How did you get started in the hobby

jmb · #1 09-25-2016, 06:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ullmandds

I sold my childhood collection minus a few cards in 86' to buy a beat up 76 chevy camaro.

Crazy ! I also got a 76 Camaro in 86 when I graduated HS.

I started buying packs in 75, but the 76 set is my favorite one from childhood.

billyb · #2 09-25-2016, 07:28 PM

As a kid in Detroit in the mid. 50s, we lived, breathed and dreamed baseball. I guess I wasn't a collector as a kid, just a saver. But the old story happened, went into military in the mid 60s, and parents threw my cards out.
I did not start collecting until 1984. I was working in law enforcement with Detroit, and was working a specialized unit that worked strictly on home and business break-ins. We got a call from a baseball card shop owner, and he stated his had some baseball card sets stolen and that he believed it was an inside job by a young employee. He asked us to help him find out from this employee, where the cards went.

Sure enough, the next day, when the employee came to work, there we were and got this young guy to confess his wrong doings and where he had sold the 1969 mint factory set. We went to the shop where the kid sold the cards, and the owner of the shop admitted buying from the kid. With a little convincing, the owner turned over the cards, and we returned them to the rightful owner.

In appreciation, the owner gave us each a new set of 1984 Topps and Fleer cards. I got to talking to him about cards my mother had bought several years prior, from a neighbor who came knocking on her door to sell cards, because he needed the money. I told him some of the cards were smaller then the others, and he stated they were probably 75 minis and to look for the Yount and Brett in the set. A couple days later, I looked at the box of loose cards my mother had, and there were cards from 1970 to 80 in the box. And more then a few. Sure enough, there was the Yount and Brett in this 75 minis which was about 75 % complete, as well as a Topps 1774 set also about 75 % complete. I had a ball going through this box of about 4 to 5000 cards with plenty of stars.

I met with the baseball card shop owner and told him what I had, and he invited me to an upcoming baseball card show. I went and I was hooked.
I got to see all the cards I had as a kid and their value, OMG.

It is a great hobby, and when I give kids some free samples, I tell them to put one in their spokes and to have fun with the rest.

steve B · #3 09-26-2016, 08:00 AM

I guess it depends on how much collecting counts as starting.

1969 - Bought one pack from the penny candy counter. Asked dad and he told me what they were and that they might be interesting. Got a Reggie Jackson, and dad said "hey this guy is pretty good".
1970 - No cards,
1971- one pack, whatever series had the coin. Danny Cater.
1972- no cards.
1973- Moved to a new town, and the kids I met collected cards, and did some flipping and trading. So I bought cards starting in maybe September.
1974- Got into it a lot more. And into sports in general. Aaron and the HR record, Mays retired the year before but was around for the WS. And the cards showing the older cards! And the Washington variations.

Got the same interest from the 75 MVP subset and started asking around. One kid got a 1968 Ed Matthews from his brother and traded it to me.

1977 Moved to a new town, and asked a kid on the cross country team with me if there was anybody with "old" cards. He said there was an entire store in the center of town. Stopped into Halls Nostalgia on the way home, and was amazed at the number of old cards. Stacks and stacks of them!
eventually that became one of my after school hangouts and they taught me a lot. As it turned out my first job was in the building next door and I got out about an hour before closing. Helped break vending cases into sets for store credit. Even though I moved away in 83 I came back to visit my friends in town and always left a bit of time to stop in.

I've had a few periods of relative inactivity, where I get into other hobbies, or go back to ones I was into before cards. (Stamps- started around 1967-68 same for coins. Was into cars for a bit in college, old racing bicycles starting about 1999-2000, and some dabbling in antique electronics and industrial stuff. Plus a load of stuff I just liked and bought)

Steve B

Kawika · #4 09-26-2016, 08:42 AM

I was hooked from Day One. Some adult gave me a small pile of Topps cards in the summer of 1956 when I was six. The vision sixty years later is as clear in my memory today as if it were yesterday. Amongst the cards I distinctly remember a '54 Ernie Banks and a '56 Del Ennis (cards long gone). Used to love the flipping games. Won a lot of cards that way. My Uncle Harry had a smoke shop in Brooklyn. A couple of times he gave me a box of '57 Topps. Imagine busting those packs today. I collected feverishly until 1960 when I switched my interests to Action Comics. Didn't get back into the hobby for a long time. Dabbled a very little bit in the eighties and nineties. There was a card shop on El Camino Real in Menlo Park called Papa's - some of you may remember the store - that I occasionally patronized. Hit things with a vengeance with the onset of eBay in the late '90s. Subsequently discovered Net54 and the card collecting community at large and here I am.

I made this little gif from some home movie footage. It depicts my wiseacre brother Dan "posing" for his imaginary baseball card. My sister Kini, unclear on the concept, is indicating that the extra point is good.

Darling Avenue, New Rochelle, NY 1957

Mdmtx · #5 09-26-2016, 08:57 AM

David, your gif is fantastic!

Kawika · #6 09-26-2016, 09:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mdmtx

David, your gif is fantastic!

Thanks, Mark. When I saw this Olbermann-Costas piece about Matty's "Drop-and-Drive" delivery, Dan's antics were the first thing I thought of.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yViyt-scehE

blackandgold · #7 09-26-2016, 09:44 AM

I got my first packs for my birthday in 1970 when I was six, and have never really stopped. My folks would put packs in our Easter baskets, and I would buy packs whenever I had a chance. There was an older kid in our town who had cancer, and when he would have to go for treatments, we would get him some packs to give him something to do, and he had an amazing collection. He had sets back through the 60's and would love to look to see if I had any he needed. he always treated me fairly, and that's how I got all my stars from those sets.
This is just a tremendous hobby. I have loved baseball my whole life, and the cards and memorabilia provide me with great memories.

jmb · #8 09-26-2016, 09:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mdmtx

David, your gif is fantastic!

+1

chris6net · #9 09-26-2016, 01:50 PM

I started buying packs as a kid in 1971 and by 1972 was totally hooked. I lived on Long Island and Tom Seaver was the King then.
I got lucky as far as the Hobby goes in that I knew someone who worked for the Deborah Heart Charity in NYC in the mid to late 70,s who sponsored the Golden Gate Monthly card show in Brooklyn which had all the big dealers back then. I worked the show as a young teenager every month for at least 3 years setting up the chairs and tables and then the best part was that during the show since I was a familiar face many of the dealers would let me watch their tables while they got something to eat or went to the bathroom. My payment would be in the form of cards. My 2 best I got were a 1957 Mays and a 1967 Carew rookie card in great shape which I still have.

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