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About
Us
AUTHENTICITY
Whenever you buy something from me, I give a personal (not a generic company
certificate) guaranty of authenticity. It comes on my legal stationery,
with my name, address, phone number, and fax number, so a customer can
always find me. It is a personal guaranty to the person purchasing from
me that I will stand behind the item, and refund money if any item were
ever found not to be authentic. I am asked of what good is such a certificate.
Well, it certainly does not guaranty to some "down the road buyer" who
spent twice the money, that I will refund the last purchase price. It
does guaranty to the person buying from me that I will stand behind any
item bought from me, and refund the cost if any item were to be found
not to be authentic. A certificate is only as good as the person or company
giving it. That is its value. I feel comfortable that my position in the
industry makes my certificate of good value.
-Personal Information-
Born: March 15, 1944, Newport, Rhode Island. I grew up in Danville, Virginia,
and graduated George Washington High School in1962. Sports activities
consisted of baseball till age 15, in addition to high school tennis and
basketball. I attended Duke University, and graduated in 1966, playing
tennis freshman year, but quitting my second year in order to concentrate
on grades. I graduated from Emory Law School in1969. I have spent much
of my adult life, after my stint in the army, involved with several charities.
I work on several projects for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and have
worked for them for over ten years. I have worked for the Major League
Alumni Charity Golf Tournament for over ten years. And, for over 23 years
I have been actively involved with the Muscular Dystrophy Association.
(I have never had a vacation at Labor Day since my return to Atlanta,
having worked 23 straight years as a volunteer at the Atlanta production
of the Jerry Lewis Telethon. I have no great reason for this. I just have
a passion to work against catastrophic diseases. Recently I have taken
on a project for the American Cancer Society. My first wife, Beverly,
I married in 1968 during law school. We were married ten years, and had
two children, Dustin and David. My second wife, Virginia, I married a
year after my divorce, and we remain married. June 1, 2000 will be 21
years. Both of my wives are breast cancer survivors, to date, and my passion
to add cancer to my charitable efforts is driven by this factor. I have
accepted roles working on various charity events that keep me active year
round. The year of the founding of this web site (2000), I have plans
to work on 3 Cystic Fibrosis projects. I will work on a Cancer project
this summer. The Major League Alumni Golf Tournament will again be held,
and their money split with the Boys and Girls Clubs. Finally, I will work
the Jerry Lewis Telethon, and any other MDA project that arises in which
I can be of aid. Any valid donations of items for these events can be
remitted to me, and a tax receipt will be issued. Some people do not have
the time to do what I can do, but they have the kindness and the generosity
to want to help. I hope I can facilitate that desire by giving them an
outlet.
(Back to Top)
-Law-
I served four years in the U.S. Army as a JAG lawyer, and returned to
Atlanta in 1974 to initiate my private practice. After stints with law
firms through 1980, I opened my sole practice, in which I continue to
date. I specialized in a variety of types of law early on, including divorce
and other areas of family law, personal injury, business, wills and estate
work, bankruptcy, and even some minor criminal work. But over the years
my practice has constricted to more business work and advice, divorce,
personal injury, and some contract negotiations. Basically, I am a negotiator,
and my law practice specialties include areas where such skills are needed.
(Back to Top)
-Industry Experience-
Fortunately, early in my career I was given the opportunity to work with
the then manager of the Atlanta Braves, Bobby Cox. For a number of years
in the late seventies and early eighties, I directed projects to raise
money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. As my children came to live
with me, time was less available, and I had a son who was interested in
sports, and began to play baseball. I had been getting items from sports
personalities for years for my auctions in my own projects, and slowly
began to attend shows, where my son was interested in card collection,
while I concentrated on autographs from the stars brought into the shows.
I used those items in auctions for charity, as well as collected ones
for myself. While doing this, I was introduced to Mickey Mantle, and my
introduction into the industry of memorabilia collection and, ultimately
sales, was initiated.
As my youngest son, David, began to play baseball at age 10, in 1985,
his love of the game, and his interest in cards, added to my own connection
with the industry in obtaining items for charity auctions, led us into
the trading card and memorabilia world. I promised David packs of cards
as a reward, each game he got a hit or made a play. He was ten, but better
than I expected for a kid that had never had any experience playing organized
sports. In no time, his collection grew quickly. He wanted to go to local
card shows to wheel-and-deal, and I wanted to go for autographs. After
only a couple shows, we had items that were duplicates, and wanted to
sell off. I first found friends from whom I had bought that let me share
space. (I never realized until I became a dealer how annoying I was in
doing this.) With items to vend, I obtained space at shows.
Promoters were always in need of contract help, problem solving that involved
advice or negotiations, so I became one of the local sources to these
promoters for legal advice. I also did charity auctions at these shows
to continue to raise money for charity. At times, I was allowed to get
items signed with the stars that appeared, and, was fortunate to meet
most of the super stars of sports from these circumstances. I obtained
items from Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams, Willie Mays, Duke Snider, Joe Namath,
Dan Marino…all the current and past super stars, many of the local stars,
and virtually anyone that was brought to Atlanta for shows by local or
other promoters. My collection and inventory continued to grow.
At some point in time, I was somehow introduced to Hank Aaron, and over
the years was called upon to do three legal projects for Hank. I must
not have impressed him that much, since he seemed to fail to recognize
me later. I was apparently introduced to him as a result of my association
with Bobby Cox. I never took fees from Hank, but always let him sign items
in place of fees. Hank was happy to do that. Hank had a local personal
attorney, but those of us in this industry always knew his agent for booking
him in signings/shows was Bob Allen of Milwaukee. For myself, I was always
proud that he asked for my help, and frankly rather proud that each endeavor
ended with what I would call success, from a legal standpoint. My greatest
break in this industry came in the middle to late 1980(s). I did some
signing with Mickey Mantle, and met his agent, business manager, Greer
Johnson. Greer was a local resident, and I found that she and Mickey had
a place in Decatur where they frequently stayed for periods of time. I
believe that at some time they discovered that I had done legal work for
Bobby Cox, and I assume that if they did ask, Bobby gave me a decent report.
I also believe she may have consulted with some local promoters who knew
me. However, for some reason, and I am not sure Greer or I can truly recall
what, she asked me to do some legal work for her. Mickey's personal attorney
was a brilliant practitioner, Roy True, who had a fine firm he headed
in Dallas. But Greer frequently had things that were personal to her,
and wanted her own attorney. Starting some time around 1987, Greer Johnson
became my client, and one of my closest personal friends. She remains
one of my warmest friends to date. Through her, I had a wonderful 8-year
association with "The Mick", and with her, and many others in this industry.
(Back to Top)
-Mickey and Me-
In my first signings with Mickey, I was no different than any other awe
stricken fan. I recall once telling Mickey he looked a lot different in
person than I remembered. He said a lot of people for some reason thought
he was bigger. I said I felt the same way, because to me he had been a
12 inch black and white figure on a my old family Philco. Trust me, before
you groan, Mickey did not think I was funny either. Greer, however, was
a great laugher, and enjoyed almost every person's sense of humor. I soon
found that Mickey was most comfortable in signings when you did not do
the "typical fan" thing. He did not want to be fawned over, and he was
more comfortable if you could talk golf, fishing, betting, etc. He also
seemed to have short spans of wanting to know about the industry itself.
But talk about how great he had played, how much everyone loved him, or
questions about players or typical fan questions seemed to irritate him,
more than engage him in conversation. Most importantly, as Greer began
to rely upon me for legal advice or even industry advice, Mickey became
more of a friend, and was openly appreciative of that help and attention
given to Greer. As for me, I was openly thankful for the almost unlimited
access to Mickey for signings.
I can think of one other thing which might have helped my relationship
with Greer and Mickey. Without going into detail, I feel several incidents
gave them confidence that I would never take advantage of my relationship.
I never asked Mickey to sign an item for me without payment, though he
did so on some occasions without my requesting same, and he always was
willing to sign for any charity events, in addition to signatures for
which I paid for items for the charity events. I soon began to not only
do signings for myself, but included other friends and vendors in the
industry. I never charged fees to do this, since adding these pieces to
my own made for a more enticing signing event for Mickey and Greer. Once
in a while I added a dollar or so to cover some time in repacking and
shipping the items back, since it took time from my law practice, but
for the most part, those who joined me got my private signing price. However,
I did see Mickey Mantle sign literally thousands of items over a period
of 8 years. I always put some items back for myself, such as some photos,
a number of dozens of balls, etc. Obviously today, that results in a decent
inventory, added to the fact some items have been purchased from those
I knew signed with Mickey. While I am not a forensic expert, I feel that
I can discern a valid Mickey Mantle autograph as well as any person in
the industry. I feel about 98% confident on flat items, and about 95%
on balls. Can I be fooled? Don't let anyone kid you. EVERYONE CAN BE FOOLED!
However, after seeing the number of autographs I have personally witnessed
Mickey sign, and feeling I know the major characteristics of his autograph
that are always present, I have confidence in the ability to spot the
fakes. And yes, there are many! Don't let anyone tell you that Mickey
signed differently when he was drinking, or that everyone has different
autographs at different times. Mickey had certain consistent factors present
when he signed, regardless of his health, sobriety, or energy level. There
is no question that I was blessed to have Greer Johnson as a client, and
Mickey and Greer as friends. I was also blessed to be able to meet and
share some time with some of Mickey's special friends. I never met Roger
Maris or Billy Martin. But Whitey Ford, Moose Skowron, and Hank Bauer
were all close friends that, being friends with Mickey and Greer, I was
allowed to meet. I also was fortunate to be able to help Mickey and Greer
with their charity golf tournaments, where a lot of Mickey's friends came
to show their support for him and the charities he and Greer chose to
support. Mickey was actually generous to a fault. He had a wonderful soft
spot for kids' charities. What many people have never discovered was that
Greer created a charitable trust using a lot of the memorabilia that Mickey
left at her place over the years. She manages it, including selling pieces
from the trust for cash that goes into the trust, and upon her death,
the funds go to the charities she and Mickey supported over the years.
I never saw that information released when the auction battle over his
personal items appeared in the news in New York. That is a pity, because
it failed to reveal a very decent side of both Mickey and Greer, and the
resulting publicity was unfair in leaving this fact out of the public
information released.
Because of my relationship with Mickey, I was able to obtain signatures
from many other athletes. Having access to Mickey, I could reciprocate
and have others get me signatures when they had signings with other super
stars. It was this network that enabled me to obtain a lot of my inventory
on persons other than Mickey. I was accorded a certain degree of respect
from my relationship with Greer and Mickey, and it aided me in getting
things done with others. For example, I always felt that Morris Engleberg,
Joe DiMaggio's good friend and attorney for years, was a bit kinder, and
Joe a bit more tolerant because I was the attorney for Greer. I had a
couple of occasions to do signings with Joe, and this was the sense I
got at such times, whether it was actually true or not. I respected what
Morris did and had to do for Joe, and I think he had an idea what I had
to do for Greer. I should point out that Mickey had a personal attorney,
almost like a brother, who represented him from around 1969, as I understood
it, until Mickey's death. His name was Roy True, and he practiced in Dallas,
where I believe he did work for the whole Mantle family. I was only counsel
for Mickey on those occasions where Greer needed me to do something for
him on her behalf. Roy was always Mickey's real personal attorney. I had
the good fortune to work with Roy on occasion. He was and is quite good,
quite intelligent, and I enjoyed those times when we were able to work
on something together.
Like most athletes, Mickey had a barbed sense of humor. One had to have
a thick skin to hang with him. He could make you feel great one minute
and then nail you with a joke or comment the next. One of his often used
ploys with me was to invite me to dinner, and when I arrived, Mickey would
have arranged for a table by myself, while Mickey and the entourage at
his table laughed at my expense. But he always had a place at his table
as well, and try as I might, I cannot remember Mickey ever letting me
(or anyone else at the table) pick up a check. He loved to play golf,
and he would bet on just about anything. He especially liked to bet on
golf. Believe it or not, at age 60+ he was about a 7 handicap. But he
would give you every chance to win, including moving your ball to a clearer
shot, then still trying to beat you. He loved the even competition, giving
strokes, etc., but he still had that fierce will to win.
Golf led to lots of laughs. The stories are too many to tell. But one
he used then, I now use. He had an easy shot to the green, with one little
branch in the way. This day I was his playing partner. He hit the shot,
and this one tiny twig hit the ball, and knocked it down. Mickey dropped
his club and said, "We're in trouble now…God's on lunch break, Billy's
(Martin) in charge."
These days, whenever a little something strange happens, I just think
God's on lunch break, and Mickey is in charge. He was a good friend. I
miss him. I know all baseball fans everywhere do.
That is much of the story behind Stoner Sports Collectibles.
I hope you are able to enjoy the contents of this sight as I have the
past 13+ years.
Mike Stoner
President
Stoner Sports Collectibles
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