[Bigdaddy]

Growing up in SE Virginia in the 1970's, my earliest remembrance of buying cards was at the local general store (BC Smiths if you sere my age or Rooster's if you were the previous generation), about a mile and a half from my house. We'd ride our bikes there, buy a few packs of 1977 baseball (spring/summer) or football (fall) cards and maybe a soda and Snickers bar. I can remember thumbing through those packs and looking for the All-Star or All-Pro border, knowing that something good was about to be uncovered.

Around that same time, a building in Newport News hosted the James River Antique Mall and there was a place in there that had old magazines and several boxes of cards. You could either by the cards outright (all the same price) or trade two-for-one. They were mostly newer cards from the '70's. I do remember one time the lady bought an older collection which had in it a 1966 Koufax, Mantle and Mays. No trading for those - she wanted something like $10-$15 each. I talked my parents into getting me the Mays, as he was most certainly the best of the bunch, for Easter.

We also discovered a pet store in Hampton that had some cards in the back of the store. Eventually the store closed, but one of the owners opened up a wonderful card store without the gerbils and fish. That was the beginning of The 10th Inning, owned by Don Harrison and Bob Neal, the latter the longtime GM of the Penninsula Pilots minor league team and a lifetime baseball man. The store still stands in Hampton, though its been in several locations. I just recently saw Don and he said new ownership would be taking it over this week.