The Card That Got You Hooked

[25801wv]

The 1985 Topps McGwire got me hooked. It was the first single card I ever purchased. It was $20 in late 1987. Over the last 10 or 15 years it seems like I have always had a PSA 10 or even once I had a BGS 10. However, now I have no Gem Mint copies. Wish I would have kept the BGS as it is now out of my price range.

The most exciting card I ever opened from a pack was the 1986 Donruss Canseco in 1988. Once again it always seems like I had a PSA 10 or even once I had a BGS 10 and now only a PSA 8

In 1990 I opened a pack of Leaf that had TWO Frank Thomas rookies. It was nice but didn’t match that original Canseco feeling. That is one of my only PSA 10s that I do have.

[Cmvorce]

Great stories, guys. Thanks for sharing

[abothebear]

I can't remember what it was as a kid. I do remember opening 1985 packs and looking for the USA cards. I remember the McDonalds football cards from 1986 being all the rage at my school. I loved those cards. And I remember when the first 87 cards came out and being very interested in what the new design would be.

For prewar, I was searching ebay for some of the old Cardinals greats to see what was out there. I saw the Gold Medal Foods Ducky Medwick listed for around ten dollars and I couldn't believe it. It never occurred to me that the old cards that seemed the stuff of legend when I collected cards as a kid could be so easily acquired. And the R313A set was ideal to draw me in, being a small set relatively inexpensive, packed with HOFers, and made of players of my two favorite teams. Serendipitous. Turns out the Medwick was mis-listed so there was a chance that it wasn't widely seen when I found it. That also got me hooked - that bargain hunting aspect. Soon after, I got a pretty good deal on the National Game Runner Sliding that likely pictures Cobb. I never thought I'd own a 100-year-old Ty Cobb card.

[Big J]

I remember getting into the hobby with my dad in 1987 and we started getting the baseball factory sets each year. Then, in 1989 we decided to open packs and make sets. We live in Michigan so we got into football first because of Barry Sanders. We ended up getting into Score because the Proset boxes cost too much. When they first came out Score was only $18 a box and Proset was $3-$4 a pack here. When I saw the first Score Barry Sanders we pulled in a pack I was hooked and I have been collecting pretty much anything that I thought looked good ever since. I still have the first set that my dad gave me back in 1989 and have bought and sold several more over the years. I have three sets including a factory set now. I'm always looking for that set and particularly the Sanders. The first and only vintage project so far is the 1970 Topps baseball set. I started that about four years ago and it took about two years to finish it. I picked that set because I remember seeing a bunch of them from my dad's old cards from when he was a kid and I liked the look of the gray borders.

[chris6net]

It definitely started in 1972 for me. Probably the Tom Seaver card or the Mets team.

[jchcollins]

Originally Posted by chris6net

It definitely started in 1972 for me. Probably the Tom Seaver card or the Mets team.

The '72 Seaver is one of my favorites. I love those spring training shots with players in the background. In that one you have a stoic looking Seaver in his blue satin warmup jacket. Great stuff!

[t206blogcom]

First T206 that I bought when I was around 14-15 yrs old. Got me hooked on T206, although I didn't go after the set until I was an adult.

[EddiesDryGoods]

Me too!

Playing baseball as a little kid got me into cards way back in 1972. The card that got me hooked on collecting vintage was a 1961 Jim Gilliam card I got in a trade. After holding that card I was hooked on vintage even as a youngster. The majority of my vintage collection I acquired before I was an adult.