Some of the photos look like they are from the old Ft Washington show

Mr Mint
 

Never knew him. I did see this video years ago (on this forum) and it kind of stuck with me. Seems like the guy was a real POS.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXNgJXt7cMY

That is pretty tough to watch! :(

Not the way I would have wanted to sell my lifetime collection. I always steered clear of the guy at conventions.

Based on the people Jerry photographed, I's day the show was the 1999 National in Atlanta. By then, that was the only show the Barnings were setting up at.

About the 2 minute mark he throws a game used 1950s Braves jersey on the garage floor into a bucket and the old man about has a heart attack because he uses the bucket for changing his oil. Then unbelievably he apologizes to Rosen. Notice how he flips through those albums of 1940-60s baseball/football cards like he's flipping through an album of 1987 Topps. I could not stand by if someone came into my house and was treating my stuff like that.

If some guy humiliated me by taking a picture with $100 bills draped around my neck I would walk out the door. I suppose he advanced the hobby in some odd way but never was my cup of tea.

mr mint
 

''''THE BIGGEST PIECE OF CRAP EVER""" what he done to that guy on youtube was plain robbery and manipulation, they tried to keep him at bay with humor, and stupid dry wit. Rosendouche also turns the pages like a novice, what he is trying to do is convey to paul that this isnt a big deal to him. once he blurted out the first set offer and got no resistance he was off to ripoffville. the other jerk wad's did the same. karma is a bitch, i hope they get it back 10 fold. to even put this on youtube you gotta be so full of yourself that you dont see wor care what the blow back might be.......

here is my mr. rosendouche story.......i bid in his 2001 auction, i spend $12,500.....i was buying from him since 82, spent trunk fulls of money. anyway it's october 2001, he calls me at work and tells me i was the underbidder in an auction somebody wont pay on, i tell him i do not want the item, i spent my limit. meanwhile i am whispering because we are having a moment of silence for a bunch of friends who died on 9/11, tears are rolling down my face, tell him very nicely i gotta go, he starts screaming at me, he dont give a shit about my moment of silence, i am fuc%%$g him, that i am this and that, and i am now banned from any future auction. the jerko%% even sent me a letter saying so...sorry a bad man died, so what. no legend in my mind, a bully rotten human being....so happy he lived long enough to see that 52 topps find to be worth obscene money.....what idiot doesnt sit on 10 mantles and a dozen high number runs, shows you he really didnt have a clue....

Huh?
 

Marty,

During a solemn moment of silence at work for friends that died at work.........you answer your phone?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?
That baffles me.

Peace, Mike

mint
 

yea

that story seems like it has been molded in a fashion to make it seem one sided

Mr. Mint
 

2 years ago at a show, I was with my son Adam and a man yelled Towle get over here, it was Allen in a wheelchair. He said just wanted to tell me good luck with your company "gonewiththestain". We shared the story of when he wanted to work with me and why he came up with magic bottle of liquid to remove stains on the back of card, we had a great laugh over that. He was a gentle giant speaking with my son I.

Yes he was rough over the years to a lot of people, but at the end of the conversation, he hugged me from the chair and like Al saying " now get the hell out of hear with a smile" This is our memories of the true "MR MINT":)

I never knew the guy, but even as a kid seeing his ads I thought he came off as a sleazy used car salesman type.

Personally, I fail to see how someone so obviously in it for the money and not the cards was really that good for the hobby at the end of the day.

Well hobbys that dont make any money are never as popular has hobbys that can show big money even if its only a small percentage of people making money...

Im sure we will be seeing an auction of his items within 2 years...

I'm first and foremost in it for the money. I like finding bad-ass cards and getting them to people who truly want them and are willing to pay me for my time/efforts to get it to them. It doesn't mean I don't appreciate them any less than you or anyone else. It just means that I'm not emotionally attached to them. I just ask people to respect what I have available and the effort I've gone through to get it.

I never knew the guy personally and have only heard stories about him. After seeing that YouTube video, I don't think he and I would get along too well. I don't care who I'm talking to, I always treat people's cards/items with respect and don't just throw stuff around. It's not mine until I hand them cash and I handle things in a way that represents that.

Does he have anything? He liked to flip stuff immediately.

Jake L, there are a few different ways to look at Mr. Mint and what people believe he's done "for the hobby".

He did help to bring card collecting to the forefront but if you were a true collector and didn't care about the value of cards and you're on a limited budget then that attention only made it harder for you to collect because of the price escalation that took place when all that attention was brought to the hobby.

It turned from a hobby to a business and a lot of the fun went with it because now if you truly loved the cardboard, your dollar didn't go as far after all of the attention that was brought to it.

This is not to say that without Mr. Mint the price escalation wouldn't have come around.

I guess the sad part about all of the attention is that it brought all of the low life ass holes into the hobby. This resulted in a lot of manipulated value to the hobby which made the hobby less fun for the true collector.

My thought is that a true collector is someone that doesn't look at their collection as a "portfolio" but rather something that gives them joy when they look at it. Ooops, I hope I didn't open a can of worms and step on some peoples egos. :p

This.

Nate:

Knowing you as I do, although you state (And I'll agree) that profit if your primary motive, you are also friendly and honest to your customers on the buying/selling part of this business.

One of the major differences between you and Al is that Al was a salesman/vest-pocked coin dealer before going into sports carts and you work with customers who are on the high-end of the socio-economic ladder. As such, you apply your people and customer service skills to the people who come to your table at shows and Alan created and then a schtick to maintain.

Alan would have been with his name recognition an asset to my shows and you are an asset to my shows because of how your comport yourself.

Regards
Rich

Having many dealings with Rosen in the 80's and early 90's I always thought he was an asshole. But one day in the early 90's when I saw him berate an elderly gentleman at one of the Philly Shows who had a box of cards to the point where the man was shaken and thought he might need medical assistance. As morbid as it sounds he was not a good man in his prime and am not sad at hearing of his passing.
As per my religion I hope he is in a better place.

right when there were more non pure hobbyist out there the National conventions were 5x+ more fuller than they are now. Not saying one way is better than the other but cant deny that price escalation was not in part because of guys like mr mint and non pure hobbyist. There are many many hobbies out there with a bigger percentage of hobbyists that we dont see in the news with major 'finds'....


i came across this post from a josh evans who said in part about mr mint..

However, you must put Alan Rosen in proper historical perspective
This guy “made” the baseball card business
On the money side he made money for all of us
He made your stuff worth more
He brought countless new people into the field
He brought out of an attic that card you sold last week

On the “stuff” side he drew out a ton of cards
Tons
The stuff that now sits in your collection and you love

He (and others) did the work that we all now draw benefit from
Yes he benefited too but he still deserves his due
You should see the other side

Those are saying he was a jerk I cannot disagree with
I have had more fights with Alan then just about anyone
He attacked me with a baseball bat at a show (true)
And I am sure I did plenty to antagonize him through the years

But after all these years we have forgiven each other and moved on and we are now friends again
We have both mellowed (thank God)

I guess my point is you don’t have to like him
But you should respect him on some level
And anyone that thinks that Alan is still not a force in this business does not have a clue
If he is a joke than he will probably have the last laugh

PSA Registry

Over the last few years a few things occurred to me regarding Alan Rosen and the public he served, and that served him.

Here was a man that really hadn't accomplished a whole lot in his life, became a baseball card collector, and a collector that was so fastidious and fanatical about condition someone tabbed him as "Mr. Mint", which in turn became his moniker and he used it for his business. In the early 80s, he sold his beautiful collection, and began buying and selling nice cards.

Right place at the right time.

He began his flamboyant full page-ads in the pages of SPORTS COLLECTORS DIGEST. They worked. He was abrupt. He could be the rudest jerk on planet EARTH. Yet, he bought the good stuff, and he sold that good stuff. The stuff cardboard dreams are made of.

He had the great stuff, and you did not come at him with any attitude of dominating the meeting. He controlled, 'cause he had the stuff dreams were made of. You better behave yourself, or he'd cut you off at the ankles, and he could do it, too.

'Cause he had the cards.

After a few years, he made millions doing this. Some guys thought they could just be brusque right back, or take a tough stance. MR. MINT RAN HIS BUSINESS AS A FIEFDOM!!!!---AND DON'T YOU FORGET IT! He wasn't some shlockmeister, or your usual used-car salesman. Hardly. Comparing it with our world, he sold vintage racing sports Ferraris, Mercedes-Benz, and Alfa-Romeos. Yet, some guys treated him as if he was a used car salesman selling twenty-year old non-entities.

In general, he didn't need you or your money. He had collectors up to his nostrils that were more than willing, and glad to pay his price, and shuffle through all the shit he put them through.

'Cause he had the most desirable cards, et al, to be found in the USA. He had major suppliers combing through collections everywhere, with their ears to the rail, should any word of a find come about.

Granted, he treated a lot of people terribly. The YOUTUBE video of his buying an elderly gentleman's collection made me wince over and over again. As I wrote before, his life is full of good, bad, and ugly; just like you and I. To our hobby, without him, we'd be a whole lot less than we are, unless you're strictly a collector-type that enjoys crumb bums. That's ok; it really is. But Mr. Mint didn't deal in crumb bums, did he?

His flash, his ads with the gargantuan nose caricature of him, and his wads of C-notes got people to finally look for what they had been keeping for decades, whether it be a case of 1952 Topps high numbers, boxes of 48-49 Leaf high numbers, a coffee can with virtually gem mint World Series press pins starting with the first year they made them, Baltimore News Babe Ruth cardS, and what became eventual PSA-graded MINT and GEM MINT T-206s, early Topps and Bowmans, and all sorts of hysterically desirable, beautiful, and rare, cards, coins, et al that became the highlights of our collection. Several of my Mr. Mint pristine gems were once prized pieces Mr. Mint sold to someone else, then eventually were consigned right back to him. I was then privileged to buy them from THE MINT MAN, whether from one of his famous phone auctions, or outright at a show.

You were eventually dealing with a multi-, multi-millionaire. You really think Mr. Mint's gonna take any guff from the likes of you, or I, or anyone else? Come on.

Maybe you, or someone you care about, suffered terribly from Mr. Mint, and you will never let it go. Berating elderly gentlemen, making a little girl cry---Alan Rosen should have been slapped both ways half a dozen times!

So, in the end, as I wrote in my book, I try to keep an attitude of gratitude.

Again, my condolences to his wife, son, and daughter.

---Brian Powell















.

What a great synopsis. Thanks Brian...

Ha...you said crumb bums.

If you knew my business mike you wouldn't be baffled!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I worked on the New York Mercantile exchange, we traded commodities, crude oil, gas, home heating oil, etc etc....the trading floor is filled with booths for each company, in each booth there could be 20 phone line's sometime's more. It was custom during a minute of silence to pick up a ringing phone to stop the ring, and answer it in a whisper and explain the circumstance, also This was a world wide market. Ignoring the call wasn't wise. A big order could be at the end of that phone, and when the minute was over needed to be executed. If i spoke with rosen it was for maybe 15-20 seconds . Your attempt at trying to trivilze my action's during this "solemn moment" is disgusting!!!! I hope your not baffled any longer mike, but you never know.

Crumb bums. Yup....still funny.

.

In the end it was Rosen who offered big bucks (at the time) for old pieces of cardboard in the 80's. So instead all that material going out with the trash it came to the market place. How many cards in our collections are there because of him? Even if they never touched his hands? Like him or hate him, he helped start the boom.

Disagree. Yes he was a master self promoter and got the best tables right by the front door of shows. He just bullied many unsuspecting people and family members as they walked into a show to sell a loved one's estate. Back in the 80s that was pretty much the only way to do it, other than going to the local card shop as there was no Enet. He used cash as his weapon and used car salesman tactics like if you walk away from me I'll pull my offer. Then pressure people when they should have gone to the next row down to most likely get offers twice as much or at least higher.

Then he would go to his downline like a pyramid scheme of his dealer network to sell everything he bought at a pre determined mark up and the dealers had to buy it all, no matter what it was. I think the mark up I heard back then was 20 percent. The dealers just had to move the stuff ranging from cheap wax to rare 19th century items. Everyone made tons of money because of the clubbing the original seller or estate took when they unfortunately took the first offer and was bullied into selling. I think all the cards in the hobby that we collect still would have made it into our collections as I don't see family members just "throwing" cards in the trash.

I dont think you or I would of sold to him that way. People go to pawn shops and ripped off too instead of selling on ebay. Some people dont want to go around and haggle to 4 dealers. Afterall they are at a CARD SHOW. Its not like they didnt have options, seller is to blame for being taken advantage of at a CARD SHOW not the seller

Now if mr mint heard someone died and went to the widow's house unsolicited and got the widow to sell her late husband's T206 collection before she had any outside advise at all thats an example at the polar opposite of buying someone's cards a CARD SHOW

In addition, it appears from your comment the other dealers were 'forced' to buy the cards at set prices but later on said 'everyone made tons of money...." so i not so sure any of these dealers would be complaining...if you forced me to accept a deal in which i would make a nice profit later i know i wouldnt complain..

Good point Jake and agreed the seller should assume liability as well. Pawn shop was a good reference to. I'm a little bias as my one and only time bidding in one of his auctions around 2001. Al screwed me over as I was the only bidder on many high end lots. Then I noticed he shut his auction down earlier than what was advertised. So the next day when I called him to get my winning total he said I'm lucky he will even sell to me for my opening bid and then I made the mistake of asking him how come he shut down the auction early and asked him why am I lucky??? Then he promptly said FU and he doesn't have to explain anything to me and he isn't going to honor any bids as he hung up the phone.

After reading Ryan's post and some other posters expierence with him, I can say that they are not alone in the feeling. He may have become a better person after the Enet came around but I'll never know. Plus, I'm sure he was loved by his close friends and dealer network as I do think he had a big personality that he could apply differently depending on his mood and who he was entertaining.

RIP and Al would as I believe he would approve of this thread because of this motto. "If they are talking good or bad about you, then that's good! When they stop talking about you then you have to worry and rethink your approach." Al was a master self promoter with that theme IMO

There was a time, albeit a brief one, when you could not be stupid enough not to make money on baseball cards. I mean a 50 cent pack could yield a $5 card and there were buyers for that. It was a relatively brief time and Rosen rode the wave.

The auction issue you are bringing up is entirely a different area i was commenting on. I was commenting about his buying practices you commented on at card shows. I wouldnt be happy if i was treated like you say you were in the 'auctions'

Never a fan. But I didn't absolutely detest him like I did the Bruces. RIP and condolences to his family.

"Kindness is my religion"-- Dali Lama

I don't think he bullied anyone. He was just an aggressive salesman and he was very good at what he did. He paid sellers what many dealers would not pay.

It's up to the seller to just walk away if they are not happy with the deal. If they can find someone to make a better offer, then its up to them to find that deal.
I have been ripped off many times from dealers but I can't blame them. I have to blame myself for not walking away.

I never met Mr. Mint but I respected what he did. I have never seen anyone do what he did.

i think I have a baseball card of good old Mr Mint somewhere????

I always find it interesting when i see someone about to sell a card for say $300, and someone else says the seller is getting ripped off but wont make an offer on the card. Its easy to say the someone is getting ripped off if you are arent going to be topping the offer. Same thing in fantasy baseball!:o

I heard about Al's passing several days ago and was immediately sad that another one of my competitors is gone.

In the 1970s, Al was just one of us out there trying to make a buck. Back then, he was always a friend who bought from me and sold to me.

Then he created the Mr. Mint persona and hit big-time pay dirt with aggressive marketing. He was a great spokesperson for the hobby and made some spectacular deals.

I mostly have fond memories of our dealings. But do I have stories? Of course I do, but they will also remain as memories. They don't belong here.

It really saddens me that some of you always find that this is the place to air your grievances when it is just too late to make a difference anyway.

My sincere condolences to his family.

Steve S.

Nice write up, Steve. I have to agree that there is a time and place for everything. When someone passes away is not the time to air dirty laundry, in my opinion.
I only met Al once or twice so only know what has been told. I am sure he had great friends and family just like the rest of us. No doubt, he was a character!! RIP Mr. Mint.

Cranston, Rhode Island
 

Mr. Mint,

I had one dealing with Alan Rosen at a Cranston,Rhode Island show many many years ago, we were set up. I had purchased an almost complete set of the Hockey year of Bobby Orr's rookie from our famous store owner in CT, Neal Sakow. I went up to Mr. Mint, he flipped through the pages, i told him it was not complete, he looked at me, gave me a very fair offer at that time and we were both very happy.

John

That's pretty much why I've held off posting for so long. I've mixed feelings about Mr Mint, but it's not the place or time for much of it.

I met him very briefly when he had a table at one of the Halls shows. I was helping out with one of the tables right near his. While my style could best be described as the exact opposite of his (With the exact opposite financial rewards fwiw) Seeing him in action for a few hours and also during the downtime when things were slow was very interesting. He put on a GREAT show! And that was exactly what some people wanted even if they didn't know it. One whole showcase with no cards, just cash, and his own armed guard standing by. But I was close enough to be sort of in on a few conversations during slow times later on, and mostly just listened to him discussing cards with other dealers. What I saw was a guy who really knew his cards and was fairly happy to discuss them with other people who he knew also knew cards.

I also saw a guy who wanted to spend, but only on the right stuff, or for the right deal and who readily referred people to the right dealer for stuff he didn't want. An aspect that I don't think was seen all that often because it was done quickly and quietly. Quick glance, "It's not for me but see X, he'll give you the best offer. " Maybe that was because of the small size of the show, I don't know.

And he was a big part of getting stuff out of attics and into the hobby.

The rest I may have mentioned before, and doesn't really belong here, so maybe another time.

Steve B

I was always curious as the decades passed; does anyone know if Al kept any of the primo 52 Mantles? The topic must have come up often in certain circles.

As far as I know, Al sold all the cards from the famed 52 deal. Remember he bought and sold cards, did not keep them