The wonderful world of baseball cards

 

The beginning of April has always meant one thing to me – baseball season.

Along with the sport itself, a sign of warm weather on the way – the appearance of baseball cards.

I bought my first package of baseball cards in 1964. A lot has changed since then. Five cards came in a wrapper, plus a slab of bubble gum, for the grand total of five cents. I remember purchasing baseball cards along with cards that commemorated TV shows like The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and Gilligan’s Island. There was also a James Bond set although in retrospect the Bond movies weren’t exactly geared towards seven-year-olds like myself.

I seriously started collecting baseball cards in 1967, already moving away from other card sets and comic books. That summer coincided with my actually starting to watch baseball on television. The Boston Red Sox, the team showed on local TV (I lived about 50 miles south of Boston) captivated the area by winning the pennant after a decade of sub-.500 teams.

In those days, Topps would issue about six series, each debuting about a month apart. There would be about 130 cards in a series and approximately 660 cards in a yearly set. I eagerly anticipated each new series, and would often walk to a small grocery story on a street called Academy Avenue several blocks from my home as they would be the first in the area to receive the new sets.

Nowadays, baseball cards aren’t usually found in tiny neighborhood stores. Chains like Target sell complete sets – still around 660 cards- but sets can go for $60 to $100 dollars. You can still buy packs, 20 cards or so, for $3 or $4, at a Target or Bartell. Gum in the packs disappeared years ago. Probably fewer people bought baseball cards for the gum than people who bought Playboy for the articles.

There are plenty of sets around now besides Topps. There’s Donruss, Fleer and plenty of pricy specialty sets- some which can only be purchased thru the mail from dealers. Realizing early on, that someone could go bankrupt trying to collect all the various sets, I’ve remained loyal to Topps over the years.

Toppss puts out an updated set near the end of the season, Cards that come out in March often have players on their previous years’ team although they may have been traded or went to another squad via free agency.

Topps also puts out a Heritage set, my current favorite. Last year’s 2023 Heritage featured current players but in the design of the 1974 set. The 2022 Heritage cards were designed to match the 1973 set, etc., etc. Heritage has existed for about ten years now, and the photography is similar to those earlier sets- close-ups of players as opposed to action shots which are prevalent in newer sets.

I usually purchase one or two packages of cards when they hit the market in March. Then by mid-season, the two series 660 card sets go on sale. It’s always fun to open a wrapper and see what player is on top of the pack.

I was delighted this season to see the first player looking up at me- New York Mets’ reliever Edwin Diaz. Not every player has a story, but in this case, I’ve only seen the Seattle Mariners win once in person over the last ten years (I haven’t been to a game since pre-COVID) and Diaz played a part in that contest. Diaz was in the midst of an outstanding season as the M’s closer, and I saw him blow his first save of the year, to the Los Angeles Angels on a blissful Saturday night at Safeco Field. But the Mariners came back to win in 11 innings.

Growing up, I collected all sorts of sports memorabilia, or at least I never threw anything out. I had cards of all the major sports- though baseball cards were the ones I religiously collected- along with programs, yearbooks and magazines.

Like any real collector, I was able to make some money on my hobby. Back in the ‘80’s and `90’s there were Baseball Card and Memorabilia Shows pretty much every weekend. I’d often rent a table and bring some of my collectable to sell. My late mother – who I now always call `my sainted mother’ -would often accompany me to shows.

She would watch our table while I would go off and explore the wares of other dealers. She enjoyed kibbitzing with people who’d stop at the table, and looking back, those were good times.

Another baseball season is underway. Maybe the Mariners won’t win the World Series but at least I hsve my Julio Rodriguez All-Star card.