What Would 8 Year Old You Think About Your Collection Today?

[FrankWakefield]

8 year old me would look at the boxes, the binders, the cards... and I'd be bored to tears.

I might have had a fleeting interest in Babe Ruth, but at age 8 I knew little about him. 8 year old me would have a "now" mindset. "All of these cards and you don't have Ohtani, Soto, or Arraez (68 year old me barely knows who that is)???" 8 year old me would be done with last year's cards when this year's cards hit the stores. I would have wanted this year's cards. Not last year's, nor the year before.

At age 8, I wasn't fascinated by history. not even baseball history. My first two baseball books were My Greatest Day In Baseball by Carmichael, and Guardian of the Hot Corner, it was about Ken Boyer. I'd have been about 10, give or take a year. When I got the Carmichael book, I first read the few entries from a Cardinals player. I didn't know who Rogers Hornsby was, but I learned that he was a great hitter, he was a player/manager (how can you be both, I wondered) who got the Cardinals their first World Series Championship, and that he was super happy to have tagged out Babe Ruth as he made a run at stealing second for the final out of the game and series. Next, I recall resolving to myself that I'd read them in order as listed. This was the first time I encountered many of those names...

Mom got both of those books for me. I think she got the Carmichael book first; partly to see if I would read it. I did, I loved to read, and she continually nurtured that, I read the book about Boyer, next. I didn't understand that book title at the time, though.

I recall looking at a much newer edition a few years ago, most of the old 'Greatest Days' I had read were no longer in the book, replaced with some more modern players. I didn't get that book. And at this moment I can see that maybe I really should get a copy of the newest edition possible, because I should learn about who Trout is, who Ohtani is...


So... 8 year old me would be bored with looking at unusual odd shaped pieces of cardboard of dead ballplayers.