The new breed of collectors...

[jamest206]

I suppose at 42 I am the "new breed". My dad was the son of a WW II vet, who at 17/18 went through South Africa in to Italy. He loved baseball cards, and so did we! Late 80's early 90's pay day meant boxes to open, and a lot of chores to do! My other grandpa was great at the numerical order of them, said it was no different than organizing his checks at his law firm, so all we had to do was unwrap and look for the gold mines (that never appeared).

Yes my dad did kick himself in the butt for all the Mickey Mantles that went in to the tires on his bikes as kids, but we always had fun going to auctions looking for a diamond in the rough, wherever they were in Indiana. By the way, I made sure to never wear a hat inside or even think about having my shoes on if I laid on a couch.

I got in to the T206's a couple years ago, reading 8 Men Out, and discovering "Sleepy" Bill Burns T206 on Wikipedia, and realizing there is more than just Honus out there. Slab or no slab, I love to build sub-sets, and then sell them for a loss normally. It is a hobby I can't do without. I am constantly learning with this. I used to work on a wide variety of Heidelberg printing presses, so looking at the cards, and issues the printers of those days were dealing with make my imagination go as well. At one point in life I could say I was the youngest person in North America running the largest sheet fed Heidelberg (11-color). I love the miscutting/centering issues as well. Brings back memories of my days in the print shop on the east side of Indianapolis. Dirty work!

I have all my wants in life, 4 cats, a nice coupe( like the Beach Boys sing about), an awesome town home by the Rockies, and a beautiful Blonde/Blue Eyes California Girl who I love to spoil. Doing it all for my baby now, and God Bless her. She is the true example of JFK's great phrase, and she gave more to this country and hasn't asked for anything back (Marine Small Arms & Army MP during the Bosnian affair). She is the definition of brave. I used to be a decent bodybuilder in the midwest, but those days are long gone. Now it is about US manufacturing and contributing my small portion to job creation & the GDP.

T206, whether competing for a card(losing more than winning) or finding what I think is a gem is super fun. To me, this is the ultimate hobby. I tried comic books (way different breed of collectors) but love the guys I meet doing this way more! I will keep on truckin, and raw or graded keep having fun. Sorry for the rant, but you all wanted to hear from a new breed of collector, and here you have it, still learning as I go!!