth- I dont know but comic book guy from the Simpsons isnt a far off depiction of the late 80s/early 90s card shop guy. Rosen may have been offensive- but remember "Big Bobs" and all the other guys who were indicted or avoided it by paying big fines for selling fake memorabilia? I remember CBS news did a special on a guy who ran a card shop- he sold fake autographs for 10 years and it showed people who had rooms of worthless stuff. To me those were the bad guys. This is why I did not take offense when Rosen changed his view of grading- I did too- many did because the market got flooded with fake counterfeit stuff- not just autographs but "trimmed" cards and fake Griffey Upper Deck rookies- you needed 2 companies to be accepted by all to guarantee what people are buying is legit.

Rosen may have been a jerk- but the industry has always been littered with them. Anyone ever talk to a Topps executive? If people are honest many guys who dont like Rosen got mad that he didnt want to buy their stockpile of 87 Topps Mark McGwires and cases of 1989 Topps Traded.

Right now who has been the most influential person ever in the hobby? Mr. Mint- he was the first to point out condition is everything- now look around- nothing is worth big money unless it is primo.

pcgscacgold

Welcome to the forum but you have found your way into the Coin collecting forum. This appears to be more suited for the card collecting section. People with interest in cards will get to see it there.