Reminiscing about the "Good-Ole-Days" in this Hobby

[Seven]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

It would be interesting to hear about some of the old-time collectors who helped fuel our collections.

I'm not sure how well known he is, outside of the Tri-State area, but I had some pretty in depth conversations with George Mollyn, at Cooperstown when I was a kid. Bought some of my favorite cards off of him, we talked for at least an hour about The 1933 and 1934 Goudey sets, along with Mickey Mantle. But I always think fondly of the conversations I had with him.

If he doesn't mind me referring to him as an old-time collector, (though he is certainly young at heart) I can't even count the amount of impactful conversations I've had with Ted, either in person or through email. Truly a gentleman in every sense of the word, and one that I love to talk baseball and the hobby about. I've learned so much about Tobacco cards from him, and the stories about the hobby, he has, are second to none.

[tedzan]

Originally Posted by Seven

I'm not sure how well known he is, outside of the Tri-State area, but I had some pretty in depth conversations with George Mollyn, at Cooperstown when I was a kid. Bought some of my favorite cards off of him, we talked for at least an hour about The 1933 and 1934 Goudey sets, along with Mickey Mantle. But I always think fondly of the conversations I had with him.

If he doesn't mind me referring to him as an old-time collector, (though he is certainly young at heart) I can't even count the amount of impactful conversations I've had with Ted, either in person or through email. Truly a gentleman in every sense of the word, and one that I love to talk baseball and the hobby about. I've learned so much about Tobacco cards from him, and the stories about the hobby, he has, are second to none.

James

I really enjoy our Baseball conversations....and, I do appreciate your kind words.....Thanks.

I've set up at the Cooperstown Show from 1985 to 2015. George Mollyn's set-up at this HOF weekend Show in the VFW Bldg
was adjacent to mine for quite a number of years. George and I did a lot of deals (BB cards and Memorabilia).....a great guy.


TED Z

T206 Reference
.

[Collectorsince62]

I bought my first pack of cards in 1962 at age 7. I remember seeing that beautiful green wrapper in a box next to the cash register at the local five and dime. A day or two later my Mom let me ride my bike to that store (a very big deal at the time), I plunked down my nickel and started a journey that continues today. Some early thoughts on the good old days, which for me were between 1962 and 1980 . . .
Buying packs and opening them with my friends. Great memories. We preferred the Ben Franklin store - you could get six packs for a quarter. Sitting on front porches trading cards - Cardinal cards were gold. Seeing my best friend's Golden Press set his grandmother gave him for his birthday - begging my Mom to drive me across town to the store selling them (she did). Pulling a wagon full of empty soda bottles to the "supermarket" for the two cent deposit, then quickly turning that into packs of cards. Seeing cards for the first time from the older kids in the neighborhood - price guides and the internet were decades away, there was no way to know what older cards even existed much less what they looked like. Sending away to the Card Collectors Company, Gar Miller (bless his heart), Bruce Yeko and Larry Fritsch to get World Series cards, the Baseball Thrills series, All Star and MVP cards, high numbers, the Fleer Ted Williams set and the occasional vintage cards my Dad remembered seeing when he was a kid. Sitting on the grocery store floor while my Mom shopped looking through every box of Jello and Post Cereal hoping to find Cardinals. I once sent a quarter to Topps asking for a Maury Wills or Colts team card - surely they made them. I'll never forget the thrill of opening a pack and seeing the 1965 World Series cards for the first time after the Cardinals beat the Yankees. We all waited anxiously for someone in the neighborhood to announce the new series of cards was here.
Money from umpiring was spent picking up collections from the older kids once they became more interested in cars and girls. I would religiously write to the Cardinals for a free set of player postcards every year. When I got my license I started advertising in local papers. Everything was fun, with zero interest in value or investment. Then things changed. Beckett published the first price guide. Fleer and Donruss broke the monopoly. Rookie cards commanded a premium (Joe Charboneau, really?). Intentional error cards. But I was still hooked. Bought a subscription to SCD -anyone remember when you had to send auction bids through the mail and just sit and wait to find out if you won? Attended the early conventions here in St. Louis - instant auctions as cards just walked in continuously. Buck Barker would walk in and sit at a table with a box containing cards no one had ever seen before. Bill Henderson - "king of the commons" was a savior to all of us set collectors - and he would trade. The hobby was flying, but a lot of the innocence was gone. It was still fun, but not in the same way it was fun as a ten-year-old. As Tom Stanton writes in The Road to Cooperstown "Baseball's appeal isn't complicated or confusing, it's about the beauty of the game, it's about being part of something larger than yourself, about tradition - receiving it and passing it, and it's about holding on to a bit of your childhood." I think of my baseball cards that way and I'm grateful I have good old days I'll always remember fondly.

[brianp-beme]

Wow, extra special writeup Collectorsince62, and I especially like this snippet from your memories of the time:

Originally Posted by Collectorsince62

I once sent a quarter to Topps asking for a Maury Wills or Colts team card - surely they made them.

That just captures the innocence of collecting then.

Brian