Posted By:
Scott Elkinswhen I was 6 years old. Then, in the Second Grade, I checked out a couple of Baseball Card books in the school library and fell in love with the old T and E cards pictured in it. My other favorites from the pictures I can still remember - 1933 Goudey Ruth #181, 1938 DiMaggio #274 Heads Up with Cartoons and a 1933 Delong Pepper Martin Horizontal!
Soon after, I started buying older cards at Flea Markets. My first "Big" purchase was an EX/MT 1956 Koufax for $16! I still remember my Father telling me I was STUPID for spending $16 on a Beseball Card! That changed when Mattingly was Hot and I sold all my 1984 Topps Mattingly Rookies to a local Dealer for $20 each! To this day, my Father still asks about my card purchases every day!
Unfortunately, until the internet, I was stuck with 50's and 60's cards. Then, while working for New York Life, I made my first Vintage Card purchase - a crease-free VG+ T206 Ty Cobb Red Portrait from "Uncle Sam's" cards out of PA - I was hooked! Until then, the oldest cards I had seen in person were some nice EX/MT 1915 Cracker Jacks a Flea Market dealer had cheated someone out of and was selling. In fact, he was selling an EX/MT 1915 Cracker Jack Ty Cobb for a WHOPPING amount of $100 - I only had $32 with my that day and drooled over the Cobb (of course I was only 8 years old at the time and had a bi-weekly allowance of only $10).