The Saga of "54" and the Truth - Post #120
 

Although it may seem like an eternity to some, I haven't been around on this forum all that long (a little over 54 weeks). I have also pondered the origins of Net54 more than once in my tenure here. Searching the nooks and crannies of the web site has not been rewarding. I'm sure there are veterans of this forum who are enlightened, but my suspicion is that most of the members have no clue as to the meaning of Net54. Therefore I ask the following:

Rule #1. Members who know the genesis of Net54 are asked kindly to refrain from posting on this thread. This is important and why I placed it first.

Rule #2. All others are encouraged to speculate about the reason this site is called Net54. This is not a contest and you may post freely and often as new ideas spring to mind. In other words you are encouraged not only to post early, but post often.

Rule #3. I fully expect that at some point one of the above rules will be broken, knowing the crowd here. If we can get enough response to Rule #2, which is actually difficult to break, when the Rule #1 rulebreaker posts, perhaps and hopefully he will not be noticed and therefore he will not need to be vilified.

I will start things off with a few examples designed to encourage participation, so that no one feels intimidated. Hopefully better responses will follow.

54, the number of outs in a 9 inning baseball game won by the visiting team. Visitors are always welcome on Net54.

54, the average age of our forefathers, who started this site, at the time of creation.

54, the number of cards in a deck containing two jokers.:D:D:D

Net54 was the vision of Steve Rubell. But since the internet wasn't invented yet, he settled for starting Studio54 instead. The rest is history.

In the old days, you used to have to drink 54 beers in one sitting as initiation into the club.

54 was chosen because it is the atomic number of Xenon, a noble gas and the founders were noble men. No? Ok, how about this? The original founders were coincidently named Toody and Muldoon. (Now I am really showing my age.)

You almost have it right. It was started with what little money was left over from the Studio 54 bankruptcy. From Swinging and Snorting to Soaking and Slabbing.:D

The first 53 "Nets" were already claimed, so the originator had to roll with 54.

Best,

Andy

Toody was a fan of the Babe and Muldoon favored the Say Hey Kid. The Net difference between the two? 54 homers

Car 54, Where are you?

It was renamed Net 54 because it took 54 posts for someone to correct another poster's grammar.

As a tribute to Goose Gossage....obviously.

I assumed it was a forum hosted by another company, Network 54, and the name carried over.

I don't know this and joined around the same time as you, so if it is right than it isn't breaking rule number one, but just an observational guess.

Or Minnie Minoso?:D

Hmm, the only logical answer here. Can't be that one. :D

Edited for truth

If LOGIC was involved, grown men wouldn't be chasing old scraps of cardboard, paying car payment or mortgage payment prices for them.:D Logic has NEVER been a player in this game.:)

After some amount of time I will give the real answer, which some longtime members might not know.

It was inspired by the number of times D.Young resubmitted his Willie Horton in search of PSA 10?

June 13th

good question
 

I always assumed it referred to any cards issued between the 1887 kalamazoo bats and 1941 (WW2). Any card issued over that 54 year stretch was considered pre-war.

That was just my assumption, I am interested in knowing the actual reason.

Andy

How about Feb 23rd, the 54th day of the year?

Few know that Net 54 was the initial online dating site.

Inspired by the Marvelettes' hit single "Beechwood 45789"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucu83CZKeGg

The 5***4 portion of the title is based on encryption of that song title.

Vintage cards were introduced to the site by a gal named Lola

in an effort to get lucky with a member known only as leon.

Interestingly this is the same encryption methodology used by Ebay today.

How about March 23rd, the 54th day of the thread?

54 = the Net average age of board members. Thankfully Frank and Waz joined around the same time and kept things in line....

Maybe 54 is the average amount of days PSA takes to grade a 10 day submission:D

"Net54 where ARE YOU???"

Originally named Net55 for the 55 people who owned an ungraded T206 Honus Wagner card. Then somebody got their card graded a PSA 8, they were kicked out and the site was renamed Net54

I don't know the full history behind the name, but I'm pretty sure you're spot on with how WE ended up with it. As far as I know Network54 Corporation, created the original forums. As far as how they came up with the name, I don't know.

But I'll humor the intentions of this thread. Assuming there was a baseball tie to the number. I'm gonna go with what little info that I have about the company. I believe the corporation is based out of Los Angeles. So let's assume that there's a chance that the founder was possibly a Giants fan. I believe the corporation started in 1999, so at the time, 1954 or '54 was the last time that the Giants had won the World Series.

Outside of baseball, my guess would be a play off of "Studio 54"(as someone had mentioned earlier). The movie came out in 1998, so it was fresh in people's minds again. Maybe the 54 was intended to indicate that it was "a popular and fun place for people to get together"...

I don't laugh out loud very often Frank. Thank you. F'n hilarious.

Was the original web host called network 54 or something?

54 was Elliot's age when he founded the forum upon the demise of John Spencer's Full Count forum, and also the number of bottles of single malt Macallan he needed to help him recover from a years worth of moderator duties.

The original 54 members were all voiced by the same fella. A guest at Bellevue, his Internet access was part of his Occupational Therapy.:D

yes

As long as it wasn't for grammar, all is well.:D

Lighten up.;)

yeah, I probably should've made it a little more obvious that I was being sarcastic...Forgot all about the emoticons.. ;)

I wouldn't think PSA would be that accurate 53 other times:eek:

hmmmmmmm

1 - Net1-53 were taken already?

2 - 54 member of the HOF - Herb Pennock = Favorite player?

3 - 1954 world series NY Giants winner= Favorite team?

4 - Goose Gossage wore #54= Favorite player?

5 - 54 outs in a 6 game series...........

6 - in 1920 babe ruth hit 54 HR - the first player to hit 50 in a season (and i think 40 as well)

Shoeless Joe Jackson's IQ

54
 

Because when Maris hit 61, the Mick only hit a lowly 54....he was obviously a sentimental favorite.

In 1887, the baseball rules changed to 5 balls and 4 strikes (the numbers were higher in prior years).

Perhaps Net54 was created as a network of collectors who focused their collections on pre-war or 19th century cards, specifically N172 Old Judges that date to 1887.

It is 54 because...
 

...every possible T206 web address was already taken.:D

I thought it had to do with UFO's

Dude! We are not supposed to talk about that. You'd better look out your window. The car that just pulled up is the MIB.:D

OH CRAP!! I thought it was the ice cream man!

This board was previously hosted on Network54.com, which I believe was this boards second incarnation. I first posted there in early 2003.

Nostalgia for when the pitcher"s mound was only 54 feet from home plate

Pre-nostalgia for when the centerfield cow pasture was only 54 feet from home plate?:D

lmfao!!!

As founder, I don't want to give it away yet, but I will mention that the original name of the forum was "Vintage Baseball Card Forum".

Some great guesses so far, keep them coming.

Elliot