Just got here.....How long have you collected? Poll
 

I knew I wanted to do 2 polls yesterday but forgot what the other one was going to be :). Old age is getting to me...

So now that we have the "How old are you?" poll well under way, I think this will be a good one. Basically, how long have you been collecting? Do we have much fresh meat? uh, I mean newer collectors? ..Personally, I am at about 14-15 yrs.

And, to clarify, this is about the "now" collecting, not when you were a kid, unless you kept on going. I collected back in the late 1960's, as a juvenile, but gave it up for the next 25 yrs. So, this is how long you have been (back to) collecting. If you quit for a long time (say 10yrs or more) period, please don't count all the way back. I hope that isn't too complicated :confused:.

edited to say that I meant to make this a public poll but forgot to check the correct box....so it will be anonymous..sorry 'bout that

42 Now
 

Been collecting since I found a handful of cards in a field in 1976. So, this is my 34th year in the hobby. Those original cards are still in my collection as well.

I'm in the 4 year range,since I stopped collecting around '79-'80 when my mom left my cards behind once when we moved from Mass. back to California.Was a simple mistake,but I just stopped collecting then.Got back into it around 4 years ago,and realised I have much more of a passion for pre-war cards than anything else.I have thousands of cards from the '70's to present,they just don't do anything for me............
T206 is my addiction-just love 'em.............

Great ideas for both polls.

I have collected since the age of 9 and I am now 46. I never stopped collecting but sold off my colletion many times and refocused my attention on the hobby. Currently working on re-gaining my youth by rebuilding the 1972-76 Topps sets that I collected as a kid. Doing these sets as raw sets after realizing that graded form would be crazy since I dont make a whole lot of cash here at the job. I will leave the graded sets to Mr Crandell and others.

I wish I could get into pre-war like many of you guys but as a die hard set collector it would drive me nuts that I couldnt complete a set I was working on. Since many of the hall of fame cards are priced out of my budget I will have to live that pre-war dream by watching what you guys post on the boards.

25 years for me I think because I am older then Leon:D D.

About 34 years.

Opened my first wax pack in 1976 at age 7 and have been going strong ever since (some years stronger than others).

Mike

Collected as a kid (mostly 50s, 60s and 70s). Quit in High School and started up again about 4 to 5 years ago collecting pre-war.

Since 1962 and still ticking...

As for me
 

A little over a year for me I guess.

A loooong time
 

35 years as a collector, last 29 almost strictly Pre-WW2 vintage.

Brian

36 years old now; the first cards that I bought on my own were as a 6 year old in 1979 (still have them). Fortunately, I switched as a 10-12 year old to collecting the 1957 set, since my father loved telling stories to me about the players, and I loved hearing them, so I spent my money on '50s cards. I still bought modern cards as a teenager, but am glad I caught the vintage bug back in the '80s!

26+ years - since my son was born 8/3/83.

Bought & collected my 1st cards late '40's until around 1956. Cards went into cigar boxes & into whiskey cases in the bathroom closet until 1980 when I dug them out & started sorting thru them again. Been back in the card game for 30 yrs, buying & selling.

.............
 

1981 ahhhhhhhhhhhhh........Topps , Donruss AND Fleer.

first packs were opened in 1976


stopped at 1982 ...


started up again in 1992- vintage only

Ripped Topps packs in the fifties. Lost interest for four decades. Started collecting in earnest around 2000, first with sets from my boyhood, gradually into pre-WW2, then pre-WW1. So . . ten years in the Hobby and good for another 20 unless the Devil gets me. Collecting vintage baseball cards and the ensuing camaraderie has been one of the great pleasures of my life.

Started collecting about 1990 ish, I think this will be my 20th year. I've had some collecting gaps but never more than a year. Got my first pre wars in 1993 (handful from Great Grandfather) , mostly stayed with shiny stuff till about 5 1/2 yrs ago when I got the rest of the cards from my Grandfather.

I've always loved the old stuff and picked up a few here and there before getting my grandpas cards. Before I started using ebay they just weren't available to me though. I could never find any good pre war stuff. Either way I've been mostly pre war now since 2004 and it will stay that way...

Collecting since the second grade - 49 leaf's purchased from proceeds from returning pop bottles collected from construction workers at Cashman's store on route 9 in Natick Mass. Thanks to my late mother I still have those cards and about 100 punched canceled 1933 Goudeys given to me by my step-granddad.

About a dozen years now, consecutively, not counting childhood or occasional spurts of interest, in the intervening years.

I first began opening packs in late 1986 and began in earnest the following year, I had been a Garbage Pail Kid collector before that. I always had some pre-war cards but I didn't begin focusing on pre-war until the mid-1990's.
-Rhett

I've been collecting since I found a Larry Fritsch ad in a 1975 Sporting News. I've had one or two budget-driven "detours" to different card eras, but have never stopped entirely.


Steve

Collected in the late 80s early 90s in middle and high school. I got back into cards in 2004. I really became interested when I saw the vintage Cracker Jack cards for the first time!

First packs in 1978. Only years I didn't buy anything were 1992-1995. In 1998 started putting together a 34 Goudey set and took 10 years to complete it. So as far as pre world war 1 goes I consider myself fresh meat as I really branched outside of T206 only in the past year.

First pack 1969 -Jackson rookie!
About a pack a year till 73
Started collecting a bit more seriously when I moved to a town with a card shop in 1977 (Halls Nostalgia in Arlington Ma.)which is when I counted from.
I've been more or less active since then, but not always in pre war since I collect almost everything.

Steve

28 and counting...
 

I have been collecting since 1982 so its been about 28 years now.

I was into 50-70's as a kid in my younger years of the 70's. Just started "vintage" 3 years ago.

Rawn

I collected 1961 Topps baseball as a kid, then lost interest until discovering eBay in 1998. Have been collecting pre-war, as well as 50s and 60s, since.

Started consistent pre world war II collecting in 2003.

First pre war card was about 1975, at Flea Market in Miami, with my father. He bought me a 1933 Goudey, T206 Lajoie, and a Playball, at $1 each.

Great thread.

I've posted this before, but we have lots of new members. You old-timers can skip it.

As a little kid (say 4-11 years old) we lived in NYC. My dad worked at the A&P Grocery Chain's Factory located at Bush Terminal in Brooklyn. In his job as Superintendent of Shipping & Receiving, he had responsibility for the daily trash hauler (no recycling back then!)

Another tenant on the route was the Topps Factory (also in Bush Terminal.) The driver/owner and my dad became friends (and maybe he just wanted to keep the A&P as a customer), so once he found out my dad had kids, he would stop by nearly every day with uncut sheets that Topps was tossing out. Some were really disasters, but most had just minor flaws. During the Spring/Summer, my dad would come every night with a pile of these huge (OK, they were "huge" to a kid) uncut sheets.

My older brother and I spend countless nights sitting at the kitchen table, with scissors, cutting sheets into cards. (I know. I know...)

I was born in 1955, but my brother is 9 years older, so this went on from probably 1953 or 1954 through 1963 or so. Then it just suddenly stopped, and I never knew why. About a year ago I found out from Dave Hornish that this stoppage coincided with Topps moving their facility from Brooklyn to Duryea, PA.


Oh to have those sheets back!

So I collected as far back as 1959 or 1960, but took some time off. This time around, since about 1985 or so.

I collected as a kid from 1973-1979, then when I went to high school I stopped completely until 1994. Why 1994 you might ask? Thats when the OJ Simpson saga began. My father and I were watching the white bronco on tv going down the interstate when my father looked at me and said "Don't you have some of his football cards from when you were a kid". I dug them out of the attic, thumbed through them and within a week started collecting again.

Collected mostly modern until two & a half years ago when I bought my first T206. Since then, I've never looked back.

Other than buying T206s, one of my side projects is to finish my 1979 Topps baseball set from when I was a kid. I'm close to being done and it has been fun putting it together. I may finish another one of my 70s sets, but I'm undecided at the moment.

Jantz

how long
 

vintage(beginning with T206,205,210,203) for 27 years.
from the very beginning as a boy we'd have to say 'round 50 years.

best,
barry

too long
 

all started in 1978 with a rc of the "Ek" man, then the top 100 closers (up to date), then all HOF pitchers (done/up to date), then all nono/perfect game hurlers (still missing 2 out of 174 but up to date), then all pitchers who won a game on the winning team of the world series (done or up to date), then all 20 game winners (still missing 10 out of 382 but up to date), then all pitchers with over 1000 innings and a life time ERA under 3.00 (still missing 8 out of 123) and now any pitcher with a single season ERA under 3.00 with over 200 innings pitched... all post 1900 for a time line. It's great fun, I just wish more people here would sell their hard to find cards (E107 Hahn) for dirt cheap:D

I began at about the age of 8 - kept going strong for about 10 years. Then took a break and revived my obsession 3-4 years ago...except this time focusing on Pre-War. So I have used this board to gain as much knowledge as possible about Pre-War cards...which is why I don't contribute too often. Thanks to some great people on this board, I feel much more comfortable now than a couple years ago.

Been collecting since I use to get the 1958 Topps cards via mail by Series. I don't know who was selling them by mail at that time but I think the ad must have came from the Sporting News. I remember throughout the summer getting one Series at a time for a # of years.

Does anyone know what company was a baseball card mail order business in the 1950's ?

Just got here.....How long have you collected?
 

I started collecting when I was 9 years old, and worked at a few shops when I got a bit older. Then started going to shows and I just could not stop, then focused on my studies did take a small break maybe 3 years or so.

Jimmy

My latest run has been about 5 years with the purchase of a nice-sized group of '33 Goudeys that I was fortunate to acquire and then on to the addiction of other vintage cards. I do enjoy the hobby and the electronic friendships.

Like many others I collected as a kid with Topps from late '66 to probably '75 or so.

RC

First pack I rememeber was in early 1982......11 years old

1972-1999,

picked up again last summer.

voted 0-1 years in the poll

Started collecting in 1978, 1st team set completed was the Orioles (Murray rookie), completed my 1st set in 1979 (needed Clint Hurdle and Mike Krukow). Took minor breaks in 1984 and 1986 (different priorities). Took another break in 1993 & 1994 (frustrated with hobby). Started getting frustrated again in 2009 with all the new shiny stuff that cost a bunch, "books" high, and sells for nothing. I have lots of high book cards that no one wants. Pre-war always interested me, so I started buying some to see what I wanted to do. Now working on the T205 set, I can get HOFers in about VG for the price of a new box of shiny stuff.