Suggestions for a Dad and his young son.

[Abravefan11]

I have two young sons one three and a half and the other two.

My oldest loves books and anything that his Dad has an interest in. Yesterday he found my REA catalog that I had left out from this past weekend and spent 30 minutes looking through it and asking me questions about different pictures as he flipped through the pages. I also had a stack of five T206's that I had just received in the mail that he examined before telling me "Daddy I want some cards like yours."

This got me to thinking that if he's interested it wouldn't be a bad idea to buy him a card or two.

I've never thought about trying to complete "The Monster" but given his age it might not be a bad place to start a low grade set.

My question is with these circumstances where would you start?

[packs]

You could show him some pictures of the cards in the set and let him pick a couple he likes based on the images.

[Abravefan11]

You could show him some pictures of the cards in the set and let him pick a couple he likes based on the images.

Packs -

I did that and he said he wanted a card with a player with a bat.

My question is would you start on The Monster with him or something else?

Given his age and to keep him focused T206 might not be a bad idea. Who knows by the time he's a teenager he could be well into the hobby or lose interest and want a car and we could sell his set.

Or should I try and put together a simpler set for him for the time being?

[teetwoohsix]

Hi Tim,

Maybe try a couple of raw low grade beaters of commons,and see how he treats them,and if he keeps or loses interest.If he keeps interest,maybe pick up V/G graded T206's and see if he likes the idea of the plastic holder (would of course be safer on the card :) ).........you know kids can be rough on things,and I guess this is where the slab makes sense!!!

Hope you're doing well Tim!!!Always great to see you posting!!

Sincerely,Clayton

Let me know,I think I have a raw beater I can send you so you can test the waters ;)

[FUBAR]

My suggestion would be for you to start the set and have him complete it when he gets old enough to understand. At his age, he is going to want to be hands on so maybe look at getting a few common t206 reprints for him and keep the real ones until he is ready

[M's_Fan]

I've often thought about how I could get my son into collecting one day (he's 3 and a half now).

The problem with starting the Monster is that it would be very frustrating for a kid, he could obviously never complete it until much older (and much much wealthier).

So you have to think subsets, and you could build from there. I would pick the major league team that your kid likes, and get him started on a low grade team set from the city of your son's favorite team. This is low cost, achievable in the short term, and gives a connection to modern baseball, all of which are kid friendly approaches.

Unfortunately there is no Seattle team in the T206 set, so I'll have to do T212's for my son, but I already started a 1911 T212 Seattle team set years ago and it hasn't made much progress, those cards being hard to come by (PM me if any of you have any!).

If your son is also a Braves fan, you have a similar problem as me, because the Atlanta cards are few and expensive as they are southern leaguers. So you might have to pick a different subset he might be interested in. I think the key is to pick a goal that is challenging but not too hard so they lose interest.

You might do some research to see if there is another set out there with Atlanta players that isn't as expensive. What was the first year of the Braves?

Good luck!

[irishdenny]

What an idea and more so... inspiration!

i have a 7 year old who absolutly Loves Baseball. i'm gonna start him on a history adventure of the Players, teams, leagues, etc...

Beaters, Low Grade slabs, and any good deal out there to get him started.

i think i'll even throw in a T200 every now and then just for real life pictorials of the Teams with players.

Very cool... 2-3 beaters a month, a T200 when feasible/possible kind of thing! Throw in 1-2 for B~days & Christmas, Man this is such a Grand Idea!!!

Noah(Thats my Son) will love this idea!!! Plus his 6 year old brother Gabriel Loves to be involved and can be a great asset as fir drive. Gabe just has to be involved.

shhhh ~ and if falls of the Monster Wagon, i'll be there to pic'em uP :)

[srs1a]

I've got 3 little ones (now 4, 5, and 8) and a couple of years ago, I got them a box of Topps Allen and Ginter's. They absolutely loved them and I continue to get a box for a family rip every year. It accomplished what I wanted (interest) and I don't get uptight when they abuse the cards like kids should!

[Bill Stone]

Dan Gutman has written a series of baseball card adventure books with titles suh as Mickey and Me, Babe and Me , Shoeless Joe and Me with a basic theme of the kid finding a baseball card and being transported back in time. These are very simple books but they convey a basic knowledge of baseball cards and a history of the sport and some of the famous players. Combining a love of books and the thrill of baseball card collecting could be the ideal combination. You could read these books to the kids until they are old enough to read them themselves and I would use some cheap cards depicting the players who are the subject of the book as bookmarkers so they can hold the cards as the adventure unfolds.

[cfc1909]

My son is 12 and we do everything together-from baseball cards to fishing to going to the store. We are going to Harrisburg PA smallmouth fishing Friday.

It was me that started the cards but he is into them now-he even spent the weekend with me and Ted at the last Philly show.

Keep him interested Tim, even if it is only a card a week or a card a month. Get a check list that he can use and write on and check off the cards as they arrive at the house. Show him how to handel them so they do not get damaged and talk about the players and the history of the player in the game. Great project that will last a lifetime. With the checklist he will realize the progress and it will teach him how to reach a goal. Better explain about the Wags and the Doyle and maybe the Magie & Plank but the rest are doable.

When I get a package and I am at work my son can't wait for me to get home-he needs to open it and tell me all about it-it is priceless. He knows a great deal about cards and the history of baseball for being just 12.

[tedzan]

At a young age (early 1970's), I introduced my daughters, Zoe and Debbie, to baseball. Every Summer we would go to
see the Yankees Old Timers Day game. Our favorite was 1973, when Whitey Ford grooved a pitch to Mickey Mantle, he
hit a HR deep into the left-centerfield stands over the 412-ft marker in the old stadium.

I taught Zoe and Debbie baseball and tennis at a young age. In HS they were top players on their Softball and Tennis
teams. I will never forget my daughters' joy when Reggie Jackson hit 3 consecutive HR's (each on the 1st pitch to him)
in that famous World Series game in 1977.

1977 was the year my daughters were collecting BB cards and encouraged me to dig up my original BB cards that were
in the attic of my folks home in Hillside, NJ......the rest is history.

So, my point is....get your daughters also involved in BB (and BB cards) at an early age. You will find it very rewarding.


TED Z

[Rob D.]

My daugher can pronounce "Lajoie." My guess is she's the only one in her third-grade class who can make that claim.

Oh yeah, and she knows Ty Cobb was a mean SOB. Must have picked it up on the street.

[ChrisStufflestreet]

(A little self-serving here, but indulge me...)

I am the father of an 11-year old girl. She was by my side as I walked the floor at last year's National. I realized long ago that if I forced collecting on her, it might backfire if she ever lost interest later on, so I limited my hobby stuff to showing her the basics and letting her decide from there. And of course, this lifelong Yankee fan is chagrined to report that his sweet little Pumpkin collects Red Sox cards. But she's enjoying it and that's all I can ask for.

You indicate your son likes to read. Below, my signature line has a link to what I call a "hobby bookshelf." The link has a nice selection of hobby-related books available at Amazon and perhaps something there will be of interest to him. Another posted mentioned Dan Gutman's "& Me" series, and they are all found at the bottom of the page. I'd also recommend "The Great American Baseball Card Flipping, Trading and Bubblegum Book" by Boyd & Harris because it has a fun cadence set to baseball cards they collected in the 1950s and '60s. It's a good place to start...since I myself began becoming serious about the hobby myself as a result of a couple of books I read around the age of 10, one about cards and another about Hall of Fame players that began my interest in the game's rich history.

[dstudeba]

I would have them cut out the cards from the catalogs. That way they have lots of them and they get new ones every month. Plus they can play with them.

[DICKTOWLE]

Does anyone know who bought the 4 sets that were scotch tape:d on paper

[timzcardz]

New cards or old cards, it is a great opportunity to spend quality time with your children.

In 1997, my then almost 7YO was behind in reading, in part because he liked to be read to every night rather than read himself, but I noticed that he was trying to read baeball cards that Santa had left him in his stocking. Putting 2 and 2 together, I decided that if this was what he would try to read, than I better get some cards. The next day I stopped in Kmart and picked up a box of '87 Topps, and that night we opened a pack. If he read the front of the card, name, team and postion, and then read something off of the back of the card, then he would get the card.

We started doing a pack a night and then my 3YO wanted to get in on it, so if he read all of the letters off of the front then he would get the card.

A year later, the 7YO went from being behind in reading to being held out as an examplary reader in school and the 3YO knew his alphabet and was reading already.

Oh, and we all became hooked on cards too!

The younger son (16YO now) is still into collecting and loves going to shows with me. He has a big Pettitte collection.

More recently he has taken a real liking to some of the current retro sets like the Topps 206, and the Upper Deck Goodwin Champions.

We're headed to our first National this year, and although I only have a couple of prewar cards now, I am pretty sure that we will each leave Baltimore with at least a couple, in addition to the few (or several) fresh Ripken atuographs that I'll be leaving with.

It's been a great ride for the last 13 years, and based on my experience, I'll offer the following tips:

1. When the kids are young, don't hand them anything that would bother you if you never saw it again. They'll learn how to handle and care for cards, but don't forget that they are young kids, and sometimes kids do really stupid things. It's part of growing up.

2. Let the kids decide what interests them, whether it be old cards or sparkly new ones, sets or just cards of a partciluar player or team. There is no wrong way to collect.

3. If you take them to a card show, by all means keep your eye on them, but don't keep them on too short of a leash. You will see them start develop and interact with dealers on their own. And when a dealer spends time with them, remember to thank them and at least look to see if the dealeer has anything that may interest you too.

3. Enjoy the time that you spend together in the hobby. It is great that parents and children can still do some things together that they both love.

[deadballera]

my 10 year old knows about the T206 Wagner. He wants some of the T206 cards that I have. I like the idea of getting some beater cards for him.

I already have given him some of the Horrors of War cards that he also liked....

[nebboy]

My almost 4 yr old likes Dads cards to so I was thinking the same as others here. To start a set that him and I could put together over the next 10 years. I also didn't want to go with T206 set knowing I would never finish it. It important that the set I choose could be completed. While still having college money.

So Im going with T205

[scottglevy]

Get him a few beaters for the vintage sets you like (e.g. T205 / T206 etc). But also get him a whole bunch of older common cards like from the 70s or 80s - that are basically worthless but that he can flip, put in the spokes of his bicycle, etc. Let him tell you what he likes by exposing him to a whole bunch of different options and sets.

And most importantly enjoy the time it is brings you and your son together.

My dad and I started this way about 25 years ago. He helped my put together early 1980s topps sets and ended up getting sucked into the monster himself. Then I followed as soon as I was in my teens.

-Scott

[joeadcock]

Great private stories. I really envy those whose children are interested in cards.

I live in a house with only females. None of them have ever been interested in cards.

If you start the T206 collection and he loses interest, it is something you can still connect to him, in your own memories. He may become interested again much later in life. Of course, I would hang onto anything I collected with my child.

My father was never interested in cards at all(or sports) but I never forgot the T206's he bought for me in the early 1970's at a flea market.

Good Luck

[Danny Smith]

We have a 3 year old and a 2 year old. they love checking out my cards so i decided to do a smaller set for each. I settled on the e95 and e96 sets because they are small and relatively affordable - and just enough of a challenge to make it fun. I buy them mostly slabbed so they can mess with them.

[bbcard1]

I ran into a father and son team that collected baseball cards of players with beards...this was in the late 80s...so there were less beards. It was a cool thing to see them going through and being delighted to come up with a few more beards...and they had it nicely displayed in an album with sheets...pretty cool really.