It starts when you are young. For some, it is your first program, for others baseball cards, and some an autograph. Mine started with cards. I got my first pack when I was 7. 1955 Topps. I was living in Minnesota with my mom and we moved back to California that fall. I went to an Angels game with my uncle. And the next day I got a pack of cards from the local corner market. Cost 5 cents. I did not get any stars, but I did get one Dodger. Some guy named Bert Hamric. I also got a Yankee, but who it was I have long forgotten.
It was the beginning of something I still do. But I began collecting in earnest in 1959. I really did not care too much for the 1958 Topps set. At least the Dodgers. The caps were fake since the first LA caps had not even been made yet and almost every Dodger card looked like there was a different logo.
But I loved the 1959 cards. I was living in Highland Park at the time, and there was a little store about a block from San Pasqual Ave School. I would not get lunch and with my 35 cents I would go to the store and get 6 packs for 30 cents.
Back in those days, the entire set would be 7 series. Series one always came out in early March during spring training. Series 1 in 59 had Joe Pignatano, Duke Snider, Steve Bilko, Stan Williams, and Don Bessent. Chances of getting the entire series on the cheap were not great. It seemed that in LA, getting Dodgers in a pack was hard. And you would get a lot of doubles. Norm Larker was also in the 1st series, One way you could tell them apart was the back of the card. Series 1, the back was white. Series 2, it was a dark grey. This alternated with green ink used for the stats.
Ron Fairly and Bob Lillis’s rookie cards were in series 2, as were Johnny Klippstein, Sandy Koufax, and Rip Repulski. Rip was not wearing a cap since he had come over late in the winter and was actually wearing his Phillie uniform. I was having a hard time getting a Koufax. And I actually got mine by pure luck. I got to spend a weekend with my mom, and she was living in El Cajon.
I went to the FW Woolworth store there with 50 cents she had given me. And I found some packs there. The difference was these were clear packs. 30 cards to a package and they cost 25 cents. You could see 6 of the cards easily. I looked through the packs and low and behold in one of them, there was Sandy. I bought the pack and was really happy I finally found him. Ended up getting 2 of them in the package. So now I had trade fodder to get someone I might need later.
A weird thing happened later that summer, we were playing ball at Arroyo Seco Park on the big diamond. someone fouled a ball over the fence into the brush and trees. It was pretty thick back there and a lot of balls had been lost in those trees. Since I was not on the field at the time, I went looking for the ball.
I actually found 3 baseball’s back there and threw them over the fence and kept one for myself. But while I was looking in the undergrowth, I saw what looked like a box that 36 packs would come in. It was, and there was a bunch of opened cards in there and the wrappers were on the ground. Not a single Dodger among the cards, but a lot of cards I did not have at the time.
I figured someone must have either bought a box, which would have been a dollar eighty at the time. A lot of money for a kid in those days, or they stole it. But it added to my collection, so I just took them home and added them to my box of cards.
Over the years, I doubt I ever came close to having the entire collection for the year. Only after I was in the army and you could buy a box that had the entire set in it did that ever happen.
When I was 16. my foster father made me throw all of my cards away. He was pretty dictatorial, so I had to do what he said, and I had nowhere to hide them and there were two big boxes of cards. I did manage to hide what Dodgers I had, but in today’s market, I had some cards that would have brought high dollar prices back.
I had most of the stars of the 50’s. And a lot of early 50’s cards. Some of my cards I had gotten from a buddy in high school who inherited his brother’s collection and gave them to me.
A Mays rookie card, and a Mantle too. Which at one time sold for about 75 thousand dollars. and all of them went into the trash. I ended up giving my Dodgers to one of my cousin’s kids. And never saw them again.
I did not start collecting in earnest again until I retired. I still enjoyed getting them, so why not? I have concentrated on the Dodgers cards, and Topps has kept the old designs alive with what they call the Heritage series.
But my first task was to get the entire 1959 team set in original Topps, not reprints. Not exactly cheap. I bought the Snider first, since he was my favorite player. His card was rated VG, very good, and cost about 8 bucks. I thought I had them all by 2017. I had got most of them off of Ebay. The Koufax was 20 dollars. I knew I could not afford the mint ones, which goes for over 2000.
The hardest to find was Gene Snyder, simply because his card came out in the 7th series. Series 7 cards were always the hardest to get. Series 7 would usually hit the stores the first week in September. Well, they usually were in stores less than 4 weeks, because by the 3rd week of September, Topps football cards were hitting the shelf.
Wally Moon was in the 7th series that year also, as were Art Fowler, Jim Baxes and a Roy Campanella card showing him in a wheelchair. There were specialty cards and a team set. Those I did not care to have. Last year I realized I was missing Johnny Klippstein. But I found one on ebay fairly easily.
And this year, they began making cards that never were that have filled out my 59 team. Chuck Churn, who never had a card made, Maury Wills, who’s first card was actually a Bell Brand potato chip card. Hard to find, and very pricey, Larry Sherry, which was just added last week. Chuck Essegian, who’s 59 card was a Cardinals card. So now I have all that are available.. Some new versions of the Koufax and the Snider have been made, and there was even a special 59 Campy with the designation coach on it. And they even made a 59 card showing Jackie as a SF Giant.
I also have a couple of autographed balls and one 8X10 photo of Duke Snider. I collect yearbooks when I can find them. I had a 1958 for years, and it was stolen some years ago. I also collect media guides, Mark sent me some of his doubles which I really appreciated. They have quit making those for the public. I haven’t seen a 2019 or a 2020 version.
I have 7 jersey’s, and numerous caps. Including a LA cap with Kersh’s autograph and number embroidered into the cap. It is a fun hobby for me. I know some who still collect. I never really got into the autograph thing because I was rarely somewhere I would interact with players. My first autograph I got on my first baseman’s mitt when the home where I was staying dedicated our events building. It was for crafts and sports and such, and Tommy Davis was there with Norm and Larry Sherry. Tommy autographed my glove. He did the same thing many years later at Dodger Stadium when they used to set up booth’s before Sunday games so the fans could get autographs and they would do it on every level and in the pavilions.
Collecting is fun, it keeps you connected to the team. I also have some minor league cards I got from Bakersfield and Rancho. Try it, you might really enjoy it.
I also started collecting bobbleheads a few years ago. I now have well over 100. Some of them I got as Stadium giveaways. Others I purchased at a store in Lomita when I was out in California. And many my brother has given to me.
I did not care for the early ones because they had little resemblance to the real players. Now they look a lot like them. And some are really nice. Some commemorate a moment in the player’s history. And others, like the Reese Campanella I have, commemorate a moment. In that case, the Campanella tribute in 1959. Within a week of the Dodgers winning the World Series, new bobbleheads were already on the drawing board and being offered for sale on their web site…Happy Collecting!
Discussion (59)
Disagree, not disagreeable
Game on! Ball’s in your court Mr. Friedman!
Love the trade for Tampa.
Who’d they get? Who’d they give up?
Stole this joke.
Tampa is getting a nice haul for Snell.
This definitely depletes the Pads’ system a bit
2022:
Snell
Lamet
Clevinger
Davies
Paddack
Gore
Morejon
OMG !!!
The Atheletic is reporting that the Padres are getting Blake Snell.
Ha-Seong Kim apparently has multiple five year offers he is mulling over. Posting deadline is January 7. Same date as Sugano.
Excellent stroll down memory lane Bear. Brought back memories of collecting cards, trading them and playing a marble or dice game where we spread out in the positions by team. I forget the details. But I had shoeboxes of cards and we all traded for Guys we didn’t’t have. Looked for years for those cards and don’t know their fate. I keep hoping that some day I will stumble on them. Like finding a buried treasure. That better happen sooner than latter.
Very nice post Bear.
Thanks Bear. That was a fun article for me for to read. I collected baseball cards as a kid and most of them were from ’54 thru ’60. I’m sure there were a couple of thousand cards in my collection. Unfortunately, when my father got remarried, my step mother wanted me to get rid of all my “junk” I had left in the house. My wife and I did not have much room in our apartment so I gave all my cards to 3 young boys who lived across the street from my dad’s house.
The only things I have now are 1949 and 1959 Dodgers yearbooks. ( I have no idea where I got them) And I have a Baltimore Orioles team “autographed” ball on which I can only make out about 6 names. I’m guessing the ball is from 1955. My uncle had connections at the Baltimore courthouse and got us a pair of very good seats
Dodgers now Red Sox:
Alex Verdugo.
Jester Downs
Conner Wong
Kike’ Hernandez?
Red Sox Now Dodgers
Moodier Betts
David Price
Joe Kelly
So at what point do we become Red Sox fans and vice versa?
Better a BoSox fan than the hated Giants. My son in law loves the Gnats. And he made my daughter cross over to the dark side. A couple of my grandkids too. I am afraid they will need therapy sometime in the future. I am pretty sure Kike is not coming back, and I am ok with that. I have seen a lot better players than him leave, and they hurt a lot more than he will.
Red Sox rumored to be interested in Enrique Hernandez.
RIP Phil. His brother was pretty good too.
And yet another baseball legend passes away I 2020. Phil Niekro at 81. RIP.
I had tons of cards from my youth. Mostly bound by rubber bands by team, so they weren’t in ideal condition. I had them in a storage facility in the early 90’s and when I went to move out of the storage facility all the baseball card carrying shoe boxes were gone along with all the electronics. Lesson, never by the padlock used to lock the storage bin from the front desk at the facility.
The thing I remember about the Topps card packs from the 70’s was the crappy gum that came inside. Sometime rubbery and other times hard shards of broken glass like gum that I would shove into my mouth anyways. A lot of players had big wads of chew at the time. I think Tug McGraw famously had a immense plug protruding from his cheek. So we tried to emulate those players by shoving a piece of gum from each pack we acquired that day into our mouths at the same time. Good times.
On the subject of gum, Big League Chew was a popular pouch of bubble gum that was meant to emulate chewing tobacco. Of course, we tried to shove the whole pouch into our pie holes and blow gigantic bubbles that stuck all over face, shirt, ballcap, hair and hands trying to clean it up after the amazing bubble would eventually burst.
I wouldn’t trade the era I grew up for anything. As a pre-teen the 70’s were amazing. Tons of freedom for our age and packs of kids in the housing tract. I got a Schwinn Stingray when I was 6 and would ride and explore blocks away even at such a young age. My generation got the first video games and TV consoles. We had the most music in High School during the 80’s and didn’t get bogged down with Tech until adulthood.
Back to the subject, I wasn’t ever a serious collector of memorabilia, but I have some signed pictures, programs and baseballs scatter about, not really on display. I did mount my new Christmas Present a commemorative plaque featuring a montage of CK, Betts, Belli, Seager, Bueller and Turner. A great representation of the core of the Championship team. It makes me want to pull out some of the other framed signature items and mount them as well.
Nice article Bear, I think most of us can relate to baseball cards and our youth. Cheers!
My collection of Dodgers memorabilia is not as extensive as others, but I do treasure the yearbooks starting with 1957 (last year in Brooklyn) through 2000 when we moved to NC. To my knowledge, 1960 was the only year in which the Dodgers updated the yearbook midway through the season (I have both). Walter O’Malley and his wife Kay autographed the earlier ’60 yearbook for me. I also have the 1966 “Koufax by Koufax” book with his autograph. First autographed baseball was given to me by neighbor who worked at the Coliseum — Carl Furillo home run ball that he had autographed by Carl, Larry Sherry, Don Zimmer, Carl Erskine, Walt Alston, and Pee Wee Reese. On his way out of the Coliseum he met Willie Mays who also autographed the ball. Most of the signatures are faded, but the memory is as fresh as the day the ball was given to me.
My amazing wife surprised me this Christmas with six replica Dodger World Series Rings in a wooden case. Of course the diamonds are CZ, but they look and feel real. 1955, 1959, 1963, 1965, 1981 and 1988. There is a place in the case for seven rings. I am putting the 2020 ring on my Christmas list for next year. Make it a real one Santa!
Several years ago, I got rid of all my bobbleheads and other memorabilia, except for a Tommy Lasorda Bobblehead and a Sandy Koufax cutout. I also got rid of all except 3 signed baseballs. I kept Steve Garvey, Clayton Kershaw, and Vin Scully!
I have a collection of 2020 Dodgers baseball cards and every Dodgers Media Guide from 1961 to 2018. I cannot find a 2019 or 2020. Additionally, I have every Baseball America Prospect Handbook back to the beginning (2000).
The guy who was the biggest collector of Dodger memorabilia was Roger Dodger (the late Roger Sobin). He had a 10 x 20 humidity-controlled storage facility full of boxes upon boxes of Dodger stuff. He had no idea what all he had, but I would guess it ran into six figures. I am sure his son inherited it.
Good morning Jeff. I had collected full sets of Topps 1959 and 1960. I went to a local liquor store in Westchester (borders north end of LAX) to get all my cards. I eventually sold them at auction in last year for more than $4,000 each. It was fun to go through them when I was preparing them to be sold. Lots of good memories and reflections on the players included in those collections. I just never looked at them anymore and had no one to pass them on to. When you mentioned that you had your 1958 Yearbook stolen I went out to the garage and found the box with my Dodger stuff. I knew I had some Dodger yearbooks. I thought if I have a 1958 I’ll give it to you. But, of course, I had 1959-1966. No 1958! Damn.
I haven’t gone through that box in several years. I found my program for the 1959 WS game that Sandy pitched and lost 1-0 to the White Sox. I was 10 years old and my dad was able to get tickets for the game. They weren’t good seats (past the RF fence), but I didn’t care. I was out of school, with my dad, at the frickin’ World Series and Sandy Koufax was pitching. For a ten year old it doesn’t get much better than that.
Another program was an Angel game in which Roger Maris hit his 59th (I think) HR during his record breaking year. The game was at the old Wrigley Field and our seats were looking down the first base line. And, that’s where Maris’ HR went. Right down the 1B line. I’ll never forget that moment.
There was a program for the first All-Star game held in LA. Also, found some 60’s Angel and Yankee yearbooks. I forgot that I was a casual Yankee fan. I think that ended when the Dodgers started playing them in the World Series so often. Why I collected Angel yearbooks I have no idea. I was never a fan. But, I enjoyed collecting through my early teens.
So Jeff, I tried, but couldn’t help you with the 1958 Dodger yearbook. Maybe, someone else in LADT sphere can help you out.
Some sad news this morning, even though it is not about a baseball player. 19 year old, Pac-12 offensive player of the year, Ty Jordan was shot and killed Friday in Denton Texas.. So sad to see a young life end this way. Preliminary evidence showed that he accidentally shot himself. Sad indeed. RIP.