Remembering collecting baseball cards
it was better than us shooting craps
Tim Wilson
Before there were collectible stores and adults started spending tens of thousands of dollars on rookie cards, baseball cards were simply something fun for kids.
Do you remember ripping open a package excitedly hoping to find a player from your favorite team? I’d take any player wearing a Red Sox cap over future hall of famers -- especially if they were Yankees.
Wasn’t it cool the way that long after you bought a pack the cards would still smell like the stick of bubble gum that came in the pack. Did you eat the gum? I always did, no matter how stale. No way I was throwing way anything I bought with money I earned for doing chores or that my grandparents gave me for just getting another year older.
Did you trade cards? There wasn’t a lot of that in my neighborhood because we all wanted the same players. But if you got a second Al Kaline you’d gladly unload that to pick up the Mike Andrews card that was missing from your Sox collection.
What we did a lot was gamble with the cards by pitching them against a brick wall at recess. Three or four guys would line up with their cards and one at a time, with a flick of the wrist, we’d try to get our card closest to the wall. Closest card in each round claimed all the cards. Another variation we called Tops gave the cards to whoever covered the other cards with theirs, or got a leaner up against the wall.
Not surprisingly, in these games you kept your Yaz or Jim Lonborg card secure in your back pocket. The nuns never interrupted this “gambling” at recess. I think they figured it was better than us shooting craps.
About the author: Tim Wilson is a lifelong resident of Massachusetts. He is passionate about his family, Marquette University, bicycling and all Boston sports.
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