It occurred to me the other day that I have been accumulating baseball cards for 40 years. That's not an approximation. The first time I ever held trading cards in my hands that were my very own happened in 1974. That's exactly 40 years ago. I don't know at what point in the year I pulled that Tommy John card out of a cello pack of '74 Topps purchased by mother. I would imagine it would have been in the spring. So this is the perfect time to celebrate my 40th anniversary of collecting cards. With the exception of 1996 and 1999 -- the darkest years of my collecting dark period of 1995-2005 -- I have obtained cards every one of those 40 years. Collecting has been part of me since I was a little boy. But that little boy of 9 years old would be a bit surprised with what I have become. Back when I was a kid, the only card collecting objectives were to obtain pictures of baseball players. In the ensuing years, that expanded into football, hockey and even basketball...
Up all hours talking baseball, cardboard & collecting