Hobby Icon Lionel Carter passes away at 90

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Posted By: leon

A very sad day for the hobby- leon

and a message from Doug Allen:


Hey Leon....can you please get the word out to the good folks on Network
54....

After months of hospital stays and rehabilitation Mr. Lionel Carter
passed away on Thursday, August 28th at the age of 90 years old. He is
survived by his lovely wife Irma. The accompanying image was from just a
few short months ago when Lionel dressed up in his original World War II
uniform. He was so proud of this picture and his service to our country.
Unfortunately, he did not live long enough to see "Carter and the
Cavalry" his life work describing his service in World War II in print.
He did finish proofing the final manuscript so fortunately it will not
go for naught. Personally I will miss Lionel Carter and ask you to join
me in keeping his wife Irma in your thoughts and prayers during a very
difficult time.

Sincerely,
Doug Allen

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Posted By: brock

Very sad to hear. The hobby lost a great person and a great american.

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Posted By: bruce Dorskind

We will always treasure the conversations we had with Lionel Carter
about the early days of the hobby. Our favorite story was about his
early days collecting Delongs.

Lionel was kind enough to send us about numerous letters that he wrote
to other collectors in the 30's and 40s as well as 100 copies of early
hobby trades.

We will miss him and his knowledge of the hobby.

Lionel was a true hobby legend. May he rest in peace


Bruce Dorskind
America's Toughest Want List
(212) 734-7362

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Posted By: Jon Canfield

A sad day for the hobby. Thanks for keeping us informed Leon.

======================================
For the premier online souce of information on baseball-related cigarette packs, visit http://www.baseballandtobacco.com

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Posted By: barrysloate

God bless...he led a full life and was a legend. He made the world a better place. My condolences to his family.

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Posted By: ErikV

While I've read much about him, I never had the
opportuninty to meet Mr. Carter. I will say as
an American and as a card collector, I owe him
plenty. He served bravely in WW II and was a
pioneer in our hobby and his legacy will live on!

Thank you Mr. Carter, for your service to country
and input into our great hobby. You will be missed!

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Posted By: Al C.risafulli

A sad day for all of us. RIP.

-Al

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Posted By: CoreyRS.hanus

Very sorry to hear this. He loved cards for what they are, not for what they're worth. That's collecting in its purest sense and the hobby will greatly miss this true icon.

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Posted By: barrysloate

Corey made a great point...Carter sold his collection for a few million dollars, but if he hadn't experienced that awful robbery, he still would rather have kept his cards.

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Posted By: Rich Klein

And the hobby has lost one of the original pioneers who was there to help nurture and grow what was a small passion from a few to what we have today.

Regards
Rich Klein

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Posted By: Bob C

That uniform also tells us Mr. Carter was a true hero. He served our country in combat during wartime. The Combat Infantryman’s Badge (rifle in a blue background with silver garland around it) means…or used to mean…he served at least thirteen months in an infantry unit, in combat, under fire. The farthest ribbon, top left, is a bronze star. It needs no description. I believe the others are WWII service ribbons.
Mr. Carter was from another time I am afraid we will not see again soon. True heroes are those who are known and remembered not for a meteoric rise to prominence, not merely for being “known”, but for accomplishment and character. I hope we and our nation will be as discerning in the near future.
Godspeed Mr. Carter.

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Posted By: leon

Mr.Carter was what I consider one of the Old Guard. They just don't make them like that anymore. True character and integrity from the "old world", when times were a bit simpler. Our world is less of a place today because of this loss. My prayers are with Ms.Irma in this time of sorrow...I very much 2nd what Bob said right above this post...regards

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Posted By: jay wolt

Indeed! Very sad news!

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Posted By: J Levine

I am very saddened by this news...my thoughts and condolences to Lionel's family and friends...

Lionel was giant of the hobby and a giant in life.

Joshua

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Posted By: Jim Dale

Everything anyone ever wrote about him seemed good! Can't get much better then that...God Bless.

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Posted By: T206Collector

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Posted By: John S

A sad day for the hobby. Rest in peace Lionel. I am proud to own a small piece of your collection.

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Posted By: dennis

sad day indeed. RIP

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Posted By: jP

The hobby lost a great one. My prayers are with the Carter family. God Bless.

my collection: http://s102.photobucket.com/albums/m95/obaks/

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Posted By: Tim Kindler

My condolences and warm wishes towards Mr. Carter's friends and family. From what I understand, he was a great person and a great American Hero. It was a blessing that he was able to live such a full life, but a sad thing that he is gone. He will be missed on this earth and by the hobby. Warm wishes to all who knew him.
Tim Kindler

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Posted By: jay wolt

Nice T206's

I'm fortunate to have some of Mr Carter's cards.

Here's a few of them...











edited scan size

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Posted By: Jason Carota

RIP to a true hobby and American hero. My condolences to his family.

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Posted By: Ricky Y

My condolences to the Carter Family as well. He's a Hall of Famer amongst the card collecting hobby!

Ricky Y

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Posted By: ali_lapoint

very sad news. is there a comprehensive checklist of his collection?

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Posted By: Jimmy

very said to hear, I think he really enjoyed life

and he will be remembered in this hobby always

Jimmy

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Posted By: Robert Klevens

I was very sad to hear this news. It was terrible that he had to sell his collection, that story was heartbreaking.

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Posted By: ali_lapoint

can someone tell the story of why his collection was sold? i don't know very much about mr. carter other than that he is a hobby legend and is either single handedly or partly responsible for the designations of most sets.

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Posted By: jay wolt

Ali - He had an attempted break in and decided to sell
everything via Mastro auctions as he figured his collection
could be stolen.

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Posted By: Craig W

Thank You Mr. Carter for your contributions to the hobby! RIP.

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Posted By: Anonymous

Jay, no, his collection WAS stolen but miraculously was returned intact. He then decided it was too risky to keep it.

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Posted By: barry arnold

it is so sad to hear this news.
a true giant has gone.
my deepest condolences and sympathy to friends and family

barry

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Posted By: Rob

i've never met him, but through all of the articles and pictures and his cards, it seems like i have. Like said before, he was a true collector that did it 100% for the love of the cards and not the money. Best wishes to his wife. Hopefully his book (military) will one day be published.

Rob

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Posted By: Richard Cline - RC

A sad day for the hobby, Mr. Carter will be missed greatly. I think he would be thrilled to see that many of his cards are being displayed in his memory.

My thoughts and prayers to his family.




resized scan

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Posted By: JimB

A truly sad day for the hobby.
JimB

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Posted By: Dustan Hedlin

One of my favorite cards; I'm glad I picked this up a few months ago.

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Posted By: Dan Koteles

I wish I could have met him to talk about the hobby.It would have been fun to talk about how he collected , remember opening packs,the excitement of hoping a certain find would be waiting in one of those. What the new looks would be, where he purchased, etc...

totally different then most conversation.The nice thing is that he had 90 yrs to tell these stories and I bet he was a very kind person . You rarely see peopele like him now as the simple & kind generation seem to be gone.

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Posted By: Mark Anderson

Truly a hobby pioneer who was not appreciated fully by the majority of today's hobbyists.

Andy blogged about Lionel last night here...

http://blogbeckett.wordpress.com/2008/09/02/a-sad-day-for-our-hobby/#comment-4993

Mark

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Posted By: Neal

I THINK HE TOUCHED ALL OF OUR LIVES WITH HIS WORLD RENOWNED COLLECTION!

TRULY AN ICON,WHO WILL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN!

GOD BLESS HIM AND HIS FAMILY!

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Posted By: James Gallo

This man was amazing and that is obvious by how he has touched us all either directly or through his collectiong. I am sure most if not all of us have 1 or more cards from his collection and I know that the ones I have carry a special meaning that is more then just the card and the slab.

He did a great deal for us and more then probablyy most of us realize.

A great loss and my thoughts go out to his familiy.

His life and love of the cards will go on through our collections and to me that is one thing the rest of us can only hope for.

James G

Looking for 1915 Cracker Jacks and 1909-11 American Caramel E90-1.

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Posted By: Brian Goldner

Terribly saddened to hear this news.

Though i never had the privilege of meeting Mr. Carter, he touched my life in the hobby, as he has with many others.

Recently, Bruce posted a copy of an article that was written by Mr. Carter, that appeared in the Sport Hobbyist Issue of May-June, 1962, which had a significant impact on me as well.

I first read the article in 1970, when i received this issue (along with several other SH issues) from Mr. Nagy at the first Detroit Show, in September of that year.

As a result, the Delong Gum Set has always been a favorite of mine (and remains so to this day), though it obviously isn't nearly as difficult of a set to collect, as it was back then.

Thus, i wish to say Thank You Mr. Carter, for your service to this Country, and for your enormous contributions to the hobby.

God Bless You.
May You rest in peace.

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Posted By: Pcelli60

This picture of him in uniform(note the C.I.B. badge) is better than ALL he collected. Many Americans today would do well to follow in his proud footsteps..
R.I.P

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Posted By: Mike

I was also sorry to hear about Carter's death. It would have been great to talk cards with him. My dad is 86 and he recalls trying to find card # 106 in the 1933 Goudey set. He went to WWII and came home and all his cards were throw away. I started up again in 1958.

Note: I know Carter must have went thru 100,000 's of pre-WWII cards and was always upgrading and trading to improve his collection and I have seen lots of cards that he had since the 1930's and they grade only 2's and 4's etc. Where are all these new T and E cards coming from graded 8's and 9's ???? If they weren't around in the 1930's hard to believe they are still in that condition almost 80 years later. Hard to believe a 100 year old card has never slipped out of someones hand and landed on the floor or got nicked in a box.