The World According to Mr. Mint
 

I was reading Sports Collectors Digest this week and saw the latest advertisement from Mr. Mint.

I had a little extra time so I read his 8 listed accomplishments in the full page advertisement.

He claims that he has "spent over 150 million dollars in vintage cards and related memorabilia" during the past 30 years.

That seems pretty high. To put that into proper context, that is an average of $5,000,000 a year. Considering that the REA spring auction does about 10 million dollars, that means that Mr. Mint, Al Rosen, purchases the equivalent of half the REA catalog every single year! If Al Rosen is not paying winning auction-house pricing, than he needs to purchase a lot more to spend an average of 5 million a year.

Do you think he's blowing smoke or is he the undisputed greatest buyer of sports memorabilia in the hobby?

This is the same guy that won't reply to any of my emails when he announces his show schedule and I politely ask him to keep an eye out for a ring that I may need from the city and team that he is due to visit.

In further context that is over $12,000 per DAY.

That's chump change, just ask him. It always used to make me laugh out loud when I would see people approach his booth back in the day and ask for his autograph. Whether it was his book or on one of the many trinkets he used to hand out. In full disclosure, I buy and sell autographs, but seriously a baseball card dealer? Jason

The claim is even more remarkable. He says he spent $150M/$5M a year/$12K a day. REA's $10M is prices realized, no? Mr. Mint claims that he spent that much. He obviously would have a large out-going dollar figure.:eek:

Al used to publish his tax return (with the SSN blacked out, etc) in SCD each year to quell the people who doubted him. If he is not at $150MM spent over the years, I'll bet he's darned close.

Rich

In the Tango Eggs thread, there were a few posts about Mr. Mint advertising them in SCD after the find, but no one received callbacks to be able to actually buy any. I've also read that he doesn't sell - only buys - at shows. Where does Mr. Mint sell? Has anyone here ever purchased from him?

Hey, you never know. Seriously, there may come a time when people will want to break out into various - I don't know if this is an appropriate word - "fringe" aspects of sports and sports memorabilia. Don West, the former Shop At Home pitchman, actually has his own autographed cards from his post-SAH career as a TNA Wrestling announcer, but I was interested in them because of his SAH notoriety.

If there are people who want Alan Rosen's autograph, and he's willing to give it to them (for free), more power to 'em. On the other hand, I can understand how seeking out a dealer's autograph can be seen as silly, and just as I stand up for those who might want to get such an autograph, I also respect the opinions of those who wouldn't add them to their collections even if the dealers paid them.

He sells but not just to the general public. He is a flipper and flips the deals he picks up at shows and gets those deals to the dealers he knows will have interest in what he has picked up and will pay good money for his "finds". I have seen this on numerous occasions when he has interrrupted a conversation I was having with a dealer only to butt in without even an "excuse me" and just lays the finds on the table and starts to negotiate with the dealer.

I hope Don West was a nice guy, cause Al Rosen was an a$$hole.

I have bought material from Al Rosen I have sold to Al Rosen and I have Cosigned to his auctions. Examples bought an 1871 Boston Program, a Lone star type. Being from NJ I set up next to Mr. Rosen at a small show in the 70's. I was half his age and he treated me like an equal he had questions and opinions like anyone else coming into the hobby at that time.
He was always drawn to Rare cards and had a knack for finding them that is unparalleled. NOTHING but respect for Al Rosen he has helped this hobby and done very well for himself. My only negative memory of Al is me still kicking myself for not saying yes when he asked me if I wanted a 61 Dice game May's for $100. I walked around room came back to his table to buy it and it was sold. (gonna have to let that go one of these days). And I have never know him to tell anything but the truth.
Jonathan Sterling

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Jonathan-What is an 1871 Boston program? I'd like to see an image.

Better question: Out of that 150 million dollars, how much did he low ball his customers? $149 million?

Well, the 2015 Allen & Ginter product could have his signature as a celebrity. This year they had Dr. James Andrews relic (tie?) cards included in their set, along with Chef Anthony Bourdain and Mallrats director Kevin Smith.

Last time I seen him was years ago in the Detroit area yelling at the Hotel Receptionist about his air conditioner not working and that he wanted a complete refund on his bill. He is like "a bully", which we try to teach our kids not to be. He does turn over his buys fast, inventory is not good. Cash flow is !

The main items I remember him actually selling to the public were the 1952 Topps high numbers. He ran full page ads in SCD selling those cards for weeks. That's definately something I wish I could have afforded to buy from him!

I am not sure why this is a bad thing. No one has to sell to him, if he makes an offer and people sell then it is on them. Obviously he is doing something right.

I don't like the guy in fact I think he is pretty despicable in his practices but every seller attempts to purchase items for as low as possible. Basic economics.

+1...this is what any and every successful dealer does.

He used to sell many of his items to Brian Morris and Paul Lewicki. Someone told me that Joe Esposito is the main recipient of his current finds.

As far as him always telling the truth, I beg to differ. Getting his start by getting (stealing)Drakes Cakes sets out the backdoor of the factory, and being backed on the huge Post and Jello card find, I believe by Stephen Juskewycz, are very different than the trust fund story he enjoys telling.

D@v1d davls

I remember in SCD about 4 years ago he was going to retire but since I see him at the Chicago show 2 times a year since looks like that never happened. I also remmebr him crying about not getting the front spot at the Nationals a few years ago so he boycotted them and hasn't been there since. He probably thought the National would fold cause because he decided to never show up anymore. Boo Hoo

Mr. Mint & Me:
 

A few months ago, when I was agonizing over whether or not to buy Goudey #144, I said 'what the heck' , picked up the phone and called the number listed in his ad.

I could not have been more pleasantly surprised. Not only did Mr. Rosen answer the phone himself, he seemed more than happy to chat with me. When he said that he thought the specific card I was inquiring about was a good deal, it eased my mind enough to go forward with the deal.

I was just someone taking up his time and using his experience to get a valued opinion. He got nothing but the goodwill I am now sharing.

I did not buy the card from him and have never done business with him, but in my small experience, the man is a good guy. I treated him like a gentleman and got the same back from him.

Thanks Al !

While walking into a National, he asked me once if I wanted his autograph. I replied with "Why would I want your autograph"? :confused:

That pretty much ended the conversation.

LOLOLOLOL That's actually pretty funny.

I met him at a local show about 10+ years ago and he couldn't have been nicer. I walked past his table and asked him how it was going. He said not bad but not a lot of people selling (obviously, there to buy) so it wasn't a great show for him so far. Didn't seem like a complaint to me, just a statement of fact. Then he asked if I had anything to sell. I told him not really and we probably spent the next 20+ minutes talking about the state of the hobby, grading cards, etc. May very well have been because he didn't have anything better to do and was in a good mood, but all-in-all a nice, friendly conversation. When I went to move on, he gave me a copy of his book and didn't even offer to autograph it, so I guess YMMV. :)

Never bought anything from him. Never sold anything to him. I have held 2 Honus cards in my life and 1 was at his table. The uncut strip Honus. So I am a fan of his. Not sure I am a big enough fan to want his autograph. If I did own his autograph, I would try to trade is for a Ted Z auto lol.

Yeah, and from some of the OBO stories I've heard here, what some 'collectors' do as well. ;)

(Not directed at Pete, just a general comment)

I've seen him set up at the west valley in in west warwick since I was 7. My impression is this, he is a very good business man who does at times rub people the wrong way but also can be very engaging. For all his wealth and success, I feel bad for him. I've watched him thumb through beautiful cards with very little joy whatsoever. It must take a lot to get him charged. I can still rummage through low grade commons for miscuts and registry errors and be thrilled at a 2 dollar purchase. There is a price to pay for turning a hobby into a career.

I set up at many shows where he was a table holder in Michigan. Very aggressive, but he was successful. Not a favorite of mine but had lots of cash and always carried a gun with him. He did buy and sell a bunch of cards.

Joe

Alan
 

Back in my hay day when I was doing shows Alan was always set up at the Rothstein shows.(until a big blow out but thats a story for another day!) Alan was always a pain in the A$$ but we had alot of respect for each other. We would talk he would come to my table, with 100 dollar bills in tow. I did a few very big deals with Alan and one thing I can say when it came to getting paid for something, he really wanted there was no one faster than Alan. If you had something he wanted he usually paid very fair. I found one of the deals in my archives , I had to block out my personal info but let me tell you that was a big deal we did! 10% down I loved it! Wow almost 20 years ago!!

...

He used to do shows in St. Louis a long, long time ago. I remember him lurking outside in the hallway approaching people carrying boxes, hoping to make a buy before they entered the room. I believe he was asked not to come back after that. At a May 1984 show prior to the banishment, he was set up at a dealer table. I walked by and he asked if I had anything to sell. I said no I was just looking for items on my want list. He asked me what I was looking for and one of the cards on my list back then was a NM 1962 7th series checklist. To my astonishment, he turns around and pulls out a box of 1962 NM 7th series checklists. It was like a magic act. What he was doing with them, I have no idea, but I bought five of them for the whopping price of 50 cents each. I'll bet no one else ever bought anything from him for less than a dollar!

I like Mr. Mint for one reason...he is a draw for people who sell...Back in my early days of collecting there used to be a big show once a year at the L.A. Convention Center. He would set up his table close to the door and people would come to sell to him. I figured out pretty quick that he was not interested in off-grade cards (especially small collections)...as people walked away from his table, I often asked what they had. I picked up some great off-grade cards like '53 Reese, '52 Robinson, '53 Mantle, e-101 Magee, etc. just by hanging around for an hour or so.

Of course, he thought I was poaching his sales and asked me to leave in a not so nice way but the promoter sided with me saying that competition is healthy.

At the National a few years later, I saw him set up again but he was buying everything and was turning the off-grade over to other dealers on the cheap (I think Bill Henderson was set up next to him and he got a bunch of stuff).

Joshua

I remember when he tried to take over the vintage Star Wars toys hobby....He and Josh Velinsky of Plastic Dreams in New Jersey even started an action figure grading company. I not only had to see his mug in the SCD, but also Toy Shop magazine. :D

So that's where all the T206 Titus cards are going.

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

For a few years my brother and I would do the Pittsburgh (Robert Morris) show while I was going through Dental School and before the show would open the regular dealer traffic would stop at our table and make fairly sizable purchases. Alan was always there to make purchases and paid promptly (which was great) but if he wasn't the first one there you could see him getting seriously annoyed, and one year as I was just arriving he was at our table making himself at home going through the stuff we had just brought in and had not yet unpacked making a stack of stuff he wanted to purchase which was a bit annoying but he did buy stuff so no major problem.

Anyways, the last year I did the show Alan was not the first to our table but Terry Knouse Sr. was and I was consummating a deal with Terry when Alan began getting really annoyed and asked for his total and when I replied that I would be with him in just a second he threw my stuff on the table (pretty hard) and started yelling at me that I was an idiot and that that was a "hell of way to do business" with someone of his stature, never mind that I have done more business in my life with Terry. I told him he better leave or there would was going to be a problem.

While he may be nice at times and may increase traffic at a show I have never understood why the other dealers put up with his poaching of all walk-ins and his entitled attitude is not a good thing for the hobby. A complete waste of space that has seen his time as a dominating force in the hobby completely disappear.

Never met the guy, but from reading all this, he sounds like quite the gem! ;)

mr mint - rosen
 

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.

Wow, Rhett almost clocked a guy!?!

At one time years ago he said he would be interested in buying my stuff , but would not sell me anything directly.
He is a polarizing figure in the hobby, but he did get it some big publicity in the 1990s that helped some parts of this hobby take off.

Al Rosen
 

I have never met or had any dealings with Mr Rosen but I remember reading about the large purchase of 52 Topps High Number cases that he made and sold. So Many High Grade Mantles and cards came from that Find. He used to advertise all the items from the Great Finds that he made. After selling off a lot of these items I am sure that his profits were Huge and it would not surprise me if he spent all those millions on other purchases.

JP

.....not to mention the 43 home runs he hit in '53.

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.

Al Rosen
 

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.
__________________


There is a Big difference between The Dealers and Collectors. We Collectors get Giddy over the items we collect. The Dealers get Giddy from the Money they get from us Collectors.

JP

Where did you learn all this?

There is a big difference between good people and assholes - it doesn't matter what they do for a living, or for fun.

In the late 90s he spent a weekend in KC buying from my dad and I. He stayed at a hotel but ate with us. He didn't complain about my mother's cooking, and for that alone I'll give him a pass ;)

I used to talk to Rosen at shows and over the phone in the mid-'80s; sometimes he was very pleasant, sometimes less so. At the time I collected mostly Topps test issues, and he helped me cross quite a few toughies off my want list.

Rosen seemed to me to have a small network of backers and silent partners, and in my dealings with him he mostly played the role of broker. I would tell him what I wanted, he would track it down, I would give him a check, and then I would receive my cards in the mail from someone else (most frequently Brian Morris).

This is one of the exact reasons why I don't do shows anymore. Most collectors look at dealers as people who are only in it for the money and want every item for the lowest price they see something on eBay for within the last year. We were all collectors at one time too and continue to be. Dealers just choose to try to turn part of their hobby in to some business.

These same people assume dealers are makings tons of cash and just don't appreciate people or small sales. Exactly like they described assuming Rosen made made millions off of his 52 topps deal and that is why he can say he spent 5 million per year. If I remember correctly Mantles were only selling for around 3,000.

Like I said earlier, the guy is an asshole and it has nothing to do with the fact that he is a dealer. Also, as earlier mentioned by others he would cry like a little baby if he didn't get his front row table and extra attention. He also used to make promoters pay for his table and plane ticket if they wanted to have the Mr Mint draw at their show thus bringing in all the sheep that he loved to deal with. He probably carried a gun so people wouldn't kick his ass when he started running his mouth about how important he is or how much money he spends.

The last time I saw him at a show he was buying and selling beanie babies...

Ouch! LOL

I met him in the late 70's at a big card show in Plymouth, Michigan. I was about 12 years old. I'm not sure how I knew of him - maybe ads in magazines, but I knew who he was. I walked up to him and asked him about wire photos and if they were worth anything. I had a bunch at home and I had never seen any info on what they might be worth. He actually couldn't have been nicer, and what I remember most was how he spoke to me like an adult and not some dumb kid wasting his time - which I was!

Whether you like him or not - the more that guy was in the news, the more positive publicity the hobby received. Personally, I wish he was more visible these days. Seems like today the only time you read about dealers is when they're being hauled off to jail. It gets old.

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.

+1. My sentiments exactly.

...

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.

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

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

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

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

And another + One.

SCD is still around? :eek: :p

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.

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.

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.

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.

Those videos are hard to watch Bill.

Playing Mr. Mint's Game
 

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.

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.

my brief experience
 

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.

And another.

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.

+1

Val Kehl

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.