Why do you collect baseball cards?

[itjclarke]

Originally Posted by rainier2004

When the first card came out I saw her excitement and got a bit giggly myself. I watched her eyes get big with a big "Wow" come from her mouth followed with "That sure looks nicer than a 1" (You gotta love her!)..
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WOW!! I hope you realize how lucky you are!! I'm getting married in a few months and am pretty much resigned to knowing I'll be opening my cards in a dark empty room by myself for fear my wife will see the eBay invoice pop out.

I'm 34, have collected my entire life and I think you nailed it with your comment about first Kaline, Gehrig etc. It's ALL about that feeling! When I was a small kid it was about the gum and getting Dodgers cards (my dad was a Brooklyn fan).. always hoping to score a Garvey. Once I came to my geographic senses, it was about getting Giants cards and anyone whose career ERA was under 3.50 or batting average above .300 (that same dad tought me stats well). When 1987 rolled around, it was about snatching up all the Topps Will Clarks, Wally Joyners, Mark McGwires, Jose Cansecos in sight (what an incredible set at the time). Over the past 10-15 years, the cards have generally become nicer (i.e. that first Mays, Mantle, Mathewson, etc) and I'm driven to collect them by a love of baseball history, but that same feeling holds true when I open a padded envelope. It's all about getting hold of something that perfectly "hits the spot" at that particular moment in your life. That said, I'll still always be able to connect directly to that boyhood feeling when I flip through my old binders and come across a page full of '88 Greenwells.

Getting good deals is a distant 2nd to me, but is also very fun. Lots of fair and even great deals on N54, and I love buying cards others seem to dismiss.. especially great looking OC/MC qualified cards. My taste is not always in line with the mainstream on them, which in my opinion makes for a lot of "good" deals. Also always very nice to buy from good people and ones you know really appreciate how much you liked the card. I've had some pretty cool transactions like that on N54 (even on eBay). Really enjoy that about this board.