Posted By:
brian pWithin recent memory we have had a couple of posts concerning mysterious writing on the back of various vintage cards which was determined to be from the hand of Buck Barker, one of the hobby's forefathers. I tried to elicit a response as to why Buck Barker is considered such an important figure in our hobby, but received no replies. Mark MaCrae has provided me with some interesting background on Buck Barker's relevance in the hobby, and I would like to share with you all.
"Buck began collecting cards early on (E-120 era) and was mainly a baseball collector. As you know, checklists weren't available for most of the series
back then. Beginning in the 30's, collectors began locating each other, Buck began corresponding with Burdick, John Wagner, Charles Bray, Lionel Carter
(Still living as I recall) & others about creating checklists. While Burdick is considered the "Grandfather" of collecting, its important to point out that Burdick collected all subjects, not just baseball. Barker, on the other hand was
primarily a baseball specialist & organized, identified & checklisted many of the baseball sets for their first time.
Besides being a pioneer in checklisting, Buck's location (St Louis) gave him an edge in researching player histories. Buck was among the few historians
allowed (virtually unlimited) access to the Sporting News archive, where he would frequently visit. His initial goal as I recall was to put first names on
the Major League sets which indicate only last names on cards (T-206,etc). It expanded to include virtually every set, including Zeenuts, which he & Don McPherson collaberated on. Buck would not live to see the end of this, his final project.
Additionally, Buck was a very generous collector, often mailing out extra cards with his "trades" & very generous with his time. Always willing to help out other collectors. I've never heard anything negative said about him (Rare in
the hobby).
Buck died in the early 80's (82/83) & as I recall, Bob Jasperson (publisher of Sport Fan & another hobby great-guy) died the same week. In the mid 80's
there was a short-lived "Buck Barker, Spirit of the Hobby Award" given annually at the National Convention (Sponsored by Baseball Hobby News) which recognized the collector who had done the most "positive" actions in the hobby for the preceding year. Unfortunately, like Buck, that aspect of the National
Convention is LONG-gone..."
Always a good reminder that the information in the various guides didn't just spring out of the earth, and that we all should be thankful for the countless hours of research that people like Buck Barker performed that has made our collecting today that much easier. So perhaps that red ink scribbling on the backs of card will have a lot more meaning and look a little less ugly.
Brian