Photo of 5 Guys with a Wagner in the 70's

[whiteymet]

Hi Guys:

Going through some old photos. Found this shot from an early Detroit show in the mid 70's. All of us had a Wagner, thus the reason for the photo..

L-R Top Bill Mastro, Frank Nagy, Bill Haber ( for those that don't know, he wrote the backs of Topps cards back then)

Kneeling Mike Aronstein and yours truly. No comments about the hair please!! :>)

Also a Polariod SX-70 photo that is starting to crack of my Wagner with the rest of my set. Back then we put our cards on those sticky album pages with the plastic on top. UGH!!

Anyone else have some old photos?

Fred

[I Only Smoke 4 the Cards]

Originally Posted by whiteymet

Back then we put our cards on those sticky album pages with the plastic on top. UGH!!

[wonkaticket]

This is one of the best posts on here in quite sometime. Thanks for sharing, I can bet you there are still collections out there in the same binders and sheets.

The hobby had to be so much fun then, finds could be had, deals could be worked and novel idea you had shows and the stuff at the shows was for sale vs. a giant auction preview.

Thanks again!

Cheers,

John

P.S. Fred do you still have your Wagner of not do you know where it ended up?

[whiteymet]

Hi John:

My Wagner went to Halper along with the rest of my collection at the time including my favorite cards of Konstanty, Stanky and Roberts from the Current All Stars.

It was Halper's first Wagner.

I never saw it again until 2012 when it showed up here:

http://www.goodwinandco.com/the-%E2%...-lot19548.aspx

I kinow it was mine by the faint crease in the upper right corner. Anyone know who consigned it to this auction?

Quite an increase in price from 1973 when I bought it for a then second highest price paid of $1100 to 2012 when it sold for 1.2M!!

Fred

[wonkaticket]

Fred, that's such a great story. Konstanty, Stanky and Roberts too boot huh? So you liked easy stuff to collect.

Again just amazing.

Cheers,

John

[scottglevy]

Very cool post!!

I remember seeing my first Wagner at the rare book room of the New York Public Library. My dad Hank worked (actually still works) for the press so he got us special credentials to view the collection, which was donated by Burdick. The collection was stunning ... so many early period cards pasted into a book including OJs, Mayos, T206s and other series.

I was also surprised by the lack of security. It was basically here's the book would you like to sit in a closed room unattended for an unlimited period of time to view it?

Sadly several of the cards, I believe including the Wagner, disappeared from the original collection - although I'm told that the bulk of it is still intact.

Best,
Scott

[Gmrson]

Great picture! When I saw the post title and then that the pic was from Detroit I was hoping to see collector Jim Hamon in there. I used to marvel at the picture of his Wagner card he had up in his Detroit area store.

[Iron Horse]

Thank you for sharing. I'll agree with John it has been a while that we have had an interesting post. Those were the good old days when collecting was still for the most part collecting
You had a very nice Wagner back then.
Thank you for sharing it with us, great post.

[Fred]

"Kneeling Mike Aronstein and yours truly. No comments about the hair please!! :>)"

Hey, no comments about the hair but look at those pants!!! Just kidding, thanks for sharing this.

[ullmandds]

1 wedding ring visible...hence reinforcing the vintage card collector demographic...and the early 70's were well before the processed food epidemic causing rampant obesity!

[Stonepony]

"Hey Mike, what are you wearing to the convention today?"
"Great, me too!!"
Great pic and story , thanks for sharing

[BlueSky]

Really cool post. Thanks for sharing.

[atx840]

Oldschool cool. Thanks for sharing!

[gnaz01]

Awesome post!!!

[joeadcock]

Agreed. Love anything from the 70's. Cool post.

I remember having some pants similar to those you are wearing. Along with my Traxx K mart sneakers and my Planet of the Apes belt.

[talkinbaseball]

I remember ordering the 1972 Topps Baseball set through the Sport Hobbyist.
When I received the set there was an issue of the old Sport Hobbyist with a article about the Detroit show, I wanted to go so bad but I was only 15, being from Connecticut my parents would've never let me go, included with the sport hobbyist was a couple of the diamond matchbooks from the 1930's, I still have the set, the sport Hobbyist and the matchbooks. I'll always remember the picture of Frank Nagy in his basement with I think a viceroy cigarette in his mouth.

john-

[E93]

Great post! Thanks for sharing.
JimB

[g_vezina_c55]

Best post since long time here. Really catch my attention. I enjoy saw old picture of cards and collector and also ready story of the old time wagner purchase.

thanks for sharing these pic and this story.

[I Only Smoke 4 the Cards]

I hope all of your wagners are still working fine.

[g_vezina_c55]

Nagy and mastro is now out of thr hobby....

you are still in the hobby but didn t still have your wagner..

anyone know for the 2 other collector if they are still in the hobby and if they still own their wagner ?

[jcmtiger]

Originally Posted by Gmrson

Great picture! When I saw the post title and then that the pic was from Detroit I was hoping to see collector Jim Hamon in there. I used to marvel at the picture of his Wagner card he had up in his Detroit area store.

Jim Hamon had/has a great collection, have not talked to him years. A great guy.


Bought many Detroit cards from Mastro and Nagy at those early shows.


Joe.

[Rickyy]

Ha Great Post. You look Great Fred!

Ricky Y

[CW]

including my favorite cards of Konstanty, Stanky and Roberts from the Current All Stars.

Whoa.

Great photos -- thanks for sharing!

[spec]

Originally Posted by g_vezina_c55

Nagy and mastro is now out of thr hobby....

you are still in the hobby but didn t still have your wagner..

anyone know for the 2 other collector if they are still in the hobby and if they still own their wagner ?

Nelson,
Both Nagy and Haber are deceased. Haber died tragically of an asthma attack, as, I believe, did Mastro's original auction partner Don Steinbach, another legendary collector. As for Pete Ullman's wedding ring observation, I know both Nagy and Haber were married.

[whiteymet]

Originally Posted by spec

Nelson,
Both Nagy and Haber are deceased. Haber died tragically of an asthma attack, as, I believe, did Mastro's original auction partner Don Steinbach, another legendary collector. As for Pete Ullman's wedding ring observation, I know both Nagy and Haber were married.

Yeah, both Nagy and Haber were married as was Aronstein. He had one of the very early hobby get togethers at his home in late 69 early 70 that I attended. He gave us all a small uncut sheet of a TCMA issue and we all signed them and we each got one. Still have it, Irv lerner, Dennis Graye, Tom Collier, Mike Aronstein, Bill Mastro, Crawford Foxwell, Bill Zekus, Bob and Mike Jasperson, Bruce Yeko, Dan Dischley, Bill Himmelman, Jim MacAllister among others attended.

Later I attended a few of Crawford Foxwell's similar get togethers at his place in MD.

Don't know if Mike still has his Wagner. That's where mine came from. We were at a convention in Cincinnati that Mike did not attend. He turned up the Wagner in Long Island, the guy would not sell it to him, but let him call the convention and auction it off there. I sold my entire table at the show, had just gotten my tax refund, won the auction for $1100!

We drove straight back to L.I. to pick it up after the show.

Fred

Fred

[g_vezina_c55]

Thx a lot fred for all these memories

[Tim Kindler]

Fred,
Thanks for showing and sharing with us some of your private memories.
It's great to hear someone who has such good memories and, at least it sounds like, little regrets of his involvement in our hobby. Thanks for putting a face with a name on Mr. Nagy for me. I own a few of his e98s now.
Take care,
Tim Kindler

[ruth-gehrig]

Cool post! Thanks for sharing with us all!

[whiteymet]

Originally Posted by Fred

"Kneeling Mike Aronstein and yours truly. No comments about the hair please!! :>)"

Hey, no comments about the hair but look at those pants!!! Just kidding, thanks for sharing this.

Hey FredL

Those pants were "HAPPENING"!!

Picked up lots of chicks wearing them. NOT!

Fred

[Cardboard Junkie]

Cool thread. Ron Hammon passed away too....I think about 15 20 yrs now. The wags he had displayed in his store "Great American Pastime", was one I was very familiar with, (he didn't own it though).....seems to have vanished from the hobby scene. When Ron had his "Tally Hall" store I bought a whole book of 52 topps hi#s for 5 bucks a piece. They were actually placed back to back in pages. He was cool and had a collection that was staggering.....I was so envious that he had the little glendale salesman booklet that I needed for years. As I recall Ron was a retired Det. cop and had a third shop part owned by the fire commissioner. Ron's son was big into cards too...dont know what happened to him. Great picture.

[g_vezina_c55]

nice story david
thanks

[Cardboard Junkie]

opps ! Hammons first name was Jim......my bad. dave

[mrvster]

extremely cool....wow.....I was collecting in the late 70's and my dream was/still is to own one......

I really enjoyed this thread

[WillowGrove]

Originally Posted by Tim Kindler

Fred,
Thanks for putting a face with a name on Mr. Nagy for me.
Take care,
Tim Kindler

Me too.

I don't own a Wagner even though I was around the hobby in the 70s. Guess I just didn't try hard enough to convince my parents to spend a few thousand on one card. My bad.


When I was 14 I put a classified ad in The Trader Speaks and have saved all of my correspondence to this day. Here's a note from Mr. Nagy where he mentions the importance of condition and how he has many Goudeys and old cards in excellent and mint conditions....

[joeadcock]

Peter

Thanks for showing the letter. Postmark looks like 1973 on your letter. I was 9 then and wouldn't have known how to place an ad.

Living in Miami, Florida, there was not the baseball card collecting that you find up north US. I got the Sports Hobbyist couple of times, but my lack of funds and overall being inept, didn't lead me in that direction. My dream was collecting Topps Baseball and Laughlin cards in mid and late 1970's. Settled for the 7-11 or the "tobacco shop" for getting new stuff.

Either way, love insight to what went on in the 70's collecting of prewar.

[mrvster]

Thanks again on that Howard.... I still saved the peeled back!! card is sick.....my parents were thinking about it(wagner) when I was a kid......I didn't get there, but one day I will

[jcmtiger]

Originally Posted by Cardboard Junkie

opps ! Hammons first name was Jim......my bad. dave

Ron was Jim's son. I talked to Jim in 2002 when I moved back to Michigan from Vegas. So, if he passed must have been in the last 12 years.

Joe

[the 'stache]

Great pictures, and a great thread! Thank you, Fred!

[joeadcock]

Fred

Here is a photo of me in elementary school in 1974. At this time of my life I was dreaming. Prewar was a bit off. I hate to think of what pants I was wearing then, hidden by the table.

This was my project on dinosaurs for school science fair.

[CW]

Originally Posted by joeadcock

Fred

Here is a photo of me in elementary school in 1974. At this time of my life I was dreaming. Prewar was a bit off. I hate to think of what pants I was wearing then, hidden by the table.

This was my project on dinosaurs for school science fair.

I give you credit for posting that photo, Joe.

While we're on the subject of crazy pants (circa Christmas 1977, but that was a bad ASS shirt, you have to admit!)....

[MVSNYC]

Chuck- I'm watching Empire Strikes Back right now! it's on Spike TV. epic flick.

Fred- awesome pics. thanks for sharing.

[MVSNYC]

PS- T-shirt spells Vader wrong, interesting.

[CW]

Haha! Never noticed that, Michael. I wish I still had it!

[joeadcock]

Cool....an error card...oh, uh, I mean an error shirt......The Vadar variation

[johnmh71]

Originally Posted by CW

I give you credit for posting that photo, Joe.

While we're on the subject of crazy pants (circa Christmas 1977, but that was a bad ASS shirt, you have to admit!)....

I think I had the same pants. I was 6 at the time.

[I Only Smoke 4 the Cards]

Originally Posted by joeadcock

Thanks for showing the letter. Postmark looks like 1973 on your letter. I was 9 then and wouldn't have known how to place an ad.

In 1973 my dad was 11.

[sportzjunky]

Originally Posted by wonkaticket

This is one of the best posts on here in quite sometime. Thanks for sharing, I can bet you there are still collections out there in the same binders and sheets.

The hobby had to be so much fun then, finds could be had, deals could be worked and novel idea you had shows and the stuff at the shows was for sale vs. a giant auction preview.

Thanks again!

Cheers,

John

P.S. Fred do you still have your Wagner of not do you know where it ended up?

First, OP, thanks for sharing that is an awesome story of the times.

Wonkaticket - I am here to tell you no truer words have ever been spoken. There is still a lot of cards out there to be found. And rare ones...

[pawpawdiv9]

Whew.. when i clicked on this..i imagined 5 guys hanging in their underwear smoking fat cigars. Awesome piece of americana.

[joeadcock]

Originally Posted by I Only Smoke 4 the Cards

In 1973 my dad was 11.

Woh Alex, glad you added the smiley face.

So I see your dad is older than me.

[I Only Smoke 4 the Cards]

Originally Posted by joeadcock

Woh Alex, glad you added the smiley face.

So I see your dad is older than me.

He is.