My Hobby Mentor

[rjackson44]

I'm a type collector at heart ,Leon's cards rock

[Rich Klein]

in my Sportscollectorsdaily.com (a valued Net54 advertiser) my hobby mentor was Tom Reid. I learned a ton about this business from a lot of other people but Tom really taught me a ton about cards (and life)

Rich

[jcmtiger]

Back in the 1970's Dan Bowman got me started, he let me borrow his SCD which was published by Stomman in Milan Michigan. He had mint cards and saved the wrappers for all his sets. Jim Hamon was another friend who had/has a great collection.

Bought my 1st vintage from Frank Nagy and my 1st 2 Old Judge cards from Bill Mastro.

Joe

[MooseDog]

There were some great guys who "mentored by example" for me. Since I am based in California some of these names may not be familiar.

First and foremost, of course, Dick Dobbins. Not only did he put on the first "card shows" in the area back in the 1970s but no question was too dumb for an answer.

Many others, some who are not "big names" in the hobby - those who appreciated my early enthusiasm for "non-card" collectibles, especially autographs - and deserve mention are Steve Brunner, Stan Marks, Nick Peters, Doug McWilliams and Will Davis.

Rich Masson got me started on autographs through a chance meeting when my family was staying at a hotel near Disneyland that just happened to be hosting the Detroit Tigers. Rich and some others were "graphing" and I asked what they were doing. We kept in touch, introduced me to the Smalling book, and he later introduced me to several SoCal guys who dealt in autographs and the rest is history.

[Jantz]

Thank you for the kind words Clayton.

As far as a mentor, can't really say I've had one, but I always remember what one older collector said to me years ago.

He said "If all you buy is $10 cards, in ten years all your going to have is a collection full of $10 cards".

I understood what he was trying to say and shortly after that began collecting vintage.


Jantz

[camlov2]

I would say the majority of my card knowledge came from my Dad, Jim Horne. Second place is net54 as a whole (even though I haven't talked to any of you in person).

[edhans]

My hobby mentor, and that of almost every collector in Western New York, is Gary Nuchereno. I first viewed his tobacco and caramel collection (stored in several cigar boxes, of course) in 1981. I was instantly hooked. I worked in his store and have set up a shows with him since 1984. There are probably a dozen dealers or former dealers whose career was launched by Gary.

[Hot Springs Bathers]

I was very lucky to visit John England many times back in the 1970s and exhausted his patience I am sure on more than one trip.

Others included Dick Dobbins and Patricia Denny in the publications world along with Bill Farmer at Midwest Sports in South Bend decades ago!

I also echo the fact that Net54 has made my return to the hobby much easier, the knowledge here is incredible!

[Exhibitman]

Nice idea for a thread.

I've been collecting for over 40 years [you'd think I'd have a better collection after all that time] so there are lots and lots of people who've influenced me, but I wanted to recognize a few here:

I started collecting when I was a tyke, with Topps baseball and football cards. My first big year for those sports was 1971. In 1972 I started ripping packs of basketball cards. 1975 is the year I started buying hockey cards. I quickly moved on to the chase for older cards. My uncle Fred gave me The Great American Baseball Card Flipping, Trading and Bubble Gum Book (Little Brown, 1973; Brendan C. Boyd & Fred C. Harris) and I read it until it fell apart. It was my first real exposure to the art of golden age Topps and Bowman and those cards were now on my radar. I found The Complete Book of Baseball Cards: For the Collector, Flipper and Fan [1975; Steve Clark] and was hooked on T cards.

My first card show was Thanksgiving 1976 at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York, sponsored by the ASCCA. My father took me there on Friday on the way out of town for the holiday weekend. I’d become a Willie Mays fan when he returned to New York in 1973, so my first great project was to collect an example of every Mays card. I finished the Topps run at that show with the 1952 and 1953 cards. My mother nearly ripped my father’s head off when she found out that he loaned me $45 to buy them.



We moved to L.A. in 1977 and the only good thing about the move as far as I was concerned was that I fell ass-backwards into perhaps the richest collecting environment around. I quickly became involved with the West Coast Card Club, which held monthly meetings in a church basement and later a social hall in Northridge. Everyone who was a regular at those meetings was an influence on my collecting.

My collection at that point was pretty much about the four sports, Topps, Bowman and a smattering of T cards. It was during that time that I focused on a few Western regional issues that have ever since fascinated me: Zeenuts, Bell Brand, 1968 Atlantic Oil.

I put away the cards after the 1980 baseball season and really did not return to them for nearly a decade, when I decided to attend a massive show at the Moscone Center in San Francisco as a welcome diversion from law school. Unfortunately, in a moment of existential panic in 1987 I sold off a big chunk of my collection to raise some cash before law school. I really did not buy much at the Moscone show but I was re-energized to start collecting. I then attended shows throughout the Bay area if I could get to them on BART or other public transit.

When I returned to L.A. after graduating and got a job and started having disposable income, I really got back into collecting, aided by the abundance of shows. It was a rare weekend that I did not have at least a show a day to attend.

My collecting changed immeasurably around that time owing to two meetings at shows. At one, a fellow had 1948 Leaf cards of Barney Ross and Benny Leonard. I sort of knew that boxing cards existed but seeing these, I was instantly smitten. I bought the pair for a few bucks and took them home to show my father. He looked at the Ross card and said the words that changed my collection forever: “I think my cousin Ray fought him.”

You could have knocked me over with a puff of air. “Dad,” I said, “if you have a cousin who was a professional boxer that means I have cousin who was a professional boxer.” He then told me about our cousin Ray Miller for the first time and I realized that I, klutz of the month, was related to a world-class athlete.



The other collection-changer for me was meeting an old-time collector named John Spalding. Some of you might have known John. He was a gentleman collector from the Bay area with a strong background in PCL history and sports. But that isn’t what got me interested. It was his album of prewar Exhibit cards. I’d never seen anything like these. Over the course of several shows and a few years I purchased stacks of them from John, while making a general pest of myself picking his brain about the issue and others as well.

Finally, I wanted to give a shout out, as others have, to Mark Macrae. Mark has been instrumental in mentoring Anthony, Jason and me in the surprisingly difficult art of show running. You can't just rent a space and put on a show like an old Mickey Rooney-Judy Garland movie; there is a ton of work and effort that goes into it, and Mark has gone above and beyond answering our questions. BTW, our third show will be May 3, 2014, at a new location in Gardena.

[MyGuyTy]

Great thread idea, however as a kid in mid 80's, I never really had a mentor. My dad would be about the closest thing as he would take me to many card shows, but he was never a collector, just enjoyed taking me to the shows because I enjoyed it and enjoyed seeing vintage cards. It all started with a price guide I received back in the mid 80's with the Wagner and Plank on the front cover with prices that (at the time) seemed so expensive and exotic. From that point forward I tried to learn everything I could about these little cards.

I can remember my dad walking me into card shops when I was 8-10 years old and just watching me try to make deals with these 40 and 50 year old shop owners, lol. Here's this 10 year old kid walking in with a 1976 Walter Payton rookie and trading it for a late 50's Mantle. I always did all of the talking while these shop owners would look at my dad just have a chuckle. Crazy to think back at that kid now and how much balls I had at such a young age. So yeah, I was basically self taught if you can call it that, lol. I wish I could give credit and say I had a mentor that showed me the ropes and helped me along, but that wasn't the case with me.

[tinkertoeverstochance]

I jumped back into the hobby 10 years ago when I started college, after about an 8 year absence. Before my hiatus, I had collected new stuff and 1950's baseball. Shortly before I left the hobby for awhile, I bought 2 mid grade T206's from an unknown dealer at a local card show. This dealer had many beautiful T206's, but all I could afford were 2 commons from the discount pile. They were marked $10 each! I quickly picked out the best 2 of the bunch and he let me have both cards for $15. I was very happy with my purchase and still have both cards today (Hooks Wiltse throwing and Boss Schmidt). These 2 cards kindled my interest in prewar then, and when I found the cards years later (I knew where they were, just forgot about them for a little while), they ignited my interest. So, the unknown dealer who cut me a deal deserves mention.

My dad also helped me along with my hobby. He collects vintage football cards sporadically, but always encouraged my passion for collecting baseball. Early on, he would take me to shows, card shops, and occasionally buy me a card. While my mom thought this was a waste of time and money, she would sometimes do the same.

Ok, fast forward to college. I commuted to undergrad and recieved a full scholarship. Needless to say, I had a little money to spend from working. I began buying off of eBay and then found the forum. Once on, I began to chat with other members via the chat room and e-mail. Some people I did deals with early on included Michael Sarno, David Rosenberg, and Joe Jones. All of these members not only gave me great bargains, but helped me navigate the hobby early on. MVSNYC increased my knowledge of rare backs and sold me some duplicates he had (only the likes of Hindu, Lenox, Uzit, etc.). I still have most of these cards today. David was a constant chat room participant, but more importantly helped me hone my business skills for the hobby (bidding strategy, buying timing, margins, etc.). We did a few deals that came out good for both of us....I met David at the national a few years ago, which was very cool after years of chatting online. Joe was active on the forum for awhile and collected many of the same things I did. He offered advice when needed and even traded me one of my prized collectibles I had been begging him for for years.

Many other people have helped me with my collecting pursuits, probably more than I remember. All of these little things other collectors have done for me mean a lot too. Combining all of the small breaks and snipits of knowledge they provided has turned into a significant benefit for me over the years.

Lee