1979; that important year

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Posted By: Rich Klein

Some of the hobby highlights of 1979:

1) Frank and Vivian Barning Begin Publishing Baseball Hobby News. Many of you have read these old papers; and if you do; you are aware of just how advanced journalistically they were compared to anyone else printing in the hobby at that time.

2) CPU Begins Publishing: For Better or for worse; CPU became our 1st monthly hobby pricing publication and added to the growth of the hobby.

3) Dr. Jim Beckett along with the late Denny Eckes publish both the 1st Sports Americana Baseball Guide and Football Guide. There is little doubt just how important the Beckett Brand has become

4) The plans for the 1st National Convention were announced.

5) In an un-related note -- I did my 1st card show that year at the old beloved Montclair State College location

In all seriousness, 1979 was a year in the hobby much like 1968 was politically. Couple of questions --

1) Was there ever another year with as many important hobby developements (sans #5) and if you were around in 1979; what do you remember about that year as a hobbyist

Regards
Rich

Edited to fix a word I did not mean to type AND then to put my name back on this thread

And then edited to add a word that needed to be there. I feel like David Rudd now

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Posted By: Dan Bretta

I remember walking to the Shop EZ and buying packs of cards...that's all I remember of 1979 as far as the hobby goes. I don't think I bought my first CPU until about 1983 from a dealer set up at the flea market. I did buy the Sport Americana guide...I think mine is #2 though so I must have bought my first price guide around 1980.

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Posted By: peter ullman

I was recently perusing The Sports Collectors Bible 3rd edition...released in 1979...and I was/am amazed at how much more we know today about vintage cards than we did then. Some Observations:



Back then:



-regarding d359's...Williams Baking isn't even mentioned as a possible back variation.

-regarding e94's...it wasn't known all fronts are available with all backs...and it lists black and white cards on heavy cardboard with a blank back...has anyone seen these?

-only 2 n167's known...connor and esterbrook.

-33 butter cream ruth not known to exist

-t213-3 not mentioned





I'm sure there are numerous others people can add.



And drum backed t206's sold for a .50-.75 premium...those were the days.

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Posted By: Chris Counts

I seem to recall that 1979 was also the last year of the Topps monopoly. They must have lost some kind of court battle, because next year, Fleer entered the market and soon Donruss followed.

Also, I wasn't aware the National started that year. Prior to 1979, I attended shows that were billed, at least by some, as the "National." One was in Anaheim, CA and the other, I believe, was in Pontiac, MI ...

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Posted By: Rich Klein

Although the court case was started long before then. Fleer and Donruss entered the new card market for good in 1981

Rich

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Posted By: leslie westbrook

If it hadn't been for 1979, I wouldn't be here to enjoy this hobby...I was born in December of that year.

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Posted By: Dan Bretta

Which song captures 1979 better?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2snP7rGP6g

or

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSDh94eQTAk

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Posted By: Rich Klein

The Sister Sledge Song is more realistic towards what 1979 was like.

Rich

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Posted By: Dan Bretta

Or Pittsburgh during the World Series. That's the only reason I remember that song.

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Posted By: JimB

CPU was a blast from the past! Hadn't thought about that in a while. It is interesting too that only 2 N167s were cataloged at that time.
JimB

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Posted By: Mark Macrae

Great post Rich...Hard to believe it was 30 years ago. A quick perusal this morning through some 1979 hobby publications brought back a lot of familiar names... Some no longer with us... Larry Fritsch was doing auctions).. Others who are still very active (Bruce Dorskind wrote an article on Rare 1930's issues in TTS). Some who have changed locations (Kit Young was in sunny Vancouver,Wa looking to buy Ex-Mt sets of '55 Doubleheaders for $750, 2/3 of that price paid for VG;, Jim Beckett was in Ohio selling 500 different autographed Topps cards from '55-'75 for $100. Other news included the RW Baldwin plastic sheets, which were the hottest thing going. It wasn't until the late 80's that people started realizing how bad poly vinyl chloride was for paper artifacts. The Southern California Labor Day show (pre-National days) was one of the best West Coast shows going. 8 Foot tables for the three day show were a whopping $35; $30 if you stayed at the hotel....When I graduated high school in June, I had reached 3100 different Zeenuts, had finished off most of my post war sets (that were of interest) and was actually thinking I'd run out of things to collect by the time I was 30... Boy was I wrong...

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Posted By: Kevin Struss

Mark, that Southern California Labor Day show was amazing. I would bet that is where we originally met. I remeber saving up my money all year for that show. The auctions were a blast. Good times. Kevin.

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Posted By: barrysloate

I didn't get into the hobby until 1982...next to Kevin and Mark I feel like a newbie.

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Posted By: ralph

1979..
and how about that Oh so rare Bump Wills varitaion card...I recall it got to the point where both of his cards were highly sought after ..quite silly today.and even back then I thought!

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Posted By: Rich Klein

The Earl Campbell Rookie; and who would realize those would be the last cards issued of Campbell during his HOF career.

Rich

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Posted By: Mark Macrae

Kevin, You may be right on the timeframe. I seem to remember meeting you and Tony Alfaro at the same time/ show. This was also about the same time I met David Kohler, whose family was working with him. We were all teenagers, except you were closer to the 13 or so age bracket.. The two big Southern Cal shows (Memorial Day & Labor Day) will always have a special spot in my memory banks. Great people, great material...great prices... At the time we all thought that Goodie Goldfaden was overpriced with those $20 Turkey Reds and $75 Goudey Ruths. Barry, you missed a lot in those three years. The early 80's brought the first big hobby recession, and many prices fell significantly around' 82. The Mantle rookie dropped 75% ($3000 to $800) in that timeframe. We can recall those days when their 30th anniversary comes up in a few years...

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Posted By: Tony Gordon

Sorry, I'm not a regular but I'd like to chime in about 1979 since I was actively purchasing cards that year. That was the year I discovered SCD and purchased the first Beckett Baseball price guide. I'm pretty sure the first football price guide didn't come out until 1980 or 1981. Needless to say, I miss those days when I could buy 1956 Topps commons for a quarter a pop at the old Twin Drive-In flea market in the Chicago suburb of Wheeling. Dozens of dealers were out every Sunday at this particular flea market. I was a teenager working at a day camp and blew my pay checks all summer long buying cards at the Twin or the old Hillside Holiday Inn shows where EX stars (Clemente, Koufax) from '56 were going for 10 bucks a pop. I also bought quite a few cards and supplies via mail order from Den's Collector's Den in Maryland. I still have some of the Den's inscribed plastic sheets.

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Posted By: sagard

Outstanding year. After getting shut down the two previous summers, this eight year landed a 1979 Rod Carew. My third grade teacher made me write sentences because I had it in my desk and kept staring at it all day. I don't think she ever figured out what I was doing and probably wouldn't have believed me had I told her.

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Posted By: leon

I have only been in the hobby since the mid 1990's but I do collect old hobby periodicals. I remember seeing a Den's hobby Den periodical too. I always thought that was a strange name.
BTW, in 1979 I was in Okinawa in the USMC....running up and down hills in my cammy's and shooting things. best regards

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Posted By: boxingcardman

I was 14 that summer. Rack packs at the monthly West Coast Card Club shows in Northridge. Kind of a rerun design from 1976. Never could seem to find that Schmidt centered no matter how many I cracked. I was taking a table most months selling and buying mostly 1950s-1960s cards from large groups I'd been given by family friends.

My then favorite player Thurman Munson died. I remember going into the bathroom at my house for a quiet cry and saving the newspaper clippings of his funeral and tributes.

I used to get my parents to take me to the Labor Day show and the Thanksgiving show. And I too would save for months for it.

The most fun for me was getting boxes of old cards from people and sifting through them for buried treasures. I must have gotten several different boxes of cards from friends and family members. My late aunt found a shoebox full of old cards in an antique store and sent it to me. A family friend with three grown boys handed me a giant packing box full of cards; the greatest sorting party of my life that night.

Has it really been 30 years?



Sic Gorgiamus Allos Subjectatos Nunc

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Posted By: barrysloate

Mark- my earliest memories of the hobby was going to shows in 1982, and the Pete Rose rookie was so hot that dealers would have them on their tables with a "not for sale" sign next to them. I was fascinated that a baseball card could be in such demand. Back then nice ones were selling for about $200-250, but the feeling was they had no place to go but up, so dealers merely put them in their display cases to draw crowds.

It was so much fun because almost everything I saw was for the first time. I knew nothing of vintage cards, as they were such a small part of the hobby. Rookie cards were hot, and vending cases were gold.

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Posted By: Michael Steele

1979 Wow. Still a teen but my first year I had real cash and really got into the hobby.

I was neurotic waiting for the bi weekly SCD or Monthly Trader Speaks in the mail. When it came, I devoured the pages for deals. Everything was by mail so had to write my letters quickly. Remember buying stuff from George Girsch (Oldies But Goodies), Steve Mitnick, Caron Ritchey/Clay Hill, Gary Nuchereno, B.A Murray etc etc. Halls Nostalgia was a fixture on the back covers.

I remember the hype for the Bump Wills Ranger or Jay cards and Burger King Nettles cards as well as Rotman Plastic pages. I bit into the hype by purchasing the "Johnny Pro Oriole standup" set and the "ultra" rare card of Orlando Pena (no cut out) that was offered by the Sport Hobbyist out of Detriot (I think). Still have them in the original mailing envelope. I really thought that card would be worth thousands by now .

Anyway, my first card show was not until April, 1980 in St.Louis so I was a mail order fiend in 1979. Great memories.

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Posted By: Wayne Kemper

Barry wrote:

"Mark- my earliest memories of the hobby was going to shows in 1982, and the Pete Rose rookie was so hot that dealers would have them on their tables with a "not for sale" sign next to them. I was fascinated that a baseball card could be in such demand. Back then nice ones were selling for about $200-250, but the feeling was they had no place to go but up, so dealers merely put them in their display cases to draw crowds."


I'm sure they were open to offers. Granted I was only 3 years old at the time, and probably playing/creasing bb cards and tearing them vs. collectiong them and cherishing them as I do now, but every dealer has a price IMHO. AHHH To be a collecter in those days. What were t206's going for around then??? Commons, Stars, COBB? I swear I'd just have to buy up everyone I found. Listen- Im gonna be the first volunteer to man a time machine if ever invented...mark my words....lol

Wayne

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Posted By: barrysloate

I bought my first T206 common about 1983, a Bob Groom in maybe VG-EX condition, for $4.

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Posted By: Wayne Kemper

oooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh SWEET! Does anybody else get nearly orgasmic just thinking about that?!?! LOLOL JOKE Bad one at that.

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Posted By: Kevin Struss

Barry, we must have met on the phone shortly after you got in the hobby. I vividly remember buying E cards and T cards from you when I was still in high school (graduated in 1986).

Mark, the first of the Labor Day/Memorial Day shows that I went to was in 1978 when I was 11. I remember talking my Dad into dropping me off in the morning and picking me up when the show closed. I had not yet even met Tony Alfaro. I think that I met him a couple of years later when he was working for Tony Galovich. He was probably only 12 at the time. I remember saving up $500 from my paper routes and then going on a two day spending spree at that show.

edited to add name

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Posted By: Richard Cline - RC

1979 - Just getting out of college and I didn't have a clue of what vintage cards were. To me, anything in the 50's was vintage.

Interesting to discuss Baseball Hobby News, I had an uncle who was very into selling cards and he hired me to peddle the BHN to local cardshops as well as cards in this part of Ohio. It was fun meeting some of the owners and of course I was paid..... (in cards).

RC

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Posted By: Andrew

The Knack.

"Take your life in your own hands and what happens? A terrible thing: no one to blame." -- Erica Jong

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Posted By: barrysloate

Kevin- I began advertising regularly in SCD in late 1983, and once I built up a modest mailing list I started to send out typewritten flyers (I sure miss my GE Selectric), so that is probably when we met.

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Posted By: JohnnyH

I bought my first packs of baseball cards this year. We would trade the cards in the dugout at our baseball league games. I turned 9 that june and my mom gave me 6 packs for my birthday and I pulled a Pete Rose and Pete Rose RB, I still have them both. I didn't get my first guide until 1982 and still use it for reference all the time. The Dens ad's were great, the hot chick in a Yankees shirt and tight shorts was over the top !!

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Posted By: David M

I just happen to have the SCD in my desk from Wednesday December 31, 1980. Not exactly 1979, but close. There is an article by Tom Gregg called "Off The Top Of My Head". He lists the most valuable baseball cards at the time. It's kind of tough to take!



#1 American Tobacco Honus Wagner iss. 1909, $12,500

#2 Goudey Napoleon Lajoie iss. 1934, $6500

#3 American Tobacco Eddie Plank iss. 1909 $5000

#4 Topps Jim Konstanty Standup iss. 1951, $2500

#5 Topps Mickey Mantle iss. 1952, $1700

#6 Bowman Ted Williams iss. 1954, $1075

#7 American Tobacco Sherry Magee iss. 1909, $950

#8 Topps Willie Mays iss. 1953, $700

#9 Topps Henry Aaron iss. 1954, $300

#9 Topps Roger Maris Yankees variation iss. 1967, $300



I'm not sure what the Top 10 would be today, but I know #1 hasn't changed. Unfortunately, I was just graduating high school in 1979 and was constantly broke.

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Posted By: Andrew

Percentage wise, ROI on #2 isn't all that great (depending on condition.)

"Take your life in your own hands and what happens? A terrible thing: no one to blame." -- Erica Jong

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Posted By: Mark Macrae

According to the First Sport Americana in 1979, the values listed for T-206 cards were as follows.... (First price is for MINT, Second price is for VG-Ex, Third price is for Fair-Good).. Common Major Leaguers ($1.60, $1.20, $0.50), Common Minor Leaguers ($1.80, $1.35, $0.60), Common Southern Leaguers ($5,$4.25,$2), Demmitt ($120, $90, $40), Cobbs...all were priced the same ($20,$15,$7.50), Wagner ($4800, $4000,$2000).... A few notes to this.. The definition of Mint has changed significantly in 30 years, but as one who was buying T-206's in that period, nice commons ran about $2 each, lower grade ones were a quarter to 75 cents each..... Decent Cobbs were readily available in the $10-20 range ... The difference in value between the grades was much closer, but all grades clearly have increased in value. There was a sharp rise by the mid 80's. One lurker on this board regrets not purchasing solid Excellent condition T-206's from me when they were $8-12 each (and I had literally thousands in stock) in the mid 80's........ Kevin , my first Anaheim show was in '75. I still have the handwritten note that JIm Nowell sent me inviting me to his house before the show started.... I Remember Tony Galovich having nice cards, but don't recall Tony A setting up with him (I thought Tony A came with his father...could be wrong). He was set up against the back wall from the main entrance. John Spalding set up on the wall left of the main entrance and Goldfaden was on the right...always had nice stuff. At the time, I thought Tony G was one of those 'old guys' but in reality he was only 7-10 years older than me (Tony...you're not on Social Security yet, are you) ........ Dan, despite how some people look back fondly at disco music, I was never one to like it in the day (or now). In the Bay Area, we had a late night disc jockey on 98.5 in San Jose. His stage name was Dennis Erectus and he used to do "wreck-a record' on Saturday nights, attacking the BeeGees, Village People, Barry Manilow, etc and destroy the record on air, while supplying commentary the FCC abhorred...... Of course, I never listened to him, I was always studying on Saturday nights....... Lynard Skynard, Led Zeppelin or The Outlaws "Green Grass & High Tides" was much more popular in our world.... Probably explains my increasing difficulty in hearing these days..

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Posted By: Anonymous

I unfortunately invested my life savings in Bob Horner rookies that year. Only to double down on Joe Charboneau a few years later. Similar returns to the current stock market.

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Posted By: Glyn Parson

1979 was also the first year I bought baseball cards. I still rememberit I was 7 and I bought some packs with my parents at the old Tulpehocken Dairy Farms Mini Market on State Hill Road in Wyomissing Pa. The only card I remeber from the pack was the Rose record breaker/highlight card.
Thanks for bringing back the memory Rich.

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Posted By: Tom Russo

In 1979, while I was away at grad school, my brother sold my stamp collection and all the thousands of baseball cards we had collected from 1962 to 1972. I think he got maybe $150.00. He needed the money to paint his Firebird. It never did get painted as he totalled it on the way to the body shop. At least I can't blame Mom for throwing them away.

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Posted By: John

Bought my first complete set, the 1979 Topps, and my first Beckett guide. It was also the year I discovered my grandmother had saved my Dad's childhood cards, a great selection of 800-900 early 50s cards, primarily 1951 Bowman, 1953 Bowman Color, and 1951-54 Topps, which cemented me as a collector for life. I still remember the '53 Mantle had a top price of $200.

I also remember you could get tons of cards for virtually nothing. We had a local coin and stamp dealer in town that had huge boxes of late-60s and early-mid-70s. I completed a huge percentage of my 1968-1977 sets from this place at $.03 each (including many stars).

In fact, the value of cards was realized so little that work friends of my father would take nice 60s and 70s cards and paste their faces on them, then xerox the results into newsletters to make them look like ballplayers. Lord knows how many good cards were ruined in this way, but I do remember my Dad getting a '73 Schmidt rookie from one guy just before it got this treatment.

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Posted By: CN

My fondest memories of that year as far as collecting go was helping setting the monthly shows at the Golden Gate Motor Inn in Brooklyn. When BHN came out I remember the Barnings ask me to help man their auxilary table at several shows for a nomimal fee and sell their paper. Being a teenager I spent all my extra money on cards. I remember a couple of dealers from Queens came up with the novel idea of selling 2 full factory boxes of cards 500 a piece and whatever cards you needed to complete the set up to 150 cards they would send you for the price of a whole set(this was before Topps collated whole sets I believe).

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Posted By: writehooks

I was 22 and working as a sportswriter on Vancouver Island. When the OPC hockey cards were released in the fall, all the buzz was about the four "new" teams the NHL had absorbed from the World Hockey Association: the Edmonton Oilers, Winnipeg Jets, Quebec Nordiques and Hartford Whalers. Collectors were chasing the logo cards of the new clubs, but me and buddy decided to concentrate on card No. 18, a skinny 18-year-old in Edmonton named Wayne Gretzky. By December, through trades (mostly for the logo cards) and buying (no more than $5 for absolutely pristine examples), we had accumulated FIFTEEN 9-pocket sheets of nrmt-mt OPC Gretzky rookies. We took a bunch to a show in Seattle in January and sold exacly three for the grand total of $70 (the best one went for $30, the other two $20 apiece). Still, we figured we'd struck gold, and at the next show, a two-day spring gathering in Vancouver, we sold another 40 of the cards for an average of $40 each.

That original stash of 135 rookie cards was completely gone by 1981, and I think the most we ever got for a single card was about $100. I also recall taking three Gretzkys to the first national convention at the L.A. Marriott. I sold two within 10 minutes of walking into that friendly little show, and traded the other one for a complete set of World Football League media guides and pennants. I thought that was a hell of a deal...

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Posted By: john wondowski

I was at Penn State in the Fall of 1979 and had ads running in The Trader Speaks. Lew Lipset called me up and bought two 1933 Goudey Bengoughs for $75 each!! We drank a lot of beer that night!