[ullmandds]

As a young child...baseball was life to me...we'd play until it got too dark...or our moms called us in...we'd play whiffle ball when enough players could not be fielded for proper batting practice. I'd throw a super pinky or tennis ball against the brick veneer of my house until my arm would fall off or I'd break a window and get scolded.

A love for the ny yankees...instilled in me by my dad...he'd take me to countless yankee games and the odd annoying game at shea tainted by all of the airplanes constantly flying overhead.

My neighbor...who was a sportswriter for the herald tribune used to tell me stories and give me the occasional nugget of card/memorabilia for shoveling his driveway or mowing his lawn.

This combined with a love for the history of the game and the #'s that went with it...714...then 755...4191...then 4256...511...23(grand slams for gehrig)....406...424...190...184...I could recite all of the major records...the # of every player on the yankees and up to minute stats at all times.

Now add to this mix these little cardboard gems encompassing all that I lived for as a kid that first activated my collecting gene!

I lost interest in my late teens until midway through college...then started up again. Now it's the nostalgia...the longing for the care free days of my youth...and the ability to obtain cards I could never afford as a child.

I always thought that if I were to ever get a tattoo...it would most likely be baseball related as this is one constant that will never change in my life...my love for baseball...it's history...and the cards that accompany it!!!!