Who had a positive impact on your collection ?

[tedzan]

There are many in this hobby who have made an impact on my collection. Too, many to list here.

But first & foremost, I have to credit my two daughters, who in 1977 encouraged me to get my original Sports and Non-sports
card collection (1947 - 1952) from out of the attic of my folks home in Hillside, NJ.

I taught Debbie and Zoe when they were young age to play Baseball and Tennis. Also, to be avid Yankees fans. We were at the
Oldtimers Game in 1973 when Mickey Mantle hit his last HR. Deep in the Left Field stands in Yankee Stadium. During the great
Reggie years (1977-1978), Debbie and Zoe collected BB cards. And, they kept "bugging" me to get my collection so they could
see the DiMaggio's, Mantle's, Yogi Berra's, Ted Williams', Jackie Robinson's, Stan Musial's, etc.
I'm glad this Dad took his teenage daughters' advice


Circa 1977




Debbie
.



TED Z

T206 Reference
.

[ullmandds]

Originally Posted by tedzan

There are many in this hobby who have made an impact on my collection. Too, many to list here.

But first & foremost, I have to credit my two daughters, who in 1977 encouraged me to get my original Sports and Non-sports
card collection (1947 - 1952) from out of the attic of my folks home in Hillside, NJ.

I taught Debbie and Zoe when they were young age to play Baseball and Tennis. Also, to be avid Yankees fans. We were at the
Oldtimers Game in 1973 when Mickey Mantle hit his last HR. Deep in the Left Field stands in Yankee Stadium. During the great
Reggie years (1977-1978), Debbie and Zoe collected BB cards. And, they kept "bugging" me to get my collection so they could
see the DiMaggio's, Mantle's, Yogi Berra's, Ted Williams', Jackie Robinson's, Stan Musial's, etc.
I'm glad this Dad took his teenage daughters' advice


Circa 1977




Debbie
.



TED Z

T206 Reference
.

AWESOME, Ted!!!! Your daughter was on survivor!!!! How cool!

[tedzan]

Hi Pete

Zoe was in the 2nd "Survivor" episode. Filmed on an island in the South Pacific in December 2001. Shown on TV during the 2002 season.

Out of the 16 contestants, she made it thru to the final six.



TED Z

T206 Reference
.

[hcv123]

First up is my Great Aunt Lena - she had no children or husband - just about every week on Saturday's she would drive from her home in Manhattan where she lived with my great grandmother ( she would come as well). Take my brother and I out to lunch and from the time I started collecting (around 11 years old) would take us to the Incredible Pulp in Baldwin NY and give me few bucks to purchase first comic books and later baseball cards.

Next up is mom - after begging and pleading for longer than I care to remember she shelled out $48 for my Clemente rookie card ( a sum she thought completely insane for a " piece of cardboard". She also continued to support my collecting both verbally and financially despite " not getting it" simply because she saw how much joy I got from it. Also patiently listened to many stories I'm sure she was not very interested in about this card or that.

Next up my brother Myles - he tried to get into collecting first comic books, then baseball cards as he knew each week we were going to the Incredible Pulp when my aunt came. As kids he would sometimes accompany me to shows he had less interest in. For about 12 years when we were older he would drive out and help me at the Robert Morris shows as a table holder even though he had very little interest in the hobby. Those drives were incredible bonding times and some of the best conversations we've ever had.

So many in the hobby have had a positive influence Larry Deleo ( owner of the original incredible pulp), Bob Lemke, Levi Bleam, Mike Mosier, Jim Cszesnakowski, Brian Slusser, Paul Kutch, Rich Butkowski, John Rumierez, Chuck Tomasco, Steve Radcliffe, the people who have and continue to run some amazing shows.

So many here at net 54- what fun would it be if there wasn't someplace to share my hobby victories, defeats, opinions and knowledge as well as have an opportunity to learn SO MUCH from others.

[jchcollins]

I had started with cards in 1985 at age 8, with Topps and their Garbage Pail Kids series down at the local 7-11. They were a quarter a pack. The GPK cards were insanely popular among my 3rd grade classmates, and at my school as with elsewhere in the country - they were soon banned. I traded cards with a kid in my class named Jason, who was quick to inform me that he also had the entire 700+ card 1985 Topps baseball set at home. I remember thinking that was impossible. Anyhow, that led me to purchasing my first wax pack of baseball cards some time later, '86 Topps - down at the local grocery store. These if I recall were 35 or 40 cents a pack.

Not long after I started buying current packs, I discovered old cards at a local antique store in the town we lived in. I was allowed to purchase some modest items, among them I remember a '62 Topps Gil Hodges and a '55 Bowman Andy Pafko. Old cards along about 1987-89 were everywhere, if you recall. Every town had about 2 or 3 baseball card shops, and most had the old stuff in screw-down cases under the glass. Some great memories there, it was like being able to walk into a little museum several times per week.

The hero in all this was my Mom, who bought cards for me and really helped to set the hook. This was all in the area surrounding Charlotte, NC in the late 80's. We lived in the Lake Norman / Cornelius community. Over the years from when I was 9 to about 13, there were many different card shops and experiences, but the apotheosis of that time and those memories was a place called The Red Lantern in the old Cotswold Mall in Charlotte. Like anywhere else at the time, the shop sold current Topps, Donruss and Fleer card packs - but under the glass counters to one side of the store, there was always a wonderful selection of old cards for sale. Many in the aforementioned plastic screw down holders. The bearded gentleman who always ran the store was named Barry - I don't know his last name - but he was always super friendly and willing to trade cards with kids, or even just talk to them about the hobby and baseball. The Red Lantern was the original site of me conning my mother into helping purchase / afford many of my first vintage star cards over that period of a few years back in the 1980's - most memorably a '66 Koufax (the first vintage HOFer I ever owned. The card was sharp, NM or better - but wayyy OC, maybe even miscut - however that was not of paramount concern in 1988...) and a '58 Mantle / Aaron but in addition, many, many more. Some of these cards I still have, but others have gone by the wayside in trades and sales ever since I was a kid - a '55 Bowman Bob Feller, '52 Topps Warren Spahn, '53 Bowman Bobby Shantz, '54 Bowman Roy Campanella, a '64 Topps Hank Aaron, and a creased but still presentable '54 Bowman Mantle. That last card my Mom shelled out several hundred bucks for I'm sure - which if you think about it was crazy for the late 1980's. Adjusted for inflation, the card in that condition is probably way cheaper today. But what fantastic memories...the typical routine was whenever I was with my mother in Charlotte for whatever reason - shopping trips, doctors appointments, whatever - if we were close enough it called for a trip to Cotswold and the Red Lantern. I would convince Mom and Barry to make me a deal on something in the case, then Mom and I would have lunch somewhere in the mall - Phil's Deli and a Dr. Brown's cream soda...then maybe a bit later on there was a restaurant called Spoon's which served great greasy burgers and ice cream.

Kind of hard to realize as you age that entire pieces of your childhood are just gone. This place, for one, and Barry the gentleman who worked at the Red Lantern and as I remember suffered from Lupus is also no longer with us.

The cards funny enough - remain. Thanks Mom, for a time when we really were buddies and life was a lot easier. I will never forget it.

Stephen King once referred to stages of life as "Different Seasons" in the title of a collection of short stories he wrote. I know exactly what he means because in retrospect they are so, so brief. It's a moment in time. Cotswold shopping center in Charlotte as an entity at the same location remains, but it has been totally redone and the small, indoor mall as I remember it is gone - torn down to clear the way for a totally open-air set of strip mall stores. If you want vintage baseball cards in 2018, they are more plentiful than ever at least in terms of the efficiency of their distribution - and I would argue even that the kind I collected back then (typically presentable, but not in the best shape if you were judging on technical condition...I doubt anything I ever owned from the Red Lantern would have graded higher than PSA 5 today...) can be had for even cheaper. Just dial-up eBay, and depending on what you feel like spending that day, you will have whatever your heart desires at your doorstep a few days later. But the baseball card shops are all gone. I don't know if there is a single one standing with old cards in the entire state of NC today...that is definitely an aspect of my childhood that I long for.

[jchcollins]

A newspaper photograph of Charlotte's Cotswold mall, circa 1988. The Ivey's department store to the right is also long gone...

unnamed.jpg

[Baseballcrazy62]

Heading to the National tomorrow with my son. Can’t wait to stop by some of the Net 54’s dealer booths and also to see some old friends. Please share your stories about those who impacted your collecting adventures.