Who had a positive impact on your collection ?

[ricktmd]

Goodwin Goldfaden from Adco Sports Book Exchange on Santa Monica Bl in West Hollywood California. A friend and I used to go in 1969 and he would bring out shoe boxes full of T206's with the cards laying on their sides. All were Sweet Caporal or Piedmont with an occasional Polar Bear. He would shout at us "do you kids have money"?. The price was 1.00 for commons and 2.00 for HOF's. I bought the attached Walter Johnson for 2.00. One thing for sure about him he never left a T206 rare back or Cobb (who he was a big fan of) in the shoe boxes. I bought 5 T206's from him over time and still have them all

[oldjudge]

Keith Mitchell helped me navigate the waters of the Old Judge market when I first started collecting in the early-1990s. He was a mentor, a friend, and one of the pioneer researchers in this area. The man from Bettendorf, Iowa is certainly missed.

[Powell]

Bill Latzko has been a huge help for my collection. A wonderful guy. Fair, knowledgeable and honest.

[glynparson]

Vince from Renningers in Adamstown, mike Delaney from Greenwich street in reading, beanie schlottman, chick levengood, Levi, jim and my father have had the most impact on my love and knowledge of the hobby

[Stonepony]

Without question my dad was my #1 influence. He really taught me everything about the hobby that I see as important. He loved the cards and players of his childhood far more than that the " impressive" parts of his collection. Mathewson, Cobb, Mantle, Regional issues , early Bowmans and type cards were
His passion....as they are now mine.

[darwinbulldog]

I didn't have the fortune of knowing many hobby legends, but Bob Lemke was very generous to me with both his time and his tremendous knowledge. I feel fortunate to have gotten to know him a bit in his last few years and proud to have a couple of his old cards.

[Piratedogcardshows]

I would also say my father as he shared his childood passion for cards with me at a young age. Also would be remissed to no mention about 5-6 board members who have helped and shared there knowledge of my adult collecting focus. Net54 has been good to me

[BearBailey]

Defenitely my Dad, he would give me a pack a week if I was a good boy. He bought a box from a pharmacist at cost and would give me a pack a week, and that started it all. Then starting in the late 1980s he would take me to all of the ESSC? Philly shows. Lots of great dealers and people at those George Washington Motor lodge shows. Taught me a lot about people too so many dealers wanted nothing to do with a kid back then but would talk up my dad as he looked like he had money even though he didn’t, nothing disappointed the dealers more than talking to him for 5 minutes only to find out he didn’t collect cards or even like baseball but just brought me because that’s what I loved.

[Baseballcrazy62]

We took a vacation to the Wisconsin Dells in 1975 and I convinced my dad to stop at Larry Fritsch's place. I couldn't believe all the cards he had in his warehouse. He had a T206 Wagner in his safe and he took it out and let my dad and I hold it. He mentioned he was sending a semi trailer to Michigan and he hoped to fill it with cases of 75 minis. When we got home my dad took me to the candy wholesaler and he bought a wax case of 75 minis. We broke them out and made a number of sets. I still have every card from that case along with the empty case and all of the empty boxes. It's amazing what my dad remembers about those type of things. As an added bonus we stopped and saw a Brewers game and Rick Wise came within one out of a no hitter. The hobby seemed a lot simpler back then. Love the stories guys. Please keep them coming and we can make a huge difference for people in this great hobby. You never know what impact you might have on some one.

[VintageBen]

My dad got me hooked when I got a 1954 Topps Willie Mays for Xmas. Thanks Dad.

but

Orlando Rodriguez got me to refocus my collection. I stopped going to the card shop every week ( I usually would spend $40-$50). I started to sell off my modern cards and the vintage cards that I could live without. It was hard at first but became easier once I saw the cards i could then afford. I was getting rid of the cards that I could find all day, everyday. I used the cash flow from the sales to fund higher end vintage cards. My collection now is nicer than I thought it ever could be... I now own cards I thought I'd never own. Thanks Orlando.

[Exhibitman]

John Spalding. Got me addicted to prewar Exhibit cards. Some of the first ones I bought from him around 1990:

[orly57]

Wow, I'm honored Ben. Thank you. I can say that JC (Beantown) really took me under his wing and taught me a lot about rare cobb postcards.

[gemmint77]

I grew up in a small south Texas town that had two sports card shops in the 80's. I would say the gentleman (An old Navy Vet) who ran one of the shops got me into collecting. Me and my younger brother loved going into that shop and seeing all the vintage cards he had for sale. He would spend the time telling us about the players from the 30's-60's that he grew up watching and admired. In high school I would work at the shop during the summer so the owner could go on vacation. Fun times.

[birdman42]

For me it was Wayne Miller in Columbia, MD. He had a single display case in the coin shop I worked in. He seemed to have an endless supply of pre-war, from boxes of T206s to runs of programs from the 1800s. The core of my current collection is still the items I bought from Wayne.

Bill

[johnmh71]

Oddly enough in my case it was my mother who supported my hobby early on. She is a Yankees fan going back to the 50's. She used to collect cards as a kid. I am actually going to a show with her this weekend.

[Chris-Counts]

Nobody played a bigger role for me than my dad. When I was nine in 1970, my mom gave me $1 and sent me to the grocery store for some broccoli. For reasons beyond my reason, I spent the money on baseball cards. As I was walking home, my dad drove by and offer me a ride. I explained what had happened, and he drove me back to the store, where he bought some broccoli — and some more baseball cards.

For the next half dozen years, he drove me and brother around to card shows in Orange County, and even the occasional trip to LA to visit Goodwin Goldfadden's legendary shop.

My brother and I still collect, and dad is still alive at 95. Thanks dad!

Another guy I give a lot of credit too is John Parks. I'm not sure if he is still alive, but he later founded the monthly card club meetings at the Issac Walton School in Garden Grove in the mid 1970s. He lived nearby, and I literally discovered vintage cards in his garage. My brother and I would spent hours going through his cards, and he was always patient with us, and never charged us much. He was truly an old school collector/dealer, and I mean that as a supreme compliment ...

[Baseballcrazy62]

There is a good chance that most of our dads had to cover for us once in a while. My Dad is 94 and we still talk about cards all the time. Mostly about all the stuff we should have bought and didn't. Thanks for the story!!

[xplainer]

Three guys on here have really educated me on T206 cards, and have helped me out on purchases(from them) and advice on others.
Scot Reader
BocaBirdMan Mike
Luke Lyon.
Scot is very open and glad to share information he has worked on very hard and spent alot of time on. Great researcher that doesn't mind telling you what he knows.
Mike and Luke are long distance friends who has taught me things, shared opinions, and we have worked out sweet deals. For both sides! My favorites sellers on this site.
That is my top three.

[Chuck9788]

My mother. When I wad 12 she purchased me a mint Rod Carew rookie. Best gift ever! Either that or the G.I. Joe "Headquarters Command Center".

[WillBBC]

My parents. My mom was always willing to pick up a pack while grocery shopping and my dad was always willing to drive me to different shows around New Jersey/New York.

My mom's friend also gave me a Don Mattingly Topps rookie as a birthday gift then a Donruss rookie as a first communion gift...needless to say I cherish those.

But outside of family--Gary from Card Mart in Verona, New Jersey. Always treated me kindly and was very generous. He always made it feel like my five bucks was stretched as far as possible! When I ran into him at a show years later while in my 20s I was thrilled to say hello. Great guy/dealer--wish I knew what his last name was so I could give him due credit! Gary, if you're out there, cheers!

[mikedurrett]

My beloved '86 Mets got me going on cards at age 10~

[timn1]

1. My uncle Don who gave me my first prewar cards (R313-R314, W711 Reds) back in the 1970s.

2. the 1970s collecting community who communicated by US mail !@ - I particularly remember corresponding with and learning from George Vrechek all those years ago. Now George is probably our foremost historian of the hobby.

3. More recently: Even though I got HIM into prewar cards, my best buddy Mike Peich has had a huge and happy impact on my own collecting.

4. My local buddy Chris Bland has taught me so much!

5. OBC, which welcomed me into their ranks c. 2000 and gave me a great collecting community.

6. And Net54!!! (Thanks Elliot, Bill, and Leon!)

[irv]

This is easy! Definitely my Father.

He gave me 148 52 Topps cards and over 250 old Beehive Hockey cards/photos. If it weren't for those, and although I collected as kid, I highly doubt I would be collecting today.

I'll have to ask him, and even though he may not have been the one to get me started as a kid, I am pretty sure whatever got him started as a kid, is also in me.

[Paul S]

Originally Posted by ricktmd

Goodwin Goldfaden from Adco Sports Book Exchange on Santa Monica Bl in West Hollywood California. A friend and I used to go in 1969 and he would bring out shoe boxes full of T206's with the cards laying on their sides. All were Sweet Caporal or Piedmont with an occasional Polar Bear. He would shout at us "do you kids have money"?. The price was 1.00 for commons and 2.00 for HOF's. I bought the attached Walter Johnson for 2.00. One thing for sure about him he never left a T206 rare back or Cobb (who he was a big fan of) in the shoe boxes. I bought 5 T206's from him over time and still have them all

Me too! In the same time period. Also got my T206 WaJo from him - funny. Decades later, when I "renewed" my collection, I realized I had a T206 Duffy Red Hindu. Graded highest any TPG, and sold at auction (Hi Scott and Leon). After he sold off his books/periodicals/etc (to the University of Notre Dame, South Bend, which, at that time, and maybe still, gave them the largest sports text collection in the world), Goodiie moved just a quick bike-ride from where I lived. Was over there a lot. I got stories.

[sycks22]

I always remember growing up and my dad, brother and I going to card shops and trying to find the right '90 Leaf Frank Thomas that I absolutely needed. After some convincing I got it for my birthday and my bro got a bike. Those were the best parts of growing up and hope to make those memories with my two girls. My bro and I would set up card shows in our basement and would price out our cards for my dad to buy when he got home from work. After buying some cards he'd eventually give them back to us, it was a win-win

[Baseballcrazy62]

Anyone remember a guy by the name of Bill Bolio from Armada, Mi. I think he was a teacher at the high school . I remember going to his house a couple of times in the mid to late 70's. He had cards everywhere in his house. I mean thousands and thousands of cards from all years. He was a great guy to deal with as well. Keep the stories coming. I hope you guys are having as much fun as I am reading all these stories. Sometimes we seem to forget how many helpful people there really are in our great hobby. Thanks for posting!!!

[sam majors]

Don Steinbach was extremely important to how I collected. At the early "Nationals" I would ask him question after question and he always enjoyed answering them. The best thing he stressed was to gain as much information as possible! Watch auctions, read collectible magazines and listen.
We talked about dealers who had $5.00 items and wanted $500.00 for them! Others had $500.00 items and wanted $5.00 for them. That's how I make my living he told me.
Don B*****r, a very early table holder at the "National" from Atlanta, was the most knowledgeable person in collectibles that I ever met. He wasn't your typical dealer. He didn't haggle over prices. Pay his price or walk away. Didn't matter to him! He had typed lists of what he had for sale. He put those on his table. He didn't put the cards out! He put junk rubber banded cards on the rest of the table. Those that read his list went home happy! Most people just walked away! Don and I got along great and shared tables at the "National" for many years. Those that know Don will know what I am talking about.
Sam Majors