I have a genetic inheritance to collecting—everyone collects something in my family. I started collecting in 1974, and at that time, I split time/money between GI Joe’s and baseball cards. I tried hard to complete the 1975 Topps set, but the 1976 Topps and Hostess sets were the first ever completed. Tried to go to the local pool every weekday, just to complete the Hostess set. Now, I did play with them as well, at least the Reds and the Red Sox cards.
The 1977 and 1978 sets were also completed, as well as many “star” cards back to 1970, before disaster struck. My father and step-mother divorced, and as a casualty of war, the local dump became the owner of not only all my cards, but all my GI Joe’s.
I restarted collecting eleven years later, in the late 80’s like many. I again tracked back catching all sets from 1972-1993, when the “push” toward subset cards drove me away.
The third collecting stint started in 2001, focusing back on my childhood heroes of Johnny Bench and Ted Williams. Collecting Ted quickly led me back to nearly completing a 1955 Topps set and then the T205 and T206 cards caught my attention. I have been nearly an exclusive pre-war collector since 2004 (except for Ted).
There ya go, third times a charm.
Dave
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