How did you start collecting

[Sports Card Radio]

I started collecting about 20 years ago when I was about 8 years old. I remember getting packs at Toys-R-Us and a local card store I later worked for many years.

When I was about 18 I started selling on eBay more than I was buying and later opened a card store for 3 years when I was in college.

Today I only have a handful of cards. 2 - 2001 SPx Chad Johnson Rookies I think I paid about $10 total for, and I just picked up a 2009 Micheal Johnson (Bengals DE) for about $5. My prize possession is a Tiger Woods autograph I got in person at the 2000 PGA Championship ... which he won. I'm hoping to expand my collection to more Bengals and Vintage Baseball over the course of 2010.

[MichelleAnn]

Sounds like you have shown her. Seems like you have 2 great collections.

[countrycard]

When I was about 6 my sister bought me some baseball cards and gave them to me. She was 11 years older than me. She wanted me to collect cards and leave her stamp collection alone. That was in 1965 and I have been collecting ever since. I am looking to complete sets from early 60's thru 1972 and some of the newer sets. I also got my sisters stamp collection. Showed her.

[neo darkside]

I started collectin in the 92-93 season of basketball. I was already doing comic books so i understood the hobby ways.

It was a good year to collect as everyone had Shaq and Zo fever. Opened up 5 packs of Ultra Series 2 at a Flea Market and pulled a Zo Rejectors which i sold for $10 to the dealer, a Shaquille O'Neal All-Rookie which i sold for $20 and my prized possesion, the Christian Laettner rookie, i ended up buying his Topps gold rookie and his Upper deck Rc and bought some more packs!

Its been an obsession since then!

[Myerburg311]

My dad used to collect and he had absolutely mint sets of every Topps set from 1952 to 1970.. He sold them all before I was born to buy our house.. And I mean a MINT MINT Mantle 52 Topps.. If he still had that today and got it graded it would probably be 6 figures.

I picked it up from him because he got back into in the 80s and has all the sets from 82 Traded to 92 topps.. I used to go through them all and pick out the stars and it just blossomed from there..

I'd still rather have his sets from the 50s and live in a mansion now!

[Dacubs?]

started collecting when I was 11...1984 cubbies got me into it...kept collecting until 1991 when I went off to college and didn't have any money. Started collecting again in 2001 because of Ichiro...kept buying up 2001 sweet spot in the hopes of an Ichiro RC...was bummed out when I would get some loser named Pujols. Been collecting ever since, though I think I need to pare back some...Way tooo many common base cards that I have no idea what to do with

[MichelleAnn]

1 million cards is a big collection.

[bobdabench]

how did u get started

unfourtunately I don't have anything from that time period. my mom gave away all my cards, comics, paperbacks, matchbox cars and everything else when I joined the army. She even gave away my 63 plymouth valiant.

[CaptKirk42]

Wow great story Bob.
Big question. After all these years do you still have that Mantle Rookie Card? Sounds like you have a mighty impressive collection.

[bobdabench]

funny you should ask

I was 5 and had one of those DR bags full of baseball card. my mom was about six months pregnant, we were on our way to the Phillipine Islands for my dad's new assignment and we had a enlisted escort. I must of spilled those cards fifty times. After we got to the PI this guy came by the house and gave me a Mickey Mantle Rookie card and he talked to me about collecting cards. I've been hooked ever since. I quit collecting in the early 70's and went to a card show in Germany in 1992, bought some Dan Marino cards to try and get my son interested in collecting, he was interested about as long as it took to get home. I have been collecting eversince. I turned into an UPPER DECK MASTER collector in 2002. Now I have over 1 million cards in my collection

who would of thunk it

lmfao bob

[CaptKirk42]

My cousins and kids at school started collecting. We used to "fly" the cards to win each others cards. I got pretty good at it. Nobody dare does that now. lol.

Sounds similar to a game a friend an I used to play where we would throw or toss the cards to win cards. To win the cards your card had to land on top of the other card and cover at least 50% of the other card.

[tiger tiger]

My cousins and kids at school started collecting. We used to "fly" the cards to win each others cards. I got pretty good at it. Nobody dare does that now. lol.

[jaybarkerfan]

I remember being at a flea market and my dad buying me a pack of cards. I was 8 at the time, so it would have been 87. The cards were 83 Fleer and the first card off was Kent Tekulve. I still have that card, its in a screwdown case as if it was a super valuable card! I continued collecting, looking for cardshops, looking for shows, and basically became a total addict for baseball. I have eventually migrated to football. Its still a great thrill for me to bust open packs all these years later.

[Sports Collector]

When I was about 7 or 8, my mom bought some Monkees' cards that I enjoyed putting on my bike wheels. I was 28 when I really got into collecting. My first card was a Ray Knight rookie card.

I actually met Ray Knight at a charity event one time...he's a really good guy

[bdangelo]

I started collecting in 1965. I lived in Brooklyn, N.Y., at the time, and all the kids in the neighborhood collected and flipped each other for cards. Back then, a pack cost a nickel and a box of 24 packs was $1.20. Can't recall any of my friends ever buying a box, though.

Bob