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08-20-2009, 08:01 PM #1
Collecting Turbulence - Contest Entry
Collecting Turbulence
By John Schinigoi
Since I was about three years old (1991), I have always liked collecting cards, I remember my father going to the convenience store and coming home with a few packs of baseball cards for me to open. I use to keep them in an old cookie tin. I didn’t know anything about the actual players on the cards or even who they were but something was always there to draw me in. Maybe it was the colors, smell, or maybe just the pictures. But that mystery attraction always kept me wanting more.
Looking back I can pin point the time in my life when I became a collector. Does anyone remember the book order fliers in school? I do. Each month they would hand out a little catalog that you could order books and other odds and ends from. You would give your teacher a check and the list of books you would like, they would send it out and in a few weeks you got your books. Well one month in fourth grade I noticed there was a blaster box of baseball cards you could get. It was probably a cheap 9-10 pack blaster. Obliviously I had to have it, and luckily my parents bought it for me. I remember ripping into that the minute I got it into my hot little hands in Mrs. White’s fourth grade class. I know that’s when I became hooked on the wax.
My favorite memory of all time was pulling a 1990 Fleer Mark McGwire base card. It was just such a slick looking card. It was around 1997 maybe a year after so I was eight or nine at the time. Mark McGwire just hit a major league-leading home run, number 58. So he was THE hot player. My brother and I traded that card back and forth as currency for years. It got bent, creased, and eventually somehow grew a mustache. That original card is long gone, so I had to buy a new one off ebay a while back. The second card is still in my Personal collection today. It’s probably my least expensive card but it has the most meaning. It was the first card I have a vivid memory of pulling.
The Marc McGwire was the coolest, so I have to follow that up with my most embarrassing story. I think it was around 2002, the year I became corrupted. I heard my shop owner mention something about how a company named Donruss. And that they had something called a jersey card. I had no idea what they actually were but I thought I had one. So after my mom and I got home I raced to my bin of cards. And dug through it, what did I find a Joe Montana jersey card! I watched that card like my life depended on it. To make sure nothing would happen to it. That next weekend I visited the card shop, with my prized card in my collection, looking to sell it and make a fortune. I show it to the card store owner Kenny, who informed me it, was not a jersey card. But a regular 1990 victory card that pictured Joe Montana's jersey hanging on a locker. I walked about very disappointed. But now knew something about jersey cards, “I had to have one!”
From then on there have been other highs and lows of collecting. But nothing as memorable or influential, as the memories I have just shared with you. Today my collections and buddy list have grown. All because of a few old pieces of cardboard.Last edited by StainLss; 08-20-2009 at 08:03 PM.
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08-24-2009, 06:26 PM #2
Collecting Turbulence
By John Schinigoi aka StainLss
Since I was about three years old (1991) I have always liked collecting cards. I remember my father going to the convenience store and coming home with a few packs of baseball cards for me to open. I used to keep them in an old cookie tin. I didn’t know anything about the actual players on the cards or even who they were but something was always there to draw me in. Maybe it was the colors, smell or maybe just the pictures. But that mysterious attraction always kept me wanting more of them.
Looking back I can pinpoint the time in my life when I became a collector. Does anyone remember the book order fliers in school? I do. Each month they would hand out a little catalog that you could order books and other odds and ends from. You would give your teacher a check and the list of books you would like, they would send it out and in a few weeks you got your books. Well one month in fourth grade I noticed there was a blaster box of baseball cards you could get. It was probably a cheap 9-10 pack blaster. Obviously I had to have it and luckily my parents bought it for me. I remember ripping into that the minute I got it into my hot little hands in Mrs. White’s fourth grade class. I know that’s when I became hooked on the wax.
My favorite memory of all time was pulling a 1990 Fleer Mark McGwire base card. It was just such a slick looking card. It was around 1997 or maybe a year after so I was eight or nine at the time. Mark McGwire had just hit major league-leading home run number 58. He was the hot player at that time. My brother and I traded that card back and forth as currency for years. It got bent, creased and eventually somehow grew a mustache. That original card is long gone so I had to buy a new one off eBay a while back. The second card is still in my personal collection today. It’s probably my least expensive card but it has the most meaning. It was the first card I have a vivid memory of pulling.
The Mark McGwire was the coolest so I have to follow that up with my most embarrassing story. I think it was around 2002 during the year I became corrupted. I heard my shop owner mention something about how a company named Donruss had something called a jersey card. I had no idea what they actually were but I thought I had one. After my mom and I got home I raced to my bin of cards and dug through it. I ended up finding a Joe Montana jersey card! I watched that card like my life depended on it to make sure nothing would happen to it. That next weekend I visited the card shop with my prized card in my collection looking to sell it and make a fortune. I showed it to the card store owner Kenny, who informed me it was not a jersey card but a regular 1990 Victory card that pictured Joe Montana's jersey hanging on a locker. I walked about very disappointed but now knew something about jersey cards, “I had to have one!”
From then on there have been other highs and lows of collecting but nothing as memorable or influential as the memories I have just shared with you. Today my collections and buddy list have grown, all because of a few old pieces of cardboard.
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08-24-2009, 06:39 PM #3
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