Sy Berger’s death received national attention with names such as Keith Olbermann and Bob Costas getting nostalgic and talking about
their days as card collectors. Twenty to thirty years ago, it seemed every
little boy (and many girls) collected cards. They tried feverishly to get their
favorite players while wadding up balls of gum in their mouths.
The New York Times ran an article on Berger from the eyes
of their national baseball columnist Tyler Kepner. He spoke about his love of
collecting as a child and buying a complete set of 1982 Topps – the set that got
his love of collecting started. While he doesn’t collect anymore, he still
thinks of baseball cards in a fond light.
We all have one of those sets. Despite the mass
production of cardboard heroes in the 1980s and early 1990s, there is a set
many people of similar ages tend to see and it brings us back to one of simple
joys when packs of cards only cost a quarter and we traded with friends and
family members.
My throwback set is 1991 Fleer. They were so ugly with
their bright, yellow borders. And I loved it.
My mother would send me to the store to get milk or bread
and I would pick up a pack or two with the leftover change. Much like now, I
couldn’t wait to get home to rip open the pack, so I would stand in the middle
of the store with a friend or my younger brother and fly through the cards
looking for any New York Yankees.
Matt Nokes! Kevin Maas! Jesse Barfield! Oscar Azocar!
Getting Don Mattingly, though, was the best. I kept all
my Yankees in a binder, while the other guys get relegated to a shoebox.
The best thing about these cards, however, was they were
all mine. For years, I watched as my older brother and cousins would trade
cards and rip open packs with each other. I had to live through their
collections until Mom let me use her change to start my own collection.
Even though those sets don’t hold much value these days,
it’s not the money that matters when nostalgia hits. It’s the memories that no
one can put a price on.
I have the complete 1991 Fleer Yankees team set in a binder and I just love looking at it. Whenever I do, I think of my first year at Mercy College in Dobbs Ferry. I would leave class, take the bus to Central Ave and pick up a couple of packs of cards once a week, looking for Yankees. As ugly as that set is, it takes me back to a good time in my life.
ReplyDeleteWhere did you go on Central Ave? There is just one store left there now. I still go to it from time to time.
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