Childhood baseball card memories.

[cardsagain74]

I had a double dose of childhood memories from cards. First, the packs of baseball and football cards that I bought as a little kid from about '81 to '85. I still remember going to the corner store whenever we'd visit my grandparents in the neighbor town, and buying cards while playing Moon Patrol (both were a good use of funds). My favorites were the '81 Topps baseball cards, because of the caps on the front. I still like those.

Then there was the renaissance (if a 15 year old can have that, though it felt like it) of getting involved again when the boom/junk wax era hit five years later. I was elated to find that my "old" cards from my "younger" years had become fairly valuable. Learning that you have about $1000 worth of something is not something that usually happened to a teen then, and the fact that it came from something I really enjoyed made it all the better.

The best part of that was finding the Montana rookie that (like many of the cards) was stored away in an empty Velveeta cheese box.

[thatkidfromjerrymaguire]

Originally Posted by cardsagain74

The best part of that was finding the Montana rookie that (like many of the cards) was stored away in an empty Velveeta cheese box.

Haha...not sure if Velveeta secretly used this as a "value add" marketing ploy, but those boxes were PERFECT to store baseball cards in. I think I still have my 1986 Topps commons stored in a Velveeta box somewhere.

[whitehse]

Originally Posted by thatkidfromjerrymaguire

Haha...not sure if Velveeta secretly used this as a "value add" marketing ploy, but those boxes were PERFECT to store baseball cards in. I think I still have my 1986 Topps commons stored in a Velveeta box somewhere.

Back before the card boom happened (1980 or so) I was a senior in high school buying up collections. I had one person tell me he had nearly complete sets from 1961 to 65 in beautiful condition and he was ready to sell. We have all heard from someone that their cards were "beautiful condition" but when I got there I Saw they indeed were just as described. These were his childhood sets that he took great pride in and had them all perfectly lined up in several Velveeta cheese boxes. These boxes kept his card in incredible condition.

[Nunzio11]

Summertime as 12 year olds in the mid 80s, a group of us would have regular poker games at one of our houses. We’d play dealer choice where the dealer would pick the game and the size of the pot. The pot wasn’t money, it was baseball cards. Dealer would call out a dollar amount and each guy would have to dig into his binder and ante up his agreed upon cards. Mattingly, Ripken, Gwynn, Boggs, Brett, murray etc would be passed from person to person all summer long depending on how you did that particular night. It was great until you lost a big hand and got cleaned out right before mom came to pick you up.

[iwantitiwinit]

1967, I was 6 years old, my Dad would buy me one pack of Topps baseball cards every week after Sunday mass from Sal's stationary store in Stamford, CT. I loved (and still love) the big head shots, vibrant colors and the green backs of the 67's. Only way he could get me to mass without me throwing a tantrum was to promise me a pack. My dad is the best.

[nat]

Elementary school in the mid 80s I got my cards at a Chinese grocery store three or four blocks from my house. There weren't yet any card shops in town, so anything more than a couple years old was hard to find. Anyway, I had a friend who was a few years older than me and had some of these coveted "old" cards, many of which he traded to me in absurdly one-sided trades. He was trading me Bench and Yastrzemski for, like, 1986 Mark Langston cards.

>

It wasn't until years later that I found out he was trading me his brother's cards.

[conor912]

Thousands and thousands of ‘87 Topps with rubber bands around them. To this day the smell of a late 80’s wax pack is like a drug for me.....instantly and fleetingly I am 8 years old again.

[oldjudge]

Originally Posted by iwantitiwinit

1967, I was 6 years old, my Dad would buy me one pack of Topps baseball cards every week after Sunday mass from Sal's stationary store in Stamford, CT. I loved (and still love) the big head shots, vibrant colors and the green backs of the 67's. Only way he could get me to mass without me throwing a tantrum was to promise me a pack. My dad is the best.

I lived in Darien for a long time, where was Sal’s? Is that the place in Bulls Head?

[iwantitiwinit]

Originally Posted by oldjudge

I lived in Darien for a long time, where was Sal’s? Is that the place in Bulls Head?

It was in the Cove section of Stamford on Cove Rd just up the street from Terry Connors Rink (which didn't exist at the time) next to KT Murphy Elementary School. We moved to Greenwich in 1972 and don't know what ever happened to Sal's Stationary.