Great story Jim.
I sold and traded a lot with Bill Zekus from the 1970s to the early 1980s when I kind of put collecting on hiatus.
I never had the honor of meeting him in person but we bought sold and traded with each other frequently through the mail, nothing near on par with Jim's dealings with him, mind you. Since I was actively chasing autographs in the Oakland/San Francisco area as well has heavy TTM activity I think I helped him out with a lot of post-Brooklyn guys as well as some of the Hall of Famers.
As there was no effective way to scan and send pictures back then our relationship was based on trust. He'd send his current want list, and I'd send him what I had with the understanding he could take what he wanted and send back the rest. Often the "rest" came back with a couple of things of his just because he was such a nice guy.
He helped me a LOT with getting my own HOF collection up to a pretty substantial level for back then.
Such a gentleman and great trader friend, you just don't find too many guys like that any more.
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