Nostalgia is a powerful thing.

There are things from our past which can take you back to very specific places, or bring up long forgotten memories, even if decades have passed.

Sometimes it’s the smell of a shirt, or the scent of a perfume.  Sometimes it’s a tangible item like a toy from our youth, or for me, a sports card.  I have no idea where most of the cards in my collection came from.  With hundreds of online orders and in person purchases there are just too many to keep tabs on, but there are some cards which I have a deep connection to.  

Here are some of those cards and the memories which are tied to them!

1986 Topps Thad Bosley

You’ve heard this story before, but the card that started it all is one of the most vivid memories I have.  In our little town of 5,000 people, we had a department store called Szold’s.  One day during the summer of 1986, I was in there with my mom shopping for some play clothes.  As we started checking out, I noticed a box on the counter, and inside were cello packs of 1986 Topps.

I had heard kids in the neighborhood talking about baseball cards, but I had never had any of my own.  At the same time, I was getting involved in little league and starting to pay more attention to the MLB season.  I had followed my grandma’s lead and chosen the Cubs as my team, so when I saw a pack with a Cubs player right on top I had to have it.  That player was outfielder Thad Bosley.

1963 Topps Jim Brown

A couple years later, I had expanded into football cards too.  My knowledge of the hobby was growing as well as my knowledge about the sports legends of my dad’s generation.  I had heard the stories of kids finding old cards at garage sales and in their grandparents attic, but I had never been so lucky.

Well one day we were at my grandparents house and I was talking with them about collecting cards.  I can still feel the excitement as my grandma said, “I think we have some of those up in the attic.”  As we walked up the stairs to the attic, I imagined fistfuls of the Mantle, Mays, and Jackie Robinson cards.

It took a few minutes, but eventually she found a shoebox with several hundred cards in it.  There weren’t any baseball cards in there, but there were some great football cards from the 1960s.  This 1963 Topps Jim Brown was one of the first I uncovered, and at the time was the oldest sports card I owned.  I’ll always cherish my “attic discovery”.  It’s one of my favorite memories of my grandparents house.

1983 Topps Jim McMahon

In my neighborhood there were several kids who were a few years older than me who were avid collectors.  They were a primary source of my card education, sometimes for good, and sometimes not so good.

In 1986 and 1987, the Bears were hot in Central Illinois.  Coming of the Superbowl Shuffle and their Super Bowl Victory, we all wanted to collect Walter Payton, Willie Gault, Richard Dent, and of course Jim McMahon.  Well one of the cards I found in my grandparents attic was a 1968 Gale Sayers rookie card.  

I can still remember sitting in my friend Aaron’s room going through our cards, when the idea of a trade came up.  I saw that he had a Jim McMahon rookie card, and I had to have it.  He looked through some of my cards and saw the Sayers and said he’d be willing to trade for that one.  Well, we looked up the values in the Annual Beckett book and since the Sayers was worth a little bit more, we found a few more cards and supplies to add in to even things out.  

At the time the trade was fair from a value perspective, and from an enjoyment perspective I cherished the McMahon more than the Sayers.  Looking back 30 years later, Aaron ended up with the better end of that trade.  I actually ran into him a couple years ago and we reminisced about that day.  He said he still has that Sayers.

1987 Topps Wally Joyner

Sometimes, recency bias leads us to think that scamming and shadiness is a new development in the hobby, but this next memory anchors me to the fact that it has always been around.  

There was another neighborhood kid who collected cards, and one day he asked if I wanted to come over to trade.  He wasn’t one of my better friends, and he kind of had a reputation in the neighborhood about causing trouble.  Well we were in his room going through our 1987 Topps.  We were admiring our Bonds, Canseco, Pete Incaviglia, and of course, Wally Joyner cards.  

At one point I left the room to go to the bathroom, and when I returned, my Joyner was nowhere to be seen.  I had just showed it to him right before I left, but now 2 minutes later it had disappeared.  He never admitted taking it, but I know that he did.  I was filled with anger as I walked home that afternoon, and I can still feel it when I think back that day.  That was the last time I ever traded cards with him.

1987 Donruss Mark McGwire

1987 was the second year of my collecting journey, and in our little town Topps was the only brand you could find.  Donruss and Fleer were exotic brands that we had to travel to the big city of Peoria to find.  

Well for my birthday that summer I was able to invite a few friends to go out to dinner at Show Biz Pizza.  I loved that place.  Pizza, animatronic characters, skee ball, and video games was the perfect combination for my 10 year old brain.  Right next door was a Toys R’ Us, and after dinner was over we headed over there to see if there was anything I wanted to spend my birthday money on.

One of the first things I saw as I headed to the baseball card section was a freshly stocked display of Donruss rack packs.  Confession Time.  In 1987 I was a pack searcher.  I would look through the boxes of clear cellophane rack packs to see if there were any players I liked on the front and back of the packs.  Does that count as pack searching?

Well, I looked through them and found one with Mark McGwire staring back at me.  That was the one I picked and I was thrilled.  Every time I look at that card in my binder, I remember that night as a 10 year old.  Even though it was 33 years ago, I can remember it like it was yesterday.

2014-15 Donruss Lebron James

Finally, a more current memory.  One of the first products I bought in my return to the hobby in 2015 were some 2014-15 Donruss basketball hobby boxes.  The idea of jersey and autograph cards being included in each box was a new concept to me, so I was super excited to see what was going to be inside these packs.

Opening these packs gave me my first exposure to the smell of Panini cards, and this experience anchored that smell into my memory bank.   Every time I open packs of Panini cards I think back to that November evening, opening packs in the basement while watching TV with my wife.

One of the hits I pulled that night was this Lebron James Jersey card.  I loved it, and it was one of the things that pulled me back in.  I’ll always remember that night, opening some of my first cards in decades.  That smell of freshly opened Panini cards filling the basement.  The iconic Rated Rookie logo was staring back at me and I now owned a card with a piece of jersey in it that Lebron had actually worn.  I was back.

Wrapping It Up

I love how these cards have the power to bring back vivid memories from my past. It’s amazing to me that a piece of cardboard has that kind of impact. I’d love to know if cards have similar connections for you. Let me know in the comments!

Also, if you haven’t heard, I started a new Podcast called the WaxPackHero Sports Card Minute!  It’s available here directly on the site at the Podcast link at the top of the page, or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, and TuneIn!  Check it out, let me know what you think, and tell your friends!