Sad News -- but please be respectful
 

I was re-reading one of the classic Net 54 threads about Christopher Williams and Travis Roste and for some reason decided to search on Travis.

Travis left us at the age of 49 a few years ago and here is his obit as published at the time.

I hope he has found the peace he did not have here on earth

https://hantge.com/obituaries/travis-roste/

And this is the classic thread I'm referring to

https://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=175073


Regards
Rich

440 page views and not one reply, let alone anything positive to add. Hope that was respectful enough. That's the extent that I'll be respectful.

Hey Rich, do you go looking for obits or does all the dead collector news just fall in your lap? I wonder, because you publish RIP posts at a rate that far exceeds anyone else's.

And, with respect, asking people to be respectful is manipulative. An asshat does not get better with death.

Glad someone said it

Sure, they do; they shut up.

A few times when talking with hobby friends familiar with this board, I've referenced "the grim reaper of Net54." Every time they've known who I was talking about.

In this case, I was just searching on Travis for fun because I re-read that thread and was curious about updated and then noticed the obit. I was not searching in any way for the obit.

And to be honest, I post obits when I see them and there are also times when people ask me to post on Net 54.

And for the respectful part, I did the same thing Barry Sloate did when Bruce Dorskind passed. At this point, they are not here to defend themselves so why pile on?

I truly believe a person passes twice, once when they leave this earth and also when no one remembers them so I'm OK with posting the information in those cases as well.

Regards
Rich

I appreciate it myself. I've long wondered what happened to Travis. Thanks Rich.

I remembered that thread 10 years ago, and just re-acquainted myself with it again. I found it mostly kind of sad.

Travis was once a solid advocate in the area of boxing autographs. He was always a bit of an erratic personality, but had a solid eye for detail, was great at cataloging good and bad exemplars, and a pretty good sense of right and wrong...though he could often be misguided in some of his finger pointing.

He did shine a light on several piles of forgeries that had fooled boxing collectors, TPA's, and most of the major sports auction houses for a long time. The most prominent being a large stack of Rocky Marciano typed/signed letters that had been bought and sold for a decade or more on just about every platform you could imagine. He wasn't the first one to notice them, but he was the first one to get anybody to rescind them from circulation.

I got along with Travis in my interactions with him, but by the time this thread rolled around it seemed like his various personality "quirks" were getting worse and worse...and he was starting to become associated with some of the same types of people he used to expose. Not because they agreed on the authenticity of any specific signatures...but because they all suffered from some sort of grievance against the TPA companies, whether real or imagined. Some of them for very different reasons then others. Some of the reasons more noble than others.

Travis had big ambitions, but very little resources and backing capital, and I think it led him down some dark roads in order to get validation for his work.

Well played, sir!

I know Barry Sloate. I've read Barry Sloate's posts. Barry Sloate is a friend of mine. Reaper, you're no Barry Sloate.

There aren't many people on this earth that I won't say RIP to. Travis had good intentions for a time. No doubt he lashed out at me and Net54baseball quite a bit. But I am one to let things go when foiks pass away (unless they have physically harmed etc..) RIP Travis....

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My post was intended as gentle ribbing, but there is a kernel of truth to it. Over the last four years, Rich has posted:

Sad News -- Steve R***erson
Sad News -- but please be respectful
Sad News -- Mark Jordan of Heritage
Very Sad News Bill Huggins
Sad News -- Mark Anderson
Sad News -- Ted Holden
Sad News -- Frank Barning
SAD SAD NEWS Chris Smith (Maine) passed away
Sad News -- Jim Bubba Bennett
Sad News - Steve Ruskowski
Sad News - John Horn
Sad news...707 sportscards
Sad News-- Eddie Robinson
Sad News -- Dennis Weintraub
Sad News -- Rich Altman
Sad News -- David Maroney
Sad News Dan Knoll
Sad News -- Dan Dischley

When I wake up I check Rich's posts and if I am not mentioned, I have breakfast. :)

We have two separate things going on in this thread!

I've made my feelings clear enough about the guy who passed and this marks the end of the attention I'll devote to him.

I'm perfectly fine with any alerts of the passing of anyone from the community or industry. Most of the time, such news makes it to me through other channels, but sometimes I may only hear it here.

Today's news of Steve R. made it my way before Rich posted, but I would have completely missed that wonderful tribute from Steve's son. Steve was always a bright spot at those hideous White Plains shows. He'd bring fresh bagels to every show, and wherever he picked them up, they were delicious. I can just see him appearing out of the corner of my eye with his "WANNA BAGEL???" as I was working away.

Yea, like the people who like to wager on a " death pool " LOL

lol!