A Sunday I Will Never Forget

Heyo,

Sorry its been a few days since the last post, Ive been getting flooded with baseball cards.

My father and I had a talk recently about cards. He said he had been holding onto about sixty 1000 count boxes of cards from 69' to 98'. He told me that he always wanted to pass on his cards to me and with the responsibility I was showing with my own cards, he decided the time was now. So after a 25-5 win in my lacrosse game on Sunday I made the trip up to his house to check them out.

When I arrived he took me into his office to haul out five plastic tubs of cards. Each tub must have weighed 100-120 pounds. After that grueling ordeal I opened my first box. Wow, a complete set of 1969 Topps Baseball in mint condition. Every card was in order by number with a checklist or two at the end. The box opening continued 60' Topps, 75' Topps, 90' upperdeck. Every time I opened a new one my dad would be standing over my shoulder talking about the rookies, studs, prospects and so on. I looked like a kid that had just been given the keys to a toy store. One of my favorite moments was talking to my dad about how the hobby has evolved. He was very interested in trading card history in which some of his favorite sets held new players where some of his heroes used to be.

As the evening continued I got down to an incomplete set of Topps 1972 Baseball. Thrown off I asked my dad why the set was incomplete. In a choked up tone he responded "that was the year that your grandfather died, I guess I just lost interest for a while." At that moment i realized the unspoken sometimes unseen bond that cards bring to a father and son. My grandpa was killed in a car accident when my dad was only 9 years old. Up until then my grandpa and dad shared the same moment that my dad and I were sharing every time my dad bought a pack of cards. After we shared a few tears which is rare in my family, I gave my dad a hug... one which I will cherish for the rest of my days.

The night ended with me having a very enlightened sense of why I collect cards. I don't plan on putting any scans of the cards up but as I promised to some collectors, I pulled a few cards to send out.

Dedicated to my dad, Kelly Thornton, and to all the father/son duos out there.

-Spud