Fantasy Football Pays Off

 

The biggest stumbling block to my 1967 Topps chase arrived today via Fed Ex. The Seaver/Denehy rookie is now the biggest hobby purchase I've ever made. By far.

Tom Seaver's death in 2020 forced a bump in the price of an already super expensive card. It was rather discouraging to look at the prices asked in auctions and on eBay. I gave a few thoughts to backing out of my pursuit of the set but I was really too far into it. I was past the point of no-return. I guess I could have sold off what I had put together but I'd have lost money on the graded cards I'd broken out of their holders and the work involved in selling cards just isn't something I find enticing.

Then something happened that changed my way of looking at the last leg of the chase. I won two of my fantasy football money leagues and was the runner-up in the third one. I had a pretty healthy PayPal balance a day or so after Christmas and it was back to eBay for me.

Over the last few months I'd made a few half-hearted attempts at some low-end Seavers but lost out on all of them. As I've done with all the expansive cards in my sets builds I kept my eyes out for graded cards I would accept and raw cards from very well established dealers I trust. Two targets popped up last week and I made an offer on one PSA 1.5 which was turned down and then on this one from a dealer I hadn't bought from before but who had 100% feedback with many, many thousands of sales. He counter-offered,  I thought it over and bought it. The cost was a bit more than I had hoped to pay but still within reason. 

The corners are decent, there's a scuff along the bottom edge a a stain on the back but considering the $1000+ examples I had been seeing I am more than happy with this one. It puts me at 40 high numbers away from the finish. That includes the spendy Carew rookie. But that one isn't as bad as the Seaver. 

I'll get there. Finishing this thing and maybe my '62 Post set are my 2021 hobby goals.

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!

My three faves, a contest post

Frankie, who writes My Life In The Sports Card Hobby, has a little contest going that is right up my alley. He's asking fellow bloggers to post their three (or so) favorite cards. That's something I do in my head all the time. I thought it would be easy to do for a post. But it was much tougher than I figured. I have LOTS of favorites. The lists sit over on the sidebar of this blog and reviewing them I realized that I have cards I love that I don't even have on those pages. 

But in the spirit of the contest I gave it a shot. I decided to consider only baseball and leave it at three cards although Frankie was pretty liberal in his rules. Anyway, here goes:

1978 Topps Eddie Murray..... This one speaks for itself. I think it's a classic, one of the best of the era. It's the rookie card of a Hall of Famer in a pose that is seen on few if any other cards. Eddie Murray was a badass and this card captures that. It's far from my most valuable card but that makes no difference. I love this one.

The best card of my favorite player has to be on the list of my favorites. It was the first 'expensive' card I ever purchased. I recall finding it at a card show when they were still in their infancy. This one was at the old Allen Park Inn in Houston. The show, and buying this Brooks rookie, was an eye-opening experience. I have a nicer copy I picked up years later but this is a milestone card for me.

I don't have a lot of tobacco cards, a few dozen I guess. This one is the best of the lot. I could have put my T-206 Chief Bender here but the Mathewson is just a better looking card. Sure it's off-center but the idea that someone pulled this out of a tobacco package 100+ years ago is kind of awe inspiring. Mathewson was already one of the greats when it was issued. I bet this very card made someone very happy.

Both Mathewson and Bender were pretty much 'must haves' for me. I have a couple of books about Chief Bender and find him a fascinating character. As for Mathewson, he's from Factoryville, Pennsylvania where I spent plenty of time in the summers as a kid. I have an aunt who still lives there in a beautiful old home with an amazing view. Her late husband, my uncle, passed much of his baseball library along to me.

So there they are. My three favorite baseball cards. I was forced to leave off a few cards I truely treasure including my Bob Gibson rookie which is my only surviving 1959, my Koufax cards, and any number of others. If I make this list in a few months it might be different.

I've got nothin'

Anyone who does this silly blogging thing has sat down at the keyboard and realized that they have nothing to really say at that moment. (Happens to me a lot.) So as a fall back strategy I can count on my man Brooks Robinson to come though. And here he is.

This Robby rookie from 1957 was the first (and maybe only now that I think about it) 'expensive' card I bought when I decided to collect every Orioles card from 1954 onward. This was back in about 1980 or so. I remember seeing it at a hotel ballroom show and how much I angst-ed over pulling the trigger on it. I don't remember how much it was but whatever it cost this card.... 1) was more than I could afford given my circumstances back then and.... 2) thrilled me beyond words.

The other pricey card of an Oriole that made up the '54 to '80 run was the high numbered 1967 Brooks Robinson. Luckily I already had that card from my old collecting days. I have a couple of other copies of the Brooks rookie now and both are in better condition but this one has the memories behind it so it remains the one to fill that spot in my vintage Orioles collection binder.

So there is Brooks, looking pleased as punch to be on a baseball card. I felt the same way to tuck it into my binder, for sure!

My First 'White Whale'

Back in the late 70s or early 80s I decided to pursue a hobby adventure and track down every Oriole card issued since the franchise moved to Baltimore in 1954. It was a fun project and it kept me busy for about five years. I had the 1967 Brooks Robinson (like the Mark Belanger/Bill Dillman shown above it is a high number) so the only other expensive card was going to be the Brooks rookie from 1957.

The Robinson card I needed proved to be much easier to acquire than the Mark Belanger Rookie. Lots of '57 Robinsons were around. It was just a matter of finding one I could live with and afford. It was one of the two last cards I needed. I ended up just swallowing hard and buying one at a show in Beaumont, Texas. I'd gone to that show hoping to some different dealers and maybe finding the Belanger. I went with a friend and remember staring at the B Robby rookie the whole way home. So the 1967 Mark Belanger/Bill Dillman rookie card was the last card I needed to finish that project.

Back then it was a tedious job to find one card, especially a high number Topps card. I scoured all the publications I could find without any luck. I frequented a couple of LCSs and it never appeared in their stock. Card shows were much more prevalent back then. There was a medium to large sized show in the Houston area every few months and there were many 'hotel meeting-room' shows that were set up biweekly. I drove to a big San Antonio show that one of the more prominent area promoters put on.

But that Belanger took a long time to appear. I found it (finally) at a show in the Astroworld Hotel and Convention Center. It was in a binder with at least one other one and I bought two copies. One went into my collection binder and one went up on display in a frame. I had never heard of the term 'White Whale' used in terms of sought after collectibles. But this Belanger/Dillman card from 1967 was mine, even if I never knew that.

BTW... I'm still chasing my football version. I think that one is hopeless.