Summer of 1977 I was a budding Yankee fan, and my mother bought me a pack of baseball cards. There was a Rod Carew in the pack, and I thought Carew was the greatest player in the game. The card was gorgeous, and I couldn't believe how lucky I was to get the best player in my first pack. I was hooked pretty quickly.
My grandfather was a baseball fanatic who grew up during the Depression, and he would tell me stories about the players he watched (Hubbell and Gehrig were his favorites), and about the players his father had told him about (Waddell was his favorite). Eventually I started buying cards of prewar players and sitting with him, and he'd tell me stories about the players. He passed in 1987, but left me with an unbelievable amount of respect for the history of the game, the current game, and by extension, the hobby.
Best hobby ever. Best game ever.
-Al
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