I suppose it all started in 87’ when, at eleven years of age, I traded a 1983 Topps Wade Boggs rookie, torn and taped, to my friend for a 1954 Topps Jackie Robinson. The Robinson card was in poor condition too, but admittedly, better off than the Boggs. However, residing in the burbs of Boston, and thus being Red Sox fans, one might begin to see why my friend would agree to such a trade. It’s not like we were scholars of the game either. We both knew that Robinson was famous, but neither one of us knew who the Brooklyn Dodgers were, or the significance of Jackie.
It wasn’t until the late 90’s, after working in an inner-city school for a year, learning about social-justice and the civil rights movement – that I really started to idolize (and yes, romanticize) Jackie Robinson and his team – the Brooklyn Dodgers. And it started with this one card – the 54’ Topps. I remember seeing below his name “outfield, Brooklyn Dodgers,” and imagining what the team must have been like, the city, the stadium, the fans. And thus began the journey – a decade of Dodgers. Collecting all Brooklyn Dodgers cards from 1947 (Jackie’s rookie year) to 1957 (when the Dodgers left Brooklyn and Jackie’s retirement).
Although approximately 220 cards acquired (in EX+ condition on average) and not even 50% complete, I have loved the journey. Specializing in one team’s cards issued over a decade, I feel I have developed some type of kinship with these cards, and of course, the people they depict. Time Travel with Card Board. They take you back to an era, which has in many ways gone to the ether, but yet reside in these little rectangular pieces of cardboard.
Pardon for my waxing a bit poetic,
Ben
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