Larry Frisch Cards..what happened ??

[Cooptown]

Originally Posted by bh3443

One of the best experiences in my 4 decades in the hobby was in Cooperstown during induction week in the 90's. I was with my pal, veteran card guy, Bob Thing of Maine. Bobby introduced me to Larry Fritsch who had just opened his museum. Larry begged Bob to be the curator of the museum on a nice Cooperstown night as the beer flowed and we talked cards into the early morning hours. What great guys: Larry & Bob!

I have VERY fond memories of that museum. I believe it was only open a year or two? Took the tour, and got a pack of cards that had Larry's "Top 10 Finds" and how he aquired them, for how much, etc. Went to Cooperstown the next summer, walked up to the museum and rememembered my disappointment of how it was gone. I remember from every summer on, I would walk by in hopes it would re-open. Great building too; I believe it was completely new when he moved in. For whatever reason, that building has been more vacant than not since Fritsch left. I remember an ice cream shop being in there one summer.

You know the funny thing? I still go and walk by that empty building when I am in Cooperstown....that tells you how much I enjoyed that Museum.

[GoldenAge50s]

I don't even remeber the yr, but I was in Cooperstown and found the Museum location, expecting to go in & have a look-see. Lo & behold the building was vacant and looked like someone left in a hurry!

I tried the door & to my surprise it was open but nobody was around. I went in and started looking around---empty boxes on the floor, paper littered around, a couple of old showcases still there but empty (darn!). It literally looked like someone had just vacated.

I poked around, looked in the trash & some boxes--the only thing I found were some Fritsch paperwork and a wooden baseball bat pen w/ the Larry Fritsch Museum logo on it. I was in there about 20 mins & all that time not a soul around!

No Wagners, no Larry Doyle's, all gone!

[bh3443]

I was very pleased t read your post, Cooptown! Larry's place was a great one for sure. Too bad at that time a guy like Bob Thing or even myself was too tied down to re-locate and run the place. It would have been cool!
Larry told us that he loved to lock the museum doors and knock back a six pack as he went through his cards. He genuinely loved his cards, his family and our hobby!
Too bad that place is empty.
I met so many great guys at those Cooperstown shows. I set up at the first 3 and Don Flewelling and Frank Keetz were simply remarkable guys!
Thanks for the memories,
Bill Hedin

Originally Posted by Cooptown

I have VERY fond memories of that museum. I believe it was only open a year or two? Took the tour, and got a pack of cards that had Larry's "Top 10 Finds" and how he aquired them, for how much, etc. Went to Cooperstown the next summer, walked up to the museum and rememembered my disappointment of how it was gone. I remember from every summer on, I would walk by in hopes it would re-open. Great building too; I believe it was completely new when he moved in. For whatever reason, that building has been more vacant than not since Fritsch left. I remember an ice cream shop being in there one summer.

You know the funny thing? I still go and walk by that empty building when I am in Cooperstown....that tells you how much I enjoyed that Museum.

[Cooptown]

Originally Posted by bh3443

I was very pleased t read your post, Cooptown! Larry's place was a great one for sure. Too bad at that time a guy like Bob Thing or even myself was too tied down to re-locate and run the place. It would have been cool!
Larry told us that he loved to lock the museum doors and knock back a six pack as he went through his cards. He genuinely loved his cards, his family and our hobby!
Too bad that place is empty.
I met so many great guys at those Cooperstown shows. I set up at the first 3 and Don Flewelling and Frank Keetz were simply remarkable guys!
Thanks for the memories,
Bill Hedin

BH-Do you know the reason why Larry closed up shop in Cooperstown? Or do you have any recollection of the time frame that place was open? I was only about 14 or so if I can remember, so my "contacts" in the hobby at the time were pretty limited.

[Steve D]

Originally Posted by Cooptown

BH-Do you know the reason why Larry closed up shop in Cooperstown? Or do you have any recollection of the time frame that place was open? I was only about 14 or so if I can remember, so my "contacts" in the hobby at the time were pretty limited.

According to Larry's obituary on Fritsch Cards' website, he opened the museum in 1987. He then closed it in 1992 due to the distance and travel time.

Steve

[ls7plus]

Purchased a 1914 T222 Fatima Alexander from Larry in about '98 that was near mint and centered, with the exception of the usual wrinkles in the surface of the photo, but still with tremendous eye appeal for $513.00 as I recall. And almost bought a 1956 Kahn's Frank Robinson VG+ but with back damage from having been glued to a scrapbook which the Fritschter had priced at $375.00. Funny thing about the Robinson card-- at the time, I passed on it, but I believe it found me again about one and a half years ago, when I picked up what I believe to be the very same card from Jim Manos. This occurred about 12 years after I had passed on the card from Fritsch, and I had been looking for an example with good eye appeal throughout that time. Meant for me??

He had some good cards which seemed high at the time, but the passage of time made you more than whole if you hung on to them.

Good thread--always like to hear about the pioneers!

Larry

[bh3443]

Well, I'm now 50 years old and I've been in the hobby for a good 40 of them!
I keep reading "old school" in this and other threads and I am hoping that we can share some old school things done by the old schoolers! Here's a few:

1. Phone Calls were a no-no in the 1970's with most old school guys. I can recall the SCD big advertisers with their "to the point" phone rules that included "no calls on Sunday" and "if you call after hours I'll just hang up on you" and my favorite "some of you have been abusing my phone hours and soon I'll be taking no phone calls:, lol! Back in the 70's I recall my friend Bob Thing's Trader Speaks auctions that ended say midnight. I had a pleasant conversation with Rob Lifson a few years back about how the two of us got creative to sneak around and bid without waking our family! Rob was more creative than me in the Bob Thing auctions! We had a good laugh about those fun old days! Rob's a decent guy who (just like us) loves our hobby's rich history.

2. Another quirk was that in the 70's sme of the big dealers would get furious and refuse to sell you cards if you referred to the cards as an investment!


Those are the first two old school things that come to my mind. I hope om of you will write a blurp about your "old school" quirks, stories, etc.., We can use a good laugh as we stroll down our memory lane!

Bill Hedin <---Wife & I are off to walk our dogs every day at 5:30am and then 5:30pm!My ogs are Holly (hound 55 lns and Sadie (Black Lab) 80lbs!

[Cooptown]

Larry's name recently came up on the PSA boards, and it jogged my memory of this thread.

When I was in Cooperstown this summer, I decided to photo document all of the places that my Dad and I used to go. I decided to track down the Fritsch museum. Ironically enough I had a hard time finding it. The trees had really grown in, so it covered a lot of the building. It was vacant, and as you can see from the reflection in the windows, they were using it as a parking lot that weekend. You can actually see me in the reflection as well.