An A-Hole interviewing a crook...pass.

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Yeah the backlash you got in this thread is weird. Mastro paid his debt in the eyes of the law, but that doesn't mean The Hobby (as a whole) has an obligation to welcome him back with open arms.

A long time collector from back in the 60’s said he liked Video but Doubts Even in the late 60s early 70s that a T206 Ty Cobb was a only quarter.

I remember my father and I buying an Cobb batt off shoulder in the 80s from one of his ads that was graded "Ex". It had more than one crease in it. He overgraded his stuff for sure. We returned the card for a refund but in retrospect a card that would have graded a 2 would still have been worth way more than whatever we paid for it back then LOL.

Gibby didn't like that you omitted eight hours of Gibby!

"Tell us more!" :)

What about?
Gibby was "too much Gibby!"

In 1979 I was offered 225 T205's, T206's, and T207's for $200. The lot had 5 Cobbs and other Hall of Famers. I bought them and the seller thru in 5 empty Piedmont boxes that some of the cards were stored in. No rare backs in the lot. About that same time a long time collector friend of mine "Crab" Foxwell, Cambridge, MD was selling common T206's for $1 each (less in quantity) and HOF'ers for $12 each. Cobb was more. Not saying you could get a Cobb for $.25, but cards were cheap until the first Becket came out.

Rich, I have sort of lost touch with Lew. As you probably know, he and Marsha finally sold their house in AZ and moved back to NJ a few years ago. I haven't heard much lately.
I remember well when they would come down to the Jersey shore, when I lived there, looking for a consignment. Afterward, we always had lunch and he would fill me in on hobby gossip. Interestingly, at least to me, he mentioned he never had a problem with Alan Rosen, and I think he quietly liked Alan and the publicity he brought to the hobby.

"Tell us more" was Stevie's go-to line to get the players to expand on a subject! ;)

That was Barbara's line, usually preceded by a sexy, "Ooooh," as in "Ooooh, let's hear more about that!" or some such. But it's usually intrusive, interrupting the player's story or train of thought, and doesn't help at all. Steve was very quiet and shy, as you can tell when the Goose turns the questioning on him briefly. His job was to operate the reel-to-reel recorder, and he seems to have handled that expertly.

Oh, really? I swore that was the voice of a youngish, teenaged boy. I've been under a false impression all these years. Wow. Thanks for the clarification.

..... sometimes... I feel like people shouldn't mention Mastro and Lifson at the same time. just my 2 cents..

+ 1
 

I wouldn’t listen to this two if you paid me .

Whatever people think of him (them) and the accuracy of what he said, it was an interesting and entertaining interview.

Amongst many interesting stories of early collecting and the early hobby, he talks directly about the Gretzky T206 Wagner (It came with many T206s irregularly cut from a sheet or sheets and, after purchasing the lot for $25,000, he trimmed the oversized Wagner) and the nature of the wronging/illegalities at Mastro Auctions. It was obvious Mastro retains a love and interest in cards themselves.

He should write a book, as he has a lot of history of the early hobby.

It's true that Probstein sometimes interrupted him (People want to hear the answer not the question) and hurried him along. My impression is he had a time allotment for the story, and was doing time management. He could do a series.

1972
 

In 1972, I bought a Ty Cobb T206 batting card from Irv Lerner at a Detroit card show for 40 cents. I picked out some other good ones for 10 cents each but he insisted on 40 cents for the Cobb. It had 2 light creases, and after 30 years it got a PSA 2. The most expensive card I saw that year was a Ruth Goudey card for $1.00.

A few years later, around 1980, I bought my Ty Cobb green portrait at a Detroit show for $10. I splurged on it because it was super nice. Some 25 years later, I got it graded PSA 5 and still have it.

Seems like some folks forgot the depth of Mastro's fraud or just plain don't know. Here is a link to the "American Greed" episode.

https://vimeo.com/255495126

Man I love stories like this! I wish I was into vintage when I was a youngster instead of buying 1984 Topps, Donruss and Fleer. I remember getting hornswaggled by the card shop owner in Dansville CA selling the large format 84 Topps product. Said it would be huge! haha

and the sad part is that some people will still defend that pos

Thanks for sharing this.
I knew most of the stories but this fills in a lot more details

I remember that episode of AG. Kind of brings things into perspective.

Okay, so in the beginning of this episode, a guy by the name of Jeff Evers buys an old man's collection for only $500. In it were some insane cards, including a 1933 Goudey Nap Lajoie, which is worth crazy money. He stated that he only saw a few cards on top and didn't know what was inside, and therefore decided to "take a chance" with it, which in my opinion is BS. He darn well knew what he was doing. And the funny part, ladies and gents? He cries at the end because he felt that Mastro "screwed him." HA!

Mastro
 

I never dealt with Bill Mastro. He was a high end dealer and way out of my league. However, I do know of someone who was burnt by him and his cronies. The bottom line is that Bill is a cheat, liar, thief and fraud. With all of the experience he had, he knew what he was doing. Of course he is sorry now, because he got caught and so far has paid a heavy price for his actions. But I have no pity for him. What he did to Lionel Carter was pitiful. The buzzards were certainly circling! The poor guy never knew what hit him.
Tom Re.ed.