Reminiscing about the "Good-Ole-Days" in this Hobby

[Mark]

Originally Posted by MK

I started buying packs in the early 60s when my Mother would let me have some change at the grocery store. Once I got an allowance, it all went to cards. When I learned about Card Collectors Co and others, it was game on. Years later I have been able to complete all my childhood sets and then some.

Ted and Mike
Thanks for reminding us of the Trader Speaks and of the CCC. And If I may reminisce: I remember getting my first cards before I could read from the backs of Post cereal boxes. Still have them, and you can tell the ones that I cut myself with my safety scissors. I later picked up a few Topps cardsm but it wasn't until I was 9 or 10 that I really went after Topps cards. A few years later, a guy at a local flea market always had a shoebox full of 50's cards. That's where I got the bulk of my 56 set. Thanks to the Sporting News, I started buying from the Card Collectors' Co and from Jack Smalling, the autograph dealer who also sold t206's via a mimeographed list. He charged $1 for a common and $3.50 for a Cobb or a Mathewson. My interest in collecting baseball stuff drifted away for a couple of decades. Now it's back!

It was fun, but I had no idea what I was collecting, which cards existed, what was scarce, etc.