BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR JCMINTS 12 DAYS OF XMAS GIVEAWAY

[Bill Menard]

What?!? It's not Hollywood Mike Miranda!!!

 

[Bill Menard]

Warms my heart...like a fresh, soft batch of Nestle Tollhouse cookies....warmed and all gooey in side! I think about how crazy I was (am) for Gwynn all the way up in Seattle, I couldn't imagine him being my hometown guy!

You inspired me to cook! Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream going in the middle!!

 

[MrMet]

You inspired me to cook! Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream going in the middle!!
View attachment 27343

Are they ready yet Bill? I'm on my way.

 

[Bill Menard]

They're all gone already just finished them off!

 

[jcmint]

Cookies dont last around these boards

 

[ASTROBURN]

[MENTION=1897]jcmint[/MENTION]

Whoa, Cant let this page fall any further. Almost hit the third page!

 

[jcmint]

Its about that time fellas

When did you first start collecting and what do you remember about it.

Best answer IMO gets their choice tonight

 

[ASTROBURN]

I first started collecting when I got back home from a trip to visit my Aunt in Louisiana in 1994. While there, she said we could take a drive into Florida, or go to Houston. I decided Houston, for the Space Center. So we went, and while there we took a tour of the Astrodome, and we stuck around to watch the Astros lose to the Reds. I came back to the Bay Area a changed young man. An Astros Fan.

My Best friend and his brother were Giants and Mariners Fans. Both bought and ripped cases regularly, and they Kept Bonds and Griffeys for their PCs. Soon, I realized that they were also pulling Astros cards, and then they would just fling them my way during the breaks. I started out collecting Biggio, but after realizing the number of Bagwells available, I started collecting him too. Eventually, Bagwell took precedence and its been all Bagwell ever since.

I remember seeing the base cards, and then realizing what a chase set was. It was the years of insert mania. And it got worse and worse (for my wallet, that is). The most expensive card I bought at the time was the 96 Zenith Diamond Club, the one with the Diamond chip. I paid 96 dollars for that bad boy at Collectors Corner II in Los Gatos (which is gone, like all the card shops I used to go to around here). I wound up selling it in 99 to help pay for my wedding, but luckily got another one around ten years later, for much much cheaper than I originally paid back then.

These were good times. Taking trips with my two best friends, driving from shop to shop. And the best part was, my cards were the cheapest around here. Griffey drew a Premium cuz he's Griffey, Bonds drew a premium cuz Its the Bay Area, Bagwells around here, I could get em dirt cheap in comparison. That was probably the funnest part of it. Me walking out of the shops paying a fraction of my friends.

 

[Erich]

I was 7 or 8 when I started to buy packs of Topps. It was around 1973 or so, I would walk up 8 Mile Rd in Detroit a few blocks from my Grandmothers house to this Pizza Joint that sold packs. Good times.

 

[Y4NK335]

It all restarted for good in 2006 for me because of a man by the name of Chris Shelton blasted 9 home runs in his first 13 games for the Tigers.

I bought several packs of 2006 Topps during my next trip to Target in search of a Shelton card. I really enjoyed the designs and insert sets and continued to pick up a variety of packs every time I took a trip to Target. Despite never pulling anything of note from retail or hobby (And I've honestly spent hundreds on retail and hobby over the years and never returned a card worth more than $10-20), I became enamored with the hobby.

After browsing the internet, I found the Beckett Message Boards, where I started to pick up my knowledge. In the early going I was interested in anything. I did not care if it was autographed or contained a game used piece. I remember the first two cards I bought on eBay for about $10 a pop. An Alfonso Soriano Triple Threads Base Parallel /150 and a Dave Winfield TT base parallel /99. I was ecstatic that I acquired two cards that were serial numbered and thought it was pretty cool owning something that was in limited production. I slowly continued to build my collection with low-end autographs and game used. It is funny thinking back now to where my collection started and what it has evolved to today.

 

[Therion]

I started collecting when I was seven because my cousin (who was cool and 16! Whoa!) took me to a card store and bought me a Sportflics card of Ryne Sandberg. The card is worth like 12 cents, but I would never trade it.

 

[Bogeysave82]

I don't remember exactly when I started collecting I was young prob 5 or 6. However I do remember how. It was because of my dad. My dad was a radio DJ covered the bengals for the AP when he would get home from the games he would always have an autograph or two for me or a wristband from a player. He noticed how much I loved that stuff so he came home with cards next then we started going to shops and shows. I didn't know it at the time but he was a collector and passing his love down to me. I remember it was how we first bonded. Great times

 

[jcmint]

Some nice stories here guys so I will share mine

It started for very young when I lived in Bethpage NY my brother and I would walk up to the candy store for a Reggie bar and we would get a pack of cards. I just thumbed thru for any Yankee cards. At this time we went to Burger King to get the Yankees giveaway cards they had I believe for 1978.

I started collecting in 1986 with Topps. I used to run up to Modells when I lived in New Hyde Park NY. I ran to the Modells in Lake Success. I bought rack packs or whatever else they had. At this time Mattingly Gooden and Strawberry were hot. Being a staunch Yankee fan I would trade any Mets I got for Donnie baseball. I can still see that 86 topps set. I can still tell you the stats of players from that year. I was a stat machine. I completed the set and thumbed thru it daily. This started my strong obsession with the hobby.

In 1989 I started realizing the value of a rc card and started buying and selling. It wasnt long before I made some money and used that to buy cards I normally could not afford.

 

[SINFULONE]

I first started collecting when I got back home from a trip to visit my Aunt in Louisiana in 1994. While there, she said we could take a drive into Florida, or go to Houston. I decided Houston, for the Space Center. So we went, and while there we took a tour of the Astrodome, and we stuck around to watch the Astros lose to the Reds. I came back to the Bay Area a changed young man. An Astros Fan.

My Best friend and his brother were Giants and Mariners Fans. Both bought and ripped cases regularly, and they Kept Bonds and Griffeys for their PCs. Soon, I realized that they were also pulling Astros cards, and then they would just fling them my way during the breaks. I started out collecting Biggio, but after realizing the number of Bagwells available, I started collecting him too. Eventually, Bagwell took precedence and its been all Bagwell ever since.

I remember seeing the base cards, and then realizing what a chase set was. It was the years of insert mania. And it got worse and worse (for my wallet, that is). The most expensive card I bought at the time was the 96 Zenith Diamond Club, the one with the Diamond chip. I paid 96 dollars for that bad boy at Collectors Corner II in Los Gatos (which is gone, like all the card shops I used to go to around here). I wound up selling it in 99 to help pay for my wedding, but luckily got another one around ten years later, for much much cheaper than I originally paid back then.

These were good times. Taking trips with my two best friends, driving from shop to shop. And the best part was, my cards were the cheapest around here. Griffey drew a Premium cuz he's Griffey, Bonds drew a premium cuz Its the Bay Area, Bagwells around here, I could get em dirt cheap in comparison. That was probably the funnest part of it. Me walking out of the shops paying a fraction of my friends.

Good story.

 

[dbacksfan4life]

I just started collecting about a year ago, it all started when my Dad's card collection got stolen and l wanted to help "replace" the ones that were stolen. He had four Mantle cards!

I still remember my first blaster and jumbo rack pack like it was yesterday! I got a gift card for my Bday and my friend said l should get cards so l gave ita tryandgot hooked! I got a David Wright GU card plus a bunch of Dbacks which made it awesome!

I'd never regret buying that blaster or rack pack i totally got hooked!

Thanks for the contest!

 

[petMonster]

Alright, this is a little embarrassing and I never really told people this when I was younger, but I figure we're all adults here, so hopefully people will not poke fun. I was born in Milwaukee and when I was really little my parents moved across the border to Illinois. My parents struggled financially early on, and it got bad enough at a point that my brother, sister, and I moved in with my grandparents in West Allis, Wisconsin during the mid 80's for a few years. We only saw my parents on weekends, and we really didn't have any friends out there, so my grandfather was my best and only friend. My grandparents weren't in awesome financial shape either, so my grandfather used to drive down to Greenfield Park and we would go through the garbage cans and pick out all the aluminum cans we could find. We'd take them home and crush them in a little can-crusher contraption that my grandpa made and then we'd take them to the recycle place for money. He always gave me a % of the cash

Anyway, one day we were digging through and we found a brown paper lunch bag with something really heavy in it. We opened it up and it had a fat stack of cards all rubber-banded up. It was 1984 Fleer, if I recall the design. They looked freshly pack pulled and we were puzzled why they were in there. A couple days later we found another bag in a trash can in the same park. Again, fresh pack-pulled stack in rubber bands in a brown paper bag. Pretty soon we started seeing bags of cards from all 3 card manufacturers popping up every few days. We would take them home and look through them. We both knew about players but didn't know the value of cards, so one day my grandpa bought a Beckett from the LCS and we started looking up the cards. To my surprise, lots of these cards were listed and had what seemed to be a huge $ value to me at the time...$3.00, $1.50, $2.00, etc. My grandpa built some boxes out of builders wood that looked exactly like 5000 count boxes and we'd organize them by set/year/number in the boxes. Those cards were adding up quick!!! Eventually I moved back with my parents to IL, but my grandpa kept going out there and finding cards for years...I think 1991 Upper Deck was the last set he ever found in there.

Anyway, as you can imagine, many of the cards got soda and beer spilled on them and were not in Gem 10 condition, but I really didn't care about that. I'd wipe them off and let them dry in the sun before my grandpa and I would organize them together. That experience led to many other card adventures for me and my grandpa, like my first ever trip to the LCS, my first pack purchase, my first card show, etc. But ultimately, it was about hanging out with my grandpa.

I'm fortunate enough to be able to buy some nice cards nowadays, but I would never trade those days of wiping off beer-stained cards from Greenfield Park with my grandfather for anything.

Btw, to this day I still have no idea why someone was throwing away cards. I developed a theory that someone was ripping cards off from somewhere but couldn't bring large quantities home of his parents would get suspicious, so he probably picked out only the best ones because I never found a Mattingly RC or a Canseco or Bo RC.

 

[jcmint]

Winner
I appreciate the story and did not haveuch growing up either
its was a great story about your introduction
Pick out whatever you like
pm me with your address

astroburn I liked your story too you will be the winner for today you pick second
pm me your addy

both of you post what you want in the thread

Alright, this is a little embarrassing and I never really told people this when I was younger, but I figure we're all adults here, so hopefully people will not poke fun. I was born in Milwaukee and when I was really little my parents moved across the border to Illinois. My parents struggled financially early on, and it got bad enough at a point that my brother, sister, and I moved in with my grandparents in West Allis, Wisconsin during the mid 80's for a few years. We only saw my parents on weekends, and we really didn't have any friends out there, so my grandfather was my best and only friend. My grandparents weren't in awesome financial shape either, so my grandfather used to drive down to Greenfield Park and we would go through the garbage cans and pick out all the aluminum cans we could find. We'd take them home and crush them in a little can-crusher contraption that my grandpa made and then we'd take them to the recycle place for money. He always gave me a % of the cash

Anyway, one day we were digging through and we found a brown paper lunch bag with something really heavy in it. We opened it up and it had a fat stack of cards all rubber-banded up. It was 1984 Fleer, if I recall the design. They looked freshly pack pulled and we were puzzled why they were in there. A couple days later we found another bag in a trash can in the same park. Again, fresh pack-pulled stack in rubber bands in a brown paper bag. Pretty soon we started seeing bags of cards from all 3 card manufacturers popping up every few days. We would take them home and look through them. We both knew about players but didn't know the value of cards, so one day my grandpa bought a Beckett from the LCS and we started looking up the cards. To my surprise, lots of these cards were listed and had what seemed to be a huge $ value to me at the time...$3.00, $1.50, $2.00, etc. My grandpa built some boxes out of builders wood that looked exactly like 5000 count boxes and we'd organize them by set/year/number in the boxes. Those cards were adding up quick!!! Eventually I moved back with my parents to IL, but my grandpa kept going out there and finding cards for years...I think 1991 Upper Deck was the last set he ever found in there.

Anyway, as you can imagine, many of the cards got soda and beer spilled on them and were not in Gem 10 condition, but I really didn't care about that. I'd wipe them off and let them dry in the sun before my grandpa and I would organize them together. That experience led to many other card adventures for me and my grandpa, like my first ever trip to the LCS, my first pack purchase, my first card show, etc. But ultimately, it was about hanging out with my grandpa.

I'm fortunate enough to be able to buy some nice cards nowadays, but I would never trade those days of wiping off beer-stained cards from Greenfield Park with my grandfather for anything.

Btw, to this day I still have no idea why someone was throwing away cards. I developed a theory that someone was ripping cards off from somewhere but couldn't bring large quantities home of his parents would get suspicious, so he probably picked out only the best ones because I never found a Mattingly RC or a Canseco or Bo RC.

 

[CatdaddysCards]

Alright, this is a little embarrassing and I never really told people this when I was younger, but I figure we're all adults here, so hopefully people will not poke fun. I was born in Milwaukee and when I was really little my parents moved across the border to Illinois. My parents struggled financially early on, and it got bad enough at a point that my brother, sister, and I moved in with my grandparents in West Allis, Wisconsin during the mid 80's for a few years. We only saw my parents on weekends, and we really didn't have any friends out there, so my grandfather was my best and only friend. My grandparents weren't in awesome financial shape either, so my grandfather used to drive down to Greenfield Park and we would go through the garbage cans and pick out all the aluminum cans we could find. We'd take them home and crush them in a little can-crusher contraption that my grandpa made and then we'd take them to the recycle place for money. He always gave me a % of the cash

Anyway, one day we were digging through and we found a brown paper lunch bag with something really heavy in it. We opened it up and it had a fat stack of cards all rubber-banded up. It was 1984 Fleer, if I recall the design. They looked freshly pack pulled and we were puzzled why they were in there. A couple days later we found another bag in a trash can in the same park. Again, fresh pack-pulled stack in rubber bands in a brown paper bag. Pretty soon we started seeing bags of cards from all 3 card manufacturers popping up every few days. We would take them home and look through them. We both knew about players but didn't know the value of cards, so one day my grandpa bought a Beckett from the LCS and we started looking up the cards. To my surprise, lots of these cards were listed and had what seemed to be a huge $ value to me at the time...$3.00, $1.50, $2.00, etc. My grandpa built some boxes out of builders wood that looked exactly like 5000 count boxes and we'd organize them by set/year/number in the boxes. Those cards were adding up quick!!! Eventually I moved back with my parents to IL, but my grandpa kept going out there and finding cards for years...I think 1991 Upper Deck was the last set he ever found in there.

Anyway, as you can imagine, many of the cards got soda and beer spilled on them and were not in Gem 10 condition, but I really didn't care about that. I'd wipe them off and let them dry in the sun before my grandpa and I would organize them together. That experience led to many other card adventures for me and my grandpa, like my first ever trip to the LCS, my first pack purchase, my first card show, etc. But ultimately, it was about hanging out with my grandpa.

I'm fortunate enough to be able to buy some nice cards nowadays, but I would never trade those days of wiping off beer-stained cards from Greenfield Park with my grandfather for anything.

Btw, to this day I still have no idea why someone was throwing away cards. I developed a theory that someone was ripping cards off from somewhere but couldn't bring large quantities home of his parents would get suspicious, so he probably picked out only the best ones because I never found a Mattingly RC or a Canseco or Bo RC.

Awesome story. I can somewhat relate as I was raised by my disabled grandparents who weren't well off.

 

[muskiesfan]

Great story! My grandfather got me into collecting in 1982. My father wasn't around, so my grandfather was more like a dad to me. After church on Sundays, we would stop by IGA. He would buy me a couple of packs of Topps and we would open them in the car. It was always such a great time looking through them, 1 by 1, hoping to find Cincinnati Reds! That's why, no matter what, I could never leave this hobby. Though we could use the money and I've thought about it several times, I just can't sell my stuff. My grandfather is still alive and occasionally asks about my collection.

Alright, this is a little embarrassing and I never really told people this when I was younger, but I figure we're all adults here, so hopefully people will not poke fun. I was born in Milwaukee and when I was really little my parents moved across the border to Illinois. My parents struggled financially early on, and it got bad enough at a point that my brother, sister, and I moved in with my grandparents in West Allis, Wisconsin during the mid 80's for a few years. We only saw my parents on weekends, and we really didn't have any friends out there, so my grandfather was my best and only friend. My grandparents weren't in awesome financial shape either, so my grandfather used to drive down to Greenfield Park and we would go through the garbage cans and pick out all the aluminum cans we could find. We'd take them home and crush them in a little can-crusher contraption that my grandpa made and then we'd take them to the recycle place for money. He always gave me a % of the cash

Anyway, one day we were digging through and we found a brown paper lunch bag with something really heavy in it. We opened it up and it had a fat stack of cards all rubber-banded up. It was 1984 Fleer, if I recall the design. They looked freshly pack pulled and we were puzzled why they were in there. A couple days later we found another bag in a trash can in the same park. Again, fresh pack-pulled stack in rubber bands in a brown paper bag. Pretty soon we started seeing bags of cards from all 3 card manufacturers popping up every few days. We would take them home and look through them. We both knew about players but didn't know the value of cards, so one day my grandpa bought a Beckett from the LCS and we started looking up the cards. To my surprise, lots of these cards were listed and had what seemed to be a huge $ value to me at the time...$3.00, $1.50, $2.00, etc. My grandpa built some boxes out of builders wood that looked exactly like 5000 count boxes and we'd organize them by set/year/number in the boxes. Those cards were adding up quick!!! Eventually I moved back with my parents to IL, but my grandpa kept going out there and finding cards for years...I think 1991 Upper Deck was the last set he ever found in there.

Anyway, as you can imagine, many of the cards got soda and beer spilled on them and were not in Gem 10 condition, but I really didn't care about that. I'd wipe them off and let them dry in the sun before my grandpa and I would organize them together. That experience led to many other card adventures for me and my grandpa, like my first ever trip to the LCS, my first pack purchase, my first card show, etc. But ultimately, it was about hanging out with my grandpa.

I'm fortunate enough to be able to buy some nice cards nowadays, but I would never trade those days of wiping off beer-stained cards from Greenfield Park with my grandfather for anything.

Btw, to this day I still have no idea why someone was throwing away cards. I developed a theory that someone was ripping cards off from somewhere but couldn't bring large quantities home of his parents would get suspicious, so he probably picked out only the best ones because I never found a Mattingly RC or a Canseco or Bo RC.

 

[ASTROBURN]

Cool, Thanks!

Well, out of the items, I would like the Jordans. I wont keep them for myself (they dont go with my Bagwells), instead I will give them to my coworker who is infatuated with Jordan, and I just broke his heart last week with telling him that the PSA quick Check doesnt think his Jordan/Rodman/Pippen auto is legit... Hopefully some Jordan cards will lift his spirits!