The World According to Mr. Mint

[ocjack]

Anyone in this hobby for any serious length of time has Mr. Mint stories.

At an Anaheim show years back he had his usual table in front right at the main door. Unfortunately, I believe the Fire Marshals made the promoter change the location of the main door to avoid congestion problems. Of course he made a "scene and a half" because his table was no longer at the front door and the promoter was unable to get his table changed to appease him. I'm not sure, but I think he wrapped up early.

He would make offers to people that brought their items to him. But if they did not accept his offer, he told them that his offer may no longer be valid if they didn't accept it on the spot. His reasoning: If you're going to walk around the show trying to sell your items and you end of bringing them back to me - obviously my offer was too high. Actually, not a bad spiel.

On the positive side, he did bring a lot of attention to the hobby which helped us all out by bringing more items out of the closet.

[tbob]

Originally Posted by uniship

my mom taught me if I didn't have anything nice to say about someone not to say anything at all. so I'm not going to say anything at all about alan rosen.

+1. My sentiments exactly.

[Rollingstone206]

...

[drcy]

I've read his books and thought they were entertaining, had good stories about his famous finds and business and offered useful advice for collectors and would be dealers. I remember that in one book his definition of 'mint' was "Fresh out of the pack" and, thus, a mint card could be off center. Thought that an interesting concept. He wrote that he was a dealer to make money, it was his living, and, while he appreciated and enjoyed looking at the items he bought and sold, he wasn't a collector. I thought that fair enough. Especially back then before the internet, dealers performed the hobby service of getting cards and memorabilia into collectors' hands, often by buying the bulk (something a normal collector on the normal budget couldn't do or wouldn't want to do) and reselling it as singles. The average collector didn't, and still doesn't, want 150 1961 Topps #1s, or even two. He wanted only one.

[bn2cardz]

Originally Posted by drcy

I've read his books and thought they were entertaining, had good stories about his famous finds and business and offered useful advice for collectors and would be dealers. I remember that in one book his definition of 'mint' was "Fresh out of the pack" and, thus, a mint card could be off center. Thought that an interesting concept.

That has always been my take on a mint card also. So it is nice to see I agree with him on that

I have never dealt with him that I recall though, if I did it was a not memorable.

[drcy]

The first time I heard someone describe a baseball card as 'Gem Mint' I thought he was making a joke.

[Rich Klein]

Originally Posted by ocjack

Anyone in this hobby for any serious length of time has Mr. Mint stories.

At an Anaheim show years back he had his usual table in front right at the main door. Unfortunately, I believe the Fire Marshals made the promoter change the location of the main door to avoid congestion problems. Of course he made a "scene and a half" because his table was no longer at the front door and the promoter was unable to get his table changed to appease him. I'm not sure, but I think he wrapped up early.

He would make offers to people that brought their items to him. But if they did not accept his offer, he told them that his offer may no longer be valid if they didn't accept it on the spot. His reasoning: If you're going to walk around the show trying to sell your items and you end of bringing them back to me - obviously my offer was too high. Actually, not a bad spiel.

On the positive side, he did bring a lot of attention to the hobby which helped us all out by bringing more items out of the closet.

As a person who did a lot of shows back in the day, that makes more sense then you realize. Perhaps there are 1-2 cards in the lot that you know will pay for the deail and when the lot comes back, well some other dealer bought those cards. I know most people try to sell as a unit, but sharp dealers try to pick and choose what they buy

[uffda51]

Originally Posted by tbob

+1. My sentiments exactly.

And another + One.

[ooo-ribay]

SCD is still around?

[skelly]

I never met the man, but have to give him credit in that it seems he was ahead of the curve aggressively seeking out collections and putting himself out there in a way that wasn't seen to much in the 80's / when cards took off.
With all due respect, is he still relevant? I feel like the day's of people selling shoeboxes of vintage cards at yard sales, etc are over. Today he has to compete with so many people willing to pay big bucks for good collections. People looking to get rid of cards can now consign to auction houses, sell themselves on ebay and so forth. On top of all that, when he first started out, people didn't realize what they had / that baseball cards could be worth real $. Today, it seems like 10% of the American population has a collection of 1967 vg Mays, 1969 vg Rose type cards, and the genuinely feel these cards are a great deal for you if they sell them at half the beckett value.

[tjv815]

I had two exchanges with him here in Chicago, both positive. The first one was about a dozen years ago. Bobby Thomson was signing autographs. I knew he had played briefly for the Red Sox, but didn't know if he ever had a card of him on the Red Sox. So, I went and asked Mr. Mint. Told me it was the 1960 Topps card. I asked him if he had one, but he didn't.
During a different Chicago show, he was walking the room and I asked him a question about one of the lots for sale in his auction. I think it was a 68 Topps set. He talked to me for a bout 5 minutes. Very nice.

[the 'stache]

I get giddy over the small purchase I make, and the small purchases that other members of the forum make. I'm not kidding. If somebody gets their first pre-war card, for example, even if the thing's in pretty rough shape, and isn't worth more than $10, that person is experiencing the same joy that we've all felt, for the first time. In that moment, they've gleaned what makes our hobby so special. When they have other members of the forum showing interest in their purchase, it reinforces for them that not only are they taking the first step of what could be a magnificent lifelong journey, but they are doing so among friends.

Originally Posted by h2oya311

Well said. I hope I never get to that point. I still get giddy over the small purchases. I'd hate to lose my passion for the hobby in exchange for greed/desire to make money. Trust me, I ain't making anything when I sell stuff.

[the 'stache]

I watched a video last night of "Mr. Mint", which I'd seen once before a few years back. I forget the name of the man, but Rosen was buying a large collection from an older man in Wisconsin. This was a collection that he'd been building for his entire life. He made mention of how his son did it for a while, and I forget what happened. The son stopped collecting, and gave his collection to his dad, who kept collecting. Anyway, the man ended up getting $80,000. As has been already alluded to, Mint was just ripping through binder after binder of cards. He'd look at a sheet of 9 cards, like '54 Bowman Football or something, "twenty bucks", then after he was done adding it up, he'd just throw the binder across the table, and start ripping through the next one.

The elderly gentleman, who was in a Packers Super Bowl XXXI shirt, had recently undergone a surgical procedure. I couldn't believe my ears when Rosen made fun of him for only having one testicle as a result. Later he also made jokes about Polish people, and generally disparaged people in the midwest. One of the people sitting at the table, when they were poking fun at the man's weight, lifted up his shirt, and was flapping his big, fat belly. It was just disgusting, and completely unprofessional. I watched the rest of the videos, and at the end, he'd made 8 stacks of $10,000. Then the guy asked if he could get his picture taken with Rosen. Mint stacked the money into two of $40k each, stood behind him, fanned out the money, and smiled for the camera.

He might have increased exposure for the hobby at one point. He might have had some polite conversations with people when he wasn't busy being a diva. He might have been a big name in the hobby, too. He certainly thought he was important, and that he deserved preferential treatment. But Al Rosen struck me as a completely classless human being. It was appalling to see how he belittled this man, and just threw around binder after binder of cards as if they were nothing. They weren't stacks of pristine '52 Topps Mantles, so it became obvious that Rosen thought this whole collection was beneath him. After he made his offer for everything, and the gentleman accepted, Rosen pulled out $30,000, bragging that he'd brought $110,000. The man said he didn't have any more. I mean, Rosen gave him $100 for a full set of the 1955 Topps All American football players. $100? The man could have bought a price guide, or done some research on his own. But, perhaps foolishly, he expected that Al Rosen would deal with him in good faith. And while Rosen is there buying for his client, he still had a fiduciary responsibility to treat the other parties involved respectfully. I thought, "ok, $80,000. The collection was clearly worth a lot more than that. Several times more. But when I read the comments, I learned that something had been cut from the video. The man had a collection of '52 Topps Mantles. Rosen told the man that they looked like they were fakes, and bullied him into selling them as reprints. But the kicker was when Mr. Mint and his little entourage went to breakfast. They'd heard that some place nearby made great pancakes, so they all went there, and Rosen called the man, and asked him and his son to join them. When the bill came, Rosen gave it to the old man, saying "you're the one with all the cash." He and his group left. The old man's son had to stay at the restaurant while the old man went home and got the money to pay for everybody.

I literally wanted to throw up. It doesn't matter how much money you have. Being wealthy doesn't give you license to demean another human being the way Rosen did. And if I'd been there when this happened, I'd have thrown them out of the house. I'd have been very tempted to do something else, but unlike Rosen, I have class, and I wouldn't have acted on my urges, no matter how badly I wanted to give him a piece of my mind. Al, you and your son, and your business partner, and the police officer you paid to come with you, and your limo driver, and your personal chef--you can all get lost.

Edit: I have amended two comments, one about the behavior of the people at the table that might have been an inaccurate representation, and a second comment about the size and quality of the 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle group that the seller included in this $80,000 deal. I made the original comment about the Mantle collection based off of posts I'd read from multiple people on Youtube and a forum. It has been pointed out to me that what I'd posted is not accurate, so I have removed that portion of my post.

[LuckyLarry]

Those videos are hard to watch Bill.

[nickedson]

I've dealt with Al many times and there are some of us on this board who've been around the hobby longer than he has. I used to talk to him quite a bit when I did a monthly column for Baseball Hobby News. But one time I watched him in action at a show and decided I'd let his ego backfire on him. I had for sale a bunch of near mint 1960s insert baseball sets. I wanted $600 for the sets. I asked a well-known dealer next to my table if he would go along with my idea. He did. So when Rosen came to my table and began looking at my insert sets, he asked me how much I wanted for them. I told them they were spoken for (the dealer next to me) and I wanted $700. Rosen asked me if they were paid for yet and I said no. So he reached into his briefcase, grabbed 7 100-dollar bills and laid them on the table. I pretended to think about it and then said OK. After he left, I gave the dealer next to me the extra $100 bill and we had a good laugh.

[sports-rings]

He might have increased exposure for the hobby at one point. He might have had some polite conversations with people when he wasn't busy being a diva. He might have been a big name in the hobby, too. He certainly thought he was important, and that he deserved preferential treatment. But Al Rosen struck me as a completely classless human being.

Yup, that's the Al I know!

[ullmandds]

Originally Posted by sports-rings

Yup, that's the Al I know!

++1

The only interactions I've ever had with Mr Mint mirrored some others experiences here. He saw me walking around a few shows with a box under my arm and he asked what I had. I just said "you wouldn't be interested" and kept walking.

[parkerj33]

I saw him at a show here in Syracuse about 2 years ago. I had heard he was there looking to buy vintage trains, or robots, or something like that. Anyhow, as I walked by he was just sitting there alone doing nothing. I said "Hi Mr. Mint, got anything good today?". He just looked at me and ignored me.... didn't say a word - so i just kept on walking and noted to myself the stories i had heard and the video i had seen probably summed him up accurately.

[dstudeba]

Originally Posted by uffda51

And another + One.

And another.

[Hankphenom]

He was rude and humorless in the couple of exchanges I had with him early on, before I started going out of my way not to get too close to him. But I doubt if he cares what anybody says about him, probably a sociopathic personality. As for all those with whose cards he's made himself rich over the years, the immortal words of Eli Wallach as the bandit Calvera in "The Magnificent Seven" come to mind: "If God hadn't intended for them to be sheared, he wouldn't have made them sheep!" Assuming he didn't do anything illegal, you have to sigh and think that they should have been smarter than that. If nothing else, his manner and that of his sidekicks as described in the videos should have had the bells of suspicion ringing like crazy. So how did he do it? Cash. Piles of cash. Simple as that. Most of these people are probably thinking how they're getting over on HIM, looking at all that loot, and also about all the taxes they're not going to have to pay. Mark Twain loved to write about situations like these.

[ValKehl]

Originally Posted by rhettyeakley

IMO there is not a bigger jerk in the hobby than Alan Rosen....

+1

Val Kehl

[CurtisFlood]

Several years ago I was set up at the J Paul Show at Robert Morris U. I stopped to say hi to Al and when he asked if I wanted a copy of his second book I told him no, I read the first one. Another guy came up and he asked if he wanted a copy of his book. The guy said OK. Al then asked if he wanted his autograph. The guy said nah. You cannot deflate this guy's ego, he has more than enough to go around.