REFLECTIONS of YOUTH

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Posted By: William Heitman

I met Frank through the mail in the early sixties. He began producing a series of cards that were reprints, in B & W, of some of his favorite cards. He called it the Sport Hobbysit Famous Card Series. The First 5 were done in 1963--T206 Wagner, T212 Henley, San Francisco, C46 Simmons, Rochester, M116 Mathewson, M101-5 Jack Berry. In 1964 he added T204 Brown, D322 Webb, S74 Criger, N.Y. Amer. and he moved from Wade St. in Detroit to 25th St. in Detroit. In 1965, he completed the series of 20 cards with R333 Cuyler, R319 #106, T205 McGraw, E107 Joss, W502 Sisler, N29 Ewing, E90 Bender, E104 Mullin, E95 Merkle, E121 Schang, N28 Keefe and E120 Ruel. The Sport Hobbyist advertised in the American Card Catalog which was published in 1960 I had already had contact with many of the people who advertised in it, but the next few years, I set out to contact every one of them that I, or my Father, didn't already know. That search took me to The Sport Hobbyist in Dorsey, Illinios and somehow led me to Frank Nagy, who I corresponded with from that time on and who I met up with maybe 10 to 12 times. The first ten years or so, we traded cards back and forth through the mail. And then the auctions started coming and "trading" with him kind of stopped, but not altogether. One thing that really drove me crazy with him was his "about mint" grade for cards. I remember one time talking to him on the phone and asking about this grade. His response was pretty typically Frank--Well, it looks mint but it's probably not." By the way, he sold those Sport Hobbyist Cards for 60 cents each, more than was charged for most T206s back then.