1516 - Gervise Ford, My First Hobby Friend, Part 1

Two longtime friends reminisce about how a one-shot 1969 classified ad in the SMU campus paper connected them and changed lives, leading to trades, softball games, and deeper involvement in the national baseball card hobby. They compare early collecting experiences—starting with 1954 and 1956 Topps, trading for Bowman cards, idolizing Stan Musial, and seeking complete sets—while recalling sources like The Sporting News, Coin World, and dealer Sam Rosen. The conversation covers buying boxes cheaply, doubling money on card lots, discovering pre-war issues like T205, T206, and T207, and the challenge of selling in early days. They also recount starting a 1974 card show and association, the hobby’s growth after 1975, and its rapid expansion through 1980 and beyond. 00:00 The SMU Ad That Started It 02:06 Late Bloomers in Sports 02:59 Trading With Older Collectors 04:54 Buying Boxes and Hustling 06:08 Discovering the National Hobby 07:40 First Trades and Set Building 09:22 Coin World Finds 10:10 Starting Shows and Going Midwest 12:50 Big Collections and Selling Challenges