Joe Pelaez

[Sam523]

Joe was a family friend for a good 50+ years. I'm only 35, so I've known him all my life. I just found out this morning and I'm totally shocked. I googled him and found this board. Not surprised he hung out here ... he really loved those older cards. I tried to get him out to California for my dad's 60th birthday party a couple of years ago but it didn't work out.

I thought I'd drop a couple of Joe stories that were kind of funny.

When I was about 12 or 13 back in 1987, we went to a big card show in Anaheim. I'm an Angels fan and at the time, the hot card was a Wally Joyner rookie. We were at an auction they were having there and he bought something ... I don't remember what, but it probably cost around $10. At that time, I was totally into the value of every card. So in the car after the show, I asked him how much whatever it was that he bought was worth. Well Joe saw me as a fairly young kid and wanted me, above all, to have fun with the hobby. So he said, "Let me ask you, Sam, what price do you put on enjoyment?" I thought he asked what price I put on a Joyner. So when I answered, "I don't know ... about six bucks" ... he was pretty shocked. We cleared up the confusion and all was well.

For college, I went to Kansas State University. At the time, the football team was very good, like top 5 in the country. When he was young, he was recruited to play football there, but they were terrible, like 0-for-the-season terrible. He went in for his recruiting trip and saw the game film of KSU getting pummeled by Oklahoma. I remember talking to him for a couple of hours about his recruiting trip. He told me, "After seeing those films, I did something that I thought was safer than playing football at Kansas State ... I joined the Marines and went and fought in Korea!"

I know a lot of you met Joe or maybe only knew him via online. He was a super-nice guy and was always just a big kid, even when he was in his 70s. It doesn't surprise me at all that he got into it online with folks in debates, but if you ever met him, you would have really liked the time he spent with you. He was a super friendly guy.

Anyways, I just heard about this today and I'm pretty sad about it. When he didn't make it out to my dad's party, I knew I probably wouldn't see him again, and I was right.

I figure this is probably the best place to post this about him.

[bijoem]

thank you for that post Sam.
It is very nice to hear about Joe.


I've posted before in this thread - but again....
RIP joe.
My condolences to the family.

[barrysloate]

Thanks Sam for sharing those stories.

[Tcards-Please]

Sam,

Welcome to the board and sorry for your loss. Thank you for sharing some of your stories. I will truly miss his contribution to the hobby and board discussions.

r/
Frank

[Leon]

Thanks for the warm memories you had of him, Sam. I especially like the value of enjoyment at $6 .

On another note I need to correct an earlier statement I made. It really does personify Joe. About the time this new board s/w was put into place Joe was at odds with a few board members. Now remember, I always liked Joe, regardless of the squabbles he got into on the board. I got emails from a few regulars saying that if Joe persisted then they would leave the board. Well, I had to ask Joe to stay away from those few folks on the board. Joe, in his ever direct way, told me "sorry Leon, I just can't do it". So, Joe left voluntarily for a while. He never was suspended from the board. He left for a while on his own. Then, several months later, he came back and was mostly very civil the second time around, especially with respect to those few people I had asked him to stay away from. I just wanted to clear up the point as I know Joe would have taken me to task for it. Good ole Joe. He was cosistent. I am so very sorry I didn't get to meet him in person but at least I got to have a few (lengthy ) phone calls with him. Bless his heart.

[barrysloate]

I was of course exhibit #1 among the people Leon asked Joe to stay away from. I tried recently to smooth things out with him on the board but I didn't stand a chance. I guess once Joe set his mind on something, that was it. I have to say it did upset me that he and I had such a poor rapport. Well, as I said earlier, I have no hard feelings any more.

[rc4157]

Sorry to hear the sad news, condolences to Joe's family. It's tough to lose a contributor to this board.
RC

[sreader3]

This is sad news. My initial encounter with Joe was as a neophyte poster on this Board when he scolded me in a sort of "who the hell are you?" way for suggesting that there might be certain errors in Heitman's The Monster. Having gotten to know Joe better in several phone conversations in the last couple of years, I came to appreciate that this initial hazing was Joe's personal initiation rite to our great hobby, born out of his deep love and respect for its traditions.

As others have said, Joe's often gruff Board persona masked a certain sweetness in the man that revealed itself in more personal settings. On the phone, Joe was jovial, quick with a joke and generous with his time. One lesson I will take from Joe is to try and keep written conversations as cordial as oral ones.

I more often than not disagreed with Joe on policy questions. But now that he is gone, I already miss him--much in the same way I missed Howard Cosell on Monday Night Football after he departed. Agree with him or not, Joe was a life force to be felt, and not ignored.

Rest in peace.

[Marckus99]

Wow. I don't know what to really say...

Although I have dropped out of the hobby, due to financial issues, and have been selling off my beaters, I would still call him every couple of months.
Seems like I just spoke to him...maybe in late March. I knew his health was failing
but he never once went into details.

I sold him a few of my T210s - a set he said he was crazy to try and put together
at his advanced age. He was close to the T217 set, missing a couple or so.
He had multiples of the T209 set.

We shared a common interest in old Cuban cards and a NYC childhood.

He would always retell his story of his T206 Doyle, how he got it, KO and the master card doctor - I forget his name.

He was great, always willing to share his knowledge and time with me.

He would tell me he would always keep an eye out for a 1922 Zeenut Cueto for me.

He will be very missed indeed.

As he always would end our conversations...."quidate", in spanish sincerely meaning
to take care of yourself.

Quidate, Joe. Until we meet again.

[Tom Hyland]

I have been a close friend of Joe Pelaez for nearly 20 years and frequently attended the Chantilly Baseball Card Show with Joe. For nearly all that time,
Joe and I had seats together at the Prince William County Carolina League (now Potomac Nationals) games. Joe was a Yankee fan and hence his user name of "Potomac YanK.

A mutual friend of ours phoned today to let me know that there was a thread on this site dedicated to Joe. Joe and I attended the Chantilly show on Friday April 23rd and he came to my home that evening for dinner and to discuss the show and what he had bought. Joe called me on Friday April 24th to discuss an issue with the renewal of his apartment rental lease. He also sent my wife and I an email on Saturday April 25th with one of his many jokes. Apparently, Joe died on this later day.

Without getting into details, Joe has had several illnesses over the past three years (as have I) which made it very difficult for us to walk into and around stadiums or card shows. However, I understand that Joe was believed by the Loudoun County (Virginia) Rescue Squad to have died of a heart attack.

For those of you who had disagreements with Joe, please know that even Joe would, from time to time, disagree with Joe. Even we had disagreements, but as Korean War veterans our mutual experiences always overcame any temporary differences. Joe was a bonafide Korean War hero who was at Chosen Reservoir freeing in the ice and snow with a summer unform when the Chinese Communists threw everything they had at the Marines, and the Marines held strong!

Joe was my best friend for the last twenty years and I will miss him more that I can ever tell you1

If any one would like to commnicate with me about Joe, please email me at thyland3202@yahoo.com or call me at 703-0266-7640. I will be attending his memorial service in July.