[Boccabella]

My sister's 1971-72 high school boyfriend came over one night before Christmas with a nicely wrapped box that I knew had basketball cards inside. He put it under the tree and I got to open it before Christmas. I'd never had a FULL box of anything. I was overwhelmed and started opening packs like crazy. My sister wasn't happy. She thought I should ration them and proceeded to hide them in her dresser drawer. That didn't last long. I think if I'd have stuck that box away today, the $2.40 he paid for it would have turned into about $15,000 today.

I still remember pulling a 1974 Hank Aaron out of the nickel vending machine inside the front doors of the local K-Mart and the same store later with a huge display bin near the front checkout, full of 1979 Topps tray packs they were selling for a quarter. Bought a few, then bought a case from Mike Cramer and either opened or sold them all off within a year. Dumb, dumb, dumb.