No, I used to back when there were only a couple kinds, Topps and Fleer.

Now there are so many brands and sub-brands, a player might actually have 8 different rookie cards.

Sadly I can't recall what I did with all of mine, I used to have shoeboxes full, literally thousands.

I remember putting all mine in shoe boxes. Ironically I'm not sure what happened to mine either.

Thumb said:

No, I used to back when there were only a couple kinds, Topps and Fleer.

Now there are so many brands and sub-brands, a player might actually have 8 different rookie cards.

Sadly I can't recall what I did with all of mine, I used to have shoeboxes full, literally thousands.

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I was big into collecting cards as a kid and all the way through the beginning of high school. Once Upper Deck joined the market it seemed like the industry went out of control and everything I had that was valueable basically went into the crapper because the market got so saturated. I have them in a few boxes in my basement now. I should have sold them all when I was still a kid. I spent a lot of weekends going to card shows.

I have no idea how much cards cost anymore.

I kinda splurged on Football cards this year with so many higher quality rookies. Packs are much more expensive now but its mainly due to the odds of getting a rare card....hologram, signature etc. Once a month ill usually just get the topps box of packs from walmart for $10....has a lot of rookies in them which is mainly why im buying. i started collecting when i was a kid around 87' 88'....right when the value of alot of the sets went in the shitter cause the cards sucked lol. Upper deck atleast had a nicer quality to them.....i remember buying a box of upper deck basketball packs and getting like 6 kobe bryant rookie cards which i still have. Im hoping all my od cards are still at my dads. Mainly alof of late 80s and early 90s stuff.....i remember i had a bunch of Ken griffey rookie cards and frank thomas. Havent checked the value on those in forever lol...

I got back into FB cards again in 06, kinda winding down on it all again though they are too expensive. but yeah I can still remember taking my entire allowance each week and buying $5 worth of 25c packs of topps every chance I got. Now a days the cheapest single pack of anything you'll find is still topps at .99c a pack but nowhere near the number of cards per pack as there used to be long ago. the end high stuff is ridiculous, upwards of $200 for pack with 4 total cards in it I've seen for some of the higher end stuff around. That's just crazy.

I collected the 5 cent packs in the 50's and 60's for years as a kid.
Collecting Tigers and saving Kaline cards. Collected a few hockey, football, and basketball cards. and non sport 3 stooges cards woo, woo, woo.
Then, iirc in the mid-late 70's got a sportscards bi-weekly newspaper the sports collectors digest and collected more Kaline cards and a card or two of Hall of Famers back to Cobb and his T-206 and T-205 cards, then the pins and blankets from that era. The Playballs with Ted Williams Joe DiMaggio and the Tigers from those sets and HOF. This continued for a number of years until I sold them all about 10/15 years ago.
Continued collecting Kaline stuff and was back then able to find out what cards, magazines covers or stories, oddball items, and anything of Kaline that had been produced. Made a list and really from saving the few as a kid collected everything I could find of Kaline from 1954 up until 2005. I would say that I must have 90% or more of all Kaline stuff up until the time I quit.
The last few years before 2005, talk about card companies and types of cards, short lists and multi greats on one card, Or a piece of a game used, glove, bat, cleats, uniform, everything!! in the card, special set of 1 card or from a set of 5 - 25 - or more.
It just got completely crazy and way too expensive.
So all the Kaline stuff is all that I have still saved, including bats, pics along with the other stuff mentioned.
It was alot of fun, for many years, until the new millenium.

Its a shame the way things change, just like everything else - all about the money.

Mitchrapp said:

Its a shame the way things change, just like everything else - all about the money.

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I can't find a YouTube clip of it, that made me think of the scene in Jerry Maguire where the Basketball player wont give the kid an autograph because he's under contract with a specific card manufacturer.

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I can't find a YouTube clip of it, that made me think of the scene in Jerry Maguire where the Basketball player wont give the kid an autograph because he's under contract with a specific card manufacturer.

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Yeah that's funny.

- Are you Calvin Nack? Can you sign my card?

I'm sorry, little fella, I can't. Only Pro-Jam Blue Dot cards.

- (walking away) I just wanted an autograph.

I used to collect cards. I have bought a couple packs recently but nothing that would be considering collecting.
I really got into autograph baseballs though as a younger kid. N Ryan, Hank Aaron, Frank Robinson, and Cecil are my favorites.

amajjd said:

I used to collect cards. I have bought a couple packs recently but nothing that would be considering collecting.
I really got into autograph baseballs though as a younger kid. N Ryan, Hank Aaron, Frank Robinson, and Cecil are my favorites.

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When I was a kid my friends and I mailed cards to the stadiums in self addresses stamped envelopes and quite a few player would sign them and mail them back. This was just before the time it was known that signing a baseball card decreased it's value. But basically if you got a program from the Tigers game it listed all of the major league stadium addresses. You had to be willing to risk a card because many wouldn't come back. Some guys won't sign and I don't blame them. I remember I mailed something to Orel Hershisher and they mailed me card back unsigned but they threw some Dodger cards and pins in there instead.

We would mail a self addressed stamped letter to the stadium and address it to the player. Off the top of my head I can remember that I have Canseco's, McGwire, Bo Jackson, Tim Raines and Alvin Davis. I remember Alvin Davis because he would sign his name and then put a biblical reference on it too....like 3:16 or whatever it was. I should go dig those up. I know I have others. Who knows who was doing the signing but it did match up to other autographs I'd see at card shows.

manchild98 said:

When I was a kid my friends and I mailed cards to the stadiums in self addresses stamped envelopes and quite a few player would sign them and mail them back. This was just before the time it was known that signing a baseball card decreased it's value. But basically if you got a program from the Tigers game it listed all of the major league stadium addresses. You had to be willing to risk a card because many wouldn't come back. Some guys won't sign and I don't blame them. I remember I mailed something to Orel Hershisher and they mailed me card back unsigned but the threw some Dodger cards and pins in there instead.

We would mail a self addressed stamped letter to the stadium and address it to the player. Off the top of my head I can remember that I have Canseco's, McGwire, Bo Jackson, Time Raines and Alvin Davis. I remember Alvin Davis because he would sign his name and then put a biblical reference on it too....like 3:16 or whatever it was. I should go dig those up. I know I have others. Who knows who was doing the signing but it did match up to other autographs I'd see at card shows.

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That's cool, I wish I would have done that. I never collected cards for money, I suspect most of us didn't. All about the fun.

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=8983686
Webvideo 30 for 30 Shorts: Holy Grail: The T206 Honus Wagner.
from espn

The T206 "Gretzky" Honus Wagner is the most famous baseball card in the world. And, as the art world readily illustrates, it may be that no matter what was done or not done to "The Card," its value really does lie in the eye of the beholder.

My friends Dad apparently had a Honus Wagner card when he was a kid that his Mom apparently threw away. Bummer.