"I was a card collector, when card collecting wasn't cool"--How many here were ADULT sport
Estil
Posts: 6,866 ✭✭✭✭
Now, I myself was born in 1980 and first stared collecting when I was nine in 1989, so obviously I wouldn't qualify for this discussion. That being said, I know that it wasn't until the early 80s (or perhaps late 70s) that sports card collecting really started to take off as a respectable hobby (like stamps and coins). What I mean by that is before then, it was mostly kids who bought cards and as many of you are aware, were thrown out (or if you were lucky, forgotten about in an attic and discovered later when they were valuable). There simply were very, very few adult sports card collectors during the 1970s and I was wondering if anyone here was one and if so, what was it like? Did you get ridicule from your adult peers for being in a "kiddie hobby"? I remember reading in my middle school library a book published in 1976 that among other things, interviewed adult baseball card collectors (surely the late Larry Fitsch was included); I forget the name of the book and yes, I also would like a copy of it as well if I can secure one.
Also, how exactly could you be a serious collector in the 1970s? Were there such a thing as binders/pages and screw down holders and such back then? As for obtaining cards, did card mail-order catelogs and hobby shops exist back then? And lastly, was there anyone who cared at all about condition of the cards?
Also, how exactly could you be a serious collector in the 1970s? Were there such a thing as binders/pages and screw down holders and such back then? As for obtaining cards, did card mail-order catelogs and hobby shops exist back then? And lastly, was there anyone who cared at all about condition of the cards?
WISHLIST
Dimes: 54S, 53P, 50P+S, 49S, 45D+S, 44S, 43D, 41S, 40D+S, 39D+S, 38D+S, 37D+S, 36S, 35D+S, all 16-34's
Quarters: 61D, 52S, 47S, 46S, 40S, 39S, 38S, 37D+S, 36D+S, 35D, 34D, 32D+S
74 Topps: 37,38,46,47,48,138,151,193,210,214,223,241,256,264,268,277,289,316,435,552,570,577,592,602,610,654,655
1997 Finest silver: 115, 135, 139, 145, 310
1995 Ultra Gold Medallion Sets: Golden Prospects, HR Kings, On-Base Leaders, Power Plus, RBI Kings, Rising Stars
Dimes: 54S, 53P, 50P+S, 49S, 45D+S, 44S, 43D, 41S, 40D+S, 39D+S, 38D+S, 37D+S, 36S, 35D+S, all 16-34's
Quarters: 61D, 52S, 47S, 46S, 40S, 39S, 38S, 37D+S, 36D+S, 35D, 34D, 32D+S
74 Topps: 37,38,46,47,48,138,151,193,210,214,223,241,256,264,268,277,289,316,435,552,570,577,592,602,610,654,655
1997 Finest silver: 115, 135, 139, 145, 310
1995 Ultra Gold Medallion Sets: Golden Prospects, HR Kings, On-Base Leaders, Power Plus, RBI Kings, Rising Stars
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Comments
But to me, card collecting was more fun when you would walk away with a couple bricks of mid 50's Topps and people would laugh at you like they had just ripped YOU off....
Don't waste your time and fees listing on ebay before getting in touch me by PM or at gregmo32@aol.com !
In the course of every human endeavor since the dawn of time the risk of human error has always been a factor. Including but not limited to field goals, 4th down attempts, or multiple paragraph ramblings on a sports forum authored by someone who shall remain anonymous.
My mom and dad didn't even meet until 1981 so I guess I'm out.
Anyway, my collecting survived through the years even though it slowed down in the 80's when I didn't have much money to buy stuff!!!
Barry Sanders and '89 Score was just the greatest thing ever. It faded. Then in '94-95 buying Fleer trying to get a Ki-Jana Carter rookie or the Aerial Attack Dan Marino worth FIFTY BUCKS. Nailed them both in one box. It faded.....again. Then early last year got back into it mainly because being older I finally have some money to buy nice cards. And I just enjoy it. Now I buy/flip/resell. Can't seem to keep anything. I'd really like to collect, by now I'd have a pretty nice HOF RC set. More youngsters need to tell their stories.
1957 Topps PSA
1961 Fleer SGC
Our school had a 5th and 6th grade teacher who traded cards, so a lot of the guys those 2 years were collecting.
I grew up on a farm and all the money I got from working on my Dad's farm and for the neighbors was pouring into buying cards from the mid 70s to early 80s. Slowed down in the mid eighties when I graduated college and had to get a real job and pay my own bills.
I know I wasn't an adult prior to 1980, but I thought I'd share anyway.
And I think some of you may be missing the point of this topic; I'm asking if any of you were ADULT collectors in the 1970s, and if so, what it was like to be a serious card collector back then.
Dimes: 54S, 53P, 50P+S, 49S, 45D+S, 44S, 43D, 41S, 40D+S, 39D+S, 38D+S, 37D+S, 36S, 35D+S, all 16-34's
Quarters: 61D, 52S, 47S, 46S, 40S, 39S, 38S, 37D+S, 36D+S, 35D, 34D, 32D+S
74 Topps: 37,38,46,47,48,138,151,193,210,214,223,241,256,264,268,277,289,316,435,552,570,577,592,602,610,654,655
1997 Finest silver: 115, 135, 139, 145, 310
1995 Ultra Gold Medallion Sets: Golden Prospects, HR Kings, On-Base Leaders, Power Plus, RBI Kings, Rising Stars
Around 1992 I left the hobby and returned again around 2002.
Steve
I do not remember pages until the early 80's, but then again i never looked for them. All the plastics we see today is from the 80's boom.
We mostly put our cards in boxes stacked.
Condition was important to some, my partner back in the 80's (he was older then me) had sets going back to the 30's and his cards were mint.
Centering while not that big an issue, was, to many hard core collectors who collected comic books and other things as well as cards.
I mostly bought from Larry Fritsch, Donn Jennings and Kit Young back then. Once I ordered from them, they would send catalogs monthly.
<< <i> I remember collecting soda bottles to exchange for money to buy cards. >>
I used to live behind a grocery store growing up.
I'd tramp around in the ditches looking for those bottles to take back and get the deposit.
joy of collecting faded for a while . Then those sticker books came out , dont remember exactly when . Things faded again . It was around 89' that a buddy of mine needed some cash and i bought a big 5000 count box of cards . I was hooked again.Things faded again . Then aroung the mid 90's I got ahold of a sports collectors digest . Thats all i needed to get hooked again . Been hooked ever since . I mainly collect baseball and football but do own some basketball and hockey . I do collect both modern and vintage . I prefer vintage but my woman does enjoy tearing into boxes of modern with me so i do collect both . She loves the jersey and autograph pulls .
Always looking for Chipper Jones cards.
Im a very focused collector of cards from 1909 - 2012...LOL
recall Wally Moon at the LA Colisuem, that got me "collecting" cards, in 60 started buying packs like crazy until I kept getting tons of dupes, not realizing cards were issued in series back then,
I had multiple runs of the 60 Topps 1st series, when the 2nd series came out I went wild, spending my nickels as fast as i could get them. I never recall even seeing Bowman cards, very few kids collected cards & card flipping was a big deal,
plus I traded my dupes for my beloved D.C. Comics, had every Superman & Batman from that era,
but card collecting was not huge in my small town, but it was a enjoyable hobby
Umm collecting cards is far from cool. My boss, buddies, family and wife all think it's rather lame. We are at the Alamo of card collecting right now. The future ain't in cardboard.
On another day, maybe I'll tell about the beginnings of Tuff Stuff.
Didn't know it was "cool to collect cards".
ts hard to tell how many mickeys 52's i ruined, we ued to throw knives at em and nail em to teees and shoot em
that the way we roll in wv
sure wish i had allthosecars now, living with 13 aunts,2 uncles,and a grandma and grandpa growing up in a house like the onet he beverly hillbillies came from, it was fun,i got pics of it if u dont believe me, its almost exact,its mine now too,everybody else is dead exceptfor 3 aunts
I didnt' have the time then to seriously collect since I was in school for most of the 70s - but I still bought packs of Topps and stuff.
The year I gradulated from Columbia U. - I reentered the Army and was stationed in El Paso - I went to a Circle K - 7/11 type store and bought some packs of Topps - wasn't very impressed with the design so I didnt' buy alot - don't remember if I pulled an Oz but if I did, it was probably OC.
My friends did think collecting was kind of odd - but that didn't bother me much.
I gave a boatload of stuff to my younger brother back then - since it was hard to travel with all that stuff - big problem? A lot of the stuff I bought that guys called Mint? When I look at the card today - especially with a 10X - PSA 5 - Chaz.
Merry Christmas!
mike
Barry
There was a monthly show at a grade school in Garden Grove (near Disneyland), or you could be verbally abused and often ripped off my making an appointment at Adco.
The first convention was started by Jim Nowell in Anaheim in '69, but the time I went to my first it was relatively huge and held in a large hotel (the Hyatt) in Anaheim in the summer of '74. Besides all the tables (it was about a third the size of the National this year, perhaps a bit less) there was also a live auction. No bald guys at the door ripping off widows for .20 on the dollar, the front table was there to make sure if you didn't know what you had it ended up in the auction.
Condition didn't mean nearly as much and centering had to do more with your mental state and Karma (it was California in the '70's, after all). Cards were either nice or beaten, for the most part. And if you found the last card you needed for a set it was pretty rare to get charged for it.
On the other hand word didn't get out nearly as fast about the bad guys, and it was much tougher finding cards. There were no price guides and even checklists and information could be very tough.
T206's and T205's were pretty easy, the former going for about .50 each, so I was at the halfway mark (250 or so) when I bailed out on cards and sold everything to pay for college. When I got back in 20+ years later it was an entirely different game.
Always looking for Topps Salesman Samples, pre '51 unopened packs, E90-2, E91a, N690 Kalamazoo Bats, and T204 Square Frame Ramly's