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| My first cards. |
My passion for baseball card collecting and the game kicked off in 1979 when my father brought home a box of Twinkees with three baseball cards on the bottom.
Chicago Cub, Rick Reuschel; Kansas City Royal, George Brett, and New York Yankee, Lou Pinella were my first cards.
I carefully cut them off the bottom of the box, well as careful as a nine-year old can, and tucked them away somewhere.
Later I reunited them with a 1973 Roger Staubach sticker that was floating around the house obtained from a Sugar Daddy.
Then ever so often I would obtain a card here and there.
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Soon after that TBS was added to the cable channel line up and I discovered the Atlanta Braves.
Before that about the only exposure I had to baseball was the St. Louis Cardinals on our local AM radio station WBBZ 1230.
It was the 1981season and the Braves lineup included Chris Chambliss, Glenn Hubbard, Rafael Ramirez, Bob Horner, Bruce Benedict, Claudell Washington, Jerry Royster, Dale Murphy, Phil Niekro, Gene Garber and so many more.
Soon I discovered the store up the alley was selling 1981 Donruss cards and the obsession kicked in full force.
I had many goals, finish the set, get the Braves and so many more.
Back then the cards were affordable, you got your money’s worth and for a youngster, it was a great way to improve your reading skills.
Later, when I accompanied my father on grocery store trips to Safeway, I would find a way to get a pack of Topps and or Fleer.
In my rookie days of collecting Donruss, Topps and Fleer were the only brands I knew.
A pack of Fleer was a treat because they weren’t offered at many places in my area.
Then one year Kraft put cards on the back of Mac and Cheese boxes.
I had stacks of boxes.
Finally one day, I cut the cards off the boxes.
Looking back, not sure that was the right thing to do.
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Through the years I also collected the Beckett magazines and figured I was on the road to riches with a growing collection.
That road is not paved in gold but I do have a few gems.
My father wasn’t a sports fan, so I shared my passion with the neighbor next door named Ed Hemken who also watched the Braves.
I probably drove him and others crazy with my latest cards.
Later a card shop opened up downtown.
A guy named Scot Cloud was the owner.
I’m betting I was one of few females who collected in this town, if not everywhere.
Looking back I’m sure I drove him crazy.
Over 30 years later Scot and I would end up colleagues in the newspaper business. The difference, he no longer has his cards, but I do.
Later another card shop opened and I had another shop owner to drive crazy.
His name is Barry Gabbert.
We first met working at Walmart. On down the line are resumes became similar, as he followed in my path, selling phones and later he went to work for WBBZ while I worked for the newspaper. Both had the same owner. He got out of the card business for good between 2018-2020.
But the obsession continues to live in me since those early days.
It did taper off for a while as of course life always finds a way to get in the way.
In recent years the focus turned to fantasy baseball and then TTM autograph collection.
I still have those three original cards. However, back then I didn’t know much about preserving cards. So those three cards are laminated but still viewable and are icons in my collecting history.
Baseball cards are my passion. The hobby helped me develop organization skills that became vital in my work. Also I developed math skills, as I used to try and figure out the formula used to figure the stats on the back of the card, and maybe even contributed to my love for photography.
Now I'm older and starting to slab and sell off some cards but I bet I have most of the collection until my dying day because they are a part of me.
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