Remember the days.....

Downtown1974

Do you remember when we used to open wax from the 80s, and be excited when we pulled Mattinglys, Clemens, Boggs, etc. Those days were when this truly was a fun hobby for most. Now, today if we open a box of say.... 1985 Topps, we can pull the same cards out like we did over 20 years ago but, we arent happy because the Clemens is off-cenetered and now it may get a qualifier.

I miss the days when card collecting was simple! Before grading services, before Ebay, before spending hours looking at cards through a loupe.

It seems like the hobby turned into a business, even for people who arent dealers. Instead of collecting cards to build a set, or collect a favorite player. We collect cards that have a shot at low pop 10s.

Does anybody else miss those times? Id love to hear your opinions.

itzagoner

Bob,
I miss the old days of ball cards more than I miss my teens.....Of course, the old days are relative to what topic we're on & who responds. Know this, though - I still derive the same thrill from opening wax, foil, vending, whatever, that I did in the 60's, 70's, 80's & 90's, because I still love the same players as I always did, and if I pulled a Ryan or Gwynn or Sandberg or even a nice Steve Sax rookie would do, I wouldn't put in a Card Saver and back in the shoe box. I'd send it to PSA, stick it in a holder, and look at it a lot when I get it back, and not worry about dropping a raw beauty on floor cuz I'm a klutz. It's all whatcha make it. This is still a hobby to some, a business to most, but always fun!!!! I'm gonna go look for a wax box to open now......

Treetop

Ah yes, the old days............Summer of 1966............opening Topps wax packs in front of the stop-n-go drinking RC Cola and looking for Jim Fregosi cards........

ldferg

i can remember selling coke bottles for a nickle and dime to get money to buy cards in 79 and 80. i always liked the henderson rookie but i didn't know who he was or even what a rookie card meant back in the day.

NewJerseyMeatHook

'74 Topps baseball was my breakout set. Red's Corner Grocery on Johnson St. in Nordeast Mpls.

Drinking those steel cans of Ginger Ale with the football helmets on the backs.

Can remember wiping out on my bike and dropping a huge stack of '75 Topps at the end of my alley. After the blood and tears had dried, I went to retrieve the cards. They had been run over several times, and all had neat little pebble marks all over them.

Fun stuff.

fsjeter

Boy, the way Glen Miller played.
Songs that made the Hit Parade.
Guys like us, we had it made.
Those were the days!

Didn't need no welfare state.
Everybody pulled his weight.
Gee, our old LaSalle ran great.
Those were the days!

And you knew where you were then!
Girls were girls and men were men.
Mister, we could use a man like Herbert Hoover again.

People seemed to be content.
Fifty dollars paid the rent.
Freaks were in a circus tent.
Those were the days!

Take a little Sunday spin,
go to watch the Dodgers win.
Have yourself a dandy day that cost you under a fin.

Hair was short and skirts were long.
Kate Smith really sold a song.
I don't know just what went wrong!
Those Were the Days!"



Scott

fsjeter

A dime a pack and chew the gum!
The game was played to have some fun!
Steal a base and squeeze a run!
Those were the days!

itzagoner

<< <i>A dime a pack and chew the gum!
The game was played to have some fun!
Steal a base and squeeze a run!
Those were the days! >>



didn't need no PSA
bent the corners every day
threw all my commons away
Those were the days!

(sorry, couldn't resist!)

fsjeter

<< <i>

<< <i>A dime a pack and chew the gum!
The game was played to have some fun!
Steal a base and squeeze a run!
Those were the days! >>



didn't need no PSA
bent the corners every day
threw all my commons away
Those were the days! >>



Cards in spokes and "flipped" to trade!
Mantle, Rose, and Aaron, and Mays
Fellas we could use a set like '67 again!

Scott

Brian48

I found an '82 Beckett priceguide in my baseweek a couple of weeks ago from my teen years. The '81 Fleer "C" Craig Nettles error was priced at $15 in NrMt condition. A '68 Ryan was priced at $7.50 I think the '52 Mantle was $1500.00.

There was also a worn '67 Kaline stuck in it as well. I must have been using it as a bookmark back then. I'd say it'd probably grade a conservative PSA 4

FifthScaleRacer

Everyone is partially to blame.

Blame the card dealer/manufacturer for taking this hobby and turning it into a cut throat business.
Blame the card grader for further emphasizing the business/speculation aspect of this hobby.
Blame the card speculator for adding fuel to the fire and giving grading companies credibility.
Blame the card collector for accepting all this shiat.

Fabfrank

As much as the old days were great, aside from pricing, I really like the modern stuff. The photography is better. The innovation is great and I still get pumped when I get a pack with my favotite players. All those GU and auto cards just add to the thrill. Maybe I'm just a big kid at heart (kudos to our board member of the same name:ThumbsUp, but I even get excited when I get a Key. Johnson GU card

TrailerParkBoy

my grandpa died when i was very little, and left my cousi and I both 1500.00. When I started collecting in late 1984 early 1985, there was a dealer at a local flea market who had a 52 Mantle he was selling for 1200.00. I wanted that card so bad, he even said he would sale it for 1000.00 even. My parents absolutely refused to let me spend my savings on it..... Because I was so unbelievably mad at them, they actually bought a 64 Rose off the guy for me, it was when the Rose cards were really having some attention cause Petey was chasing Cobb.

I wound up spending the 1500.00 on 1979 Mustang when I was turned 15.

f me, and my parents

yankeeno7

TrailerPark
I know what you mean about the parents not allowing you to spend money.
I was 16 and wanted to buy a NM/MT 1965 Topps set from 707 Sportscards for 600 bucks! I had a job but only had half the dough. I often would borrow from my parents and pay them back. This time, they wouldnt because they didnt want me to spend that kind of cash on a set of baseball cards. Ah well...

ajw

So, what year did people really start getting cards as a kid? And how old were you? (not a few cards, but when did you really get the bug?)

I'd say my year was 1982. I had a smattering of 77s-80s, a bunch of 81s and a ton of 82s. I was seven years old that summer. Oh, it was baseball fever in southeastern Wisconsin, as the Brewers went to the series, and everyone hung on the race for the batting title between Robin Yount and Willie Wilson.

Paul Molitor, Gorman Thomas, Ben Oglivie, Pete Vukovich, Rollie Fingers and, of course, Robin Yount...

Those were the days...

yankeeno7

My first packs were bought as a kid in 1978 but the bug was actually started by my parents in 1983. They used to go to meetings for my father's business...there would be card shows in the hotel. The first purchases they brought home for me I will never forget...1961 Mantle, 1961 Ford, and a 1961 Clemente. Thats all it took...I was hoooked.

itzagoner

<< <i>So, what year did people really start getting cards as a kid? And how old were you? (not a few cards, but when did you really get the bug?)

I'd say my year was 1982. I had a smattering of 77s-80s, a bunch of 81s and a ton of 82s. I was seven years old that summer. Oh, it was baseball fever in southeastern Wisconsin, as the Brewers went to the series, and everyone hung on the race for the batting title between Robin Yount and Willie Wilson.

Paul Molitor, Gorman Thomas, Ben Oglivie, Pete Vukovich, Rollie Fingers and, of course, Robin Yount...

Those were the days... >>



Got my first big batch when I was six back in 1967 from my uncle....gave me everything he had, late 50's thru '67T, i probably had virtually the entire '67 set when he gave it to me.....Avg grade? PSA 2

slatsme

1981 Donruss packs for me. Local Ben Franklin had said packs and would save up money from helping Grandma and buy,buy,buy. Of course I have no idea where any of my 1st cards are these days, better to be 81 Donruss then 52 Topps.

Great wholesome memories

Beardown51

I got the fever in 1980. Every last dime I had went to the Ben Franklin store, the grocery store, or my buddy's parents gas station. "Another Rickey Henderson?!....what I really need is that Manny Trillo!"

easydoesit

1980 for me too. I used to steal quarters off my dad's dresser and go to Bidwells grocery. Opened every pack right out front on the big beam that held up the roof out front. I went home and sorted them all by team and put a big rubber band around each team with the team card on the front. Damn that Rick Bosetti of the Blue Jays. I NEVER got one even though I had hundreds of extras. I finally substituted a 79 Bosetti and called it good to complete my set. I still have the set today with the Bosetti.

1983 topps was the next year I collected. No idea why I skipped 81 and 82 but I did. I completed 83 and 84 and then stopped again until 1992 Donruss. Turned down $150 cash for an elite HOward JOhnson numbered to 10,000. Sold it some years later at a show in my dollar box. Great move!

First single cards I bought were at a flee market. A penny each the man said so I counted almost all the cards and just picked a random number. The guy took my money and I went home with a shoe box full of 76,77, and 78 topps including a centered mint Murray rookie which I still have and probably should grade, but won't.

jimq112

For me it was 71s. I would ride my bike maybe 10 or so blocks to the "red&white" corner store, the little old lady was about 70 or so. My mom would send me for smokes, and I could use the change for cards. Found pop bottles, traded them in for packs. Deliver papers, buy cards. I was hooked.

One time she wasn't looking, I scooped 6 packs. I felt so guilty I went back the next day and told her I swiped 10 packs, paid for the 10 packs. She wasn't mad and even gave me a free pack for being honest.

Never stole again, I guess it was a cheap lesson.

35 years ago. I'm old.

Boopotts

<< <i>For me it was 71s. I would ride my bike maybe 10 or so blocks to the "red&white" corner store, the little old lady was about 70 or so. My mom would send me for smokes, and I could use the change for cards. Found pop bottles, traded them in for packs. Deliver papers, buy cards. I was hooked.

One time she wasn't looking, I scooped 6 packs. I felt so guilty I went back the next day and told her I swiped 10 packs, paid for the 10 packs. She wasn't mad and even gave me a free pack for being honest.

Never stole again, I guess it was a cheap lesson.

35 years ago. I'm old. >>



Lol. The first time I scooped six packs I was so thrilled when I left the store that I quietly vowed to steal as many packs from as many grocery stores as possible for the rest of the winter. This was in 1986.

Proof positive that our morals-- like our bodies-- develop at different rates.

Re: the nostalgia for old time collecting.... It's kind of an academic point, but I think it's worth recognizing that what you miss isn't the way you collected as a kid, but the attitude you had as a kid that allowed you to collect that way. Because let's face it-- there's nothing stopping any one of us from loading up on UD base cards or Bazooka or Topps from Wal-Mart, except for the fact that just ripping packs and getting essentially valueless cards of today's best players just isn't 'fun' for most adults (Fab Frank excepted, and let me add here that I applaud Frank wholeheartedly for holding on to this dimension of card collecting, particularly in the face of the general lunacy that surrounds the hobby in this Year of our Lord 2006). We could easily collect his way again if we wanted to, but the fact is that we don't have any real interest in doing so.

Stone193

This is great stuff.

I'm dancing with the partner I came with and its 2006.

Every year I get excited, like a kid, about the upcoming Heritage set.

I actually jammed 6 pieces of gum in my mouth while opening packs!!!

The fun is still there - ya just have to open your ("kid") eyes.

It's our Hobby, let's embrace it!
mike

JasperLamarCrabb

These nostalgia threads are a bore. We all have happy memories from more innocent times. However, if you're here on the PSA board, you're just as worried about your collection's value, your registry rank and the grades on your next submission. This is a different game with different rules. You wouldn't even recognize the old days anymore. If you want them back so badly, collect State quarters or recent movie posters. They're inexpensive hobbies that can command your attention. Everyone here knows the stakes and is willing to play accordingly. The part of nostalgia which fishhooks everyone is the sad truth we're buying back cards we held in our hands thirty to forty years ago. We can't even replace them in the same pristine condition unless we're multi-millionaires. That's the fascination. At least we are all in the same boat - We were all idiots. But, honestly, how could we have known what the hobby would turn into? That's just not a natural thought process for an eleven year old. Buck up and send the kids to public school so you can finish that Wilson Wiener set in a PSA 5 average. Men don't spend their time in past; They plot their path for tomorrow. If you want to wax nostalgic, grab the old photo albums and take a look at your kids when they actually thought you knew what you were talking about and they were the true prized possessions you held in your hands.

Not trying to make enemies, but don't be a bunch of wusses.

JLC

Stone193

Lamar

I said I'm dancing with the partner I came with.

What do you collect? Modern or vintage.

BTW, do you live anywhere near the "beach?"

mike

wolfbear

JasperLamarCrabb - welcome refugee from Chinatown.

Your intelligence is duly noted.
Hope you'll stick around to cast more pearls of wisdom before us swine ...

itzagoner

Dear JLC,
While I appreciate your opinion, I must add that if we were not able to use this forum to discuss, lament, argue, share, remember, regret, laugh, invoke, stress, think & drink......we might as well all go back to the shrink! ITZ

ToppsCo1lector

<< <i>These nostalgia threads are a bore. We all have happy memories from more innocent times. However, if you're here on the PSA board, you're just as worried about your collection's value, your registry rank and the grades on your next submission. This is a different game with different rules. You wouldn't even recognize the old days anymore. If you want them back so badly, collect State quarters or recent movie posters. They're inexpensive hobbies that can command your attention. Everyone here knows the stakes and is willing to play accordingly. The part of nostalgia which fishhooks everyone is the sad truth we're buying back cards we held in our hands thirty to forty years ago. We can't even replace them in the same pristine condition unless we're multi-millionaires. That's the fascination. At least we are all in the same boat - We were all idiots. But, honestly, how could we have known what the hobby would turn into? That's just not a natural thought process for an eleven year old. Buck up and send the kids to public school so you can finish that Wilson Wiener set in a PSA 5 average. Men don't spend their time in past; They plot their path for tomorrow. If you want to wax nostalgic, grab the old photo albums and take a look at your kids when they actually thought you knew what you were talking about and they were the true prized possessions you held in your hands.

Not trying to make enemies, but don't be a bunch of wusses.

JLC >>




LOL! To bad I don't have a "set registry"(Why collect/grade some player/team I don't collect?), I have no idea what my collection is worth(I buy for my collection and resale), and I've never sent in a card to be graded. To me, I just collect what I like. I spend hardly anything on my collection(needless to say, who I collect aren't exactly in big demand) and quite frankly I agree with the end of your post. I'm a young guy that just collects cards, busts wax a few times a year and doesn't regularly bust packs. I just pick up a few things here or there. I am never going to put together a graded set, simply because I'm not going to waste my money and with school, my apprenticeship, my own house I'm remodeling, and the bike I'm saving up for plus about 100 other things in everyday life me buying some cards come after that.

Oh and for any of you sellers out there....
Gem Mint Mark Mulder rookies(as well as really low numbered variants and bulk rookies)
NY Giants Rookies

lol

kcballboy

Along the line of swiping packs, my first time I ganked some packs from the local grocery store, I think they were like 1994 Pacific Baseball, I was riding my bike out of the parking lot and some high school kids hit me with water balloons and a super soaker. Totally ruined the cards in my pocket. I took the hint.

Beardown51

Beardown51

Sorry about the blank post. My reaction to JLC's post got the best of me. If you dont like the thread, find a new one.

JasperLamarCrabb

Hey, like I said - "I'm not trying to make enemies". I've read a lot of these posts and I was simply pointing out anything from the 'simpler' times can make you step back and touch on emotion. Remember your first kiss, the first time you had a girl take off her bra, the first time you put a baseball bat on baseball, etc... They all evoke a warm feeling. However, the current state of baseball card collecting is such a 180 degree turn from what it was designed to be that it's akin to remembering Musolini when he was a cute four year old bouncing on his mother's knee.

Again, nothing personal if anyone was offended. It wasn't a personal attack on anyone. It was just a strongly worded reminder of pragmaticism as it relates to the state of the hobby. Quite frankly, I don't think anyone is completely in love with the monster we've created. There are numerous problems emanating from each niche on the baseball card foodchain. The most taxing is the subjective nature of grading. It's not a science and I dare anyone on this board to come forth and tell me he/she feels all their cards sit in properly graded holders. I believe the guys on this board (Probably the purest and most dedicated arm of baseball card collecting) are receiving the worst treatment from dealers and grading companies. Thus, I feel badly when we're forced to resort to those few precious moments twenty? thirty? forty? years ago. We should be able to get a similar feeling from our card endeavors taking place right now.

Basically, aren't we all stepping up to bat time after time against a Nolan Ryan-esque pitcher with vaseline on his cap and a toothpick for a bat? Our hope keeps us going, but our brains no darn well everything we're dealing with is tainted in some manner. Nostalgia threads trigger my displeasure because I really know there won't be anything near the magic that took place as a kid. The business used to be Topps selling us cards. Now, I don't think I could describe what the business of baseball cards really is. Besides, any attempt to piece it together would get me banned faster than it takes a fart to reach the chair I'm sitting on.

Go in peace. Good catch on Chinatown. Maybe I should have been Noah Cross?

JLC

JasperLamarCrabb

Also, I do Know the difference between Know and No, but sometimes when you type quickly you mess up.

Best,

JLC

kimo75

I still have fun with the hobby. It's just a bit more expensive. I got into grading late because I'd reached a point in my Stargell collection where I basically had everything and was..."now what." I bought a 1970 Kellogg's PSA 8 and the rest is history. I started to send my cards in to get graded. I don't really care where I am on the registry and will NEVER pay 50X book because someone says a card is Mint 9. If I can submit a few that get 9's so be it. PSA has validated what I've always felt.. I can spot a NM/MT or better card!

I remember the first year I collected heavy was 1976. My parents were furious that I spent $3 on 30 packs of 1976 Topps. Yes..THIRTY PACKS. That really started the pack buying for me which peaked in 1979 when I had about 5,000 cards.

My foray into vintage began in 7th grade when a friend's uncle gave him some 50s and 60s cards. I traded for a 1968 Clemente and a 1962 Brock (probably both in VG) and was hooked.

I also always remember with a laugh how upset my mom was when she took me to a card shop and I paid the exorbitant amount of $1.75 for a 1972 Clemente In Action! If she only knew.

I spent the next few years before college combing the local shops and shows for Clemente and Stargell cards. I had every Clemente except for the 1955 and 1964. Most in EX/MT, but a GEM 1963 Fleer.

I go to college in 1986 and get bit by the rookie card craze. I come home for the summer of 1987 and proceed to trade ALL of my Clemente's and vintage cards for Eric Davis, Gooden and Bobby Bonilla rookies.

The next few years were spent absolutely wasting $1000s on current cards. I remember buying box after box of 1992 Fleer baseball and a few boxes of Pro Set football...yes, I'm man enough to admit that!

Around 1993 I was walking in a mall and saw a 1959 Clemente on a table and the vintage obsession was reborn. I changed my focus completely to Stargell around 1999.

The hobby is what keeps me sane. I collect because I love the thrill of the hunt and the find. I'm a simple man. I want to own as many Stargell cards as I can store. I haven't been able to figure out why yet. But more important...why DON'T I need 18 1968 OPC's? I got a NM/MT 1973 OPC in the mail today and was as happy with that as buying the 30 packs 30 years ago.....and for the same price-- $3!!!

Sorry for the long post.

Stone193

JLC...

Who was that masked man?

Stone193

<< <i>Nostalgia threads trigger my displeasure because I really know there won't be anything near the magic that took place as a kid. >>


Lamar

Don't be so hard on yourself.

There's always "Hope for the Flowers."

mike

bobbybakeriv

Great thread...for the most part. I first recall collecting in 1976. Similar to many of you, I started collecting as a reward from my Mom for running errands. For some reason, I became immediately enamored with all-star cards. I think it was because I didn't know a whole heck of alot about baseball players back then. I did know that being an all-star meant something though. This is probably a primary moderating variable with regard to my current collecting interests. And yes Lamar, I wish I could smell the gum from a freshly opened 76 pack again. (That is nostalgic sentiment at it's finest...I don't know why you are bitter about that sort of thing... but then again, I have the feeling that I am not privy to some sort of inside joke). My three favorite cards from way back when, 1976: Carew, Nettles, and Vida Blue. I loved the Oakland A's at that time. The funny part is that, being an child living in Oklahoma, I assumed that Oakland was our team. Wow. I remember being very disappointed when my father informed me that the A's did not play anywhere near our residence (upon me asking him if we could attend an A's game).

As far as the magic of childhood goes, I agree that it will never return in the same form. Still, it is nice to feel it momentarily. I admit that I collect the cards I do for this reason. Call me an imbecile if you like, but an imnbecile doesn't know any better anyway. Peace to all as well.

ZUP

Oh man, this JLC cat is very entertaining....

Stone193

<< <i>Maybe I should have been Noah Cross? >>


What Pandrews said.

mike

Lothar52

for me the year was 1986....i got the last 2 packs of 1986 topps baseball and thought for real...that all baseball cards would look like that from now until eternity...that was just what baseball cards will always look like. Anyway...the next week a box of 1986 topps football his the rack...and I was full go. Completed the set on 50 cent wax packs from the local convenient store. My dad would stop in and get a dollars worth each day he filled the car up (and he topped it off quite often). i continued on with 1987 topps baseball...and have a 5000 count box full of topps cards from the convenient store LOL...i also collected 1987 topps football in upwards of 2 sets before slowing down.

my initial 3 sets i collected as a kid:

1- 1986 topps football
2- 1987 topps baseball
3- 1987 topps football

Downtown1974

Great stories guys!

Lothar, It sounds like we got hard core into collecting around the same time. Those 87 Topps were alot of fun to open. They were packed with good cards.