Saturday, January 28, 2017

RIP Alan Rosen aka 'Mr. Mint'


I learned the other day that Alan "Mr. Mint" Rosen died this week at the age of 70. Rosen was probably undeniably the most well known dealer/buyer/investor in the history of the hobby. He made a name for himself with huge ads in all the hobby publications. Pictures of him waving his wads of $100 bills were all over the place. He claimed to be the 'best known face' in the hobby and I have no doubt about that. 


Back in the halcyon days of this hobby you couldn't walk into a major show without seeing Rosen and his huge 'BUYING" signs front and center. His persona and 'shtick' rubbed a lot of folks the wrong way but there is no denying that he would be deserving of a spot on the hobby's Mt. Rushmore. If you have any doubts check out his website, in particular the "major finds" page.

I had one encounter with Rosen. Back in the mid 80's I was sitting on a stash of Cal Ripken rookies I'd picked up for probably a dime each. I used to buy 400 count boxes of Orioles 'commons' when the hobby was exploding with cards and companies. At the time I had no clue what my motivation was (and I still don't). But when Ripken rookie mania struck I was happy that I had done so. I had dozens of his Fleer and Donruss '82 rookies to say noting of the 50 card plastic 'cube' nearly filled with his true Topps rookie and many of the Update set 'rookie'.

About that time I had decided (with a wife, three little kids and a house note) to quit my company which provided services to the airlines and go back to school to get my teaching/coaching certificate. I was looking at three semesters of a reduced income and paying tuition costs. Those Ripkens looked like a way to make my transition back to being a college student again much less harrowing financially.

I took them to a big card show at the AstroArena next to the Dome one Friday and went straight to Rosen's table. He went through the cards and made me an offer. I can't remember what he quoted me but both he and the offer made me dizzy. I told him I'd think it over. I went back the next day and talked to the show promoter who was a dealer I knew well. He sent me to another table and I ended up selling most of the Ripkens to that second dealer. I can't remember exactly what I got in that deal but it was over three grand. I remember calling my wife and she told me to take the money straight to the bank before I lost it. LOL I really think she was afraid I'd spend it on other cards.

I found the following story online some time back and had been saving it for a future post. Now's the time. I've never heard of the movie mentioned but I may have to check to see if it's available on Netflix. The details pretty much sum up Rosen and his outrageous style.

New film has hobby's 'Mr. Mint' steaming mad 

July 09, 2008
Baseball card collecting is one of the dominant themes in the new motion picture, "Diminished Capacity," but not everyone associated with the hobby is thrilled by how card dealers are portrayed in the film.
In the movie, a Chicago journalist suffering from memory loss (played by Matthew Broderick) takes leave from his job and returns to his rural hometown, where he bonds with his Alzheimer's-impaired uncle Rollie (played by Alan Alda) and his old flame (Virginia Madsen). The trio heads to a card show in the city, where Rollie hopes to sell a rare baseball card that has gained the attention of some collectors intent on scheming the old man out of a potential fortune.
The notion of dealers trying to pay as little as possible for valuable cards has been used before in the movies (as in the 1999 film "Blast From The Past"), but in this film, the primary no-good dealer character goes by the name "The Mint-Mint Man," a parody of well-known vintage card dealer Alan "Mr Mint" Rosen. The Mint-Mint Man's show display features a photo of him fanning out a wad of cash, similar to images Rosen has used for years to promote himself at shows.
Director Terry Kinney told the New York Daily News that The Mint-Mint Man's sign and nickname were inspired by a research trip to a card show, where he saw Rosen's "Mr. Mint" booth and his trademark wads-of-dough portrait. Rosen told the Daily News that he wasn't happy with the suggestion that he operates in the same way as the character in the movie.
"They ripped off my persona, my character," Rosen told the paper. "I have a corny act, like a pro wrestling character, that I spent many years and millions of dollars establishing, and they stole it from me." Rosen said he contacted an attorney to see if there was a legal avenue to pursue, but his attorneys told him he didn't have a case. "They portray the character as dishonest and that bothers me," Rosen says. "I am 100 percent honest. I don't take advantage of old men like the guy in the movie. I'm a huckster, but I'm also an honest guy."
EDIT: Here is the IMDB page for Diminished Capacity. Looks to be available thru Amazon Video for those so inclined.

And here's a pic of "the Mint-Mint Man' character played by Bobby Cannevale. It comes from another story I found about the movie on SCD's website.



/EDIT

All you really need to know and Alan Rosen is that he had his own bobblehead and beanie baby!



15 comments:

  1. I hadn't heard about Mr. Rosen's passing. I never met him, I think I passed by him once or twice at a large show, but there's no questioning that the man was everywhere in the hobby. May God comfort his family.

    I remember hearing about "Diminished Capacity" at the time, and I probably made a mental note to keep an eye out for it... and then completely forgot about it. It's got a good cast, anyway.

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  2. Ibadan seen him a couple of times at a show. Never had any dealings

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  3. Nice story. I also remember when that movie came out, but I never saw it.

    I only saw Rosen in an ad or two in a price guide. I really haven't known much about him, probably his ads made me want to stay far away.

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  4. A good post topic would be "Who's on your card-collecting Mt. Rushmore?"

    Certainly Sy Berger would be up there.

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    1. Berger for sure. That really is an interesting topic. Jefferson Burdick-archivist, Sy Berger-card executive, Jack Davis-cartoon artist, Alan Rosen-dealer/investor. Maybe make room for Len Brown who wrote so many card backs. I know there are others worthy of a spot.

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    2. William..Perez would deserve consideration for sure. I'd argue that Jack Davis had a hand in a lot of sets (Wacky Packs, tons of card back cartoons, etc. but Perez has been big in the hobby too. Bob Lemke and Woody Gelman would have cases to be included as well.

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  5. I recall hearing about the movie too. I once saw a video of Rosen visiting an old man's home to make an offer on his lifelong collection. Though of course the seller was a consenting adult it made me feel dirty.

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  6. I had never heard of Diminished Capacity... but I just picked it up on Amazon for a few bucks. Looking forward to watching the Mint-Mint Man.

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    1. I'm gonna grab it as well. Bobby Cannevale is a good actor. Plays a lot of neat supporting parts.

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  7. I saw the Youtube video of Rosen buying the old man's collection and tossing it around as if it meant nothing. This was the old man's life's work and passion, yet Rosen drops a signed Hank Aaron jersey on the ground in a puddle of oil and laughs it off. It rubbed me the wrong way then and still does now.

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    1. Yup, I think he really bulldozed some folks. Makes you wonder how those people who sold him their 'attic finds' fared.

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  8. Bob, I had met Mr. Mint at Moose Skowron's bar once. He was trying to buy some of Moose's game used bats.
    Did you see where Bob Lemke also passed? Tough time for the card hobby.

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    1. Hi Mike. I didn't know Moose had a bar but I should have figured he would. Seemed like a pretty fun guy.

      I had heard of Bob Lemke's passing. Darn shame. He had a lot to contribute. I did a few posts about him that week over on the 1958 set blog.

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