Baseball cards......Link

[K2C Sooner]

First the link.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/mlb/la-sp-sn-ty-cobb-baseball-cards-discovered-20160302-story.html

Second my story. I was a prolific baseball ball card collector in my youth. Most of them were Topps, but Post cereal had some cut out cards on the back of cereal boxes that actually have some worth or at least did. I had a Mickey Mantle Post card, but could never get the Topps. I had most all the other stars in the 50 to 60's.

If you hit the link you will see a tobacco card of Ty Cobb. I actually seen one of these cards in a childhood friends attic. His dad had several tobacco cards from that era, but I remember the Cobb card. I tried to trade him half my current collection just for his dad's shoebox collection. It almost happened, but he was afraid of a whipping....LOL

I have a Pete Rose rookie card, but most of my collection disappeared when I lost interest and mom cleaned the attic. Darn it......

I do have 5 or 6 cases (not sleeves) of unopened pro set football cards from 1991. Guaranteed Emmitt Smith card in each sleeve. I don't think they are worth much because of mass production, but if they ever do, mine are the highest grade. Never been handled by human hands.

What sports collectables have you got?

 

[Plainosooner]

When we moved to Texas 52 years ago, I gave all my baseball cards to the kid next door who was three or four years younger than me. My dad ragged on me all the time because most of my spare money went for baseball cards. I think the gum they sold with them was part of why I have about eight crowns in my head right now. Well, seven crowns and a cap on my right upper front tooth, from being tackled on a sidewalk when I was about 13.

I had some really valuable cards, though they'd have been more so in better condition. The best one was from a trade with a guy who'd lost interest in his set. It was called World Series Heroes from the 1958 set I think. It had Hank Aaron and Mickey Mantle in their batting stances facing each other, in a set a year before I started collecting them. I saw that card in a catalog a decade or two ago and it was the most valuable card in the Topps set that year.

Any Mantle card had more value than any other during his career and after. But when Aaron broke Ruth's record, I believe in 1974, that card got really valuable.

That kid I gave my cards to died in a teen driving accident and I suspect his mom pitched maybe 1500 to 2000 cards. It also included some football cards, though not nearly as many.

I also had some of the Post Cereal cards, including a mailed off for set of all the Pirate team cards, ten I think, from the year after they won the World Series in 1960. If only I'd sent off for the Yankees.... But I loved the Bucs and hated the Yankees. Still do the latter.

 

[K2C Sooner]

I certainly know the fever of spending you last nickel on a pack of cards. What a huge disappointment to get two packs of the same players, but as you said the gum was delicious.

My brothers and I would walk old 66 highway with gunny sacks, yeah no trash bags in those days, and pick up pop bottles thrown from cars. 2 bottles for a nickel at the local In-n- out (pre QTrip). I found many bottles in front of the picture I'm going to post......Hard Rock, Catoosa, Ok on highway 66............

 

[fortworth4ou2]

Baseball card collector too, I have about 25,000 cards dating from the mid 50's to the late 80's.

I'm a huge baseball fan and have near complete team sets of the Baltimore Orioles during that time. Among my more notable rookie cards are:

Brooks Robinson Rod Carew Robin Yount Jim Palmer
Frank Robinson Willie McCovey Derek Jeter
Bob Gibson Steve Carleton Mark McGwire
Orlando Cepeda Tony Perez Barry Bonds
Carl Yaz (spelling ?) Ferguson Jenkins Roger Clemens
Pete Rose Boog Powell Craig Biggio
Bob Uecker Cal Ripken Ken Griffey Jr.
Nolan Ryan George Brett Reggie Jackson

Have several Mantle, Maris, Musial, Koufax, Drysdale, Mays, Aaron, Spahn, Eddie Mathews, Kaline, Banks and many others but not their rookie cards.

I was lucky that my mom didn't throw them out. I've since given them to my son who will pass them onto the first male grandson. Only granddaughters, at the moment.

When I was about 5, I began my collection. My older brother and I would go to the local A&P Supermarket in Baltimore and hustle the old ladies coming out of the store. We would ask if we could push their grocery cart to their car and unload the contents into their trunk. I was very small and would have to raise my arms slightly above my head to push the cart. I was a sight to see. We would be given at least a nickel for our time and when we saved about $.60, we would dart into the store and buy a box of cards. I usually got more business from the ladies than my older brother.

I cringe to this day when I hear stories of parents throwing out their kid's baseball cards.

Boomer Sooner

 

[WhyNotaSooner]

A couple of months ago I sent to my adult son the balance of my entire collection. Mostly 60's/70's baseball cards to go with his 80's/90's. But close to 20 yrs ago I built an outdoor bar top and covered it with over 90 cards. Mostly old Colt 45 / Astro, Cowboy & Oiler cards. I sprinkled in some images of the kids in their sports playing days as well some images of my playing days from many years back. It turned out pretty nice. At least they are out now on display, functional, and useful. They're acutally a nice conversation piece.

 

[JConXtsy]

I was a kid in the 80s, and I'm one of the culprits of the exploding rise and fall of baseball cards at that time. I had all of the big ones - Upper Deck Griffey Jr, Topps Don Mattingly, the Bo Jackson cards, Mark McGuire and Jose Conseco - The Bash Brothers, you name it. I was never able to get my hands on the Fleer Billy Ripken "F*** Face" card. I wanted it so bad, but I couldn't find it.

I still have most of these cards if not all, and they're all worthless now. I don't know why I hang on to them. I think maybe because when my son is old enough, I'll finally open them up and peer through them with him for one last remembrance of my youth and then he and I will do something cool with them like light a fire or tie them to firecrackers.

 

[SoonerTulsan]

My older brother started collecting in the early 60's and I took over in the mid-60s. Have many cards from the 50's, including a couple of Jackie Robinson 1954 cards (Topps). From the mid-60's to the mid-70's had almost complete collections. Football cards too from the 60's....all the big names.

In the mid-80's my cousins boyfriend was showing us some cards he bought and told us what they were worth. I panicked and asked Mom meekly if she knew where are cards were.

Being the World's Best Mom, she didn't throw them out. At that time, Nolan Ryan's rookie card, which also had Jerry Koosman I think, was worth hundreds of dollars. Last time I looked, a whole lot less, but I have 2 of them. Numerous other rookie cards. Put the most valuable in plastic but I need to break those out again.

Great thread K2C. From a much simpler time.