Whatever happened to these long-time dealers?
 

Tom Reid, Brian Morris, Paul Lewicki, Joe Badalucco, Brigandi Coin, Pat Quinn, Joe Valle, Lew Lipset ?

Retired or no longer with us..

Which ones are no longer with us?

I've been on Brigandi's e-mail list for a long time but I haven't gotten one in about a year.

What about Tony Galovich and Rick Salvino?

I will update with the ones I am aware of to the best of my knowledge

Tom Reid -- Passed September 2001

Brian Morris -- Not really active in cards

Paul Lewicki -- not really active in cards. His sone pitched in the majors a few years back and the son also was involved earlier this year or late last year in a major unopened find.

Pat Quinn-- still with us as far as I know. He still comes to the Chicago NSCC

Lew Lipset -- Retired

Regards
Rich

I heard that Mr. Galovich had passed but I'm not 100 percent sure

What about TJ Schwartz? He used to write a column in Tuff Stuff that I enjoyed reading. Was it called 'On Your Side'?

Tom Reid was one of my favorites. I knew him since I was a kid. He was a real character. He dealt in oddball items before they became popular. Always had a cigarette in hand. He had high prices but when you bought in bulk he'd give you a really good deal. RIP Tom!

Yes, the column was titled "On Your Side". Each month, I looked forward to reading the column. After one issue (Mantle restaurant chair) I emailed TJ and he responded! He is still out there.

https://www.instagram.com/porkyssportscards/?hl=en

Note that he last posted on Instacart in 2016 and I believe the location of his shop is now a hookah place.

What happened to unopened pack dealer Mark Murphy? I remember his ads in SCD back in the days and seeing multiple packs of 1952 Topps he was selling from a find he uncovered. Should have bought one :rolleyes:
Actually i think a lady contacted him with multiple packs and sold to him. He had a ton of unopened early baseball packs.

I believe he retired after a fire or flood destroyed his inventory.

Dr Beckett and myself (both of us knew Tom well) taped a tribute podcast to him a while back

https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/b5...ith-rich-klein

I see Pat Quinn every month at the card show at the Civic Center in Orland Park, IL. He is usually one of the first guys through the door. He still sets up occasionally. I have been buying cards from him since I was 12. I'm now 57. One of the nicest guys you will ever meet and incredibly knowledgeable. His history in the hobby is unmatched.

I just listened to the podcast. Great memories.

A couple more names from the good ole SCD days...

Shoebox Cards (Wayne Varner) and Mike Wheat Cards... Anyone know if they're still around and/or in the biz?

And does anyone remember Teletrade?

Wayne died several years ago. I am not sure about Mike. Teletrade seems prehistoric looking back. That robotic voice.

I had dinner with Pat Quinn, John Rumeriez and Eric Lange at last years National in Chicago. We go back to the early "conventions" as they were called in the early 70's. Pat still runs a mail order auction and his son posts things for sale here in the BST threads.

Tom Rid was a character! As noted he always had the oddball stuff.

Wayne Varner passed away a few years ago I believe. His good friend "Zimp" Bill Zimpleman who was always at this table is a member here.

Another old time dealer Gar Miller from NJ still sells stuff.

I believe TJ passed away in 2022. Might have even been mentioned on here at one point.

I thought I had heard Mike Wheat passed 1-2 years ago but I'm not totally sure

Does anyone know if Roger Neufeldt is still active as a dealer? He used to be at the Philly Show but I haven't seen him there in years.

Roger does not travel nearly as much as he used to but he's doing fine and sets up at the Dallas Card Show every 2 months. Always good to see him and his crew,

Rich

Does anyone know anything about Harvey Brandwein of National Pastime? My Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Ty Cobb signed official Harridge AL ball was authenticated by him. I got this ball at the Chanute AFB PX back in the 1980s. I didn't buy it from him, but he was there. Last I heard he was still around and doing alright.

Brigandi has been holding Collector Events in NYC a few times a year. Still in business and some very nice folks.

In the day, they sure had a lot of high grade raw cards. Used to enjoy their SCD ads, and those of Steve Timmons.

My office was a few blocks away when they were on 44th Street. When I had enough of the usual office crap I would walk over to their showroom and wander around for 20 minutes. Was probably the first time I ever considered getting into the collecting thing.

All raw, all Mint or close. Amazing. Steve too.

I have to be on the lookout for them as I'm still in New York.

As a side note, I always loved speaking to the older collectors and dealers at conventions. Just talking about the hobby, how things have changed, and their interactions with the legends of the game that have passed.

Might not have his spelling right, but does anyone know if George Mollyn is still with us? Bought from him a couple of times when I was a kid in Cooperstown, and he was dealing at the show at the Cooperstown Veterans Club, which I'm nearly positive was run by our own Ted Z. I must've talked his ear off about the 33 and 34 Goudey sets.

Should we start keeping a running list of old time dealers and where they set up? I sure think so!

George is still around and still doing the Allentown mall shows as well as Cooperstown last I knew. He consigns every now and then.

I wasn't even sure if there was still a Cooperstown show anymore. I'm guessing he's up there for Hall of Fame weekend? Allentown might be a better shot for me to purchase something from him again, if he sets up there more often. Is there a schedule when the shows happen? Thank you!

David Festberg is off in Tibet seeking a holy man.

Just got off the phone with George Mollyn, was nice to chat with him again, so thanks for the thread! He says if they put Mattingly or Munson in, he'll be at Cooperstown this year but otherwise he might be done there. He's still doing the Allentown, PA mall scene.

Just had a hip replacement but is recovering well.

Roger was one of my favorite old-time (pre-internet) dealers to deal with. I used to buy from him at St. Louis shows back in the early/mid 90's. Over half my 55 Bowman baseball set came from Roger over the course of 3-4 shows and a couple of years. When I got into grading cards in the late 90's several of those 55 Bowman's I got from Roger pulled PSA 8's with a few 9's. I also bought my first T206 Lajoie from him. Roger was always friendly and great to deal with back in the day. Glad to here he's still in the game and doing well.

David Festberg is back in the U.S. and is thinking about re-entering the collectible field.... Roger Neufeldt has scaled back on the abusive show schedule, but still actively participating the the hobby / business.

Teletrade was big business but the day to day face was Andy Sandler who runs All Sport Auctions. He he is great guy and passionate collector.

Paul Marchant was the first guy I did mail order with, would have been the late 70's. He'd mailed out sale list every couple months, I think I still have a couple of them lying around somewhere.

This ticket was my one and only Teletrade purchase.
https://www.net54baseball.com/pictur...ictureid=19742

I bought plenty of cards for my Topps sets from Roger in the mid to late 90s at the Philly shows over those years. It's good to hear he's doing well even if he's not traveling to as many shows anymore.

I sold Tom Reids collection back about 2003. Lots of oddball and lots of duplication. His basement was packed and he had drawers just jam packed with items in no real order. Lots of pins too (sports and nonsports)

Scott

His web site is still up but definitely doesn't seem updated.

Back in the Teletrade Era I got quite a few prewar cards via online auctions from Jim Maxwell and Ginny Caputo out of Lampeter, PA. I think they are both still around selling antiques.

dealer
 

Gar Miller

This is the first I have heard that TJ Schwartz had passed. I was a voracious Tuff Stuff reader for many years and "on your side" was the first column I turned to every month. I never met him, or bought anything from him, but I certainly enjoyed his writing.

RIP TJ

Is Kit Young still active? I know he used to advertise everywhere and had set up a hobby trade show that was in Hawaii, I think. He must be getting up there in age.

Kit is doing fine. His business is still going strong. His house in Hawaii burned down in the Maui fires but thankfully no one was hurt during that event. He did find a new place to stay in Hawaii this past winter.

He is reasonably active on facebook.

Rich

When I was a kid (in the late 70's) the dealer that first exposed me to vintage cards was Jim Elder out of Odessa, Florida. Every month I would get his catalog and dream of owning some of them. I remember saving up enough to be able to by a 1951 Bowman (Johnny Wyrostek) and then later a 1941 Play Ball of Harry "Gunboat" Gumpert.

Hilarious. The 51B Wyrostek was the second vintage card I ever purchased. The first was 57T Jablonski. Third, 57T Ditmar. Fourth, 52B Dropo. The Ditmar disappeared years ago, but still have the others. Dropo signed his for me about 30 years ago.

Funnier still is that these cards were all newer when I purchased them than the junk wax that came out at the same time is today.

Harvey Brandwein, who used to run The National Pastime and also organized card shows, is retired but still living.

As I've noted in other postings, my closest hobby friend was Bob Bostoff of Empire State Collectibles. He advertised in SCD and was a HUGE presence in NY-area card shows. His table always featured a little bit of everything, from cards, yearbooks, autographs and whatever. He passed away about fifteen years ago, and anyone who ever did business with him misses him.

One old time dealer I'm curious about is Ted Elmo, an autograph dealer active back in the Sixties(!). He advertised in Baseball Digest and would sell common Hall of Famers on 3x5 index cards for fifty cents. You know, common HOF players like Frisch, Dean, Crawford and Cochrane. He seems to have disappeared by the mid Seventies and I can't find any information about him at all, except form some indirect references to "something" that may have clouded his reputation?

Alan,

I had hundreds of deals with Bob Bostoff -- he bought from me and vice versa -- but like you said, we all miss him in New York. He and I once bought 110 1952's together at a La Guardia Airport show -- they were all high numbers and we split them up at his house, and we sold the Mantle quickly.

Have you seen Bob Ragoneese lately? He disappeared from the National a few years ago. He had similar displays to Bostoff and me. I hope he is okay.

See you at this year's National? Booth 800, 8 booths in the door.

Steve

Bob, was a great guy. Bought lots of cards from him back in the day. Collectors would certainly be perplexed walking up to his cases in this day and time, with all of his cards, stacked raw and string tied or rubber banded. :)

Bob and his rubber bands were passe even then, but he explained that he rubber-banded his stacks loosely, and he wasn't in the business of selling mint cards anyway. I was an occasional dealer at shows in the Eighties, and with Bob in attendance, along with Alan Rosen, I characterized Rosen as Mr. Mint (obviously), Bob as "Mr. vg to ex," and my humble inventory making me "Mr. fair to good."

Steve:

Bob Ragonese was slowly phasing his business out for years. I last saw him at the second Baltimore National, back in 2016. I wouldn't mind seeing him one more time.

Bill Henderson was another dealer I bought many Topps cards from at The Philly Shows in the 90s. Has he retired or is he still the King of Commons?

From what I heard, he is basically retired and living in Florida

I bought many cards from Bill Henderson. Helped me finish up many sets.

Mike

What ever happened to Tommy Catal, who had one of the biggest Mickey Mantle collections in the 80s and 90s? He even had his driver's license.

As of last year there was a Washington Post article (it is behind a paywall) which name checked Tom and Mickey's Place in Cooperstown

Here is the website so you can reach out and see if Tom is still there

https://www.mickeysplace.com/about-mickeys-place/

If not mentioned yet -- Doloff.

Is Dolloff Sports Cards in New Hampshire still around ? I called to request a catalog last fall and never received one.

Lew Lipset
 

When the Jim Chapman Deadball photography book was being put together, I made an attempt to contact Lew Lipset, who never responded.

Okay, I respect that.

My question being, Lew if you are out there, lemme know. You were in the middle of the action from the 1970s and own a ton of history. There are a lot of questions for which we don't have answers. Once us old guys are gone, some cool history goes with us.

Earth to Lew Lipset, Earth to Lew Lipset, contact Mike Mumby. It ain't too late.

Here's another name from the past... Donny Lepore, who at one time worked for the Card Collectors Co.

Stan Martucci had a mail order business. I remember buying a 1955 Topps Koufax from him in the late 1960s for about $1.25. I put the money, all change, in an envelope and mailed it to him. About a week later the card arrived. Since Koufax was my childhood idol. This was a great moment in this kid's life.

I last saw Don a few years ago at the NSCC. (Maybe 6-7 years ago). He had some health issues over the years but I don't want to go into too much detail here.

Also his 1st partner in the business, Herb Ross, is still around and active on FB and shows many of his really neat Brooklyn Dodgers collectible items.

Stan passed in 2008

https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries...ry?id=48843615

Rich

This thread is really depressing. To paraphrase Mr. Donne, "Dem bells are tolling for thee."

For the confirmation on TJ's passing. And I was not aware of that previously. FYI, IIRC he event spent a year or two in the WWF as a wrestler named Dr. Doom. He was for them what one could call a Jobber.

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100008196392712

Regards
Rich

I was about to ask about Wade Carsel - more non-sports than baseball, but who used to show up at the Philly shows with T206s at good prices. But then found his obit from last year. Apparently got fairly cranky in his later years.

Wade was always cranky...

Forgive my bias in mentioning this dealer as I worked for him for many years is Mark Christensen of Sports Nostalgia Shop/Sports Fan-Attic. Mark was almost 7 feet tall with strawberry blonde hair, so he sttod out in a crowd. You'll see his ads in the very early Beckett Price Guide books, plus his ads also ran in other publications through the late-1980s. At first, Mark focused on his mail order business and he would fly to different conventions with his price list purchasing cards.

In 1979, he opened his first card store in La Habra, CA. In 1981, he began to sell sports apparel and with that came a name change -Sports-Fan Attic. Mark opened several other locations and he did well for about a decade. Unfortunately, he opened a location in a mall in south Orange County which did terribly and he shut the business down, but it was fun while it lasted!

This next dealer would be familiar only to collectors in Southern California, but he took me under his wing as a 14-year-old collector and taught me the hobby. His name was Wes Schleiger and he mostly worked the local monthly shows and conventions in the Los Angeles and Orange County areas. He, too, opened his own store, Wes's Hall of Fame, first in Bellflower and later in the Temecula area. His wife, Dixie, was a constant presence in his second location. Wes passed in 2016, three weeks after the passing of his wife.

Looking back, it was a blessing to have worked under both of these gentlemen.

Phil aka Tere1071

Complete sets: 1953 Bowman Color and Topps Baseball 1970-1975

Working to complete lower grade 1968 and 1969 Topps Baseball sets

Fair point. Even more cranky.

What about Greg Bussineau (Superior Sportscards)? I know he later went into auctions but haven't heard whether he's still active in years.

Philip Tremont was a well known Texas dealer of vintage cards in the 80's-90s. Whatever happened to him?

Thanks for the kind words, he's my dad. He'll be 84 in September and still as active as ever (although he's skipping the National this year as he just doesn't have it in him to travel much anymore). Most of the items you buy from me are directly from him. He's forgotten more than I'll ever know!
Tony

Some nostalgic reading, here... I have big boxes of little boxes in the basement and attic. Most of the little boxes have labels from Shoebox Cards, Mike Wheat Cards, and The Old Judge - Lew Lipset. I don't recall ever having any concern about a discrepancy between how a card was described and how it looked when I got it. Mr. Lipset was a great fellow to talk with on the phone. He knew a right smart about old cards. Good days, good memories.

Who was that couple that had sales that ended on Thursday nights? A man, and a woman who helped him. Capputo might have been the name of one of them. I enjoyed buying cards from them, too.

James Maxwell and Virginia Capputo...

Hi Tony, I recently read something about Pat Quinn and have been wanting to reach out to him. Would you happen to know how I could reach him?

Thanks!
Sammy

Did anyone mention Barry Sloate?

Barry Posts on rare occasions nowadays and from what I'm gathering is enjoying retirement.

And good news on Don Lepore.

A FB message about adding him as a friend popped up on my page and he has poasted on FB within the last week. Good to see him sill going strong. The rest of his bio and his mutual friends fit in as well.

https://www.facebook.com/friends/sug...00000591499761

Rich