Juan Gris
Well-known member
Home Plate in Piqua, Ohio. God, I loved that place growing up.
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What card store did you go to growing up?
- Thread starter BBCgalaxee
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Keyser Soze
New member
Rookie's in Tomball, TX. I had a buddy that used to basically live with me on weekends and we used to nag the holy hell out of my mom every Saturday to drive us there. I still live nearby and reminisce when I drive by that strip center and see what is now a computer repair place. Good times.
ballerskrip
New member
Team Effort - Naperville..............Bo's sportscards - Aurora...........Galaxy Stores - Naperville
I grew up in suburban Philadelphia, Ambler and Glenside. There was a shop in Montgomeryville, PA called R&B Cards that was my first real shop. I think I first went there in 1981 or 1982, and it was like heaven. All these vintage cards, though they weren't called that at the time, like artifacts from ancient Rome (really they were T-206s and 1939-41 Play Balls and 50s Topps and Bowman). I remember they had wooden card boxes for singles, like today's shoeboxes but made of wood. I always wanted something like that because white cardboard looks bad on display. They had all the commons neatly sorted, no sleeves or anything, priced at something like a penny apiece or a nickel or whatever, depending on the age. They opened a comic shop in Abington within walking distance of my junior high school. That became my Friday pilgrimage with a comic-loving friend (back when comics came out on Fridays instead of Wednesdays). I know the card shop lasted quite a while, I believe I went there in 1992 after graduating college. But I have no idea about the comic shop as I moved away from there in 1985.
Trivia: It was called R&B because the owners were named Rob Barsky and Bob Cohen, IIRC. And they were musicians, too.
In 1986 I moved to Poughkeepsie, NY, and there was a comic/card shop called Iron Vic's. It was more comics than cards, but they had plenty of both. I sold him a lot of my star cards then, as I wasn't old enough to get a job but old enough to need spending money. My Nolan Ryan run, Brooks Robinson run, lots of Schmidts, Carltons and Roses, etc. In 1991 when I got back into cards, I bought my first Beckett there, and ate my heart out over seeing the same Ryan rookie I had sold him 5 years earlier sitting in his case with a $600 price tag on it. He also had a thick stack of uncut 1991 Stadium Club sheets, and I wondered if the owner was into some shady stuff. He always gave off that vibe.
Trivia: It was called R&B because the owners were named Rob Barsky and Bob Cohen, IIRC. And they were musicians, too.
In 1986 I moved to Poughkeepsie, NY, and there was a comic/card shop called Iron Vic's. It was more comics than cards, but they had plenty of both. I sold him a lot of my star cards then, as I wasn't old enough to get a job but old enough to need spending money. My Nolan Ryan run, Brooks Robinson run, lots of Schmidts, Carltons and Roses, etc. In 1991 when I got back into cards, I bought my first Beckett there, and ate my heart out over seeing the same Ryan rookie I had sold him 5 years earlier sitting in his case with a $600 price tag on it. He also had a thick stack of uncut 1991 Stadium Club sheets, and I wondered if the owner was into some shady stuff. He always gave off that vibe.
Flip_and_Rip
New member
Yes sir! Went to Stevens Creek last week while visiting to crack open a couple boxes, moved to Las Vegas, NV in 2009 now i either just order online or hit up Legacy Sports cards, which is a great shop!
ccouch (Chad)
Member
- Aug 8, 2008
- 444
- 6
Grew up in the 1980's going to Johnny's Sports Nostalgia in Nashville, IN and Greenwood, IN. Stores were owned by a good man named John Stirling. According to some stuff I read on the Network54 boards awhile back, John actually put out "Stirling Sports Card Catalog" in the late 70's.
I remember always begging my parents to take me there whenever we were close by. Going to one of those stores was such a thrill...
I remember always begging my parents to take me there whenever we were close by. Going to one of those stores was such a thrill...
Huffamaniac
Active member
- Oct 8, 2008
- 4,477
- 0
Park Nostalga in Somerset MA
stokelydokely
Member
Having lived with the luxury of the internet for over half my life, I'm not even sure how I found Baseline Cards; I guess an 11-year-old me did some research in the Poughkeepsie phone book.
Baseline was barely distinguishable as a business in what looked like a run-down, one-story house. Most of the front of this house was covered in derelict siding; Baseline's small area of storefront was clad in old, stained brick. It was almost as if Baseline, as a business, was squatting in the corner of this forgotten structure. It had one window with a crude sign that read in stenciled letters, "BASELINE CARDS". The house was set about 15 feet from the street, tucked between another neglected building and a cemetery, in the shadow of a tree that's no longer there.
My introduction to baseball cards was almost completely through Baseline Cards. I got my first baseball card album there, and the plastic cover still smells like that musty little shop. The first thing I ever saved up for as a kid was a 1973 Topps Nolan Ryan, purchased at the end of my last summer as a non-teenager. I remember so many afternoons getting home from school and asking my mom to drive me over to Baseline - on a number of these occasions, this was followed by an exasperated "no," but every now and then the stars would align and I would get to spend a few minutes at the shop while she waited in the car.
The interior of this place was exactly what you would expect from looking at the outside. Sagging shelves. Dark corners. Stacks... stacks... stacks of dusty commons boxes. It smelled a little odd. And they didn't always have the latest product on hand. I never even thought about going anywhere else because of Baseline's owner/employee, Dan. He was a soft-spoken guy who looked old to me because I was 12 years old, but he was probably in his mid-30s. Dan made me, a kid, feel welcome in his small space that was usually populated by a handful of gruff card investors. My mom was a little wary of him, with his scraggly hair and ratty sweaters, but she eventually came around. One day about a week after my birthday, I came into the shop with my dad, who said "We're looking to spend a little birthday money today" - Dan walked out from behind the cramped display case, pulled a sweet Circa '97 Alex Rodriguez off the shelf, and said "Happy Birthday." (I specifically didn't use an exclamation point because exclaiming was not Dan's style.)
Eventually, in the face of a changing baseball card environment, even the tiny baseball card shop in the corner of a forgotten house couldn't sustain itself. Dan merged his business with a guy named Bruce, who owned a store called Joe's Baseball Card Shop & Things a few miles down the road. Bruce was a mustachioed idiot with a Dutch boy haircut and a stupid trucker hat, who was clinging to the dream of getting rich on baseball cards. Dan and Bruce opened up shop in a shiny new plaza. The store, Joe's Baseline Cards - with ample light, lots of interior space, and a paved parking lot - was everything that Baseline Cards was not. Of course I still went to this new establishment on a regular basis, long enough that I was able to drive myself a few times, but at some point one of those visits was my last one. I'm not sure when it happened, but one day there was a sign in the window that said simply, "FOR LEASE" - a sign with stenciled letters just as plain as the sign that still leaned in the window of the original, abandoned "BASELINE CARDS" just down the road.
Baseline was barely distinguishable as a business in what looked like a run-down, one-story house. Most of the front of this house was covered in derelict siding; Baseline's small area of storefront was clad in old, stained brick. It was almost as if Baseline, as a business, was squatting in the corner of this forgotten structure. It had one window with a crude sign that read in stenciled letters, "BASELINE CARDS". The house was set about 15 feet from the street, tucked between another neglected building and a cemetery, in the shadow of a tree that's no longer there.
My introduction to baseball cards was almost completely through Baseline Cards. I got my first baseball card album there, and the plastic cover still smells like that musty little shop. The first thing I ever saved up for as a kid was a 1973 Topps Nolan Ryan, purchased at the end of my last summer as a non-teenager. I remember so many afternoons getting home from school and asking my mom to drive me over to Baseline - on a number of these occasions, this was followed by an exasperated "no," but every now and then the stars would align and I would get to spend a few minutes at the shop while she waited in the car.
The interior of this place was exactly what you would expect from looking at the outside. Sagging shelves. Dark corners. Stacks... stacks... stacks of dusty commons boxes. It smelled a little odd. And they didn't always have the latest product on hand. I never even thought about going anywhere else because of Baseline's owner/employee, Dan. He was a soft-spoken guy who looked old to me because I was 12 years old, but he was probably in his mid-30s. Dan made me, a kid, feel welcome in his small space that was usually populated by a handful of gruff card investors. My mom was a little wary of him, with his scraggly hair and ratty sweaters, but she eventually came around. One day about a week after my birthday, I came into the shop with my dad, who said "We're looking to spend a little birthday money today" - Dan walked out from behind the cramped display case, pulled a sweet Circa '97 Alex Rodriguez off the shelf, and said "Happy Birthday." (I specifically didn't use an exclamation point because exclaiming was not Dan's style.)
Eventually, in the face of a changing baseball card environment, even the tiny baseball card shop in the corner of a forgotten house couldn't sustain itself. Dan merged his business with a guy named Bruce, who owned a store called Joe's Baseball Card Shop & Things a few miles down the road. Bruce was a mustachioed idiot with a Dutch boy haircut and a stupid trucker hat, who was clinging to the dream of getting rich on baseball cards. Dan and Bruce opened up shop in a shiny new plaza. The store, Joe's Baseline Cards - with ample light, lots of interior space, and a paved parking lot - was everything that Baseline Cards was not. Of course I still went to this new establishment on a regular basis, long enough that I was able to drive myself a few times, but at some point one of those visits was my last one. I'm not sure when it happened, but one day there was a sign in the window that said simply, "FOR LEASE" - a sign with stenciled letters just as plain as the sign that still leaned in the window of the original, abandoned "BASELINE CARDS" just down the road.
dano7
Well-known member
stokelydokely
It is stories like that which tell why we are still in the hobby....fond memories of good times.
DANNY
It is stories like that which tell why we are still in the hobby....fond memories of good times.
DANNY
rebelpawn
Active member
Collector's Heaven In Manchester NH. They've moved across the street from where they were origionally but I started going there in 1985 or 86. I don't get home very often anymore but when I do, I always stop in.
matfanofold
Active member
- Aug 10, 2008
- 7,645
- 1
The store I went to growing up was a hole in the wall, perhaps 150 sq ft in total with a single display case, one decent size shelf with boxes of commons (of various years), but always had new and old wax to buy/bust. One thing I can tell you that I remember very well is that about a week or so before the release of the new beckett, some guy would show up with a manila envelope that included a print-out of everything that was going up and going down in the yet to be released price guide. He would share this with me and a select few, and we would scurry to dump and buy according to the sheet. This was in the late 80's to early 90's, so Beckett pricing was considered gospel by most. Made some very nice profits off of that.
All In Cards;2059331[B said:
Must have been the old Jay's on York Road near the Diner. I can remember that they had swivel bar stools set up along the back display case so one could pull commons out of their boxes to complete one's sets, and Jay's variety boxes that sold for around $ 15. Also had a full complement of supplies. Seems like they moved around 5 times further up York Road and evolved into Great Moments mainly selling signed memorabilia.
All In Cards
Super Moderator
I helped them move into that location on York Rd. before that they were on Allegheny.
After York Road they moved up York Road to Superfresh Shopping Center off Alsbury, then across the street at the corner of York and Timonium. When that move happened, that is when they started to become Great Moments.
Now they are at Padonia Shopping Center and its mainly mem and I never go anymore.
George_Calfas
Well-known member
Great writing; never been there but now I can see the place.
Bill Menard
New member
- Aug 26, 2008
- 3,421
- 0
My first exposures to card shops in RI were Skips Cards on West Shore Rd. in Warwick and Arlington Card & Coin on Gansett St in Cranston. There was also one other spot on Park Ave in Cranston... It might have just been called Park Ave Cards, but I really don't recall... I mean this was nearly 30 years ago! I also visited a t-shirt silk screening store that sold packs. I would go there everyday after finishing my paper route and get a few packs. Specifically, I recall this being 1987-88ish because I was buying packs of Alf cards and 87-88 Fleer basketball there, preceding the Alf cards, but definitely bought my share of the basketball too!
Skips was a shop that was on the first floor of a house. He has like 1/2 of the first floor as his shop. I loved that he would always have a "buy" list of the cards he was looking for and what he was paying for them. We would the bust packs and try to sell the singles back to him so we could buy more packs trying to get the cards we wanted... Mainly a Roger Clemens and Wade Boggs singles back then, but Mattingly and Strawberry cards were great hits too!
Arlington cards was very run down and pretty dumpy but he had all the good wax and lots and lots of it. He also had a good selection of singles and his prices were always good.
Park Ave cards was like the hustlers of cards. The guy who owned the shop always had his father in there sitting on a folding chair just it bing to buy your cards when you walked through the door. I remember riding my bike over with my friend Mike, carrying our trade boxes and binders with us in our backpacks.
Those were the days!
Skips was a shop that was on the first floor of a house. He has like 1/2 of the first floor as his shop. I loved that he would always have a "buy" list of the cards he was looking for and what he was paying for them. We would the bust packs and try to sell the singles back to him so we could buy more packs trying to get the cards we wanted... Mainly a Roger Clemens and Wade Boggs singles back then, but Mattingly and Strawberry cards were great hits too!
Arlington cards was very run down and pretty dumpy but he had all the good wax and lots and lots of it. He also had a good selection of singles and his prices were always good.
Park Ave cards was like the hustlers of cards. The guy who owned the shop always had his father in there sitting on a folding chair just it bing to buy your cards when you walked through the door. I remember riding my bike over with my friend Mike, carrying our trade boxes and binders with us in our backpacks.
Those were the days!
Last edited:
Adrian D.
Member
Rock's Dugout in Wichita, KS. Still there today, but I haven't been in a few years.
I want to be the first to welcome Malcolm Gladwell to the boards.
I had goosebumps reading that. Not of the R.L. Stine variety though.
stokelydokely
Member
I've heard, um, mixed opinions on Malcolm Gladwell... but that's a compliment, right? Thanks!
I suspect I'm one of only a very few people who remember anything about Baseline at all, so it means a lot to me that I had the opportunity to take a couple of people there via this thread. I'm especially happy be able to share my memories with others who have their own recollections of favorite card shops and old hobby friends.
I loved Outliers, so yes it's a compliment.
First one was Collector's World in Gaithersburg, Md. in 85-86. It was near a restaurant my mom liked to go to so I was lucky to find it as a 7 or 8 year old. It had a ton of cards and comics, and I can still vividly remember the smell of cardboard when I would convince my parents to take me. That cardboard smell was, and still is, like a perfume to me. It's where I pulled a Joe Montana RC card out of a pack (it was only a few years removed from being current) and finished my first ever complete set, 86 Topps football (last one was Bobby Butler of the Falcons; how can I remember stuff like that but not what I did at work yesterday).
Suburbs of Md. had a ton of shops as I was growing up so I was lucky. House of Cards I think is still around in some form in Wheaton - that was a rare treat. Bonanza cards and coins in Silver Spring was a hole in the wall but different than the usuals, so it was a nice trip. Plus, tons and tons of card shows, almost one every weekend.
Later, I worked at The Sports Basket in Germantown for most of my high school years. Not the greatest shop in the world, but had a lot of stuff (a bit overpriced). The owner was more into apparel.
Suburbs of Md. had a ton of shops as I was growing up so I was lucky. House of Cards I think is still around in some form in Wheaton - that was a rare treat. Bonanza cards and coins in Silver Spring was a hole in the wall but different than the usuals, so it was a nice trip. Plus, tons and tons of card shows, almost one every weekend.
Later, I worked at The Sports Basket in Germantown for most of my high school years. Not the greatest shop in the world, but had a lot of stuff (a bit overpriced). The owner was more into apparel.
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