The Trader Speaks - 1st issue Nov 1968

[Jay Wolt]

Here's an August 1965 thirty page issue of "The Sports Trader" sent to hobby pioneer Buck Barker.
Picked this up on N54 B/S/T a year or so ago.

[Kalineman]

The James Elder ad brought back a lot of memories. As a teenager trying to add to my collection in the early 1970s, I purchased many items from Mr. Elder in Florida. Later, as a lifelong writer, I had the pleasure of writing in The Trader Speaks and working with Dan Dishley. What a gentleman! Same goes for my old friend John Stommen. They were part of our collecting world for all the right reasons. They loved the hobby as much as we did.

[Rob D.]

How appropriate (well, to me, at least) that Nick Edson makes a post in a thread about The Trader Speaks. Of the more than 150 issues of TTS that I own, more than half of them once belonged to Nick and have his mailing stamp on the back cover.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by Rob D.

How appropriate (well, to me, at least) that Nick Edson makes a post in a thread about The Trader Speaks. Of the more than 150 issues of TTS that I own, more than half of them once belonged to Nick and have his mailing stamp on the back cover.

That's very cool....Glad to see some hobby veterans hanging around virtually....It's a different world today.

[Kalineman]

Thanks, Rob. Those were the days when we went to shows with want lists and did a huge amount of trading. Truth be told, that collecting world still exists today - we just don't hear as much about it. We didn't use the word 'networking' in the early days of shows, but at our tables we talked with the likes of John Stommen for hours on end, traded cards and ended up having dinner together. Thanks to Leon for having a regular hobby 'place' to go every day.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by Kalineman

Thanks, Rob. Those were the days when we went to shows with want lists and did a huge amount of trading. Truth be told, that collecting world still exists today - we just don't hear as much about it. We didn't use the word 'networking' in the early days of shows, but at our tables we talked with the likes of John Stommen for hours on end, traded cards and ended up having dinner together. Thanks to Leon for having a regular hobby 'place' to go every day.

Nick, you are very welcome. It's always an honor and priviledge when I get to hang around with hobby veterans. I am a very lucky person in that I have only been collecting around 15 yrs (again since adulthood) and have been fortunate to meet and converse with some of the great collectors of yesteryear. I must have spent at least 2 hours speaking with John Rumeriez at the National as I hadn't seen him in a few years. And then a few steps over I saw my pal Kit Young whom I have a ton of respect for. We had a nice long chat. I consider him to be a wonderful person, not perfect as no one is, but a truly wonderful guy. It's a great hobby and one of the main reasons is the people in it. Heck, setting up with Richard Masson and my partner, Scott...with ole Jay Miller hanging around, isn't all bad either. The "people" in the hobby are one of my great enjoyments. take care now (sorry to ramble a little)

[E93]

Jay,
Thanks for posting that.

Nick,
Thank you for sharing some of your experience here. I hope you do more so.
JimB

[Tim Zwick]

This thread sure stirs up a lot of old memories for me also. Like Nick, I was a teenager in the early 70's growing up in Michigan and buying cards from Jim Elder, Gar Miller, Bruce Yeko, Woody Gelman, Merv Williams, etc. through the mail. I was also lucky enough to attend and set up at Detroit area shows starting in 1972/73. Meeting Ernie Harwell at my table during one of the old Troy Hilton shows and talking with him for quite some time about his collection and baseball was priceless (he even bought a couple of old scorecards.) It just couldn't get any better than that for a young country hick teenager. John Stommen was a great guy, friend and mentor of mine who along with Dan Dischley, Bob Jasperson, Irv Lerner & Charlie Brooks helped pave the way for the acceptance of collecting junkies like us and our addiction to these little pieces of cardboard with their various publications.

Leon brings up John Rumeriez. He always had tons of cards, knowledge and seemed to be set up at every show. He was a member of the legendary group (at least to me) of Detroit area hobby pioneers that included Frank Nagy, Dick Reuss, Ed Lotz, Ed Budnick, Jay Barry, Charlie Conlon, Lloyd Toerpe, The Dehem Bros. and many more. I know they all had an influence on my love of collecting and appreciate the fact that I was able to make their acquaintance and do some deals with most along the way.

Thanks Leon & crew for providing a landing pad for some of the hobby dinosaurs to frequent.

[toppcat]

Originally Posted by Rob D.

How appropriate (well, to me, at least) that Nick Edson makes a post in a thread about The Trader Speaks. Of the more than 150 issues of TTS that I own, more than half of them once belonged to Nick and have his mailing stamp on the back cover.

I have some of Nick's too and a whole lot of Dan McKee's old TTS. It would be great if we could get a hobby archive of old zines scanned up and hosted somewhere. Sports Scoop, Card Collectors Bulletin, TTS etc.Also, if you go to www.oldbaseball.com and click on the LIBRARY link, George Vrechek (and some others) have a number of articles about the old pubs and collectors on there. It's well worth a look.

I have always wished for a hobby version of SABR as concerns the history of the cards and pubs and collectors themselves. Not sure enough people are interested in that aspect of it but I know there are a dozen or two hardcore hobby history guys that would probably be intrigued.

[Oldtix]

Very interesting stuff! Dave, I followed the link over to OLDBASEBALLCARDS and greatly enjoyed the article on Hobby Publication History. The article ran back in 2004 and 2005.

The author George Vrechek cites a December 1935 Jefferson Burdick article in Hobbies Magazine as earliest mention of baseball card collecting.

Is this still believed to be accurate? If so, I have some news that may be our hobby's "Da Vinci Code"...

[Rich Klein]

*IS to become a SABR sub-committee of our own; of course; that means joining SABR, but if we can convince them that this is a worthy subject, I can find out, or have Tom Holford (who is one of the 16 founding members of SABR and has been active on this board) find out how we can do this. Great idea; and I think instead of being a hobby version of SABR; we can become a part of and adjunct to SABR.

Rich

I have always wished for a hobby version of SABR as concerns the history of the cards and pubs and collectors themselves. Not sure enough people are interested in that aspect of it but I know there are a dozen or two hardcore hobby history guys that would probably be intrigued.

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[Leon]

I was speaking with my good friend Lyman Hardeman of Oldcardboard Magazine yesterday, concerning some things in this thread. We were talking about archives etc...and he reminded me that there are over 800 articles posted on their website right now....Before we get going too hard on archiving we should probably see what has been done so far and then maybe just add to it? I know Lyman is a great sport about this stuff so thought I would mention it..(this is under "articles" on their homepage)..regards

http://www.oldcardboard.com/ref/BBC-...earchIndex.asp

[ChrisStufflestreet]

Originally Posted by Rich Klein

I have always wished for a hobby version of SABR as concerns the history of the cards and pubs and collectors themselves. Not sure enough people are interested in that aspect of it but I know there are a dozen or two hardcore hobby history guys that would probably be intrigued.

And you can add my name to that list, Rich.

My mid 80s issues of Baseball Hobby News (almost all of which have Nick Edson articles in them) sit right next to my computer desk. They're great resources and I'm always thirsty for more...