Jeff Fritsch, who assumed the leadership role of what's believed to be the hobby's first full-time sports card business following the 2007 death of his father Larry, died Monday at age 58. Based in Stevens Point, WI, Larry Fritsch Cards launched in 1970 and Jeff worked alongside his father for many years. Both were avid collectors. They not only ran the business but also … [Read more...]
Sports Collecting’s Real “Boom” Was in the 1970s
You often read about the explosive time the hobby went through in the 1980s when sports card shops and shows were everywhere and kids went to school with Beckett price guide magazines. There's some truth to that, of course. Interest in baseball cards was at a fever pitch by the latter part of that decade, even among those who wouldn't normally consider themselves … [Read more...]
Early Dealers Were Advertising Pioneers
You make a living selling baseball cards? Say that in the early 1970s and you might just as well have said you worked on Mars. The early dealers were pioneers in the industry, buying cards in quantity from Topps, sorting them out and selling them via ads in everything from Boy's Life to The Sporting News to Street and Smith's annual publications. They also bought … [Read more...]
Fritsch Deserves Own Hall of Fame
I grew up collecting baseball cards about an hour and fifteen minutes from Larry Fritsch's headquarters but in the 21 years I lived at home, I never met him. Even after I became one of the weirdos who got to college and was still interested in cards, I never made an attempt to drive to his office. I did see him at a card show once in the early 1980s, set up behind a … [Read more...]
Hobby Pioneer Larry Fritsch Dies
The man who may have been the first full-time sports card dealer in America and built one of its best collections, died Saturday. … [Read more...]