HOBBY PIONEERS

SCD articles on the history of the sports card hobby have mentioned hundreds of hobbyists over the years. Over the past 20 years, I have been fortunate to be able to connect with several of those early dealers and collectors and have heard or read about pioneers who preceded them.

Like organizing a set of cards, it helps to organize some of the names that pop up in the history of the hobby. In Part 1 of this series, I will start by organizing the people I have been able to write about who were born before my arbitrary cutoff date of 1920. Part 2 will pick up with those born in 1920 or later.

Obviously, there is much more that could be mentioned than a few sentences for those listed. If you have been a SCD subscriber, you may recall articles on many of the pioneers. While my listing is intentionally irrefutable (since it only includes people I have written about), there were undoubtedly others who contributed significantly to the hobby. Readers are encouraged to report any such candidates for an “update set.”

Thanks go to hobby history buffs like Richard Rubin, Tim Thornham, David Kathman, Dave Hornish and Leon Luckey who have posted some of the old hobby literature on Net54 and elsewhere.

AGES AND STAGES

When the hobby got organized in the late 1930s, collectors who found each other varied considerably in age. Lionel Carter mentioned that when he wrote to other collectors, he didn’t know if