WAGNER CARD GOES FOR 2.3 MIL

But what about a Joe Cunningham? I saw him play. He was a Cardinal. Later he worked for the Cardinals. This '56 card was just about the time I discovered baseball cards. I finally put them up just before I retired.

Oh, there were significant gaps in my collecting. I was never a Trader Dick Goddard, a long time church friend of mine who moved to Nashville and only within the last ten years got out of collecting. At one time, he owned one of every card that Topps ever printed.

I still followed baseball during those cardless Summers, but only rediscovered them when our son was small. I still tell the story of our daughter learning to read from baseball cards. At least from one--Ted Power. For some reason, it all came together for her when she could read his name.

Big Daddy Shaw at Bill Sports Cards used to be a place to find me when I wasn't on a golf course.

Bill and I had gone to high school together and I called him to talk baseball cards before he opened his shop. But he had a great thing going for awhile at the height of baseball card speculation. It was a sad day when I helped him move out as the shop couldn't turn a large enough profit anymore.

I met Coach Scottie Bowman there, and he'd come in when he visited relatives in Salem. Courtney met Coach Jerry Sloan there. And then there were the regulars--Koos, Joe R., and, of course, the owner, Big Daddy, always smiling, always shucking.

Lots of good times, lots of tales. I just wish Bill had had a couple of those Honus Wagner cards. One for him, and one for me.