General Forum

Mine is simple...1988 Donruss Les Lancaster.  For some reason, I bought packs and packs of Donruss to put a set together and never got the Lancaster card.  I found one at a flea market a year later.  I explained the story to the vendor, and she let me take the card.  Still one of the cooler feelings I ever had as a kid completing a set on my own.

1967 Topps Mickey Mantle. I was eight years old, one of the first years I remember collecting baseball cards. There was a corner grocery store a few blocks away from our house. My friends and I walked by the store every day going to and from school. We would buy a pack almost every time we had the money. I was born a Yankess fan and could not, for the life of me, pull a Mickey Mantle. My two friends both had one. I didn't.☹

Late in the baseball season, I ended up trading a 1967 Topps Harmon Killebrew and a 1967 Topps Roberto Clemente for my holy grail - a 1967 Topps Mickey Mantle. Finally!

I eventually upgraded it in my 1967 Topps Complete set (my favorite set of all sets). I still have the original. Less than stellar condition, but it serves as a nostalgic reminder of my love for the hobby as a young boy - something that a PSA 10 will never achieve.

Best one yet

Mine is simple. My Godmother took me to my very first card shop on Archer Ave on the Southside of Chicago. I was 10 or 11 so around 1977-78.  It was my birthday present and I got to spend my gift there.  I was completing sets then, like we all were at that age. and needed some 75 Topps. So I had spent all my money and needed only one card. Yup you guessed it. George Brett RC. So she let me go over $10 I believe and I got my Brett RC.  

For me the one card I bought as a kid that I was my favorite was a 1962 Topps Gehrig and Ruth. The ones I could never seem to pull and finally got many years later were 1982 Fleer Dennis Eckersley and Jim Morrison. The one that broke my heart was a 1959 Topps Johnny Unitas, my parents bought it for me in the early 80s for Christmas. years later I went to get the card graded and was told by a dealer that the card had been altered at some point. After he told me, I could clearly see where the bottom of the card was uneven.

A couple that stand out in my mind. I remember building the 1982 topps baseball and finally having to purchase the last few missing cards through mail. No local card shops. I really hated spending the $5 or $6 I had to spend for that Cal Ripken Jr rookie. I also bought a Terry Bradshaw rookie at my first card show. It was in fair condition but I only paid a few dollars for it. Still have it. 

My "holy grail" was a common card. I had collected the entire 1969 set, except for 1 card. I could not find the Tug McGraw card. None of my friends had it, nobody had ever seen one. It was our "white whale". This of course was before the days of the internet. We were beginning to think that it didn't actually exist, except for it being listed on the checklist card. Finally, 2 years later, I was at a friend of my cousins house, looking thru his shoebox of cards, and low and behold there it was! He actually had 2 of them. I forget what I traded for it. But, finally...completion. 

Growing up I never went into a card shop till I was about 14. I always bought packs from little grocery stores and things like that, even bought packs from a barber shop. I didn't buy single cards till I was about 16. I always wanted the 86 Jerry Rice that everyone wanted but could never afford it. I finally got it around the age of 26 and have loved it ever since. I think I paid around 40-50 for it. My other one I wanted was the 2011 Mike Trout Bowman Chrome RC and snagged it for $45. 

The 1991 Topps Carlton Fisk. As a Tiger fan, this card had awesome action, and two great Tigers first basemen, Dave Bergman and Cecil Fielder in one photo. Took foreeeever and so many packs. But I got it!

Mine was a 1967 Topps Carl Yastrzemski.  This was the card that really started my Red Sox collection.  I had many other Red Sox cards, but the Yaz started me down the road of organized team set collecting.  It's still in my 1967 team set.