My mom raised myself and my brother to love God, love family and to simply love like Christ asked us to love others. There is no doubt in my mind that she was hoping to have a daughter so she could have a sweet ballerina. Well, God had other ideas. Not only did my mom have two sports loving boys but also had a male dog that seems to follow her at only the times she does not need Cody to follow her. By the way, Cody is 14+ years old right now and the doctor recently said that they were shocked that Cody has lasted this long as it is rare in his breed. Go figure.
Not only did she have ALL boys in the house, but she grew up in the same atmosphere. She has two brothers who LOVED sports, especially baseball and had a father that, to say he LOVED baseball, is like saying that I am kind of a St. Louis Cardinals fan. They man loved his baseball, and definitely where I got my love of the sport. He would watch Wednesday night baseball with me when we would visit. Even though he was in his mid 80’s and I was in my late single digit years, he would stay awake longer than me to watch those games.
From that love grew that passion for baseball cards. I remember my mom’s parents bought me the 1987 Topps Set for my birthday one year. I remember my Granny buying me a box of cards when I was young and thought that was incredible as well! I would find the players I thought were going to be great and put them in a card protector sleeve. I had and still have boxes of baseball cards. If you are a true fan and collected cards growing up, you still will randomly go through the cards HOPING to find that one card that has been overlooked that will pay for your child’s first ten minutes of college. I had a subscription to Beckett Magazine for a few years so I could get the updated prices on my cards. I got some hand me down cards from my uncles and grandfather which a few might be worth something some day.
In the early 90’s, things started to change with baseball cards. It seems like they were trying to start making several more brands of cards that seemed to push the collecting envelope. I remember when Fleer came out and then Fleer Ultra and Upper Deck Select. I stopped collecting nearing high school in the mid 90’s. It just seemed to much.
When I moved back to St. Louis over a year ago, my parents gave me boxes of baseball cards. My wife saw them and I am pretty sure rolled her eyes a few times. I am not sure if my son will collect baseball cards or not. Either way, I will share with him my collection. It is not that spectacular; however, it is something to show him what it used to be. When you were so excited to get that piece of stale gum and how TICKED I would be to get that Team Leaders cards. Granted they were great to put in your spokes of your bike to make that sweet, sweet noise.
If he does start to collect baseball cards, I hope it is still somewhat fun as it was for me. It seems to have a different focus now rather than for fun or for that sweet noise on the bike.
Oh, and I am starting to feel for my wife too now. Last night, while Cameron was crying, I turned on a baseball game and he just starred at the television and started to laugh. Oh, how I will love it but poor mom. Sounds like I have said that before.
No comments:
Post a Comment