What Was The Hobby Like Back In The Day?

[drcy]

It may (or may not have) been more wholesome back then, but the cards are the same and there is more widespread knowledge about them today.

The collecting and enjoying of the cards should be no different than 40, 50, 70 years ago.

Things are more complicated and commoditized these days in ways I guess, but fakes, scammers, trimmers, auctions, deals have been around a long time.

Trading was a common and widespread practice and culture back then, including through the mail and including at the start of the internet age. That is one big differernce.

[Seven]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

I got my first cards in 1970 when I was 5, then a lot more in 1971. I don’t really date my ‘serious’ collecting until about 1974-1975. With a brief detour in HS I have been at it ever since. So, some reflections on the OP question:

In the middle to late 1970s there was virtually no hobby, at least not as we think of it today. The publications were amateur labors of love that mostly consisted of a few articles and mail order ads. You literally had to know of the publications to even know to get them, because they were not retailed. My first ‘break’ in terms of card knowledge was seeing The Complete Book Of Baseball Cards by Steve Clark in a bookstore in 1975 and pestering my parents to buy it for me. I read it over and over, gleaning what I could from it and drooling over the images of T and R cards I dreamed of owning. I also found listings for hobby publications and organizations in there.

There were no price guides, so you pretty much winged it. A card might be worth a lot more from day to day depending on who it was who you dealt with. Also, no one gave a damn about condition. It was all about completion and amassing more, not what condition it was in.

You got cards from wherever you could. I lived in NYC the first few years I collected and my friends and I had free run of the streets after school and on weekends (at like 9-10-11 years old; very different times) so we ended up going to antique stores, old book stores, junk stores, mom and pop candy stores, drug stores, basically anywhere we thought we might find cards. When you found a “honey hole” (as the American Pickers guys would call it), you would try to keep it secret from your friends and clear it out as fast as your allowance would let you. Corner candy stores were also good places to go because they would put out old remnant wax packs for sale. I remember one store near my house that had a barrel of mixed wax dating back several years that I dove into frequently, and another one where I cleaned out a half box of 1971 Topps 2nd series football in February 1977.

People generally had no idea that cards were collected or had value--this was before the news stories on Mr. Mint and so forth--so when you told someone you were a collector, they’d often just hand you their grown kids’ old cards. I had neighbors whose father was a professor at a local college and he’d ask around campus for cards for them, so they had the greatest collection. My greatest ‘find’ ever was when I was 12 and newly arrived in Los Angeles. My parents took me to someone’s house. The hostess asked me what I liked to do, I said collect cards, and she handed me a 2’ square box filled to the brim with her kids’ old cards. Thousands and thousands of them. I had the greatest sorting party on the floor of my bedroom that evening, culminating in finding a 1955 Ted Williams.

Card shows were practically non-existent, though there were card clubs that were starting up and they started to have annual or bi-annual shows usually clustered around a holiday. My first show was the American Sports Card Collectors Association show the Saturday morning of Thanksgiving weekend 1976 at the Roosevelt Hotel in NYC, thanks to discovering the ASCCA from either the Clark book or some publication I found through the Clark book. I finished my Topps run of Willie Mays cards there, with a loan against my allowance of $45 to enable me to buy the 1952-1953 cards. My mother nearly killed my father when she found out he’d allowed me to spend that much on two baseball cards; several years later I sold the 1953 Mays for $350. In Los Angeles I went to the shows in Anaheim that became the National. I bought my first T206--a Johnson ready to pitch--from Mike Berkus at one of those shows. Set me back $12. As a kid with limited funds my thing was the discount boxes. I still have a 1953 Musial I pulled out of one of them for a buck. I filled in most of a run of Mantle cards from those boxes. Not a 1952...

When we moved to LA in 1977, I ended up finding a card club, the West Coast Card Club, in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles. This was when I was 12-15. We had monthly meetings at a church basement in Northridge. For ten bucks you could rent a 6’ table and sell. If I made $50 in a night I was thrilled. No one gave a crap about sales tax, business licenses, etc. It was just a silly thing we did. My parents would just shake their heads and let me loose for an evening at the church. Every meeting there was an auction. I remember paying $3.25 for a 1952 Bowman Mantle at one auction, about a buck a card for a group of signed 1953 Bowman cards in another.

There were a few hobby shops but they were odd places run by even odder people. The first one in LA was run by Goody Goldfadden. He was a pioneer and legend of the hobby but also a legendary jerk, especially to kids. I went to his store once and it was enough.

The collecting made you into a little businessman. When you found a good source of cards you’d use the extras to trade your friends for more cards. The usual ratio was one ‘old’ card for anywhere from 10-30 new cards. That was how you could quickly fill out your newer sets. Since there was a dearth of information on old cards, if you knew something you quickly learned to keep it secret and use it to your advantage in a deal. I once spotted a very rare regional card in another kid’s stash and got it as a ‘throw-in’ on a deal because he had no idea what it was. We were ruthless little sharks. On the other side of the coin, since there was so little easily gotten data, you would often think something was amazing when it really was pretty common. A trading buddy had a Callahan HOF Carl Hubbell and thought it was the greatest thing ever. It wasn’t.

Collecting also gave you invaluable experience interacting with adults. If you knew your cards you were treated with respect as a colleague, not as a dumbass kid. I remember ‘talking cards’ with a variety of guys as old as my grandfather, as an equal.

Adam,

Thank you for such a well detailed rundown. I find one striking similarity between collecting today and collecting many years ago; the treatment from adults in the community. One of my fondest collecting memories from when I was younger, was going to the small card show run in the Cooperstown VA by Ted, and interacting with people 30-40 years my senior, and their willingness ot engage in conversation concerning cards. I was fascinated by Lou Gehirg's #61 in the 34 Goudey set and probably prattled on about it for nearly 10 minutes. That's the one thing I'm very glad to see hasn't changed.

The deals to have been had before the commoditization of the hobby are quite frankly, insane. What I wouldn't kill to spend $325 on a 52 Bowman Mantle let alone win one for $3.25! Or a Walter Johnson for $12? Talk about a steal! Though I'd imagine back when you were a kid that was a good chunk of your funds.

I'm noticing a distinct lack of hobby shops today. I live in the NY area, and there aren't many. The ones that exist, don't have nearly as many vintage offerings as I would hope, I'll have to stick to the boards, Ebay, Auctions and shows. I will say one thing though, concerning ones near the Hall of Fame, I absolutely love Baseball Nostalgia. I wish it was a little bit closer than a four hour drive, but it's probably better off, on my wallet at least, that it isn't.

Originally Posted by NiceDocter

Ah the good old days. I was an active collector as a kid between 1966 and 1972..... saved those cards (THANKS MOM !!! rip) and got back into it again in a big way in 1980. I bought collections as a kid from other kids.... a shopping bag full for 5 or 10 bucks! Dealers and collectors were very much overlapping in those days as a lot of the shows had regular guys buy tables and set up. Fees were low (maybe 20-25) a table.... condition was not so important as the card itself. There was a lot of trust in those days.... lots of times I would buy a pile at a guys table and then say "Hold this for me please" after paying and just pick the pile up on my way out the door later on. Once I saw a guy in The Trader Speaks ( one of the greatest old time sports collecting digests) advertise Ty Cobb checks for $20..... I sent the guy a check for $20 plus postage, he sent me 6 checks (!!!!!) and said pick the one you want and send the rest back! And I did! It was a better time in a lot of ways although to tell you the truth I still get some of that same spirit in dealing with many of the guys here on this board and at the fewer and smaller shows I go to. Lets all remember its more about the stories and the relationships than the stuff..... although we all sure like that stuff!!! Rocky

The stories and the relationships is defintely what it's still all about. I love the honor system that you spoke about in the story with the Ty Cobb checks. I'd imagine you have many similar stories. While I pride myself as a Card Collector first, and Autographs second, I would love to own a Cobb signature one day.

Originally Posted by drcy

It may (or may not have) been more wholesome back then, but the cards are the same and there is more widespread knowledge about them today.

The collecting and enjoying of the cards should be no different than 40, 50, 70 years ago.

Things are more complicated and commoditized these days in ways I guess, but fakes, scammers, trimmers, auctions, deals have been around a long time.

Trading was common and widespread thought before.

David,

I would defintely agree that things are more complicated and commodity based these days. I Know 30, 40, 50 years ago there certainly wasn't scandals from PSA concerning vintage cards being trimmed and younger collectors defintely wouldn't have had as much of an issue buying into the vintage side of the hobby. As I mentioned above, collecting premier cards of your favorite player from the past was certainly easier back then, financially at least. Thank you for the response.

[cardsagain74]

One thing rarely talked about (and not mentioned here either) in the history of the hobby was when football, basketball, and hockey cards became relevant.

I was 14 when I went to my first show in 1988. By then, baseball card prices were starting to flourish (but the other major sports were still practically worthless). I remember seeing Jordan and Montana rookies for about 4 bucks each at that show. They stayed in the displays, cause no one cared yet.

In the next year, that started to change. Then once the '90s began and the junk wax boom was in full force, those cards became permanently just as marketable as baseball cards.

Anyone who put away a ton of quality basketball, football, and hockey material in the late 80s quickly found gold at the end of a rainbow

[Exhibitman]

"I love the honor system that you spoke about in the story with the Ty Cobb checks."

You gotta remember, most everyone thought this stuff was crap, junk, and we were crazy to waste our money on it. They would give it you and be happy you were hauling it away. That was true of a lot of categories of collectibles. I once got paid for clearing out an archive of entertainment memorabilia. The stuff I salvaged from the trash was worth thousands over the years when I used to sell it at entertainment shows and auctions.

"I worked with a gentleman and once a month beginning in 1978 we used to drive out to the valley to work at a show that I believe was organized by All-Star Cards"

Yep, that's the one. All Star's owner started the club and show. It ran for a few years, then he sold the store and the monthly meetings became larger shows a few times a year.

"One thing rarely talked about (and not mentioned here either) in the history of the hobby was when football, basketball, and hockey cards became relevant."

Sooooo true. No one wanted it. I once traded a box of football cards to get a single prewar baseball card. The FB cards were worthless at the time. I probably threw away thousands in vintage FB that way. Every time I think of it I throw up a little in my mouth.

[2dueces]

Went around the neighborhood getting glass pop bottles
for the (I think it was $.02) so I could buy $.5 packs of
1966 Topps baseball and Monster Laffs. Traded with friends
To make whole sets. If I remember no card was valued
More than others. Mantles and Mays were just #’s to complete sets

[GasHouseGang]

Originally Posted by 2dueces

Went around the neighborhood getting glass pop bottles
for the (I think it was $.02) so I could buy $.5 packs of
1966 Topps baseball and Monster Laffs. Traded with friends
To make whole sets. If I remember no card was valued
More than others. Mantles and Mays were just #’s to complete sets

I remember looking for those pop bottles like they were gold! Two cents apiece added up fast. I mostly bought Batman or other non-sports cards or a Chocolate Soldier Soda. Baseball cards were up against some stiff competition for those pennies back then. Once in awhile I would get some baseball and hope for some Cardinals.

[TedWill1939]

I started ripping wax around 1980. Found my fathers 1950s cards in grandma's basement a few years later and was hooked. As was stated, people thought vintage was junk. I found cards at yardsales, thrift stores, ect. By 1986 I found mail order companys, and was buying current sets and found opportunities to buy vintage. Being a kid, the prices were out of reach. Around 1987 or 88 cards exploded, everybody was buying and selling cards. In my small area we had 3 card shops that sprung up. People started to travel to shows. The rest is history.
It was a special time, learning about the Golden Era players, viewing the great designs, reliving your parents childhood, for free or short money.

[rjackson44]

Remember going to the corner store buying 71 topps packs and supers.then going to the school yard to flip them .those were the days

[2dueces]

Went around the neighborhood getting glass pop bottles
for the (I think it was $.02) so I could buy $.5 packs of
1966 Topps baseball and Monster Laffs. Traded with friends
To make whole sets. If I remember no card was valued
More than others. Mantles and Mays were just #’s to complete sets

[HRBAKER]

Originally Posted by 2dueces

Went around the neighborhood getting glass pop bottles
for the (I think it was $.02) so I could buy $.5 packs of
1966 Topps baseball and Monster Laffs. Traded with friends
To make whole sets. If I remember no card was valued
More than others. Mantles and Mays were just #’s to complete sets

This was exactly how I earned my first card money. Walking down the road picking up pop bottles. I remember it being a literal goldmine to go to the park and pick up all the bottles people had tossed in the trash cans during picnics on Saturday and Sunday.

[packs]

I'm a lot younger than you guys but I remember when eBay came around my family didn't have internet at home but my dad did have it at work. I used to call him every few days and ask him to look for cards for me and ask him to place bids while we were on the phone. I ended up with some really good deals for the time but also wound up with a Josh Clarke T206 instead of a Fred Clarke.

[slipk1068]

I started collecting prewar in 1988 and got this book from my mom for my birthday in August. The book is called "300 All-Time Stars Baseball Cards"

[bmattioli]

Originally Posted by packs

I'm a lot younger than you guys but I remember when eBay came around my family didn't have internet at home but my dad did have it at work. I used to call him every few days and ask him to look for cards for me and ask him to place bids while we were on the phone. I ended up with some really good deals for the time but also wound up with a Josh Clarke T206 instead of a Fred Clarke.

Early EBay finds and purchases can be a whole different thread in itself.. Back in the early/mid 90's and EBay infancy many great deals most without pictures mind you could be had. It was wonderful!!