Your mission... should you choose to accept... will be to answer the same question. But there's a catch. I'm wrapping up this contest, so you won't have the two or three days to respond as usual. It'll be a post a day from this point out. Best of luck and thanks again for everyone's participation. It's been a blast reading everyone's posts.
Okay... are you ready? Let's get it started (in my best MC Hammer voice)...
Nick asked me...
How did you first decide to collect sports cards, and when?
Well Nick... it sort of depends. The first sports cards I owned were in a shoebox filled with 1979 Topps baseball cards. My neighbor gave them to me and it was like an early Christmas present. I would sit there and sort them into teams, then positions, the back into teams... over and over again. If I were to guess, I'd say this took place in the summer of 1980.
In 1981, my parents bought me my first complete baseball card set during a trip to Seattle. The set? 1981 Fleer baseball. Over the years, the set was broken up and sold off. But a few years ago, I picked up some boxes of this stuff and rebuilt a hand collated set.
But if I had to put a date on when I actively decided to collect sports cards, I'd say it was in 1983. That's when I started saving my money up to buy packs of Fleer and Topps at the local pharmacy. It's also when the neighborhood kids and I started sitting on our porches together sorting and trading with each other.
Okay... now it's your turn to answer Nick's question:
How did you first decide to collect sports cards, and when?
1 Point - Leave your response below.
2 Points - If you've already written about this on your blog, then leave a link below, so others can enjoy reading your work.
3 to 5 Points - Write your response in a new blog post and leave the link below, so others can enjoy reading your work.
I'll accept responses until tomorrow (Saturday) at 3pm (PST). I look forward to reading your responses.
Happy Friday and sayonara!
41 comments:
Glad my question made it into one of your posts!
Like you, it's hard to pinpoint an exact date as to when I started collecting. It had to have been sometime during my early years of Little League, as I know I had some cards then. There was one great card shop around my house that really pulled me into becoming a full-time collector.
I'll have a post up on this topic tonight and get you the link once it's up.
Thanks!
the story of how it started was in a link I gave you awhile ago, no need to repeat that. But it was for sure cemented in grade school when my friends and their older brothers started bringing them to school for trading or playing games with them like scramble, or knock down, etc...
I had to really begin in earnest so I had cards to play with as well.
My brother is two years older than me, and was a big Ripken fan in the late '80s early '90s. My dad bought packs for him on occasion and I would get his duplicates until I was old enough to get my own packs. My dad wasn't a big card guy, but he urged us to collect.
I covered this briefly on my blog during Thanksgiving of 2010. My father got me into it. He would bring packs home after a day of work and we would bust them together.
The post has much more than just that subject, but here is the link.
http://booboosue.blogspot.com/2010/11/reasons-to-be-thankful-from-card.html
I started as a kid (not sure of age, probably around 7 or so) when a friend of mine turned me on to cards. His older brother had tons of cards from all sports and we liked them so much we started buyin our own. Same old story, save money then ride bikes to the candystor and buy packs. the earliest year packs I remember buying were 1975 Topps, still one of my favorite sets.
I found some 54/55 Topps hockey at my uncles around 1960 and was hooked
Restarted again. Read my first post at hockeykazi/blogspot.
I started collecting by buying packs at the Pony Baseball field in 1979. A couple years later my dad gave me his 1959 and 1960 cards from when he was a kid. I have taken a few semi-breaks through the years but have been collecting cards pretty much since then.
Here you go:
http://baseballdimebox.blogspot.com/2012/07/answering-my-own-question.html
My older brother collected, and I wanted to be like him, so of course I collected. The first packs I consciously remember were 1987 Topps. I wanted all the Yankees, but remember getting other stars too... Boggs, Brett, Vince Coleman, Tim Raines, Strawberry, etc.
The first set I collected was 1993 Topps. Every time my mom went to the grocery store she would get me a pack. I kept the stack in our living room behind some books. When id get new cards, I would add them to the stack in numerical order. I'd put the Topps Gold cards at the back since they were special.
1959. The first cards I recall seeing were the 1958s owned by a girl in my neighborhood on Long Island. I don't recall having any myself. But I soon was bugging my folks when we went shopping and I started collecting '59 by the pack and through 'flipping' at school. Hard to say how many I had, sure wasn't anything close to a complete set. But the next year I was into cards full bore. I remember getting a bunch of packs at Easter time. I loved that 1960 set. It was very colorful and I really dug the rookie cards and the manager cards. There was something about the backs that drew me in, too. The gold and white color scheme and the 'Season Highlights' were fascinating to me.
I'll NEVER forget a kid at school whose parents had bought him a whole box of packs of the 1960s. I couldn't get over how lucky he was.
I would love to write a blog post about this, alas, I do not have the time nor the sobriety to do so this evening, nor will I tomorrow afternoon. Long story short, I "inherited" a box of old baseball cards from my brother when I was about 7 years old. By old, I mean 1976-78. In 1982, these seemed down right ancient. I started buying new packs in earnest that year and haven't stopped accumulating since.
I started collecting in the late-80s. 1989 Topps was the first set I remember collecting and buying lots of packs up. My collecting reached a peak in the mid-90s. I traded with kids in the neighborhood. I bought packs on a regular basis then also.
I discovered baseball and cards all within the Spring/Summer of 1992.
http://tenetsofwilson.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-beginning-of-my-collection.html
First ever, my Dad collected when I was a kid and I found his cards to be pretty cool, particularly after my Mom bought him a 1994 Topps factory set. I was 8 and hooked, and in 1995 I bought up everything and anything, which mostly turned out to be repack bags of junk wax and 1995 Collector's Choice.
How did I start my comeback? After many years out a buddy of mine started a blog, and I helped him with it with the idea we'd get mad rich and be famous. We did get on Sportscenter (yay) but I got bored with the stuff we were doing and looked to other blogs for inspiration. Found a nice Wonderful Terrific Monds post on Bad Wax, followed by finding the Heartbreaking Cards blog, and then I found Stats on the Back. I was right back in and my first trade was actually with Heartbreaking Cards about a month later.
hgey fuji...when did i begin? sometime in the late 80's. how? i was trolling magazine racks and beckett baseball was am awesome new discovery for me. \
here's the link to my post all about it
http://alltradebait.blogspot.com/2012/07/a-dual-contest-answer.html
I went to a Kevin Love signing at my LCS in the summer of 2010, and came back to get some protection for the signed item. Bought a card, got hooked. Haven't stopped since.
Here you go Nick, er ah, Fuji!
http://dawgbonesaphilliesphan.blogspot.com/2012/07/another-fuji-esque-topic.html
Thanks,
Dawgbones
great post... thanks for sharing!
Vince Coleman + Topps Gold = Good Times
Wow... a whole box of 1960 Topps? Coolest parents ever.
Lol... awesome!
great post... thanks for sharing your story.
Wow... never would have thought it was only two years ago.
Love those Disney holograms!
It turned into a half-Star Wars-themed post on its own. I swear I didn't do that on purpose.
http://thiscardiscool.blogspot.com/2012/07/it-was-his-destiny-short-story-about.html
It started with a trip to a comic book store.
http://section-36.blogspot.com/2012/07/why-do-i-do-what-i-do.html
I was born in 1965 so @ my age it kinda fuzzy as to how and when I started collecting but I started playing baseball when i was 6 and watching it on TV almost all the time I got Mets and Phillies games on TV back then at some point I found out that they made cards of the players I watched on TV and just had to have some the first cards I can remember purchasinf were the 1972 topps baseball cards then I would take them to school and trade and flip them sometimes coming home with more then I went to school with which was always fun. It just hasn't stopped for god I wish I was 7 again. LOL
Star Wars, Zoo Books, and Teddy Ruxpin, oh my!
The 1985 Topps Dwight Gooden is one of my favorite cards of all-time... glad you were able to get decent money for it.
Don't worry about it. I'm in the same boat. Half of the time, I'm guessing on dates and stuff like that. Actually the main reason I started this blog was to document things, so I don't need to remember ;-)
A box of '81 Fleer was given to me on my first birthday. I got a box of something every year there after but was too young to know what to do with them. I'd say '85 was the first year I really started "collecting." Thats when I got my first 3 ring binder and 9 card sleeves.
I'm in...and mine was '81 Fleer too.
http://playattheplatedude.blogspot.com/2012/07/in-beginning.html
Ahh... looks like 1981 Fleer has a special place in both of our collections.
Another 1981 Fleer guy? I'm headed over to read your post right now.
I asked this question on my blog last year as part of a contest as well. You can see my answer and some responses as well.
http://cardhobbyist.blogspot.com/2011/10/war-set-new-5.html
Vacation boy just squeezed under the wire:
http://nightowlcards.blogspot.com/2012/07/i-dont-know-why-i-did-what-i-did.html
Thanks for sharing Cardhobbyist!
Glad you were able to join the party ;-)
Hope you're enjoying your vacation.
There are a few blog posts for this...the first covers my initial cards:
http://thevintagesportscards.blogspot.com/2010/05/my-first-cards.html
And here's a story that probably represents the first time I considered myself a "collector":
http://thevintagesportscards.blogspot.com/2010/05/another-prized-card.html
Here's an article on the early card shows in my life:
http://thevintagesportscards.blogspot.com/2010/08/remembering-card-shows-of-1980s.html
And this one covers some additional bases on my early collecting habits:
http://thevintagesportscards.blogspot.com/2010/11/oldest-card-i-own.html
I, being a child of the 60s as well, have not had to guess at a single date! Go ahead, prove me wrong on any of them! I double-Dawg dare ya!!
LOL... don't worry, I believe ya. I just don't trust myself with exact dates ;-)
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