But, in regard to the numbering issue, the practice of using a major star player on the first card in each set definitely affected a kid's tendency toward banding the stack. I imagine that many '52 Topps Pafko cards suffered banding damage simply because Andy was a common player, not deserving of the respect shown to cards of guys like Berra, Robinson, Rizzuto, Williams, et al. that were more likely to occupy the top position. Still remember rubber-banding my stack of '53 Bowman cards and not worrying about damaging that other Williams, though. Did George Moll really think that Davey was a budding superstar?

From 1972 until about 1976 I used rubber bands and sorted by team. As the season went on the first card in each team's stack would be either the team card or, in the years that they were issued, the team checklist card.

When I started getting a lot of cards in 74 I ended up putting them in number order. Before I had about 300, I had them by team but stopped when it just got too hard to know which ones I needed since I didn't have all the team checklists. But the Aaron was relatively safe, since I didn't get it until after I got a binder and pages.

I've put them in number order ever since, with one in front and the last card at the back. Passed on a few junk era sets once when they were new because they were stacked with the last card in front and the first in back. It was too much of a nuisance to reverse an entire 700+ card set.

I haven't damaged any with rubber bands, but I have in other ways. I got a file cabinet that has shallow drawers and used it for cards. I had to put them in sideways, but it worked great. Except the screws that hold the drawer handles rubbed on the cards at the front. After a couple got wrecked I put some 3x5 cards in there to take the scuffing.
And I've lost a few last cards to spills. Juice or milk, then soda and eventually beer. (That was a sad sad day, wrecked a few cards and spilled a good beer. :( )

Steve B

Out of all of my friends in the neighborhood and all of the kids in the Card clubs in school I was the only kid who did not use rubber bands to help keep my cards organized. I always kept my cards in numeric order but the majority of kids kept theirs in order by team. But every card show in the eighties had their cads in numeric order with most in rubber bands? But I have always felt first and last card was more of a myth as far as hard to find in top condition?

Organized by teams in rubber bands inside any box close to the right size, but preferred writing on the back, like this......

I used to buy collections of cards from the 1960s and 1970s and they were almost always organized by team with rubber bands around each team. I don't think I ever bought a collection where the cards were organized by number.

I think the #1 cards are beat up because they were in the first series and first series cards were played with all summer whereas the higher series are usually less beat up because they were bought at the end of the season.

I have bought some complete sets of cigarette cards from England (usually 50-card sets) and often they put the #1 card behind the #2 card and have the set wrapped in a paper strip. Those small sets are always saved in numerical order and the #1 cards do get more wear in that type of set.

Here is something I used in the early 80s. Although mine is actually long gone I wish to purchase a clean one for sentimenatal reasons.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...8b8bb879cb.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...57b97a268e.jpg

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Actually found a couple of these lockers in a hobby (i.e. models) shop recently. Never got one as a kid despite always kind of wanting one, so picked one up in pretty nice condition. A nice remnant of the era.

I have a couple of the hard plastic storage boxes shown, both with and without the expansion teams. One red , one green.
I thought they were the ones offered on the wrappers, but hearing they were bought at retail makes me wonder.

I also have one of the other ones, it's not in great shape, but it's still pretty cool.

Just by having been around a while I've built up a fairly nice collection of hobby supplies. - Being too lazy to toss them all or crazy enough to keep a few of each when I switch to something easier/newer/better doesn't hurt.

Steve B

Really appreciate the stories everyone! It looks like there were at least a couple people storing in that matter, so maybe there is some merit to the theory. Either way, it's great to hear about card collecting before the binder days of the 90s and grading companies today when they were simply childhood treasures.