Posted By:
Chris CountsMy collection started in the spring of 1970 when my mom sent me to the grocery store to buy some brocolli. Why I spent the money on a pack of cards I'll never know. But when I got home and told my dad, he took me back to the store, where we bought some brocolli and another pack of cards.
I was nine when I started buying cards, and by the time I was 10, both myself and my younger brother were fascinated by old cards. By the time I was 13 and attending my first card show (T206s in ex-mt were plentiful at $1 each ... I bought Joss, Lajoie, Chase, M. Brown and Magee), I had already discovered most of the Topps sets simply from finding them at garage sales and antique stores.
From 1973 to 1980, I collected just about everything. My lack of focus was staggering. Along the way, though, I did manage to complete a variety of 50s and 60s sets, most of which I sold off as soon as I discovered girls, cars and rock 'n' roll ...
Fast forward to about seven years ago. I got in a bad car wreck and took a break from work to get better. My younger brother, who never stopped collecting, introduced me to eBay. I quickly became hooked, buying just about anything that inspired me in the moment. But the prices of the good stuff were just too much for my budget. So I decided to focus my collection a bit and buy only one card of every player I liked and one card from every set I like. I soon deviated from that plan, and before I knew, my collection was the same muddled type card mess it had been three decades earlier.
It's difficult for me to collect sets because I don't ever want to spend money on a card I don't like. So sets are out. A type card set is also a problem since a lot of tough sets don't do anything for me (man, I'm sure glad someone likes those '38 Goudeys!) So for the lack of a real plan, I now only collect cards I like from sets I like: Exhibits (all years), Batter-Ups (tops or no tops, the more colors, the better), '53 Bowmans (color or B&W), '57 Topps, Mothers Cookies, Oakland Oaks, Bell Brands, 1934 Cardinals (any set), 1938-40 Reds (I love those W711-1s!), ballpark postcards and a schizophrenic cross-section of type cards I like, mostly from 1933 to 1957 ...