I often imagined that he was teased and bullied as a child, and as he got older and independent, he turned into a bully himself. And the internet was the perfect vehicle- you can say anything to anybody as long as they are a thousand miles away. Of course, I never saw him being abusive when he was face to face with anyone. He was always courteous.

Whatever it was, he didn't seem to want to address it. He was successful in business and built a nice collection, and that's all that seemed to matter.

.....

Human beings are complex. My two cents, it's inappropriate to try to posthumously psychoanalyze Bruce over the internet and find a DSM-IV (or is it now V?) category for him.

It may not be appropriate, but it is cheap entertainment, and funnier than shit.:D

Talking About The Dead
 

"My young son asked me what happens after we die. I told him we get buried under a bunch of dirt and worms eat our bodies. I guess I should have told him the truth--that most of us go to hell and burn for eternity-- but I did not want to upset him".....Jack Handy

Gran Torino.

Jeff, you very well may be on to something, or your friend for that matter. I have a family member that suffers from BPD (Borderline personality disorder) and it would certainly fit the bill. They can be the nicest & meanest family member depending on what the situation is. I hope Bruce finds more happiness in the afterlife than he did in life.

Bruce shared his baseball knowledge readily, and to the best of my knowledge, never held back providing information to those who requested it, or help them with their questions. In short, by his actions, he was a positive influence to many in the hobby, in contrast to those who commit acts of fraud while oozing charm in the process.

By his words, I recognize that to recipients of his vile emails, he was a different person. I also recognize that not having received such emails, I have not walked in the shoes of those who had. But Bruce is dead, and we already have had one long thread where people vented. I respectfully think it is time to move on.

Beats working.

I see a lot of Bruce's collection in the REA catalog. Just FYI

A lot of it is not there. Perhaps it is being saved for a later sale.

they probably just misplaced the consignments, been known to happen lately.

Knock on wood, we've never misplaced a consignment yet! Barry, what items are you looking for that you do not see? (I am assuming you are not looking for things he sold in years past which as you know is quite a lot). His inventory lists were INCREDIBLY comprehensive and detailed (in part for insurance purposes). We worked with the estate directly from his own inventory spreadsheets that listed every single card and item, with each spread sheet organized by type of item (cards, display pieces, books, sheet musics, postcards etc). There are a few things that may be on the Internet Only section, but just a few. Some items are in group lots that you will only be able to see all images and descriptions when the auction is up online. Can you give me an example of an item you are looking for?

Hi Rob- I actually have a complete list of Bruce's collection that he gave me before he died, and there is so much I don't see from that list. Maybe because the catalog is so big, I simply missed it. One example- Bruce had numerous DeLongs in PSA-8, and you do have several 8's in the auction. But his players and your players don't match. I'll continue to look though. He also had a beautiful team cabinet of Brooklyn ca. 1888 I don't see. Well, you know the collection better than I do.:)

Edited to add maybe he did in fact sell a lot privately before you got the collection.

Have you checked with Archive? I hear he and Bruce were quite close .

Leon I actually burst out laughing at work (not the best thing to do obviously), at your comment

Hi Barry! It sounds like you’ve got an old list (or one that was not cleaned up to reflect all changes). He sold a lot of items over the years (at REA and elsewhere) and probably did quite a bit of wheeling and dealing with DeLongs. I think over the years he tried to narrow his DeLongs to just a few favorites. For example, he sold twenty-five (Twenty-Five!) DeLongs at REA in 2004 (Lot 97 was a pair of PSA 8 DeLongs, Lot 189 was a group of 16, and Lot 190 was a PSA-graded collection of seven). He may have sold or traded others elsewhere but we also know he sold two PSA 8 Delongs at Greg Bussineaus’s 7/25/13 auction (Traynor and Martin Lots 40 and 41). All that were left were a representative group of four (I assume his favorites) all graded PSA 8 (Lots 621, 623, 624, and 625: #4 Terry, #14 Gomez, #1 McManus, and #22 Klein).

He sold an 1889 Brooklyn Team cabinet at REA in 2004 (Lot 25) but you might be thinking of his 1890 Brooklyn Players’ League Cabinet with John Ward (which was a favorite that he kept) which is Lot 58 in the current auction (which we hope to get up today!) What he had at the end was only a portion of all the items he once had, but was still very substantial and tremendous high quality across the board.

Rob- my memory is not what it used to be, but I saw his stuff about a year before he died, and the list he sent me was put together well after that. But you're right that maybe he never updated it and forgot to remove items he sold. So I'll assume you got everything that was left at the time it was consigned. The Brooklyn cabinet looked like a Joseph Hall, but without the names at the bottom. Perhaps he sold it a while ago and didn't even remember. Bruce was not the easiest person to deal with, at least for me.

Actually they had a falling out after Bruce sued him.:)

Rob- I just rechecked my list and it reads "1890 Brooklyn Players League Team Cabinet." If that's the one in your current auction then I mixed it up with the one from 2004. Like I said, it's hard to keep track of everything.

Barry, Good news: Your memory is better than you think! The Brooklyn cabinet he sold in 2004 (Lot 25) does look a lot like a Joseph Hall.

Here's the link:

http://www.robertedwardauctions.com/...n/2004/25.html

Thanks Rob, but I actually still have all your catalogs dating back to 1995. Funny, he sold it ten years ago and yet I thought I saw it in his collection in the past couple of years.