I was hooked from Day One. Some adult gave me a small pile of Topps cards in the summer of 1956 when I was six. The vision sixty years later is as clear in my memory today as if it were yesterday. Amongst the cards I distinctly remember a '54 Ernie Banks and a '56 Del Ennis (cards long gone). Used to love the flipping games. Won a lot of cards that way. My Uncle Harry had a smoke shop in Brooklyn. A couple of times he gave me a box of '57 Topps. Imagine busting those packs today. I collected feverishly until 1960 when I switched my interests to Action Comics. Didn't get back into the hobby for a long time. Dabbled a very little bit in the eighties and nineties. There was a card shop on El Camino Real in Menlo Park called Papa's - some of you may remember the store - that I occasionally patronized. Hit things with a vengeance with the onset of eBay in the late '90s. Subsequently discovered Net54 and the card collecting community at large and here I am.
I made this little gif from some home movie footage. It depicts my wiseacre brother Dan "posing" for his imaginary baseball card. My sister Kini, unclear on the concept, is indicating that the extra point is good.
Darling Avenue, New Rochelle, NY 1957
