[jgannon]

Interesting article, Rich. Thanks for sharing. I'm so out of what is happening in the hobby today. Interesting to see how it is in large part being approached by many.

Btw, I started collecting more or less at the same time you did. It was 1968, in the spring, and it was either just as the 3rd series was ending or the 4th series was beginning. I had just become a baseball fan and a Yankees fan at that. And I remember I was having a hard time getting a Mickey Mantle who was in the 3rd series. It was probably too late to get him at the candy stores. So a friend of mine gave me one at swim team practice. I put the brand new card in with my wet gear and by the time I left the YMCA the card was completely frayed and and dog-eared. Kept it for many years, but unfortunately I made a bad move and gave away most of my collection a while back, not realizing how important my cards would become to me later. I did keep a lot of really great ones though, thankfully. Anyway, I'm collecting again and having a ball.