Topic: What is your most powerful and important memory with baseball cards?
 

It can be anything at all! Please share with us if you feel comfortable and so inclined! Pictures, details, ideas, stories... all are welcome.

Cheers; happy Friday!!

Memory
 

Great topic! When I was 12 and my father knew I loved cards, he arranged a meeting between me and one off his co-workers who was an avid card collector. Her name was Carole McCoy, she was in her 50s and collected only Reds players. She let me look through all her albums of Reds, by year and set, including tobacco. I still recall the T206s and my amazement at their age. It fired my imagination and passion for the hobby. My father and Carole McCoy made a big impact on that part of my life, that continues to this day. Trent King

Happy Friday and collecting, everyone!

There are so many thoughts after over 30 years of being involved.
When I realized when I got my first real job after college, I could start collecting - buying and selling prewar cards. I was in Boston for my first job in Cambridge, did not have that much with a new job – no benefits at all for almost a year. What I learned is I could use my paycheck every two weeks on Friday’s and buy buy buy, what fun it was. Really have never looked past that and to this day I have it as a side job and small business and I am so grateful. This hobby has given so much over the years. Hopefully I can do it at this pace for another 30 years! I have paid for part of my wedding, house, cars with small collections over the years and I have enjoyed it so much. Jimmy

wow trent... this a fantastic story!! i can only imagine being that young and seeing tobacco cards for the first time. its such a profound encounter with history. this is a great memory. thank you a ton for sharing with us! it sounds like it deepened your connection to cards and history in a really profound way.

that's such a great feeling isn't it jimmy -- when you realize you can start to buy with your money!! its like connecting with that inner child + getting him the best and coolest cards you always wanted. its awesome. i'd love to support your business sometime!! thanks for being here with us in the hobby and community. best thing about it for me is sharing the passion and joy with everyone who cares and loves it just as much.

-- david

David, what is YOUR most powerful and important memory with baseball cards?

ah val! great to talk with you on here, not just on ebay. we may have both been at the chantilly show on the same day this year! i was there sunday; will definitely be back for the next two this year too. it was awesome.

for me it has to be getting my first vintage card with my dad at aj's sports stop. do you remember it? right over in vienna. little shop full to the brim with pages and pages and boxes and boxes of vintage. 1960 topps warren spahn. when i got back into collecting, last fall, i got a bob gibson 1960 topps signed card.

this week was another big moment. 1953 topps satchel paige, in a beautiful well worn piece. wonderful, wonderful card.

This ad for Salada-Junket Baseball coins in the DC comics that were on newsstands in April of 1962:

https://hosting.photobucket.com/albu...12122118AM.jpg

I mean, wow! Not just Hockey coins but Baseball coins now too!

And this mouth watering ad for 1962 Post Cereal cards that appeared in Saturday newspaper comic sections across Canada:

https://hosting.photobucket.com/85c5...3aad48a46e.png

Yeah, as if I needed any more incentive to get my mom to buy Sugar Crisp!

;)

I have told this tale a few times around here, but here it comes again. I had a converted ham radio room for my bedroom, just big enough for a twin bed. I started collecting baseball cards in 1967, during a trip to Dallas, Texas where my sister Linda was living at the time. I built complete (by the checklists) sets of 1967-68 Topps, and quite a few 1969-70-71 also, along with over 500 1962 Topps that one of the older kids gave me. I kept my collection under my bed. When we all went our separate ways, the card collection stayed under the bed, with Hardy Boys books and comic books on the book shelves my dad built. Some models that survived my destructiveness, antique bottles I dug up, and some steam machinery souvenirs from Sheahan and Parkway Pumping Stations (waterworks). When I moved out, that stuff stayed. Finally my mother sold the house and moved into a mobile home, and she took the bed and my stuff and put it into one of the spare bedrooms in the mobile home. She asked me over and over, did I want any of it? I told her over and over to just get rid of it. Some time in the early 1980s, my best friend Louis found a box of old baseball cards in the house where he grew up that he thought was long since gone. He took them to the flea market they used to hold at the fairgrounds, to a guy who bought and sold baseball cards. He gave Louis several hundred dollars for his cards; Mickey Mantle, Sandy Koufax, Jackie Robinson, Willie Mays, etc. We both thought it was amazing. On the way over to the flea market, he gave me a 1963 Topps "Dodgers Big Three" card (I still have it, as the first card in my re-collection). I immediately got hold of mother, asking if she still had my baseball cards. "Oh, I gave all that stuff to the Goodwill. You said you didn't want it." So, yes, you could accurately say, I threw my cards away!

+1! Yes, that's another way of putting what I've been doing for the last few decades!

;)

My greatest memories of the hobby are going to my uncle's card shop as a kid in the mid-'80s. We lived in a major college town and he was the first shop to open (it swelled to around 10 by the early '90s). He always gave me 50% off, and since I primarily got my money by mowing a handful of cemeteries at $20 a pop, that made a big difference in what I could buy.

I was out of the hobby for 30 years but returned in late '23. My uncle got out of the business 20 years ago and isn't in great health, but we've reconnected through my pickups. I got married two years ago and he gave me a super-clean 1980 Topps baseball set where the Rickey graded an 8. It was my favorite gift.

Timely memory
 

Every easter, instead of hiding Easter eggs, my parents hid baseball packs around the house. This was in the early 80s. My older brother and I would see who could collect the most. He always did, but my dad made sure they were always distributed evenly afterward.

And it seemed that he always end up with the better cards, too.

Now, I do it with my kids with a mix of baseball packs and Pokémon packs lol

Back in 1947 ... just kidding**

This was back in the noughties and I was working part-time at the factory and also taking part-time courses in college. I bought a 52T Mantle from BMW for around 12k, if I remember correctly. Back then, that was a lot of money for a card and everybody here just freaked out. Anyhow, because I was in my twenties and was more interested in going out, getting drunk, visiting the strip joints, etc., I barely even looked at this card. After a few years, I saw it was around 20kish and decided to get rid of it.

The guy who got it from me was hoping for a PSA 4. He drove to their headquarters and paid them their fee (a thousand bucks, I believe), but they said "no" and boy was he pissed! He did call me up a few times, but everything was cool in the end. I hope he still kept the card cause' it's worth a shitload now!

Dateline: Long Island, Spring 1981

Accompanied by a hot, alliteratively named girl after school, I was voraciously driving around Jericho Turnpike in search of stores that might possibly have boxes of Fleer cards in stock.

Only a day before (in this waaaaaaaay before the internet time), I had a 'Come to Jesus' moment when before me on a stationery store counter was a near empty box of Fleer baseball cards.
Looking at these treasures and thinking, "What in high heck are these?????? They're not Topps???? Did I wake up in a parallel universe (which would explain the inexplicability of a hottie joining me to search for baseball cards)??????" I done grabbed the remaining two or three packs quickly!!!!

That day will never leave my memory, and although we probably hit twenty different stores, there were no Fleer cards to be found anywhere.
Did I simply imagine seeing the Fleer box the previous day???
Late at night, I will occasionally think of 'Luscious Lisa' and what a 'keeper' she would've been, but those thoughts quickly disappear when I think of what true love is - the adoration of a man for his baseball cards - and gently glide off happily to sleep.

Either that, or the first time I saw a 1972 Topps Willie Mays. Not sure. :rolleyes:

Back in 1982 I passed on a sharp cornered but rather dull looking 1952 Mickey Mantle at Queen's Comics & Collectibles on Queen Street East in Toronto with an asking price of $600. I simply didn't want a 1952 Mantle badly enough....]

That was a lot of money back then, Mr. Fox !!

that is one good looking 52 Mantle!

David, I have been going to all of the Chantilly Shows for as long as I can remember, but never on Sunday. I was at the very recent Show on Saturday.

Yes, I remember AJ's Sports Stop in Vienna. I didn't go there very often because it was a fair distance from Haymarket, where I lived at that time. I do recall picking up a few of my N172 Old Judge cards of Washington players (the only N172s I collect) at AJ's back in the 1990's.

I wrote a whole book about mine!

My Dad went in 1978 (I was 5) to my grandparents' house to retrieve his grocery bags of cards from his childhood. His grandpa ran a grocery store and would give him packs on their weekly Sunday visits in Durham, NC. The first ones Dad remembered were 54 topps.

He knew they were "cleaning house" now that his younger sister had moved out. Unfortunately, they had thrown his cards and comics out two days before he arrived. He would have been happy to dumpster dive, but they used a burn barrel!

Dad then went on a journey to "Buy Back" the cards of his youth, and he took me along for the ride! He passed at barely 54 years old. I was only 29. I now treasure those times together, those cards, and the people we met. I documented them mainly for my boys and friends, but it has sold a decent number of copies. Rich Klein even did a nice article on the book when it came out 14 years ago, and Leon let me make a post here. I am in the process of editing and updating it now! (Grammarly and professional editors have humbled me haha!)

And YES my thumb looks terrible! I smashed it during a mission trip to western NC last weekend!

Great to read everyones stories!

He had a whole stack of about 100 of the 1952 Topps Baseball cards in like condition. He wanted $10 each for the others.

Oh wow! Too cool! I see cards on the cover from 1953 up to the late 1960's. I don't see even a single 1960 card though (a sad omission) but I see a whopping three 1962 cards.

:confused:

I do have some 1960 Topps! 1962 was Dad's favorite set. He was 13/14 in 1962 and a baseball fanatic and Yankee fan (so of course I am Dodgers ha)
He went after the 62 set BEFORE we knew what a hi number was/meant

My dad.

He worked for the NYC Department of Sanitation at one of the incinerators, first in Queens and later Brooklyn. My dad was not a sports fan but he knew I loved baseball. People would drop off boxes and bags of trash and the employees would go through it all looking for goodies. Every few weeks, dad would bring home a shoebox of “modern” (1970’s) cards. Those days were like Christmas to me!

You never forget your first 52 Topps Mantle…

I’ll share 2, since the 1st moment was my introduction to the hobby. In 1965 my Mom & Dad decided to move from Indianapolis to SF. My Dad was a jazz pianist and he was encouraged by many of his musician friends who had already moved to the west coast, to make the move. So we did. We first moved to Daly City in SF and rented a house near one of his drummer buddies who had 2 daughters the same age as my sister and I. They had a house warming party for us and the daughters gave a me a handful of 1965 Topps baseball cards, with quite a few Leaders cards with Mays, Aaron, Clemente, Cepeda, Hart, Mantle, Koufax, Drysdale. My first ever baseball cards, and I was immediately hooked! I was 7 years old and my Dad started taking us to Candlestick Park for Giants games, Kezar Stadium for 49ers games, and the Cow Palace for Warriors games. A couple years later we moved to Ingleside in SF, to get away from the heavy fog of Daly City. My Mom and Dad started giving me an allowance and I discovered a Franklins 5 & 10 store on Ocean Ave. a few blocks from our house. I bought a lot of Topps baseball cards there for the next 4 years. Some 67’s, a lot of 68’s/69’s, and a ton of 71’s! For some reason I bought few 1970 baseball cards, but did buy some football. So that would be my 2nd most memorable moment, being able to buy a lot of baseball cards that ended up being the beginning of my set collecting, and also trading cards with one of my school buddies. Great topic, and thanks for sharing your stories!

really beautiful stories on here guys. thanks for sharing everyone + its a beautiful mosaic to get everyone here together on this thread + talk these wonderful memories.

hoping everyone has a great weekend!!
david

this is such a cool story jim... wow! my dad is mets by way of queens + LI too. thanks for sharing this beautiful memory

wow jerry... the way you tell this is deeply idyllic... can feel the memory of it! one of my favorite baseball stories is that satchel paige used to hang out with count basie... how cool is that? i can imagine growing up with a jazz musician dad out on the west coast like that must have been awesome. you grew up in a great era for cards. love those 60s and 70s editions. cheers!! -- david

wow chris you're ahead of the game on this one!! what's your doctorate in by the way? im a masters in philosophy + systems theory

this sounds like a great tale of redemption... have to look into it!! my best -- david

ha!!! fleers appear out of the fog... well told tale --- can't blame ya on the '72 mays. those say hey kid cards are some good stuff!!!

Buying Baseball Cards from the mid 70's to the mid 1990's with my Dad at Flea Markets in NJ and PA at Columbus NJ Collingswood NJ, Englishtown NJ, Lambertville NJ Neshanic NJ and Peddlers Village PA back in the late 70's
Also my Dad worked for a Borough in central NJ and a couple of times he came home with baseball cards in cheese boxes from the 60's. Nap Lajoie was from Lambertville NJ

Thank you
I have a Doctorate in Christian Apologetics. It's been the most useful education I've ever had. Thanks for your kind remarks. I hope to have the book redone by the end of the year, and hopefully, Leon will allow me to post about it again like he did 14 years ago.
God Bless, and I have enjoyed reading everyone's stories on this thread.

That's an easy one. I'm 60 this year and collected vintage baseball cards and memorablia starting back when I was 9 or 10 years old in the mid 70's. I grew up in New York (Long Island) and bought Ruths, Cobbs, DiMaggio's, Mantles, Gehrigs, Mathewsons, etc. even back then as a little kid. It was such a joy learning about the players and the game itself from those cards and the stories they held.

One weekend in the mid 70's I asked my folks to bring me to NYC to a hotel card show and walking inside I couldn't miss a wonderful '52 Topps Mantle in a case for sale. I asked the seller for the price and he said something along the lines of "$300" and it was in (from memory) decent shape.

Well, $300 may have been a billion to a 10 year old so I asked my Mom whether I could "borrow" $300 to buy it to which she said, "$300 for a baseball card?!?!? What are you CRAZY?" which was clearly a hard no. Case closed.

Well, I never forgot that card and dreamed of it for decades, even when I gave up buying cards by the early 80's, not to return to the hobby until early in the Pandemic looking for a hobby and feeling nostalgic.

I could not forget the '52 Mantle that got away and as I eased my way back into my hobby life that was amongst the big mountains I felt I needed to climb - getting one.

I was contacted by a dealer who's since become a dear and important friend, Ashish Jain who offered me a decent SGC 2 for $40K and I was able to sell a couple of my bigger cards at the time and excitedly bought the Mantle. I was over the moon.

I've since substantially upgraded the Mantle to a beautiful, centered 4.5 example that I plan to be buried with it in my permanent PC as having never given up the chase and now can enjoy the fruits of those dreams.

GREAT story and journey! Ash is a great guy and done a lot for the hobby and 52T Mantle collectors in particular. By chance was the SGC 2 this one?

I'm sure we could have a great dialogue about Kierkegaard, Meister Eckhart, and Hildegaard... and the deeper Christian texts + scrolls. awesome.

Here's another milestone for me guys -- my Satchel Paige portrait from last night. My first real foray into baseball themes since I was a kid. Taking the love of cards, especially early caramels, into the art sphere.

love this card and lajoie. this is great! i'm sure there are some great local stories there to be told... awesome.

My brother bought me a box of 1969 Topps baseball cards for my 15th birthday and opened all the packs and found two Mantle's which I still have and had one signed. Threw the box and wrappers away though back then.

great stuff jake! signed mantle from the teen years must be an awesome thing to have all this time. powerful stuff.

To the original poster David - you’ve started several threads in the last few days that have encouraged people to post great stories, thoughts and cards. It’s been fun to read, and I thank you for facilitating such interesting and revealing discussions.

hey andrew --- i really appreciate you saying this. i've always felt it is really important to foster and facilitate connection on a deeper level, and i'm really glad it's making a positive impact. awesome to hear; thanks for being here. it really is great to read and share everyone's stories together. there's a lot of power behind the love and passion of baseball and cards and history. lots of really meaningful ways to connect.

cheers; hope you're having a great saturday night.
david

I started collecting in about 1979 after getting fun packs at Halloween of non sport. After seeing those and being a very young kid who hadn’t really focused on sports yet, the obvious interest remained non sport movie cards.

In 1982, I bought a literal full wood bushel basket of random sports cards for maybe 50 or 75 cents at a garage sale. Sorting through them and reading stats and careers I fell in love. I still have a small group from that basket that are in god awful condition. For some odd reason the one card that made me jump headfirst into what is now a 46 year obsession was the 1982 Vida Blue in action card. For some reason that card became one I would carry to school and pretty much treat like a security blanket.

I still have it to this day and it’s going nowhere.

Nice card!

I haven't got any powerful thoughts in collecting but it's been a lot of fun over the years. Running the forum for 20+ yrs has definitely been enlightening and fun (most times).

i can see why this one got you as a young kid! the composition of the image is great and he's a fantastic player. thanks for sharing this story. awesome!

this is a pretty cool place to be leon... testament to your love and care for it. thanks for hosting us here. would say that definitely counts as a pretty powerful and important thing!