How did you get into pre-war card collecting?

[T205 GB]

An older gentleman named Joe P. He helped me out the most in the beginning. He has since passed away and resides at Arlington Cemetery. RIP Joe.

Another major influence is Ted Z. We have a shared interest in research and tobacco so its always been a great conversation and learning experience.

[Hirbonzig]

Met a dealer in Milwaukee called the Wise Guys in the early 1990’s that had pre war cards that caught my eye. After talking to Joe and John I became very interested in t206 and the many different back varieties. After the mid nineties I rarely bought a modern card and focused on vintage cards.

[fkm_bky]

I've always loved baseball cards starting as a 7 year old in 1980 and completed most sets in the 80's through pack purchases. In the late 80's we were helping my grandma and grandpa move out of their home into a retirement community and these two items were stored in his garage and he gave them to me.

1. First edition Pride of the Yankee's book (published in 1942 w/ lesser quality paper due to WW2 - it even states it in the forward)

2. My Grandpa's baseball bat from his semi-pro days in St. Paul, in the 20's. It is a Rogers Hornsby model.

I read and re-read that book many times and still pull the bat out just to look at it. Anyway, it really got me hooked on the early days of baseball and once I graduated college and began earning some spending money I started collecting in around 2000/2001 through eBay and eventually Net54.

Great thread!

Bill

[thatkidfromjerrymaguire]

I think for me I got back in to it when I realized I could now actually obtain what had once been "unobtainable".

I collected cards as a kid with limited means in the 1980's. But since baseball cards in the 1980's were extremely abundant, I could collect cards of all the current stars relatively cheaply (Bo Jackson was my favorite players, and even in his prime, you could pretty much buy any Bo Jackson card for less than $10.00). But the vintage cards listed at the FRONT of the Beckett price guide, guys with names like Ruth, Cobb, Mays, and Mantle had all those EXTRA ZEROS at the end of their prices. They became sort of sacred in my mind because I figured I would NEVER be able to afford cards of those guys.

Fast forward 30 years and I was browsing the magazine section at Barnes and Noble and came accross a Beckett Vintage magazine, and I thumbed through it. Yeah, those guys all still have extra zeros (even more then when I was a kid) but life has been good enough to allow me enough disposable income to buy some of those. So I dove back in, and have enjoyed owning some of those IMPOSSIBLE cards from my youth.