First collecting book

[SteveMitchell]

The 1960 American Card Catalog was my first card collecting book purchase. I bought the book in the mid-1960s from the Card Collector's Co. (Woody Gelman) of Franklin Square, N.Y.

Prior to my purchase I had received CCC's little annual catalog for several years and subscribed off-and-on to "The Card Collector" when it was published by CCC and later Jim Zap (of Chicago), but the ACC was my single largest purchase from that pioneer hobby company. Cost I believe was about $5 with shipping about 50 cents. (It was a pretty big commitment for a mid-teenager who could have picked up 40-50 T206s for the same money.)

Frankly, I was a bit disappointed. Having been familiar with the detail of coin collecting catalogs (specifically the venerable "red book" by Yeoman), the ACC offered little information (and fewer pictures) about a lot of sets. I used it once to attempt to attempt to deal with a local Maine antique dealer but discovered he knew less about how to use the ACC than I did!

For me, Bert Sugar's Sport Collector's Bible (circa 1975) was the first really useful book for general baseball/sports collectors.

[ooo-ribay]

This one shows a bunch of stuff that particularly interests me....pins, pennants, bobbin' heads, etc. I still dig it out occasionally.

[sox1903wschamp]

Still refer to this from time to time.

[darkhorse9]

I actually have a goal of getting every card featured in the Great American Baseball card Flipping Trading and Bubble Gum book.

I only need about 40 more. The only tougher one will be the 1952 Bobby Thompson since it's a high number.

All the rest on my list are mostly commons.