When did you start collecting pre-war/vintage?

[frohme]

I got started in the late 60's/early 70's in a roundabout way. Dad would take us by 7-11 on the way back from Little League practices and we'd get the Slurpee cups. I think that would have been in the 72/73 time frame. One of the older guys on my team (12 seemed ancient then!) got me interested in cards.

I had most of the mid-70's sets but - like most others - had different interests in high school/college. Was on again in the 90's and have been back mostly full time since about 2006.

While I don't have the cards from the early days, I (somehow) still have all the Slurpee cups - mostly 72, 73 baseball and the 73? HOF run of 20. Anyone else collect those in the day?

--
MIke

[mrvster]

27 ish, 1998 or 1999 after the new shiny rookies....thanks Johnny Drekker for my t206 addiction

[Leon]

Originally Posted by frohme

I got started in the late 60's/early 70's in a roundabout way. Dad would take us by 7-11 on the way back from Little League practices and we'd get the Slurpee cups. I think that would have been in the 72/73 time frame. One of the older guys on my team (12 seemed ancient then!) got me interested in cards.

I had most of the mid-70's sets but - like most others - had different interests in high school/college. Was on again in the 90's and have been back mostly full time since about 2006.

While I don't have the cards from the early days, I (somehow) still have all the Slurpee cups - mostly 72, 73 baseball and the 73? HOF run of 20. Anyone else collect those in the day?

--
MIke

Hi Mike
I think we are probably close in age.... I will be 50 in a few months. I used to have tall stacks of those slurpee cups. We used to collect and trade them just about like cards. I lived in Houston and we used to try to get all of the Astros. I liked Pittsburgh too, for some reason, and had lots of those players also. Oh to be a kiddo again!! regards

[frohme]

Yep - I turned 48 a few months back, Leon. I was in the Orlando area until '75 when we moved to Houston (Space Center area). What part of town were you in, if you don't mind my asking?

I forgot in my original post that my first real obsession was with the RC Cola cans from the summer of 77. Talk about something mom hated having in the house!

[Leon]

Hi Mike
I moved around a few times, unfortunately, as a teenager. I did live in Clear Lake most of the formative years. Went to Clear Lake Intermediate the first year it was open and was the first class through the 3 grades....then moved in high school to Deer Park and then Bellaire.....Went to Clear Lake High, Deer Park High and Bellaire High.....regards

[frohme]

The world gets smaller everyday!

I started at Clear Lake Intermediate in fall 1975 - in 7th grade (I think that would have been its third year), so I must have been just one year behind you!

Went to Clear Lake High from there, graduated in 1981.

We lived just two blocks from the intermediate school (my parents are still there). You?

[sox1903wschamp]

I was 27 or so. Was into Topps and Bowman before that and I used to walk around the Holidome in St Louis when I was college age and look at pre war cards but I just did not know enough about them to take the plunge.

Then around 1988, I was at the St. Louis show and came upon a table of T206 cards that a guy had just made a find on and they were really nice cards. I bought a Wagner (Heine that is) that looked pristine (It later graded an SGC 80). So I can say that my first pre war purchase was a T 206 Wagner

[Steve D]

I Was 16 years old when I bought my first T206s in 1979. I got a Roger Bresnahan, Mordecai Brown and Willie Keeler for $10 total

Steve

[kkkkandp]

As a birth announcement for my son, we did a baseball card that we gave out inside packs of 1983 Topps. It wasn't long after that I started collecting Hall of Famer cards back to the turn of the century.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by frohme

The world gets smaller everyday!

I started at Clear Lake Intermediate in fall 1975 - in 7th grade (I think that would have been its third year), so I must have been just one year behind you!

Went to Clear Lake High from there, graduated in 1981.

We lived just two blocks from the intermediate school (my parents are still there). You?

Hey Mike
I lived at 950 Wavecrest, right off of El Camino Real..........there was an elementary right down the street from us but I can't remember the name. We used to get up real early on weekend mornings and ride our skateboards there. Yeap, I was in 6th grade when the Intermediate opened the first year. We had moved to Clear Lake, from Westbury (SW Houston) when I was in 4th grade....I am sure we knew a lot of the same people. My little league All Star team went to the State Championships....( I will brag and admit I was the 2nd best batter in the league that year and played every game and pitched in every game too (on my regular team, played outfield on the All Star team)).....The Spivey's played on that team, their dad was our coach, and you might have known the younger one? What a small world it is!!


fyi...I would have been class of '80 but some bad things in life happened....long story.......

[rainier2004]

Great thread boss!
I started around age 7 or so, and my first non-pack purchase was a 59 topps Musial bought around 1984 or so...its nrmt and cost me $12 w/o any negotiating. I was a BB history buff as a kid and absolutely adored my fathers heros. So I went after all these guys from the 50's and 60's. I wound up selling off a lot of my collection then at age 31 discovered my joy for 34 goudeys. Last year I dove deep into the 1915 CJ's and my wife has been hearing about them ever since. Man, the stains on those cards make them soooo cool. Again, even though I never watched these guys play I feel like a kid every time a package comes to the house and I get to open, inspect and then find the cards new permanent home. Thats one of the best and consistent feelings throughout my life.

[frohme]

Originally Posted by Leon

Hey Mike
I lived at 950 Wavecrest, right off of El Camino Real..........there was an elementary right down the street from us but I can't remember the name. We used to get up real early on weekend mornings and ride our skateboards there. Yeap, I was in 6th grade when the Intermediate opened the first year. We had moved to Clear Lake, from Westbury (SW Houston) when I was in 4th grade....I am sure we knew a lot of the same people. My little league All Star team went to the State Championships....( I will brag and admit I was the 2nd best batter in the league that year and played every game and pitched in every game too (on my regular team, played outfield on the All Star team)).....The Spivey's played on that team, their dad was our coach, and you might have known the younger one? What a small world it is!!


fyi...I would have been class of '80 but some bad things in life happened....long story.......

Wow, Leon!! and it just gets smaller. I lived on Fathom - just 1 block in on the other side of El Camino between Wavecrest and Festival - and am all too familiar with that part of the street. Inter-neighborhood stickball in the cul-de-sac at the end of either your street or Seagate a couple of times in the summer of 78 (or 79) as well as typical 70's teenage hooliganism ... the fence along El Camino was great cover for tossing water balloons at passing buses, trucks, etc... Also, both my sisters went to Whitcomb Elementary over there by you.

Definitely played ball with David Spivey, and a little with his older brother Don. I didn't play in the area till Pony league in 76, so missed the state LL action, but definitely heard about it after the fact. Our pony All-Star teams in 76/77 never made it out of the region .

I'm sure you're right, that there are a whole list of characters we both know and played with. Gary Melder, Jim Backus, or Don Robison ring any bells?

Look forward to meeting you one of these days. I won't be at the Nat'l this year, but maybe 2012.

--
Mike