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January 22, 2008
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It was 1983 and I was 12 years old and my brother was 10. We had just moved to an apartment complex (Oak Park) in Salem, VA from Grundy, VA in coalfields of the Appalachian mountains. To us we had moved to the big city and quickly made friends.
Joey was one of the first friends we made and he was about 13 I think. He introduced us to baseball card collecting. This was a great past time since there were a group of boys (even some girls) there that collected. So we would spend afternoons trading... this kept us out of trouble and taught life skills such has negotiating and economics. What I would give to be able to go back now and be a fly on the wall at one of those trading sessions!
Each of us had certain players we collected and of those we typically had a favorite. For me Gary Carter was my favorite and below is his 1975 Rookie card. There was also a mini version of this card and I would scour card shows for years in search of like a guy looking for a Dan Wesson 745!
My brother and I were also huge Atlanta Braves fans and in the 80's was a heavy burden on out shoulders! My faviorate player at the time was first basemen Chris Chambliss. The 1975 Topps shown below was given to me for my 13th or 14th birthday by our friend Joey. He also give me a 1976 Kelloggs Gary Carter. Surprised I can still remember that!
The 1975 Topps Highlights card below was my first Hank Aaron. Again being a Braves fan I had to have a Hank Aaron card and this was one of his last and for a youngster one of the cheapest I could get!
It was about 1984 or 85 and Willie Mays came to the Salem Redbirds (A St. Louis AA Farm Team at the time) field to sign autographs. My dad had taken us to the flea market where there were several small baseball card shows inside the main building. I was able to find this 1972 Topps In Action card. We stood in line for some time and when we finally made it to the table where Willie was signing we were told to lay our card on the table. An assistant then slide to card in front of Mays, he signed and the assistant on his other side slide it back to us. He never looked up and I haven't cared for him since!
Johnny Bench was another favorite of mine! At that time we use to get Baseball Card Catalogs from various dealers and the one I recall most was from Kit Young. I wanted this 1969 Johnny Bench AS Rookie so bad and saved my money up and my Mom mailed the check. I believe it was about $40 if I remember correctly which was big money to me in the 80's! Well I waited and waited and finally got a letter back with the check stating they no longer had it in stock! Years later I was able to pick this one up!
For some reason I always wanted this 1965 Clemente below which was way out of my price range when I was heavily involved in collecting however at various antique malls I've stumbled across cards and have been able to pickup this one as well.
I have lots of other cards but these are a few that stand out to me. So was anyone else a card collector growing up?
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DWF Supporters
October 14, 2010
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Oh yes. My brother and I were. I haven't seen them in years. I will I have change that. I had football and baseball cards. I remember I have an almost complete 1984 topps football set. I have the 2 big ones. Dan Marino and John Elway rookie cards. Another favorite is the 1971 topps Johnny Unitas. For baseball my favorite is a Ken Griffey Jr upper deck rookie card my mom had gotten me as a christmas gift. The local mall had a card show every couple months. One seller always had a 60% off sale. He would have the mint price listed and all were sold at 60% off that. We couldn't wait to get to his tables.
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Dans Club
April 18, 2014
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I had football cards in the 70's. Guys like Mean Joe Green, Roger Staubach, Joe Namath, Archie Manning, Tarkenton, and Terry Bradshaw. By the mid to late 70's I was teen and starting to drive. I was playing myself. After that it Marines til 88'. Now days I couldn't tell ya who plays and don't even think about it. My 2 youngest 11 and 14 play baseball and have since little. My 3 older boys were karate and football, 2 girls were JROTC Shooting Team. So if not for them I would never had care for ball sports. I was just an outdoorsman when Uncle Sam let me go..
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"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."
Richard Henry Lee
American Statesman, 1788
July 14, 2013
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My aunt married a pitcher named Jay Hook whose card back in the early 60's eluded me. When I found ebay in the '90s I was able to get all 5 Topps cards and plenty more, pictures and other stuff. He won the Mets first game ever.
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Dans Club
March 27, 2009
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We did back in the day! Now I hear stories of parents tossing the cards out when the kids leave the nest! I started my son's in the 80s with boxes of sealed cards! Some remain sealed today!
Dans Club
DWF Supporters
April 20, 2010
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I was not much into baseball cards other than trying to collect Phillies players as that is my dad's favorite team and he has always been a big baseball fan.
As a kid I did assemble a full collection of Charlies Angels trading cards though. I think my sister still has them. Even then you can see what held my attention!
"The lion and the tiger may be more powerful, but the Wolf does not perform in the circus"
Dans Club
March 2, 2008
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Charlies Angels Cards???
And there is a full collection???
Oh please, more 
I went to a bookstore and asked the saleswoman "Were is the Self Help Section?" She said if she told me, it would defeat the purpose.
George Carlin
August 15, 2014
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Sure, many collected when I was young. Some cards got put into bicycle spokes for the noise. Up until a few years ago I still had a cigar box full of cards from around '57 till '62. Even a '58 Ted Williams that was 'supposed' to be worth a lot. When showing them to the owner of a card (whatever shop) he said I might get some money for them in Atlanta. The Ted Williams card was degraded because it came packed with bubble gum? No ____ , Sherlock, I thought they all were.
Anyway, I traded them all and a few dollars for a mix master WWII P-38 at a local pawn shop.
Sorry about the Braves….they were bad through out the seventies and eighties. My mother watched them for years of mediocracy but didn't live till they did well.
In my time they even had Elvis cards. I still have a few somewhere. Things like 'Clint takes Aim'…..a still photo from 'Love Me Tender' and others.
Uhmm…..I think I just admitted to being a geezer.
Dans Club
April 18, 2014
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Why, what's wrong with Elvis? 
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"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."
Richard Henry Lee
American Statesman, 1788
August 15, 2014
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Nothing….just a misplaced emoticon or whatever they're called.
Also have some old football cards but I doubt anyone here would remember the names. 
George Blanda as a QB for the Bears, long before he was the kicker for the Raiders. 'Night Train' Lane……see what I mean.
Dans Club
April 18, 2014
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. Ya I know... Well I must be a geezer too... I love Elvis...
Oath Keeper #021479 NRA #206814004
Member AAGSR Member AGA #83120600233
"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."
Richard Henry Lee
American Statesman, 1788
January 22, 2008
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Ed Mc said
Sure, many collected when I was young. Some cards got put into bicycle spokes for the noise. Up until a few years ago I still had a cigar box full of cards from around '57 till '62. Even a '58 Ted Williams that was 'supposed' to be worth a lot. When showing them to the owner of a card (whatever shop) he said I might get some money for them in Atlanta. The Ted Williams card was degraded because it came packed with bubble gum? No ____ , Sherlock, I thought they all were.
Ed, just like anything else it all depends on the condition of the card and unless now a days it's been graded it's very subjective.
As for Elvis I was only 4 when he died but love some of his music. This morning I pulled up Hound Dog on YouTube for my little to listen to and he liked it as well! I pretty much don't let my kids listen to anything after 1989!
August 15, 2014
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Yeah Jody, that's the same card. I mentioned Elvis cards only as an example of ones available in the fifties. The attached photo shows a few cards I saved and had mounted between glass in a frame along with newer cards and ticket stubs from the '91 and '91 World Series'. As a kid I'd always wanted to go to a World Series game….closest team then to GA was the old Washington Senators. At the time I was a Tigers fan for some reason. Anyway, funny how things can turn out.
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