11.07
Because I honestly don’t remember much. I was 11 and I was more concerned with cartoons and playing outside than I was with anything else.
That all changed when my dad bought me a few packs of 1991 Topps, trying to get me in the spirit of collecting. Honestly, I watched baseball during the summer when it was raining outside in my area or when there was nothing else to do. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the sport, as I played up until I was 15, but I never really watched it much on tv. I was having too much fun playing the sport out back with my friends or through the city league.
Back to the cards. I heard stories about baseball cards and how this one guy named Mickey Mantle had a rookie card that forever changed the collecting world, but I never became interested in them because really, why collect cardboard pictures of men? Well I opened the first pack and right on top was a stick of gum, followed by 15 cards underneath. Do I know who I got in the packs? Nope, I popped the piece of gum in my mouth and tossed the cards to the side. I did that with the rest of the packs, but the cards did stay in my room for some reason. Maybe I would go through them, maybe I would give them to my friends.
Little did I know that it was my dad’s way of bonding with me. My perception of all that changed the day he came home from work and told us at dinner time that his military unit had been called to go to Saudi Arabia to protect them from Iraq. I might have been 11 at the time, but it hit me hard. I went to my room after dinner and stayed in until I fell asleep. I didn’t cry, and I certainly didn’t question faith at the time. No, I dug through my shoebox to pull out the cards that were purchased for me a few months earlier and sorted through them.
I put them in order by number and I remember seeing guys like Frank Thomas, Nolan Ryan, and Cal Ripken, Jr. in the mix. At that moment, I decided to talk to my dad before he shipped out to see if he would help me get something to put the cards in so I can display them. That weekend, we went to a card shop and it was there that I saw Donruss and Upper Deck brands sitting on the shelf. My dad bought me a box of 1991 Topps, a binder, and a box of card sheets to put the cards into.
After that moment, I was glad that I had my father around to show me this. I know my friends would still be there to play baseball or to hang out, but I had no idea if I would ever see my dad again, and to me, this little collection would keep us connected until he came back.
I am proud to say though that I was very fortunate. About a week after hearing the news, my dad’s unit was put on hold indefinitely by order of the President, then George H. W. Bush. After that, one weekend a month, my dad would take me to the local flea market to get me to collect other cards and to see what I would like to buy. If there wasn’t anything worth getting, we’d take a trip to the local card shop and buy packs here and there.
I may not like George H. W. Bush or his Desert Shield/Desert Storm conflict, but if it wasn’t for that, I don’t know if my dad and I would have become close like that. Here I am, 18 years later, and I’m still collecting and sharing my finds with my dad.
Take nothing for granted and enjoy each day as if it’s your last.
