[Wite3]

Story Time:

About 15 years ago I was in Las Vegas at an annual meeting of a baseball collector's group, OBC (hey guys). Many of the guys would go out on Saturday to golf and then meet up for an early dinner/late lunch somewhere. I don't golf so I generally scouted the baseball card shops or shows happening. This particular time, there was a mall show and my girlfriend at the time was more than happy to spend time at the mall shopping while I walked around. The show was a typical mall show with little in the way of vintage. I think I had bought a Bell Brand from 1961 and a couple of '71 high numbers. As I was walking around one table that had mostly newer stuff and unopened, an elderly gentleman walked up with a plastic shopping bag containing two small three ring binders. He spent about 2-3 minutes trying to get the man behind the glass cases to speak to him and when he finally did he showed him one binder full of late early '90s Nolan Ryans and Pirate cards. The dealer literally told him "I am not interested in that junk" and turned his back to talk to the dealer behind him.

As this happened I noticed the binder he did not show looked like it had a couple of older programs in it. As he walked away from the show, obviously upset, I asked if I could see the programs. He said sure and we sat at a bench in the mall. He pulled them out...2 programs from the 1947 and 1948 Pirates. Both really nice. We chatted about Forbes field and how I was a Phillies fan. He then pulled out an autograph book full of autographs that he got from when he was kid to the time he moved away from Pittsburgh to relocate to Las Vegas...Wagner, Clemente, Stargell, Kiner, etc...all there, all nice. He said he was not selling that but he liked to show it off. He also had a newspaper clipping in the front of the book of him as a kid about how he collected bottles to recycle for his scout troop and was an avid baseball card collector. I asked if he had any of the old cards still. He pulled out the binder with the 90s "junk" and flipped to the back. In pages were 1941 Playballs...lots of them. We flipped through the first two pages and I noticed a Hubbell and Greenberg. He asked if I was interested in buying some or all of them.

I told him I would buy all he had but I only had $50 on me but I could get $300 from the ATM at the mall. I told him they were certainly worth more since he had about 70 of them and at least 2 Hall of Famers.

He said if I sat with him and told him how I became a Phillies fan living in Los Angeles, he would take my $300 and give me the Playballs. I sat with him for about 40 minutes talking baseball, kids, cards, and life. He walked me to the ATM, took out the pages of Playballs and handed them to me and I gave him $300. I walked him to the bus stop (he insisted taking the bus home even though I offered to drive).

I walked back to the show, sat down on the bench and took inventory of the cards...72 cards for $300...the 1941 Playball Set. The last page contained the Williams and Dimaggio. A complete set...I was nearly comatose when my girlfriend came up and said she found a great deal on a pair of shoes...I told her I bought a set of cards and how much it was worth, she nearly fainted.

BTW, I borrowed a beckett from the dealer who blew the man off and showed him what I had bought. He asked where I found that, I told him an elderly gentleman with some binders in a plastic bag sold them to me...he asked for the beckett back and told me to walk away.

The OBC guys at lunch all were floored when I walked in with the set and told the story.

I called Earl from the hotel that night and told him I could not take the set for just $300 and he told me that sitting with him was the highlight of his week and he would much rather have the set in "the hands of a true fan of baseball and cards than a person who could not be bothered to give an old man five minutes of his time."

I was very happy and still am with this transaction.

Earl was 81 years old. We exchanged phone numbers and although I spoke to him a few times in the next couple of years, we never saw each other again.

To answer the original poster: Respect...it really comes down to that. If both parties are happy with the deal, then it is a great deal. No matter the value. My time with Earl + $300 was equal to a vg-ex 1941 Playball set.

Joshua

PS Still have the original set. Love it to death.