Will Baseball Cards Ever Make a Comeback?
Starting around second grade, I began collecting baseball cards. You remember the cards with the rock hard stale bubble gum in the wax packs? I started very early in life. Because of my love for baseball and all sports, I just was intrigued what players I would open up in the pack and find.
My parents and I would travel to our family home in Hallendale, Florida every winter. There was this small party store up the street from our home. This little store is where my fascination would really grow with baseball cards because I would save money and purchase them at this cool little party store.
When we got back to our home in Lansing, another one of my favorite places to get baseball cards was a small store in Delta Township called Tug’s. I really got into collecting these cards with the ballplayer's picture and stats on the back. That’s where my mind kicked in with the love of knowing about these specific players.
For instance, names like Kaline, Bench, Carew, Brooks, Frank Robinson and so on. I think there is a possible correlation between what I do on the radio and my love for memorizing these quality baseball cards.
There were different companies that made the cards too. Besides Topps there was Bowman, Goudy and many more smaller ones. In 1971, Topps baseball cards would enclose a metal coin of the specific player and his stats on the back. I loved those coins. To this day, I still have a lot of them left that I saved.
I also collected football and basketball cards. Again, to this day I still have most of my cards in vinyl. I have sold a few that were very valuable. Also, I don’t want to forget to mention that Kellogg’s Cornflakes had 3-D baseball cards back in the '70s. I still have a lot of them too.
But the question now is, will baseball cards ever make a significant comeback in popularity and value? I sure hope so.