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Article written by Mike Florio of PFT.com

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In the early 90's I had a paper route and would buy cards every week that I got paid. Packs of Score, Upper Deck, Fleer, Pacific, etc ... my favorite is Barry Sanders '89 Score rookie card. That was Score's first year and they had a dozen cards that were easily obtained in the early years.

Towards the mid to late 90's I started losing interest. There were just too many different brands of cards. I used to be able to walk in and choose from less than 10 brand names. Suddenly, every company was making cards. It lost its fun when everyone started doing it. One of the best things about card collecting is to get the rare card. Like getting Boardwork on McDonalds Monopoly.

When I opened one of the $16 (something high like that) dollar packs of '84 Topps my dad bought me, I nearly did a cart wheel when I flipped through and seen John Elway, I couldn't believe it. What was even more amazing was the last card of the pack, Dan Marino. My dad immediately drove us to Baseball Card World and bought me two thick plastic, screw tight, card cases for them.

Card collecting was such a great hobby for kids. It's unfortunate that American Business have ruined it. It's something I really miss doing. I went into a card shop, the one I used to stop at weekly, and a pack of 8 cards was nearly $10! Eight cards for ten bucks? Man, it was great when I was just a big younger when you could get 20 cards for jus a few bucks.

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My brothers collected all kinds of baseball cards, I'm STILL somewhat embarrassed to admit that I collected Pokemon cards. I started when I was 11 or something, okay? >_>

To be COMPLETELY on-topic, I was unaware that there were three companies making NFL trading cards. Three's a crowd, maybe it'll be better for collectors?

I collected Pokmon cars, as well. Trading for a Charizard made for the happiest day of my young life till that point. At least for an hour.

Anyway, that's a nice childhood story, Z2. Do you still have the cards?

I have THOUSANDS of cards. I collect a little of everything, but mostly football. The cost nowadays is crazy. A retail pack will run you around $3.

But the nice thing about today's cards is, the neat rare cards you might pull. About 2 months ago i was at WalMart in Iron Mountain Michigan. One of the Topps American Heritage baseball packs was noticeably thicker then the other packs in the box. So i figured, maybe there's a special card in it. Turned out there was a VERY special card in it. It's "Heroes of Sport" with 2 pieces of game worn jersey pants embeded into the card, numbered 20 of only 20 made.
The players whose pants the swatches were cut from? Lou Gehrig, and Babe Ruth!
I also have many cards with game worn swatches of Packers. Brett Favre, Ahman Green, Donald Driver, Greg Jennings, and others. Plus autographs of Driver, Jennings, James Jones, Dorsey Levens, Brandon Jackson, and so on.
The first autographed card I ever pulled from a pack was out of "Collector's Edge" (out of business now) back in 1998. And it is Emmitt Smith, only 50 made. I honestly almost passed out when i saw what i had. I had to sit down, or i would have fell down.
Sad that Topps is leaving football. But Topps will have the only license to sell major league baseball cards next year, and Panini has the license to the NBA. So it almost seems like the companies are trying to "corner the market" is specific sports.

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Hmm I used to collect football cards when I was young. Me and my friends used to get together and hold drafts with them lol it was a lot of fun. I still have two drawers full of cards that I collected or the years (mostly football, a few baseball and some pokemon, magic and battletech cards). I have a lot of rookie cards but none really rare. Although I do have an autographed Luis Castillo rookie card for baseball.

I still enjoy collecting. I wish i had the cards i had when i was a kid. Makes me sick to think about it.

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A few years ago my Mother was dating a guy that loved to collect cards.. I mean LOVED it. I don't know the number of cards he had, but I do know then they moved in with each other, they kept his apartment. He had BOXES EVERYWHERE full of trading cards. Baseball, hockey, football, basketball.. He just collected cards. I loved the guy because I could relate.. we were like little kids at a candy shop when we'd go to card shows (I remember wheelin' and dealin' with him.. lol)

If I had to guess how many cards Bobby (mom's ex-boyfriend) had, I'd say multiple multiple millions. He had pathways in his apartment, otherwise it was FULL of boxes that were FULL of cards.

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A man after my own (damaged) heart!
When we moved several years ago, i put out HUGE boxes of cards with the garbage. Someone came by and picked them up. I'm glad....at least they didn't go to waste. I just didn't have room for all of them.

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