My First Vintage Card

When I first started collecting, way back in forth grade, I didn't really have a clue about baseball, baseball cards or anything really. Lucky for me, some friends that I shared the same class with, were really into baseball. They taught me all about card collecting and baseball, usually during lunch time. I never played little league because I was to busy playing soccer, so while they played baseball in leagues I waited till summertime. It was the only time I played baseball, if you can call it that because we never had nine on either side. So we often played pickle, and the best way to play pickle was on a slip 'n slide. It was a blast, definitely one of my favorite childhood memories. As for collecting, they all loved the Braves and Dale Murphy, I for some reason gravitated to Pete Rose and Reggie Jackson. I think it was because they were established players that were already great and they both had great nicknames. Charlie Hustle was a player that played hard, was a great hitter, and who had won a few championships. Mr. October was the guy who swang for the fences every at bat, had some attitude, and also won a lot. I was young what did I know. Although I had a few cards of each from opening packs in the mid-eighties, the first vintage card I got came from the card store in the mall and was this beauty.

I still remember looking in the glass case and picking it out between a few other 70s cards of Reggie. I loved it so much I eventually saved up for this. One of the other cards in the case.

Because there were no MLB teams in Florida at the time, I do believe these two cards are what lead me to being a fan of the Athletics, along with the Bash Brothers coming along. Still to this day I like their name, the Athletics or A's, its unique and quintessential to a sports team, the elephant logo on the sleeve was a design I liked, and I love their colors. The bold colors of green and yellow are a welcome contrast to all other teams.