When did you start collecting pre-war/vintage?

[frohme]

Originally Posted by Leon

Hey Mike
I lived at 950 Wavecrest, right off of El Camino Real..........there was an elementary right down the street from us but I can't remember the name. We used to get up real early on weekend mornings and ride our skateboards there. Yeap, I was in 6th grade when the Intermediate opened the first year. We had moved to Clear Lake, from Westbury (SW Houston) when I was in 4th grade....I am sure we knew a lot of the same people. My little league All Star team went to the State Championships....( I will brag and admit I was the 2nd best batter in the league that year and played every game and pitched in every game too (on my regular team, played outfield on the All Star team)).....The Spivey's played on that team, their dad was our coach, and you might have known the younger one? What a small world it is!!


fyi...I would have been class of '80 but some bad things in life happened....long story.......

Wow, Leon!! and it just gets smaller. I lived on Fathom - just 1 block in on the other side of El Camino between Wavecrest and Festival - and am all too familiar with that part of the street. Inter-neighborhood stickball in the cul-de-sac at the end of either your street or Seagate a couple of times in the summer of 78 (or 79) as well as typical 70's teenage hooliganism ... the fence along El Camino was great cover for tossing water balloons at passing buses, trucks, etc... Also, both my sisters went to Whitcomb Elementary over there by you.

Definitely played ball with David Spivey, and a little with his older brother Don. I didn't play in the area till Pony league in 76, so missed the state LL action, but definitely heard about it after the fact. Our pony All-Star teams in 76/77 never made it out of the region .

I'm sure you're right, that there are a whole list of characters we both know and played with. Gary Melder, Jim Backus, or Don Robison ring any bells?

Look forward to meeting you one of these days. I won't be at the Nat'l this year, but maybe 2012.

--
Mike

[Leon]

Originally Posted by frohme

Wow, Leon!! and it just gets smaller. I lived on Fathom - just 1 block in on the other side of El Camino between Wavecrest and Festival - and am all too familiar with that part of the street. Inter-neighborhood stickball in the cul-de-sac at the end of either your street or Seagate a couple of times in the summer of 78 (or 79) as well as typical 70's teenage hooliganism ... the fence along El Camino was great cover for tossing water balloons at passing buses, trucks, etc... Also, both my sisters went to Whitcomb Elementary over there by you.

Definitely played ball with David Spivey, and a little with his older brother Don. I didn't play in the area till Pony league in 76, so missed the state LL action, but definitely heard about it after the fact. Our pony All-Star teams in 76/77 never made it out of the region .

I'm sure you're right, that there are a whole list of characters we both know and played with. Gary Melder, Jim Backus, or Don Robison ring any bells?

Look forward to meeting you one of these days. I won't be at the Nat'l this year, but maybe 2012.

--
Mike

I remember all of those streets. That was my old stomping grounds. Yeap, it was Whitcomb Elementary..We moved from Houston and I started there in the 4th grade. Had a few fights on that playground too...There was still a lot of Jewish prejudice back then . .My brother (RIP) tried to jump that creek over there on a motorcycle, like Evil Knevel. He hit the other side, wrecked and almost killed himself *(wasn't really hurt but it was a great crash). I will never forget those days.

One of the 2 homers I ever gave up was to Don Robison....I will never forget that damn hanging curveball. I remember Melder and Backus too.....Don (and Backus I think) were one year a head of me but I was put up in the majors early...... BTW, I saw Jeff Moeller, another Nasa Area Little-Leaguer, here in Dallas several years ago...through work and quite by accident. He remembered all of this stuff too. BTW too, when my mom (RIP) was in really bad shape due to cancer, I stayed with the Spivey's so I could continue in the All Stars that year. I went to vacation bible school with them and everything. We had a great time. Their dad taught me how to throw curves and drop balls and was our coach. I think he was missing half a finger too!!

Whilst we began collecting cards fresh from the pack when were 6 years old, our interest in ultra rare high grade baseball cards dates back to 1977.

At that we committed ourselves to building the world's best type card
and selected memorabilia collection.

Among our earliest purchases were a group of George Millers (now sgc 70), a Texas Tommy from Larry Kelley and two 19th century cards from Sir Rob Lifson
a Four Base Hit and a Just So (both highest graded)

Quality never goes out of style.

Bruce

[hangman62]

Im finding it hard to believe that so many 5-15 yrd old kids started collecting ' PRE WAR" cards at that age . It doesnt sound right...young kids..just starting to play little league baseball ? ages 6,7,8,maybe 9....just starting to understand the game/the teams/the rules...just starting to buy ( or have someone buy packs for you)..I just cant see it. I know as a young kid in the mid/late 60s..I was in love with my team and the current yr cards...and just occasionally looking at a 60/61 Fleer card would completly turn me off..seeing those very old guys mugs !....why would a 6-7 8 yr old find joy in a 34 Goudey card of players who...they didnt know..even when grandpa sat you down and told you about Waner,Speaker,Cobb,etc.., didnt you still find more attraction to Swoboda,Mantle,Seaver, and Pepitone ??

[B O'Brien]

I marked myself in the 16+ age. My turning point was my 12th birthday (1988) and my dad said he would buy me any card or cards I wanted as long as I didn't cross $40, and that was it. We went to JR's in Powderly, KY and I had my heart set on a sharp Mattingly 1984 Fleer. JR had just taken in some trade stock and he had two 1956 Topps Campy's. One was nice crispy with a wrinkle and the other had a slightly rounded corners but no creases. Please remember that Mattingly, 45 minutes south of where he grew up was king at this time, and that is still one good looking card! The color on the wrilke free Campy was super vivid and I fell in love, my turning back the years in the card world had begun. The prices on both were $35, so I grabbed the Campy a new Beckett and a pack of clean top loaders (never had any new ones before that!). I still have that card and always will!

As I got a little older I set up at the local shows and sold new stuff from wax and would take in trade of whatever had value, so I started to amass some good post war stuff. I was set up at a show in Charleston, WVA in 1992 (we moved, coal mining family), and one of my regular guys was working on a 1955 set in EX or so, and I had a nice Clemente to fill his slot. After months of trying to work out a deal (I was asking $500) he shows up with an Old Mill White Cap Matty that is crease free and $300. I managed to squeeze out a NMMT Payton RC to sweeten the deal. That Matty was my first PW card and I loved it.

My sell off lasted right at 5 years. When I decided what I wanted to do for real, need to relo and go back to school (Culinary degree this time), I had to sell of nearly all of my stack of cards. I sold the Matty on ebay (2001 or early 2002 after getting married, it was the last to go) in a PSA 3 holder to a guy in Sea, WASH. I have tried to find him for last few years to get it back, but no luck. Between my time as being broke with the wife when we started out and the college days (I had expensive recreational choices then, and very little income), I sold off all of my prewar cards for next to nothing (just before the internet). I used to keep really good records in my notebooks from show deals (what I took in on trade) and the same stuff that I sold off at $10 a card in college is staggering for me now, as I would just bulk out my T206 (VG-EXish) hoard to the local dealer in LEXKY because he had a guy that was framing them and would take all I would bring for the flat price.

I managed to stay away for 5 years before joining Cardtarget and the partial shares market. I figured if I only had a portion of some T cards it would be OK! When I found out we had to close down, I could not think of letting the Lenox Johnson go to someone else, so I bought it in the summer of '08 to fully knock myself off the wagon.

As with some of you all, I think the baseball cards have been one of the things that have linked the stages of my life. My first set for the holidays in 1986 from the JC Penny catalog, because I thought it would be fun to have 792 tiny presents, to learning math and statistics as I got older from the backs, to trying to find tough backed T206 HOFers or just cards I always wanted when I was little, as I do now (I bought beater Duke Snider and Pee Wee rookies the other night!!) It is the one constant no matter what else changes around me.

I love me some ball cards and prewar just makes it that much more fun. I love to learn the history of what was going on when these cards were being produced to set the players or company up with what was going on in the times. My next little project will either be the Bluegrass League or the LA issues T cards. Since both groups of cards seem to be out of my price range, I may take a new route on collecting. The journey continues!!!

I just reread that, sorry for the ramblings!!,
Bob

[Bilko G]

Originally Posted by hangman62

Im finding it hard to believe that so many 5-15 yrd old kids started collecting ' PRE WAR" cards at that age .

i have a feeling many people who voted are confused.

[Mark]

Originally Posted by Bilko G

i have a feeling many people who voted are confused.

That could be. But I voted in the 5-15 yr old category because I took up vintage collecting when I was about 11 or 12. Back around 1971, a handful of sellers advertised pre-war and post-war cards near the back of the Sporting News and Baseball Digest. I knew lots of the players names both from my dad's stories about Waner, Traynor, Hubbell, Sisler, Ruth, et al and had read both The Glory of Their Times and 8 Men Out. After I bought some cards from the sellers in TSE and BD, the sellers would send around mimeographed sheets of cards for sale every couple of months. Back then, they would sell t-206's by the player's name alone, omitting any reference to whether it was a portrait or not or what back it had or even its condition. And at a local flea market, there was a guy who always had a box of cards and a cat with him. He introduced me to a couple of Goudeys. Somehow, I learned about the existence of the Trader Speaks. I ended up with a lot of t-206's and a number of Goudey's and Playballs, but never ran across most of the issues from the 20's that I collect now.

[Leon]

I admit I am quite surprised by the poll numbers too. I would have thought the #2 spot would have been the #1 spot by quite a bit and that is the spot I fell into. That is when my (little bit of) discretionary income and boredom set in . It's hard to imagine so many on the board started collecting PRE-War/vintage so young and never stopped. Thanks for all who have responded so far...and sorry for my tangent of going off topic....Those early little league days bring back some very fond memories (obviously). regards

[wonkaticket]

Originally Posted by Yankeefan51

and two 19th century cards from Sir Rob Lifson a Four Base Hit and a Just So (both highest graded)

Bruce

Rob has been knighted?? Allright now I know he's making too much money!

Originally Posted by Yankeefan51

Quality never goes out of style.

True, but narcissism may grow old (Kidding Bruce).