baseball cards

WDP — Back in the Day

Fandango10 Comments
Daily writing prompt
Do you have any collections?
View all responses

Warning: I’ve written about this topic several times before so if you’ve already suffered through my tragic story about my collections of baseball cards and comic books, feel free to move on.

To answer the daily prompt question directly, I do not currently have any collections. However, when I was a lad, I used to collect comic books, baseball cards, and my two favorite humor magazines, MAD and National Lampoon.

The comic books, mostly superhero-type comics from DC Comics and Marvel, cost ten cents each back then. MAD and National Lampoon were a quarter each. The packs of baseball cards, sold by Topps and Fleet, cost a nickel each and included seven baseball cards and a flat, square piece of pink bubblegum.

Each month when the new editions were published, I would ride my bike to the newsstand in town, where I’d buy five comic books and two packages of baseball cards. I’d ride my bike back home and take the wrappers off of the packages of baseball cards and sort them out. And after reading the comic books, I’d stack them in piles based upon the characters.

I continued to buy baseball cards and comic books for years until I got distracted when I was about 17 by girls. But in the meantime, I had built up a significant collection of both comic books and baseball cards.

I kept the more recent comic book issues in my bedroom and the older issues in the basement of my parents’ home, along with my cherished baseball cards.

What became of my prized collections of comic books and baseball cards? It’s a sad story, actually. After high school I headed off to college for four years. When I returned home after graduating, I discovered that my vast — and priceless — collections of both comic books and baseball cards were missing.

I asked my father about them and he told me that he had thrown them away, explaining that he needed the space in the basement for some other purpose. “Besides,” he said, “that was kid stuff. You’re an adult now.”

More recently…

I also had a large collection of classic rock LPs. And by “LP” I don’t mean liquid propane. You remember what LPs are right. They are “long-playing” analog vinyl phonograph records recorded at a speed of 33+1⁄3 rpm on a 12-inch disk.

Anyway, I had hundreds of these classic rock albums that I had collected over the years until vinyl albums were replaced by music CDs and, ultimately by MP3 recordings and music streaming services.

But when we moved from Massachusetts to a condo in San Francisco, I knew I had to downsize, so I had a garage sale where I sold for fifty cents each (or gave away the leftovers) all of the albums, since I had most of them represented in MP3 format on my iPod and iPhone.

Friday Fictioneers — Comics and Candy

Fandango31 Comments

My allowance was $1.00 a week to do with as I pleased. What pleased me was to hop on my bicycle every Saturday and ride to the Wheaton Comics and Candy store.

Five cents went to buy bubble gum baseball cards, a pack of seven baseball cards with a flat, square piece of bubble gum inside. Then, if there were any new comic book editions from DC or Marvel, I’d buy a bunch of them at ten cents each.

I’d then buy two Chunky chocolate candies at a nickel each. Mmm, Chunky. What a chunk of chocolate.

(97 words)

Written for Rochelle Wisoff-Fields’ Friday Fictioneers prompt. Photo credit: Roger Bultot.

WDP — Youthful Attachments

Fandango34 Comments

Describe an item you were incredibly attached to as a youth. What became of it?

I’ve written about this before, but as long as you’re asking…

When I was a lad, I used to collect superhero comic books, baseball cards, and my two favorite humor magazines, MAD and National Lampoon.

The comic books, mostly superhero-type comics from DC Comics and Marvel, cost ten cents each back then. MAD and National Lampoon were a quarter each. The packs of baseball cards, sold by Topps and Fleet, cost a nickel each and included seven baseball cards and a flat, square piece of pink bubblegum.

Each month when the new editions were published, I would ride my bike to the comic book store/newsstand in town, where I’d buy five comic books and two packages of baseball cards. I’d ride my bike back home and take the wrappers off of the packages of baseball cards and sort them out. And after reading the comic books, I’d stack them in piles based upon the characters.

I continued to buy baseball cards and comic books for years until I got distracted when I was about 17 by girls. But in the meantime, I had built up a significant collection of both comic books and baseball cards.

I kept the more recent comic book issues in my bedroom and the older issues in the basement of my parents’ home, along with my cherished baseball cards.

What became of my prized collections of comic books and baseball cards? It’s a sad story, actually. After high school I headed off to college for four years. When I returned home after graduating, I discovered that my vast — and priceless — collections of both comic books and baseball cards were missing.

I asked my father about them and he told me that he had thrown them away, explaining that he needed the space in the basement for some other purpose. “Besides,” he said, “that was kid stuff. You’re an adult now.”

Sadje’s Sunday Poser — Collector

Fandango1 Comment

For her Sunday Poser this week, Sadje asks…

Do you collect or hoard things?

In my youth I used to collect baseball cards and comic books. But after my father tossed out both of my collections while I was away at college, I stopped collecting anything.

Do you collect or hoard things so that you don’t run out of them? And if you do and later on find that you don’t need them after all, what do you do with them?

Not really. My rule of thumb for consumables is that once I open the last item of a particular product, I will buy or order at least one to replace it. Most of the time, though, I’ll order two or three at a time so I don’t have to replenish my supply of the item too frequently. Typically, I always use whatever it is I bought.

Throwback Thursday — Collectables

Fandango8 Comments

There’s a new prompt in town. It’s being run by Maggie, at From Cave Walls and by Lauren at LSS Attitude of Gratitude. The two will alternate hosting and the idea of the prompt is for them to give us a topic and for us to write a post in which we share our own memories or experiences about the given topic. This week, Lauren chose the topic of “collections,” and she wants to know…

Did you start collecting things as a young child?

When I was a lad, I used to collect superhero comic books, baseball cards, along with my two favorite humor magazines, MAD and National Lampoon.

The comic books, mostly superhero-type comics from DC Comics and Marvel, cost ten cents each back then. MAD and National Lampoon were a quarter each. The packs of baseball cards, sold by Topps and Fleet, cost a nickel each and included seven baseball cards and a flat, square piece of pink bubblegum.

Each month when the new editions were published, I would ride my bike to the comic book store/newsstand in town, where I’d buy five comic books and two packages of baseball cards. I’d ride my bike back home and take the wrappers off of the packages of baseball cards and sort them out. And after reading the comic books, I’d stack them in piles based upon the characters.

I continued to buy baseball cards and comic books for years until I got distracted when I was about 17 by girls. But in the meantime, I had built up a significant collection of both comic books and baseball cards.

Where did you keep your treasures?

I kept the more recent issues in my bedroom and the older issues in the basement of my parents’ home, along with my cherished baseball cards.

Do you still have anything from your early collections?

Unfortunately, no. After high school I headed off to college for four years. When I returned home after graduating, I discovered that my vast — and priceless — collections of both comic books and baseball cards were missing.

I asked my father about them and he told me that he had thrown them away, explaining that he needed the space in the basement for some other purpose. “Besides,” he said, “that was kid stuff. You’re an adult now.”

Do you have collections now?

Nope. After the trauma of having my own father betray my trust by thoughtlessly tossing out my comic books and baseball cards collections, especially after knowing what they would have been worth today if I still had them, I gave up even attempting to collect anything else. Well, other than debt and dust.