In the early 1970s I called every single collector who was alive and able to talk and had a phone listed in this book. i couldn't travel but i could make long distance calls!

The book, a very low-budget, approximately 100-page stapled publication, was titled Who's Who In Card Collecting. It featured short biographies and collecting interests of collectors all across the country.  This book was a few years old when I first got it and for a long time was my greatest tool for finding and speaking with advanced collectors as a youngster. In 1972 there was no Internet, no Net54...heck, there were practically no conventions (a few gatherings of advanced collectors but nothing like what the future would soon hold). And, as a 12-year-old who could not travel more than a few blocks from home, the idea of visiting with collectors was not even a consideration. The post office and the telephone were my only links to the outside collecting world. Eventually I got my Mom and/or my Dad to drive me a few places if it wasn't too far. 

What a lot of people don't realize today is that long-distance phone calls were rare and REALLY expensive in the 1970s. When I would call someone, it was almost incredible to them that I was calling at all. It was nothing like today. It was a big deal. I was just so impatient and anxious to speak to people about cards and hopefully make deals (this was how I learned about cards) that I didn't care what it cost. My parents sure did, and this was a problem at times. Pretty much the deal was I could make whatever calls I wanted as long as I paid the bill for my calls. The only way I could make money was to buy and sell cards. This meant...MORE CALLS. The phone bill was my only business expense but it was hundreds of dollars a month. That may sound like a lot of money for a phone bill now, but remember: This was in the early 1970s. There were a few times when my phone privileges were cut off until I could catch up. I was so stupid/unknowledgeable of the ways of the world (hey, what kid isn't at times) that when I was "cut off" from making long distance calls, I actually called collectors to make deals collect. (That was even more expensive!) And they actually accepted. But when they learned why I was calling collect, well, naturally they weren't all that thrilled with my call. (In retrospect, most probably thought I was in some dangerous life-threatening emergency situation needing help...not just calling to chat about cards and to see if they had anything to sell or trade...Finally I understood when an advanced collector (on his dime...) explained to me (just a little exasperated) that this was not acceptable and to not do it anymore...We are all born knowing nothing...This is how we learn! Tom W, I know you are out there somewhere...thank you for taking the time as an adult to talk to me, a young enthusiastic kid who did not know the ways of the world!