The main thing I remember about Minnie Minoso coming back to play in 1976 & 1980 was the enthusiasism he brought to the players and fans. That is what I am hoping this blogging will do is bring back the enthusiasim to the hobby! During the late 1980's & early 1990's there were a lot of collectors, many of these people were into it more as a lottery then they were for the fun of collecting. I had a lot of concerns when I seen people paying $4-5 for a Greg Jefferies Rookie Card. I was taught by my mentor, (I will call him Larry) that it was always more important to try and collect a player that could possibly be in the "Hall of Fame" someday, rather than a "Hot" rookie. My fears came true, many people started leaving the hobby and the bottom fell out of collecting. However, there were a lot of collectors out there that really enjoyed the hobby of collecting cards. I see blogging helping to stir the interest in bringing "Old Collectors" back...
In all my years of collecting baseball cards, I have never subscribed to Beckett. For some reason I would always go to the card shop and buy them when I wanted them. So, one month I went into buy my normal Beckett, I couldn't find one and so I asked the card store owner, where's the Beckett? He replied, "You haven't seen who's on the cover?" I said, "No?" He held up a Beckett with a picture of Bo Jackson on the cover in black and white. He says," I only have two left and I will sell you this one for $10. I said, "I like Bo but I don't care he is on the cover. I like the Beckett!" He said, "Sorry, no $10 no Beckett." Oh my gosh! What am I going to do? I just left the card shop, and no Beckett!" Back in those days there where card shops everywhere. Every card shop I went into no Beckett. So, I went to this other little town where this guy had a small transmission shop and baseball card shop together. I walk in, He has the Beckett! I asked him how much for the Beckett? Oh, that would be the cover price, $2.50 I quickly reached into my pocket to give him the $2.50 after he handed me the Beckett, I told him what was going on. He acted I like I had ripped him off ! Anyway, I left the store being really happy as I had my Beckett. Now days they get almost $10. for a Becket anyway, and the closest card shop is 75 miles away. Man, how times have changed! But, I still have my Bo Jackson Beckett!
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