I believe I started collecting back when I was around 6 or 7 (I’m 39 now). My parents would go to the drugs store and I would not leave the store till they broke down and picked up at least one pack of cards. Over the many years I only picked up baseball cards mostly topps brand. I remember a couple of my favorite cards were a Johnny Bench and a Pete Rose. I really never followed the sport much but I remember the days spent on the playground trading the cards not really knowing if I had made a good trade or not. I stopped collecting when I was about 10 or 11 and turned my sights on playing football an as I got older cars and girls.

It was not till a few years ago that I ran across a box of some of my old cards. Man talk about a blast form the past. There in the bottom was some of my old baseball along with some newer basketball cards. As I have grown older my sport of chose has turned to football. I love the sport I feel it is a true life sport teaching you life lessons as you learn the game. I have coached youth football for 6 years now and I believe that with finding the box of old card along with the kids I have coached has lead me back to the hobby. I took that box of cards to a local shop to get an ideal of what I was looking at. I was really impressed that the fellow I talked with did not try to talk me down on the cards I had. I knew they were not going to be real high dollar cards due to wear and tear. But I feel I done just fine by trading all the basketball and few of the baseball for a very large lot of about 1000 plus football cards.

I remember the feeling as I made the trade it sent me back to the days of the playground and the feel of excitement as well as the unsure feeling of if you were getting a good trade. Well I would have to say that when I got home and settled down a really looked at what I had picked up in the trade I was very happy. I received a nice bunch of cards including Manning, Randy Moss, Steve Young, Joe Montana and the list could go on. I know I still have a lot to learn about the hobby and the many different sets, sub sets, inserts and ect. . But the best part is that just about every time I pick up a pack or buy a box I get that same feeling I got when I was on the playground. So to me the hobby keeps me feeling young. And now that I have 2 sons of my own I have turned them on to the hobby as well. I just hope they feel the same joy or at least something close to what I have.

I believe that this hobby is one of the best ways to not only enjoy the sport or sports you love but that will also keep you feeling young and in touch with the memories
from our childhood. I hope to keep collecting and learning about the hobby for many years to come.

By Chris Collins

Where It All Started

By Chris Collins aka lodown

I believe I started collecting back when I was around six or seven (I’m 39 now). My parents would go to the drugs store and I would not leave the store until they broke down and picked up at least one pack of cards. Over the many years I only picked up baseball cards that were mostly of the Topps brand. I remember a couple of my favorite cards were a Johnny Bench base and a Pete Rose base. I really never followed the sport much but I remember the days spent on the playground trading the cards, not really knowing if I had made a good trade or not. I stopped collecting when I was about 10 or 11 and turned my sights on playing football and, as I got older, cars and girls.

It was not until a few years ago that I ran across a box of some of my old cards. in the bottom was some of my old baseball along with some newer basketball cards. As I have grown older my sport of choice has turned to football. I love the sport and I feel it is a true life sport, teaching you life lessons as you learn the game. I have coached youth football for six years now and I believe that with finding the box of old card along with the kids I have coached has lead me back to the hobby. I took that box of cards to a local shop to get an ideal of what I was looking at. I was really impressed that the fellow I talked with did not try to talk me down on the cards I had. I knew they were not going to be real high dollar cards due to wear and tear. But I feel I did just fine by trading all the basketball and a few of the baseball for a very large lot of about 1000 plus football cards.

I remember the feeling as I made the trade it sent me back to the days of the playground and the feel of excitement as well as the unsure feeling of if you were getting a good trade. I would have to say that when I got home and settled down, and really looked at what I had picked up in the trade, I was very happy. I received a nice bunch of cards including Peyton Manning, Randy Moss, Steve Young and Joe Montana. I know I still have a lot to learn about the hobby and the many different sets, subsets, inserts, etc. But the best part is that every time I pick up a pack or buy a box I get that same feeling I got when I was on the playground. To me the hobby keeps me feeling young. Now that I have two sons of my own I have turned them on to the hobby as well. I just hope they feel the same joy or at least something close to what I got.

I believe that this hobby is one of the best ways to not only enjoy the sport or sports you love but that will also keep you feeling young and in touch with the memories from our childhood. I hope to keep collecting and learning about the hobby for many years to come.

Articles: http://www.sportscardforum.com/articles/?p=721
Digg: http://digg.com/football/Where_It_All_Started_Sports_Card_Forum_Articles
Prop: http://www.propeller.com/story/2009/07/23/where-it-all-started-sports-card-forum-articles/
Buzz: http://buzz.yahoo.com/article/1:04336a8f0df176e64b208827a806c85d:91f29f6517dbbad abe4b58059760d00b/Where-It-All-Started?usc=1