What Would 8 Year Old You Think About Your Collection Today?
 

Hey folks, happy Sunday.

Been thinking about this deeply the past few days.

What would little you think about the collection you have today?

Little 8 year old Donny would not believe what I have been able to acquire. I am trying to be better about appreciating what I have, especially in the condition that the cards are in. It would all be mind-blowing to that kid!

Hi Don,

Never thought about it.

But I would think a few things

1. Wow amazing collection
2. Seems a little obsessive that you are focusing on only 2 players.
3. Where are all the modern players. (For me modern growing up would have been 70’s and 80’s)
4. Why did you pay so much for a cartoon of a man wearing so much lipstick(my rookie Joe jackson card)

my 8 year old self would say WTF! Where did all these "postcard" sized things come from? They're NOT CARDS!!!!!!!!

My 8 year old self would probably not enjoy all of the old cards I have now. Pretty sure 8 year old me would prefer Tony Perez to Tris Speaker and Tom Seaver to Walter Johnson.

Fun question to think about, that's for sure!!

He'd be very happy and wouldn't have expected anything less! :)

"So this is where our fascination with the 1972 Kellogg's All Time Greats set leads to?"

Great thread topic! I think 8 yr old me would be surprised and impressed with what I have been able to acquire. He would then likely propose a trade. [emoji41]


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"What's with all these miniature cards of dead guys?"

My 8-year-old self would see that even as I got older and life happens, I never stopped doing what made me happy.

You mean I can sell these and buy a new bike?

I had a baseball card calendar at seven years old and was immediately drawn to the older cards on it. That same year I went to the Hall of Fame and read the yearbook cover-to-cover on the ride home, then went to Old Timer's Game at Yankee Stadium on tickets I picked out for my birthday.

So eight-year-old me wouldn't be surprised that I had so many pre-war cards. He wanted a Ewing/Mascot Old Judge for a year at that point, so he'd be happy to find out I've had one for about 20 years. Didn't waste much time getting one of those. He didn't know a Williamson/Mascot existed, so that would have been a nice surprise to show him.

I'd be wondering where all my Joe Charboneau rookies went

"Why are all those unopened boxes just sitting in your closet"

"What's a slab?"

"Did your uncles buy you all these cards at the corner store, or did you win them playing knockdowns and covers on the playground?"

Love this question, as it’s one of the things that crosses my mind often. I collect as an extension (and homage to) my childhood. That’s one of the main reasons I don’t do slabs. As mentioned, while eight year old me’s brain would certainly explode if he saw my collection today, he’d also remind me that I could buy a lot of other really cool things with that money…and that packs are meant for opening!!

Little me would be thinking "Neat cards, but I bet older me wishes he had a time machine so that he could go back and, with his bigger, adult size allowance, buy more wax packs from the corner drugstore counter, because then older me can find the missing cards I still need."

Brian

8 year old me would be amazed at all the prewar cards that I have and my Roberto Clemente collection. However, he would wonder what happened to all of his 50s and 60s Topps cards.

He would appreciate that the 1965 Topps have endured and have never been supplanted as the most loved set.

I was eight years old in 1974 and a football nut,
Didn’t start collecting baseball until 1978 ,
- i’d be wondering “ where the hell is my 1974 Harold Jackson ?! “

I was approximately 6-7 years old when I attended a sports card gathering at the nearby library. At that time my collection consisted of a grouping of 1970 Topps cards wrapped in rubber band, sorted by team. There was a girl there with a 1976 Topps Babe Ruth, all star card… which come to think she probably just pulled out of a pack. I offered her my whole grouping of cards for it, but she said no. my younger self would be proud of my babe ruth collection today.

First thought - where did I get the dough to buy all this?

Logical conclusion - must’ve had a long career in the bigs and plowed all my career earnings into cardboard.

I'd look at my Twins GU jersey collection and say, "Wow! But can't you get a Pascual?"

Whose mom gave you all those cards?

Eight year old me wouldn't believe it. Pre-war cards were this weird rumor. The local card shop didn't have any of them. No one I knew had ever even seen one. When I was about eight I decided to collect one card of every hall of famer, but at the time that meant trading with the kid down the street, because he got a Carl Yastrzemski card from his older brother. Hunting down anything more than a few years old was nearly impossible.

I got my first pre-war card two or three years later. My dad is into coins, and we went to see a guy he knew who had a store. In amongst all the coins there was a small stack of Goudeys. As I remember it there was a lancing beam of sunlight shining down on them, and a chorus of angels intoning "gloria in excelsis deo"; but I might be misremembering. Lord, I mowed a lot of lawns to afford the Joe Cronin that I bought that day.

My 8 year old self would mock me today with the comment; "betcha wish you had not thrown out all those cards when you were 13 years old, huh?"

I was wise beyond my years at 13, knowing I was too old to collect and dumped all I had up to that point. Mind you covering the 60's mainly and up to 72. Then at an even wiser old age of 14 I started over with collecting. Ahhhhhh, to be young again, just not so damed dumb.

Cheers,

B.T.

My eight year old self would love my collection but probably wonder why we stopped collecting Bernie Williams.

He would also be wondering why we live in a basement.

Funny this question came up...just yesterday, instead of looking for cards to buy, I decided to take some time and revies and appreciate what I already have. I left my office at home thinking how lucky I am to have what I have.

I was always into old cards, even as an 8 year old. I'm certain my 8 year old self would be in awe of what I have, just like my 56 year old self!!!

Can you imagine as an 8 year old, biking to the local party store and buying a pack of cards and never opening them ?

My 8 year old self would be proud and happy of what I have today and the stories that went along with them!

Realistically my 8 year old self was blown away by my father’s Mickey Mantle collection and vintage hof. He taught me the ropes of vintage and educated me on values. I rarely collected modern. Thanks dad!

My 8 year old self couldn’t care less what vintage cards I have collected as an adult.

My 8 year old self would be happy I was still collecting, buying, selling and trading baseball 50's and 60's HOF'ers. He would be surprised at my pre-war and 19th century stuff and be curious about the players, their teams and histories. And he would probably ask me, "Christ, how old are you now?

I suspect Kevin Struss was collecting E cards when he was 8.

The younger me would wonder -
1. Why did you keep 22 1978 Mike Lum cards?
2. Why do you have so many doubles when you could trade them for something else?
3. How come you never got enough money to order the Kellogg's sets that were available via a mail-in offer?
4. When a neighbor gave you 1000 1971s why didn't you ask him to include some players who you actually heard of?

That's funny.

Why did you stop collecting Mark McGwire? Why don’t you have an Honus Wagner yet?




If anyone wants to make my 8 year old dreams come true, I have a nice Jackie Robinson collection that I’d consider trading for a 1985 Tiffany PSA 10 McGwire and a PSA 1 T206 Wags.

“Where are all the Pete Rose cards?”

My 8 year old self would be so excited to see that I had tobacco and candy cards these days. When I was 8 I always wanted a tobacco card but never thought I would have one. I didn't know that they were even at the shows I was going to as a kid. I was just looking for the modern stuff at the time, the Mattingly rookies and Griffey's and stuff. If I had spent time looking around better I would've seen T206s and other prewar cards. I also would have seen that they could have been bought for less than a box of junk wax at the time. So I would've been so happy and in awe of what I have today. Even though I don't have anything crazy valuable, I have plenty of cards that would've excited the 8 year old me. That's for sure.

I'd probably be thinking, however, why I don't have a Ty Cobb yet. Ha!

I'd also be impressed with my post war vintage collection and my Mantles and other cards in that era.

Great topic.



.

My 8 year old me would ask if I sold my Upper Deck Kevin Maas Rookie Card to pay for the vintage collection.

As a youngster, I would have been absolutely amazed to learn that baseball cards were produced and issued prior to WWII.

My 8 yo self wrote a biography on Tris Speaker when my grandma (who lived in the basement) said we were related through my grandpa I never met.

So today, my 8 yo self would walk into my office with jaw wide open. He'd think it's awesome I have a Speaker auto, a Turkey Red, Exhibit, and triple fold. He'd also think my GU collection was awesome, even if it's in its infancy. The Barry Larkin bat would be really cool. The Cobb, Gehrig, Ruth would be mind blowing - unbelievable even! 8yo me would think - "That's the kind of collection I want when I get older!"

But my 8yo self would also wonder why I stopped collecting KGJ, and would question why I'm not collecting him. That 1995 season cemented my love for baseball. I'm not sure I could explain that one.

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My 8 year old self would feel betrayed that my collections now includes Yankees. But at least he'd be happy I have many more Willie Mays than Mickey Mantle.

My 8 year old self wouldn't say anything, he'd be too busy playing baseball, hoping it was hours before the streetlights would turn on.

My 8 year old self would have no idea the players that I was collecting now. He would think they were really cool though because the age of them. Of course in the late 80s I thought that my 1969 Topps Tony Conigliaro was the coolest card ever because it was super old for an 8 year old. Lol.

Chad

My 8 year old self would probably be in awe at the collection I've been able to build, and probably wonder how I got so rich (I definitely don't feel rich).

My 8 year old self would also most likely be more excited that I own pinball and arcade machines than he is about the card/memorabilia collection.
Even at 8 years old I was a video game junkie and have loved anything coin-op ever since.

It would depend on if I was just shown the cards, or if someone like old me explained them.

When I was 8, I had only bought 2 packs of cards total, two years apart.

I was into coins and stamps, Insulators and old bottles, rocks and shells and more into adventuring outdoors than sports which I was universally bad at.
Oh, and architecture and planes.

If they just showed up in a box, (Or small truck...) I probably wouldn't be all that interested.
With a guide, I probably would have been interested. And impressed by how much there was.

My 8 yr old
 

My eight year old self would understand why there aren’t 524 cards on my T206 waitlist? “Don’t you want them all? With variations? It won’t be complete!” My 56 year old self is much happier after finally shaking that off, as a thirty-five year old self.

Cheers,
Geno

That's a lot of gum you got to chew.

Eight was exactly the age that I began collecting. At eight I would have been really impressed with my Ruth cards, and my dad would be really impressed with my Cobbs.


PS- I would have also loved my 1989 Billy Ripken.

8
 

Haha! You can buy ALL of the bikes.

My 8 yr old self, "wtf are these??"

8-year-old me would have been impressed with cards that I wouldn't bother giving the time of day now ('73 Topps McCovey, '79 Topps Brett, '82 Fleer Seaver, etc. etc.).

I'd be impressed by any pre-war card and floored to see multiple T206s in real life. Adult me would be disappointed that 8-year-old me would be less impressed by all the bakery type cards.

It's funny, because my 10 year old nephew is coming for a visit and I wondered how he would react if I showed him some of my collection. He's into baseball, but would he care about the old cards? Or would he only be blow away by cards of newer players he's heard of? I guess I'll find out. Anyone else have that experience with a young relative?

My kids don't care. I haven't tried with any young relatives, but I don't imagine they'd care either.