Discuss your childhood memories of collecting sports cards; were you able to complete sets even back

Estil

My father first got me into card collecting when I was nine years old back in 1989, and usually bought me either Donruss or Topps packs. I think I also got a few ALF trading card packs around that time too (even though they were released in 1987 & 1988). Back then, I kept my cards in rubber banded stacks inside a small box that I believe contained small cookware of some kind, and later I put a huge Superman sticker on the top of that box. I even remember having a checklist card with a couple of the cards marked off. I think I had a few 1990 Donruss cards scattered around.

Then when I was 13 (late 1993), I got back into it again, and typically bought jumbo packs of 1993 Topps cards (they were $1.99 and you got 40 something cards and five Gold cards) and 1994 I bought all kinds of different packs, especially 1994 Fleer. I continued buying packs here and there up until about 1997 or so.

So, how and what cards did you collect growing up, and why? How did you treat your cards back then (all in binder/pages or just rubber banded in an old shoe box?) and did you seriously try to get the whole set (or did you actually get any factory sets for Christmas, since they are sometimes called Christmas sets)? Did you play gambling games with your cards (where the winner got all the cards used in that game)?

And back in 1970s and past that, was it even realistically possible to complete a Topps set as a kid? You know, using your allowance and trading dupes with your friends?

Gonblott

In school we flipped cards for "fun" as a game. I REMEMBER HAVING the 1952 TOPPS MICKEY MANTLE in my HANDS, we just flipped them all day after school playing card war. After we got tired of them quickly, we ripped them and teared a new pack after dinner.

Estil

I guess I was lucky in that sense. Even today, the cards I grew up collecting can be bought as complete factory sets (1989 Donruss and 1989 Topps) for no more than $20.

Griffins

I started buying packs in '70, but it was always impossible to complete a baseball set since most stores wouldn't stock them once football cards came out, so you'd be stalled just before the high numbers.
I did manage to complete the '71-72 basketball set, since there were so few of them.
In '74 Topps issued all the cards at once, but by then we were so consumed with cornering the market on Washington Nat'l variations I didn't attempt the whole set. The next year Hostess came out with cards and my buddy and I had a whole scam going at school with day old twinkies and ding dong resales we had multiple sets. But after that cards got passed over in favor of other pursuits- at least for 25 more years.

baseballfanatic

When I first started collecting as a kid, I had no interest in completing an entire set or checklist. My only concern was collecting players of my favorite team (or teams) and favorite players. Since they had no value, trading was actually fun and done quite frequently, or at least as often as you could talk a friend into trading with you. Acquiring a complete set would definately require some heavy trading especially if you lived in a small town area like I did and could only get certain series that your local mom and pop store would carry. The interesting part of collecting would be when a new kid moved into your school and had cards from series that you didnt have locally. It was definately strange to see how many kids would swarm all over him and promise "I'll be your friend if you trade with me..."

Brian48

'78 Topps was my first year. Best memory of all was 1) finally getting a Fred Lynn card (my fav at the time) and 2) playing the baseball card game using the back of the card with my brothers. This led to my cards taking a quite a beating as we used to handle and shuffle the cards like a card deck. I still remember it clearly, the Fred Lynn card was a worth a "single". Before the advant of video games, card and board games like this ruled.

Brian48

For those who don't know what I'm talking about, here is a YAZ example:



If you get dealt this card in the game, you grounded out for an out. You kept getting dealt a new card until you've gotten all 3 outs. This would go back and forth for the 9 innings or more until the one with the most runs scored wins. For this reason, I think '78 are always going to be extremely difficult to find in high grade despite there being so many of them out there. Unbelievably simple and was a lot of fun for the time.

Now everytime I see my brothers, we are always whining about our wives, jobs, or interest rate on our mortgages. Man, I miss my childhood.

shagrotn77

I collected the '86 Fleer basketball set. I wish I knew it was going to be such a money maker, because I stopped after I got the final card I needed. Same for '87 Fleer basketball.

baseballfanatic

My best friend and I probably went through 500 Topps 70 and 71 scratch off games during lunch in the eighth grade. We each brought in at least 4 a day so I cant even imagine how much wax we busted those years...

yankeeno7

<< <i>For those who don't know what I'm talking about, here is a YAZ example:



If you get dealt this card in the game, you grounded out for an out. You kept getting dealt a new card until you've gotten all 3 outs. This would go back and forth for the 9 innings or more until the one with the most runs scored wins. For this reason, I think '78 are always going to be extremely difficult to find in high grade despite there being so many of them out there. Unbelievably simple and was a lot of fun for the time.

Now everytime I see my brothers, we are always whining about our wives, jobs, or interest rate on our mortgages. Man, I miss my childhood. >>



Hey Brian
1978 was my first year to collect too! My favorite set from the 70s! I absolutely love it! One of these times, get yourself a lot of low grade 78s and play a game of the Play Ball on the reverse of the cards and enjoy! Forget those problems for a cool afternoon!

Stone193

<< <i>Discuss your childhood memories of collecting sports cards; were you able to complete sets even back then? >>

Estil

That was almost a loaded question!

1957 was the first year that I really bought in mass - and I had NO idea they were in series.

We didn't even try to collect sets - we were "Team" collectors - along with individual favorites.

Condition, centering, corners, gloss, register - not even discussed.

The "pride" was strictly in the pull and ownership. My big card? Duke Snider - any year.

mike

cravetopps

the first cards I remember buying were 1955 Bowman. After that year, I bought every Topps set until roughly 1963. I had every Mantle and every Ted Williams card. And, regrettably, my mother threw them away or I just lost interest. I used to buy boxes of 20 packs for $1.00. I flipped them and put them in spokes just like a lot of kids at that time. I easily had $2M to $3M dollars worth of cards if I had kept them in pristine condition but who could predict what would happen? My peak collecting years were 1956 through 1964. I had every card from every Topps set and usually a few extras of the star players, particularly Yankees.

Uncbob

Got my 50 Bowman FB and BB by buying the 5 cent packs and maybe 3 or 4 by trading
Got my 51 Bowman strictly by buying the gum

Quit after 51 because at 16 I felt I was "Too Old "and only kids bought the cards

What a shock in 76 when I read in the local paper about how many collectors there were
Attended the first Philly show at Spring Garden college

Don't know why I didn't start again as I was a huge Phillies fan

I am always amazed at how many really high grade 50s and 51s are around
Makes me wonder who saved them without touching them after they bought them
I know I was always going through mine

Stone193

<< <i>I am always amazed at how many really high grade 50s and 51s are around
Makes me wonder who saved them without touching them after they bought them
I know I was always going through mine >>

Good question Bob

My guess? All those adult collectors who were around even then.

Plus, all the "finds" where stores/distributors just stuck the stuff in storerooms and forgot them?

Just an idea

mike

BenOutbid

I have probably lived this question a million times. I can remember like yesterday sitting on the curb in front of the market with my brothers and opening packs of 1957's. No kidding, I think Eddie Kasko was in every single pack I bought. We did not have much money so we cherished each opportunity to compare who got what. I collected Phillies - Richie Ashburn et.al, and my brothers collected Braves (Aaron) and Cubs (Banks). We made up a baseball dice game and "ran" our cards around a homemade baseball diamond. Sets?, condition? off-center? bad corners? etc.?, not even in the lexicon. Wrap a rubber band around my Phillies and put 'em in a cigar box in the closet until someone wanted to "try" my Ashburn in a baseball dice game. Now that was collecting in a different era.

Now I send in cards for grading regularly and have sets on the registry, of course a "57." Oh well, it all makes me smile. Thanks for the opportunity to sit on that curb again.

bigfische

These were my favorite cards to rip when was a young(er) lad-

WinPitcher

Because of the series situation it was very dificult to complete a set.

money was tight as well. I used to just wait for other kids to get tired of them and they would give them to me.

I also flipped and won many.

The town dump was another great place to find older cards.


We collected by team if we collected at all.

An older guy collected by set and he had sets goin back into the 30's

Steve

fensfan

collected 1977 topps set pack by pack. ended up a handful of cards short of a set, with two large boxes of dupes, including multiples of all the stars. had an older cousin who was really into collecting cards. nice kid that I was (at least as I remember!) I invited him to check out the collection and gave him all the dupes! ouch!!

Onlypsahockey

I had two older brothers who would slap the bejesus out of me and rifle my cards for what they needed.
I'd put up a fight and then we would trade. You know those trades....my Orr and Espo for their Orland Kurtenbach and Dale Tallon.
In the end I made out for once they finished their sets the dupes all came my way.
I can remember many days spent pitching cards beside the house with the kids from the neighborhood. Afterwards spending hours looking over your new additions.

Good times!

Bob C.

Stone193

<< <i>I had two older brothers who would slap the bejesus out of me and rifle my cards for what they needed.
I'd put up a fight and then we would trade. You know those trades....my Orr and Espo for their Orland Kurtenbach and Dale Tallon.
In the end I made out for once they finished their sets the dupes all came my way.
I can remember many days spent pitching cards beside the house with the kids from the neighborhood. Afterwards spending hours looking over your new additions.

Good times!

Bob C. >>


Bob

I used to jump my little brother.

I guess some stuff is just universal.

We're still friends tho.

mike

yankeeno7

<< <i>I had two older brothers who would slap the bejesus out of me and rifle my cards for what they needed.
Good times!

Bob C. >>



Now THAT is family love! They do that and you still call it good times!

rise2it

My dad knew a guy that was a coal miner that broke his leg. Apparantly got bored sitting home and bought a ton of cards.

He gave my dad (to give to me) a complete large paper bag (grocery bag) of 77 topps baseball.

Needless to say, I was hooked at 9 years old.

I bought a few 78 and 79 baseball (loved that game on the back of the 78's), but my passion was football, so I ended up with a ton of 78 and 79 football cards. (at a whopping 15 cents a pack).

My friends and I would line up the cards in formation and run 'plays'. Needless to say my Dorsett rookies had a rough life from the tackling, as did Staubach (whom I worshipped) and Bradshaw from all the 'sacks'.

Never completed any sets though - no such thing as a card show in rural areas back then, so when the stores sold out, that was it until the next year.

Bought a whole box of 84 topps baseball, and one pack of 84 donruss (go figure), which i found years later untouched with a perfect, and i mean perfect (not offcenter like most) Joe Carter rookie. I got a pretty penny out of it a decade later (shame that was before grading caught on.) I KNOW that card would've been a PSA 10.

Was out of it again from 84 until 1990, as my Bills finally looked to be Super Bowl bound, and I discovered those awesome and beautiful 1990 Pro Set cards. (Thank you, Lud Denny). That was actually the first set I ever put together from packs/boxes.

Oh, and the best part.... At the county fair last year, I walked up to my dad, who was talking to some man. He turned around and says to me, 'Remember this man? This is the man that gave you that bag of cards when you were a kid.'

I thanked him and told him he had 'created a monster', but I don't think he really understood what I meant.

:-)


There it is, my life story in cards.

TJMAC

My childhood collecting was done in a few phases. When I was real little about 5 or 6 my brother and I would collect 1980 and 1981 Topps Baseball and Football. I also remember buying some Fleer. I had them in a big shoe box and would take them over to our friends house for trading. For some reason, I always liked the Pirates cards. Especially, Dave Parker and Tim Foli from the 1980 set. I don't ever remember trying to complete a set back then and condition concerns were not an issue. I eventually transferred them from the shoe box to one of those plastic storage lockers made just for cards. There use to be stickers that came with them to label each team. Then from about 1982 to 1985 I didn't buy any cards.

Around 1986, when I was on vacation in Florida visiting my Grandma and Grandpa, there was a card shop near their house. I ended buying a 1984 Topps and 1985 Topps football set + sheets and two binders. I remember sitting in my Grandparent's house putting those two sets in binders. I loved the designs of the 1985's and was a huge Cowboys fan, so I was extra careful when slipping them in. By then, I wanted to keep them in nice shape, not due to monetary value, but it was just how I was.

Then for some reason I didn't buy any cards again until the summer of 1987. I remember riding my bike over to the local B-Kwik buying packs of 1987 Donruss every chance I got. I knew all the up and coming prospects Pete Incaviglia, Ruben Sierra, Kal Daniels, Barry Larkin, B.J Surhoff, Rafael Palmeiro and some guy named Mark McGWIRE. Its funny I don't remeber Maddux or Bonds being that big a deal. I usually would not even wait till I got home to rip open the packs. Again, I was careful as a 12 year old at the time could be with condition, but those black borders were tough. At that time, I was an Oakland A's fan because that was the last team my favorite player Reggie Jackson played for. It also led me to become a big McGWIRE fan.

Then my collecting interests expanded in 1987 when a friend of my cousin's told me about a guy who sold cards out of his house. I went over and bought the complete sets of 1987 Donruss and 1987 Topps. Then a few months later my Mom noticed another guy selling cards out of his home. I went over and saw that he had vintage and newer cards for sale. I don't remember what I bought that day, but I do remember that both of these guys opened card stores shortly there after. Then from 1988-1991, I collected Baseball, Football, and Basketball. I loved the Pro Set and Hoops issues and bought tons of them. I used to put all of the stars put them in penny sleeves and list them in alphabetical order. Eventually, I stopped collecting baseball and just focused on basketball and football. I used to go to the card shows with my Dad and buy tons of these cards. I did buy vintage sometimes, which to me, were cards from the 1960's and 1970's. I remember having all of Roger Staubach's cards except his rookie and plenty of Unitas cards including his rookie. I also collected vintage cards of the Cowboys and Lakers. I even dabbled in prospecting buying several rookie cards of Tim Hardaway, Mitch Richmond (I was a Warriors fan) Eric Green (A Steelers Tight End) Andre Rison among many others.

Then like most kids around 1992, I was a Senior in High School and my cards went into my parents rafters. Around 2000 I started to get the bug again and bought a 1968 Topps Willie Mays and I quickly learned what trimming was. So, then I started buying PSA graded cards of stars and HOFers. From time to time I still bought raw cards of commons and minor stars to complete my 1959, 1973, 1974 and 1976 Topps sets, but basically I focus on graded baseball.

Writing this post made me realize that sports cards have been a large part of my life. I am sorry for being long winded, but it was nice typing these memories up. I have always had a good memory and it seems that when you pick up certain cards it transports you back to your childhood. It is funny whenever, I see that 1980 Tim Foli or Dave Parker, I can remember sitting on my friends porch on a gray rainy day thumbing through his cards and putting together a trade. It was even neat seeing a vintage card pop up from time to time amongst your trading partners. I always wondered where they came from. I imagine from an older brother or they were swiped from another guy in a trade. It may sound stupid, but I find a great deal of comfort in this hobby. Partly due to the memories, but also because it allows you to set goals that are achievable and gives a sense of accomplishment. These are things that can be hard to find going through the daily grind.

Anyway, thanks for putting this thread together.

ldferg

i remember trying to get as many rickey henderson cards as possible in 1980. not for the rookie, just for the picture. i used to love that card and i didn't know who the guy was back then...nor what a rookie card was.

my first pack experience was from a 7/11 store and i used to be 77t football rack and cello packs. the one that stands out had jim zorn and the seahawks checklist on it.

AlanAllen

I love these threads . Great stories here. Even in the early 80's when my age was in the single digits, I was cognizant that my cards had some monetary value and that condition mattered. I attribute that mostly to my dad, who is a longtime coin collector and was getting back into cards at that time. That's not to say my cards didn't get played with and beat up - they did. But I never had the experience of flipping cards or wrapping them in rubber bands. We mostly stored cards by team in Velveeta boxes, and later in 800 ct. and monster boxes. I still going to a dealer's house in 1982 and watching my dad buy a Montana RC for 75 cents. I could not believe someone would pay more for one card than a whole pack cost.

From 1980 to about 1988, we collected whatever we could get our hands on... baseball, basketball, football, hockey, Garbage Pail Kids, Raiders of the Lost Ark, wrestling cards, ET... you name it. We tried to complete sets, but didn't pursue it too vigorously. First factory set was probably 1989. Never played gambling games... we played games but you kept the cards you brought.

Joe

RoarIn84

my first year collecting was 1985 right after the Tigers won it all. When Gibby nailed that upper deck blast off The Goose, i was smitten- in very deep smit.....so 1985 Topps and Fleer was what the corner store had and my friend and i would obviously collect Tigers. my stepdad told me to save any and all Pete Rose cards, so that became another pursuit. i remember my friend pulled a Rose out of an 85T pack and he galloped all around like friggin Charlie with the Golden Ticket. The jerk did that when he pulled a Gibby too!! all i could do was loathe! anyway, that year my bud and i must have opened the equivalence of like 6 boxes worth. i remember my stepdad accidentally creasing my Gooden rookie and that made me cry, cause it was hot that year. anyway, i kept the enormous box that i threw all the cards into for years. in '87, i went to my first card show and Mark McGwire was hot as hell and everyone had the big 85T rookie card. I got really excited because i knew i must have a ton of them and i couldn't wait to get back home to that huge box of 85T i hadn't touched for a couple years. i was so pissed off. i had an ENORMOUS stack of these stupid USA Olympic cards and not one of them was a damn McGwire!! i had about 10 each of Odibie McDowell, Cory Snyder, Mike Dunne (?), the manager guy and a few other jerks. i must have had about 6-7 sets worth of 85T all without card #401!!!!

i still remember vividly getting my allowance for the week (75 cents) and going up to the corner store, buying a pack of 85F (loved those colorful 85s....such an underrated set), opening it up on my way home and being PISSED cause i got yet another one of that Kirby Puckett guy, and of course, no tigers. i specifically remembered that card for some reason. my friend wouldn't even trade that whole pack worth for a lousy Aurelio Lopez.......

daveryan2001

The first pack I opened in 1971 had Steve Carlton in it. I instantly became a Cardinal fan, took
my scissors, and trimmed that card down so it would fit in my wallet in the photo part.

The next year, 1972, I would walk through a friends sub division looking for empty milk and
soda bottles for the deposit, take them to the grocery or dairy store, and hopefully get the 26
cents (#%* sales tax) for a pack of cards.

By the time the high numbers came out in the fall, we were buying football cards, who cared
about baseball cards after that.

We'd trade them, play games with them, and of course always put my name or initials on the
back of each one so nobody could swipe them from you.

We were also more into collecting the players on the favorite team then worrying about the
stars, although Willie Mays, Clemente, Aaron were highly desired, if you had to trade a Mays to
get that card of Jerry Da Vanon to complete the Cardinal run, you'd do it in a second.

I also marked up many a checklist, crossed out the team name of traded players and wrote in
the new team, and we would cut the league leader cards apart to make 3 or 4 cards.

I've still got a bunch of my 72's and 73's, all dog eared, all with initials on the back. I'll never
give them away. I've got a bunch of my friends with their initials as well that I traded for.

Those were the days.

Estil

This is a fun topic; I want to hear more of these kinds of stories.

ORANGE

Early softball age... played with nerf football. First cards were the 81 Topps Football. Mean Joe Greene and the like...
Then the 1982 Topps Baseball, and the preferred 1982 Fleer baseball.
Used to get rewarded with a couple packs after music lessons.
Around peak time of athletic ability too.
Kept all the cards in rubberbands by team. In shoeboxes.
Was really excited about buying the sticker album for baseball players that year.
Found $5 in a pool lockerroom and already had planned spending it to buy the sticker album when I made the mistake of letting my older sister know I found it.
She insisted I take it to the Lost and Found.
Beat that sad story....

Publius

<< <i>i remember trying to get as many rickey henderson cards as possible in 1980. not for the rookie, just for the picture. i used to love that card and i didn't know who the guy was back then...nor what a rookie card was.

my first pack experience was from a 7/11 store and i used to be 77t football rack and cello packs. the one that stands out had jim zorn and the seahawks checklist on it. >>



Dave,

You and I have the exact same story. My brother and I would get a dollar each at my grandmothers, walk to a 7-11. I would buy 77 topps football packs, 4 of them at .25/each, he would get candy bars. I was raised on Seahawks so I collected them. Largent, Zorn, etc..

Kept them all in the free government cheese boxes I got from a friend, traded them on the school bus and school with kids.

Lost my entire collection in a house fire in 1980, started collecting in 84 again, just in time for Elway, Marino, Dickerson and Curt Warner rookies. To this day, my favorite set is the 1984 Topps football, especially the Largent #196

Great Thread

Joe

MeteoriteGuy

I started collecting in 1986, but remember my brothers collecting in 1981 and 1982, they are also a couple years old. I first seriously started collecting in 1987 (baseball), if I remember right boxes of 1987 Topps where sold at Sams for $20.00....a couple dollars more then what one would cost you now...with shipping.

Didn't try to put together sets but I did trade for several. Was more interesting in pulling Wally Joyners and Mike Greenwell's.

Did a lot of trading back then and could make about $10 a weekend at the fleemarket doing such, not bad for a little kid when you could actually get quite a few cards for that.

Later sold all my cards for $1,000 and used that money to....ummm....run away. (Didn't come back either.) Several years later started playing with football, which I pretty much sold all of during ebay's early years.

Have pretty much always collected everything and ebay has been a god send.

Now I buy PSA 10's of 80's baseball and 90's football (mostly), along with Steve Young cards and full sets (which cost go for a little of nothing on ebay.)

Mark

Edit to add: Started collecting Magic cards in it's beginning. Got quite good and became a feared player to go against in tournaments, finishing 2nd in 6-7....but never first. Sold all of these cards to file bankruptcy to bury $50,000 in hospital bills when I started college. Have a few decks now but never play.

Yankeeefan

I started buying/collecting cards in 1968. When we couldn't get enough kids together to play baseball, we flipped or traded cards. I had a little Mom & Pop store 3 doors away from our house that carried cards. I don't really remember what started me off buying cards, I guess my Dad bought me my 1st couple of packs and I was hooked.
I did complete sets, but only because my B-day is late summer and my Dad knew someone who distributed wax boxes to stores and he always picked up boxes for the last series as a gift.
There was a gin mill on the corner and on street cleaning day my buddy and I used to run in to warn everyone the street-sweeper was coming, followed by the police car (ticketing cars) The bartender used to give us fifty cents ea, plus whatever we could make from the guys that went running/stumbling out the door to move their cars. We learned to listen for the guys that were cursing as they tried to open their car doors because they likely dropped change as they pulled their car keys out of their pockets...LOL The things you do to get baseball cards when you're 6 years old.

TheCARDKid

I've got some great memories of collecting cards as a kid.

-My first cards were 1985 Topps, I think Bobby Brown was my first card (it was certainly one of my first). I got packs and got them from school. The Pirates were some of my favorites, I liked the uniforms. Pirates, Mets, Dodgers, Yankees. Those were big.

-I collected mostly Topps sets with my friends from a local liquor store. Up through 88/89 Topps. 87 Topps has alot of sentimental value. 86 football. 86 Topps Mattingly.

I use to crease some of my cards to make them look old. My 86 Topps Eric Dickerson had about 15 creases through it.

Some of my best childhood memories were going to card shops. There were a bunch of shops in west los angeles, there was one on Venice and Sepulveda (Ethan Allens?) that was one of my favorites. I also went to a ton of stores throughout California, I think there was a shop in the barnyard in carmel. I bought soccer cards in solvang. Some stores in San Diego. I bought a dover reprint set from JC Pennys Christmas catalog, thinking they were the real thing!!

I had one of those introductory guides to baseball cards. The reprint set was $15 or $20 and the '33 Goudey babe ruth that came in it was listed for probably $500 or $1,000. The joy of being a kid!

The '85 to '89 years were mostly card shops and buying packs. Then '89 to 92/93 was card shows, Beckett, branching out into all 4 sports, spending more money (like $15 for 90 Upper Deck French Hockey packs!). I bought Mr Mints book, and a Tony Galovich book (still have them).

I went to shows in Pomona, Long Beach, Pasadena, LA Convention Center (I had nice parents). Alot of buying and selling, mostly losing money, but it was all alot of fun. Sure beat going to school!

prscott933

I started mainly in 1988 but it went a little crazy in 1990 when i started finding "errors" in the Donruss packs. thought I had struck gold! boy was i wrong a few months later!!! never did find a reverse negative Juan though. i put together topps sets from packs starting in 1988 and stopped for awhile around 1994.

Estil

Say, you know how the retail Topps factory sets were sometimes called "Christmas sets"? Well, did anyone here growing up actually get these for Christmas? I bet that would've been a fun Christmas tradition.

nam812

Born in 1967 my first cards were 1972's because my brother gave me all his doubles. He did that until I started buying my own packs around 1976 or 1977, and I always chucked the crappy cards with 4 players on them. LOL Also, maybe im giving myself too much credit, but I swear I didnt need a checklist as I thumbed through the packs.

Need him, need him, got him, got him, need him, got him, got him.........

perkdog

I got into cards in 1986 at aged 15, my friend got me into collecting when he offered to get me started with a '84 TT Gooden, '84 Strawberry, '84 Mattingly, '83 Gwynn and Sandberg. I was hooked! I bought a TON of '86 and '87 Topps and saved all the guys mentioned above and then stockpiled Will Clark, Jose Canseco's, Pucketts, Clemens ect.. all the big names back then. After picking up my first Beckett I loved checking out the vintage cards and as I got older and made more $$ I would get into buying the older cards. At about 20 I sold everything and lost interest, about 2002 I discovered the SMR in a local smoke shope/magazine store and loved the look of the graded cards and have been hooked ever since.


Edited to say GREAT THREAD!

MorrellMan

<< <i>

<< <i>I am always amazed at how many really high grade 50s and 51s are around
Makes me wonder who saved them without touching them after they bought them
I know I was always going through mine >>

Good question Bob

My guess? All those adult collectors who were around even then.

Plus, all the "finds" where stores/distributors just stuck the stuff in storerooms and forgot them?

Just an idea

mike >>



My experience was this: Although I don't recall how I got the few '58s and '59s I had, I started buying packs in earnest in 1960. I almost completed the set; nobody I knew could find the McCovey rookie. Years later, I found out my brother had a complete set that he never told anybody about! To me, the 1960 design was the true baseball card, because that was the first set I collected. Subsequent designs were hard sells; they never quite measured up to '60 and within a couple of years I grew bored.

In '61, I did compile a complete set, minus the high numbers, which weren't available in my small hometown of Los Angeles, California.(See Griffin's post).
Same in '62, complete set, no high numbers - although I did hear rumors of high numbers being available in Whittier and maybe some other places. I stopped collecting after the first series of '63 - those cards I just put away and never touched. If I still had them, they would easily grade 8s, maybe 9s.

I think a lot of the pristine material from the old days made it that way - the last year of "collecting" as a kid, which was essentially buying cards out of habit, but just not playing with them. JMHO.

Buccaneer

No. When I started collecting in 1970, my goal was to get as big of a stack of each of the teams, esp. of my favorite teams. We ALWAYS organized (and even traded) by teams. It was not until 1983 that I pulled out my childhood collection after college and started visiting/working at card shops and shows in So. Cal. that I worked on completing those set. Now it has gone full circle back to working on those sets again, as well as going backwards to try to complete all of the Topps set (in raw, of course).

kidzfund

I started collecting in the 60's. I blame my dad for me being a pack rat because he made me through away a shoebox full of 1965 baseball cards when I was about 11-12. I completed the 1967 set but I had to write Topps a letter to do it. The 7th series was not sent to the west coast (at least not in my area). So Topps sends a reply telling me to contact Baseball Card Company (I think that was the name - I still have the letter somewhere). I ordered the 7th series to complete my set. They sent a card catalog (I have that somewhere as well) and I start drooling. I wanted the oldest set they had and ended up buying a 1951 Topps Red Back because it was $10 cheaper than the Blue Back. The other cool thing is that they would toss in free vintage for orders over $50 so I get a 57 Cousey. I also bought the 59 Fleer Ted Williams (minus Ted Signs) and got a 63 Parkhurst Howe to boot.

Joe

baseballfan

i remember really starting to collect in 1980 and i can't remember if i finished that set. i recall collecting those stickers in what 82-83 and i needed the yount all-star to finish the book, one of my friends got it, finally, and gave it to me. i can still remember that day. we used to have yard sales with what ever we could get around the house and sell hot dogs to make money for those damn stickers. i still have my completed album somewhere

bxb

Here is an excerpt from a previous thread regarding my 1967 collection:


I take you back to the summer of 1967, in smalltown upstate New York, where the sun always seemed to shine, life always seemed fun and simple, people were humming with their transistor radios to the Beatles and The Little Old Lady From Pasadena, and summer seemed to just laaast forever. I was playing little league baseball back then, and each time we would win a game (which wasn't that often as I recall), Coach would take us to the concession stand and buy us each an orange soda pop and a pack of baseball cards.

Well I remember my first card in my first pack was NL home run leaders, which I thought was so cool with Aaron and Willy Mays on the same card, and I was soon hooked to the point of my poor mother haranguing me for wasting all her nickels (packs were 5 cents back then). By the time school started, which was many nickels later, I had learned how to wheel and deal with the other kids in my neighborhood, and completed the set, even though I had to ride my bike five miles each day in late August to the only store in town that had the rare 7th series cards. This was a big deal back then as I was only 11 years old and I wasn't allowed to ride my bike that far away, but I did it anyway (I can say this now because I doubt Mom and Dad read this board). Hence I learned at an early age that to succeed often meant going beyond assumed limits. This line of thinking has stayed with me and guided my entire adult life, and only occasionally has gotten me in serious trouble.

The set remained in my closet, untouched (no, my mother did not throw them out, thankfully) for the next 30 years. I chanced upon them during a Christmas visit in 1997 rummaging through my old bedroom closet, and, looking at those little cards, a door opened in my brain that had been shut all those years - it was the summer of '67 again, and something deep down told me this was a piece of my life, it must come with me, and not stay in this musty closet.

So I brought them home, where they then stayed in my own musty bedroom closet for a couple years. I would pull them out every so often, think about the summer of 1967, and put them away quickly when my mother, no now it's my wife called for something. I eventually got into the PSA thing and submitted the ones I thought were sure fire 8s or 9s, and of course they came back 5s and 6s, some with strange additional comments like "OC" or "ST". At first I didn't know what those strange letters meant, but my instincts told me it wasn't good (how naive back then).

The last couple years I have learned through trial and error (mostly the latter) more about the subject of grading, and have slowly built up the PSA set from scratch, helped along the way with both cards and advice by many registry members, to the point where it is now the #1 all-time finest PSA set.

Larry

MorrellMan

That's a nice story, Larry. Thanks for sharing it.

Buccaneer

Larry, where in Upstate New York?

I have similar feelings about 1970 and even though it is not one of the more popular sets, it was my first love and to this day, they always remind me of summer weekend afternoons of going to the ice cream store.

perkdog

Nice read Larry, thanks!

RipublicaninMass

Mine story starts way back in the summer fo 1986. I used to spend the weekends at my Nana's house, and she was a huge baseball fan. remeber her taking me into the lcoal supermarket, and I saw my first pack of baseball cards...1986 topps! I bought a few packs, and every weekend we began to watch baseball games, and buy cards. As I got older, we began to visit local card shops and buying individual cards. Thankfully both her, and the cards, are still with me! Though they may be over produced, new age junk, 1986 topps will ALWAYS be my first "card" experience.

steadyeddie33

In '86, all I would buy was craploads of 1986 Donruss baseball. If I would have only had the forsight to buy basketball!

RipublicaninMass

<< <i>In '86, all I would buy was craploads of 1986 Donruss baseball. If I would have only had the forsight to buy basketball! >>




DITTO Eddie

elsnorto

Wow, lots of great stories, many with considerable sentimental value. My entry into sportscards was not nearly as sentimental. When I was a wee little Snortster I had a HUGE crush on Jacklyn Smith and collected Charlie's Angels cards because of it. There was this one card of Cheryl Ladd where she was undercover at a nudist colony or something and pictured presumably naked covering herself with a giant palm leaf. To a kid, that is pure porn and one of my friends offered to trade me a few hundred baseball and football cards for my dupe of Ms. Ladd. I really had no interest in professional sports, forget sportscards, at the time... but I knew a deal when I saw one and took it. Those cards sat relatively untouched until another friend who happened to collect came across them in my room one day and told me they were worth some cash. I started buying a bit of everything, different sports and manufacturers, and found I enjoyed chasing complete sets for some reason. That was back around 1981 or 1982 or so and my interest in collecting grew from there even though I still had no interest in professional sports really.

I eventually got into following the NFL and when the hobby exploded with it no longer being viable to buy everything (read: Topps), I started to focus on just football. I remember every birthday or Christmas getting a Topps football set from the Renato Glasso catalog. Whatever happened to them anyhow? I also remember my first card show, more like a flea market with numerous card dealers. I bought a 1978 Topps Tony Dorsett rookie for $3.00 and my father thought I was insane for spending that kind of money on a piece of cardboard. I also remember picking up a 1968 Topps Steve Stonebreaker card for $0.10 or so just because I thought it was sooooooo old.

Over the years I have drifted in and out of the hobby and my collecting interests have changed, in part due to the hobby itself changing. I have gone from collecting everything to just football, gone from being a set builder to a player collector, shifted away considerably from cards to memorabilia, and what cards I do still collect are less and less modern and more and more vintage.... and all because of Cheryl Ladd!

The changes I have seen in my relatively short time in the hobby compared to many on the boards are amazing. The hobby has come a long way, be it for better or worse, from a cheap gimmick to entice kids to spend their pennies on some chewing gum.

Snorto~

Estil

Well, when I was a kid, it was to waste a couple quarters a pack. As a teen, it was anywhere b/t $1-$3 a pack.

MorrellMan

<< <i>Those cards sat relatively untouched until another friend who happened to collect came across them in my room one day and told me they were worth some cash. >>



this is absolutely not meant as a slight to senor snortski or anyone else that can cite this as a motivation, but, as a total old fart, I think it's sad that card collecting is no longer based on just loving the sport and the little pieces of cardboard without a single thought towards cash.

Edited to add: in all fairness, it's pretty hard to collect cards today (or in the last 25-30 years) without the awareness of value. The old days are gone.