Fred's Ramblings

Baseball has always been known as America’s Pastime and baseball fans have been passing time collecting baseball cards for as long as I can remember.

I was born in Italy and came to the United States when I was a month shy of my 9th birthday. That first year was spent in learning a new language and for me, learning the game of baseball. To this day, I believe that I was able to learn the language very quickly because I became immersed in the the game that has kept my interest these many years. My introduction to the game of baseball occurred in the mid 50’s when the baseball stars of yesteryear were playing on fields that are but a memory today. I am talking about Duke Snyder, Mickey Mantle, Stan Musial, Ted Williams, Willie Mays etc. For many fans, those were the years.

For me, I always remember my friends and I collecting baseball cards…a pack cost a nickel and you also received a solid square of bubble gum that was hard as a rock on the day you bought your pack. In those days, you collected the cards to trade them with your friends. The duplicate cards that you were sure to get, ended up in the spokes of your bike so that you can hear the rata-tat-tat of the card as you pedaled your way home. Back then they were known as trading cards…and that is what we did. A Mickey Mantle was worth quite a lot of cards and the Stan Lopats were pretty much worthless and ended up in the bicycle spokes.

Today baseball cards are “collectibles” and in some cases worth quite a bit of money. As an example, a 1982 Topps Baltimore Orioles Future Stars baseball card is worth over $3000 in today’s market and depending on the condition of the card, could fetch you over $4000. Check out this E-Bay link to see what I mean. I happen to have that card, although I am sure the one I have is not worth the kind of money mentioned asked for on E-Bay. Hope springs eternal however, and you never know when you might hit the mother lode. Good luck and good collecting.