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

[jsfriedm]

My 8 year old self would feel betrayed that my collections now includes Yankees. But at least he'd be happy I have many more Willie Mays than Mickey Mantle.

[Jim65]

My 8 year old self wouldn't say anything, he'd be too busy playing baseball, hoping it was hours before the streetlights would turn on.

[MuncieNolePAZ]

My 8 year old self would have no idea the players that I was collecting now. He would think they were really cool though because the age of them. Of course in the late 80s I thought that my 1969 Topps Tony Conigliaro was the coolest card ever because it was super old for an 8 year old. Lol.

Chad

[LEHR]

My 8 year old self would probably be in awe at the collection I've been able to build, and probably wonder how I got so rich (I definitely don't feel rich).

My 8 year old self would also most likely be more excited that I own pinball and arcade machines than he is about the card/memorabilia collection.
Even at 8 years old I was a video game junkie and have loved anything coin-op ever since.

[steve B]

It would depend on if I was just shown the cards, or if someone like old me explained them.

When I was 8, I had only bought 2 packs of cards total, two years apart.

I was into coins and stamps, Insulators and old bottles, rocks and shells and more into adventuring outdoors than sports which I was universally bad at.
Oh, and architecture and planes.

If they just showed up in a box, (Or small truck...) I probably wouldn't be all that interested.
With a guide, I probably would have been interested. And impressed by how much there was.

[HercDriver]

My eight year old self would understand why there aren’t 524 cards on my T206 waitlist? “Don’t you want them all? With variations? It won’t be complete!” My 56 year old self is much happier after finally shaking that off, as a thirty-five year old self.

Cheers,
Geno

[texmrsport]

That's a lot of gum you got to chew.

[Sean]

Eight was exactly the age that I began collecting. At eight I would have been really impressed with my Ruth cards, and my dad would be really impressed with my Cobbs.


PS- I would have also loved my 1989 Billy Ripken.

[darwinbulldog]

8-year-old me would have been impressed with cards that I wouldn't bother giving the time of day now ('73 Topps McCovey, '79 Topps Brett, '82 Fleer Seaver, etc. etc.).

I'd be impressed by any pre-war card and floored to see multiple T206s in real life. Adult me would be disappointed that 8-year-old me would be less impressed by all the bakery type cards.

[GasHouseGang]

It's funny, because my 10 year old nephew is coming for a visit and I wondered how he would react if I showed him some of my collection. He's into baseball, but would he care about the old cards? Or would he only be blow away by cards of newer players he's heard of? I guess I'll find out. Anyone else have that experience with a young relative?

[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.

[Beercan collector]

My fictional super smart super observant eight year-old self would say ... “ Those T206s graded “TWO” are incredibly well preserved “

[Balticfox]

Originally Posted by FrankWakefield

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

Huh?! What unusual odd shaped pieces of cardboard of dead ballplayers do you have in your collection? With the exception of coins, mine are all standard rectangles.