I'm becoming a Monster...the story of how i turned to vintage

artistlost

Hello all...I have been watching these boards for a while now and have stuck a comment here and there over that time and now I am becoming a monster as a result. Here is the story...

14 months ago while scanning Ebay (which i have been doing since '99) I came across a 1975 Topps Baseball set. The story of the auctions was one I had seen before many times over...my grandfather died and left me all these baseball card sets he carefully put together the year they came out and they have NEVER been touched since...they are all PERFECT MINT...i don't like baseball cards and need the money for college so my loss is your gain...blah...blah...blah...well something in the description caught me. 1975 was the year of my birth and thought it would be kind of cool to own it.

*side bar* until this find I had never bought a baseball card older than a 1989 Ken Griffey Upperdeck RC...i was (and still am a Bowman Chrome Junkie)...yes I am the collector that most on these boards hate...I would spend 200-2000 on a prospect card of a player 2-4 years from even playing in the show...

back to the story...

So i bought the set for 375.00 and held my breath waiting for it. Well it arrived and it was as advertised. The cards looked like they just came out of packs. The centering was also bang on...I have graded out approx 25-30 of the stars/HOFers and ALL of them have come back PSA 8's no qualifiers (also no 9's too bad). Anyway I was a happy little collector. And I continued my life back in prospect heaven with Bowman Chrome/Best/SPX and so on.

THEN...these boards entered my life...and I become interested in 50's/60s/70s players...I did the reading and talked shop with my Dad and Father-in-law about the good old days. I started small with 70s RCs of HOFers in PSA 8 condition...Cards Like Schmidt's RC, Windfield, Molitor, Fisk, Ozzie Smith, etc...etc...etc..but this didn't quench my thirst...

I decided since I had the year of my birth with the 75 and my sons with a 2004 I thought why not my wifes? So...1969 became my quest...I have since started the set by grabing the HOFer/Stars and RCs in PSA 7 or 8. I am only 10 cards away now and am starting on the commons in strict NM raw or graded with about 575 commons left i do have some searching and a lot of buying to do.

Well you would think that with all of this rambling my story must be finished right? Nope. The quest for the 69 wasn't enough...it just openned a bigger can of worms...I have the HOFers RCs from the 70's and now 69...why not more 60s and heck...why not the 50s!!

So with the purchase of my 1968 PSA 7 Johnny Bench RC and my 1960 PSA 7 Yas RC it's started...I am hooked on Vintage cards...

My wife will most likely leave me...my son will grow up and my bank account will never be the same anymore with rookie cards of such greats as Nolan Ryan, Seaver, Brooks Robinson, Harmon Killebrew, Palmer, McCovey, Robinson and many more on my search and find list. And it doesn't help that Bowman Chrome will have 2 more sets in 2007. Baseball cards rock!

Thanks for listening...and any help my never endless quest of the 1969 topps set and 50's and 60's HOFer RCs would always make my day.

mathew

RonBurgundy

Nice post and I can appreciate what you're doing. 3 years ago I got back into vintage cards by building a '68 set out of a starter set I had. I got it finished in a year and then cast my eye towards the 50's. I went full throttle on a '57 set in high grade and having finished that recently am now into 5 or 6 different projects, including a football set of all things. It is incredibly addicting, but if you have a passion for it, it is fun and rewarding and if you do it right, you won't get hurt financially.


Stay classy,


Ron

Stingray

It is always cool to here someone else's story on their collecting adventures. It is what makes these boards interesting.

Cubby

I too went from modern to vintage. I now collect both. I guess the
"Rookie Card mentality" never goes away, as I find myself still
picking up only RC's of vintage players. Best of luck to you, Matt.

Ahmanfan

I just got a nice '69 carew graded (psa 8) if he is one your needing. well centered.
John

artistlost

Thanks for the offer John...but Carew was actually one of my first pick ups.

PuertoRicanFogBank

"Rookie Card mentality"

Am I the only one here who has never understood this phenomenon?

Griffins

I don't get it either. It's just the first card of a player, and I don't see why it's any better than the last card of an equal player in the same set.

Stone193

<< <i>yes I am the collector that most on these boards hate >>


Mathew

Nice story - I think you're going down a common road travelled by many.

On the "hate" - disdain for modern is sad - some of the nicest veteran collectors here who chase vintage also do one or two modern sets every year. You're amongst friends here.

I wish you luck.
mike