When did your collecting virginity end?

lightningboy

Do you remember the exact moment when you realized that your cards were actually worth something and you began to handle them with more care?

For me the year was 1979 and I bought the 1st annual Beckett's Price Guide. Even though I was probably paying only .30/pack for several cards, there was a single card only 4 years old that was worth about $1.50 (Brett rookie). I started separating superstars (Brett, Jackson Seaver etc) from minor stars (Fingers, Fisk, Concepcion etc) from the commons (Trillo, Remy, Wynegar etc). I also stopped throwing the cards in boxes, took off all rubber bands, stopped marking checklists and began inserting into plastic sheets.

It ended up being the true beginning of the hobby for me.
Unfortunately, it also started the decline in much of the fun I had.

Allen

The day I got a bench warmers lipstick card.

Stone193

I just graduated from school at Columbia in 1979 - but do remember buying some packs just to see what the cards looked like - I think they were 20 cents per.

I also ate a Reggie bar at the 7-11 type store also!

I didn't know from Beckett back then - in fact, the first time I saw a Beckett was in 1988 - I still have my first copy - it had Dave Winfield on the cover.

In a way - looking at cards and then thrumbing thru Beckett changed card collecting for me.

mike

nightcrawler

I bought a few packs between 74 and 78. Nothing memorable, but I snatched a C55 Vezina and C56 Glass in late 78 by accident/default.

I guess I never considered cards being worth anything til around 90-91. But I always wanted an Orr RC even before then. The face on that little guy, and the brush cut, lol.

My Dad returned my Vezina to me a few years back (hiding in his desk). Although I had a sizable collection I sold in 94, getting the Vezina back kind of sank the hook in me.

initialD

I remember in 86 when I busted a box of 85 Topps in the

backseat of dad's Nova after leaving the card shop.

Dwight Gooden RC was my holy grail at the time

It was all downhill after that!!!

minnesotahusker

My cherry was popped over a 1983 Topps Wade Boggs rookie. A neighbor had one of those thick annual price guides and he kept on demanding and demanding that I trade this card to him. I asked why do you want it so bad. He said he liked Boggs. He was reluctant to give the price guide to me to look at. When I finally wrestled it away from him and saw the value, I know why. At the time it was a $27 card. Big jack to a young kid.

I still have that card and will never sell it because of the impact it had on me and how it paved the way for my collection today.

itzagoner

i was 9.

i sold off all of my 60's cards to a guy down the street for 10 bucks so i could buy decals for my bike.....i lamented this transaction for many years while remembering the box was full of cards of guys like Aaron, Mays, Rose, Clemente, etc.....they were also pretty beat up with creases and pen markings and the like.

and those shiny decals were sweet.

Bottom9th

Probably when I was 15 or 16. We used to set up monthly at a Card Collectors Club. When I could make $50 or a $100 a month I was hooked!

nearmint

It was 1989 when I first realized that cards could be worth something, I had only one worth anything: a 1972 Topps Joe Namath in action card. I remember how I got that card: my 6-year-old brother gave me a pack of cards for Christmas, but since it was so late in the season, I had lost interest in collecting for that year. I put the cards from the pack in the closet with the rest of my cards, and they were the only ones that weren't beat up years later.

rbdjr1

Its been a while now!

rd





Pink Floyd - Money

WinPitcher

I was 15, she was 14....oh wait, never mind.


Steve

larryallen73

For me the year was 1979 and I bought the 1st annual Beckett's Price Guide.

DITTO! Had been buying cards since '74 but 1979 was the big year. Went to my first card show in '79, bought Dr. Beckett's guide, etc....

IchiroDeported

....it was a hazy day in the lockup and the guard had a tub of vaseline and an 88 fleer factory set, but I digress.

matthewbschultz83

I remember first collecting cards in 1989, but if you look at my "orignials" from that year they look horrible, creases, rounded corners, etc. Around 1993, 1994, things started getting handled more carefully, sorted properly, etc. I guess I always knew this stuff was valuable or had the potential to be, but I never looked at it that way. I loved playing baseball, watching baseball, and collecting little 2 1/2 by 3 1/2 cardboard pictures of men in tight pants...

PoppaJ

I was literally floored when my oldest son brought home a "price guide" for baseball cards in 1984. He paid $2.50 for it. There were only 50 different sets listed (1948 Bowman - 1984 Topps).

I started looking up my Mantle cards and about had a heart attack when I saw the following prices of these cards that I paid a nickel for when I was a kid:

51 Bowman .... $375

52 Bowman .... $200

52 Topps .... $1400

53 Bowman Color .... $200

53 Topps .... $225

54 Bowman .... $90

55 Bowman .... $45

56 Topps .... $80

57 Topps .... $70

58 Topps .... $48

59 Topps .... $36

60 Topps .... $33

61 Topps .... $32

62 Topps .... $29

63 Topps .... $32

64 Topps .... $22

65 Topps .... $28

66 Topps .... $20

67 Topps .... $22

68 Topps .... $18

69 Topps .... $23

How about these other guys ....

48 Bowman Yogi Berra RC .... $40; 51 Bowman Mays RC .... $325; 54 Topps Aaron RC .... $150; 55 Topps Clemente RC .... $95; 57 Topps B.Robinson RC .... $80; 59 Topps Gibson RC .... $29; 60 Topps Yaz RC .... $75; or a 68 Topps Ryan RC .... $33!

I almost threw the price guide away, but something told me to keep it.



PoppaJ

Beck6

Two players Todd Van Poppel and Brien Taylor. How could you go wrong with those two? That was it, I never looked at cards the same again.

smtjoy

Funny I also started because of the 1979 Beckett that I got at my first card show back then, it was all over after that.

Stone193

<< <i>I was 15, she was 14....oh wait, never mind.


Steve >>

Carol Blackburn, Ypsilanti, MI Steve!

koufax

<< <i>Two players Todd Van Poppel and Brien Taylor. How could you go wrong with those two? That was it, I never looked at cards the same again. >>



I use to watch Todd Van Poppel pitch for the Medford A's. I live about 20 minutes north of Medford in Grants Pass. Oh and thats in Oregon

What got me was the Mike Greenwell 87 Donruss card. I remember cutting lawns and washing cars back in 87 to just buy those cards. I remember at one point I think in 1988 I was paying 13 bucks a piece for them. At one point I had aboout 100 copies of that card. I mean I wewnt crazy for them. All my b-day money was spent on that card. I remember mom driving me around to all the card shops in LA to find them. Yeah, I lost a few bucks on him. I didn't feel to bad when my high school math teacher had a binder with over 700 Bo Jackson rookies (baseball and football). He got them when they were top dollar as well. now that hurt

SDSportsFan

<< <i>For me the year was 1979 and I bought the 1st annual Beckett's Price Guide.

DITTO! Had been buying cards since '74 but 1979 was the big year. Went to my first card show in '79, bought Dr. Beckett's guide, etc.... >>





Wow, me too...although I'd begun buying cards in 1970. Still have that Beckett #1 in fact


Steve

lightningboy

Wow, me too...although I'd begun buying cards in 1970.

I also started in 1970, months before I would begin kindergarten. Living in Chicago, I was only interested in Banks, Santo, Beckert, Kessinger etc.

The price guide 9 years later changed everything.

I also remember in 1981, the Topps Valenzuela probably being the first card selling for $1 or more the same year it was released.

RedHeart54

Remember those Hygrade price guides that came out in the '80s? Realizing my '86 Topps George Brett was worth SIXTY CENTS in the 1987 guide definitely did it for me. Oh, and whoever this Mickey Mantle guy was? (Pronounced "man-tell" in my mind.) Wow! $3000 for his 1952 Topps card!

rbdjr1

It was the mid 50s! A little kid in Cleveland, who was soooooooooooo proud dumping some Mickey Mantles for a Jim Busby and an Al Rosen.

That popped my cherry alright! (...as I got the message a few years later!)

rd



Pink Floyd - Money

jimmyg

Ah, I knew what they were worth when I learned my '84 Topps Mattingly booked for $8.00. The kicker for me was when I went to my friend's house. He subscribed to Beckett and couldn't figure out why I had 'commons' in my album. My commons were Bobby Grich, Doug Decinces, and Jaoquin Andujar.

SDSportsFan

<< <i>I also remember in 1981, the Topps Valenzuela probably being the first card selling for $1 or more the same year it was released. >>





I'm thinkin' one of the 1979 Bump Wills cards (either the error or variation, I can't remember which one was/is tougher) was actually the first one at $1 or more in the year of issue.



Steve

Downtown1974

<< <i>

I almost threw the price guide away, but something told me to keep it. >>



Poppa, Did Dale Murphy really sign the cover, or is it the scan of the card they used for the cover?

PoppaJ

<< <i>

<< <i>

I almost threw the price guide away, but something told me to keep it. >>



Poppa, Did Dale Murphy really sign the cover, or is it the scan of the card they used for the cover? >>


/////////////////////////////

It's the scan of the card they used for the cover.

PoppaJ

frankhardy

...when my uncle told me that my 1983 Topps Wade Boggs rookie was worth $8. We looked at it a little closer and it had a crease in it.

I think it is still worth about $8, isn't it?

HoofHearted

<< <i>

<< <i>I was 15, she was 14....oh wait, never mind.


Steve >>

Carol Blackburn, Ypsilanti, MI Steve!

>>



Some bar in Nogales, Mexico, in 1973. Don't recall a name offhand...

HoofHearted

I collected cards as a kid in 1962 thru 1968 primarily. Those cards are well used. Whey my cousin bought me some rack packs again in 1981, I took much better care of them. When I was done buying for the year, I'd go through my Topps, Donruss and Fleer cards and put together the best complete sets I could.

Great times!