I got so good at this over the years that I could identify the player just by the tip of his cap, the cards became burned into my memory. It was my time alone, my meditation at eleven years old. It was my link also to the world of baseball and its superstar players. I felt connected to the game by owning these cards, by owning a piece of the history of baseball. It remains the same for me even today at twenty eight.
Sure things are very different.
The packs are more expensive, there is almost too much to choose from and the prices of most of the cards seems ridiculously inflated. It brings me back to being a boy, brings me back to still having a dream of playing alongside Boggs in Fenway Park , and slows things down in my life for a while. I finally did find that Wade Boggs card. It took me late into the Summer and many pockets of change, but it was the journey more than the goal that turned me into a life-long collector. And I still feel the same way.