I have been in this hobby to long

[ckelly1983pa]

I have been collecting cards since about 1988. My uncles opened up a card shop that year and I was 5. My parents would always take me there and give me $2 to buy singles or packs (back then you could get pretty much stuff for $2). I will never forget a time in 1990 when I went there with $5. I had my choice of a Griffey UD rc or an 8 x 10 auto of Dwight gooden. I chose the 8 x 10 of the doc. I regretted that decision for years to come as the price of the Griffey sky rocketed and gooden chose coke over baseball. That Griffey card eluded me for the next 10 years. I now have 4 of them and still have the gooden sitting around somewhere. The shop closed its doors in 1991 and my uncle has since passed away but I will never forget the days I spent in that shop. Another thing I remember from back then was chasing the up and coming rookies. There are names I will never forget from that time frame. Ricky Jordan, kevin maas, pat kelly, todd van poppel, phil plantier, brien taylor. What I wouldn't give to go back to that time when we were always busting packs to try and search for them. What are some prospects you remember searching for or a story from your early days of collecting?

[mikecancelliere]

I started in 2006 buying retail packs of 2006 Topps

[alexlazarevich]

My first set, built when I was 14...

http://www.cardboardaddict.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/IMG_0001.jpg

[lobo_hacker]

-I've told a few stories in the few months i've been here at Blowout, so i won't bore you with anything long-winded.

As i have stated before, i started collecting in 1987. I wasn't a die-hard collector for another few years, but in 1988 i was faced with my first collecting dilemma. Which of the two powerhouse players everyone was fighting over would i side with and spend tens and tens of dollars trying to get. It was the Ali-Frazier of struggles as i pondered my choice. Although now, i see the err in beginning the struggle in the first place.

If i were writing a book about my collecting life, chapter 2 would most certainly have a very succinct and concise title:

Seitzer vs. Jefferies

lobo_hacker

[dthimesch]

I think I've been it in to long when I remember the prospects to chase were guys like Mike Greenwell, Sam Horn, Greg Jefferies, Alan Anderson, Kevin Mitchell, so on and so on.

[37Jetson]

I have been around so long I remember things like

A. The 1974 Topps Wrapper proclaiming all cards in one series!
B. Price of a pack of Topps Baseball increasing from 10 cents to 15 cents (either 1975 or 1976)
C. Drinking that awful RC Cola just to get a collection of cans with Baseball Players on them
D. Going on the Kellogg's Factory Tour and getting to pick a toy at the end. If you were lucky one of your choices would be baseball cards.
E. The inaugral issue of Beckett Monthly in 1984
F. A mall show in Kalamazoo MI meant 150+ tables (late 80's to early 90's)

[HadWayTooMuch]

These stories are why I started my site, sportscardmemories.com (http://sportscardmemories.com).

So many cards for me from the 70s and 80s have stories behind them.

My first real memory was in 1974 at my brother's little league game. I was 5. My parents asked me what I wanted from the snack shop (which they used to have at the little league field) and instead of saying baseball cards, I said "popcorn." They told me I could share someone's popcorn who was with us instead of getting a pack of cards.

That is my very first memory involving baseball cards, though I have tons of them. Check out my site and click sports cards up top if you have some time.

[ckelly1983pa]

I love the stories guys. No story is to long or will bore me. There aren't many of my friends that no anything about cards and my roommates can't believe how much I know about cards. Like values of most cards with out even looking them up or how I can tell the year and make of a card with a quick glance. That's why I love these forums not to just add to my mariners collection but to talk with people that know this hobby like I do. I miss the days when the excitement of pulling just a regular base rookie was the same of pulling a big name auto now. Flipping through a pack to see a blue bordered Greg Jeffries or Ron gant rc or getting a shirtless Bo Jackson and Jose canseco. Going to a normal card show and having a hundred plus tables like jetson said and having multiple players signing autographs. When the 1986 donruss Jose canseco was the holy grail and just seeing one was incredible even though there were so many of it. The hobby has changed so much over the years but my love for it has stayed the same. One Christmas I got many amazing toys but I was more excited when I opened two presents that we're autographed baseballs of Greg Jeffries and Kevin Maas who used to include the Jesus fish with his auto. I remember watching my uncles busting cases upon cases of 89 fleer looking for the Ripken "Rick face". I once went to a card show where a dealer had a Thomas nnof and it was like I saw the president or something.

[RatedRookie]

The first time I began seriously collecting was in the summer of 1989. I guess I was 13. A friend of mine was going to a baseball card show at the Glen Ellen Country Club in Millis, MA. I took $5 and went along. After paying the $2 entry fee, I had $3 to spend over then next several hours.

One guy was selling 1989 Donruss at 3 packs/dollar, and I ended up just buying nine of those. I pulled some combination of Jr./Sheffield/Jeffries and sold them back to the guy. I used the money to buy more packs. Again, pulled some of those cards, and again sold them, using the money for new packs.

By the time we left, I had sold pretty much any Rated Rookies as well as some McGwires and Cansecos, but ended up with something like 96 packs worth of cards for my $3. I had to get some boxes from one of the dealers to carry them out.

After that, my friends and I pretty much became a fixture at the local cards shows in suburban Boston, to the extent that several of the dealers would greet us when we walked by. I never managed to complete too many sets, as I usually just continued to buy wax instead of 'boring' single commons I was missing.

As far as favorite moments, one would be in what must have been the Fall of 1989 or maybe early 1990. I had saved up enough money (I had to buy Nintendo games in addition to cards) to finally buy a box of 1989 Fleer in search of Rick Face. I picked up a box at a show at the VFW in Medfield. It was a Thursday night show, and it was a big deal that I went as it was a school night. Anyway, I got the box, got it home, and opened it on the floor of my room that night. About halfway through, I hit the Ripken. It was my first 'big' pull and it was very exciting.

Another good moment would be at a card show in Dedham. I was talking hockey with one of the dealers who had a few Mario Lemieux RCs he was selling (my favorite player at the time). I wasn't within 100 miles of having enough money to buy a card like that, but as I was leaving, he handed me one of the Marios and told me to keep it. I think I was in shock for about a day. I've still got the Lemieux in the same holder, and it's not going anywhere for awhile, although I figure some day I'll give it away to someone else.

I only collected into the early nineties as other things began to take precedence as I got older. With the advent of eBay and PSA, I would occasionally pick up some graded cards online, or buy a cheap vending box of early-eighties cards. Last winter as a joke I brought a couple packs of Topps up to my girlfriend as she was paying for some stuff at Target. I opened those packs, saw the photography, and next time I was out bought a few more. And it snowballed to where I have a case of BDPP coming this week. Expensive joke, right?

[dmogull]

Yup I rememver Van Poppel and Maas, those were actually the 1st couple rookies I ever chased...I believe I was around 9 at the time and was chasing the Leaf "gold" rookie cards.

[HadWayTooMuch]

Yup I rememver Van Poppel and Maas, those were actually the 1st couple rookies I ever chased...I believe I was around 9 at the time and was chasing the Leaf "gold" rookie cards.

The Gold Leaf rookies were always the top 4 packs.

I had my card shop back then. I remember some redneck came in and asked to buy the top 4 packs. I mixed my packs up and put them vertically in the box to be fair to everyone. He couldn't comprehend why I wouldn't let him, a total stranger, search my packs and take the best ones. I tried to explain to him if anyone was going to take the best cards out, it would be me, not him, but I wasn't doing that so neither was he. He wasn't the brightest bulb in the sky if you know what I mean.

[BostonNut]

LOVE the price tags on every card! :)!:)!:)!

My first set, built when I was 14...

http://www.cardboardaddict.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/IMG_0001.jpg

[dthimesch]

The first time I began seriously collecting was in the summer of 1989. I guess I was 13. A friend of mine was going to a baseball card show at the Glen Ellen Country Club in Millis, MA. I took $5 and went along. After paying the $2 entry fee, I had $3 to spend over then next several hours.

One guy was selling 1989 Donruss at 3 packs/dollar, and I ended up just buying nine of those. I pulled some combination of Jr./Sheffield/Jeffries and sold them back to the guy. I used the money to buy more packs. Again, pulled some of those cards, and again sold them, using the money for new packs.

By the time we left, I had sold pretty much any Rated Rookies as well as some McGwires and Cansecos, but ended up with something like 96 packs worth of cards for my $3. I had to get some boxes from one of the dealers to carry them out.

After that, my friends and I pretty much became a fixture at the local cards shows in suburban Boston, to the extent that several of the dealers would greet us when we walked by. I never managed to complete too many sets, as I usually just continued to buy wax instead of 'boring' single commons I was missing.

As far as favorite moments, one would be in what must have been the Fall of 1989 or maybe early 1990. I had saved up enough money (I had to buy Nintendo games in addition to cards) to finally buy a box of 1989 Fleer in search of Rick Face. I picked up a box at a show at the VFW in Medfield. It was a Thursday night show, and it was a big deal that I went as it was a school night. Anyway, I got the box, got it home, and opened it on the floor of my room that night. About halfway through, I hit the Ripken. It was my first 'big' pull and it was very exciting.

Another good moment would be at a card show in Dedham. I was talking hockey with one of the dealers who had a few Mario Lemieux RCs he was selling (my favorite player at the time). I wasn't within 100 miles of having enough money to buy a card like that, but as I was leaving, he handed me one of the Marios and told me to keep it. I think I was in shock for about a day. I've still got the Lemieux in the same holder, and it's not going anywhere for awhile, although I figure some day I'll give it away to someone else.

Wow. I bet you didn't know what to say! That is pretty cool that you still have it also.

[dmogull]

wow - never knew they were in the top 4 packs! those cards were absolutely breath-taking to me...the goil foil was so beautiful...

[HadWayTooMuch]

wow - never knew they were in the top 4 packs! those cards were absolutely breath-taking to me...the goil foil was so beautiful...

And if you scratched the top of the pack, you could feel the gold embossment.

That was the beginning of the pack searching. It was tough trying to keep the crooks at bay, and often those crooks were 10 and 15 years old...

[kyle1707]

summer 1983 i was 10...

Had a small grocery store 2-3 blocks away... lots of 83 topps packs

Are baseball field was close also...

Playing till sun went down and ripping cello packs of 83 topps...

I was home this summer and the grocery store is gone...

But man those were good times...

[IndySportsCards]

Nice '86 set! I was almost done with that set back when it came out and my brother took it to school without my knowledge and someone stole it from his locker, or so he told me. I still haven't rebuilt that set, but it's a beauty. I loved the design that year.

[mmbtvs]

When I was a kid I went to see Cy Young pitch. I was just a kid but I was smoking 3 packs of cigarettes a day just to get the cards that came in the packs, trying so hard to get a Young. Wow, those were the days.

[IndySportsCards]

When I was a kid I went to see Cy Young pitch. I was just a kid but I was smoking 3 packs of cigarettes a day just to get the cards that came in the packs, trying so hard to get a Young. Wow, those were the days.

You started when you were 3? You're a late bloomer. I popped out of the womb and the doc lit up the smoke I already had in my lips.

[dmogull]

And if you scratched the top of the pack, you could feel the gold embossment.

That was the beginning of the pack searching. It was tough trying to keep the crooks at bay, and often those crooks were 10 and 15 years old...

this should bring back some memories :)!

besides the gold leaf rookies, note the Vince Coleman IP auto!!! (yes the dude who threw firecrackers at kids from the back of a pickup :rolleyes:)

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m600/dmogull/Misc/20111121_231357.jpg

[ckelly1983pa]

Another thing I remember is when topps finest first came out we were at a sporting goods store. My mom was going to buy me a box cuz it was my birthday and they were only $25. When we got to the register we couldn't believe that it wasn't $25 for a box it was $25 a pack!

[ckelly1983pa]

this should bring back some memories :)!

besides the gold leaf rookies, note the Vince Coleman IP auto!!! (yes the dude who threw firecrackers at kids from the back of a pickup :rolleyes:)

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m600/dmogull/Misc/20111121_231357.jpg

Wow. Some real classics there

[IndySportsCards]

I was a producer on a sports talk show in the late 80's and had to interview Mitch Williams and Jerome Walton of the Cubs, so I brought a couple cards with me and asked if they'd sign them, which they gladly did. I still have these in my collection.

http://i934.photobucket.com/albums/ad181/rwaring11/Mitch_Jerome.gif

[RatedRookie]

I was a producer on a sports talk show in the late 80's and had to interview Mitch Williams and Jerome Walton of the Cubs, so I brought a couple cards with me and asked if they'd sign them, which they gladly did. I still have these in my collection.

http://i934.photobucket.com/albums/ad181/rwaring11/Mitch_Jerome.gif

Very nice, but no Dwight Smith?

[RatedRookie]

The scans have taken this thread up a notch.

If I were at my parents house, I'd throw up an 87 Topps Kevin Mitchell, an 87 Topps Will Clark, an 89 Score Bo Jackson and an 89 Topps Gregg Jeffries. And maybe a 90 Fleer Kevin Maas. And an 86 Dykstra. Alas, those cards are not in my immediate possession, so instead, here's a link to an episode of the Baseball Bunch...

The Baseball Bunch OZZIE SMITH Fielding, Part 1 - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Es04Seu21bQ)

[dwest13cavs]

I remember going to 7-11 and buying slurpies just so I can collect those Discs that came on the bottom of the cups.

And who could forget the Panini Sticker albums?

[CharlieHustle]

I started collecting, out of the blue, in 1989. I was 10 years old at the time. I remember going to Toys R Us with my mom because she was buying a birthday present for one of the kids in our family and when we were there, I was glued to a little section in the store where they sold packs of cards. I dont know why, I didnt like baseball and I never had any sort of connection to cards but I was drawn to the cards like a magnet. I still remember what cards they were too. It was a blister pack of 1988 Donruss and Chris Brown (Padres) was the card on top. My mom bought them, I opened them at home and looked at them for the rest of the day. At some point during the day, my mom told my dad that I liked baseball cards and for some reason it flipped a switch in him. He was almost more excited about me liking cards than I was. He went out that night and bought me my first box, a 1989 Topps wax box from Costco. From then on (1989-1994) my weekly allowance wasn't money, but instead it was a box of cards from Costco.
I also remember that in 1991 all of my Christmas presents were cards. Nothing else, just cards. I wish I could have another Christmas like that, instead of dress socks and cologne.

[ckelly1983pa]

I started collecting, out of the blue, in 1989. I was 10 years old at the time. I remember going to Toys R Us with my mom because she was buying a birthday present for one of the kids in our family and when we were there, I was glued to a little section in the store where they sold packs of cards. I dont know why, I didnt like baseball and I never had any sort of connection to cards but I was drawn to the cards like a magnet. I still remember what cards they were too. It was a blister pack of 1988 Donruss and Chris Brown (Padres) was the card on top. My mom bought them, I opened them at home and looked at them for the rest of the day. At some point during the day, my mom told my dad that I liked baseball cards and for some reason it flipped a switch in him. He was almost more excited about me liking cards than I was. He went out that night and bought me my first box, a 1989 Topps wax box from Costco. From then on (1989-1994) my weekly allowance wasn't money, but instead it was a box of cards from Costco.
I also remember that in 1991 all of my Christmas presents were cards. Nothing else, just cards. I wish I could have another Christmas like that, instead of dress socks and cologne.

Christmas present of nothing but cards :eek::D:eek: sign me up

[Highlander23]

I started getting cards in 1979 and started really collecting in 1981. Some of the rookie names I can remember really hoping for over the years were Shooty Babbitt, Mitchell Page, Charlie Kerfeld, Sam Horn, Alvin Davis, Phil Bradley, Ron Kittle, Hensley Meulens, Billy Joe Robidoux, Joe Charboneau, Barbaro Garbey, Chris Pittaro, Nick Esasky, Jose Rijo and the list goes on!

[romanus]

I remember going to 7-11 and buying slurpies just so I can collect those Discs that came on the bottom of the cups.

And who could forget the Panini Sticker albums?

I would never finish the slurpee and it would kill my Mom, but I had to have all the damn discs!

This reminded me of the Topps Coins I used to also collect. Loved these back in the day.

1987 TOPPS BASEBALL COMPLETE SET OF 48 PLAYER PHOTO COINS,METAL,NEW | eBay (http://www.ebay.com/itm/1987-TOPPS-BASEBALL-COMPLETE-SET-48-PLAYER-PHOTO-COINS-METAL-NEW-/370550466800?pt=US_Baseball&hash=item56468768f0)

[NWOWOLFPACK]

Back in the summer of 1985, I used to go up to the park/baseball field and would usually buy a soda and some gummi bears! One day I noticed they had packs of Topps baseball cards for 35 cent a pack. I randomly bought a couple and was hooked instantly. That entire summer I would scrounge up change around my house every day just so I could go buy some packs of Topps at 4 pm when the consession stand opened. Having three older siblings(all at least 11 years older than me) all giving me their extra change every day was very helpful. The gas station up front had 1985 Donruss for 49 cent a pack plus tax. I would only get those on days I just could not wait for the consession stand to open at the park! I remember all this stuff like it was yesterday.... good times.. very good times.

[IUjapander]

I remember going to 7-11 and buying slurpies just so I can collect those Discs that came on the bottom of the cups.

And who could forget the Panini Sticker albums?

Here's a little nostalgia for you.

http://i614.photobucket.com/albums/tt222/IUjapander/Indiana%20University%20Alumni/1988%20Mickey%20Morandini/SCAN1949.jpg



http://i614.photobucket.com/albums/tt222/IUjapander/Indiana%20University%20Alumni/1988%20Mickey%20Morandini/SCAN1950.jpg

[mainerunr]

My first set, built when I was 14...

http://www.cardboardaddict.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/IMG_0001.jpg

I started collecting in '82/'83. Well, I wasnt so much collecting as buying fodder to flip on the playground during recess (flipping cards meant something completely different back then). I was pretty good, always went home with more cards than I started with (even have a ripken rookie that I got that way).

But the '86 set was my first complete set (and the only factory set I've ever opened). Oddly enough, I was also 14 when I got this set.

My son got his first factory set for Christmas last year and opened it immediately. I suspect my father will be giving him another one this year (even though we've already hand built a set for him...I prefer to build sets with him rather than just buy him the set.)

[oklafatz]

You brought back a lot of good memories for me as well. That is about the time frame I started collecting. Nice Post!

[tajikey]

This was probably my favorite Christmas gift of all time, well, up until the point I got the Micro Machines City...

1989 Topps /LJN BaseBall Talk Player & Near Complete (38/40) Set of Cards !! NIB | eBay (http://www.ebay.com/itm/1989-Topps-LJN-BaseBall-Talk-Player-Near-Complete-38-40-Set-Cards-NIB-/150702658840?pt=US_Baseball&hash=item2316941518)

[speedmasterp]

My dad started giving me cards around 88-89.

I still have my first 89 topps factory set. Cards are probalby not even close to mint since I probably sorted that set by number, then by team, then by player then by number again too many times. I also remember finding the Hank Aaron "turn back the clock" card and thinking I had a high valued Hank Aaron card.

I remember going to the store and my parents would let me buy 90 donruss packs anytime I found one with an Oriole on the front (they were some sort of rack packs where you could see through the front)

The first set I had interest in collecting wasn't until 1995 and I loved the Score "Hall of Gold" inserts. I never did get around to collecting the whole set, but thats why my love for inserts began.

[soxfanintx]

I have been around so long I remember things like

A. The 1974 Topps Wrapper proclaiming all cards in one series!
B. Price of a pack of Topps Baseball increasing from 10 cents to 15 cents (either 1975 or 1976)
C. Drinking that awful RC Cola just to get a collection of cans with Baseball Players on them
D. Going on the Kellogg's Factory Tour and getting to pick a toy at the end. If you were lucky one of your choices would be baseball cards.
E. The inaugral issue of Beckett Monthly in 1984
F. A mall show in Kalamazoo MI meant 150+ tables (late 80's to early 90's)

Awesome! Didn't Topps also advertise the "collector's box organizer" or something to that effect on packs? I SO wanted one of those!

[gsxr1000mxz800]

I started splitting packs with my brother around 1983. I really got into collection around 85 and started doing shows in 1988 to help me build my collection. I was 14. By 1994 I was doing around 40 shows a year, promoting a couple small shows, had a small shop and was selling in the 6 figures of cards. Sadly internet was still in its infancy and I had the chance to get a real job with benefits. Every single show I did I would get something for my collection. I really miss selling at shows like I did. It was fun to be the kid bringing in $25000 in product, taking mastercard and visa and being able to buy most anything I wanted. I spent 7 days a week flipping cards. Seen alot of neat stuff. Got alot of neat stuff in my collection. Never regret not selling something, but I did learn that it never hurts to let go of something high dollar when its really hot as you most likely will be able to pick it up later cheaper. Now I selectively buy oddball inserts and open boxes or cases occasionally and working on my topps set collection going backwards. Sadly I dont have the money today to spend on cards I did back when I was a "kid".......

[37Jetson]

Great memory! I had one of those. It looked like the one in this picture

http://i.ebayimg.com/t/Vintage-TOPPS-SPORTS-CARD-LOCKER-cardboard-1970-ALBUM-/00/$(KGrHqUOKpQE4iIWjEQbBOPvEM)0lg~~0_35.JPG

Awesome! Didn't Topps also advertise the "collector's box organizer" or something to that effect on packs? I SO wanted one of those!

[abcd1234]

Hideo Nomo

And lets not forget all the boxes of cards that K-Mart used to have for $10, $15, $20.......should've sat on those boxes.

[soxfanintx]

Great memory! I had one of those. It looked like the one in this picture

http://i.ebayimg.com/t/Vintage-TOPPS-SPORTS-CARD-LOCKER-cardboard-1970-ALBUM-/00/$(KGrHqUOKpQE4iIWjEQbBOPvEM)0lg~~0_35.JPG

Just pulled out an old wrapper, and lo and behold, there it is. The "Topps Super Sports Card Locker". I'm SO jealous you have one!!:)!

http://i1235.photobucket.com/albums/ff426/soxfanintx/wrapper.jpg

[benshobbies]

This thread has been a good read, brings back good memories. My first pack of cards was 1988 Donruss in the early 90s. Whenever I would go to my grandmother's house, the card shop was a few blocks away. He didn't have much to start off with, but man I felt like a total rebel running to the card shop, buying one or two packs of Donruss (usually .05 or .10 cents). So I would run back to my grandmother's house and run upstairs into her spare bedroom, open them up and sneak them in my pocket. I would go to Grandma's solely so I could buy one or two packs.

I remember being really excited every time I pulled a Mickey Morandi card or Lenny Dykstra. Never got to sell cards, but my dream was always to sell cards. I ended up keeping all my cards in the attic when I went to college. After college I got home to my parents and was without a job. My mom said "Why don't you sell those cards you have upstairs?" Well, I started selling a few on ebay, and that went from one or two cards on ebay to having a checking account set aside for cards. I even got my own debit cards and paypal account. Now I'm doing what I could only have dreamed of 15 years ago.

On a side note, the first set I completed was 2001 Topps Series 1. I completed Series 1 & Series 2 sets just out of wax and I got the case hit...A 2001 Topps Originals Game used Jersey of Carl Yastrzemski which is in my PC till today!

[metscollector]

1986, i was 8 years old and my mom had bought me a few packs of garbage pail kids. i took them home and showed my dad and he was disgusted by them and said they were inappropriate for a kid my age so he threw them out and drove us back to the same store and bought me a bunch of packs of baseball cards. ive never been the same since.

[speedmasterp]

1986, i was 8 years old and my mom had bought me a few packs of garbage pail kids. i took them home and showed my dad and he was disgusted by them and said they were inappropriate for a kid my age so he threw them out and drove us back to the same store and bought me a bunch of packs of baseball cards. ive never been the same since.

Wow, he really taught you a lesson!!! haha

I caught my teenage son watching GLEE....I took him to the porn shop and he hasn't been the same since....

J/k, i don't have kids.....

[GiantPirate]

Great thread and a lot of fun posts to read through on here!!!

I started collecting in 93-94...my Dad bought me this card:
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff19/DeangeloHallFan/firstcard.jpg

I have no idea how I've kept it over the last decade and a half, but always made sure I kept it in my collection.

After he bought me that card, I would buy packs at the coffee shop that sold them in Pittsburgh PA. I moved to New York and my collection continued to grow. Some fun stories:

Everyone in my family has known for a very long time that all I ever wanted for Christmas growing up was cards. It got better each year, one time when I was 12-13...I woke up and basically everything I got was cards...a stocking full of packs and 6 boxes of cards in the presents, I was in heaven no question about it :D

In 2000, I think it was when Black Diamond first came out. I went to a buddys house and was looking through his cards, I found a card that was really cool and looked different, and I thought it might be rare. So I traded a bunch of base cards of his favorite team. Went home and discovered that the card had actual pieces of GU bat in them! haha. ANd the player? Cal Ripken, at the time the card booked hundreds of dollars. I didn't have it in me, and had to tell my friend the truth lol.

I also remember the first "hit" I got. It was in Fleer Tradition Baseball. I was opening them up and hit a Greg Maddox Turn Back the Clock Jersey card and was in total shock. At the time the odds were about 1:4 boxes haha. I didn't know what to do, I actually still have the card and along with the Tim Salmon, won't ever leave my collection which is very small at this point.

I also remember back when jersey and bat cards first went into packs, the companies didn't use decoys and it was SO obvious, I would walk into a retail store and only have money for one pack and sometimes I would spot a HUGE pack and know I had something.

So many good memories in this hobby. It's too bad how expensive it's gotten.

[washingtonmark]

I envy those who had the chance to collect when shows and card shops were the entire industry, I did not open my first pack of cards until 2005. Though I have found lots of old pinnacle and score cards from the 1990's that I suspect I got when I was kid, but don't remember.

[37Jetson]

I love the differentiation between the $.05 commons and the $.06, $.07 and $.08 semi-stars. For those of you not old enough to remember this era, yes things were that precise back then.

My first set, built when I was 14...

http://www.cardboardaddict.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/IMG_0001.jpg

[killercards2000]

B. Price of a pack of Topps Baseball increasing from 10 cents to 15 cents (either 1975 or 1976)


Man, I hated that! (It was 76, btw). I know because my allowance at the time was $1.00 per week - which used to get me 10 packs at the local "Stop N Go" liquor store. I couldn't believe it when I started walking out of the store with only 6 packs and a dime the following year! The beginning of the end, as it were.

[DaBaddestHic]

The early days of my collecting are sort of hazy (I can't tell you what my first card/pack was like some people can), but I do remember my first big 'hit'. I used to buy a pack or two of cards everytime I went to Walmart or Kmart during the summers I spent at my grandparents'. This was around 97/98. I loved Collector's Choice back then - they were cheap, and there were some cool looking inserts (eg shiny) to be found.

One day I was looking for some cards and there was a box of 1997 Collector's Choice series 1. I've never been one to buy the first pack in the box, so I chose a random one from the middle. Well, that pack ended up having one of the Ken Griffey Jr Clearly Dominant cards. I was so excited! I still remember the odds being 1:144 packs, which was basically hitting the jackpot in the lottery for me at the time. It booked for $20, which was also a ton for me back then.

I remember showing my grandpa the card and all he could say was what a waste of money it was. If only he knew how much money I spend on cards now :).

I still have the card, although I think it only books for $10 now, which means $1 on ebay. Nowadays 1:144 doesn't really mean a lot either, but I'll never let go of that card!

[37Jetson]

Thanks for the confirmation that is was 1976 that brought the draconian price increase to 15 cents a pack. I grew up in Michigan so 1975 meant the onslaught of Mini Packs. In the late 70's we used to walk a mile and a half each way to the closest grocery store while all long searching for cans and bottles to take back for the $.10 deposit. A good day would be 10 packs apiece for my friend and I. The modern parent would have a coronary if their precious child walked to the end of the driveway unaccompanied.

Man, I hated that! (It was 76, btw). I know because my allowance at the time was $1.00 per week - which used to get me 10 packs at the local "Stop N Go" liquor store. I couldn't believe it when I started walking out of the store with only 6 packs and a dime the following year! The beginning of the end, as it were.

[who765]

Great read. Brings back a lot memories.

For me it was '73-'75. The local General Store was on the way to & from School. I remember that you could see the top & bottom card and we used to look for the ones with a Red Sox player. Still remember the way the old wood floor would creak in that place when you walked around. We would take the cards to School & play Flip cards during recess. When you won more than you could carry you would have a TOSS UP with the extras. I ended up with a shoebox full of '75 Topps that my Mom sent to me & now my Uncle has them. Still not sure why that happened.

Thanks again for the Flashback.