The first "cards" I ever had were those stickers and other inserts you could find in Wonder Bread packages in the early-to-mid-70s. Usually they had a Disney or Super Hero tie in, and they featured some funny license plate or college pennant parodies or some such. I only ever had a few, none saved, but as I got older and had more disposable income I did go back and acquire complete sets of perhaps 6 or 7 of these series (culminating in the Star Wars set from 1977).
The first pack of cards I ever opened was Topps Happy Days - again, never saved past the first month I had them but I went back and purchased complete sets of both series a few years ago.
With both the Wonder Bread and Happy Days sets, when I look through them today I can still recognize a handful of specific ones I know I had back in the day originally, and that gives me a really nice sense of nostaglia.
It wasn't until the spring of 1978 that I personally discovered baseball cards.
Remember the old Scholastic magazine, Dynamite? Each spring for a few years there, they'd include a small uncut panel of 6 of the new Topps cards. In the spring 1978 issue I received Tony Perez, Darrell Porter, Al Oliver and Cecil Cooper (two from a double print row, I know now, so only 4 different for me).
From that moment, and I can't explain why, I was hooked. I can still remember learning that you could get packs containing more of these at the store! How incredible was that?!? I can clearly recall that my first wax pack contained, among forgotten others, Jose Baez, Luis Tiant, Sparky Lyle RB, Rick Manning and George Hendrick.
I remember well seeing a couple 'old' 1977s one of my friends had - even though they opened the pack less than 12 months before, it still felt to my 10 year old brain that I was looking at some ancient relic. Then, when the spring of 1979 came around and I saw the first selection of 1979 cellos in a bin at McCrory's, I remember thinking "they come out with a new set EVERY year?!?"
I think most people learn about the game first and are then drawn to the cards - I had the cards and that is what drew me to the game. It was the cards that taught me new guys came along each year and that some players actually changed teams every so often.
From the outset, I always pursued the new Topps set each year, and I tried to get older cards from previous years - some of friends had small stacks of dog-eared '76s, '75s and 74s they gifted me. Then I discovered card shops, shows, and it was off to the races.
For me, I know that I am by nature a 'collector' - if I have one of something that is part of a series, I have a hard time not trying to acquire more. If I never discovered cards, I'd have a house full of vintage Star Wars, Legos, TV Guides or something else.
|