When did you start collecting cards and why?

[trademhigh]

Just figured this would open up a cool conversation.

For me-
I started collecting when I was really little because my dad bought me a few packs. I continued to collect until I was 10. I stopped collecting for awhile, but I picked it up in March or April of 2007 because my friend got me hooked.

 

[MOFNY]

My friend Matt introduced me to collecting in 1996. I mainly collected 96 Score and bought various packs. In 1997 I moved to Topps stuff, Finest being my favorite. I mainly collected sets in the beginning.

 

[thegreathambino]

good topic josh. i broke some common box's when i was young, while my brother collected alot. I had a mini binder that i had some of my "nicer" cards in back then (some jersey cards ect that i liked). My brother cleaned out his room and i found the binder after about 2 years,,.. so i got back into it.. which got my brother back into it.

 

[subpop77]

back in 1986 my cousin's collected and so did I

 

[tramers]

1950's sounded good in bike spokes

 

[Card Magnet]

As a young child because most children do.

I got back into it casually in 2003 with a friend who collected. I was out of the hobby for a while, so a game used card was new to me.

I really picked up in 2005, and have been going strong ever since thanks to the internet and a few friends from my high school days.

 

[sheetskout]

I started collecting in 1984 as my dad would bring home packs of Topps after work. I stopped in the nineties for a long while but always had it in the back of my mind.

 

[brouthercard]

1982, I started collecting for the same reason everyone else started collecting- we have obsessive/complusive personalities (set builders/player collectors), we like the potential of making money (prospectors; that's how we justify it to our non-collecting friends and relatives; plus this is how we justify opening packs/boxes/cases- the gambling aspect), and we love sports.

 

[subpop77]

1950's sounded good in bike spokes

bet you wish you still had them

 

[tramers]

traded off the yankees kept the Pirates most other teams SPOKED .

 

[NYCrulesU]

A cousin of mine gave me my very first baseball card in 1980. It was a 1977 Topps Tom Seaver that I still have to this day. I started seriously collecting on my own in 1983.

 

[Philip J. Fry]

Really, I don't recall why I started collecting. I remember having a TON of 1989 Topps cards laying around and then remembering purchasing 1991 Topps and would trade with friends to complete the 1991 set. As to why I would collect...probably because it was cheap and it kept me away from the TV growing up. My parents agreed...until I had my own job and would spend the money on cards rather than go on dates. I never had a pack of cards that I regretted the next day!

 

[19braves77]

Started when the new kid in the neighborhood was collecting and one time his mom bought me a pack of 1988 score when I was shopping with them. At that time I was a huge outdoor nut with fishing. Collected for the next 5 years, then went to autographing at Barons games, took a break during college, then restarted both card collecting and autograph collecting.

 

[tramers]

Started when the new kid in the neighborhood was collecting and one time his mom bought me a pack of 1988 score when I was shopping with them. At that time I was a huge outdoor nut with fishing. Collected for the next 5 years, then went to autographing at Barons games, took a break during college, then restarted both card collecting and autograph collecting.

this is for you

 

[jay1065]

I started when I was a kid. It must have been around '86, because I remember opening those (Topps) packs. I continued collecting until I entered high school. That wasn't the reason I stopped, I just kind of faded out of the hobby. Fast forward to early 2006. My wife was working in the sales department at a local hotel. She came home one night and mentioned she booked a series of card shows (still going on today - Hilton Garden Inn, Burlington, MA.) I decided to stop in since I hadn't been to a show in years. Needless to say, I was hooked.

 

[All The Hype]

Collected since I was about three years old. My father played ball in college and had collected most of his life, so he passed the hobby right on down to me.


I've been prospecting for about 2 years now. I started during my freshman year of college after realizing that I couldn't keep buying stuff for my collection without having any sort of income...so I figured I'd try my hand at turning my passion for cards into an income. And so far, I've done a great job at it.

 

[RZimm11]

I got a factory set of 86 Topps for christmas that year, started buying myself in 87. Took a little break for about 2 years. Just got back into this year.

 

[trademhigh]

Nice posts so far! I always was interested in this topic.

 

[predatorkj]

I collected when I was a kid.My grandmother gave me a partial set of 1981 fleer.My dad also used to stop at stop-n-go every morning to get a fountain drink and he would buy me a pack of 1991 fleer every day.I amassed quite a few cards from different sets over the next couple of years.Any time we would go to k-mart or to Eckerds or Walgreens I'd get a pack.Then after I turned about 10 I quit.I started collecting basketball.So did everyone else I knew.Then after I turned about 13 or so, my cards got stolen and that was it.

I picked up briefly in high school but then I decided to quit.I don't know why.I just couldn't get into it.Unfortunately this was during the late 90's and it was a time when some of the best, in my opinion, cards were made.I remember me and my buddy Ryan riding our bikes to k-mart and buying about $30 worth of packs.I pulled a McGwire Fielders choice that booked like $60 back then out of a $1.49 pack of Pacific Paramount.I almost crapped my pants.But like I said...I just couldn't stay in the hobby.

After high school I was heavy into comics.I always loved comics and especially comic cards but when I was young...we lived in a ghettoish neighborhood and they never had any kind of hobby shops or comic shops.So, since I couldn't really get anything but archie or disney comics or maybe a small amount of Dark Horse titles...but I could find baseball packs at least, I never really was able to collect comics or the like.That's why I only collected baseball when I was younger and then basketball.But as I was getting out of high school and getting a job...I had money and I had a vehicle.So I made my way to tons of comic stores and flea markets and I was able to build a solid collection.

I finally started growing tired of that and had thought about selling it all off for a long time.Then one day they gave me an apprentice at my job and he was heavily into sports.One day we went to walmart for lunch(it was the only place to snag food(McDonalds inside the Walmart) since we were in BFE.I ended up stopping by to check out the action figures and I saw him glancing at the McFarlanes.So we started talking about it and I told him I collected some of the McFarlane's.He asked if I colelcted cards and I said no but I had wanted to get back into it but there was just too much out there.So one day he brought me some Ken Griffey Jr. cards to work.He gave them to me and asked if I liked any other players.I told him Piazza, Bags, Biggio and a handful of others.So one day he brings a stack of cards and lets me go through them and pick some out.

The rest is history.