Dick (also known as "JR") was born in South Philadelphia in 1926. He always had a passion for Sports, and was a Basketball Player when in College. But Baseball was his main interest, and by 1962 he became the first official Photographer for the NY Mets in their inaugeral season. 4 Years later, he joined Major League Baseball's Hall of Fame in 1966. He was their main Photographer for the next 32 years, until he retired in 1998.
Dick was an affable and gregarious guy, and put the ball players at ease when photographing them. This shows in his photography of them. And over the years he formed friendships with many of the players, especially guys like Ted Williams and Ed Kranepool. And several years ago he mailed some 8x10's of Tommy Lasorda, Stan Musial and David Cone to those folks and got them to personally autograph them for me and then mail them back to us......
Unfortunately Dick passed away on August 23rd, 2019 at the age of 93. He was a "young" 93, as he had a lot of energy and was still able to get around on his own. RIP Jay Richard Collins, you will be missed...
"If you found it somewhere else, it came from us. Or Dick Collins"
