Hi Folks,
I'm glad to have you back with me, and I am excited about telling you a
little more about collecting baseball cards during the primitive 1980s, along
with 3 fond memories, for me, from that period of time.
In part 1 of this story, "Collecting Baseball Cards In The
1980s...A Whole New World, Part 1 Of 2" (You can read Part 1 here: http://blog.cardboardandcoins.com/2021/12/collecting-baseball-cards-in-1980s.html), we left off
with me looking like a deer in headlights when I read about the most incredible
thing ever...that there were such events called "Baseball Card
Shows", which were like a convention of baseball card sellers in one huge
open space, such as a hotel conference center, or a convention center. In my
case, it was the Adria 2 Conference Center and Motel in Bayside, Queens, as
well as the Golden Gate Inn in Brooklyn (as well as another show in Hempstead,
Long Island). These were all places nearby, where people would gather to buy
and sell their cards!
I questioned myself..."Do such events truly exist??"
There was one card show coming up the
following weekend, just a few short miles from my home, and I begged and
pleaded with my parents to take me, which they did, luckily!
The crowds were dense, and it was like walking on air! Cards everywhere.
As far as the eye could see.
There were many tables with rows and rows of cards that folks were
thumbing through with little pieces of paper. I asked someone what was on their
paper, and they said it was a list of cards they needed to complete their 1975
Topps set! That thought stuck with me, and I planned on making the same type of
lists for my sets when I got home, before the next card show.
I met some great folks at these shows, "vendors", and over
time, I began to know them by name, and vice versa. One really nice older
gentleman had a gumball-machine type of baseball card dispenser, and for 25
cents a turn on the machine, I was pulling out cards from the 1950s! Remember,
this was 1980s, before the prices really spiked! Each time I got another card,
he asked me if I wanted a "Gosinta"? He found it quite funny! He said
it to everyone. Why? Because they would ask what a “Gosinta” is, and he would
reply, "it holds the card...your card ‘GOES INTA’ the holder!". I
guess that was part of his joy in the game! He was there every week, and I got
so many incredible cards from him, and a stack of “Gosintas”!
Being a newbie to card shows, I did make some "Silly Rookie
Mistakes". One specific time stands out for me, and a vendor had a really good
laugh. I had asked him how much his 1963 Topps Pete Rose rookie was, and he
said “Two Fifty”. I took out two dollars and two quarters and went to give him
$2.50 for the card, and he said, no, so, $250! Yikes! I turned beet red!
Amidst the chaos of these shows (and aside from my confusion with the
multiple Pete Rose, Mike Schmidt, and George Brett versions in that pesky 1981
Fleer Set), I had a blast. After going to several shows, I figured I would try
and bring some cards with me to sell, but when the vendors looked them over, I
learned a valuable lesson in this era before grading companies existed;
condition matters, and the price of the card depends on the condition of the
card! How could I find out the prices for cards across different conditions?
The Beckett Baseball Card price guide, of course!
With that said, this now brings me to my first memory of those times:
#1 "BECKETT WAS BIG!":
The Beckett Baseball Card price guide was better known as the "Bible"
of baseball card collecting in the 1980s. This incredibly comprehensive book
had almost every card ever produced listed within its covers, along with
conditions and pricing.
What is my take-away...my memory here? Well, this huge book was only
produced once a year, so I remember waiting, waiting, waiting for the next
issue to be released to see if the prices of my cards had gone up in value. It
was absolute torture! In between issues, it was all a big guess! It was a very
primitive time! Have I mentioned that yet?
Fortunately, with the price guide, I was able to price my cards a little
better, and my first venture into selling cards came by placing an Ad in
Baseball Card Magazine as "Bob's Cards". This yielded another true
"sign of the times"; people would send me $1 and a Self-Addressed
Stamped Envelope (SASE) to receive my list of cards that I was selling! I made
a few sales, but the process was really tough, unless you were selling at card
shows.
The lesson here; you should really appreciate the fact that with a few
simple keystrokes, you can check card prices and sell your cards vs. the
ancient way of waiting, waiting, waiting, and then doing some more waiting!
#2 "LUCITE TOPLOADERS WERE
LIKE WEAPONS!":
Keeping your cards safe from damage was a new concept in the 1980s, and
the sleeves were these rigid pieces of plastic with sharp edges on them. Top
Loaders? Well, that is my second very fond memory:
The Toploaders (or "Top Loaders") that you know from the
present day, got their start in the 80s. These huge, thick, Lucite plastic card
holders were thick, heavy, and could protect a baseball card from an atomic
bomb!
If you were walking along with that gorgeous red and yellow bordered
1975 Topps Pete Rose that you bought at a show, and someone tried to take it
from you..."CLUNK"...it also served as a weapon (Not that I clunked
anyone with one of these prehistoric toploaders...however, in Brooklyn &
Queens in 1980s NYC, you never know!!).
The point is, these were mammoth-sized holders, which really make you
appreciate the slimmed-down, yet, just as durable toploaders of today.
I even included a few photos in my post to give you an idea of just how
big these toploaders were from back then at the dawn of time!
#3 "BLUE BOXES, BLUE BOXES EVERYWHERE!":
Aside from purchasing complete card sets, I found out later on in my
collecting ventures (in the 1990s) that there were such things as "Vending
Boxes", which are basically a small carton of about 500 random Topps
Baseball Cards from the current year, direct from the factory. These boxes were
loaded with mint condition cards, and a boatload of rookies from the set from
the particular year that was printed on the box.
With that, comes my third memory from those times (a memory that is more
of like “the one that got away”); I saw these blue boxes all over the place at
baseball card shows, but I never thought to ask what they were. Why did I never
even look INTO vending boxes? I never heard of them. So, the true take-away
here is...don't be a fool! Open your eyes to what's out there, and never take
anything for granted!
Growing up in the 80s was amazing, but collecting baseball cards in the
80s was epic, especially during the earlier part of the decade, before
over-production began, and when finding names like Cal Ripken Jr, Wade Boggs
("Wade"..that name still makes me giggle, lol!), Tony Gwynn, Ryne
Sandberg, Don Mattingly, Darryl Strawberry, Mark McGwire, Roger Clemens, and
Kirby Puckett in your Wax Pack gave you that feeling of excitement, and that
feeling that you struck some type of gold...but at the time, you didn't realize
just what type of gold it was...not yet, at least!
Thank
you for taking this journey with me, and I hope that it brought back some great
memories for you, as it certainly has for me.
.
