I have been rock hunting in Rock Hound State Park in Deming - Found petrified wood and opals.

I camped in Las Cruces and came face to face with a mountain lion at night - he ran away when I shined a light on him.

I was preparing my lecture on the Confederate Invasion of New Mexico in 1862. Visited La Mesilla, Fort Craig, Valverde battle site, Glorietta Pass.

Visited the Palace of the Governors in Santa Fe to see the exhibit on that campaign including the skeletons and relics of several Union soldiers found near Glorietta. Also went to Forked Lightning Ranch, formerly owned by actress Greer Garson, which was the site of the Union HQ for the Battle of Glorietta Pass.

Went through Truth or Consequences.

Visited Gila Cliff Dwellings National Park - late in the day so did not go into the ruins.

Camped in Raton in the rain.

How is that?

Three super-sized natural wonders of North America (that I have visited): Canadian Rockies between Banff and Jasper; Grand Canyon; and Carlsbad Caverns. Wind, Jewel, Luray -- all spectacular, but Carlsbad is an order of magnitude larger. Hard to get to, but worth the detour.

Of course your experiences were positive! You made it all about him.

Ummm...nailed it.

I only met him once. I was in college and we had stumbled upon a 1930's find which included 1935 National Chicle Rockne AND Nagurski. Neither were mint but both were part of a collection from a farmer in my area. I was really, really excited to meet him at the Strongsville, OH (I think) show in early 1992 because we knew he would likely be the guy to buy those from us. Without getting into it too deeply, we did not end up doing a deal with him and the Sports Illustrated image I had in my mind of him (idolizing, that is) was forever tarnished and I was left with a very sub par experience.

It wasn't so much that he didn't buy the cards from us. Some of his comments made me question his ethics surrounding cards. I'm sure there are many, many great stories about Mr. Rosen. I just don't have any of them to share.

Yes, I've seen the bobbleheads. I think I still have a couple of the Rosen Beanie Baby style bears in a box somewhere that he was throwing out at a National in the 90's for advertisement.

I never met him in person, but I enjoyed listening to his perspective on the hobby during the 1990s. I remember having to walk by his table which was always at the front of the entrance of the Nationals. His eyes scanning all the collectors to see what they were carrying. He most certainly was not a big fan of third party grading. You could tell that he was a gruff individual in public. You could hear his conversations with other hobbyists from afar even during a busy collector's show.

He was a true pioneer of baseball cards in a time when people didn't believe in them. This hobby is filled with overzealous individuals who simply don't want to root for individuals who are known (popular) or outspoken (good or bad) but Mr. Mint was good at what he did and you gotta respect the hustle.

One of my favorite Mr. Mint stories. The uncut 1957 Topps find!
 

. 280 uncut Sheets of 1957 Topps with 400 Mantles!

I have no knowledge of what happened to these sheets but it wouldn't surprise me if they ended up getting chopped, which is a real tragedy if that did happen as sheets from the 1950's are so much rarer than a stack of 400 Mantle cards.

A lot of the finds that Mr Mint and others of his ilk found back in the day would have been better off being found by almost any person other than them... If I remember the story I heard correctly he found a bunch of 1949 Leaf Short-Print boxes and then [ridiculously] opened all the packs looking for Paige's cards! They survived that long only to be opened!!! Can you imagine what those packs would sell for still in their unopened state? I personally feel the hobby would have been better off had he never ventured into the baseball card world.

Here is a single pack that somehow survived Mr Mint opening the packs...
https://bid.robertedwardauctions.com...e?itemid=44356

Just a ridiculously stupid thing to do to open all those sealed packs from 1949!!!

Hiked Philmont Boy Scout Ranch for week+. Beautiful country. Went thru Taos during that trip. Then I got my MA at Adams State University and visited Red River and drove around Northern NM looking at all of the trailers of people waiting for aliens. That was a cool day trip. Then I went to Four Corners and put a hand in the corner of the state.

As for Mr Mint, never heard of him before today!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

I honestly never thought he was an expert on Baseball. cards, expert on cash yes, he could take big chances on cards he knew nothing about. Just my opinion. He bought a rare Mickey Mantle card from me, 3 years later told me it was fake. Ignored him , that was it.

According to True Mint, he bought four boxes. He opened two, because he really wanted the Paige card, but he didn't get a single one. He sold the other two boxes to Jim Copeland who opened them and got THREE Paige cards! OUCH!! :eek::eek: I would have been so pissed if that had happened to me! Anyhow, Rosen wasn't the only guy who opened these boxes. I think anyone would have opened them. Remember, this was over thirty years ago.

Not true.

People were collecting unopened material & people were paying large amounts for unopened material even then (not to todays standards by any stretch but still a pretty good premium.) 1949 Leaf unopened packs were impossibly rare even then so it was a huge disservice to the hobby in general to do that and was also very short-sighted.

Everybody bitches about Al. Al brought the hobby to a new level of interest. He was on radio, on tv, wrote a book and spent a ton of money. Most of all for Al is he made more than a ton of money. People are jealous of what he did. He was a business man. He made huge offers for stuff and he got it. Nothing was handed to him. I for one think he was a pretty smart guy.

It's entirely possible to dislike anyone for multiple reasons and not be jealous of them.

Exactly!

Jealous of what exactly? Money? That is not what makes one happy. I have met a lot of miserable rich people.

I just don’t understand those that can sit by and watch someone be a raging a-hole to others, often strangers, and still choose to socialize with them. If you can’t have the minimum level of courtesy with those you come into contact with in life then I don’t have much use for you. I will never understand those that can witness bullying behavior and simply say to themselves… “he was always nice to me so I like the guy”

If I hear anyone mistreating or verbally abusing someone else who has acted in a courteous manner, you can bet your life that I will have no interest in talking to that person or working for them, let alone give them a dime of my business. There have been several in the industry who meet this criteria. Another customer or businessman will always come along. Life's too short.

Actually many people were jealous of him. Especially dealers. He was getting all the great stuff and they were getting all the lesser stuff. You honestly don't think people were jealous of him? I was around at that time. They were.

I don't doubt that, but generally speaking, that may not always be the sole or main reason that you don't care for someone.