Introduction by Marty Appel<\/p>\n
![\"06-gotem\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.appelpr.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/06-gotem.jpg?resize=152%2C216\")
When I worked in the trading card industry in the \u201890s, the \u201chot term\u201d during those collecting madness days was \u201cchase card.\u201d\u00a0 It was a marketing term to indicate the special cards, like a Michael Jordan gold plated, glossy chrome, limited edition, signed, with relic, alternate version, that people would chase to the ends of the earth knowing it would make them rich beyond their dreams.<\/p>\n
The key word to me was dreams.\u00a0 Because we had \u201cchase cards\u201d when I was growing up in the \u201850s, except we didn’t know the term, and we didn\u2019t think about getting rich.\u00a0 The \u201cchase cards\u201d of that era were cards of your favorite team or favorite player, or in some cases, the missing numbers you sought to complete a set.<\/p>\n
Somehow, I don’t think I was the only kid in New York who felt this.<\/p>\n
To me, the ultimate chase card was Mickey Mantle.\u00a0 Except for his \u201cAll-Star cards\u201d or cards on which he might be paired with someone else (like Willie Mays), or a team card in which his face was only 1\/16\u201d, there was one Mickey card each year, his regular Topps card \u2013 no frills, nothing different than anyone else, and no other manufacturer to compare it to.\u00a0 It really didn\u2019t matter if we liked the picture or the design or not, it was the Mick!\u00a0 I promise you, I can still remember, all these later, where I stood when I opened a pack that had Mickey Mantle in it.\u00a0 On the sidewalk outside the playground in Queens.\u00a0\u00a0 That moment of recognition when you smelled the gum, peeled back the wax, moved past Harry Chiti and Russ Kemmerer and Norm Larker, and there he was, like a movie star, the blonde hair, the handsome face, the bulging muscles, the uniform worn perfectly, the cap sitting just right, those pinstripes so vivid \u2013 wow.<\/p>\n
I even remember when one year his height went from 5\u201910\u201d to six feet, and I kind of knew, even then, that he was probably still 5\u201910\u201d but either the Yankees or Topps decided he was somehow more perfect as a six-footer.<\/p>\n
Stats?\u00a0 I know fans today love their stats to really know how a player does, but to me, the only real stats are the columns Topps gave us, the ones Sy Berger deemed necessary when he created the first set on his kitchen table in 1951.<\/p>\n
The relationship between boy and card was just as powerful as between boy and girl a few years later.\u00a0 But the cards came first.<\/p>\n
Jon Waldman and Stephen LaRoche have done us a service here by honing in on very special cards over the years.\u00a0 The exact one that clings to your memory (in my case, the \u201956 Mantle), may not have made the list, but somehow, we \u201cget it.\u201d\u00a0 We know how it must have felt for seven-year old in 1933 to get a Babe Ruth, or for a six-year old in 1958 to get a Bobby Hull.\u00a0 My son got a Don Mattingly rookie card in 1984 and experienced the same thrill.\u00a0 The joy of fatherhood was never better captured than seeing history repeat.<\/p>\n
I once thought there was something very personal, very solitary about a boy and his collection.\u00a0 I didn’t think it was a very social activity.\u00a0 Then I found others who coveted the cards and we discovered trading and flipping, and suddenly, we were part of a social sub-culture.\u00a0 When we grew up we bonded anew with the phenomena of card shows.\u00a0 Here we were, all grown, able to confess that yes, when we see a sports obituary, the bubble gum card on which the fellow appeared is what we think of first.<\/p>\n
Thank you, Jon and Stephen for recognizing that.\u00a0 And you readers \u2013 it\u2019s okay to have fun with this.\u00a0 I know I did.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Introduction by Marty Appel When I worked in the trading card industry in the \u201890s, the \u201chot term\u201d during those collecting madness days was \u201cchase card.\u201d\u00a0 It was a marketing term to indicate the special cards, like a Michael Jordan… Continue Reading