Stories from collecting during 80's

Any of you guys that were collecting during the BB Card madness in the late 80's, early 90's, I'd like to hear some of your stories. This was a time when people and kids alike were laying down their money on BB Cards. People were investing in cases and cases of modern cards. Kids and adults were looking for the latest popular rookie card. Beckett had up arrows next to just about every card new or old every month. Dealers were suppling the prices to Beckett, lol. Anyway it was a weird time in the hobby and luckily over a few years all this was shaken out of the hobby.

Anyway one time I was hanging out in the local Card shop, there were around 5 card shops in my small area, and a guy in his Late 30's walks in and wants to buy a couple wax cases of 87 Fleer or something like that. I think Ruben Sierra and Jack Clark rookies were hot at the time. Well, the dealer had a nice 54 Topps Banks Rookie in the showcase and I told the prespective buyer that I thought he would be better off buying cards like the Banks. His words to me were. "Who is Ernie Banks?".
That kinda tells you what was going on back then

If you were a part of this madness please post a story or two.

"This card is Near Mint...would be Mint except for the creases."

Honestly, as much as we like to gripe about third-party graders, it is a lot better than how it was!

Yeah, Vintage raw card grading was not my speciallity.
Sometimes I'd find a crease after I got home from a show, usually because of my neglect to check the back as close as the front.

There were alot more dealers back then and some of them would unload their mistakes on you in a heartbeat.

Buying out of SCD was a trip too, I always figured it to be atleast a grade lower than advertised.

In the late eighties...early nineties...I had in my possession maybe 20 vintage cards...in college partying my life away...and feverishly buying packs of upper deck packs wth my friends and roommates...trying to hoard as many bernie williams rookie cards as we could get our hands on!

There were a few card stores near me in Delaware...from which I purchased a fake fro-joy sheet. I really hit the vintage hard in 92 after I had graduated!!!!

In the 80s I set up at a lot of shows. I was pretty good at faking a Ruth sig and at some point during weekend long shows I'd get bored, buy a ball and fake a Ruth sig. I'd then give it to someone to try and sell to a dealer. Inevitably I'd have to go back to that dealer, give him his money back and explain why he was an idiot because he has just bought a Ruth sig on Frank Robinson AL ball done in ball point. The ball point pen wasn't invented until 1943 and wasn't wide spread in the US until the 50s, so legit ballpoint Ruth sigs are uncommon. I'd also change my name tag to "Al Bundy's Shoebox Nightmares. If it ins't creased it doesn't make cents."

Then there is the time I told Mr Mint to go away because I wasn't his wholesaler.

I started collecting in '86. Began with buying pack after pack of 1986 Topps, and trading with the neighborhood kids (I was only 11 at the time!). I came really close to putting a set together, but by the time I could afford to finish it on my allowance money, the '87 set was out, and I began that one! Somewhere along the line in 1987, I got my 1st "vintage card", a 1970 Johnny Bench from a local dealer. That one cost me around $20 which at that age, was a HUGE investment. I still have it somewhere, but havent seen it in years. Great times!

When I began collecting in the mid-late 70's...I was just a kid...and had relatively no money...and I remember coveting a Tom Seaver rookie card...1967 topps...$7...way too rich for my blood! A 54 Rookie HAnk Aaron...$25...not happening...33 Goudey Ruth's sold for 50-$100...no chance I could afford that!!!

I remember seeing a t206 red hindu crandall...in Cleveland...while interviewing for dental schools in 1993-1994. The guy was asking $250 for it...but he didn't know why...some guy traded it to him and told him it was rare!!! I was appalled by the price. HE also had a few e97 b/w cards for about $100 a piece. Upon returning home to MD...I did some research and ended up calling the store and buying the red hindu and the 2 e97 b/w's. This was by far the most $$$$ I had ever spent on BB cards in my life!!!! Times change!

ullmandds wrote:When I began collecting in the mid-late 70's...I was just a kid...and had relatively no money...and I remember coveting a Tom Seaver rookie card...1967 topps...$7...way too rich for my blood! A 54 Rookie HAnk Aaron...$25...not happening...33 Goudey Ruth's sold for 50-$100...no chance I could afford that!!!

That gave me a major deja vu!

And nice job on getting those E97 b/w back then!

sabrjay wrote:In the 80s I set up at a lot of shows. I was pretty good at faking a Ruth sig and at some point during weekend long shows I'd get bored, buy a ball and fake a Ruth sig. I'd then give it to someone to try and sell to a dealer. Inevitably I'd have to go back to that dealer, give him his money back and explain why he was an idiot because he has just bought a Ruth sig on Frank Robinson AL ball done in ball point. The ball point pen wasn't invented until 1943 and wasn't wide spread in the US until the 50s, so legit ballpoint Ruth sigs are uncommon.

Love the Ruth ball story - too funny!

ullmandds wrote:When I began collecting in the mid-late 70's...I was just a kid...and had relatively no money...and I remember coveting a Tom Seaver rookie card...1967 topps...$7...way too rich for my blood! A 54 Rookie HAnk Aaron...$25...not happening...33 Goudey Ruth's sold for 50-$100...no chance I could afford that!!!

I remember seeing a t206 red hindu crandall...in Cleveland...while interviewing for dental schools in 1993-1994. The guy was asking $250 for it...but he didn't know why...some guy traded it to him and told him it was rare!!! I was appalled by the price. HE also had a few e97 b/w cards for about $100 a piece. Upon returning home to MD...I did some research and ended up calling the store and buying the red hindu and the 2 e97 b/w's. This was by far the most $$$$ I had ever spent on BB cards in my life!!!! Times change!

What was 'research' like back in the 1970s? Typing two soup cans together and hooking them up to a typewriter and a black and white TV?

I had a long post that disappeared. At work we have web forms in which if the submitter exceeds 250 characters, the form is submitted blank.

Anyhow, I'll relate a couple of vintage tales. The more exciting ones of course involve the craziness in the new product(s) of that time.

My friend and I, tweens to teens, used to set up at the old Chicagoland shows on Sunday's at Mike Gidwitz's table - he'd share or provide us with the entire table in exchange for half the weekend table rent. We were too young and didn't know the business was mostly done by Sunday. Anyhow, we purchased hundreds of t205 and t206 cards in miserable condition via the old David Festburg SCD auctions. We'd pay around $2 or so a card in a large lot, and would get a mixture of mostly commons mixed or seeded with a few HOFers and an occassional off condition rarity. Once in while, especially with the size variance of that issue, we'd get a nice condition oversize card. We'd try to get $3 - $6 a card for what we thought were commons, and $15-25 for the Hall of Famers. We'd sell a few every show we did. Most of the time we had to set up at the Jennifer Salems Rolling Meadows show. She seemed to like my friend, and she'd give us a nice location near the front door. Once we had distractions of the late teens like jobs, girlfriends, and college, we sold the remaining of the t-cards in a classified ad for $300 - there were 170 or so, which included quite a few HOFers.

Less vintage, when Mike and Jim Goodfriend still talked to each other, they traded to my friend a good condition 1953 Topps Mantle for 12 "mint" Henderson rookies and $50. My friend searched for two months looking for enough Henderson rookies at the right price, and Jim, probably kidding, didn't want to complete the agreement at that price. Later they sold him a fair 1935 Goudy Ruth for $60. These transactions would have been around 1985.

anybody need 2000+ 1988 topps??? real cheap

anybody need 2000+ 1988 topps??? real cheap

They make good fire wood

Chris...the research in the early-mid 90's consisted of internet and price guides...the info was there...and this kinda pushed me towards seeking out rare backs.

Probably around 1992 or so I was using the internet...prodigy...and I met some guy on the bb card message board there who seemed to be having health issues and was selling lots of rare backed t206's. I bought an ex abaticcio w/blue sleeves w/lenox back and an o'hara st louis. I paid $350 for both. He had a lot of HOF'ers w/Uzit backs but I couldn't afford them. He sent me a 1910 Tip Top Pirate Common as a bonus...the o'hara was sold for $350 in 94-95 and the other two remain in my collection.

You young whippersnappers and your Prodigy. I go back to the days when the internet was just USENET and ftp protocols.

In the 80s your research involved finding knowledgeable collectors and dealers to talk with about the hobby. There were also a few books like Baseball Cards by Kieth Mitchell and Roger Erbe. That was the book taht really got me hooked on old cards.

In 1987, I was in little league and remember after a baseball game my father and I went to the local card store. Of course I was still in my uniform and my dad bought me a pack of topps cards, you know the one's that have the wood looking borders. Anyways, I pulled a Bo Jackson and thought I hit the Jackpot!!

Jeff

THat was 87 Topps
I remember dumping those factory sets for 4.00