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Rich Klein
09-23-2016, 07:18 AM
I'm going to steal this idea for a thread from my good friends at Beckett forums.

For me, 1st packs I remember were 1968 3rd series and yes I had tons of Mantles. What a way for a young person growing up in New Jersey to start.

JustinD
09-23-2016, 07:20 AM
I quite literally bought a wooden bushel basket of beat up cards at a garage sale in the late 70's for around 50 cents.

The only time I have even seen cards sold by the bushel and I was hooked since.

Rookiemonster
09-23-2016, 07:27 AM
Hey Rich , I grew up in saddlebrook NJ . I had a lot of friends that collected cards
. While I liked to look at them and thought they were interesting. That did not drive me to collect instead around 1992 my uncle and his adult friends started collecting . They would trade stories of what they had and what they were after.
One day my uncle gave me a few of his duplicates. I liked them and decided I would buy a few packs of my own to show them what I got.

After about a year or so ( not sure how long exactly) I found a card show at the Garfield Boys and girls club on midland ave. I collect because of this show . I could go to the show buy, sell, trade, win cards ! I loved it . I still attend this show often but now with my 4 year old son .

rgpete
09-23-2016, 07:33 AM
In NJ my baseball cards never got thrown out from the 60's and 70's and my Dad worked for the town and a few times he would bring home boxes full of baseball cards that people got rid of back in the early 70's

Vintageismygame
09-23-2016, 07:35 AM
Dad bought me 2 boxes each of 1987, 1988, 1989 and 1990 Topps football for Christmas 1990. I was 6 years old that year and that was all that it took to get me hooked! I remember taking my time opening up each box and separating them out by teams.

I collected until I got into High School and then picked it back up my Junior year in College. I have been going strong since. My dad has a safe deposit box at the local bank that contains my great-grand fathers, grandfathers, and dads childhood collections. It is in the will that I am not to open the box until dads passing, so I am in no rush what so ever to see whats in there.

In the past couple of months I have put "The Monster" on the back burner and moved back into vintage football (1950s) and love it. I am working on the 1951 Bowman football set and let my 5 year old daughter "help" me. She loves looking at the art work and asking questions about the players. If I get duplicates I put them in a separate box for her to thumb through when she wants.

I love this hobby!

jcc6252
09-23-2016, 07:55 AM
I grew up in Little Falls, NJ, and my friends and I first started collecting the 1968 Topps Football set (12 yrs. old). We played all sports, and were really successful for kids. I am not sure why we chose football that late summer, probably because we were too busy playing baseball up until then, and football was right around the corner. Anyway, what I remember most was sitting around and trading. We all had our favorite players for different reasons, so trading was fast and furious. For me, Mom and Dad were from Northern Indiana, so it was the Bears with Butkus, Sayers and Ditka. Of course, everyone was either a Jets or Giants fan, so those cards were hot. But, my most coveted card was Bob Griese, since Purdue ran through our family veins (don't remind me that they totally suck in football now). I still have all the cards from that summer, sent many in for grading (waste of money). They're not in the greatest shape, but priceless in my eyes.

irv
09-23-2016, 07:58 AM
I don't really remember how I got started but it was likely my Father, who loved Hockey and loved watching it, that likely purchased some of these Esso Gas Station stickers for me and I was hooked!

I remember constantly asking my Dad if he needed gas so I could purchase more of these stickers for my book.
http://puckjunk.com/2008/04/11/got-em-got-em-stick-em/

I still have the book from when I was 6-7, and I know, to this day, I am missing one sticker/player to complete the book.

I continued collecting hockey cards through public school but don't remember when I stopped?

About 25-30 years ago, (during the junk card era) my Father gave me his 52 Topps cards and I was re-hooked again!
Like a lot peeps from back then, I purchased loads of Upper Deck, Fleer, Score, you name it, but then the market collapsed, stores closed and like the hobby, I also waned from it.

Just this year, back in January, I was looking through my 52 Topps cards again when I read an article, I believe, about the latest Cobb card find, or the Lucky 7.

This rekindled my love again, and I happened upon these forums, which I didn't know existed.

Not sure how many cards I have purchased nor the money I have spent since joining, but finding this site wasn't necessarily a good thing! :eek: (joking, of course :D)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ybh9KTEB_I

bn2cardz
09-23-2016, 08:01 AM
I just remember always being saturated in cards. From what I understand from the stories my dad bought me a collecting "starter kit" from my older sister's book fair at school when I was about 4 years old (around '86). I remember using the price guide that came with it for several years (originally I am sure I just looked at the pictures), before my dad bought me my first Beckett around 92. I still have it, this isn't my copy but this is the one:


A few years later my parents got me a subscription and after that people would literally come to me at card shows asking me the values of the cards because I had memorized the magazine. Every month I would just look at the ups and downs for each set, and it would stick with me. All the while I was just buying what I could.

One of my favorite sets from my childhood was the 1989 Donruss set. I just really liked that design. I bought more Donruss than any other set from then on. Until UD Collector's Choice came out and that was such a cheap option that I found myself buying those up all the time. Then I entered an antique store and found a t206 Doyle batting. It was being sold for $90, way more than I could ever spend, but it was so neat to see such an old card that was nearing 90 years old. At Christmas it was my only gift from my parents. I now know they overpaid (if they paid the full amount), but it was the best card ever to me. Soon after I bought my own Goudey online and got a Beckett almanac that way I could learn more about the older sets. Since then I have gone back and forth between vintage and modern.

pingman59
09-23-2016, 08:10 AM
I remember buying 1968 Topps BB 1st series Rak Packs at the nearby Woolworth's store when I was 9 years old. I probably passed on Willie Mays and Bob Gibson on the top because I looked for any Chicago Cubs on top. Fond memories flood over me whenever I look at a 1st series 68 Topps card!

Jayworld
09-23-2016, 08:17 AM
I bought my first baseball cards from the neighborhood 7-11 in 1975 when I was eight years old and have been hooked ever since. The fall of 1975 saw us trading 1975 Topps football cards in school. I collected cards solely from packs from 1975-78 and enjoyed building (or trying to build) sets that way, and yes, I filled in the checklist cards to help keep track of which cards I was lacking. 1979 was the first year that I ordered the complete Topps baseball set from a dealer rather than try to build from packs. I remember that set cost $9.99 postpaid. I relied on the Card Collector's Company to buy singles and fill-in the holes to complete my 1977 and 1978 baseball sets....

I finally completed the 1975 Topps set last year, and I am currently working on completing the 1975 Topps football set.

Eggoman
09-23-2016, 08:24 AM
For me, as a 7-year-old, it was 1969 Topps Baseball Fourth Series. I had the Don Drysdale checklist card and my goal was to get every card on that checklist. Any card not on that checklist was trade bait!

Looking back, I probably traded away PLENTY of stars as the 4th Series is mostly junk!

We traded before, after, and sometimes DURING school - always trying to avoid being caught by the eagle-eyed Nuns, who would confiscate your cards if you got caught with them!

The dear Sisters of St. Joseph's likely have some of the finest Baseball card collections in existence stashed away somewhere as we got caught MORE THAN once!

I'm 54 now and NEVER quit, but have not been as active in the hobby as I used to be...

mikemb
09-23-2016, 09:09 AM
I grew up in Dunellen, New Jersey. As an 8 year old, Mom bought me my first pack at the local deli, 1965 first series. Continued buying cards there for another 6 years. Not sure how I got 1959 to 1964 cards in my original collection, probably Dad or my older brother got them. Sad that the deli closed last year. Always went in there once or twice a year to bring back great memories. Mike

vintagechris
09-23-2016, 09:35 AM
My Mom worked at the mall when I was growing up and I would go to the mall during Summer break and Christmas break to hang out. Spent most of my money on arcade games. One day, I was rushing to the back of the G.C. Murphy store where there was an arcade and on my way to the back noticed packs of 1980 FB cards. Stopped and looked at them, bought a few packs and took them out to one of the benches in the mall and opened them.

I was instantly hooked. Spent all my video game money that day on packs of cards. For the next 4 or 5 years, Mom would bring home 2 packs of cards each day.

ALR-bishop
09-23-2016, 09:37 AM
5 cent pack at corner Drug/Grocery store at end of our block in St Louis

Yoda
09-23-2016, 10:42 AM
I am really dating myself, but what the hell. My passion for the hobby started in my hometown, Schenectady, NY where I and my pals, ages from about 8-11,all of us playing Little League ball, would pool our weekly, meager allowances and dash to the local drug store and feast upon packs of '51 Bowmans. Outside would be the ritual of opening packs, screams of joy or derision as the players were revealed and then the business of serious trading began. Most of us were Yankee fans and just loved everything about Mickey Mantle. So you can imagine the excitement when we learned that Schenectady was to be blessed with the final series of the '51 Bowmans. Every available penny was gathered and when the cards arrived our gang, armed and ready with our life savings, wiped out every pack in the store. When all the packs were open we had about 50 Johnny Sains but not one of the Mick. We were devastated. While college, the military, family and all that stuff curtailed any active involvement in the hobby for a long time, I am now retired and actively engaged in the prewar scene, but the '51 bowman set will always remain my favorite. John

vintagerookies51
09-23-2016, 10:53 AM
7 years ago, my dad brought me to the annual Minnesota Twins fest. I wanted to go simply because of my favorite current Twins players that would be there signing autographs- Carlos Gomez, Joe Mauer, Justin morneau etc... Passing by various booths one caught my eye where this guy had cards of all the absolute legends I had read about- Mantle, Mays, Yogi, Aaron- these guys were like gods to me. I fell in love with these cards and ended up convincing my dad to split the cost on a 1965 Topps Hank Aaron. I mostly collected cheap 1950s and 1960s cards then, but slowly started dabbling in pre-war.

GeorgeBailey2
09-23-2016, 11:31 AM
7 years ago, my dad brought me to the annual Minnesota Twins fest. I wanted to go simply because of my favorite current Twins players that would be there signing autographs- Carlos Gomez, Joe Mauer, Justin morneau etc... Passing by various booths one caught my eye where this guy had cards of all the absolute legends I had read about- Mantle, Mays, Yogi, Aaron- these guys were like gods to me. I fell in love with these cards and ended up convincing my dad to split the cost on a 1965 Topps Hank Aaron. I mostly collected cheap 1950s and 1960s cards then, but slowly started dabbling in pre-war.

What are you doing here?;)
It feels like the scene in "Captain America: Civil War" where Peter Parker describes the "really old movie" and Stark and Rhodes have some dialogue where they effectively roll their eyes.
Sorry to give you a hard time, I just thought it was funny.

While my first pack was most likely a 71 BB pack purchased by my grandmother, I think I really started that fall with the 71 FB. I grew up in K of P (the mall), but my father was from Baltimore. I remember going to one of his co-worker's house to watch a Colts-Jets game as they must have lived in Bucks county and were able to get the NY stations. Someone from that family must have worked for Topps as there was an uncut sheet of 71 football on the wall. I also remember being in Baltimore for Thanksgiving that year and going to the 5 and 10 (McCrory's, I think) and getting a boxed cello pack that had Johnny U showing. However, BB and HK were my favorites and that is what I currently collect. Although, I do have the 71 Football and Johnny Unitas in my searches.

Mdmtx
09-23-2016, 11:55 AM
I bought football only from 1972 to 1975. Then started on baseball and football in 1976. Traded all my football including several Payton rookies for a 1955 topps set. Also in about 1975 I started cold calling for collections to be donated so I could set the Guinness world record for the most cards. When I would get a list of several, my parents drove me around to gather them up. About 1980/81 I lost interest in setting a record but had tons of cards. About late 1981 or early 1982 my parents told me I needed to get rid of all the cards. Fate intervened and I stumbled on the original sport Americana annual price guide in a used book store. Then shows, then shop, then liquidation. Then decades pass and rejuvenation a couple years ago. Had a short lived rejuvenation about 10 years ago, but that one didn't last long. This time around it seems to be back in the blood for sure.

Mark

mark evans
09-23-2016, 12:05 PM
I collected 1958 Topps football as an 8 year old, got all the cards, and promptly threw them out.

The only other set I've ever collected is 1961 Topps baseball. Got them all and this time had the good sense to put them away.

Never collected anything else until discovering eBay in 1998. Then got heavily into 50s and 60s baseball, football and basketball cards of my heroes (Mays, Unitas, Chamberlain, et al). Also got into vintage cards of Jewish sportsmen.

bbcard1
09-23-2016, 12:11 PM
Generally started in 1971, but there were still plenty of 1970 packs to buy. First card I distinctly remember having was a 1967 Duke Simms I found in our attic. I cannot account for how it got there. I think we moved into the house before that and I am sure I never bough cards before 1971. Fate?

Shoebox
09-23-2016, 12:14 PM
I was in Jr High and HS during the heart of the junk wax era. My avatar is one of the cards I remember fondly from my first summer collecting.

TCMA
09-23-2016, 12:59 PM
I was born into it. That's really the best explanation I can give. Some of my best memories are from being in the TCMA warehouse when I was very young, traveling to Cooperstown, learning about baseball history from my dad and being exposed to all the incredible photography TCMA used.

vintagerookies51
09-23-2016, 01:25 PM
What are you doing here?;)
It feels like the scene in "Captain America: Civil War" where Peter Parker describes the "really old movie" and Stark and Rhodes have some dialogue where they effectively roll their eyes.
Sorry to give you a hard time, I just thought it was funny.

While my first pack was most likely a 71 BB pack purchased by my grandmother, I think I really started that fall with the 71 FB. I grew up in K of P (the mall), but my father was from Baltimore. I remember going to one of his co-worker's house to watch a Colts-Jets game as they must have lived in Bucks county and were able to get the NY stations. Someone from that family must have worked for Topps as there was an uncut sheet of 71 football on the wall. I also remember being in Baltimore for Thanksgiving that year and going to the 5 and 10 (McCrory's, I think) and getting a boxed cello pack that had Johnny U showing. However, BB and HK were my favorites and that is what I currently collect. Although, I do have the 71 Football and Johnny Unitas in my searches.


I know exactly which scene you're talking about :D

horzverti
09-23-2016, 01:43 PM
My start was opening 1982 wax packs with my cousin. I lived in WI and he lived in FL. The stores near me sold Topps only. The stores near his house in FL sold Fleer packs. When we would visit I would trade him my 1982 Topps Braves doubles for anything I needed for sets. At the time FL didn't have an MLB team, so he rooted for the closest team, the Braves. Good times.

glynparson
09-23-2016, 02:10 PM
By going to shows and flea markets all over the area with my dad 37 years later we are still at it at even some of the same flea markets and shows.

Sean1125
09-23-2016, 02:22 PM
I was 16, on craigslist grinding to make some money for the summer and traded two 10" subwoofers for a baseball card collection which I knew nothing about at the time.

talkinbaseball
09-23-2016, 03:44 PM
I bought my first packs in the summer of '67 when i was 10 and never looked back.

Still collecting today at age 59.

john

nat
09-23-2016, 03:56 PM
Got my first packs (85 Topps) from a Chinese grocery store in the neighborhood. My mom probably bought them for me to keep me quiet while she shopped. Soon got older cards (like, early 80's and late 70's) trading cards with a friend down the street. I thought I was ripping him off on some of these trades. It wasn't until years later that I learned that he was trading me his brother's cards.

Rickyy
09-23-2016, 05:15 PM
I grew up in Japan, my dad was in the US Navy, so my first exposure to bb cards came in the form of late 60's Topps cards that he bought me at the base commissary. I was into Japanese baseball then, but didn't collect or know about Japanese BB cards until I came state side. Then once I came to the US (N. Calif) in the early 70's.... I got hooked on bb cards as my school mates also had them. First collected some in 1971 just for fun ( I remember buying packs, cello pack in those blue boxes and also remember buying BB and FB rack packs that year). Seriously got hooked in 1973 as I was following the Swinging A's in the SF bay area and completed my first set.

Ricky Y

bmattioli
09-23-2016, 05:32 PM
I have been collecting for years but the earliest thoughts i must say are buying Hostess cakes for day camp with the free card.. I had a paper route and any left over money was either saved, I was thrifty even back then or used to purchase 15 cents packs or comics at an old bookstore on my route. Those were the days.

DHogan
09-23-2016, 07:02 PM
I needed a hobby. I started out buying all crap from the early 90's. I started building sets in the mid 90's. And started collecting vintage soon after. Vintage cards are way more fun. I wish I had started sooner.

BearBailey
09-23-2016, 08:02 PM
In 1983 my dad bought a box from a pharmacy he went too,each week he asked if me and my brother were good and if so he gave us a pack. By end of 1983 went to a baseball card show, Brooks Robinson was the autograph guest and couldn't have been better to me. That's how I got hooked, by 1987 I was mowing neighbors lawns and spending all of money on cards.

tab
09-23-2016, 09:31 PM
I remember driving up to a gas station drive thru as a kid with my mother. She got her cigarettes and me a pack of cards. I would chew the gum and check out my cards. I then tossed them in the floor of her station wagon before getting dropped off at school(kindergarten). I had tons of 87 topps 88 donruss etc and on into the early 90's. i purchased a couple of wax boxes of 1987 topps baseball for me and my son to open together when he gets a little older. Just to kind of relive my childhood.

Sean
09-24-2016, 12:03 AM
I grew up in Dunellen, New Jersey. As an 8 year old, Mom bought me my first pack at the local deli, 1965 first series. Continued buying cards there for another 6 years. Not sure how I got 1959 to 1964 cards in my original collection, probably Dad or my older brother got them. Sad that the deli closed last year. Always went in there once or twice a year to bring back great memories. Mike

I was eight in 1965. That's also the year that I started collecting. I stopped in 1969, and didn't get back into it until 2002.

That '65 Topps set was always my favorite post-war set.

Huck
09-24-2016, 05:06 AM
I was 10, living in Hawaii, buying packs of '72 Topps. I never completed the set, due to finding out much later that (1) either my interest waned or (2) the later series never made it to the pacific. Fast forward, to the college years, meandering around in a convenience store after an evening of being over served at a local bar. As I waited for the cashier to ring me up, I noticed the packs of 1981 Topps on the counter. I said to myself "I never completed that 1972 set. I am going to complete the 1981 set." Many pack purchases later and after finding a tiny, dark and dank local card store (remember those??) in a strip mall and purchasing missing cards there, I finally completed the '81 set. I spent well over $100 putting that set together and have hundreds of doubles and triples. I was happy, content. Then I saw an ad in the local paper, about a card show at the local VFW. As I walked into the show one of the first things that I saw was a sign on a dealers table, which read - "1981 Topps complete set collated - $19.99", that soured me a bit on trying to complete a set via pack purchases. At that first show, I saw my first tobacco cards, which I thought were really cool looking and purchased one (Hanifan, NJ). That was the start of the insanity. In the early '90s I started collecting IP autographs of the HOF's who were guests at the show. I was spending far more money on cards than autographs but over the years, that reversed and more money was spent on autographs as opposed to cards. I still collect cards, but prefer vintage over the new stuff.

daves_resale_shop
09-24-2016, 05:14 AM
It was 1986, I was 8 years old. I was a member of Coach Marsh's AAA Brewers club... My first game didn't go as planned (hitless at the plate), so to cheer me up my dad took me to Norumbega Stamp and Coin in Newton Mass to grab a few packs of cards... For some reason I found myself flipping through the pages of their display binders, and was taken aback by these trendy, colorful, disco-like cards (1972 topps). My dad picked out 3 cards, two of his favorites: Carl Yastrzemski, and John Kennedy (I think he liked the name), and a very cool mustached 1974 topps Luis tiant...

Took those cards with me everywhere that year, remember it like it was yesterday

horzverti
09-24-2016, 08:09 PM
1987 I was mowing neighbors lawns and spending all of money on cards.

Me too. I mowed lawns from about 1983 to 1988. Three of every four dollars earned went toward my wax pack addiction, but I turned out ok. :D

ullmandds
09-25-2016, 06:44 AM
I first starting buying packs in 1976...began buying complete sets in 1977. My dad knew a guy(mel solomon) in the hobby at our temple and I used to sequester his help to obtain cards I wanted. I once sorted 30 sets for mel in exchange for 1 free one to keep.

My dad would ask his coworkers if they had any bb cards at home from kids who had long left. In this manner I was able to acquire most significant cards from the late 50's-present.

I started attending shows in 80-81 or so...bought my first t205/t206 in 81...a matty white cap.

I sold my childhood collection minus a few cards in 86' to buy a beat up 76 chevy camaro.

Got back into it while in college buying 90-91 UD packs...then got into solely vintage.

TobaccoKing4
09-25-2016, 07:55 AM
My dad got me into collecting as a kid but I got into prewar as a kid by playing a baseball simulation game on a website called whatifsports. You'd be able to make a team from players from all different years from 1885-current year. After playing it for a year or so I wanted to get a card of one of the old time players that I was using and ended up getting a T206 Delehanty of ebay. That started the madness.

nickedson
09-25-2016, 10:13 AM
I bought my first pack of cards in 1959 and was lucky that my best friend's dad owned a "dime store" that sold cards. At the end of the 1960 and 1961 seasons, my friend's dad simply gave me the leftover Topps boxes he had. So that triggered my collecting interest. I set up at my first card show in Troy, MI in 1972 after my senior year in high school. If there was one "aha" moment in my collecting career, it's when I opened a pack of 1959 Topps and got a Detroit Tigers Red Wilson card. My mom and dad, who were teachers, made such a big deal out of me getting a Tiger that I was hooked immediately.

CobbSpikedMe
09-25-2016, 04:16 PM
I started in the early 80's. Dad would take my brother and I to shows and I was in heaven with all those cards. I'd read Beckett religiously and was amazed that the Mattingly rookies were so expensive! Seeing them in person at shows was awesome back then. I'd get packs at a local indoor flea market where one of the vendors was a baseball card dealer. I got my 1960 Topps Koufax from him for $8. Still have it in my set today. I'd buy boxes from him and just loved ripping them open. Of course, every year my parents would buy me the Topps factory set for Christmas. Got out in the early 90's when too many different sets were coming out and I didn't like the designs anymore. Then got back in during college when I got my first prewar cards and was hooked again. Twenty years later and I'm still just as hooked as ever.

AndyH

Rich Klein
09-25-2016, 04:45 PM
I first starting buying packs in 1976...began buying complete sets in 1977. My dad knew a guy(mel solomon) in the hobby at our temple and I used to sequester his help to obtain cards I wanted. I once sorted 30 sets for mel in exchange for 1 free one to keep.

My dad would ask his coworkers if they had any bb cards at home from kids who had long left. In this manner I was able to acquire most significant cards from the late 50's-present.

I started attending shows in 80-81 or so...bought my first t205/t206 in 81...a matty white cap.

I sold my childhood collection minus a few cards in 86' to buy a beat up 76 chevy camaro.

Got back into it while in college buying 90-91 UD packs...then got into solely vintage.

Pete:

I stay in touch with Mel and he was walking around the National on Sunday -- do you want me to send you his email address

Rich

ullmandds
09-25-2016, 05:11 PM
Pete:

I stay in touch with Mel and he was walking around the National on Sunday -- do you want me to send you his email address

Rich

thats funny! i last saw mel at a national maybe in 95. He sold my childhood collection for me!!

cubman1941
09-25-2016, 05:37 PM
I don't know really how I got started, maybe because I liked baseball. I started with 1952 Topps, then some 1953. I put them in a box in my closet. I quit for some reason, probably because I started high school. The box sat in my closet. I went into the U.S. Army in 1962 and came home in 1964. The box sat in my closet. I got a job and left home. Came back in around 1969 only to find my mother had cleaned out my closet because my brother wanted it. She throw my box of cards out but kept my brothers books from his only semester of college. When asked about it she said the cards were taking up space and my brother might go back to school. In 1976 I was living in Maryland and my daughter got me a box of Twinkies because of the baseball cards on the back and this started me again and continue to this day.

jmb
09-25-2016, 05:38 PM
I sold my childhood collection minus a few cards in 86' to buy a beat up 76 chevy camaro.


Crazy ! I also got a 76 Camaro in 86 when I graduated HS.

I started buying packs in 75, but the 76 set is my favorite one from childhood.

billyb
09-25-2016, 06:28 PM
As a kid in Detroit in the mid. 50s, we lived, breathed and dreamed baseball. I guess I wasn't a collector as a kid, just a saver. But the old story happened, went into military in the mid 60s, and parents threw my cards out.
I did not start collecting until 1984. I was working in law enforcement with Detroit, and was working a specialized unit that worked strictly on home and business break-ins. We got a call from a baseball card shop owner, and he stated his had some baseball card sets stolen and that he believed it was an inside job by a young employee. He asked us to help him find out from this employee, where the cards went.

Sure enough, the next day, when the employee came to work, there we were and got this young guy to confess his wrong doings and where he had sold the 1969 mint factory set. We went to the shop where the kid sold the cards, and the owner of the shop admitted buying from the kid. With a little convincing, the owner turned over the cards, and we returned them to the rightful owner.

In appreciation, the owner gave us each a new set of 1984 Topps and Fleer cards. I got to talking to him about cards my mother had bought several years prior, from a neighbor who came knocking on her door to sell cards, because he needed the money. I told him some of the cards were smaller then the others, and he stated they were probably 75 minis and to look for the Yount and Brett in the set. A couple days later, I looked at the box of loose cards my mother had, and there were cards from 1970 to 80 in the box. And more then a few. Sure enough, there was the Yount and Brett in this 75 minis which was about 75 % complete, as well as a Topps 1774 set also about 75 % complete. I had a ball going through this box of about 4 to 5000 cards with plenty of stars.

I met with the baseball card shop owner and told him what I had, and he invited me to an upcoming baseball card show. I went and I was hooked.
I got to see all the cards I had as a kid and their value, OMG.

It is a great hobby, and when I give kids some free samples, I tell them to put one in their spokes and to have fun with the rest.

steve B
09-26-2016, 07:00 AM
I guess it depends on how much collecting counts as starting.

1969 - Bought one pack from the penny candy counter. Asked dad and he told me what they were and that they might be interesting. Got a Reggie Jackson, and dad said "hey this guy is pretty good".
1970 - No cards,
1971- one pack, whatever series had the coin. Danny Cater.
1972- no cards.
1973- Moved to a new town, and the kids I met collected cards, and did some flipping and trading. So I bought cards starting in maybe September.
1974- Got into it a lot more. And into sports in general. Aaron and the HR record, Mays retired the year before but was around for the WS. And the cards showing the older cards! And the Washington variations.

Got the same interest from the 75 MVP subset and started asking around. One kid got a 1968 Ed Matthews from his brother and traded it to me.


1977 Moved to a new town, and asked a kid on the cross country team with me if there was anybody with "old" cards. He said there was an entire store in the center of town. Stopped into Halls Nostalgia on the way home, and was amazed at the number of old cards. Stacks and stacks of them!
eventually that became one of my after school hangouts and they taught me a lot. As it turned out my first job was in the building next door and I got out about an hour before closing. Helped break vending cases into sets for store credit. Even though I moved away in 83 I came back to visit my friends in town and always left a bit of time to stop in.

I've had a few periods of relative inactivity, where I get into other hobbies, or go back to ones I was into before cards. (Stamps- started around 1967-68 same for coins. Was into cars for a bit in college, old racing bicycles starting about 1999-2000, and some dabbling in antique electronics and industrial stuff. Plus a load of stuff I just liked and bought)

Steve B

Kawika
09-26-2016, 07:42 AM
I was hooked from Day One. Some adult gave me a small pile of Topps cards in the summer of 1956 when I was six. The vision sixty years later is as clear in my memory today as if it were yesterday. Amongst the cards I distinctly remember a '54 Ernie Banks and a '56 Del Ennis (cards long gone). Used to love the flipping games. Won a lot of cards that way. My Uncle Harry had a smoke shop in Brooklyn. A couple of times he gave me a box of '57 Topps. Imagine busting those packs today. I collected feverishly until 1960 when I switched my interests to Action Comics. Didn't get back into the hobby for a long time. Dabbled a very little bit in the eighties and nineties. There was a card shop on El Camino Real in Menlo Park called Papa's - some of you may remember the store - that I occasionally patronized. Hit things with a vengeance with the onset of eBay in the late '90s. Subsequently discovered Net54 and the card collecting community at large and here I am.

I made this little gif from some home movie footage. It depicts my wiseacre brother Dan "posing" for his imaginary baseball card. My sister Kini, unclear on the concept, is indicating that the extra point is good.

Darling Avenue, New Rochelle, NY 1957
http://photos.imageevent.com/kawika_o_ka_pakipika/family/familymoviescreencaps/Darling%20Ave%20Baseball.gif

Mdmtx
09-26-2016, 07:57 AM
David, your gif is fantastic!

Kawika
09-26-2016, 08:16 AM
David, your gif is fantastic!
Thanks, Mark. When I saw this Olbermann-Costas piece about Matty's "Drop-and-Drive" delivery, Dan's antics were the first thing I thought of.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yViyt-scehE

blackandgold
09-26-2016, 08:44 AM
I got my first packs for my birthday in 1970 when I was six, and have never really stopped. My folks would put packs in our Easter baskets, and I would buy packs whenever I had a chance. There was an older kid in our town who had cancer, and when he would have to go for treatments, we would get him some packs to give him something to do, and he had an amazing collection. He had sets back through the 60's and would love to look to see if I had any he needed. he always treated me fairly, and that's how I got all my stars from those sets.
This is just a tremendous hobby. I have loved baseball my whole life, and the cards and memorabilia provide me with great memories.

jmb
09-26-2016, 08:49 AM
David, your gif is fantastic!

+1

chris6net
09-26-2016, 12:50 PM
I started buying packs as a kid in 1971 and by 1972 was totally hooked. I lived on Long Island and Tom Seaver was the King then.
I got lucky as far as the Hobby goes in that I knew someone who worked for the Deborah Heart Charity in NYC in the mid to late 70,s who sponsored the Golden Gate Monthly card show in Brooklyn which had all the big dealers back then. I worked the show as a young teenager every month for at least 3 years setting up the chairs and tables and then the best part was that during the show since I was a familiar face many of the dealers would let me watch their tables while they got something to eat or went to the bathroom. My payment would be in the form of cards. My 2 best I got were a 1957 Mays and a 1967 Carew rookie card in great shape which I still have.

Harliduck
09-26-2016, 01:28 PM
Great thread...I LOVE reading these type of stories...


Mine was summer of 79, my mom brought home a box for me and my little brother. I pulled Reggie Jackson out of my first pack, my favorite player at the time, and was HOOKED. We both completed the 79's and there was a really slow corner store on the edge of our little town, and my mom found 1978 cards from the year prior. No one wanted them the store owner said, so she was made a deal for the boxes. So I started in 79, got into 78, and traded my way to both complete sets by the time 1980 hit. Been in and out of the hobby since...now collecting with my 11 year old son.

Vintagevault13
09-26-2016, 04:10 PM
My dad bought me a few cards in 1973. I was seven and really didn't know anything about cards at the time. I remember the A's cards stood out because of their yellow uniforms. In addition, the playoff and World Series recap cards seemed really cool and, even as a 7-year-old, I realized the A's must be good. Growing up in the Atlanta area, there wasn't much to get excited about the Braves at the time. Except for Hank chasing the Babe, MLB baseball wasn't a huge deal to me and my friends. When the 1974 cards came out, I began buying a few packs. Once I saw the A's won again, I was hooked! Reggie became my favorite player and I began immersing myself in the stats on the card backs. I learned so much about players from reading the '74 backs that I still remember some obscure ones today (ex. Phillies' Larry Christensen was born in 1955, making him a 19-year-old major leaguer in 1974!). I couldn't get enough.

I collected until 1981 when I got older and became frustrated trying to collect Topps, Fleer, and Donruss. Eventually sold most of my 70's cards.

I got back into collecting in 2013. I completed Topps runs for Reggie Jackson, Hank Aaron, and Terry Bradshaw (my favorites as a kid). I have now gone back to set collecting. I completed the 1965 Topps set (Birth year) as well as 1974. I am about 80% complete on the 1973 set. I will probably buy 1975-1979 to complete the 1973-79 run and have the cards I most fondly remember. Really enjoying my 2nd go round as a collector.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

spaidly
09-27-2016, 06:43 PM
Ed!

Your avatar caught my eye. I think I am your doppelgänger from bizzaro world because I read your story and it is my story, too. So much so, I'm using your story as a template and just tweaking some of the names and dates from my alternate universe. Here goes...

-----

My dad bought me a few cards in 1974. I was eight and really didn't know anything about cards at the time. I remember the Dodger's cards stood out because of their blue and white uniforms. In addition, the Washingtion Nat'l cards seemed really cool and, even as an 8-year-old, I realized the Dodgers must be good. Growing up in the Los Angeles area, there wasn't much to get excited about the Angels at the time. Except for Hank chasing the Babe, MLB baseball wasn't a huge deal to me and my friends. When the 1977 cards came out, I began buying a few packs. Once I saw the Dodgers won again, I was hooked! Steve became my favorite player and I began immersing myself in the stats on the card backs. I learned so much about players from reading the '77 backs that I still remember some obscure ones today (ex. Mini Minoso was older than dirt ). I couldn't get enough.

I collected until 1981 when I got older and became frustrated trying to collect Topps, Fleer, and Donruss. Eventually sold all of my 70's cards.

I got back into collecting in 2003. I completed Topps runs for Pete Rose and Steve Garvey (my favorites as a kid). I have now gone back to set collecting. I completed the 1966 Topps set (Birth year) as well as 1971 and 1972. I am about 20% complete on the 1957 set. I will probably buy 1973-1979 to complete the 1973-79 run and have the cards I most fondly remember. Really enjoying my 2nd go round as a collector.

----

All of the above is 100% accurate. Amazing how so many of our stories overlap. :)

Scott

Vintagevault13
09-27-2016, 07:11 PM
Scott,

That is pretty crazy that our stories are similar. I think it shows the role that cards played in the era in which we grew up. Without the Internet and dozens of games on TV each week like we have now, cards were more than just pictures. They were like "mini encyclopedias" that taught us about the game and players. I loved that period in my life.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

spaidly
09-27-2016, 07:21 PM
I loved that period in my life.

Me, too. :D

For me, collecting again isn't trying to "relive it all" like some non-collectors think but is about me loving this period of my life. Some of the days between now and then weren't so great so I have to believe happiness is in baseball card collecting. I hope I don't run out of money. :eek:

Vintagevault13
09-27-2016, 07:26 PM
Scott,

100% agree. The 70's was a pretty cool time to be a kid and the quality of baseball that decade was very strong.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Leon
09-28-2016, 07:22 AM
Nice job on that. Many of our stories are similar.....

Smiling Dave at a mall show got me back into collecting around 20 yrs ago. I wonder whatever happened to ole Smiling Dave? Great guy with lots of bicycle spoke HOF rookies which I bought....


Ed!

Your avatar caught my eye. I think I am your doppelgänger from bizzaro world because I read your story and it is my story, too. So much so, I'm using your story as a template and just tweaking some of the names and dates from my alternate universe. Here goes...

-----

My dad bought me a few cards in 1974. I was eight and really didn't know anything about cards at the time. I remember the Dodger's cards stood out because of their blue and white uniforms. In addition, the Washingtion Nat'l cards seemed really cool and, even as an 8-year-old, I realized the Dodgers must be good. Growing up in the Los Angeles area, there wasn't much to get excited about the Angels at the time. Except for Hank chasing the Babe, MLB baseball wasn't a huge deal to me and my friends. When the 1977 cards came out, I began buying a few packs. Once I saw the Dodgers won again, I was hooked! Steve became my favorite player and I began immersing myself in the stats on the card backs. I learned so much about players from reading the '77 backs that I still remember some obscure ones today (ex. Mini Minoso was older than dirt ). I couldn't get enough.

I collected until 1981 when I got older and became frustrated trying to collect Topps, Fleer, and Donruss. Eventually sold all of my 70's cards.

I got back into collecting in 2003. I completed Topps runs for Pete Rose and Steve Garvey (my favorites as a kid). I have now gone back to set collecting. I completed the 1966 Topps set (Birth year) as well as 1971 and 1972. I am about 20% complete on the 1957 set. I will probably buy 1973-1979 to complete the 1973-79 run and have the cards I most fondly remember. Really enjoying my 2nd go round as a collector.

----

All of the above is 100% accurate. Amazing how so many of our stories overlap. :)

Scott

Cooptown
09-28-2016, 01:02 PM
This is a fascinating read. Thank you all for sharing. Sometimes when the threads get numerous pages long, I do some skimming, but not this time. I really enjoyed reading everyone’s stories.

I mostly lurk on the other side as I no longer really collect cards, minus a Mantle run I am always plugging away on, as I only collect autographs of baseball HOFers. But I still thought it would be cool to share my story.

My Dad did the grocery shopping in our house, every Saturday. He would bring me home a pack of cards; usually baseball, and usually Topps. There were a few random Donruss and Fleer baseball thrown in, and some Topps football and hockey thrown in, but mainly Topps baseball. This went on from 1981 – 1985. I was always hoping for Reggie Jackson cards, and then later on, Pete Rose.

My Dad would watch Yankees games and I would always tell him to call me when Reggie came to bat. I remember vividly, in 1982 at the age of 5, I told my Dad to call me when Reggie comes up, and he said “Reggie doesn’t play for the Yankees anymore”. “What? Why? How did this happen?” A few years later I really got to like Pete Rose. Pete Rose broke the hit record on my parent’s anniversary, which I always thought was cool. Anyways, I had these cards thrown about my room, in all sorts of random places.

In early 1986, we took a family trip to my uncle’s cabin in the poconos. He owned his own advertising firm, and I thought of his as “rich”. He drove a town car, had a vacation home, etc. Anyways, he showed my family his new hobby – collecting old baseball cards. He had his cards in pages and binders, and the older ones in plastic cases. TONS of Pete Rose cards. I was in awe and was hooked. I immediately wanted to get home and start putting my cards into sheets and binders like his. I started buying a ton of 1986 Topps baseball packs.

One Sunday, I woke up and my Dad said “There’s a baseball card show in Utica (about 20 minutes away). Want to go?” Ummm….yeah! I couldn’t believe it. My Dad bought me a 1986 Topps Yankees team set that day; to which I still have.

As the baseball card boom started, I couldn’t get enough. I was buying cards of anything I could find. My Dad would take me to shows and we would look around together. He always bought me pre-1980s cards; cards he had but had been lost. Those are some of the best memories I have.
That same uncle invited us to go to the Baseball HOF Induction ceremony the summer of 1987. It was amazing. My Dad and I wound up going every year, just the two of us, from 1987 -1998….until college, girls, jobs, etc. Got in the way.

Around 1992 or so I went to junior high and my new buddies were going to minor league games and getting autographs. My Dad had taken me to area minor league games as well; the Utica BlueSox and the Syracuse Chiefs…but I never thought about getting autographs on cards before! This became my new fix; getting as many autographs as I could at minor league parks. This went on from 1992 until 1995 or so…until I was just about to start my senior year in high school. Collecting autographs was true of HOFers as well, as paid signings started to pop up in Cooperstown (I chuckle writing that, as they started popping up in 1990 or so. Now, you cant go anywhere in Cooperstown HOF induction weekend without someone attempting to sign something for a dollar). I got a good jump on my hof collection with older players who signed rather cheaply; Buck Leonard, Warren Spahn, Billy Herman, etc.

Cards and autographs went to the back burner until after college and first job, apartment, etc.

Then in 2007, as I started to get a bit of disposable income, I dove back into autographs, but only of baseball HOFers. I became an elitist apparently. My Dad and I went to HOF weekend in Cooperstown in 2007 and 2008, and then he became ill in early 2009 and passed away in December 2009. I took me until 2014 to be able to get back to Cooperstown’s HOF Induction weekend, but I have gone the past three years…just me, and I like to think my Dad is with me there.

I still have all of my pre-1980 baseball cards that I bought with my Dad, and any Don Mattingly cards I collected in the 80s and 90s, but now I concentrate on autographs of baseball HOFers….primarily on baseballs.
Whew….long story. Do you regret asking?

Aquarian Sports Cards
09-28-2016, 01:18 PM
bought my brother a pack of 1981 Topps as a present for getting his tonsils out. Through all the years, between the two of us, we had managed to keep one or two cards from that first pack. Alas in the last couple moves neither of us can seem to find them. If you ever get a 1981 Topps George Brett with seriously rounded corners and AP written on the back in black crayon you'll know you have one of ours!

KMayUSA6060
09-28-2016, 01:32 PM
I was born in 1994, so I missed the "Glory Days" of collecting. However, I was fortunate enough to grow up with the Cleveland Indians of the 1990s. I remember a surprising amount for being as young as I was. My favorite athlete of all time is Jim Thome, and growing up, my mom would take me to the LCS every once in a while and allow me to buy quarters worth of Jim Thome or Indians stuff. I'd come home with 1-8 cards at a time, and slowly but surely built a collection.

When middle school came around, I lost interest in collecting (my mom still bought me packs as gifts and such) when most of my time was consumed by sports. After high school, I went to play collegiate tennis at a small university in Ohio. I ended up quitting the tennis team after a match early in the fall season, but remained at the university into the spring. I ended up leaving early in the spring semester after realizing that college wasn't for me, and had an opportunity to join the Air Force (I ended up getting disqualified after I left school due to food allergies, but that's a stupid discussion for another forum). About a month before leaving, I developed a great friendship with a kid on the baseball team who collected cards. He got me back into collecting, and I got the bug. This was about 2 years ago. Since then, my collection has gone through several transformations, but I have yet to lose the itch to collect. It has become a huge part of who I am, and I am proud to be a collector of historic cardboard. I love this hobby.



P.S. Sorry for the irrelevant information regarding my life story.

darwinbulldog
09-28-2016, 01:55 PM
My older sister found a Babe Ruth card in a library book. 1986 Big League Chew unfortunately, but still, it got me into the hobby. I believe that (in 1986) was the first time I'd ever seen or heard of a baseball card.

Bliggity
09-28-2016, 06:20 PM
When I was seven years old (1988) and started in little league, my parents bought me a Dave Righetti kid's glove and a pack of cards. I can't remember specifically what the pack was, but I'm pretty sure it was '88 Donruss. My dad was a Yankees fan, and pretty soon I was buying packs whenever possible to try to pull a Mattingly. My Dad would tell me stories (just like all the other dads of that era) about all the Mickey Mantle cards that his mother threw away when he went off to college...never did I think I would actually own one!

I collected through the junk wax era until I was about 13 or 14 years old, and then lost interest for a long time. About two years ago, I decided (well...my wife suggested) that I do something with the three 5000-ct boxes of cards that I hadn't looked at in two decades. I figured I'd keep the Mattinglys and maybe 30-40 of the most valuable other cards and get rid of the rest. I drove to a local card shop to pick up a couple packs of toploaders, and they had a box of unopened '83 Fleer on the counter. I figured what the hell, and bought a pack. Second card in the pack was the Ripken RC. Well, that might as well have been crack, because I haven't stopped thinking about cards since. For the next couple months, I wasted a lot of money as I tried to figure out what I really wanted to collect. In December 2014 I went to my first card show and bought my first prewar card (T205 Mathewson), and it's been all prewar since then. And I'm loving it.

All because I pulled the Ripken RC out of that one pack. Crazy. If I hadn't pulled that one card, I probably would have never bought another card again in my life.

sreader3
09-28-2016, 07:06 PM
I started collecting Topps BB in 1971 when I was three. When my mom and dad traded-in their Ford LTD in 1976 for a Buick Electra and I did a “final check” under the back seat, I discovered a slightly bent but otherwise well-preserved Paul Blair #52. That’s how I knew when I started –- that and a few other completely trashed 1971 Topps 1st series cards that remained in my “collection.”

1977 was a watershed year. I spent all of my Little League snack bar tokens to buy Topps packs while watching all my buddies wolf-down “donuts” – fried Pillsbury rolls drenched in sugar and cinnamon (ok, ok, those "donuts" were really good!) . I completed about 90% of that set and kept the cards in decent condition (we would call it EX-MT) by storing them team-by-team in an old 24-count audio cassette holder. I remember particularly favoring the Blue Jays and Mariners cards given the exotic “inaugural season” status of those teams – although looking at the stats on the backs of those cards all their players seemed to suck.