At the age of 8 the 1952 Topps baseball cards came out and boy did I love those big cards. I bought the 5 cent packs and can still remember the chewing the pink gum. We would flip for cards, place them high up on a wall and let them spiral down - if your card landed on any other card on the floor you got to keep them all. But, the cards we didn't take chances with were for the team we rooted for. I wanted those Brooklyn Dodger players and would without thinking trade a Mantle for a Duke Snider, just as any Giant fan would do the same for one of Mays. I also bought the 1953's and 1954's, but it wasn't all baseball cards for me by a long shot.
I wanted to get as many Frank Buck Bring 'em Back Alive cards featuring wild animals from Africa as possible. The same goes for Look 'n See, Rails and Sails, Wings and later on Flags of All Nations and the President set. The artwork was in glorious color and on the card back one could learn about as much as an 8 year old brain could absorb.
These days I still enjoy collecting with my son, Scott and we are focusing mainly on the signed 1933 Goudey set (over 75% complete) and the signed 1952 Topps master set (over 92% complete and yes, I would trade a signed Snider for a Mantle now).
Also I thank Scott for gifting me that Look 'n See set I so enjoyed all those years ago.
|