Fascinating and amusing hobby quotes from the mid-1970s
jrdolan
Posts: 2,549 ✭✭
I have been reading Steve Clark's "Complete Book of Baseball Cards," published in 1976, and some of the excerpts show you just how much the hobby and its economics have changed in 30 years. [My comments are in brackets.]
Irving Lerner of Philadelphia, with over 100,000 cards in his collection, has the rare T206 Wagner ... "worth up to $1,500." [Today you can just multiply that by a hundred for a ratty copy or a thousand for the best one known.]
A young Wayne Varner (now well known as owner of W.V. Shoebox) comments: "I'm not too hot on tobacco cards, for a number of reasons. First of all, tobacco cards are not worth as much as other cards. .... Also the tobacco cards are not terribly attractive." [OK, remember this is the time of the Brady Bunch and bell-bottoms, and Wayne probably was not the only one who felt this way. I do believe W.V. is hot on tobacco cards these days.]
Varner once more: "The condition of the card is very important. A card in mint condition is worth twice as much as a card that is in poor condition." [I remember thinking back then that a card was either mint or not-mint, so I am not laughing at Wayne too hard.]
The book says Bowman in 1954 "mistakenly issued two cards with the identical number, No. 66 (Ted Williams and Jimmy Piersall). In the checklist that year, Williams was somehow omitted." [Is it possible that in 1976 we didn't know the real story behind the '54B Ted Williams?]
Woody Gelman: "I had a fondness for strip cards (10 cards to a strip). Two strips would cost a penny. Today they go for $3 per card." [Maybe $4 if Babe Ruth was on the strip?]
Louis Michitsch, another big hobby name of the era, had a complete 1949 Bowman set "worth about $2,000." [I wish I could PayPal $2K to Louis via time warp, and he could send the cards back the same way.]
"Renata Galasso, a college student from the Bronx, collects and sells baseball cards to finance her education." [The author did not know that she was about to become a famous artist and create entire card sets and postcard series.]
Frank Nagy, an airport tower official from Michigan, went to a card auction in Pennsylvania and came home with over 400,000 cards, for which he spent $4,000, or less than a penny per card. [Think of it -- the newest cards he bought were early 1970s.]
Bob Rathgeber of Cincinnati bought 300 old cards from a Virginia antique dealer for 40 cents per card. Among them was "the most valuable baseball card in existence -- a 1910 card of Honus Wagner in a batting stance."
Bruce York of Connecticut had a warehouse of 10 million cards. [I wonder if he was the 4_Sharp_Corners of his day, stockpiling vending cases on spec. Again, the newest cards of those millions were early 1970s. If we could go back to that warehouse now!]
At a 1970s card convention, a wide-eyed youngster asks how much a Joe DiMaggio card costs. Without looking up, the portly dealer answers: "That's a 1939 DiMaggio worth $15. If it was in perfect condition it would be worth $25." The crestfallen boy walks away. [That boy was me. Or some of you.]
At another table, two partners sort their cards for pricing. How do they decide how much to charge? Well, they have two pricing tiers: HOF and non-HOF. "Is Sandy Koufax in the Hall of Fame? Then he costs $1 more." [This 1955 Wally Moon is $3 and this 1955 Koufax is $4? Uh, I dunno. Will you take $6.25 for both?]
The organizer of this card convention is Bob Gallagher. At his own table, he explains his pricing. "The price of a card fluctuates according to supply and demand. This 1954 Aaron was worth $2 a few years ago. Today it goes for $12." [I'm time-warping back there to offer Bob $13.50 for every Aaron rookie he has, $9 for every '54 Banks. Anybody coming?]
20+ years before the Internet and eBay, the book makes reference to mail auctions bringing more collectors into the hobby than ever before, with the result being that card prices are "skyrocketing." [Yeah, all the way up to $12 for an Aaron rookie, $15 for a 1939 DiMaggio, and $1,500 for a T206 Wagner.]
*******
This book is just full of things like that, which can make your eyes pop out if you have forgotten about collecting in that era, or are too young to know anything about it. I am enjoying it thoroughly. I paid about $8 for it on eBay, including shipping. That is $1 more than the book's cover price. I guess some things have not "skyrocketed" in value in 30 years!
Irving Lerner of Philadelphia, with over 100,000 cards in his collection, has the rare T206 Wagner ... "worth up to $1,500." [Today you can just multiply that by a hundred for a ratty copy or a thousand for the best one known.]
A young Wayne Varner (now well known as owner of W.V. Shoebox) comments: "I'm not too hot on tobacco cards, for a number of reasons. First of all, tobacco cards are not worth as much as other cards. .... Also the tobacco cards are not terribly attractive." [OK, remember this is the time of the Brady Bunch and bell-bottoms, and Wayne probably was not the only one who felt this way. I do believe W.V. is hot on tobacco cards these days.]
Varner once more: "The condition of the card is very important. A card in mint condition is worth twice as much as a card that is in poor condition." [I remember thinking back then that a card was either mint or not-mint, so I am not laughing at Wayne too hard.]
The book says Bowman in 1954 "mistakenly issued two cards with the identical number, No. 66 (Ted Williams and Jimmy Piersall). In the checklist that year, Williams was somehow omitted." [Is it possible that in 1976 we didn't know the real story behind the '54B Ted Williams?]
Woody Gelman: "I had a fondness for strip cards (10 cards to a strip). Two strips would cost a penny. Today they go for $3 per card." [Maybe $4 if Babe Ruth was on the strip?]
Louis Michitsch, another big hobby name of the era, had a complete 1949 Bowman set "worth about $2,000." [I wish I could PayPal $2K to Louis via time warp, and he could send the cards back the same way.]
"Renata Galasso, a college student from the Bronx, collects and sells baseball cards to finance her education." [The author did not know that she was about to become a famous artist and create entire card sets and postcard series.]
Frank Nagy, an airport tower official from Michigan, went to a card auction in Pennsylvania and came home with over 400,000 cards, for which he spent $4,000, or less than a penny per card. [Think of it -- the newest cards he bought were early 1970s.]
Bob Rathgeber of Cincinnati bought 300 old cards from a Virginia antique dealer for 40 cents per card. Among them was "the most valuable baseball card in existence -- a 1910 card of Honus Wagner in a batting stance."
Bruce York of Connecticut had a warehouse of 10 million cards. [I wonder if he was the 4_Sharp_Corners of his day, stockpiling vending cases on spec. Again, the newest cards of those millions were early 1970s. If we could go back to that warehouse now!]
At a 1970s card convention, a wide-eyed youngster asks how much a Joe DiMaggio card costs. Without looking up, the portly dealer answers: "That's a 1939 DiMaggio worth $15. If it was in perfect condition it would be worth $25." The crestfallen boy walks away. [That boy was me. Or some of you.]
At another table, two partners sort their cards for pricing. How do they decide how much to charge? Well, they have two pricing tiers: HOF and non-HOF. "Is Sandy Koufax in the Hall of Fame? Then he costs $1 more." [This 1955 Wally Moon is $3 and this 1955 Koufax is $4? Uh, I dunno. Will you take $6.25 for both?]
The organizer of this card convention is Bob Gallagher. At his own table, he explains his pricing. "The price of a card fluctuates according to supply and demand. This 1954 Aaron was worth $2 a few years ago. Today it goes for $12." [I'm time-warping back there to offer Bob $13.50 for every Aaron rookie he has, $9 for every '54 Banks. Anybody coming?]
20+ years before the Internet and eBay, the book makes reference to mail auctions bringing more collectors into the hobby than ever before, with the result being that card prices are "skyrocketing." [Yeah, all the way up to $12 for an Aaron rookie, $15 for a 1939 DiMaggio, and $1,500 for a T206 Wagner.]
*******
This book is just full of things like that, which can make your eyes pop out if you have forgotten about collecting in that era, or are too young to know anything about it. I am enjoying it thoroughly. I paid about $8 for it on eBay, including shipping. That is $1 more than the book's cover price. I guess some things have not "skyrocketed" in value in 30 years!
0
Comments
My Auctions
what do you guys think of this one
Groucho Marx
Great read - SCD has a section where they go back 1 - 20 yrs and give quotes by different people or key items in the hobby. This is great stuff!
I think you got your moneys worth for sure! I have a lot of old books that are fun to go thru from time to time. Perhaps we should start a thread where everyone references their favorite hobby books for people to select from.
In fact, here's a nice link to Collectors Quest which features different types of collectors - if you press on the one thats entitled - "Take me out" - not the song - it will feature a collector of fine sports collectibles.
Thanx for taking the time to excerpt some of the items.
mike
I can't believe you fell for that. That thing doesn't work.
Steve
Off-Subject, speaking of DeLoreans, My friend's dad past away last summer and left him the DeLorean out of the 4 brothers. He is in the process of restoring it as it sat in a garage most of it's life under a cover. Only has 1,570 original miles on it. Mine is fully restored (69' Cougar XR-7).
Click here to view my Knickstars collection and wantlist
I know very well the days when all cards where either mint or not-mint.
My most disappointing rejection was walking away from a binder full of Allen&Ginters sold by Lew Lipsett (author of "The Old Judge") at a cheap price.
I think about this a lot (using a time machine) and if I (or you) was the only one allowed to us it to get cards, what would be the focus? I think for me it wouldn't be those sets listed in the scan above but buying the truly "mint" vintage cards.