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TBobMy first Topps wax pack was when I was a little kid at bought it from Wyberg's Drug Store on Hennepin Avenue in Minneapolis in the Summer of 1958. Back then all the comic books were in wooden racks and Mr. Wyberg didn't care if you sat down and read them all in his store as long as you occassionally bought one and if you didn't get in the way of customers. The big dilemma was did you buy a nickel pack and get 8 cards and a slab of gum or 5 1 cent packs with 5 slabs of pink gum? Tough call, we did it both ways. I remember the joy of scrounging for those abandoned pop bottles and tirning them in for change to buy cards. I also remember taping balls and driving nails in to broken wooden bats but that's another story for another day.
Thought for the day: Is it any wonder that outfielders in Little League, Babe Ruth, American Legion and High School and kids in general have such mediocre arms now adays? From when I was 5 until I was 16, we played baseball every single day during the summer. We played games on our teams at night and pickup games every day during the morning and afternoon. We'd play makeshift games if we didn't have enough players with one field being out if you hit it there. We THREW the ball all day long and built up those arms. I was a catcher in high school and still shake my head at the lack of arm strength of most high school catchers these days. the kids are busy playing video games, watching tv, doing drugs, hanging at the mall, etc to become ballplayers. Wonder why so many Latin American kids are coming in to the bigs? Wonder why so few African American kids are coming in now? Black youth who play sports are either playing basketball year round with AAU and in the parks during the summer or football which has become a 9 month sport in the South. Sad.