Why I Collect

kidsox

I collect the "past," not as an antique buyer who might purchase a new table, but as a former baseball player who recorded his first Little League strikeout by imitating the compact delivery of Whitey Ford. I acquired his 59 Topps card because he's pictured in his follow-through. There are other powerful memories from that set: Brooks Robinson choking up like me with two strikes, intensity in his eyes; the look of pure joy on Albie Pearson's face; Mantle, looking bright and young, staring out across the years.
It's more than nostalgia, it's a doorway through some transtemporal dimension to a place where a few phone calls got you a pickup game, four on a side, anything hit right of dead center was a foul ball.
I don't live in the past, just have an emotional attachment to the positive experiences that have made me who I am. Baseball is part of that. Cards are reminders, the nicer the card, the more pure the recollection. There is a sense of wholeness when you realize that all moments are really the same. Encapsulating the card adds permanence to your connection to moments past and in some strange way, stops change.
If you don't believe me, just look at Campy's 59 card, numer 550. It's a play with three acts,and you're in it.
Happy Holidays.

fsjeter

I'm too young to have seen most of the star's of the '50's & early '60's in anything other than highlights but the star's of the mid '60's and '70's stir up enough good memories. Names like Aaron, Mays, Rose, Bench, Ryan, Jackson, Yastrzemski, Fisk, Munson, Foster, Clemente, Morgan, Lopes, Cey, Garvey, Monday, Carew, Seaver, Hunter, Nettles, Parker, Stargell, Winfield, Schmidt, Luzinski, Lynn, Randolph, Rice, Geronimo, Guidry, Fingers, B. Robinson, F. Robinson, Yount, Brett, Carleton, and Tiant bring back a flood of memories for me. I enjoy the designs of the 1950's Topps/Bowman cards as well as the '60's Topps Cards. I didn't start opening packs until the early '70's which is why I collect 1975 Topps and earlier. It's those childhood memories that have kept me collecting this period thru the years. I don't think I'll ever have the passion for the current issues that I have for the vintage issues.

Scott

BTW: Is '59 Topps your favorite set. Mine are the '67 and '75 Topps sets.