What a great story, Conor. It sounds like we were both blessed to have parents that sacrificed so much for their children.

Mike, that's amazing. I've always had an affinity for the Pirates, especially the '71 and '79 teams. They are so much like the Brewers-small market team, great fans, a sprinkling of Hall of Famers. I just wish we had the World Series wins that you guys have ;)

That's a once in a lifetime pickup. I would have that hanging in my window over my front door (but that's just me).

Like many here, i have collected for a long time, and like others, i have my share of "valuable" cards.

But when asked "what is your BEST card in your collection?"

This is my answer:

In 1985 i was 14 years old and had been a big pack ripper for the better part of three years. Born and Raised in Flushing New York, i was born to be a Mets fan. In 1985, it was all about Dwight Gooden. Topps wax packs were ripped by myself (4 or 5 a day) before JHS started, in the morning in the school yard as we waited for the homeroom bell to ring. We (my best friend, who never caught the collecting bug) ripped them looking for Goodens rookie card! we got to know the sequence. they were great times in life indeed.

He's still my best friend, we're still Mets fans. Life goes on, things happen, yada yada yada

a little more then three and a half years ago i was diagnosed with diabetes. being down about it, i went through a section of my cards that i hadnt looked through in a while. Low and behold i ran into a stack of 1985 Topps Goodens that i pack pulled 25 years earlier.

So, i decided that if Bob Costas can put a Mantle card in his wallet, i sure as heck can put a Gooden in mine! :) and in it went.

Flash forward to last years National. i was invited to a party that Gooden was going to be attending. Having been invited i said of course id like to go. it was only after confirming that i would be going that i remembered that the card was in my wallet.

i told Dwight my story and he was very nice and politely agreed to sign my card. He even personalized it "To Eric, Best Wishes" Man i couldnt believe it, i really couldnt. i was like a flustered kid again, having just conversed with my childhood idol.

Well, i had to give it the protection it deserved after that, so i had it slabbed at the show.


http://i1022.photobucket.com/albums/...l/b208c24d.jpg

Most of our cherished cards turn out not to be the most expensive but either a return to our childhood or something we had signed.

I know that has been pointed out before, but that is the real point of the hobby, your most cherished item is something with an emotional connection.

Rich

My most cherished baseball card ties back to the moment I was hit by the collecting bug in the summer of 1959. I came home with my first pack of baseball cards at age 6. I got a Detroit Tigers card of Red Wilson in that pack and mentioned it to my mom, who was cooking in the kitchen. My folks were both teachers - my dad a longtime basketball coach - and we didn't have much extra money with four kids. But when I showed my mom the Red Wilson card, she made a big deal out of it and called out for my dad to come out and see it. He was shaving in the bathroom. They both patted me on the back and acted thrilled that I got a Detroit Tigers card. So I haven't stopped collecting since - setting up at the old Troy Hilton Show in 1972 at age 18... and countless other shows since then.

from a similar thread from 2005 . . .
 

Why a nondescript common from a modern set? When I was about nine I went over to my friend Tom's house. He was 13 and had what seemd like thousands of baseball cards. We were sorting them by teams and we kept finding Curt Raydon cards. We must have found ten times more Raydons than any other player. Each time we found another one we laughed harder and harder. My friend died of cancer in 1971 at age 24. He was the greatest guy ever.

http://img.beckett.com/images/items_...5894/front.jpg

http://i1001.photobucket.com/albums/...h_DSCN2206.jpg

Click on the picture for a short video of me flipping over the Wade Boggs/Roger Clemens wrong back pair. They are by far my most cherished card(s).

Not A Baseball Card
 

My most Cherished piece was pulled in May of 2008 by my son ( he was 8 at the time), On this Saturday morning I decided to buy him a box(4 packs) of the newly release Ultimate. On that day Jonathan was wearing his Carey Price jersey, who is one of his favorite player along with Crosby, and ovechkin. On the way home he was very impatient to open his packs, so I parked the car and let him enjoy his breaks while I made a phone call,On his last pack I noticed a larger then large smiled on his face, I figured that he pulled a card of one of his favorite players, then he showed me the card, argueably one of the best Carey Price card from his rookie season.You see this card means more to me not because of its value,but more for my sons reaction to it. I doubt that we will ever cash in on this card.....like the Mastercard commercial states somethings are just priceless.

http://i1035.photobucket.com/albums/...ps184845d1.jpg

http://i1035.photobucket.com/albums/...20PC/price.jpg

This thread really delivers, guys! The last few posts have all knocked it out of the park. Great stuff!

71buc/Mike, please stop showing that banner!! Haha. For anyone that doesn't know, that banner was mine, was in my garage for years, and I wound up selling it on eBay about 2 years ago. For $104. Haha. And just kidding, enjoy it my friend!!!

Eric, though I've been a lifelong fan of the Brewers and Pirates, there was something about the Mets in 1986 that really resonated with me. I loved Gary Carter, and was thrilled that he'd gone to New York after Montreal (who didn't like the Kid?) And I was a big Dwight Gooden fan back then. I loved watching him pitch. That high leg kick was so cool, and he just made hitters look foolish. I'd go up to my bedroom (even at 15), and imitate his pitching motion, blowing imaginary hitters away with ease! He could have been one of the greatest pitchers to ever play the game, but we all know how his life got sidetracked. I am very happy to see that he's working to turn his life around. He's been more visible on sports shows. And I think it's great he signed your card. I don't know if I could have pulled it out of my wallet, though.

Well said, Rich. I have some expensive cards, but it's the ones that take me back to my childhood that always resonate with me.

It's great that your folks encouraged you like that. They helped to foster a lifelong hobby. Do you still have the Wilson card?

Bruce, I have a similar story, though the card in question isn't a common per se. As I've mentioned on the forum before, I started getting into baseball when I was 7 or 8, and started my baseball card collection not long after. Well, I was a big Brewers fan, and I always tried to put together team sets before I looked at any other cards in the set. This was right before Donruss and Fleer got into the game. One of my best friends at the time, Carl Zach, collected, too. He loved baseball like I did. We played together in little league. And I remember distinctly looking at the 1980 Topps Brewers set, and falling in love with one card in particular, the Robin Yount. I didn't have it yet, and Carl had two. He gave me one as we looked through his cards up in his room. Well, several years later, after I'd moved to Texas, my friend was killed in a biking accident on July 4th. He was sprinting towards the finish line, with his head down, when an ambulance backed up into his path. I don't think he ever knew what hit him. Ever since, I have missed my friend even more. I think about the times we played ball together (including one when he was pitching, and I foolishly offered to warm him up. I crept down behind the plate, and one of his pitches came flying in, bounced off the plate, and nailed me in the family jewels. Of course, I wasn't wearing a cup, so I rolled around for a minute or two. But that was Carl. He did everything at 100%. He was a really great person.

Not long ago, when I started collecting again, I bought a graded copy of the card that he'd given me so long ago.

http://imageshack.us/a/img715/7584/1...sryountpsa.jpg

So, the card might not be a common, but I associate it with my friend. And like you, Bruce, it holds a very special place in my heart. I completely understand where you're coming from.

Ben, those are pretty cool. I don't think I've ever had any real error cards. I know that there are several variations of Randy Johnson's first Fleer card (and I have a couple of them). That they're of two of your favorite players makes it all the better. It would be like me having a card with Robin Yount on the front, and Paul Molitor's stats on the back.

Thank you for sharing them.

Guy, the look on your son's face is indeed priceless. It's almost a controlled elation. Few things in life can do that. And the card is great, too. I like hockey, but I've never collected hockey cards. I think I have opened two packs in all the years I've been in the hobby.

I couldn't agree more, Chuck. I love the hobby, and really enjoy seeing what other people collect. But it's these personal stories that really help me connect to the people on the forum, and that's what I have most enjoyed since joining Net 54. The people here are amazing. I could spend an hour writing about some of the really nice things members have done for me. I've been a member of so many forums, but this one stands head and shoulders above the rest.

Brendan, at least it's still "in the family", so to speak. :D

If you don't mind my asking, how did you get that? The Brewers don't have many pennants, but I'd love to get one and hang it in my bedroom. What a coup that would be!

Oh, and one more tidbit about the Mets in '86. I fell and broke my elbow right as the World Series was about to start. An ambulance took me to the hospital, and I was admitted. My doctor had to wait a little bit for the massive swelling to go down, and then he did surgery to fix it. Somehow, I'd knocked the bone at the end of the elbow off, and he had to cut me open, and then put a pin into the elbow for the bone to heal. It was a full arm-length cast, and my fingers were kept in traction (interestingly enough, I fell on the bleachers during our homecoming pep rally the next year, and broke the other elbow the exact same way! Yes, I am a klutz! :D When I get to the National, or a card show in Dallas, I can show off two nice scars.) Anyhow, after post op, I was wheeled to my room, groggy as hell, but remembering that the World Series was on, I asked my nurse to turn the TV on for me. My hand to the Bible, not 30 seconds after the television came on, I watched as the ball rolled through Bill Buckner's legs, and Ray Knight came racing home. I couldn't believe it. I thought I was seeing things (morphine is a hell of a drug, especially to a 15 year old!). But it really happened. I've watched that play a hundred times, and I still can't believe that Buckner booted that ground ball. As we all know, the Mets won the Series. I thought a dynasty was forthcoming. Gooden, Carter, Strawberry, Keith Hernandez, Darling, Ojeda, Howard Johnson (who would eventually be a 30/30 guy), Mookie Wilson, Sid Fernandez, Ron Darling, and the ageless Jesse Orosco...such a good team. Then they had David Cone two years later, a 20 game winner, and they won 100 games. But no further rings.

Heartfelt.......
 

Touching story.........thanks for sharing.

Everyone's stories were amazing and thank you for sharing.

I'm posting this Mantle because it was my grandfather's favorite player. He got me into the hobby in 2001 when I was 9 years old and taught me everything about baseball. Back in the day he had every set from 1950 to 1965 but he suffered from a bad arm injury that was unfixable at the time. He was so furious that he threw away anything that reminded him of baseball.... He got back into collecting when I was 9 years old and collected Mantles while he funded my baseball card addiction. When he passed away from cancer in 2004 I split up his Mantle collection between my Uncles and I. This is one of the Mantles I was left with. I love this hobby because it connects me to my grandpa and the love of the game.

That's a great story, Colby. You honor your grandfather by sharing it with us. And a nice '61 Mickey Mantle, too. :)

A great thread with great stories. Thanks to all for posting and sharing your stories about this great hobby with the rest of us!

Agreed. This is the feel good thread of the week for sure!

Hi Bill,

Finally got the picture of Elmer Miller and his cards. There is an E120, E121, and V100 along with backs of another E120 and E121-120 cases. Had it framed years ago to protect the Photo and cards. He played for the Yankees in 1921 and 1922 including the 1921 World Series. He literally is the first Yankee to get a hit in a World Series and Ruth drove him in so he was the first Yankee to score a run in a World Series. He was my great great Uncle.

Kmac

Ken, that's a really nice piece you have there, and an equally cool story. Talk about a ready-made ice breaker when talking to any Yankees fan.

"Ya, my great great uncle got the first ever Yankee hit in the World Series. And then the Babe drove him in".

Here's the box score

http://www.baseball-reference.com/bo...92110050.shtml

Yep, October 5, 1921. First subway series. The Yankees won the battle that day but they lost the war. Miller is also interesting in that he was one of the players involved in the trade to Boston that eventually spawned the trade waiver system MLB currently uses.

Really nice display there, Ken. Cool conversation piece, too.