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29 January 2006

How many of us were sports card collectors as kids?→[More:] I owe a lot to baseball (and football, basketball & hockey) cards. They taught me about math, and georgraphy and history in roundabout ways. Plus the trading card is a great way of encapsulating someone on a piece of cardboard. (the 83 Topps Baseball is a personal favorite). I always wanted to make a bubblegum-style card with my picture on the front and my work history stat-style on the back to hand out with a resume. But I'm crazy.

post by: jonmc at: 16:20 | 17 comments

I've given much of my collection away over the years, but i still have a binder of favorite cards, my most monetarily valuable being a Ryne Sandberg rookie, my oddest being a Jack Morris All-Star card where his name was unprinted on the front for some reason. I used to have a Gretzky Rookie, but I lost it flipping cards with neighbors. *sigh*

posted by jonmc 29 January | 16:24

I once spent my entire allowance (5.00) on an entire box of baseball cards, which flipped my mom out, and became the fodder for another Story which would always be brought up at Christmastime.

You know the kind: lame little peccadilloes that invariably are lodged in your parent's minds and will be re-hashed until you're well into your 20's.

posted by Lipstick Thespian 29 January | 16:28

another prized card of my childhood. I remember chasing that card all summer till it finally showed up in a pack. The thrill of finding the card you want in a store-bought pack is the kiddie equivalent of drawing a full house in poker I think.

The kid up the street traded me a beat up one of this card. It's not worth much but it's cool to have for historical reasons.

posted by jonmc 29 January | 16:41

heh. maybe we should make MeCha bubblegum cards. that'd be cool.

posted by jonmc 29 January | 16:42

I collected a lot of sports cards and comic books when I was a kid. Then I was arrested when I was 13, and had to sell them all to pay the fine. I still miss those comic books.

posted by cmonkey 29 January | 16:50

Do kids even collect cards anymore? God, kids today.

posted by cmonkey 29 January | 16:52

I wasn't but thankfully my grandfather was.

posted by terrapin 29 January | 16:57

I didn't collect sports cards, but I spent a serious shitload on Wacky Packages. I still have about 200 of them. I think nowadays it's Pokemon/Yugioh cards.

posted by chewatadistance 29 January | 16:57

terrapin: sweeeet!

chewy: I was a major league wacky packages buff, too. and Mad magazine. They're both my firts influences as far as humor and worldview, I think.

posted by jonmc 29 January | 17:19

Terrapin, those are amazing! That was a lot of fun to click through.

posted by jrossi4r 29 January | 21:25

Kids, schmids. I started collecting baseball cards about 5 years ago. This is my favorite one, partially because I had a crush on Nolan Ryan once.

Terrapin, wow. What gorgeous cards. You're so lucky.

posted by iconomy 29 January | 21:34

I never collected sports cards, but I was a major collector of Garbage Pail Kids. : )

posted by sisterhavana 29 January | 21:42

Thanks all. Believe it or not though I am shopping them.

Have a contact at SCP Auctions. I'm just scared to ship them for appraisal.

posted by terrapin 29 January | 22:08

I collected. Most of them are long gone, still have some that I need to go through and ebay or something. I had some Mickey Mantle and other great 1950-1970 cards including a Hank Aaron rookie but I put them in a flea market booth when I decided I would rather have money - and they were stolen despite multiple cameras and a locking case. Which was unlocked when I went to add some things. I could not get anything done about it. Soured me on flea markets forever. I was so mad that if I had known who stole them (I figure someone working there did it) I might have beat them to death.

posted by weretable and the undead chairs 29 January | 22:23

I've got about six thousand from the late 70s/early 80s. I've been trying to get them appraised for awhile now. Anyone know a decent source?

posted by Hellbient 29 January | 23:24

I contacted Sotheby's and asked them to look at my scans. They replied back that they were interested in them and cc'd SCP Auctions in the email. SCP is Sotheby's partner in sports memorabilia, so I trust them.

I also was refered to a place called Heritage by someone on Sportsfilter whose brother owns a card shop.

posted by terrapin 29 January | 23:46

MAD Magazine YAYUH!!! I cried when William Gaines died. It's never been the same.

posted by chewatadistance 30 January | 08:51

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