Box O' Cards From My Youth - 8

It's been a few weeks, but I haven't forgotten about these posts.  Some seem to enjoy the late 80s and early 90s randomness. 

Each year in the first five or so years of my collecting, it was all about Topps baseball...and Donruss baseball.  I truly believe I opened as much, if not more, Donruss than Topps during the first three years I collected (1987-89).  I ended up with dozen of the complete puzzles, including this treasure from my childhood. 

I thought I was missing one piece when I took this picture.  A few weeks back I found a couple of 1989 Donruss cello packs (and posted on APTBNL) and last night decided to see if I pulled the missing piece.  What I found was that I do have the complete puzzle after all.  I'm just not motivated to take another picture! 

Did any of you ever collect these?  Did you pop out the pieces and use them for their intended purpose?  I didn't, since these were destined to be worth a lot.  It seems I should have tried to have more fun as a ten-year old and worried less about investing.  Oops. 

If you shop online and haven't signed up and used ebates yet, you're missing out.  I also use it on eBay to get money back from purchases there.  Between referrals and cash back, I've gotten over $150 in a year.  FREE CARDS!

If you're on Twitter, please give me a follow.  You can also find me on Trading Card Database.  I love trading cards, when it makes sense.  Happy collecting!

Box O' Cards From My Youth - 7

I miss all of the retail store boxed sets.  In my opinion, it's the disappearance of things like this that have taken many kids out of the hobby.  I had dozens of different sets.  This is the only one that remains.

It's possible that there is a card or two missing in the images.  That 30-year old gloss was sticking to the backs of the cards on top.

This was the first card in the box and it's got some sort of damage.  Who knows where it's been in the last 30 years but it looks like some sort of water damage.  It's a shame because Dale Murphy was my first favorite player and I do like to pick up cards of his.  I'll probably keep it anyway, despite the damage.  You can't replace memories or cards of your youth.  I purged most of mine and am still happy to have this one.

I didn't notice until I opened this box that the border is intended to mimic the Rite Aid logo.  I'm not sure if that's genius or annoying self-promotion.

Can't lie, I have no recollection of Mike Schmidt playing first base or seeing that on any of his cards.

THE THRILL!  My favorite player after Dale Murphy.

I've struck gold!  There's a copy of this Mark McGwire card on eBay for $35.

HOLY AIRBRUSH, BATMAN!  I think this is also the image on Reuschel's 1988 Topps card.

And a little more damage to the last card.  Ah well.  It was still a fun trip down memory lane for me.

If you shop online and haven't signed up and used ebates yet, you're missing out.  I also use it on eBay to get money back from purchases there.  Between referrals and cash back, I've gotten over $150 in a year.  FREE CARDS!

If you're on Twitter, please give me a follow.  You can also find me on Trading Card Database.  I love trading cards, when it makes sense.  Happy collecting!

Box O' Cards From My Youth - 6

To be honest I had pretty much decided to stop writing much, if anything, on this blog.  It didn't feel that I was getting any response to posts.  The cards from my youth posts have received some interaction so I will continue on with them.

I've already shown some basketball and football Collect-A-Books.  While not into baseball anymore, it was my existence as a kid.  I was going to grow up and be Dale Murphy.  If I wasn't at practice or a game...or outside throwing to my "pitch-back," I was inside sorting and reading the backs of my cards.  It was a great childhood!

I give to you a box of baseball Collect-A-Books, which were by fan and away my favorites.  I believe they were the first sport released, but that was almost 30 years ago and I was a kid.

I was a kid when these were released.  I loved the cartoon player drawings on the back that went along with the player facts.  This alone made the baseball Collect-A-Books far superior to the other sports to me at ten.

The inclusion of legends was another selling point for me.  I was never going to own a Babe Ruth card as a kid and this was as close as I was coming.  It didn't hurt my feelings.  I just loved having this.

Did you have any of these?  How'd you feel about them then and how do you feel about them now?  I think it would be great if items like this were still available.  What say you?

If you shop online and haven't signed up and used ebates yet, you're missing out.  I also use it on eBay to get money back from purchases there.  Between referrals and cash back, I've gotten over $150 in a year.  FREE CARDS!

If you're on Twitter, please give me a follow.  You can also find me on Trading Card Database.  I love trading cards, when it makes sense.  Happy collecting!

Box O' Cards From My Youth - 5

I decided to alter the titles for this series going forward to "from my youth" instead of "from home" to point out that you won't see recent items in them. 

There were three of the 1980s Donruss puzzles in the surviving box.  As a kid, Topps and Donruss were my two preferred brands and I was able to complete multiple puzzles per season.  I probably had more Stan Musials that anyone else, since 1988 was by far and away the year my parents bought me the most Donruss.  It tailed off in later years with new companies producing cards and my collection wasn't concentrated in Topps and Donruss. 

I don't have the dozens of puzzles that I once did, but at least I have one of them. 

Did anyone pop these out, put the puzzle together and mat the puzzle to something?  I didn't, but should have. 

If you shop online and haven't signed up and used ebates yet, you're missing out.  I also use it on eBay to get money back from purchases there.  Between referrals and cash back, I've gotten over $150 in a year.  FREE CARDS!

If you're on Twitter, please give me a follow.  You can also find me on Trading Card Database.  I love trading cards, when it makes sense.  Happy collecting!

Box O' Cards From Home - 4

Time for another trip down memory lane.  These were in a box from my youth that I just got back a few weeks back.  Once upon a time I did like NBA basketball.

Something tells me that even if I didn't care much about basketball, I would have ended up with some of these because of how cheap they were.  That was about the price of one pack of cards!

It appears that I opened one box and left the other sealed.  You know, because they were going to be worth more money that way.

Charles Barkley was always a favorite of mine.  Seeing him come out first brought a smile to my face.  I guess it was his intensity and bad attitude that drew me to him.  I've always been a bit of a heel. 

Auburn hasn't been known as a college basketball powerhouse.  Two of the guys in this box played there.  As my "other" school, I found this noteworthy. 

The shortest shorts in the game.

If you shop online and haven't signed up and used ebates yet, you're missing out.  I also use it on eBay to get money back from purchases there.  Between referrals and cash back, I've gotten over $150 in a year.  FREE CARDS!

If you're on Twitter, please give me a follow.  You can also find me on Trading Card Database.  I love trading cards, when it makes sense.  Happy collecting!