24 replies to this topic

[Fishin Phil]

Seems like every year I get the urge to start a new collection, but then I see the prices and just roll my eyes. Back in my day you could get a pack of 20+ Topps cards and a stick of gum for 50 cents. My day was 20 years ago, but still, it's gotten ridiculous.

I still buy a pack or two every year for that nostalgic feeling.

I'd have paid a $1.00 if they promised to leave the gum out.

[Tommy]

I'd have paid a $1.00 if they promised to leave the gum out.

And miss out on the 2 seconds of flavor and the sugar rush, right before the gum completely disintegrates in your mouth? Bite your tongue sir!

I'm with Vaughn, though. The price of cards is crazy. And correct me if I'm wrong - when we were kids, you couldn't buy the entire set, could you? Or could you buy the whole set, and I just wasn't aware of it? Part of the appeal for me as a kid was constantly buying pack after pack and trying to get cards I didn't have. Sure, I had a ton of duplicates, but by the time you're on the umpteenth pack, and you open up the one to find your first Larry Bittner card - now how exciting was that! And speaking of Larry Bittner - does anyone remember the game where his hat fell off and fell on top of the ball? I don't think I've ever seen that happen before or since. I've got money says Spriggs remembers that!

[Fishin Phil]

That's the way I remember it, no full sets sold as a package. We had to work to get a whole set, and we enjoyed it!

[Cubbie Blues]

I remember being able to buy boxes but not full sets.

Do they still put the gum in the packs? I haven't purchased any in decades (man that was hard to right).

[Spriggs]

I'd have paid a $1.00 if they promised to leave the gum out.

And miss out on the 2 seconds of flavor and the sugar rush, right before the gum completely disintegrates in your mouth? Bite your tongue sir!

I'm with Vaughn, though. The price of cards is crazy. And correct me if I'm wrong - when we were kids, you couldn't buy the entire set, could you? Or could you buy the whole set, and I just wasn't aware of it? Part of the appeal for me as a kid was constantly buying pack after pack and trying to get cards I didn't have. Sure, I had a ton of duplicates, but by the time you're on the umpteenth pack, and you open up the one to find your first Larry Bittner card - now how exciting was that! And speaking of Larry Bittner - does anyone remember the game where his hat fell off and fell on top of the ball? I don't think I've ever seen that happen before or since. I've got money says Spriggs remembers that!

I certainly do remember that! If anyone saw it, they would not forget it! One of the funniest things I've ever seen during a game! He had no clue were the ball was! It happened in short right field.

[Spriggs]

I remember being able to buy boxes but not full sets.

Do they still put the gum in the packs? I haven't purchased any in decades (man that was hard to right).

It's a good question. I stopped buying cards in the early 1990's. Just so many different sets and companies, I lost interest.

But I know that when Topps lost their monopoly on baseball cards and Fleer and Donruss entered the market in 1981 - they (Fleer and Donruss) did not put gum in the packs. It was actually a loophole they used to enter the market and end Topps exclusive arrangement with the players. It put their product in a different market/category so they were no longer excluded from dealing with the players. That opened the door for a bunch of other companies to enter the card market. None had gum.

Then later when collectors started moaning about gum stains and residue destroying their cards, Topps started making sets without gum. I don't know what they do now.

[Spriggs]

Spriggs - you're right, man. Baseball cards really did make the numbers something you'd remember for a lifetime. I used to get them as a kid, and that's the stuff I remember most vividly. As I got older, and what seems like hundreds of new manufacturers of baseball cards came out, the appeal of collecting them left me, and along with it went my ability to remember stats (specifically what years those things happened).

Reading your nostalgic posts, and some of the stuff Scorecard Paul talks about makes me want to start collecting again. Maybe I will do that and just stick with Bowman or Topps, and ignore all the rest. Goldarnit Spriggs - you make me feel like a kid again!

Yeah, I still buy a pack or two every now and then - always brings me back to my childhood... even though I don't see any Willie Davis, George Altman, Pumpsie Green, or Dick Radatz cards. The problem is, I don't know what to do with the darn things after I open them. You can't throw them away, can you?!?

[Tommy]

The problem is, I don't know what to do with the darn things after I open them. You can't throw them away, can you?!?

Pretty sure that's a felony, Spriggs.

[Fishin Phil]

Just put them in your bike spokes and be done with it.

[Spriggs]

The problem is, I don't know what to do with the darn things after I open them. You can't throw them away, can you?!?

Pretty sure that's a felony, Spriggs.

If it isn't, it should be!!