I got a question from an old friend of mine about this today.



He already had Frank Thomas (The Elder); Andre Dawson; Gary Carter; Tom Candiotti, and Reggie Jackson from the retired player side.



From the active side he had Dmitri Young; Phil Hughes; Pat Neshek and Brad Ziegler.


Edited to reflect that I remember both Wes Parker and Bill Miller (The Old Yankee pitcher) actually setting up and selling at conventions.


Does anyone have any additions to this (and yes, sports other than BB are fine )


Regards
Rich

they had quite an article on the baseball collection of Joe Garagiola. I knew he was a collector from a letter I received from him as a 10-year old, but the article also mentioned he had a (complete?) T206 set.

Garry Gaetti. I read where when he was still playing he'd bring his card albums to shows looking for singles for the sets he was working on.

I believe there was an article somewhere regarding Craig Grebeck former White Sox infielder. Maybe someone can confirm.

-The late Tom Burgess of London, Ontario collected cards.
-Jerry DiPoto had a wonderful autograph collection but sold it several years ago.
-Former NHLer Ron Ellis collects cards of himself.
-Tom Hume
-Chris Short collected, and actually became a card dealer

Anyone ever hear of Kruk Cards?

Frank Thomas (the original) has a great Topps collection and is a fantastic fan of cards. I have traded with Frank several times over the past ten years and had a wonderful oppurtunity to sit with him at a mall card show about 5 or 6 years ago and just open some packs and talk baseball. He took a break from signing and sent his wife to shop at the mall and we just had a blast.

Joshua

add Ryan Zimmerman of the Nats to the current player collector list

don't forget about him.

Rick Reuschel collected his own cards, certainly, and I believe had a broader collection as well, but he was very casual about it, from what I recall. (a high school friend of mine-his family was friendly with the Reuschels)

Jason,

I think we're talking real players here.

Yeah, Rick Reuschel, pfft.

J Levine,

My recollection is that Frank Thomas HAD a great Topps collection, 1952 forward, and that it burned in a fire at his residence. Since then he was working on rebuilding it. He'd swap one of his selfprint autographed cards for a Topps card he lacked. If you wrote him asking for an autograph he'd mail back a want list, send him a card he wanted and he'd sign for you. Lots of 52 Topps high numbers remained on the want list...

Anyone know the current state of Mr. Thomas' collection?

Duane Ward ex Toronto Blue Jays player had a major collection. Do not know if he still does .

what does pfft mean?

Frank,
It is indeed true that Frank Thomas lost his original collection in a fire. His loss was profiled in a Sports Illustrated issue after it happened. As a result, OBC got his address and started rebuilding his sets. As of now, I know that he is nearly back to a complete Topps run (like you said, a few high dollar cards and many '52 high numbers still missing). As far as I know, Frank still actively collects the newer Topps base sets and if I recall loves the retro sets. Frank still sends a personal thank you letter for every card he gets.

I can get you his wantlist if you really want it.

Joshua

Jerry Di Poto was a regular autograph customer of mine and Ron Wolf (GM of the Packers) also bought items from me.

Rich Thompson (cup of coffee as a pitcher, in 1980s) once called me on the phone (when I first started in the business, I was selling cards) and asked if I had a 1953 Bowman Mantle. I did have the card and he made an appt. to come over. When he arrives I open my door and the first thing I see is this beautiful woman with him. They came in, we chatted, I found out who he was, he bought the card and she was chatting with us also.

She was Miss New York State and just broke up with Keith Hernandez.

"He was only looking for one thing" was the quote I will always remember coming from her .

=



I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent.

Unknown author

--

We made a promise. We swore we'd always remember.

No retreat baby, no surrender.

The Boss

David Wells I believe is a Babe Ruth collector.

"what does pfft mean?"

when you stick your tongue out to make a "fart sound"...

Hey Johshua,

Thanks for the update. Didn't know about SI. But I recall writing him, and learning of his loss from him, and I got his want list. I think I sent him a 52 T Hi # that was in about good condition. And he signed for me, and sent one of his personal cards. In my mind I'd sent too much just for the autographs, but I was ok with the deal because a component of it was helping a fellow collector work on his collection.

He could pop a baseball in his day.

I'm not sure of the player's name, but there is a young pitcher currently playing in the majors that frequents Beckett's message board. He logs on from time to time and chats with the members. He also collects cards, not sure if they are cards of himself or other players.



Jantz

Hi Jantz

That is Phil Hughes.

Thanks Scott


Jantz

I remember when he first appeared on the Beckett boards. Of course people were skeptical that it was him so they asked him to take a picture of himself with his webcam and he obliged. Pretty funny.

Patrick Roy is a collector.


Steve

"He was only looking for one thing" was the quote I will always remember coming from her .

Some chucker to help him move?

I just recently found out that Duane Ward was a collector of autographs, anyhow. A couple of friends of mine purchased VERY early team-signed balls from a Vegas-based eBay seller perhaps two years ago. I was looking at the very same auctions, but the photos the seller offered were both too small and too out of focus for me to be bothered with. My loss, as the balls turned out to be fine and the seller was nobody other than Duane Ward himself! Oh, and he certainly had an idea of value (or at least of what HE must have paid for the items in question)!

I've dealt with Duane Ward a couple of times, before I knew who he was. One time I noticed someone with a bunch of real vintage stuff - as well as quite a few 1980's Toronto Blue Jays autographed balls - listed on ebay. I ended up getting a 1913 Washington Senators signed ball and some others, and the transactions were under the name "D. Ward." When he later listed a number of Duane Ward Blue Jays jerseys, I put two and two together (took me a while), and figured out who he was. I told him I'd enjoyed seeing him pitch with the Braves, and wished that he could have stuck around a few more years in Atlanta.

I have a family member who plays in the NFL. I was visiting him one time, and he was showing me his childhood baseball card collection and asking if anything in there was valuable. Well, he had all the same things I did (Topps, Donruss, Fleer 1980s issues), so I had to tell him, "No, not anymore. You could put them on ebay, but I don't think people would even pay you the shipping charge for most of this." I suggested we go online just so he could see what I was talking about. Once we were on ebay and found all the stars' 1988 Topps cards listed for a penny with no takers, we found one of his cards from a shiny new issue, and it was listed for like $50. He thought that was funny.

Brian Schneider, Catcher Mets, is a huge Jersey collector and a card collector.....

Rob Fick is a collector. Former detroit tigers catcher. not sure where he's at now.

John Smoltz use to collect baseball cards early in his career, and was an occassional visitor to The Shortstop Card shop in Delta Township, Michigan, near Lansing. I don't know if he still acively collects or not.

I just remembered - I have a friend who runs a card shop in a suburb of Atlanta. About 15 years ago, I went into the shop and he said "Guess who was in here just a while ago. A woman came in with a little girl and said "Do you have any cards of Steve Garvey?" I asked her if he was her favorite player, and she said "No, I just wanted to show my daughter what her father looks like."

or if it was a Fleer stunt, but I remember former Met Pat Zachary's 1982 Fleer card was him at his locker looking at his 1981 Fleer card

The late Darrell Porter used to hang out in a card shop all the time that I frequented around Belton, MO (Just South of KC) back in the late 1980's or early 1990's. I talked to him a few times and he was always looking at cards but not sure if he collected. Unfortunately, he died in a drug related incident in 2002 at the age of 50. Very good player and MVP of the 82 Series with the Cards.

Michael,

I thought that the coroner found no traces of drugs in Porter's system. The official cause of death was the oddly-named "excitable delirium". I had never heard of that one before.

Tom,

If I didn't know you, I swear you were pulling our legs with that one!

Didn't Garvey have numerous kids with many different women?
=

I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent.
Unknown author
--
We made a promise. We swore we'd always remember.
No retreat baby, no surrender.
The Boss

Jodi,

Yes, official cause was "excited delirium" but related to cocaine. Here is a snipet from an article shortly after his death. Pretty sad story.

"Porter's blood had a level of cocaine "consistent with recreational use" but not so "abnormally high" as to be described an overdose. Young said Porter apparently was killed by a cocaine-caused condition, "excited delirium," which the medical examiner described as involving high body temperatures and "agitated, bizarre" behavior and capable of stopping a person's heart. In Porter's case, Young said, the excited delirium was worsened by an enlarged heart and high heat and humidity Aug. 5."

What does this mean: "Anyone ever hear of Kruk Cards?"

Does a former player own Kruk Cards?

I, for one, don't think it's particularly nice to refer to players who collect cards as "query."

Pretty sure Ed Kranepool was a big collector at one point.

Chico Resch, former NY Islanders goalie is a big collector of hockey memorabilia.
=

I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent.
Unknown author
--
We made a promise. We swore we'd always remember.
No retreat baby, no surrender.
The Boss

Chris Cooley of the Washington Redskins is an active Collector who buys and sells on ebay. He even auctions off autographed memorabilia and cards of himself on ebay for charity. Phil Hughes, like mentioned, was actively on Beckett message boards, but ever since the site changed in August, the Beckett message boards are very, very dead, with most of their members moving to a new site called freedomcardboard.com

Joe Nossek and Dan Schatzeder are both well-known as collectors.

I've seen Jay Johnstone and Devean George (NBA player) at card shops, although George was there picking up something that he had brought in to have mounted and framed.

I saw Brad Penny buying high grade PSA '50s HOFers at a card show.

Hockey player Johnathon Cheechoo and his father are also big collectors of Hockey cards (old and new) and Hockey memorabilia.

Obviously Gretsky once collected cards.

When I was at a card shop in Santa Barbara in 1994, the dealer told me that Wayne Gretsky had recently been to the shop; had seen all of his Gretsky stuff hanging on the walls -- I believe he was with or had just recently been with the Kings at the time -- and just went around and signed everything he could see. Just blew the dealer's mind. He loved retelling the story.



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Greg Bingham, who was a pretty good Linebacker for the Oilers, use to collect baseball cards. I use to see him at shows around Houston back in the day..