[tigerfan]

Thanks for asking! I grew up in a rural area. I was 10 in 1954. I had begun to listen to baseball games on the radio, and I was hooked. One day I walked down to the local mom and pop IGA and saw the topps packs. Had no idea what they were, but they said baseball cards and bubble gum. Five cents a pack. I did not have many nickels, but I bought one pack.

Even now it is hard to describe the way I felt when I saw those vivid colors. They were so vibrant and crisp, and I even recognized some of the players. As I said earlier, I immediately fell in love. I was thrifty even then and saw the value in buying a 24-pack box for a dollar instead of individual packs. However, one dollar was tough to come by and I did not have the patience to wait until I had it. So I literally spent the summer collecting old glass coke bottles and returning them for a refund. (Remember eight-ounce cokes?). I would turn in 20 coke bottles to Mr. Wilson in exchange for a box of 1954 Topps cards. He only asked that I wash them out before recycling them. (I found many buried in ditches where they had been tossed from cars.)

The other thing I did that summer was to convince my seven-year old sister to buy nickel packs so I could trade my gum for her cards. I never missed the gum and she never was a baseball fan. Worked out fine.

That's the story of me and 1954 Topps.