Ed!
Your avatar caught my eye. I think I am your doppelgänger from bizzaro world because I read your story and it is my story, too. So much so, I'm using your story as a template and just tweaking some of the names and dates from my alternate universe. Here goes...
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My dad bought me a few cards in
1974. I was
eight and really didn't know anything about cards at the time. I remember the
Dodger's cards stood out because of their
blue and
white uniforms. In addition, the
Washingtion Nat'l cards seemed really cool and, even as an
8-year-old, I realized the
Dodgers must be good. Growing up in the
Los Angeles area, there wasn't much to get excited about the
Angels at the time. Except for Hank chasing the Babe, MLB baseball wasn't a huge deal to me and my friends. When the
1977 cards came out, I began buying a few packs. Once I saw the
Dodgers won again, I was hooked!
Steve became my favorite player and I began immersing myself in the stats on the card backs. I learned so much about players from reading the
'77 backs that I still remember some obscure ones today (ex.
Mini Minoso was older than dirt ). I couldn't get enough.
I collected until 1981 when I got older and became frustrated trying to collect Topps, Fleer, and Donruss. Eventually sold
all of my 70's cards.
I got back into collecting in
2003. I completed Topps runs for
Pete Rose and
Steve Garvey (my favorites as a kid). I have now gone back to set collecting. I completed the
1966 Topps set (Birth year) as well as
1971 and 1972. I am about
20% complete on the
1957 set. I will probably buy
1973-1979 to complete the
1973-79 run and have the cards I most fondly remember. Really enjoying my 2nd go round as a collector.
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All of the above is 100% accurate. Amazing how so many of our stories overlap.
Scott