Paul Borges learned a thing or two while pursuing his business degree at the University of Rhode Island years ago. When making deals, be fair, be honest, and above all — borrowing from a real estate agent’s code — be mindful of location, location, location.
Borges, 62, was in the right spot during the Northeast Sports Card Expo in Quincy, Massachusetts, last month. He was able to secure a deal for thousands of baseball cards from the 1950s, including 21 Sandy Koufax rookies, several Roberto Clemente rookies, piles of other Hall of Famers and three complete 1955 Topps sets.
There were hundreds of cards from 1952 and ’56, including eight ’56 Mickey Mantle cards.
The cards, which belonged to the seller’s father and uncle, were ungraded and most weren’t pristine. But the mass volume of cards and the generous group of stars was enough to bowl over Borges, who has been buying, selling and trading for more than 45 years and owns the PB Collectibles shop in Newport, Rhode Island.
This was a pretty sizable collection,” Borges said. “I was so stoked and excited.
“It was nuts.”
Borges, who also teaches business, marketing, sales and communications twice a week at Salve Regina University in Newport, was selling cards during the weekend show at the Marriott Boston Quincy hotel.
“I do a few shows, so in Quincy I was in the hallway outside the main ballroom. It’s better for me, there’s no one backed up against you,” he said.
Borges was sitting in the hallway on March 30 when a man in his 50s walked up to him.
“He was reading my signage, and then he finally asked, ‘Do you buy vintage? I’ve got boxes of cards from the 1950s,’” Borges said.
Borges was going to set up a time to look at the collection, when the man — known only as “Tom” — said that he had brought along a binder “that will give you an idea of what I have.”
“The guy at the table next to me wasn’t there, so I invited him to sit down next to me,” Borges said.
When Borges opened the binder, he was stunned.
Inside were 1955 Topps rookie cards of Koufax — 10 of them. There also were other rookie cards from that set, including Clemente and Harmon Killebrew; and second-year cards of Al Kaline and Hank Aaron. There were multiple cards from the 1955 and 1956 Topps sets and plenty of 1952 Topps cards.
“I couldn’t believe what I saw,” Borges said.
Borges quickly set up an appointment with the collector, meeting him at the man’s home in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He learned that the cards belonged to Tom’s father and uncle.
Borge spent more than five hours with the collector that day. The more he dug into the boxes, the more incredulous Borges became.
The collection included at least two 1952 Topps Willie Mays cards, eight Minnie Minoso cards from ’52 and three Satchel Paige cards from the 1953 Topps set.
“He started pulling out boxes. There were 800 1952 Topps cards, VG-ish to EX,” Borges said. “No high numbers or Mickey Mantle cards.
“The ’52s are not perfect but very good.”
From the 1953 Topps set there were more than 300 cards, and Borges said that for the 1955 Topps set, there were three of each card at a minimum, meaning that he had three complete sets. That included 21 Koufax rookie cards.
There were also six Clemente rookies, 20 second-year cards of both Killebrew and Aaron, and 15 second-year cards of Ernie Banks. The stash from 1956, which Borges called “stunning,” included eight Mantle cards and “at least” 16 cards of Banks.
“Because it was raw, I needed time” to process what he had seen, Borges said.
“I tried to sell him on the idea of ‘Let me be the guy. Give me the first shot,’” he said.
Borges is no stranger to making deals for large collections. He once bought a collection of cards from 1963 to 1990 from a collector in Georgia, and also one from the family of a man who died in an Uber accident in Peoria, Illinois, which included five 1951 Bowman cards of Mantle.
“Right now I am on a streak,” Borges said.
However, completing the trifecta would have some hurdles.
For the second meeting with Tom, Borges had put the cards on a spreadsheet and came with cash, ready to seal the deal.
But Tom hesitated.
“He said he couldn’t sell right now,” Borges said. “He seemed a bit unsure.”
The reason became more obvious when the pair met again at the Boston Shriners card show on April 12 in Wilmington, several miles north of Boston. There was another candidate to buy the collection.
“He said another guy was going to give him $2,000 more,” Borges said.
After doing all of that work, Borges was not going to let this deal slip away. He countered and Tom agreed to a deal.
Borges completed the transaction on April 13 and picked up the cards in Cambridge two days later. He did not say exactly how much he paid, but said it was “less than six figures” but certainly in the five-figure range.
Borges is a native of Rhode Island, growing up in Middletown, located just north of Newport. He was an all-star with the Middletown Little League; during the 1974 regular season, he registered 13- and 12-strikeout performances. He was also an all-star for the Middletown Babe Ruth League’s 13-year-old division in 1976 and the 14-year-old squad the following year.
After graduating from the University of Rhode Island, he earned his master’s degree at Johnson & Wales University in Providence. He then worked in the advertising and marketing departments at The Providence Journal before opening PB Collectibles shop six years ago.
What is intriguing is why Tom chose Borges out of the more than 180 dealers at the Quincy show.
It was like a line straight out of “The Godfather,” when Don Vito Corleone asks Virgil Sollozzo, “Why do you come to me? Why do I deserve this generosity?”
The answer was humbling.
“He said he saw my pictures and signage and said, ‘You look like an honest guy. After I started talking to you, I knew you were the right guy,’” Borges said.
“Relationships are the key to success,” Borges said.
Some of the better cards will soon be in slabs.
“I can’t wait to get this stuff graded,” he said.
Other cards will remain in his shop, while Borges may also do some trading.
“I’ve been doing this for 40-plus years and still enjoy the thrill of the find,” Borges said. “I just wanted to close the deal and I wanted to be the guy who wanted to be the one.
“It’s crazy the stuff that shows up. Going through them now is like being a kid in a candy store. Whoever thought you’d ever see a collection with 21 Koufax rookies?”
