Obligatory post. "Who is The Baseball Card Snob?"

Well, we are back from our "vacation" in "The City" (lot of quotation marks already). So here is the post I promised last week.

Who is the Baseball Card Snob?

He's a 47 year old married, father of three from New Joisey.  The northeastern part of the state to be exact.

I've been collecting on and off since 1974, yes 1974. I remember buying my first pack of cards when we were living in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, NY.  It was right here,

What's that Hearing Aid store doing there?

Wait, where did it go?  Well, that Hearing Aid Store (blue awning) use to be a candy/newspaper store.  I had a different sentence I was going to type here (If you've ever been in New York City outside of Manhattan, there are tons of these stores.) Well, apparently, there are no longer "tons of these stores."  I couldn't find a single one, so I will show you a picture I found on the interweb.

I remember the store in question having a big Te-Amo sign on it. Like this one,

These stores and signs were ubiquitous. It appears that these type of store is disappearing and being replaced by the the standard bodega

Didn't think you were going to get a little NYC consumerism post?  I hope this was informative, now back to our regularly scheduled post.

I must have bought that first pack in April or May of 1974 because we moved to New Jersey in June. I have no recollection of buying any packs until 1977.  That's when I really started collecting.

There was a small candy store in my town (also now gone, no picture available) and I remember buying these

at that store.  Holy Cow, Rick Cerrone, look at that hair, that 70's mustache.  Yeah, Cerrone-jo.  Oh, there is  also some guy by the name of Dale Murphy in the lower left corner, I wonder what became of him.  I have about 5 of these packs in my collection.  (I figured out my scanner, much better scan that my second post http://thebaseballcardsnob.blogspot.com/2012/02/2012-topps-purple.html).

Don't remember buying much 1978, but I bought 6 vending boxes of 1979 Topps (future post fodder).

Fast forward to 1982, graduated high school and left for college (Rutgers).  I think like most collectors, when you go off to school, the collection hibernates.  I did add complete sets of the big 3 in 1983, but I bought the sets, not boxes and collated the sets myself.  After 1983, I stopped.  I guess life got in the way.

I never graduated Rutgers, dropped out in October of my Sophomore year. It wasn't for me at that time.  The following spring, I enrolled in a Paramedic Training class in NYC.  In 10 short months, I was a NYC EMS Paramedic.  Working crazy hours and several extra jobs did not leave a lot of free time and although I still enjoyed baseball, baseball cards themselves, were not on the radar.

So when did baseball cards re-appear on the radar?  If you can believe it, when I got engaged.  I'm sure my wife would not be thrilled to know that she helped re-ignite my collecting habit.  It was late 1992 or early 1993, we were engaged and out stopping at garages sales, looking for "whatever", when I saw this...

Not this specific card, but a 1992 Upper Deck baseball card.  WOW! What were these?The last cards I remember actually handling were 1983 cards.  I'd never seen anything like this before.  Pictures on the front and back, good pictures too, a glossy feel to the card, a hologram to deter counterfeiting, WOW.  I was infected with the collecting bug again.

I started buying packs and boxes and going to shows again.  I haven't stopped since.  I re-started my Yankees team set collection.  Started Topps sets for my oldest son and Upper Deck for my youngest.  My daughter gets proof coin sets, so she doesn't feel left out.  My wife, well, she's an angel for putting up with both me and my collection.  Although, she would like me to "get rid" of some of these cards.  My stock answer, "I'm working on it."  Just like I'm working on this blog.

Ok, so help me get rid of some cards.  My baseball card pages are listed at right, they are mostly up to date. I don't list the base cards, but I have some for all the sets I collect.  So drop my an e-mail and lets get a trade going.

Next post: Why such a snob?