OT Avatar User ID genisis of your collection

[71buc]

I am fascinated by what drives us to collect. I'm curious as to why you choose your Avatar and user ID as well. My own are fairly obvious. I collect primarily the 1971 Pirates. I grew up in the military in a family where Spanish was spoken. My mother's friends were all Mexican, Panamanian, Puerto Rican, Chilean, Venezuelan, and Dominican. Our home was a nexus of culture, food, and ethnicity. In1971 I was eight and realized what was occurring in my home was not necessarily happening in my friends homes. My father was blonde and blue eyed and from Pennsylvania. He was and remains a passionate Bucs fan. The 1971 Pirates reflected what was happening in my home at that time. At eight I fell in love with baseball because of that team and I learned from watching them that it was alright, if not a bit cool, to be different. As they say it is best to stay with who brought you to the dance so I have remained loyal to Roberto, Willie, Dock, Scoop, and Digger. Anyone know where I might locate a September 1, 1971 Pittsburgh Pirate ticket?

[Lordstan]

Mike,
Great story. It's the type of emotional connection we all have to this stuff. Those are the memories we all cherish.

Many think my name is Stan, but my screen name comes from the Stanley Cup. "Lord Stan" When I grew up my connection to sports was forged, like most I assume, through my father. He was a NY Giants fan that became a Mets Fan in 1962. He was an equally passionate NY football Giants and NY Knicks fan, but I think deep down, the thing that really got him going was the Rangers. He was at one of the Sc final games in 1940(the last time they won the cup prior to 1994) In a sports sense seeing them win the cup in 1994 made his life complete. Later that year, my wife and I got our first dog together. I named him, in keeping with all the fru-fru hoidy-toidy purebread German Shepherd naming tradition, Lord Stanley of The Rangers. Ever since then my internet screen name on every board has been Lordstan. Unfortunately, my father passed away in 1995 and Stanley, as we called him, passed away in 2004. In a sense the name keeps me connected with both.

My avatar is my daughter. It shows her doing a dance/gymnastics move called a ring leap.

Interestingly, neither my screen name nor my avatar connect directly to what I collect. I collect Lou Gehrig items mostly. I connected with him as a young man because he seemed like someone who really lived up to what a hero should be, professionally and personally.

Mark

[mcgwirecom]

My avatar is obviously Joe DiMaggio and I.

I started collecting after my first divorce in 1993. I always wanted to get a DiMaggio autograph, but at that time the price was $300+ for a real one. I found out Joe was signing in AC for $350. So I made the trip so I could meet him. At that time he was the connection between the old days and modern baseball. He played with Gehrig and Mantle both.

At the show I was near the end of the line and I watched as person after person would take a photo of Joe as he signed their items. People were talking about how you had to watch what you say to him and that he wouldn't sign this or that. It seemed like everyone was afraid of him, or that they were meeting God himself. I wanted to be in the photo with him so I asked the guy behind me to wait until I got to lean across the table so I could get in the picture with him. After he signed my ball I said "hey Joe, can I get a picture with you?" He stopped signing, looked up at me and kind of gave me a once over look. Then he said " sure, come around." I didn't even know what to do. The table was set up so it was really long, but I found my way around it finally and got this picture. I think I may have been the only one to get to pose with him. It's not that I collect DiMaggio, I actually collect McGwire mostly, but he was one of the few living legends I got to meet.

[parker1b2]

My Avatar is a lithograph of Crosley Field.

I collect a broad range of Baseball Memorabilia, with no real true focus. The main part of the auto side is around HOFers, but try to collect a little of everything. Thanks to this board, I have been really getting into a lot more of the earlier stuff then I have in the past.

The reason I chose my avatar was to in a way honor my grandfather and father, who really got me into collecting. I grew up in NJ and a Yankees fan, while my father grew up in Indiana and him and my grandfather were huge Reds fans. This lithograph used to hang in my grandfathers house, and we would visit him every summer and I remember just always looking at it as he would tell me stories about Crosley field and the old days of baseball and the players. When he passed in 1994, my father took it off his wall and said that my grandfather wanted me to have it. So that is why I chose it.

[Leon]

I moved this thread to the front page to get some more views as it's an interesting topic for everyone. My avatar changes over time and is solely cards I like. No rhyme or reason.

[kmac32]

My avitar is actually my great great uncle Elmer Miller. Played for the 1921 Yankees and was the first yankee to ever get a hit in a World Series and he later scored that inning becoming the first Yankee to ever score a run in a World Series. This lead to my E 121 yankees and giants collection

As to the name, at Cubs camp, they started calling me Kenny Mac or shortened to Kmac and the 32 was my jersey number which was the same as Rich Nye's jersey number who was a left handed pitcher for the 1969 Cubs who later went on to become a veterinarian. I am a veterinarinan, left handed, and went on to become a catcher. Kind of Rich Nye in reverse.

[almostdone]

Great idea for a thread. I often wonder some of the stories behind names as well as aviators.

A while ago I was completing a near ten year journey to have a card of every Hall Of Famer from the 1909 on. I did this by wheeling and dealing on an extremly tight budget. I was down to one player left, Honus Wagner. I did most of my findings on eBay but couldn't come up with a card in my budget. Finally one popped up, a 1914 Polo Grounds. I contacted the seller to get some more info about the card. Through our messaging he mentioned he had tried for a month to "sell on Net54" but had no takers. I had never heard of this site so while the auction was still on I checked out the site, was blown away and joined. When I needed a user name I sat in front of my computer and all I could think of was "I'm almost done". I used it, won the card and completed my quest.

My aviator is of a display case I made to house part of my HOF collection. Making custom cases is another of my hobbies.

Btw, last year I sold all of my prewar HOFers except 7 to surprise my wife on her 40th birthday with a second honeymoon trip which we took about two months ago. I had realized that the journey to completion was much more fun than actually being completed. I still have the Wagner though as well as Ruth, Gerhig, Cobb, Speaker, Young and Johnson.

Great thread. Hope this catches on. I'd love to hear more.

Drew

[4815162342]

My user ID and avatar are the numbers from the show Lost. This was the greatest tv show ever made... until the final season.

4 8 15 16 23 42

[rainier2004]

Originally Posted by 4815162342

My user ID and avatar are the numbers from the show Lost. This was the greatest tv show ever made... until the final season.

4 8 15 16 23 42

No shit? I have ALWAYS wondered what those numbers meant in your avatar...that last season did suck...Breaking Bad became the new king.

Steve - Couldn't agree more on that Wags photo, ever see the Kreindler done to that?

I love CJs sp they rotate, my name is just my ebay ID as it was a goal to summit Mt Rainier, WA, in 2004 which I did several times...

[gregr2]

I was born in 1961 and grew up in Northern New Jersey as a huge Mets fan. The biggest thrill was the 1969 Mets winning the World Series. Last year I purchased the 1970 cards of each player on the Mets World Series roster since that set had the team picture with "World Champions" above it. My Avatar is the 1970 Sporting News capture "Mets Whoop it Up" after winning the World Series.

[scooter729]

Scooter was an old softball team nickname that I haven't been called in 15 years, but it so happened to be what I went by when I opened my eBay account. So for consistency, I stick with it.

My avatar is the Watertown High logo. I switched it on the day my community had the full day manhunt for the Marathon bombers last year. Scary as hell to be locked in your houses all day with tanks and swat teams going house to house. I have a few high school friends who were cops on that horrible day, so it's my avatar in their honor.

[Dave1943]

My avatar is my Grandfather. When I joined Net54 I did not have a T205 card of his - my favorite, very much like the colors. Thought about changing, but so far I have withstood the urge. Dave

[refz]

1)My screen name refz came from my secondary gaming handle "ReflectoR" which I named from a transformers character (proud to be a 80s kid) later shortened it to refz^. I hardcore gamed from 1998-2003 playing Quake fortress, and Half-Life mods such as Counterstrike and Team-Fortress.

2)My avatar hasnt changed in awhile. I chose my autographed 52 bowman Piersall for being from the same hometown.

[shernan30]

My username is boring, just my email address. I wasn't very creative at the time I signed up for the forum.

My avatar is my first Columbus Solon OJ outdoor pose I got of James McTamany. This is still one of my favorite OJs in my collection.

[wolf441]

Originally Posted by rainier2004

Steve - Couldn't agree more on that Wags photo, ever see the Kreindler done to that?

Thanks Steve,

I just looked it up (as well as everything else on the Kreindler web-page). His work is absolutely incredible!! What I wouldn't give to have a talent like that....

[39special]

My avatar is a '58Furillo my dad bought me in the late '70's at a local show.I lived in the same area as Furillo,and he signed it for me in his driveway the first of many times I got to meet him.The card will stay with me til the end.
My username is from my other hobby,cars.I build and restore street rods,muscle cars,and just about anything with four wheels.I'm working on my '39 Buick Special that I'm hoping to have done by this spring.It was my dads,and when he passed away its the one I kept out of the four collectable cars he had.We built it together in the '80's,so there are alot of memories
of him.The car will also stay with me til the end.

[digdugdig]

My user ID goes way back to the early 80's, what my old tavern pool playing partner Hank "Poppy" Pawslawski used to call me ... "digdugdig". Great times and memories, don't mean to "toot" our own horn but we used to kick some butt!!
My avatar is my Conlon photo of Smokey Joe Wood.
1. 'cause he was a Red Sox.
2. Always thought he has been a bit underappreciated.
3. Just a great photo!!

[atx840]

When I was much younger I was sponsored by Giant mountain bikes and the first bike they gave me was an atx840.

I love the T206 blue Chase portrait & scraps.

[wolf441]

My user name is my nickname growing up (Wolf) and the first number combo that I came up that was still available when I joined ebay in the late '90's (i.e. wolf, wolf1, wolf10 were all taken...).

My avatar is my absolute favorite baseball photo. To me, it always symbolized the old warrior looking over his weapons in the "autumn" of his career. I love the Pirates sweater, the weathered face. Just a perfectly captured moment.

[frohme]

Interesting topic!

Mine follows themes already mentioned

• Like Leon, mine changes (or changed) over time.
• Like Joshua, it is set based - T207 - big surprise
• Donnelly was the last card I needed for the set.

Pretty simple, that.

--
Mike

[t206hound]

So my user name came from my self-proclaimed notion that I could "sniff out" good t206 deals on eBay. It's kind of evolved in trying to identify nuances in cards.

My avatar has also changed over time, but has always been a prized card in my collection. Currently it is a miscut Rossman with McBride (full name) at top.

[the 'stache]

An interesting idea for a thread, Mike. Thank you.

For me, the user name came first, and the avatar soon followed. I signed up for another sportscard forum, and when it came time to put in my user name, I just decided to do something different. As I'd just shaved my head for the first time not too long before signing up for that forum, I chose the 'stache to be a bit ironic. It was unexpected in that I not only had no mustache, but no hair on my head at all save for my eyebrows. It also served as an homage to one of my favorite baseball players growing up, Rollie Fingers. I always thought Rollie did his own thing, and besides being one hell of a closer, his mustache was legendary. When he came to the Brewers, my Rollie affinity kicked up into high gear. It shot up even more when one of my long time best friends told me on the phone one night that Rollie Fingers was one of his daughter's baseball coaches (his daughter being 10 or 11 at the time).

So, when I came here, it seemed only natural to use the same combination. I had my Rollie Fingers avatar for a while, but after starting on the T206 set, I switched to the Titus avatar because I felt it was more appropriate for the forum. And the card has really grown on me.

[HalChaseCollector]

Im driven to collect because I love baseball and it is fun to own historical artifacts from America's pastime. My name and avatar is based on my favorite baseball movie! It has no relation to what I collect because I don't collect Willie Mays nor the Cleveland Indians.

[Runscott]

Originally Posted by 71buc

I am fascinated by what drives us to collect. I'm curious as to why you choose your Avatar and user ID as well.

I got rid of my avatar. If I post something really stupid, now there's one less thing for people to remember me by.

When I chose my general internet/email handle around 15 years ago, I wanted 'runforrest', but due to the movie, I couldn't get it for my email address, so I chose 'runscott' and have stuck with that whenever possible.

[nebboy]

I use this close up of Wagner because it looks so much like my great grandfather they could easy pass for brothers.

[kkkkandp]

Similar to other people who have already responded, I didn't put a lot of creative energy into my Net 54 name. It is my AOL email name. When I first signed up with AOL everyone in my family had their own email address and mine was simply the first letters of each of the given names:

Kevin
Kara
Kyle
Kelly
and
Paula

My avatar is the mascot (purple cow) for my college (Williams). As weird as a purple cow might seem, it never makes the lists of the weirdest college mascots.

http://www.campusexplorer.com/Top-10...llege-Mascots/

[ethicsprof]

You go ahead and take the green one and i'll take the blue one.
all the best,
barry