Thanks! The only problem is I'm a Mets fan and my Yankees collecting friends will see this card and think I've gone to the Dark Side lol.
February 2022 Show Off Thread!
- Thread starter KCLJ520
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HA! I mean, its Mickey Mantle, I dont collect Yankees by any means, but I love the Babe, got a ton of his stuff, and love Mick too....its kind of like people who collect Griffey and dont watch the Mariners. It is possible!!
Blessings,
Kevin
One of the best players in history, no doubt......also one of the most collected players in history!!
Not sure who had more inserts in the 90's-early 2000's, Griffey or Frank Thomas. Seemed to always pull a Griffey or Thomas more often than other players. The Kid and The Big Hurt. I miss those days, lol!!!!
They were good days, not a care in this world! My biggest concern at the time was which GI Joe soldier I would find at the toy store and which player I might pull from a pack of cards!
When card shops would advertise a big sale in the sports section of the news paper (at least in my area) and people would line up before the store opened like it was Black Friday to get a great deal on the Griffey UD RC, Thomas Leaf Rc, or even the hype of Mutombo's UD RC or the Shaq Attack era. Cards shows every weekend, if not 2 or 3 that you could hit up. Man I miss the old days of collecting and like you said "not a care in the world". Portland, Oregon was a great place to collect cards in the 1987-1998 time frame.
My great Aunt and Uncle owned a beauty parlor in LaGrange, where I am from, outside of Chgo. I went every week with my Grandmother, and there was a small card shop right next door. If I was good while Gram got her hair done, I got to pick out some cards!! There were always Cubs and Bears, awesome stuff! I have collected since 1986!
Blessings,
Kevin
I believe 86 was when I started also and my grandma would buy me cards too if I was good while we ran errands. When I was a freshman in high school (91-92), I walked into a card shop and asked the owner (Bob) if he needed any help in the shop. He said no that day, but after a few other trips and me asking, he finally said yes. He told me he would pay me $3 an hour cash under the table, plus $3 an hour in trade to spend at the store (minimum wage was $5 I believe). I was set up in the corner of the shop and tasked with going through 10 or so 5,000 count boxes. He said, make as many sets as I could with what cards where in those boxes. By the time I was a junior, I was buying, selling and ordering all the product and supplies that he needed to run the shop. The owner had opened a second shop my junior year and one day he gave me my own set of keys to the new store. He said, "the new store is yours after school and on the weekends". If I wasn't at the shop on the weekends, I was representing his shops at the shows. I worked there for seven or eight years until I decided to join the navy and I believe at the end of my time there, I was making $8 or $9 an hour under the table, plus $6 an hour in trade. I was the only high school kid running a baseball card shop and weekend shows on his own in the entire Portland metro area and tax free at that. Even had a couple other shops offer to pay me more than what Bob did to work for them, but my loyalty was with Ahearn's Cards and Comics. Bob took a chance on a kid he didn't know and gave him a job. I have gone through two or three different collecting phases where I would go hard for a couple years, stop for a year, go hard again for a couple years, then sold everything a year after I stopped working at the shop. Started over again and then sold again. Now I'm coming to the end of the third phase and slowing stepping back and trading/selling what I don't want or need. Though this time I'm keeping my PC items and will hand them down to my two daughters when they get older. My collection back then was unreal and I can only imagine what my collection would look like now if I hadn't sold it off multiple times.
Realized that this reply was way to long. Sorry!!!
Billy
Nice!!!
Billy, that is a tremendous story, and congratulations to you on being a teenager who was trustworthy and hardworking, running your own shop! That is impressive, and two of the qualities I teach my own children, and try to instill in all of my students as well. Thanks also for your Navy service....Anchors Aweigh!
I too have ebbed and flowed in terms of collecting, and I too have sold off several collections over the years, which has been fun to build items up, and also fun to see what I can get for the items as well! In 2008 I sold my first collection, primarily actors and musicians, and my wife and I went to Italy for Holy Week with the proceeds, I did really nicely on that one! The second collection I sold was primarily sports items, and did well with that too. My 2 best friends and I went to Cooperstown in 2019, and I started collecting quite a lot again after that trip, and this May we are going to Canton, so getting items built up in anticipation of that trip too!
Blessings,
Kevin
PS: Awesome story, thanks for sharing!!
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