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We Were All Little Boys at Heart
I had dinner last week at Appleby's with Ken Hoeltzel. I took Ken's Tests and Measurements graduate course at Plattsburgh State sometime in the 1970s, as did a cast of thousands. It was known as one of the most fun and informative classes on campus. But that's not how we became such great friends in the 1980s.
Our friendship started over the love of opening a pack of baseball cards. Through a roundabout route Ken came upon the hobby of collecting baseball cards and, once found, it became a passion. A Cleveland Indians fan since birth, Ken was unique in the North Country. In the 1980s, from one phone call to another, Ken organized a grassroots meeting of baseball card lovers. The first meetings were attended by Ken, Darry Norcross, Jim Amorelli and Foxy Gagnon, who was the faculty advisor for the Plattsburgh Middle School Card Collectors Club.
After a few meetings to organize some ground rules and meeting spots, the North Country Sports Collectors Club was formed with Ken as its lifelong president. It was 1982 and throughout the Eighties it grew into a group of adults and youngsters who enjoyed various aspects of sports collecting. Ken's passion was older baseball cards, mine was autographs, Jim's was completing baseball card sets and collecting Sports Illustrateds, and Darry was working on getting Perez-Steele's autographed.
We would meet once a month at Plattsburgh's Stafford Middle School and trade cards and stories, and find out what's hot and what's not in the hobby. It was a great place for making lasting friendships. A lot of people I see in my day-to-day travels were members of the club. The list is long: Craig Mathews, Andy Morelli, Davey Richard, Jack Baroody, Scott Aley, Dave Drown, Butch Hodil, Mike Settevendemio, Joey Allen Jr., John Roberts, Rick Knowles, Mark Papa, to name a few.
We all knew the same thing: the thrill of opening a pack of baseball cards and finding your favorite player. It started for me when I was six years old. It was 1954 and the 1954 Topps baseball card remains my all-time favorite. The Jackie Robinson card has a yellow background, and Duke Snider's background is green. I would buy my cards at Burdo's Market on Johnson Avenue. One penny bought you a pack of one baseball card and one stick of delicious bubble gum. A nickel bought you five cards and a stick of gum.
I still remember opening a pack of cards and finding Henry Aaron of the Milwaukee Braves. I had never heard of him. The little bio on the back said that he had been the 1953 Most Valuable Player in the Sally League. He hit .362 with 22 home runs and 125 runs batted in 137 games. I kept that card. Later I found out that this was his rookie card and that card today is worth about $1800.
Ask any former member of the North Country Sports Collectors Club and they'll talk to you for hours with similar tales of rare finds and nightmare tales of how their mother threw out their entire collection when they went off to college.
The club grew from just Plattsburgh area members to others who were willing to travel long distances to be a part of the group. Like Keith and Nancy Brannock from Ticonderoga, as well as Bill Barnhart, who is a football coach at Ti. Or the Malone crew, like Bob Fraser, who eventually opened a card store, and Chuck Dievendorf. There was Tom Mays, who would drive over from Vermont, and even some members from Quebec.
And then there are collectors who I haven't seen in many years. Derek Zuckerman and Steve O'Brien are in Massachusetts. Steve opened a card shop on his front porch on Johnson Avenue and become one of the "go-to guys" for our baseball card habit.
And I remember Mike Brown, who went into the TV business, and Dave Moulton, who probably still has the 1955 Bowman Mickey Mantle I traded him. And Gary Rock, who was buying cards by the case. And Wally Darrah. And Ron Brown from Chazy. And Jan Davis, who proved that females could love card collecting, too.
A Johnson Avenue kid named Mike Burdeau, Arnie and Pearl's kid, used to partner with me for a trip to Bill Dod's baseball card show in Nashua, New Hampshire. Mike ate a dozen Dunkin' Donuts on one trip. OK -- he ate 10, I ate 2.
The 1980s was quite a time in the card collecting hobby. There was the introduction of Fleer and Donruss and, later, Upper Deck to challenge the granddaddy, Topps. There were card shows in Plattsburgh at the Holiday Inn and in Albany at the Polish Community Center. And several places in between. Matt Hicks brought Johnny Podres, Catfish Hunter and others to Plattsburgh for autograph signings. And a pack of baseball cards cost only 50 cents.
The club lasted about ten years, maybe a little more, and some became disenchanted when the market was flooded around 1988. The value of a card became devalued, and card companies started looking for gimmicks to get us to keep buying.
But Ken's idea of a club for the North Country grew into one of the biggest sports collecting clubs in New York State, with over 200 members. Maybe today he's enjoying retirement in Florida and doing a lot of golfing, but don't wave an unopened pack of baseball cards in front of his face.
And that's true of many of us. We might be called senior citizens in some restaurants, but there is still a lot of little boy in us. We still don't mind plopping down a few bucks for a pack of cards in hopes it'll have a Piazza, a Jeter, a Suzuki or a Matsuzaka rookie card in it.
Comments
Fox, Great article. Wonderful memories. Hey Ken.... who called you to come down to Albany:) I still don't know how I managed to work going to the Polish Community Center to a show into a "gig" that allowed me to work with over 100 Hall of Fame athletes?? (and I got paid to do it) I was actually complete in my collecting back to the 1948 set! Most of that has gone....college tuition, vacations and the like but I have the good fortune to have saved a few hundred personalized pieces that hang all over the house. Proof I guess, that those days really happened:) I still talk to Ed Keetz (the founder of the Polish Community Center shows) about once a month- we have stayed good friends. He still does a show once a month in a different location- hard to believe!! Do you guys realize that we had over 60 shows up here? Sorry I missed dinner Ken- next time. Craig- glad I could help keep you in beer:) Foxy- keep the articles coming- you do a wonderful job Jim Amorelli
(Foxy's note: Great to hear from Jim Amorelli. His card-flipping contests were a hit at club meetings! Jim and I have some great stories as buddies in sports collecting and in the US Army Reserves. What great blogs I could write if I ever dipped into those old days!)
Posted by: Jim Amorelli | September 29, 2007 5:27 PM
Hey Foxy...Basesball cards have been a big part of my life (and my storage areas) for many years. I was never really into cards until I was stationed in the Syracuse area in the late 80's/early 90's. I traveled a lot back then..well, that never did change, so the time I spent at home was special. I would buy the packs of cards and my daughter Kristin would sit on my lap and we would open them together...with our Beckett close at hand to see what treasures we may have come across. Of course she didn't know the difference between Mickey Mantle and Bucky Dent...but we had a very bonding time together. We continued our love of baseball and memorabilia collecting for many years..and still do. Unfortunately, she went from my little jock who would play catch with me at a moments notice..to a ..can I say it..a girl! :) But a beautiful one at that. So collecting will always hold a special place in my heart. You also mentioned Bob Fraser..he was one of my teachers at FA in Malone and the track coach..not my track coach, because fun and run are not two words that go together in my vocabulary. As for Steve O'Brien...he and his wife Tricia were great friends of mine growing up...spent a lot of time at Plattsburgh Lanes together..and I bought my first full set of cards from Steve...89 UD, which included of course the best of Ken Griffey Jr.'s rookie cards...still have it.
My best "pull" was from a pack of 94 UD...they had a box on clearance at K Mart and I told my wife to buy it for me for a cheap Christmas present...she did..and pulling the autographed Mickey Mantle (Junior was also on the card) card was the best present I think I ever got...I called everybody that morning. :) Great topic...thanks for letting me travel down memory lane. BTW..I didn't collect when I was a kid because I'm sure miss d would have buried all my good ones in the woods...she was sooo mean back then. :)
(Foxy's note: Some great stuff here, Chief. Thanks for sharing.)
Posted by: Chief | September 22, 2007 4:48 PM
Nice article covering what we discussed and more at Appleby's but I would like to add two names to the founders, both from Plattsburgh State faculty. Mike Stoller and Gary Brannigan were both at the first meetings. It was Mike who took me to my first Polish Community Center show. Who would ever think I would be a dealer there at dozens of more shows and get to meet Pete Rose, Gary Carter, Stan Musial, Mickey Mantle, Whitey Ford and many more. The highlight for me was when I received a call from Albany to come down and meet Bob Feller at the airport and take him out to dinner. Some great times. We also had the first LT at our Plattsburgh Show .(Lawrence Taylor)
(Foxy's note: Yes, Ken, thanks for filling in the spots with the names of Mike Stoller and Gary Brannigan. Their boys also were collectors, if I remember correctly. It was long ago, and, hopefully, even more names will pop up.)
Posted by: Ken Hoeltzel | September 20, 2007 4:52 PM
Foxy,
What great memories.I remember that October 1981 meeting at Sibley Hall when I first met you. Where do I begin?
Thanks to Jim Amorelli and Dave Drown buying many of my old cards, I was able to take a year off from working after graduating from college in 1983. I invested much of that money in refreshments from Cumberland Bay Market that year.
Remember the monthly programs? Larry Paola playing the Who Don't Fit game. Card flipping contests.
Guest speakers such as Rick Strack talking about his PSUC hockey days and his cup of coffee with the Rangers. Bob Goetz of the Press republican. Dr. Dennis Methot, the owner of the Plattsburgh Pioneers who had a short stay in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. (Now there's another blog Foxy. The statute of limitations has expired so their media director could spill his guts.)
The different personal collections were quite interesting. I remember one young lad having an extensive collection of Frank Robinson memorabilia.The newsletters were full of want lists and much trading went on.
We all went wild with rookie cards. I still have some Kevin Maas, Todd Zeile, and Eric Anthony rookie cards if anyone is interested.
John Girard and I went in together buying thousands of 1987 Topps, dreaming that all those Will Clark and Mike Greenwell cards would lead us to an early retirement. Unless they make miraculous comebacks those cards will make good bookmarks.
I'm looking forward to many of the other collectors checking in with their recollections of those days. Thanks Foxy.
Craig Mathews
(Foxy's note: Craig, thanks for the great additions to my blog. I neglected to mention the guests for each monthly meeting. And this past weekend I was talking with Jim Amorelli about his card-flipping contests. They were popular till kids got worried about making a ding on the corner of the card and ruining its value. And Larry Paola was a regular, as was John Girard. And I invested big in Tigers' rookie Rob Ritchie, who abruptly gave up baseball to become a minister! I'm stuck with 100 of his rookie cards!)
Posted by: Craig Mathews | September 19, 2007 7:17 PM