Was living on Long Island in the summer of '58 and a kid in my neighborhood, a girl, had a stack of Topps cards. I'd never seen anything so cool. I can't remember which cards she had but I remember how colorful they were. I don't think I had any cards of my own until the next spring and I got a few packs in my Easter basket. I got an Albie Pearson and Andy Pafko whose name I recognized from listening to the World Series the previous year on the radio. Those Easter packs hooked me.
The next year I was an active collector. I spent what money I had on '60 Topps cello packs at EJ Korvettes and pestered my folks into buying me more. My uncle's pharmacy in Jersey stocked cards and once he found out I was collecting them he became my 'supplier' and I was able to put together full sets through the early 60s.
I collected through high school, 1969 was my last year to spend time collecting and I passed my collection off to my younger brothers and their friends. No regrets.
I continued to buy a pack or so each year when I came across them just to see what Topps was doing.
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People are crazy and times are strange, I used to care but things have changed -Dylan
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