How did you get started in the hobby

[Rich Klein]

I'm going to steal this idea for a thread from my good friends at Beckett forums.

For me, 1st packs I remember were 1968 3rd series and yes I had tons of Mantles. What a way for a young person growing up in New Jersey to start.

[JustinD]

I quite literally bought a wooden bushel basket of beat up cards at a garage sale in the late 70's for around 50 cents.

The only time I have even seen cards sold by the bushel and I was hooked since.

In NJ my baseball cards never got thrown out from the 60's and 70's and my Dad worked for the town and a few times he would bring home boxes full of baseball cards that people got rid of back in the early 70's

[jcc6252]

I grew up in Little Falls, NJ, and my friends and I first started collecting the 1968 Topps Football set (12 yrs. old). We played all sports, and were really successful for kids. I am not sure why we chose football that late summer, probably because we were too busy playing baseball up until then, and football was right around the corner. Anyway, what I remember most was sitting around and trading. We all had our favorite players for different reasons, so trading was fast and furious. For me, Mom and Dad were from Northern Indiana, so it was the Bears with Butkus, Sayers and Ditka. Of course, everyone was either a Jets or Giants fan, so those cards were hot. But, my most coveted card was Bob Griese, since Purdue ran through our family veins (don't remind me that they totally suck in football now). I still have all the cards from that summer, sent many in for grading (waste of money). They're not in the greatest shape, but priceless in my eyes.

[Rookiemonster]

Hey Rich , I grew up in saddlebrook NJ . I had a lot of friends that collected cards
. While I liked to look at them and thought they were interesting. That did not drive me to collect instead around 1992 my uncle and his adult friends started collecting . They would trade stories of what they had and what they were after.
One day my uncle gave me a few of his duplicates. I liked them and decided I would buy a few packs of my own to show them what I got.

After about a year or so ( not sure how long exactly) I found a card show at the Garfield Boys and girls club on midland ave. I collect because of this show . I could go to the show buy, sell, trade, win cards ! I loved it . I still attend this show often but now with my 4 year old son .

[Vintageismygame]

Dad bought me 2 boxes each of 1987, 1988, 1989 and 1990 Topps football for Christmas 1990. I was 6 years old that year and that was all that it took to get me hooked! I remember taking my time opening up each box and separating them out by teams.

I collected until I got into High School and then picked it back up my Junior year in College. I have been going strong since. My dad has a safe deposit box at the local bank that contains my great-grand fathers, grandfathers, and dads childhood collections. It is in the will that I am not to open the box until dads passing, so I am in no rush what so ever to see whats in there.

In the past couple of months I have put "The Monster" on the back burner and moved back into vintage football (1950s) and love it. I am working on the 1951 Bowman football set and let my 5 year old daughter "help" me. She loves looking at the art work and asking questions about the players. If I get duplicates I put them in a separate box for her to thumb through when she wants.

I love this hobby!

[irv]

I don't really remember how I got started but it was likely my Father, who loved Hockey and loved watching it, that likely purchased some of these Esso Gas Station stickers for me and I was hooked!

I remember constantly asking my Dad if he needed gas so I could purchase more of these stickers for my book.
http://puckjunk.com/2008/04/11/got-em-got-em-stick-em/

I still have the book from when I was 6-7, and I know, to this day, I am missing one sticker/player to complete the book.

I continued collecting hockey cards through public school but don't remember when I stopped?

About 25-30 years ago, (during the junk card era) my Father gave me his 52 Topps cards and I was re-hooked again!
Like a lot peeps from back then, I purchased loads of Upper Deck, Fleer, Score, you name it, but then the market collapsed, stores closed and like the hobby, I also waned from it.

Just this year, back in January, I was looking through my 52 Topps cards again when I read an article, I believe, about the latest Cobb card find, or the Lucky 7.

This rekindled my love again, and I happened upon these forums, which I didn't know existed.

Not sure how many cards I have purchased nor the money I have spent since joining, but finding this site wasn't necessarily a good thing! (joking, of course )

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ybh9KTEB_I

[bn2cardz]

I just remember always being saturated in cards. From what I understand from the stories my dad bought me a collecting "starter kit" from my older sister's book fair at school when I was about 4 years old (around '86). I remember using the price guide that came with it for several years (originally I am sure I just looked at the pictures), before my dad bought me my first Beckett around 92. I still have it, this isn't my copy but this is the one:


A few years later my parents got me a subscription and after that people would literally come to me at card shows asking me the values of the cards because I had memorized the magazine. Every month I would just look at the ups and downs for each set, and it would stick with me. All the while I was just buying what I could.

One of my favorite sets from my childhood was the 1989 Donruss set. I just really liked that design. I bought more Donruss than any other set from then on. Until UD Collector's Choice came out and that was such a cheap option that I found myself buying those up all the time. Then I entered an antique store and found a t206 Doyle batting. It was being sold for $90, way more than I could ever spend, but it was so neat to see such an old card that was nearing 90 years old. At Christmas it was my only gift from my parents. I now know they overpaid (if they paid the full amount), but it was the best card ever to me. Soon after I bought my own Goudey online and got a Beckett almanac that way I could learn more about the older sets. Since then I have gone back and forth between vintage and modern.

[pingman59]

I remember buying 1968 Topps BB 1st series Rak Packs at the nearby Woolworth's store when I was 9 years old. I probably passed on Willie Mays and Bob Gibson on the top because I looked for any Chicago Cubs on top. Fond memories flood over me whenever I look at a 1st series 68 Topps card!

[Jayworld]

I bought my first baseball cards from the neighborhood 7-11 in 1975 when I was eight years old and have been hooked ever since. The fall of 1975 saw us trading 1975 Topps football cards in school. I collected cards solely from packs from 1975-78 and enjoyed building (or trying to build) sets that way, and yes, I filled in the checklist cards to help keep track of which cards I was lacking. 1979 was the first year that I ordered the complete Topps baseball set from a dealer rather than try to build from packs. I remember that set cost $9.99 postpaid. I relied on the Card Collector's Company to buy singles and fill-in the holes to complete my 1977 and 1978 baseball sets....

I finally completed the 1975 Topps set last year, and I am currently working on completing the 1975 Topps football set.

[Rickyy]

I grew up in Japan, my dad was in the US Navy, so my first exposure to bb cards came in the form of late 60's Topps cards that he bought me at the base commissary. I was into Japanese baseball then, but didn't collect or know about Japanese BB cards until I came state side. Then once I came to the US (N. Calif) in the early 70's.... I got hooked on bb cards as my school mates also had them. First collected some in 1971 just for fun ( I remember buying packs, cello pack in those blue boxes and also remember buying BB and FB rack packs that year). Seriously got hooked in 1973 as I was following the Swinging A's in the SF bay area and completed my first set.

Ricky Y

[bmattioli]

I have been collecting for years but the earliest thoughts i must say are buying Hostess cakes for day camp with the free card.. I had a paper route and any left over money was either saved, I was thrifty even back then or used to purchase 15 cents packs or comics at an old bookstore on my route. Those were the days.

[DHogan]

I needed a hobby. I started out buying all crap from the early 90's. I started building sets in the mid 90's. And started collecting vintage soon after. Vintage cards are way more fun. I wish I had started sooner.

[BearBailey]

In 1983 my dad bought a box from a pharmacy he went too,each week he asked if me and my brother were good and if so he gave us a pack. By end of 1983 went to a baseball card show, Brooks Robinson was the autograph guest and couldn't have been better to me. That's how I got hooked, by 1987 I was mowing neighbors lawns and spending all of money on cards.

[tab]

I remember driving up to a gas station drive thru as a kid with my mother. She got her cigarettes and me a pack of cards. I would chew the gum and check out my cards. I then tossed them in the floor of her station wagon before getting dropped off at school(kindergarten). I had tons of 87 topps 88 donruss etc and on into the early 90's. i purchased a couple of wax boxes of 1987 topps baseball for me and my son to open together when he gets a little older. Just to kind of relive my childhood.

[horzverti]

Originally Posted by BearBailey

1987 I was mowing neighbors lawns and spending all of money on cards.

Me too. I mowed lawns from about 1983 to 1988. Three of every four dollars earned went toward my wax pack addiction, but I turned out ok.

[cubman1941]

I don't know really how I got started, maybe because I liked baseball. I started with 1952 Topps, then some 1953. I put them in a box in my closet. I quit for some reason, probably because I started high school. The box sat in my closet. I went into the U.S. Army in 1962 and came home in 1964. The box sat in my closet. I got a job and left home. Came back in around 1969 only to find my mother had cleaned out my closet because my brother wanted it. She throw my box of cards out but kept my brothers books from his only semester of college. When asked about it she said the cards were taking up space and my brother might go back to school. In 1976 I was living in Maryland and my daughter got me a box of Twinkies because of the baseball cards on the back and this started me again and continue to this day.

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

bought my brother a pack of 1981 Topps as a present for getting his tonsils out. Through all the years, between the two of us, we had managed to keep one or two cards from that first pack. Alas in the last couple moves neither of us can seem to find them. If you ever get a 1981 Topps George Brett with seriously rounded corners and AP written on the back in black crayon you'll know you have one of ours!

[Eggoman]

For me, as a 7-year-old, it was 1969 Topps Baseball Fourth Series. I had the Don Drysdale checklist card and my goal was to get every card on that checklist. Any card not on that checklist was trade bait!

Looking back, I probably traded away PLENTY of stars as the 4th Series is mostly junk!

We traded before, after, and sometimes DURING school - always trying to avoid being caught by the eagle-eyed Nuns, who would confiscate your cards if you got caught with them!

The dear Sisters of St. Joseph's likely have some of the finest Baseball card collections in existence stashed away somewhere as we got caught MORE THAN once!

I'm 54 now and NEVER quit, but have not been as active in the hobby as I used to be...

[mikemb]

I grew up in Dunellen, New Jersey. As an 8 year old, Mom bought me my first pack at the local deli, 1965 first series. Continued buying cards there for another 6 years. Not sure how I got 1959 to 1964 cards in my original collection, probably Dad or my older brother got them. Sad that the deli closed last year. Always went in there once or twice a year to bring back great memories. Mike

[vintagechris]

My Mom worked at the mall when I was growing up and I would go to the mall during Summer break and Christmas break to hang out. Spent most of my money on arcade games. One day, I was rushing to the back of the G.C. Murphy store where there was an arcade and on my way to the back noticed packs of 1980 FB cards. Stopped and looked at them, bought a few packs and took them out to one of the benches in the mall and opened them.

I was instantly hooked. Spent all my video game money that day on packs of cards. For the next 4 or 5 years, Mom would bring home 2 packs of cards each day.

[ALR-bishop]

5 cent pack at corner Drug/Grocery store at end of our block in St Louis

[Yoda]

I am really dating myself, but what the hell. My passion for the hobby started in my hometown, Schenectady, NY where I and my pals, ages from about 8-11,all of us playing Little League ball, would pool our weekly, meager allowances and dash to the local drug store and feast upon packs of '51 Bowmans. Outside would be the ritual of opening packs, screams of joy or derision as the players were revealed and then the business of serious trading began. Most of us were Yankee fans and just loved everything about Mickey Mantle. So you can imagine the excitement when we learned that Schenectady was to be blessed with the final series of the '51 Bowmans. Every available penny was gathered and when the cards arrived our gang, armed and ready with our life savings, wiped out every pack in the store. When all the packs were open we had about 50 Johnny Sains but not one of the Mick. We were devastated. While college, the military, family and all that stuff curtailed any active involvement in the hobby for a long time, I am now retired and actively engaged in the prewar scene, but the '51 bowman set will always remain my favorite. John

[Sean]

Originally Posted by mikemb

I grew up in Dunellen, New Jersey. As an 8 year old, Mom bought me my first pack at the local deli, 1965 first series. Continued buying cards there for another 6 years. Not sure how I got 1959 to 1964 cards in my original collection, probably Dad or my older brother got them. Sad that the deli closed last year. Always went in there once or twice a year to bring back great memories. Mike

I was eight in 1965. That's also the year that I started collecting. I stopped in 1969, and didn't get back into it until 2002.

That '65 Topps set was always my favorite post-war set.

[Huck]

I was 10, living in Hawaii, buying packs of '72 Topps. I never completed the set, due to finding out much later that (1) either my interest waned or (2) the later series never made it to the pacific. Fast forward, to the college years, meandering around in a convenience store after an evening of being over served at a local bar. As I waited for the cashier to ring me up, I noticed the packs of 1981 Topps on the counter. I said to myself "I never completed that 1972 set. I am going to complete the 1981 set." Many pack purchases later and after finding a tiny, dark and dank local card store (remember those??) in a strip mall and purchasing missing cards there, I finally completed the '81 set. I spent well over $100 putting that set together and have hundreds of doubles and triples. I was happy, content. Then I saw an ad in the local paper, about a card show at the local VFW. As I walked into the show one of the first things that I saw was a sign on a dealers table, which read - "1981 Topps complete set collated - $19.99", that soured me a bit on trying to complete a set via pack purchases. At that first show, I saw my first tobacco cards, which I thought were really cool looking and purchased one (Hanifan, NJ). That was the start of the insanity. In the early '90s I started collecting IP autographs of the HOF's who were guests at the show. I was spending far more money on cards than autographs but over the years, that reversed and more money was spent on autographs as opposed to cards. I still collect cards, but prefer vintage over the new stuff.

[daves_resale_shop]

It was 1986, I was 8 years old. I was a member of Coach Marsh's AAA Brewers club... My first game didn't go as planned (hitless at the plate), so to cheer me up my dad took me to Norumbega Stamp and Coin in Newton Mass to grab a few packs of cards... For some reason I found myself flipping through the pages of their display binders, and was taken aback by these trendy, colorful, disco-like cards (1972 topps). My dad picked out 3 cards, two of his favorites: Carl Yastrzemski, and John Kennedy (I think he liked the name), and a very cool mustached 1974 topps Luis tiant...

Took those cards with me everywhere that year, remember it like it was yesterday

[horzverti]

My start was opening 1982 wax packs with my cousin. I lived in WI and he lived in FL. The stores near me sold Topps only. The stores near his house in FL sold Fleer packs. When we would visit I would trade him my 1982 Topps Braves doubles for anything I needed for sets. At the time FL didn't have an MLB team, so he rooted for the closest team, the Braves. Good times.

[glynparson]

By going to shows and flea markets all over the area with my dad 37 years later we are still at it at even some of the same flea markets and shows.

[Sean1125]

I was 16, on craigslist grinding to make some money for the summer and traded two 10" subwoofers for a baseball card collection which I knew nothing about at the time.

[talkinbaseball]

I bought my first packs in the summer of '67 when i was 10 and never looked back.

Still collecting today at age 59.

john

[nat]

Got my first packs (85 Topps) from a Chinese grocery store in the neighborhood. My mom probably bought them for me to keep me quiet while she shopped. Soon got older cards (like, early 80's and late 70's) trading cards with a friend down the street. I thought I was ripping him off on some of these trades. It wasn't until years later that I learned that he was trading me his brother's cards.

[Vintagevault13]

My dad bought me a few cards in 1973. I was seven and really didn't know anything about cards at the time. I remember the A's cards stood out because of their yellow uniforms. In addition, the playoff and World Series recap cards seemed really cool and, even as a 7-year-old, I realized the A's must be good. Growing up in the Atlanta area, there wasn't much to get excited about the Braves at the time. Except for Hank chasing the Babe, MLB baseball wasn't a huge deal to me and my friends. When the 1974 cards came out, I began buying a few packs. Once I saw the A's won again, I was hooked! Reggie 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 '74 backs that I still remember some obscure ones today (ex. Phillies' Larry Christensen was born in 1955, making him a 19-year-old major leaguer in 1974!). 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 most of my 70's cards.

I got back into collecting in 2013. I completed Topps runs for Reggie Jackson, Hank Aaron, and Terry Bradshaw (my favorites as a kid). I have now gone back to set collecting. I completed the 1965 Topps set (Birth year) as well as 1974. I am about 80% complete on the 1973 set. I will probably buy 1975-1979 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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[spaidly]

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...

-----

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.

----

All of the above is 100% accurate. Amazing how so many of our stories overlap.

Scott

[Vintagevault13]

Scott,

That is pretty crazy that our stories are similar. I think it shows the role that cards played in the era in which we grew up. Without the Internet and dozens of games on TV each week like we have now, cards were more than just pictures. They were like "mini encyclopedias" that taught us about the game and players. I loved that period in my life.


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[spaidly]

Originally Posted by Vintagevault13

I loved that period in my life.

Me, too.

For me, collecting again isn't trying to "relive it all" like some non-collectors think but is about me loving this period of my life. Some of the days between now and then weren't so great so I have to believe happiness is in baseball card collecting. I hope I don't run out of money.

[Leon]

Nice job on that. Many of our stories are similar.....

Smiling Dave at a mall show got me back into collecting around 20 yrs ago. I wonder whatever happened to ole Smiling Dave? Great guy with lots of bicycle spoke HOF rookies which I bought....

Originally Posted by spaidly

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...

-----

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.

----

All of the above is 100% accurate. Amazing how so many of our stories overlap.

Scott

[Cooptown]

This is a fascinating read. Thank you all for sharing. Sometimes when the threads get numerous pages long, I do some skimming, but not this time. I really enjoyed reading everyone’s stories.

I mostly lurk on the other side as I no longer really collect cards, minus a Mantle run I am always plugging away on, as I only collect autographs of baseball HOFers. But I still thought it would be cool to share my story.

My Dad did the grocery shopping in our house, every Saturday. He would bring me home a pack of cards; usually baseball, and usually Topps. There were a few random Donruss and Fleer baseball thrown in, and some Topps football and hockey thrown in, but mainly Topps baseball. This went on from 1981 – 1985. I was always hoping for Reggie Jackson cards, and then later on, Pete Rose.

My Dad would watch Yankees games and I would always tell him to call me when Reggie came to bat. I remember vividly, in 1982 at the age of 5, I told my Dad to call me when Reggie comes up, and he said “Reggie doesn’t play for the Yankees anymore”. “What? Why? How did this happen?” A few years later I really got to like Pete Rose. Pete Rose broke the hit record on my parent’s anniversary, which I always thought was cool. Anyways, I had these cards thrown about my room, in all sorts of random places.

In early 1986, we took a family trip to my uncle’s cabin in the poconos. He owned his own advertising firm, and I thought of his as “rich”. He drove a town car, had a vacation home, etc. Anyways, he showed my family his new hobby – collecting old baseball cards. He had his cards in pages and binders, and the older ones in plastic cases. TONS of Pete Rose cards. I was in awe and was hooked. I immediately wanted to get home and start putting my cards into sheets and binders like his. I started buying a ton of 1986 Topps baseball packs.

One Sunday, I woke up and my Dad said “There’s a baseball card show in Utica (about 20 minutes away). Want to go?” Ummm….yeah! I couldn’t believe it. My Dad bought me a 1986 Topps Yankees team set that day; to which I still have.

As the baseball card boom started, I couldn’t get enough. I was buying cards of anything I could find. My Dad would take me to shows and we would look around together. He always bought me pre-1980s cards; cards he had but had been lost. Those are some of the best memories I have.
That same uncle invited us to go to the Baseball HOF Induction ceremony the summer of 1987. It was amazing. My Dad and I wound up going every year, just the two of us, from 1987 -1998….until college, girls, jobs, etc. Got in the way.

Around 1992 or so I went to junior high and my new buddies were going to minor league games and getting autographs. My Dad had taken me to area minor league games as well; the Utica BlueSox and the Syracuse Chiefs…but I never thought about getting autographs on cards before! This became my new fix; getting as many autographs as I could at minor league parks. This went on from 1992 until 1995 or so…until I was just about to start my senior year in high school. Collecting autographs was true of HOFers as well, as paid signings started to pop up in Cooperstown (I chuckle writing that, as they started popping up in 1990 or so. Now, you cant go anywhere in Cooperstown HOF induction weekend without someone attempting to sign something for a dollar). I got a good jump on my hof collection with older players who signed rather cheaply; Buck Leonard, Warren Spahn, Billy Herman, etc.

Cards and autographs went to the back burner until after college and first job, apartment, etc.

Then in 2007, as I started to get a bit of disposable income, I dove back into autographs, but only of baseball HOFers. I became an elitist apparently. My Dad and I went to HOF weekend in Cooperstown in 2007 and 2008, and then he became ill in early 2009 and passed away in December 2009. I took me until 2014 to be able to get back to Cooperstown’s HOF Induction weekend, but I have gone the past three years…just me, and I like to think my Dad is with me there.

I still have all of my pre-1980 baseball cards that I bought with my Dad, and any Don Mattingly cards I collected in the 80s and 90s, but now I concentrate on autographs of baseball HOFers….primarily on baseballs.
Whew….long story. Do you regret asking?

[Vintagevault13]

Scott,

100% agree. The 70's was a pretty cool time to be a kid and the quality of baseball that decade was very strong.


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[KMayUSA6060]

I was born in 1994, so I missed the "Glory Days" of collecting. However, I was fortunate enough to grow up with the Cleveland Indians of the 1990s. I remember a surprising amount for being as young as I was. My favorite athlete of all time is Jim Thome, and growing up, my mom would take me to the LCS every once in a while and allow me to buy quarters worth of Jim Thome or Indians stuff. I'd come home with 1-8 cards at a time, and slowly but surely built a collection.

When middle school came around, I lost interest in collecting (my mom still bought me packs as gifts and such) when most of my time was consumed by sports. After high school, I went to play collegiate tennis at a small university in Ohio. I ended up quitting the tennis team after a match early in the fall season, but remained at the university into the spring. I ended up leaving early in the spring semester after realizing that college wasn't for me, and had an opportunity to join the Air Force (I ended up getting disqualified after I left school due to food allergies, but that's a stupid discussion for another forum). About a month before leaving, I developed a great friendship with a kid on the baseball team who collected cards. He got me back into collecting, and I got the bug. This was about 2 years ago. Since then, my collection has gone through several transformations, but I have yet to lose the itch to collect. It has become a huge part of who I am, and I am proud to be a collector of historic cardboard. I love this hobby.



P.S. Sorry for the irrelevant information regarding my life story.

[darwinbulldog]

My older sister found a Babe Ruth card in a library book. 1986 Big League Chew unfortunately, but still, it got me into the hobby. I believe that (in 1986) was the first time I'd ever seen or heard of a baseball card.

[Bliggity]

When I was seven years old (1988) and started in little league, my parents bought me a Dave Righetti kid's glove and a pack of cards. I can't remember specifically what the pack was, but I'm pretty sure it was '88 Donruss. My dad was a Yankees fan, and pretty soon I was buying packs whenever possible to try to pull a Mattingly. My Dad would tell me stories (just like all the other dads of that era) about all the Mickey Mantle cards that his mother threw away when he went off to college...never did I think I would actually own one!

I collected through the junk wax era until I was about 13 or 14 years old, and then lost interest for a long time. About two years ago, I decided (well...my wife suggested) that I do something with the three 5000-ct boxes of cards that I hadn't looked at in two decades. I figured I'd keep the Mattinglys and maybe 30-40 of the most valuable other cards and get rid of the rest. I drove to a local card shop to pick up a couple packs of toploaders, and they had a box of unopened '83 Fleer on the counter. I figured what the hell, and bought a pack. Second card in the pack was the Ripken RC. Well, that might as well have been crack, because I haven't stopped thinking about cards since. For the next couple months, I wasted a lot of money as I tried to figure out what I really wanted to collect. In December 2014 I went to my first card show and bought my first prewar card (T205 Mathewson), and it's been all prewar since then. And I'm loving it.

All because I pulled the Ripken RC out of that one pack. Crazy. If I hadn't pulled that one card, I probably would have never bought another card again in my life.

[sreader3]

I started collecting Topps BB in 1971 when I was three. When my mom and dad traded-in their Ford LTD in 1976 for a Buick Electra and I did a “final check” under the back seat, I discovered a slightly bent but otherwise well-preserved Paul Blair #52. That’s how I knew when I started –- that and a few other completely trashed 1971 Topps 1st series cards that remained in my “collection.”

1977 was a watershed year. I spent all of my Little League snack bar tokens to buy Topps packs while watching all my buddies wolf-down “donuts” – fried Pillsbury rolls drenched in sugar and cinnamon (ok, ok, those "donuts" were really good!) . I completed about 90% of that set and kept the cards in decent condition (we would call it EX-MT) by storing them team-by-team in an old 24-count audio cassette holder. I remember particularly favoring the Blue Jays and Mariners cards given the exotic “inaugural season” status of those teams – although looking at the stats on the backs of those cards all their players seemed to suck.