I remember as a young kid in 1972 kids had cards at the bus stop and were touted around school. So the next year was my start - and all the way thru 1979. Nobody gave a bleep about rookie cards. Like a prior post mentioned, everyone wanted the stars - Reggie, Ryan, Seaver, Bench, Schmidt, Carew and the like. The ones I really wanted had the little "All Star" emblems. I was lucky and grew up half hour away from Anaheim Stadium and my folks took us to games - saw Nolan Ryan in his prime. My dad even made a special point to take me to the game where they officially clocked Ryan at 100.3 mph - still in Guiness Book! They clocked him when the ball went over home plate, not like now when they clock right after release. The ball slows down about 7-8 mph between mound and home plate. Like my grandmother said, "It's all about the memories."
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