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Hey Leon....can you please get the word out to the good folks on Network
54....
After months of hospital stays and rehabilitation Mr. Lionel Carter
passed away on Thursday, August 28th at the age of 90 years old. He is
survived by his lovely wife Irma. The accompanying image was from just a
few short months ago when Lionel dressed up in his original World War II
uniform. He was so proud of this picture and his service to our country.
Unfortunately, he did not live long enough to see "Carter and the
Cavalry" his life work describing his service in World War II in print.
He did finish proofing the final manuscript so fortunately it will not
go for naught. Personally I will miss Lionel Carter and ask you to join
me in keeping his wife Irma in your thoughts and prayers during a very
difficult time.
We will always treasure the conversations we had with Lionel Carter
about the early days of the hobby. Our favorite story was about his
early days collecting Delongs.
Lionel was kind enough to send us about numerous letters that he wrote
to other collectors in the 30's and 40s as well as 100 copies of early
hobby trades.
We will miss him and his knowledge of the hobby.
Lionel was a true hobby legend. May he rest in peace
Bruce Dorskind
America's Toughest Want List
(212) 734-7362
A sad day for the hobby. Thanks for keeping us informed Leon.
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While I've read much about him, I never had the
opportuninty to meet Mr. Carter. I will say as
an American and as a card collector, I owe him
plenty. He served bravely in WW II and was a
pioneer in our hobby and his legacy will live on!
Thank you Mr. Carter, for your service to country
and input into our great hobby. You will be missed!
Very sorry to hear this. He loved cards for what they are, not for what they're worth. That's collecting in its purest sense and the hobby will greatly miss this true icon.
Corey made a great point...Carter sold his collection for a few million dollars, but if he hadn't experienced that awful robbery, he still would rather have kept his cards.
That uniform also tells us Mr. Carter was a true hero. He served our country in combat during wartime. The Combat Infantryman’s Badge (rifle in a blue background with silver garland around it) means…or used to mean…he served at least thirteen months in an infantry unit, in combat, under fire. The farthest ribbon, top left, is a bronze star. It needs no description. I believe the others are WWII service ribbons.
Mr. Carter was from another time I am afraid we will not see again soon. True heroes are those who are known and remembered not for a meteoric rise to prominence, not merely for being “known”, but for accomplishment and character. I hope we and our nation will be as discerning in the near future.
Godspeed Mr. Carter.
Mr.Carter was what I consider one of the Old Guard. They just don't make them like that anymore. True character and integrity from the "old world", when times were a bit simpler. Our world is less of a place today because of this loss. My prayers are with Ms.Irma in this time of sorrow...I very much 2nd what Bob said right above this post...regards
I am extremely fortunate to have been able to talk vintage baseball cards with him earlier this year. For those of you that haven't already done so, I saved that conversation and you can listen to it on my website in the articles section.
Also, a sad coincidence is that I picked up these 5 Carter T206s last week to add to my Carter Plank. I am, however, happy to keep contributing to his legacy through my collection.
My condolences and warm wishes towards Mr. Carter's friends and family. From what I understand, he was a great person and a great American Hero. It was a blessing that he was able to live such a full life, but a sad thing that he is gone. He will be missed on this earth and by the hobby. Warm wishes to all who knew him.
Tim Kindler
can someone tell the story of why his collection was sold? i don't know very much about mr. carter other than that he is a hobby legend and is either single handedly or partly responsible for the designations of most sets.
i've never met him, but through all of the articles and pictures and his cards, it seems like i have. Like said before, he was a true collector that did it 100% for the love of the cards and not the money. Best wishes to his wife. Hopefully his book (military) will one day be published.
A sad day for the hobby, Mr. Carter will be missed greatly. I think he would be thrilled to see that many of his cards are being displayed in his memory.
My thoughts and prayers to his family.
resized scan
This message has been edited by leonl on Sep 3, 2008 7:54 PM
I wish I could have met him to talk about the hobby.It would have been fun to talk about how he collected , remember opening packs,the excitement of hoping a certain find would be waiting in one of those. What the new looks would be, where he purchased, etc...
totally different then most conversation.The nice thing is that he had 90 yrs to tell these stories and I bet he was a very kind person . You rarely see peopele like him now as the simple & kind generation seem to be gone.
This man was amazing and that is obvious by how he has touched us all either directly or through his collectiong. I am sure most if not all of us have 1 or more cards from his collection and I know that the ones I have carry a special meaning that is more then just the card and the slab.
He did a great deal for us and more then probablyy most of us realize.
A great loss and my thoughts go out to his familiy.
His life and love of the cards will go on through our collections and to me that is one thing the rest of us can only hope for.
James G
Looking for 1915 Cracker Jacks and 1909-11 American Caramel E90-1.
Though i never had the privilege of meeting Mr. Carter, he touched my life in the hobby, as he has with many others.
Recently, Bruce posted a copy of an article that was written by Mr. Carter, that appeared in the Sport Hobbyist Issue of May-June, 1962, which had a significant impact on me as well.
I first read the article in 1970, when i received this issue (along with several other SH issues) from Mr. Nagy at the first Detroit Show, in September of that year.
As a result, the Delong Gum Set has always been a favorite of mine (and remains so to this day), though it obviously isn't nearly as difficult of a set to collect, as it was back then.
Thus, i wish to say Thank You Mr. Carter, for your service to this Country, and for your enormous contributions to the hobby.
This picture of him in uniform(note the C.I.B. badge) is better than ALL he collected. Many Americans today would do well to follow in his proud footsteps..
R.I.P
I was also sorry to hear about Carter's death. It would have been great to talk cards with him. My dad is 86 and he recalls trying to find card # 106 in the 1933 Goudey set. He went to WWII and came home and all his cards were throw away. I started up again in 1958.
Note: I know Carter must have went thru 100,000 's of pre-WWII cards and was always upgrading and trading to improve his collection and I have seen lots of cards that he had since the 1930's and they grade only 2's and 4's etc. Where are all these new T and E cards coming from graded 8's and 9's ???? If they weren't around in the 1930's hard to believe they are still in that condition almost 80 years later. Hard to believe a 100 year old card has never slipped out of someones hand and landed on the floor or got nicked in a box.
Current Topic - Hobby Icon Lionel Carter passes away at 90
