Posted By:
Tony GordonSorry, I'm not a regular but I'd like to chime in about 1979 since I was actively purchasing cards that year. That was the year I discovered SCD and purchased the first Beckett Baseball price guide. I'm pretty sure the first football price guide didn't come out until 1980 or 1981. Needless to say, I miss those days when I could buy 1956 Topps commons for a quarter a pop at the old Twin Drive-In flea market in the Chicago suburb of Wheeling. Dozens of dealers were out every Sunday at this particular flea market. I was a teenager working at a day camp and blew my pay checks all summer long buying cards at the Twin or the old Hillside Holiday Inn shows where EX stars (Clemente, Koufax) from '56 were going for 10 bucks a pop. I also bought quite a few cards and supplies via mail order from Den's Collector's Den in Maryland. I still have some of the Den's inscribed plastic sheets.