Collectors and their items

    When I was growing up, my allowance at the height of my card-collecting days was $10. But there were tight restrictions placed on the pittance, to ensure that my parents didn't end up subsidizing the corner store down the road. Five of my 10 went into savings, one went to the Everman United Methodist Church and four were mine to do with what I pleased.

   On most Saturdays, those four dollars went straight to the Quickway, the only corner store within bike-riding distance that had an acceptable selection of baseball and/or basketball cards (depending on the season). These were the days when pulling a Griffey Jr. was today's equivalent of unwrapping your pack and finding a Pujols. A Jordan then was most likely a LeBron or Kobe today.

    I have several Kobe Bryant rookie cards, because he came in the league at the tail end of my collecting days. I was heavy into it from 1991-1997 (ages 7-13). But as I root through my collection with some sense of nostalgia, I wonder: do kids still collect sports cards?

    I realize we're not in an NBA-friendly part of the country, but what about baseball cards? I was just as passionate about my Nolan Ryan collection as I was my pile of Michael Jordans. Is card-collecting something that died when my generation entered puberty and figured out girls weren't so bad after all? Or is it a rite of passage for each generation?

    Either way, my folks sent me the first segment of my collections recently, and, though the really good ones were not a part of the first shipment, they still bring back memories. Some would call it a better time: when steroids ran free through MLB dugouts and, though hip-hop culture was in the process of infiltrating the NBA, the shorts were still shorter than we realized at the time.

    Here are just a few baseball and basketball card-collecting memories.

Kruk-ey! Rockin the mullet with absolutely no shame in his Phillies days. John Kruk is now part of ESPN's Baseball Tonight team. Unsure if he's one of the ones on Nutrisystem.

Here's a recent news-maker in his younger days. I'm not sure 305-game winner Tom Glavine thought he's stil be in the MLB conversation in 2009 when this picture was taken. But after his six innings of scoreless baseball in his last Triple-A rehab start, he's probably still got something left in the tank. Not the most valuable pull back in the day, but Glavine is without a doubt one of the most durable pitchers from my card-collecting days.

Bo Knows Baseball. And Football. And Cooking, apparently. A truly great Royal, and one of the best pure athletes ever to grace the planet earth. This one is a Topps 1991.

Topps 1990 Orel Hershiser. Two years after his MLB record streak of 59 consecutive scoreless innings pitched with the LA Dodgers. Orel is now on ESPN's Wednesday Night Baseball and is a professional poker player of sorts (ie - he has the cash to keep entering tournaments he is destined to lose).

Bernie Williams 1993 Upper Deck - Peter Gammons Inside the Numbers subset. This was before Bernabe broke out on the classical guitar scene and even before he was widely known as Automatic Clutch Man in the postseason (MLB record-holder for most postseason home runs - kind of the Robert Horry of baseball - discuss among yourselves).

Now, onto basketball. Like I said earlier, the true rare gems of my collections have yet to arrive, but these are just a few little ditties that bring back some memory.

RIP Chuck Daly - Fleer 1992 when he was coaching the New Jersey Nets. He left the Detroit Pistons (where he had won to rings) prior to the '92-'93 season, but he also coached the first Dream Team to Olympic Gold  in the summer of 1992. Two of his Olympians were starting an initiative to get Daly a gold medal (coaches usually don't get medals with teams that win) right before his May 9 passing. Now more than ever, it's the right thing to do. Look at that scowl. On a totally separate note, I was always pissed when I pulled a coach's card as a collector. No one's going to trade for some mean dude in a suit.

Ahhh, Danny Ainge - NBA Hoops 1990. Ainge is a life-member of what I like to call the NBA's All-Nerd Team. Think Scott Skiles, Craig Ehlo, Tom Chambers. These are guys that definitely had their moments and were skilled, no doubt, but you look at them and the nine other guys on the court and you think to yourself  - "there's not a man on the floor this guy can guard" - unless of course another member of the All-Nerd squad is on the other team and getting legitimate minutes. Other members include Kiki Vandeweghe, Chris Dudley, Bill Wennington, John Paxson, Mark Price and Danny Ferry. Ainge is currently the President of Basketball Ops for the Celts.

Greg Anthony rookie card - Upper Deck '91-'92. I love the all-denim look of the early 90s. There are those who insist that look is still fashionable. You didn't hear it, but I just let out an editorial 'cough.' Anthony is now some sort of broadcast guy - ESPN? CBS college basketball? Who can keep up with these guys' post-pro sports dalliances?

The Great Brad Daugherty most likely gets his shot blocked by Patrick Chewing and his flat-top in this Fleer '93-'94.  Daugherty has gone down one of the most unusual roads after his playing days, ending up on ESPN's NASCAR coverage team. He's always wanted to go fast, and his best years in the Association were the early 90s, when he was a 22, 11 guy - a la Dwight Howard. Think about that one.

Look at Doc get past the long-forgotten Harold Miner in this Fleer '94-'95. Now Doc is coachin' 'em up in Beantown. There were calls for his job before the affore-mentioned Ainge put together the beast of a team that won the 2008 NBA Championship.

Hubert Davis was never known for his defensive prowess, but here he is, giving it a go in this Fleer '93-'94 anyway, God bless him. The one-time sharpshooter is now a blatant North Carolina homer on the ESPN family of networks.

Jalen rose wears nice suits, but not in this '94-'95 NBA Hoops rookie card. It seems like Easter on every NBA Fastbreak, becuase he's always wearing some sort of pastel nonsense and commenting on his wardrobe like it was Game One of the NBA finals (which coincidentally is tonight).

Stay tuned for more strolls down memory lane. Can't wait till my Jordans get here.