So here you guys are! A collector's story.

[M's_Fan]

I've been collecting vintage baseball cards since 2003. But I never knew there was a forum where all you folks hung out!

Let me tell my story: I collected cards as a kid in the 80's, but as I got interested in girls, etc., and the card companies overproduced and made it impossible to collect anyway, I quit the hobby in the early 90's.

One day I sat down with my Dad and watched the second inning of Ken Burns' baseball documentary. The second inning was all about the deadball era, and it blew my mind how awesome baseball was back then! Fans walking on the field after games, players sharing beds, no outfield fence, fires in the stands, players like Mathewson, Waddell, 3 finger Brown, it was amazing!

I started buying old photos of deadball era players. Then for some odd reason in 2003 I stumbled on a T206 card on eBay. Wow! The white border, the beautiful colors, I was hooked!

I started collecting low grade loose T206 commons. At first I hated graded cards, "Why pay someone to tell me how good my card is, I know that myself!" That was my attitude. I even bought a few graded cards and cracked em' open! Screw you PSA and all you snobby collectors! That was my motto.

After a while, I realized I wanted to pass on my collection to my son, and having them graded would make it easy in case he ever needed to sell them. It also made my collection easier to insure. And while the other card graders holder's look awful in my opinion, the SGC holder finally won me over. It presents a card in a beautiful manner. Plus SGC doesn't have any stupid membership fees. Off track...

So I had my T206 collection slabbed. Over a hundred of them. A few hall of famers and mostly commons. With this mound of slabbed cards I realized I needed a direction. So I sold off everything but the hall of famers. Pretty soon I was after higher grades, you know how that goes...

Its taken me over 7 years of eBay auctions, but last month I finally got the last card and finished my T206 Master HOF Set: every T206 hall of famer, minus Wagner and Plank. It is #2 of its type on the SGC registry (see link in my signature).

I was pretty excited about this achievement, but I didn't have anyone to share it with! Of course I'm not done, I'd like to get every card be SGC 40 or above. But we'll see if I do that, because I'm very partial to some of my cards that happen to be graded lower than 40.

Beyond T206, I've started a new set, that includes a single card from what I consider the "all time great players" of the pre-war through the 50's era.

So that's my story if anyone bothered to read it. Nice to meet some like minded folks!

[Robextend]

Originally Posted by M's_Fan

Let me tell my story: I collected cards as a kid in the 80's, but as I got interested in girls, etc., and the card companies overproduced and made it impossible to collect anyway, I quit the hobby in the early 90's.

I stopped collecting around the same time for the exact same reason. Awesome story, and hope to hear a lot more from you on this forum.

[DeanH3]

Congrats on your accomplishment!! This is a great place to visit for the card-o-holics like me.

[iggyman]

Great story and quite an achievement(!), but I'm afraid that without a Seinfeld reference most Net54ers will not read this thread. Sorry about that, a classic rookie mistake...

Lovely Day...

[barrysloate]

We'll keep the Seinfeld references in one thread only...welcome to the board!

[T206Collector]

Many of us have traveled here in parallel paths....

[Leon]

Great story and welcome aboard!!! Yes, this is where most of us vintage collectors seem to gravitate too....It's all what you make it. And I will say it again, thanks to those, like our newest member, who share. I truly feel that is part of what makes this hobby so much fun.

[tonyk1975]

Congratulations on your accomplishment and I could totally relate to your story.