Memoir of a Baseball Card Collector Turned Manufacturer – by Mike Cramer (2023)
REVIEWED BY MARK A. LARSON
Editor & Publisher
Entertainment pioneer Walt Disney once said “it was all started by a mouse.”
For Mike Cramer, founder and long-time owner of Pacific Trading Cards, it all started with a 1960 Fleer Babe Ruth card.
At one time or another, many collectors – myself included – have fantasized about successfully designing, producing and distributing major card sets.
Mike Cramer did just that … and a lot more.
Cramer’s hobby journey started over 60 years ago with that Fleer “Baseball Greats” card of Ruth. Collecting and accumulating cards soon became an obsession. At the beginning, to finance his burgeoning collection, he collected and sold pop bottles. He just kept buying and buying and, of course, some of his family and acquaintances thought he was a nut. (Not an uncommon view at the time.)
As Cramer writes “At age 11, I had 10,000 cards.” He moved up from scrounging pop bottles to mowing lawns and doing odd jobs and began running local newspaper ads to buy cards. By age 15, that 10,000 number increased 50-fold to 500,000. By now, he was buying cards and sets dating back to the 1940s. Next came a mail-order business.
In 1969, at age 17, Cramer’s life took a dramatic turn: He took a job working on a King Crab fishing boat in Alaska. (Think “Deadliest Catch” on the Discovery Channel.) Talk about an adventure: It was extremely dangerous, backbreaking, grueling work, but the pay was phenomenal – especially for someone his age. Over the next 10 years that seasonal job helped finance many card deals.
By 1980, Cramer had produced his first card sets for the AAA Pacific Coast League’s Phoenix Giants; was now buying hundreds of cases of cards; distributing and selling the first plastic sheets for cards; promoting card shows; and opening the Pacific Trading Cards store in the Seattle area.
In the early ’80s, Cramer and Pacific produced their first “Legends” baseball card set. By the close of the decade, they were manufacturing another “Legends” set and non-sports sets such as television’s “Leave it to Beaver,” “The Andy Griffith Show” and “I Love Lucy” and for the movie “Eight Men Out.” And one of the company’s biggest hits (and it wasn’t even a card set)? … The Ken Griffey, Jr. candy bar.
During the 1990s, at various times Pacific held NFL, NBA, NHL and MLB licenses to produce football, basketball, hockey and baseball cards of current players.
Cramer’s Pacific Trading cards had hit the big time. And this wasn’t some big, faceless, anonymous corporation. Cramer retained sole ownership of Pacific. He was one very determined, hardworking guy with ambition and a dream – who also knew how to find and hire great people.
Of course, “Cramer’s Choice” is packed with detailed inside looks at the card business (the title comes from a Pacific insert card set). One chapter in particular about the “DF-1 Card Wrapping Machine” is eye-opening. Ever wonder why the standard baseball card size is 2 1/2 by 3 1/2-inches? You’ll find out in the book.
To be honest, I knew very little about Pacific as my hobby activities in the mid- to late ’90s were limited. Mike Cramer’s story is a fascinating American entrepreneurial tale. He didn’t start out with a pile of money from an inheritance or by winning the lottery or by hitting it big in the stock market. No, he came from a family of fairly modest means, but worked hard. Very, very, very hard.
In addition to hobby history, “Cramer’s Choice” offers first-hand insights into the author’s Alaskan crab fishing experiences and his most recent personal challenges – both of which add depth to Cramer’s story.
At just over 240 pages, the book moves along quickly. Give it a read.
Oh, and that ’60 Fleer Ruth baseball card that started it all for Cramer? … For years, he carried it around with him and still has it – albeit in very poor condition.
No matter the shape it’s in, to Mike it’s no doubt priceless.
Various Pacific Trading Cards Baseball Packs (1988-2000)
• • • • • •
THIS ARTICLE WAS WRITTEN
EXCLUSIVELY FOR BaseballCardFun.com
• • •
Text Copyright © 2024 by BaseballCardFun.com / Mark A. Larson
No article appearing on this website may be reproduced without written consent of the Editor/Publisher
To keep up-to-date on additions to BaseballCardFun.com, subscribe below*
* Your email address will never be shared and is only used to announce new articles
BaseballCardFun.com 