How long you collected as a kid ?...

[CowboysGuide]

Great thread!

I can recall buying gas at our local Sunoco station and reminding my dad not to forget the football stamps! That was 1972, I was only 6, but I remember the Sunoco Stamps and the saver album vividly. I also remember the NFL Pro Draft game by Parker Brothers that contained cards from the 1974 Topps set. (Topps provided the cards for the game, but each card has a double asterick on the copyright line).
Actual card collecting came to me a few years later, probably 1976-78 is all that I collected. I had a storage box with dividers, and I sorted by teams. My return to the hobby was 1995 or so. I went back to my parents basement to fetch my childhood cards, and the only thing left was a single card in the bottom of the Pro Draft game box! I still have that card, and as beat-up as it is, I will never get rid of it.

[Kawika]

Nice to see how many of us old timers that collected in the fifties that there are here, and even two or three that were bustin' packs in the forties. Let us give a kind thought to our departed friend Joe Palaez who would have collected Play Balls.

In my mind's eye I can still see myself playing with a handful of cards someone had given me in 1956, amongst them a '54 Topps Ernie Banks and a '56 Topps Del Ennis. Loved that little bear cub in the corner and the way Ennis was jumping. By 1957 I was collecting with a vengeance. Didn't have easy access to any stores but my Uncle Harry owned a cigar shop in Brooklyn and every so often he'd hand me a few packs. I must have been pretty good in the schoolyard flipping games because I had a yard-high stack of '57s. Also had a number of football, basketball and hockey cards but those sports were just diversions until baseball season started again. Collected cards until 1959 when we moved from the suburbs to New York City and then my nickels and dimes went to comics. Each month I'd patronize the green newspaper shack at West 86th and Broadway, Superman, Superboy, Action, Adventure, Batman, Flash, Green Lantern, ten cents apiece, hanging by clothes pins in a neat and colorful array. Great memories.

[peterb69]

I'm still a kid at heart, so does that mean I never stopped?

Actually I started in 1969, and collected just Topps Baseball thru 1979. I remember an older lady from our church at this time (she was probably in her 80's) asked if I wanted her deceased husband's cards he collected when he was a kid. I was to polite and said no, I prefer the modern players. I always wonder what she would have given me....T-cards? Goudeys?

I then got back into collection in 1986 collecting Red Sox players from Topps, Fleer, & Donruss as they headed to the world series. It was also then I collected my first T-card, T206 McGraw glove at hip. I then collected various T & N cards since.

[tonyo]

Originally Posted by CowboysGuide

I also remember the NFL Pro Draft game by Parker Brothers that contained cards from the 1974 Topps set.

Ditto. Spent many an hour on my front porch playing pro draft with my neighbor. Seems like there was a game card that assigned a value of 10 (out of 100) because the player "refuses to play on sundays"


Started collecting as a second grader in 1972. Baseball, Football, Basketball. This continued with a vengeance thru high school and college. took about 15 years off starting in early to mid 90's when the family started to grow, back in it and discovered pre-war in 2009.


Similar memories to others: riding my bike to "The country store" and buying pack after pack of 76 topps baseball.

Easter basket was always filled with packs of cards instead of candy.

Mom always came home from grogery shopping with a few packs for me.

I hated having to go clothes shopping with her, but there was always the draw of getting to go to woolworth and rummage thru their bins full of rack packs looking for the best players............

[ksfarmboy]

I got started in 1977 at the age of 8. A friend on my dad's bowling team opened a card store in the bowling alley. It was in the fall so football and Star Wars cards were my first buys. Usually I would work all day Saturday and get paid in cards. Even if he paid me in cash I would still spend it on cards. I got to open the new cases of cards and would spend countless hours sorting out the stars and local favorites. I always got cards for my birthday and Christmas. I Continued buying cards up until the early 90's when I switched to memorabilia. I still have all of my cards and still frequent my friends card shop.

[Rickyy]

My earliest recollection was around 1967 or 68...my dad bought me some Topps baseball wax packs at a US NAVY Commissary when I lived in Japan...then when I came stateside I dabbled in the Topps 1971 BB...I got serious with the 1972-74 BB sets...I remember I thought I had the complete set in 1972 and imagine my suprise when I visited cross town to see my best friend who had moved away that summer..and he had the high numbers.. I eventually got the complete set years later.. 73 set was acquire piece by piece through wax packs, rack packs, trading with friends and finally bought one series from Larry Fristch when I couldn't find them at the nearby stores... 1974 was completely acquired card by card...upgrading at shows into the 80's..and still have them.

Stopped during high school years but got back into it again in college when I saw newspaper ad about a guy opening a card shop...and I've been collecting ever since...seriously with vintage stuff since the mid 80's...

[Mark]

My earliest memories are from the Post cereal/ Jello cards from 1963, when I was 5. I remember cutting them out, and I still have a whole bunch of them. I also recall my dad buying me a cello pack of 63 Topps---I remember looking at the cards through the plastic and picking out the pack with a Pirate player in it. Still have them, too. I became an avid collector near the end of the 67 season, when I bought up lots of packs from the 7th series. From then on, I bought lots of Topps through 1974. In 1971, I became an eager collector of older cards, and picked up a lot of t-206's, Goudeys, and older Toppps cards through flea markets, the mail, and my first card convention (at the second annual midwest card collectors convention in Dearborn Mich). Then I dropped out until about 1991. It all came rushing back to me then.

[DixieBaseball]

I recall dipping my toe into collecting as a kid about 1975-76, and ramping up quite a bit in 77' and steady through about 1986. I think the feaux wood panel issue of Topps in 1987 broke me as they were hideous and mass produced. Now maybe if they were less produced, I would view them like I do the 62' Topps issue. (Unique look, not my favorite, but some rugged charm) So I had about a 10 year run of collecting and after a 14 year hiatus, I came back to the hobby around the turn of the century, collecting mostly pre-war stuff. The cards I broke in on as a kid were Kelloggs, Hostess, and Topps. I think the Kelloggs cards along with the 75 Topps issue is what grabbed hold of me.

[BradH]

Originally Posted by CW

I stuck with it for awhile, collecting from '77 (age 7) through '85 (age 15). While I kept one geeky vice (my love for Rush music), I did fall out of baseball card collecting for about 15 years, getting back into collecting in '99.

CW-
You and I must have been separated at birth. The ‘77s were my first true love and I too took a “Rush break” in the 1980s. I came back to the hoppy and turned to tobacco cards when I landed my first “real” job in the mid 1990s, although I now collect as much 1950s football as I do old baseball.

I bought a few packs in 1976, but really dove in as a seven-year-old in 1977. I still have 500 or so of my original ’77 Topps cards in the same wooden box I housed them in (decorated with my little drawings of the team logos). I have since gone on to complete two very high-grade ’77 sets, and I’m working on a third, but I will always keep those originals because of the fond memories.

I collected for a few years until 1982, when all three card designs that year really turned me off, so I really didn’t buy any cards that year. A high school buddy and I bought a ton of 1986 and ’87 cards, most of which I sold a couple years back in a yard sale. Mom and Dad never really supported my hobby, but somehow a few packs always made their way into my Easter basket or under the Christmas tree.

[scgaynor]

1978-1980 - Several Packs a Year
1981-1989 - Hardcore!
1990-1991 - A couple boxes a year
1991-1993 - Not much at all, I was 18-20, it was all about girls and cars
1993-1997 - Some Pre-1948 cards, almost strictly memorabilia
1997-Now - Full time dealer, no more collecting, you can't eat baseball cards or put them into your gas tank.

Scott

[uffda51]

First bought packs in 1959 (age 8) after mom brought home a shoe box full of 1956 Topps baseball and 1955 Topps All-America football from a rummage sale. Heavy in 1960-1962. Less so in 63, then big in 1964. Nothing after that until 1981 when Fleer-Donruss challenged Topps.

[DaveW]

I first started buying packs in 1966. A friend and I would ride our bikes over to the local drug store and buy them. This continued until he moved away in 1970. So my peak years were from age 9 to 13. I didn't see the cards again until the 1980s when my parents moved and my Mom made me take them (at least she didn't throw them away!). It wasn't until 2001 when I discovered EBay and decided to finish a few of those sets that I got back into it and the rest is history.

[Brian Van Horn]

1972 (age 6) to 1984.

[CW]

Originally Posted by BradH

CW-
You and I must have been separated at birth. The ‘77s were my first true love and I too took a “Rush break” in the 1980s. I came back to the hobby and turned to tobacco cards when I landed my first “real” job in the mid 1990s, although I now collect as much 1950s football as I do old baseball.

I bought a few packs in 1976, but really dove in as a seven-year-old in 1977. I still have 500 or so of my original ’77 Topps cards in the same wooden box I housed them in (decorated with my little drawings of the team logos). I have since gone on to complete two very high-grade ’77 sets, and I’m working on a third, but I will always keep those originals because of the fond memories.

"Brother from another Mother," as they say. 50's football?
I also appreciate those cards -- I had a blast while building a
NM+ '55 All-American set a few years ago.

I've always thought about putting together a high grade subset of
'77 Topps, collecting all the "All-Stars" from that set. The photography
and card layouts in the '77 set are some of the best from that era,
no doubt!

[Davids]

This is my first response as a relatively new member. I swore that I would just be a spectator but can't sit this one out! My first cards purchased were 62 Topps baseball in the spring of 1962 (end of grade 1) bought at Edwards' corner grocery store. I played "dropsies" only once and lost all my cards so never played again. I also placed high value on condition and my sets never came to school (only doubles for trading). I continued to buy baseball (and hockey and football, some non sport like pirates and civil war) every year until and including the summer of 1968 (between grade 7 and grade 8). It then became uncool and, after 3 aborted attempts, vividly remember throwing virtually everything else out (I still believe there is a box in the ceiling joists of our former family home which I would love to figure out how to gain access to). Included in the disposition were many cards that I had acquired from older kids going all the way back to 1953 (had the Mays but no Mantle) but, for some reason, no 1952s.
Every subsequent year I would buy a couple of baseball packs just to see what they looked like up to 1990. That year we were still playing in a seven a side touch football league but decided that we (all around 35yrs old) needed some youth if we wanted to continue to compete so we recruited some junior players. One of these kids didn't drive and lived near me so I became the driver and got to know him well. Guess what, he collected baseball cards so I decided to put together a 1990 Topps set card by card. I was again hooked and have collected ever since, I currently concentrate on 1952-1967 Topps along with all Bowman Baseball 1955 and prior.
As a postscript to this rant, I suffered my 56th birthday this year and got an amazing gift from my younger brother. Ready for this, he had found a calendar from non other than Edwards' grocery store which had been demolished probably 30 years previously!!

[Exhibitman]

Now, boxing cards, slightly different story. I was at a show in the 1990s after I'd come back to L.A. after graduation and I saw 1948 Leaf cards for the first time. I was thumbing through them and I picked up a Barney Ross and Benny Leonard. I knew Ross's name and I saw that the back of the Leonard card made reference to his being Jewish, which I thought was interesting. I picked up the cards and took them over to my parents' house to show to my father as curiosities--Jewish boxers after all. He took a look at the Ross card and said "I think my cousin Ray fought him." First time he'd ever mentioned it and it totally blew my mind that we had an actual athlete in the family tree as I can barely walk and chew gum together. I pressed him for details but he didn't have much, so I started researching. I first used my trusty old Beckett multisport book, which had about a dozen sets in it, to target Ray Miller cards, and Ross and Leonard cards and anyone else who sounded Jewish (of course, I had no idea who was what--I looked for Sammy Mandell cards--he was Italian--and passed up Joe Choynski cards--his dad was the publisher of one of the more influential Jewish newspapers, from S.F.). Shortly after that I found my first boxing Exhibit cards at another show. Bought a group of 1920s-1950s from an obnoxious loudmouth dealer who I'd normally have walked away from but I had to have those cards. Got a Marciano, a Louis and a Jack Johnson, among others.

[53Browns]

I was 12 years old in 1980 when I started. Coincidentally, in 1981 when Donruss and Fleer brought out sets to compete with Topps, that was when the hobby literally exploded! Hobby shops and shows everywhere! It was awesome! I collected actively and passionately until 1984ish. Then resumed as an adult to find that the beloved cards of my childhood were so mass produced they didnt seem likely to hold their values.

[Big Ben]

Interesting thread!

I started collecting in 1972 with Football cards and collected Football and Baseball through 1980. --Then returned to the hobby in college around 1983 through the early 1990's. -- My collection was dormant with the exception of a few trades and sales here and there until 2008 when I reorganized everything and got interested in vintage baseball cards.

[barrysloate]

I bought my first pack late in the summer of 1958, when I was six years old (I know I've told this story before). The one card I distinctly remember getting was the Ted Williams All-Star. I didn't know what All-Star meant but I did think all the stars against the red background looked cool. I continued buying packs in 1959, peaked in 1960, and continued sporadically from 1961-63. Then in 1964 the Beatles came and my money was spent on LP's and 45's.

But here's a childhood memory I have that I think others might find pretty interesting. Around 1960 I was at my friend Lenny's house and I was looking at his older brother's shoebox of childhood baseball cards. And I remember with absolute certainty they were 1952 Topps. And here's the part that I couldn't explain then and understand today: the cards were in numerical order, and the run was nearly complete up to about #300. And then inexplicably there were only a smattering of cards throughout the numbers above #300. My eight year old mind wondered why he was missing so many of those cards when he had nearly all the others. It was my introduction to the 52 high numbers and how scarce they were, but at the time I couldn't explain it.

[CW]

Originally Posted by Davids

As a postscript to this rant, I suffered my 56th birthday this year and got an amazing gift from my younger brother. Ready for this, he had found a calendar from non other than Edwards' grocery store which had been demolished probably 30 years previously!!

Good stuff!

What a great thread this has turned out to be! I've enjoyed reading
every entry.

[Kalineman]

Bought my first pack in 1959 at age 6. While opening it in the kitchen, I pulled a Detroit Tigers card of catcher Red Wilson. My folks - both school teachers - made a big fuss about pulling a Tiger player in my first pack. My dad was a coach and I was always a manager on his baseball, basketball and football teams in elementary school. He let me show my Red Wilson card to the varsity team. I never stopped collecting after that and my folks saved all my cards when I went away to college.

[brickyardkennedy]

Bought packs of sports cards from 1957, through 1965, when, at the age of sixteen, I became a serious adult. : D Since '57 Topps Baseball was my "first", plus the fact that I find the pics so attractive, I've always had an attachment to them - to the point where I put together the set, not my usual collecting style (team collector).

[sb1]

I bought Football in 68 and then Baseball in 69, packs were still a nickel in 69 and my grandmother would give me a dollar so you can imagine how many I had, I can remember getting so many 1st series Al McBean's I thought he was in every pack. That same year in little league baseball we bought packs at the concession stand that had the rub offs. We were really inrigued by prior years issues that we were not familiar with, a 1968 BB card was like ancient to us!

Oddly one of the small grocery stores in town was selling black and white cards with cat eye marbles?? they had left over 1960 Leaf cards and I bought a ton of them.

I quit in 1975 and sadly sold it all in 1981.

I have put together sets of most of these years 1969-1973and they bring back more memories and mean much more to me than all of rare turn of the century stuff. I sold all of my 1952-1967 sets that I put together after the fact, years ago. I still enjoy putting together the insert material and the Kelloggs 3-D cards.

Scott

[Gradedcardman]

Started in 1972 at age 5 with basketball and baseball. Added football in 1975. Collected hot and heavy until age 33 in 1999(marriage). Started back in 2006(post marriage). Going strong again the last five years.

[SteveMitchell]

I discovered baseball cards in the spring of 1957 after acquiring a few Topps Davy Crockett cards sometime a year or two earlier. (No memory of where or exactly when; perhaps they were gifts.) The first card set I would complete was the 80-card green back Davy Crockett set; the first baseball set, the 1963 Topps.

Spent about every available cent from 1957 to 1964 on baseball (and a few other) cards except for my Chuck Schilling model glove (1963) which set me back nearly $20 - or a full year of baseball card buying in those days. (Starting in 1960 or '61, I virtually completed the each Topps set while accumulating more than 1,000 duplicates each time.)

My last "kid collection" [insert asterisk here] buy was in the late summer of 1964 when I bought lots of the 1964 Topps Giant Size cards. I did not buy even a single pack in 1965 or for a few years thereafter.

The asterisk: Despite not buying the current cards from neighborhood stores starting in 1965, I did make a couple of purchases via mail order: a 1955 Bowman set (from Barry S. Newman) and 1954 Topps baseball set (Frank Nagy). Both sets were in tip-top condition and, if memory serves correctly, the '55 Bowman cost $12 and Frank let me have a deal on the '54 at something less than $10. (Each was acquired in either 1965 or '66.)

Thanks for the great trip down memory lane.

[spec]

Though I never post, I read this board regularly and can't remember a thread I've enjoyed so thoroughly. OK if I join in?
I discovered baseball cards later than most of you (age 10) because my dad was in the Navy and we usually lived on base (Guantanamo, Parris Island, etc.) where there were no little stores with candy counters. But in 1957 we lived off base (NAS Pensacola) in what is now the Warrington section of the city. I had discovered the Topps Flags of the World set that winter, amassing a near set, so, come spring, it was natural to buy a couple of 1-cent packs of the new baseball series. Luis Aparicio and Johnny Temple (I can't recall which I opened first) and so began a lifetime obsession. I can remember trading Moe Drabowsky and Dee Fondy to help a friend finish his first series, then getting them both in the packs I purchased the next day; paying a kid I'd never seen before 5 cents for Yogi Berra to finish my first series; pedaling crosstown to find the second series and coming home with Duke Snider; trading a pile of 1956s I gotten in the Drabowsky-Fondy deal for Gus Bell to complete Series 3; finding only a handful of packs of the Fourth Series, then being inundated with Fifth Series cards.
That winter we moved 15 miles into the country (3 miles from the nearest store) and I thought my collecting days were over. But a couple of days after we arrived, two neighbor boys arrived on bicycles from their house a mile away and asked if I had any baseball cards. As luck would have it, I had a duplicate of the older boy's favorite player, Ted Kluszewski, and a friendship was forged. Jimmy later traded me most of the 57 Fourth Series cards I needed for chemicals from my chemistry set.
That spring the younger boy and I collected 58s together, discovering an ad for the Card Collectors Co. in the Sporting News that enabled us to fill in the gaps, and we even bought a few cards from older sets. Wayne abandoned cards when we moved up to junior high, but I continued through 1962, buying a box every two weeks when we rode through Warrington on the way to the base commissary.
I didn't quit cold turkey, however. I bought complete sets from 1963-66, then returned to the pack-by-pack method in 1967 when I was a junior in college in Orlando and continued until 1972 in Boston where I discovered the vintage version of the hobby.
Believe it or not, these are very same cards I pulled from those packs in 1957, identifiable by the pinholes I poked in the cards to simulate injuries for a marble game. The 56 Football McCormick is my first sports card, found on the street in San Leandro, Calif.
Sorry to be so long winded.
Bob Richardson

[Matthew H]

Spec, you should post more often. Thanks for sharing.

[barrysloate]

Hi Bob- it's been a very long time. Hope you are doing well.

Regards, Barry

[Leon]

Hey Bob R.
I still remember the very kind email you sent me a few years ago after I posted my Uncle Jacks background-color thread. You were a gentleman and a scholar to this "young" collector. Thanks so much for sharing your story. I know I frequently say I get private emails from long time collectors and I am glad a few are coming a bit on board. Except for a few situations we really are a friendly group. Now where is Heitman hiding out these days? He even came to the Net54baseball Dinner when it was in CA., but I haven't heard from him since? Anyway, take care Bob, and thanks again for joining in....regards

[Rob D.]

Originally Posted by ksfarmboy

I got started in 1977 at the age of 8. A friend on my dad's bowling team opened a card store in the bowling alley. It was in the fall so football and Star Wars cards were my first buys. Usually I would work all day Saturday and get paid in cards. Even if he paid me in cash I would still spend it on cards. I got to open the new cases of cards and would spend countless hours sorting out the stars and local favorites. I always got cards for my birthday and Christmas. I Continued buying cards up until the early 90's when I switched to memorabilia. I still have all of my cards and still frequent my friends card shop.

Clint,

That shop is still one of my favorite places ever.

Rob

[jp1216]

My collection began with 1980 Topps baseball. About the age of 6. I would search grocery rack packs while my mom was shopping. I think my first pack/purchase had a Steve Garvey A.S on top. Another rack I remember having Reggie Jackson on it. 1980 FB (ugly cards) was the first set I put together. Had some friends that would trade cards after school. For some reason, no one had a Mike Haynes All-Pro! It took me months to find one. Took a year off and restarted collecting with 1982 & 83 Topps. Took a few more years off, then stumbled upon a price guide in 1988 (my downfall moment). I dug out my Topps cards to find all my Rickey Hendersons, Cal Ripkens etc... They were valuable now... LOL
The '89 Fleer Billy Ripken card got me hooked for life. I later got a job at a card shop in high school - I too spent all my money there. Ready to quit in college, my uncle sent me his entire collection (from the 50s). 1959 was the focus going forward. I had about 70% of the set - all EXMT or better. Many 8s and 9s!!
Discovered eBay in 1998 and finished off that set rather quickly. My best (early eBay) pickup was the '59 Mantle SGC 84 for under $100. The auction title labeled it as a 1995 - it was a steal.
Now I blame Net54..... You bastards inspire me to no end.....

[ValKehl]

As a kid, from 1955 (age 11) to 1960 (age 16). I had 3 buddies who also collected bb cards. We were very competitive, and we played games to win one another's cards - some flipping, but our favorite games were called "sail touch" and "knock down" - we usually just "risked" our duplicates, but one day we got bold and risked our "singles"; I got lucky and won all of my buddy's Dodgers (incl. Koufax, Snider, Reese, etc.) without losing any of my cherished Senators! As we got older, we learned to play blackjack and poker and gambled using our bb cards! Those were fun days!!

Fortunately, Mom didn't toss my bb cards after I left home. Circa 1970, Mom called to say she found my boxes of cards when she and dad were cleaning out their storage area, and she asked me if I wanted them. I asked her to hold them for me until the next time I visited, thinking that my toddlers might take interest in them when they grew up (they didn't).

When the first Beckett & Eckes price guide came out (1979, if I remember correctly), I learned of it from a story in the Wall Street Journal, of all places, which stated that adult sports card collectors were "coming out of the closet" so to speak about their collecting fetish. I drove over to Eckes' small retail shop in Laurel, MD, and purchased a copy, which I used to checklist my childhood collection that I had stored for several years in my damp basement. This served as the catalyst to get me back into card collecting during the 1980s.
Val

[E93]

I bought my first packs in 1975 and continued through 1981. I began going to card shops and shows in 1979 in L.A. That is when I began collecting old stuff including mostly '50's and '60's cards, but notably a T206 Cobb/red portrait and Lajoie w/bat that I still have. By the Fall of 1981 girls, music, and other stuff diverted my interest for a few years.
JimB

[tonyk1975]

My timeline goes as following- 83-92 baseball cards,92-95 comic books,95-2004 football cards,2004-2006 mcfarlane figures,2009-today prewar cards and still lovin it