New Member...

[Leon]

Hi John, welcome aboard. Great story. I got back into collecting after collecting as a kid in the late 60s and early 70s, about 17 yrs ago. I have been addicted ever since. I do type card collecting from 1900-1949 and love every minute of it. We have a a lot of very friendly folks on here and many of us have know each other for a lot of years. I mainly post on the pre-war side but venture over here sometimes. I have a few oddball miscut and freakish post-war cards. Good luck in the hunt and happy collecting!! (Be sure to participate in the contests on the main board, we have them very often and someone always wins). Let me know if I can ever help.

[hangman62]

Welcome John,
You got me thinking..I might use this Mantle card as a down payment on a house .

[Bocabirdman]

Originally Posted by hangman62

Welcome John,
You got me thinking..I might use this Mantle card as a down payment on a house .

That card would only work south of the equator...

John..Welcome back to the hobby. Good luck in your search.

[ValKehl]

John, welcome back to the hobby and to Net 54. I truly enjoyed reading your collecting history. I have a gut feeling that before too long, you'll get the itch to dive into pre-War cards (gotta stay one step ahead of your brother!).

I met Killebrew once, at a local card show c. 1990. After his signing commitment was finished, he didn't just disappear like most signers do. Rather, he roamed the aisles of the show for a couple of hours, chatting with collectors and dealers and answering all the questions that were thrown at him. He came across to me as one superduper-nice person. Funny thing is, I was not a Killebrew fan when he first came to the Senators, my home-town team, as a "bonus baby" in the mid-1950s - I thought the Senators made a huge mistake because he struck out so much in his early days. I was a Little Leaguer at that time, and it was a Cardinal sin to my Dad whenever I struck out, because Dad always preached contact hitting to me - consequently, my/our heroes were the .300 batters who hit mostly singles! Besides, I was a skinny kid who managed to hit only one home run during my entire Little League career!

I, too, got back into collecting as an adult, in the 1980s. Fortunately, Mom didn't throw out my 1955 - 1960 childhood collection (yes, I still have my Killebrew rookie card from my childhood days). I had no idea that bb cards existed long, long before WWII until I discovered bb card shows and went to a couple of them. After a few years of working towards completing my 1955 - 1960 Topps & Bowman sets and starting some earlier 1950s sets and later 1960s sets, I went to Bill Huggins' (now Huggins & Scott Auctions) shop one day and traded him some of my 1960 Topps dupes for a T207 Walter Johnson - this is when the bug hit me to focus on pre-War cards, which I have done ever since.

Hope this dissertation hasn't put everyone to sleep!
Val

[BruceinGa]

Welcome!
My story is similar to yours. I started collecting in 1960 then grew tired of it in 1964. In 1988 I started again, along with my 12 and 15 year old sons. We bought early 60's and my younger son concentrated on the 63 fleer set. We lost interest in the new cards and gave it up. My younger son called me a couple of months ago, explaining PSA and card grading.
We're both back into it, me with 61 topps and he with 83 and 84 Topps.

[CobbSpikedMe]

Welcome back to the hobby John and welcome aboard here at N54. You'll find a wealth of knowledge here. But be careful, if you venture to the prewar side you may get hooked on that as well.

Best of luck to you with your collecting adventure.

AndyH

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[ALR-bishop]

Welcome, John

[Paul S]

Howdy, John -- and thanks for sharing your story

[Harliduck]

Thanks for the welcome!

I have been looking at the pre-war stuff and you aren't kidding. Wow. That is what is really cool about collecting now verses 20 years ago, the internet has made these cards accessible to buy, or even just to see. All I had when I was a kid was some old books, and when I got a beat up 59 Jim Perry when I was around 10, I thought I had something out of King Tuts grave and was the hero of the neighborhood...now I can scroll around and find Old Judge cards...just crazy. I've seen cards here in the last few days that quite frankly belong in museums, just awesome. The knowledge and the collections the folks here have are simply unbelievable.

As for the downpayment on the house...my first house as a 19 year old in 1989 was $69K. Sold all three of those cards for just under $2k at the time. This was long before grading, but they seemed pristine at the time, easily 7's I would guess. I would say it was a good investment because I sold that house 3 years later for $122K, which means the sold money did better than the cards. I have no idea what those three would sell for if they were all 7s today? I can tell you hangman, I would have traded anyone of those 3 cards for that 66 Mantle back then, HAHA...well, maybe not...

[novakjr]

Welcome aboard John...

Great story, and I like the 59 Jim Perry/Tut's Grave comment...I think we all had that 1 card in our youth.. As embarrassing as it sounds, for me it was a 66 Jim Lefebvre.

And while we're all posting pics of our dogs...