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Posted By: JimB

I started buying packs in 1975 and continued through 1981. In junior high 80-81 I met some guys who had old cards and who were going to conventions. I remember buying a 1960 Yogi Berra from one for $5 and I was just blown away. I started going to shows and saving all my allowance money for cards. Hank Aaron was my obsession and my goal was to get all of the Topps Aaron cards. When I finally got the '54 card $75 in cash and trade at a show, I was so excited. Then one day in 1981 I wandered into a card shop in L.A. where I grew up. The shop had all sorts of amazing cards from the 1950's and '60s which still seemed incredibly old to me. But what blew me away were two T206 cards: a red background Cobb and Lajoie holding bat. I was stunned! I had heard about tobacco cards, but never seen one. The Cobb was $90 and the Lajoie was $20. I think I traded half my collection for those two cards and treasured them for years. I was an avid reader and knew all about Cobb and Lajoie. I couldn't believe I actually had baseball cards for them. Well, once highschool began, my interest in cards took a back seat. It was not until graduate school in the early 1990's that I popped into a cardshop again to just check it out. That sparked my interest all over again and I haven't looked back. These days it is the turn of the century cards that really excite me - the caramel and tobacco cards - the ones that relate to those old stories of baseball legends that I read about as a kid. Do I really connect with what I collect? Of course! I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't.
Jim