I have had three major influences in my collecting life. First, it was my mother who took me to my first show in 1973 and never complained about my spending money on my cards while I lived at home and for giving me money twice to make major purchases.
There was a gentleman by the name of Wes Schleiger of Wes's Hall of Fame. At age 14 he took me under his wing and pretty much taught me the hobby. He gave me a job helping him sell at our monthly baseball card shows and at the conventions. I never made a lot of money working for Wes, but just the experience of being around all of those baseball cards. To this day, I was blessed by his acquaintance.
Finally, this gentleman has been forgotten in the hobby, but he was one of the big dealers of the late-70s and early-80s: Mark Christensen. If you have the first printing of the Becket Baseball Guide you'll see his buy ad. Mark wasn't into baseball and we gave him grief for that, but he hired me to help him with mail-order business and then with his store. At times the relationship was contentious, but he trusted me and I had the joy of working at several of his locations full-time until I left to go into teaching. A few bad breaks finally ended his sports collectibles business, but if he ever sees these words I thank him from the bottom of my heart for that opportunity.
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