1989 - A summer of Cards and the Spawning of a lifelong hobby

**hhliving1101** · 08-03-2010, 10:52 PM

I can still remember it like yesterday, School had just ended and a long summer awaited me. My best Friend Alan and I had a few bucks in our pocket so we decided to hop on the old bikes for a quick ride down to the local 7/11(we were planing on getting a Slurpee and enough Candy to choke a horse.)

We had our candy, slurpee in one hand and were just about to leave, when I noticed this Grey box with Pinstripes going through it, they had just gotten in 1989 Fleer. Now I hadn't bought any cards since about 1983-1984 and then just kinda stopped, but I had heard about this kid named Ken Griffey Jr.(Knowing who his dad was helped)--I decided
rather than the candy I would get $10 in packs instead(around 20 Packs), Alan picked up the last 16.

We both peddled Back both excited and alittle concerned(that was a good bit of money for us at the time)to open these things we just bought, and we were very pleased. Both of us got the Griffey Jr. Rookie card, but i got Something Else, Something Wrong.......

Yep, I pulled the "Rick Face" Card of Billy Ripken(the Worst part about it, I didn't even notice until I did the team spliting, I WAS an O's fan at the time. I also noticed that Alan had pulled a Billy Ripken card too, but
instead of what mine Said, his was scratched out with Black Pen marks.

That weekend we decided to go to one of the local shows that used to occur every week in the Washington D.C. area only to find out about the rarity(at the time) of these cards we had. One dealer offered us a deal we couldn't refuse, a whole box per the card, it was of this "new" Company making a shot at Baseball cards, this dealer gave us both a full box of 1989 upper Deck baseball for our Ripken Errors(It was an Easy Choice, If my Mom had found that card it would have been tossed anyway).

Out of my Box i got the Griffey and 2 Randy Johnson Rookie cards for good measure. This series of events is why, and what "Hooked" me to this world of sports cards, a bike ride to 7/11 for a slurpee and some candy.....

What a humble begining to a lifelong hobby!