Bill Mastro Auction Catalog
 

I decided to post on this side since this is a collection that is almost entirely memorabilia. All the peripheral stuff aside, this is really a beautiful and diverse collection. Since I'm a book guy I was impressed with the hardcover books and publications. Although there are no great rarities, there are many scarce volumes in great condition. I was especially impressed with the Bustin' Em with the dustjacket. When I sold the Steve Cummings Collection about ten years ago, I offered a copy with a tattered dj that was the only one to date I have ever seen. Now here's a second one, with a much nicer (although restored) jacket. I know one board member who will set his sights on it.

Of course, it's hard to enjoy this collection without thinking of all the issues surrounding Bill, but as a collection I have to say it is very impressive.

Agree completely Barry......not as much for the card enthusiast there but some really incredible memorabilia. I spent half an hour with it earlier today on a first glance type look. The condition on almost every item is just superb. The memorabilia guys should have a field day........

Got mine in the mail today...just glancing through it reminds me of catalogs of days gone by...rarely is there this much memorabilia in a single auction anymore.

Please delete this thread, ban the poster and please ignore the auction. :(:eek::D

Sorry Max, you're going to have to roll up your sleeves and fight for it. By the way, there are several other dj's in this auction that I have never seen before. Interesting stuff.

Honestly, the first thing I thought when I opened the mailing and saw it contained the Mastro Collection catalog was that the folks at Mile High need to consult the folks at Legendary on how to properly deliver a catalog. Legendary was able to coordinate the arrival of these catalogs to coincide within a day or two of the end of its just-concluded auction. And the poor folks at Mile High had to extend their auction weeks because catalogs supposedly shipped at the end of October didn't get into bidders' hands on time. Quite a contrast.

Thank goodness the Mile High operation is able to send an e-mail every few days announcing that "bidding continues" in its auction.

seriously...mile high, mastro, memory, goodwin, huggins, heritage, cca, {insert the 8 auctions houses going off this month}...not to mention these ebay sellers like justcollect b&e jhustle etc etc it never ends with my phone keep going off every 30 minutes. been trying to unsubscribe and opt out the last week but it's just never-ending.

[/excuse the rants and derailment]

Sorry, Max but that baby is mine...as soon as I collect my lottery winnings.

This is the best memorabilia auction since Halper. The selection, quality, and scarcity are impressive. There are too many treasures for me to focus as yet, but I do hope to move on something:) This is one of the few "must keep" catalogs from the past few years.

barry s
 

absolutely gorgeous, even breathtaking, and ,as Rob indicates, right on time!!!

best,
barry

The catalogue is great, an extraordinary collection obviously meticulously assembled, but there is also some very revealing personal information about Bill Mastro himself and why he has moved on from cards/memorabilia.

"Bill Mastro is no longer buying and selling. Instead, he devotes himself entirely to humanitarian service and charity work, with his Catholic faith as the guiding hand and grounding force in his life. Sober since 1981, he has experienced a dramatic personal transformation and spiritual awakening, and has helped many others to do the same by his example."

Well, at least we know he won't be using an intoxication defense.

intoxication defense
 

I shilled because I swilled? Not sure that works.....

(attempt at humor)

When I started looking thru the catalog, I was thinking the same thing. WOW !!! I didn't realize he still had his personal collection. I had thought he sold it off years ago. This auction will separate the men from the boys. :D

The postal system continues to beat up catalogs that are mailed out in priority envelopes though...my Legendary auction catalogs for the auction that ended just a few nights ago came to me only last week inside a postal bag that says "We care..."...really? You care? then why did you beat the thing up so badly that it opened up and took an extra two weeks to get to me?

Dan, you live in Nebraska! I'm still amazed that mail is still delivered there considering the size of the deficit. :)

guys, how did you get catalog? call customer service

They didn't call it the Cornhusker kickback for nothing ya know. :D

Kevin, years ago you could sign up for free just by stating you were a member of Net 54. Not sure that will get you on their list anymore...and I'm also not sure if you still have to pay to get catalogs from them either. I'd just call and ask them.

The catalog will be online at some point at legendary auctions

wwjs
 

Who would Jesus shill?

-Ryan

Just focusing on the catalogue... there's some really cool stuff in there. I love the advertising pieces especially.

Is it true Bill wears a "WWJS" bracelet? Perhaps he just feels that stealing from his friends was warranted because it allowed him to do God's work?

The CW is that the FBI is investigating shill bidding with Bill - are there also suspicions of illegal alterations of cards & memorabilia? If so, does that taint any of the items in this catalog?

In this hobby, like all others, quality goods trump moral choices. And I admit to that. The only thing that will stop me from bidding, is money. As in "I don't have enough"

Jimmy - I'm not even talking about morals here - I'm talking about the "quality goods" you speak about perhaps not being of such quality.

I thought most of Mastro's stuff has been restored. There is no mention of restoration that I have found so for.

I've seen quite a bit of "restoration disclosure" in their descriptions...

Lots 491, 493, 560, 571, 587, 600 are just a few that I've looked at in the last 10 minutes... all of which make mention of restoration in the respective descriptions.

I'm sure there are lots more...

I'm glad he has found God and is getting his life together. I remember him at a show buying a 52 Topps Mantle with a few creases on it and telling his companion after the seller left that we can get these creases out of there with no trouble.

Many of my clients find God usually right before they're sentenced.

Edited to add: if I hear that Doug Allen found God I'm going to hide my wallet and get a new alarm system for my house.

LOL:D

But seriously more sad than funny. My lifes lesson (some time ago) - where there is money - there is greed. Where there is greed there is too much temptation for some to act unethically.

Restoration
 

A couple of the items I'm looking at have had "minimal restoration". By the catalog writer's standards, I'm sure Michael Jackson also had "minimal restoration".

Max and guys- I found it interesting that they listed the Putnam series complete without THE UMPIRE STORY by James Kahn.

I have always and will always consider it part of the series?

I always considered the Putnam series complete at 16, one for each team.

Barry- I think the Milwaukee edition with different title and dust jacket is a significant addition. I like the Gehrig, McGraw and Umpire editions being added. I sat in on a SABR discussion on this very topic many years ago and that roundtable agreed that all 19 should be included. As a collector I also think the 1958 Yankee update is different enough to warrant inclusion in a library. That edition appears to be listed in lot 335.

Catalog
 

Gentlemen:
How do we obtain a catalog?
thanks
Phil

Mike- I guess it's kind of like the difference between a basic set and a master set. But I agree adding a few more titles adds to the value of it.

Regardless of any flawed or incomplete descriptions, I don't think anything will fly under the radar in this auction. I'm sure that's the highest number of bids I've ever seen on an opening day... REA included.

Not a good auction for sniffing out any "deals"...

Mike and Barry

I've never thought of Gehrig, McGraw or Umpire as part of the Putnam team histories, but have considered Milwaukee and 1958 Yankess as part of the set.

With ebay, all titles in the set now appear regularly, and Washington and the Phillies can no longer be considered "rare". Only Baltimore seems hard to find in high grade, with the spine on the dj normally found faded due to the original orange.

I'm working on a signed set, as all the authors seemed to be regular signers. (Warren Brown must have signed 50% of the White Sox and Cubs).

Max

Max & Barry- I guess this is part of the fun of collecting, we can set our own parameters on what and how we collect.

Max as you know I too am adding/replacing copies as I can right now of signed copies. The Orioles DJ seems to fade even worse than the Giants. Mine is somewhat faded, I had a near perfect one about ten years ago but Mike S. in Memphis wound up with it in a deal.

Of course there is also the french version of the McGraw book and several titles can also be found in the small paper service editions sent to soldiers in WWII.

With the advent of eBay what used to pass for really tough or rare now seems to turn up more often. I have even begun to add editions to my series, as mentioned before the 1958 Yankees is quite different from the first several and there is a seven year gap in Cardinal editions.

However you collect the set it is in my opinion one of the best projects in book collecting. While it may not be the equivalent of the T206 Monster it is at least the 1951 Bowmans of books!

Mike

I was going to mention the French McGraw. I haven't seen any other French language editions, nor any bibliographic references to others.

I forgot about the armed services editions. I've seen the Yankees and the Cardinals and no doubt several others, but haven't bought any. Do you know the complete list of the Putnams published in this form?

As for collecting scarcity, I have two Putnams (later editions) which are still in their original mailing boxes. Incredible shape, but the prospect of finding others in their mailing boxes would be a daunting quest.

Max

I've never considered the Putnam team histories to included Gehrig, McGraw and Umpire, but to include Milwaukee and the 1958 Yankee update.

Since ebay, the Putnams (including the three) are now easy to obtain, with the harder titles like the Phillies, Senators and Reds show up on almost a weekly basis. The Orioles is hard to find without the spine of the dj being sunned, but it shows up in nice shape often enough.

I'm trying to complete a signed set. Some are easy to find. Warren Brown seems to have signed every other copy of his books. Lieb was also a prolific signer (although I haven't seen any Baltimore copies signed), and Shirley Povich also seems to have signed a lot. Graham, Kaese and Allen are available, but perhaps not as common (are there any other authors?).

I've got a couple later printings in their original shipping boxes--now that will be a hard collection to complete ...

Max

I believe Max and Mike know the nuances of the Putnam series better than I do. I concentrated more on the early books, and while I had numerous Putnams over the years, I never had a complete set in my collection. But I'm learning more about them on this thread.

The only Armed Services editions that I know of are Yankees, Cardinals, McGraw and Gehrig. The only other possibility for s service edition I believe would be the Dodgers. It was released at some point in 1945.

The Putnam's and their editions that I know include;

Baltimore 1955 (actually history of the St. Louis Browns)
Boston Red Sox 1947
Chicago White Sox 1952
Cleveland Indians 1949
Detroit Tigers 1946
New York Yankees 1943, 1947, 1948, 1951, 1958
Washington Senators 1954
Connie Mack 1945, 1948 (history of Athletics)

Boston Braves 1948
Brooklyn Dodgers 1945, 1947, 1948
Chicago Cubs 1946
Cincinnati Reds 1948
Milwaukee Braves 1954 (update of the Boston Braves)
New York Giants 1952
Philadelphia Phillies 1953
Pittsburgh Pirates 1948
St. Louis Cardinals 1944, 1945, 1947, 1950

The Umpire Story 1953
The Story of Baseball 1950
The World Series Story 1949, 1950
Lou Gehrig 1942
John McGraw 1944

Just as an aside, has anyone ever seen a McGraw with a clean white dust jacket, they all seem to be dingy.

I mentioned earlier that I considered the set at 19 but actually 22 would be final number. This list of editions is not proclaimed to be final ,more a beta version. Please add years if you know of any.

That's great information Mike. We really should archive it for future reference.

Thanks Barry, I am sure Max has a deeper understanding of the Putnam series and certainly you both know much more about the earlier issues on the game. I love all of them!

I like series of books, I have done a great deal of research on the Strode series of college football histories. A lengthy series that in no way compares to the well written Putnam baseball books, the Strodes range from excellent to gosh awful.

By the way Putnam started a football series that consisted of the Chicago Bears by Howard Roberts and the Green Bay Packers by Arch Ward. They also did two books in this period on Notre Dame. A later book by Roberts titled THE PRO FOOTBALL STORY would probably end their football offerings that match the period of their baseball books. All are well written.

Shoot! I forgot Roberts Putnam book on the Big Ten. I'll shut up now.

Mike

One more Putnam variant that I seem to recall. Doesn't a later printing of The Cubs have a different dust jacket, with cubs being depicted, or is my memory playing tricks?

Max

Max I don't know, as I mentioned this is a beta version of the checklist, a later Cubs edition is exciting. Can someone tell us more?