How long you collected as a kid ?...

[theseeker]

Collected some from the 1970 set but, really got drawn in by the playground discovery of the 1971 black borders-- still my favorate set. Got a paper route in '74 (delivering papers was once the work of grade school boys on bikes and not middle-aged men heaving papers from the open widows of beat up vans) which helped fund my first complete set. As my luck would have it, the first non-series issue.

A fond memory was playing baseball with freinds, during summer break, until the heat got to us. At which point we would all go to our respective bedrooms and meet under a shaded tree with card filled shoebox in hand. There, seated cross legged, we would look through each others collection and conduct card exchanges, with the familiar "got him, got him, don't got him" as background noise. You always knew the "spoiled" kids in the crowd by the size of their collection and you could tell the investors from the collectors by the trades being made.

As I entered middle school, I simply felt too old to continue. At this stage, irony, to say the least. Picked it up again during the frenzied late '80's/early
'90's-- although I can honestly say I never fell for the investment hype.

Now for the painful Mother story. I have three older cousins who had moved on to college and marriage by the time my parents would drag me along to visit my Aunt and Uncle's house in the mid '70's. Bored during a visit, I ventured from my siblings in the TV room to the garage were I found 2 brass ringed, cardboard industrial drums both filled knee high with cards from the 1950's through the early 1960's. Everytime I visited, I could be found sorting through these NrMt gems. And they were all there; Mantles, Mays', Sniders, Berras, Spahns.....

One day as my parents were preparing to leave, my mother along with my Aunt, went to get me. As they entered the garage and found me at my familiar spot, on my knees looking at the cards, my Aunt said "you seem so interest in those old cards, why don't you take them with you?" My mother jumped in" oh no, he's got too many of his own." My "oh please, Mom" went on deaf ears. If she'd only thrown my earl '70's collection away instead

[ALR-bishop]

1956 to 1969 and then 1982 to yesterday....and now today

[GoldenAge50s]

My collecting yrs started at age 8 in 1948 & in '49---just a few packs each yr but really began in earnest in 1950 & extended into 1955 (age 15). By then cards went on the back burner as other interests took over!

When I got out of HS in 1958 & was off to college the cards went into the closet & were reclaimed around 1980 when the card "boom" started.

Been into cards since then to now.

[Volod]

Originally Posted by theseeker

....
Now for the painful Mother story. I have three older cousins who had moved on to college and marriage by the time my parents would drag me along to visit my Aunt and Uncle's house in the mid '70's. Bored during a visit, I ventured from my siblings in the TV room to the garage were I found 2 brass ringed, cardboard industrial drums both filled knee high with cards from the 1950's through the early 1960's. Everytime I visited, I could be found sorting through these NrMt gems. And they were all there; Mantles, Mays', Sniders, Berras, Spahns.....

One day as my parents were preparing to leave, my mother along with my Aunt, went to get me. As they entered the garage and found me at my familiar spot, on my knees looking at the cards, my Aunt said "you seem so interest in those old cards, why don't you take them with you?" My mother jumped in" oh no, he's got too many of his own." My "oh please, Mom" went on deaf ears. If she'd only thrown my earl '70's collection away instead

Ahh, brings back so many fond and anguished memories. I had long since stopped collecting at the time I enlisted in 1961, but I was still working on a large stamp collection, so before I took off for boot camp, I gathered up all of my nerd stuff, including several hundred early '50's cards, and secreted it all in a locker in a dank, musty part of the family garage, thinking it was unlikely to be found while I was gone. Wrong again, Watson - I still recall that day sitting on my footlocker in the barracks, reading a breezy note from my sainted mother that ended with, "by the way, your father was cleaning out the garage and found some of your old things that you had forgotten about, so we put them in the trash to make more room for the cars." To this day, I believe Ma knew I treasured that stuff, but she wanted to punish me for choosing the military over college. Judging from the other memoirs posted here, I guess we're all a bunch of obsessive-compulsive hoarders with childhood regression issues, huh?

[novakjr]

Originally Posted by Volod

Ahh, brings back so many fond and anguished memories. I had long since stopped collecting at the time I enlisted in 1961, but I was still working on a large stamp collection, so before I took off for boot camp, I gathered up all of my nerd stuff, including several hundred early '50's cards, and secreted it all in a locker in a dank, musty part of the family garage, thinking it was unlikely to be found while I was gone. Wrong again, Watson - I still recall that day sitting on my footlocker in the barracks, reading a breezy note from my sainted mother that ended with, "by the way, your father was cleaning out the garage and found some of your old things that you had forgotten about, so we put them in the trash to make more room for the cars." To this day, I believe Ma knew I treasured that stuff, but she wanted to punish me for choosing the military over college. Judging from the other memoirs posted here, I guess we're all a bunch of obsessive-compulsive hoarders with childhood regression issues, huh?

Not exactly a painful mother story. But I've been told numerous times that I was supposed to have been given my uncle's childhood collection. Supposedly complete Topps sets from the mid-late 60's- mid 70's. However, no one seems to know exactly where they are or who actually ended up with them..Although, I've heard some speculation. All that anyone could find was his late 70's football stuff though. Unfortunately, I was a kid, and they're now in "not so collectible" condition...Maybe it was for the best that I didn't end up with the baseball stuff...It would be great to have though..

[HRBAKER]

I bought a few packs in 1966 at age 7 but really started collecting heavily in 1967. I have fond memories of buying the 6 pack Wax Trays for 25 cents at the A&P. I probably bought the most cards from the era of appx. 1971 through 1976 and really stopped while in college in 1980. I bought no packs in 1981 but picked up a few in 1982 and then plunged back in in 1983. I bought my first prewar card in 1988 and really haven't dabbled much in newer card with the exception of the Topps Heritage issues since.

1967 Boxes



1967 Wrapper



My Favorite Card as a kid and still my favorite postwar card

[Leon]

I took moderator liberties and moved this thread to the front page so more folks can read, enjoy and join in it.

I started collecting in about 1968 at 7 yrs old. I kept collecting until about 12 yrs old and then some family stuff happened and I stopped collecting until my mid 30's after I was married....regards

[marcdelpercio]

I was hooked for sure at age 3. My earliest memory is swimming around on the living room floor in a pile of 1978 Topps cards. I would ask for baseball cards instead of toys for every birthday and Christmas (still at the top of my list every year) and would save up every penny of loose change I could find to be able to buy a couple of 20 cent packs at the grocery store each week. I finally completed my first set (1987 Topps), card by card. Putting that final Roy Smalley card in the box and feeling that I had truly accomplished something is my single greatest childhood memory. I still have that set and literally wouldn't sell it for a million dollars. I can honestly say that there has not been one single month I have been alive, from probably age 5 onward, that I have not bought or traded for some baseball cards. Great thread!

[alanu]

I don't remember exactly how long, but I think from about 1967 (6 years old) until 1972. This is based on the mostly football and baseball cards (and lots of non-sports too) that I found when I was out of college, including a complete 1972 Topps baseball set that was mailed to me by series.

I didn't really start back up gain until the late 80's, early 90's when I mostly started trading all of my stuff for Clemente cards.

-Alan