1970 Topps Vida Blue #21 / 1996 Topps Mickey Mantle 1965 Topps Reprint #15
I want to write about how I got into this hobby. It’s not very exciting.
When I was little I got baseball cards, just like most kids. I opened them. Past casually watching the Indians I was not really a big baseball fan, so most of my cards ended up in a paper bag.
I would not call it a collection.
Then one day, for some reason that I don’t remember, my dad and I went to our local baseball card shop. My dad was neither a card collector, a baseball fan, or a man partial to just buying me stuff, so I can’t imagine how I roped him into taking me. I brought my paper bag of cards with me, and approached the owner–Paul–to ask what my hefty bag of cards was worth. It was a paper bag of cards, so I assumed that they must be worth something. Anyway, this was the early 90’s and you can imagine the types of cards in the bag (think 1988 Topps, and lots of them). Paul let me down gently (“…all cards are worth something…uh…eventually”), but made it clear that my bag of cards was worthless. He did give me some advice (the paper bag did not help keeping cards in good shape), and gave me a 500 count card box to put my cards in.
Just as we were about to leave I noticed that Vida Blue card in the display case. I don’t know why, but I asked my dad if he would buy it for me. It was $4.50. I remember that really well. I was shocked when he said yes. My dad was not the type to normally just drop dough. So like that, I was into baseball cards–at least for the next few years. That card was probably my most cherished possession…I would carry it around everywhere with me, kept it under my mattress for safe keeping and I became Vida Blues biggest grade school aged fan.
But, like most kids, I eventually fell out of the hobby. For one, most of the cards I was buying were pretty worthless and I knew it. I do remember blowing 8 bucks on a 1992 Stadium Club Jose Canseco, buying lots of Fleer cards, and thinking that Topps Finest were only for rich kids. I also remember really overvaluing a Colon Collection Babe Ruth card. Not only that, but when I did buy packs of cards I was still really only interested in Indians, and those Indians of the early 90’s didn’t really hold much appeal for a young, stupid kid. As time past I would go hot and cold on baseball cards, but eventually other things grabbed my attention: I think I did collect football cards for a while, comics became a big thing for a year or two. For the most part my boxes of baseball cards went to the back of my closet. I still carried that Vida Blue around everywhere, though.
Then, 1996 rolled around. It was late 1996. The Indians were kicking ass, and I was a pretty hardcore fan. All the Tribe fever, though, had done nothing to get me back into baseball cards. I didn’t have much in the ways of hobbies at this time though, spending most of my time eating and hiding from bullies at school. Girls, as the last sentence illustrates, were not on my radar yet. Anyway, one especially dreary late winter afternoon I wondered over to the local comic book shop. I guess I had some money in my pocket because I bought three packs of 1996 Topps baseball cards. I don’t remember my logic–I was not that into baseball cards anymore–but at any rate I made the purchase a dragged my ass home.
Side note: the place that I bought it from was called “Capps Comics”. I hated that place. They had all these stupid rules posted on the walls: nobody under 14 allowed in without a parent, nobody under 16 in allowed more then twice a week, no loitering for more then 20 minutes. And they didn’t tell you what comics were for what ages, so half the time when I tried buying a comic they told me I was not old enough. The places was a comic book/baseball card shop, but they hated kids. I would of rather went to Paul (his place was “Old Coin and Card”), but it was four miles from my house.
So I got home and ripped those packs open, and the last pack had the 1965 Topps Mickey Mantle reprint card. And I thought it was about the coolest thing ever, even though I had no idea what it was. I ended up taking it to Paul, and he explained to me what the deal was–an insert set that Topps was running that year. The card was perfect. Vintage, but with that silver finish…and the back was so clean and simple. I loved that card.
And so it began.
I started buying ’96 Topps looking for those inserts, and eventually getting them either by ripping backs or trading with Paul for ones that I didn’t have. Then the 1997 set was released, this time with Mays reprints, and I did the same. In the process I spent a lot of time with Paul at his shop, and it rubbed off. I didn’t have a ton of money, but Paul was one of the few brick and mortar card shops that made it’s business on vintage cards (with thousands upon thousands of singles from the 50’s onward) and modern singles. For a kid on a limited budget it was great: I would scour his .25 and .50 cent card bins (organized by player) pulling out my favorite Indians, Greg Maddux, Chipper Jones and Rusty Greer cards. I have fond memories of walking four miles in the middle of winter to buy $20 dollars worth of Jim Thome or Manny Ramirez cards and a stack of 70’s A’s cards, and then a hot chocolate for the miserably cold walk home.
And I got really into collecting older semi-star players whose cards were older but easy to find: John Mayberry, Dave Parker and Gorman Thomas come to mind. As well as most of the early 70’s A’s teams. A book that I found, “The Great American Baseball Card Flipping, Trading and Bubble Gum Book” was an unbelievably huge inspiration as well. I also would go through his boxes of vintage commons looking for cards with famous players in the background. I had a lot of spare time on my hands. But over those years I amassed a pretty decent–if cheap–collection. My parents were cool too, and every holiday I would get packs or boxes of Topps or Bowman cards. I remember really getting into the 1997 Bowman cards, opening a bunch of packs looking for Jose Cruz jr and Travis Lee rookie cards. I also have a particularly nice memory of my dad driving me to a card shop that was two hours from my house to buy a 1989 Bowman factory set.
Paul was great though. He loved sports cards and he was happy to answer all my questions, help me build my collection and let me generally have the run of the place. Over the next few years, even when I eased up a little on collecting a bit, I still would hang out in there quite a bit just talking. By the time I was in high school he also proved to be invaluable when it came to advice on girls and dealing with the Indians losing, the two things that caused me the most stress in those years before I left for the Air Force. Bummer though: the store closed up on winter while I was stationed in Omaha, and I never got to say goodbye to Paul. I keep meaning to look him up somehow.
At this point I didn’t have any autographs really, since they were generally out of my budget. I did have a few by the time that I left for the military that I loved though: I got Omar Vizquel’s autograph at a game; a Vida Blue that my mom got me; a Tony Gwynn signed ball that I scored out of one of those Wal Mart “Treat” boxes; a 1996 Leaf Harold Baines I bought after an articles about it in Beckett; a 1996 SP Miguel Tejada that I thought was a steal when I bought it for three bucks (I was a fan of those late 90’s and early 00’s Oakland teams); a 1998 Donruss AJ Hinch that I considered a real investment and a Sean Casey signed ball that I got after a terrible prom incident.
The Air Force pretty much marked the end of me collecting baseball cards. I actually took that Mantle and Blue card to bootcamp with me, carrying them around in my breast pocket the whole 8 weeks. Not really sure why, but it was nice knowing they were there. By the time I got settled in Omaha I was too busy (and broke) to spend too much on cards, and after 9/11 I was too busy working shitty hours and feeling bad for myself to pick the hobby back up. I would send out my first TTM autograph request the winter of 2001-2002 (to Bobby Brownlie c/o Rutgers), and my autograph collecting habit would begin.
I still have a few cards, but most have been sold, tossed out or packed up back home. I guess I still technically collect cards: I am working on having every Topps base set of the Cleveland Indians and Browns since 1952, but it is a long term project. I am doing OK, but those Topps cards from the 50’s are expensive as hell.
Cleveland Sweet Spotting 