Dealers (or fellow collectors) who lit the fire

[Exhibitman]

I remember Vic Frank very well from the old West Coast Card Club meetings in Northridge. I visited Goldfadden's shop once but he wasn't very nice so it was only once.

[robedits]

For me,it was Ron St Angelo of RST cards.
I had a few of my dad's cards from his childhood (Goudeys etc). I had also always been a baseball history buff,ever since we visited my mom's ancient relative George (Nap) Rucker down south when I was a child...and I found out he was an old time ballplayer.
Anyway, Ronnie was a former student of my dad's (from about 15-20 years earlier).Sometime in the mid 80s, my retired dad must have run into him during a walk in town (Ron had a store in town, in my hometown of Lindenhurst,Long Island).
My dad knew I loved collecting as a child,and it had been at least a dozen years since I looked at my cards. He suggested I stop into Ronny's store some weekend,so I did. And I was hooked again. Old cards,some new cards,only baseball cards. he had a good selection of vintage,had weekly raffles etc.
There was another dealer in Farmingdale,LI,name of Frank. And another guy,who was a former gym teacher of mine,also in Lindenhurst. THey all got me back into going to the hofstra shows,then the White Plains shows,SCD,and the like.
I admit I spent way too much of my money in Ronnie's store and at the shows,considering what I was making at the time,and unfortunately I was just getting back into the hobby during it's peak and before the fall. Still,it was challenging and fun.
At the shows,there was a gracious older couple from PA,that always set up at the WHite Plains shows, who always had a ncie vintage selection and I bought from them often.Still setting up there last time I attended ( a year or so ago). Always nice to talk to,and THEY got me back into OPC collecting.
Meeting the ostentatious Mark Murphy at one of the WP shows got me into older wax,BIG time,in early 90s. Had a large collection at one time;all now sold.
Finally,the gentleman (Jim Ryan) who now runs the WP shows was a great dealer and helpd me out plenty over the years. Also purchased the bulk of my vintage collection years ago. Super nice guy,and very knowledgeable.

[wolfdogg]

that I started buying from back in '83 (started collecting in '82) was Kit Young (still have the old "catalogs" from early 80s), Larry Fritsch (bought my first T206s from him--group lot of (5) w/ 1 HOFer...Bresnahan portrait..and my 1st Old Judges...still have a lot of old "One-of-a-Kind" catalogs from early-mid 80s) and David Kohler (SportsCardsPlus---still have "catalogs" from early 80s).....those were the days...........few others were Conlon, Festberg, Mayfield..........

[Bill Stone]

Richard Gelman's Card Collectors Co. of New York.

[GRock]

I just ran across a price list (circa 1982) from Howard's (Findlay, Ohio) 1952 Topps #311, $925.00

[Brian Van Horn]

My fire was self-lighting. I found a ripped in half 1972 Topps Jimmy Rosario on the hill next to my grade school. I took it home to be stapled together by mother. I still have the card and the staples are still in place.

[SteveVerkman]

I was into 1950s and 1960s Topps cards from about 1979 but after seeing Dan McKee at a show in Silver Spring MD in 1989 and his table of exclusively pre-war cards, I was hooked. I immediately bought a pair of high grade 1940 Play Ball Lajoies and met him a few days later to get a 1938 Goudey DiMaggio. I have been more or less addicted in various degrees to pre-war cards since then...

[robedits]

Forgot to add Howards Sports Cards (Lepsic,Ohio). Loved to get their mailers. I constantly bought the groups of cards from them (for instance, 10 ExM to M 1961 Topps) and many singles. They were always super pleasant to deal with and they were very helpful starting me on set builders.

Wonder whatever happened to them?

[painthistorian]

For me, it was Paul Gallagher of NY, he ran the earliest organized monthly shows during the mid 70's in NYC at the armenian church and later the Prince George Hotel in NYC, he had rubber banded stacks of everything from T206's to Topps & Bowmans, all grades were mixed together. He was a great guy to know and inspired me to further my knowledge of sports cards. Everyone from that era knew Paul and he had many great finds of vintage collectables and was fair to transact with.

[sox1903wschamp]

For me it was my childhood friend from Waltham, MA. From age 8-15, we collected every year of Topps cards from 68-75 . When I was 15, my family moved from Boston to Kansas City and I said goodbye to my friend.

It was tough to stay in touch those days from 1500 miles apart but I went back and visited 3 years later and he had been busy collecting all of the "old" sets from the 40's and 50's in that time and had bought out every collection in the town it seems because he had an organized unreal collection that just left me in awe. I was hooked.

From there, I found the back of the Sporting News for my first "old" cards which I think were 62 Topps and then on to subscriptions to SCD and the Trader Speaks in 78 or 79 and my first card show in St.Louis in 79 at the Holiday Inn.

I have lost touch with my childhood friend a long time ago but he was my inspiration for becoming a collector.

[grandslamcardscria]

As a kid I started collecting in the early 70's.. The majority of all my purchases was hockey.. I suppose that was all that was left over at the local grocery store in my hometown...
Years had passed and early on in my marriage I literally pulled that shoebox from my parents attic.. Surprisingly enough most of the cards were still rubber banded together and still in amazingly decent shape. This old shoebox got me back into collecting...
Some of my early deals were with Kit Young and Bill Henderson and I was very envious of there inventory... When the internet came to be I was very active on different BBS 's and participated in Teletrade auctions.. I was a huge fan of the early online auctions prior to Ebay.. I remember discovering Rottmans auctions and thought I was in heaven... Man, Id spend $1000's on 50's commons and superstars.. I just couldnt believe the bulk I could buy for so little...
I also remember buying off David Rudd and his list auctions by email.... This is where I got my first taste of some really great pre war material.. Darn him anyways!!!!

[Steve D]

After getting started through Larry Fritsch and Renata Galasso from 1975-77, I kept going via dealings with card shop owners like Bill Goepner, Nacho Arredondo, J.R. Hewitt and Nelson Katz in San Diego CA, as well as at card shows with guys like Steve Brunner, Will Davis, Bill Heitman, Tony Galovich and Charlie Seaver from L.A., as well as Frank and Vivian Barning.


Steve

[camlov2]

For me it was my dad. I remember going out to the baseball card room growing up and being able to go through the drawers and binders of cards that he had collected. When I had to give a speech in Jr. High I decided to do it on the history of cards, it was pretty easy since he had already shared with me enough knowledge to speak for the time allowed. It seems that every time we get together we end up talking about a set or card that I have seen online.

[smokeyjoewood]

Mr. Schaeffer on Plymouth Rd., a crusty old bugger who sold me all 4 Cobbs for a hundred bucks. I had to mow a lot of lawns to save that kind of dough as a ten year old. Unfortunately he passed away not long after that and his little store closed down.

I worked at a couple of card stores during high school and college, this helped me acquire a lot of vintage material. People would bring in collections all the time and I would get to go through them and cherry pick. Mostly 50's and 60's stuff, but still fun. At one store, "The Old Ball Park"(anyone remember this place?), Chuck Scrivener(former Tiger) was in charge and I used to bust him all the time about his 78 Topps cards. I must have had about 40 of those babies, one in every pack it seemed like.

[Mrc32]

Ditto on those who said their Dad.

If Dad didn't have that old Stewarts Department Store box full of cards from his collecting days in the mid 50s, I don't know if I would have ever gotten started.

I miss ya Dad!