Yesterday, we brought you some of the early card collecting memories of our Facebook fans. More than 170 of you have responded the post so today, here are more great stories from folks all over North America.
Clint McClain: My favorite memory is the day I got my very first card. I was with my brother and cousin in my grandma’s kitchen in the summer of 1979. We finished off a box of Twinkies and the empty box had 3 cards on the back. I ended up with Joe Morgan, which I still have. I was five years old and I’ve been collecting cards ever since.
Lucas Glavin: When I was 7 Years old (1989) I would watch every Red Sox game on TV, or go to the ballpark. Each day I would find out who they were playing, and then look through my collection to gather all the cards I had of both the Red Sox players and their opponent. During the game I would watch every play while looking up the player stats as they came to bat.
Ryan Minnigh I guess technically I’m still a kid (20) but I’ll never forget my buddy calling me back in 2003, ecstatic over the A-Rod jersey card he pulled from Ultra baseball from a local drug store. I convinced my parents to take me there next day and buy the other box. I pulled a Nomar Garciaparra jersey. It may be simple but it’s my first experience with cards, and now I can’t stop buying them!
Pat Decker: 1963…My father sends me to the store for something there was .10 change. I bought 2 packs of Topps. Pulled a Mantle out of each of them. Suffered the wrath for spending that dime but who cares. Where are they now? 50 years later I still remember that tale.
John F Gauld IV: My dad had a small card shop. I remember meeting some great players, hearing great stories and learning a lot!
Tim Jarrold trading multiple cards (Howe, etc.) for Bobby Orr’s rookies (not knowing what an RC was) then putting them in the spokes because he was my favourite!
John Joseph I loved “flipping’ baseball cards during recess in 5th grade at St. Leander’s Elementary School in San Leandro, Calif. We’d line up a row of cards against a wall and whoever knocked down the last card standing got the pile of cards on the 
ground.
Mike Range: My mom dropping me and my friends off at the Hillside Holliday Inn for a card show in the Chicago area in 1981 – picking up a ’67 Mantle, 72 Ryan among others – all on the cheap. All from money saved from my paper route.
Rudolfo Alexzander Carrillo: My grandfather would buy me a few cello or rack packs after every haircut. We would sit on the tailgate of the truck open a pop and he would talk to me about baseball as we flipped through the packs. It was also the only time he talked about playing baseball as a young man, and how southwest Native Americans as dark as he was were sent to or told to go to the Negro Leagues or Mexican Leagues back in the late 30s and early 40s before the war. He loved Hank Aaron and Jackie Robinson. I miss my gramps every pack or box I open to this day.
Christopher Uhland: I grew up in the middle of nowhere in Pennsylvania with little money. Baseball cards were my connection to a possible better life dreaming of being a baseball player. This was pre-cable and Internet times but I learned all the stats of all the players. They now are great fodder to talk about with building relationships with peers personally and professionally.
Steve Wescott Best memory- riding bikes with my best friend to the grocery store to buy, trade and collect BB cards to make complete sets between 1960-1965. Worst memory – taking same cards and tossing them in roaring fire with same friend as we headed off to college!
Ryan Eric Booker: When I turned 18 I received money from an accident when I was little. The first thing I spent some of the money on was a 86 Fleer Jordan rookie and a 76 Topps Walter Payton rookie! I always wanted those cards since I was younger but I couldn’t afford them! Later I purchased two more Jordan Star cards from his rookie year! I was a happy camper! We also turned my bedroom into a card shop with shelves and everything but nothing was for sale all for show LOL! A kid’s dream back in the day!
: One day in the very early 1970’s my mom, just tired of me running in and out of the house asking for this and that actually sent me to the store to buy cards. She was not the mom who threw my old cards away, she actually saw my interest way before me and even kept a few that I got from her as an adult (Thanks Mom!).
Bobby Brock: Growing up loving my Astros, my real father didn’t share or teach me much about any sports. When my mom remarried in 1986, Steve was just my stepdad. Today I just think of him as dad. He took me to my first game, played my first game of catch, and was introduced to collecting cards. All at the age of 16. In the 90’s when the sports card boom hit, my wife and I started to really get involved in collecting and going to shows. I invited my dad to a show. He then got involved in collecting all over again. He got me started and I helped him get started again. Sports is a big part of my family. We love each other very much and try to get together for sporting events. Thank you, baseball cards.
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