Thanks Dad

• My father introduced me to baseball cards in 1974. I was seven years old at the time. 

• I remember getting a "Hank Aaron Special" card in the first pack. I think it was card #4

• We watched Aaron break the home run record on TV at a neighbor's house

• My dad tried to get me to realize that keeping cards in good shape was important, but it didn't really sink in for a few years. We used to beat the heck out of our cards by flipping them and just handling them a lot. 

• He also tried to tell  me about which cards were more important and valuable. At the time I just liked to get the cool-looking "in action" types of cards

• During that summer my parents were trying to teach me how to swim. My father was in the pool at O'Neil Park and tried to get me to jump in. I was scared and wouldn't do it. He said that he would buy me 50 baseball cards if I would jump in. I still resisted. He increased the offer incrementally until I finally took the plunge at 200 cards. I couldn't find a picture of the pool, but above is a picture of the field where I played a lot of little league games.

• My dad did a lot for me. He taught me to read at a very early age. He tried to get me interested in a lot of things. Some of them took (reading and baseball) while others didn't quite stick (hunting and fishing). 
• But the important thing is that he loved me and cared about me. He did a lot that helped make  me who I am today. Thank you Dad and happy Father's Day!

Thanks Dad

My father bought me my first pack of baseball cards in 1974 when I was 7 years old. I remember getting one of those Hank Aaron Special cards in that first pack. My dad told me to keep my cards in good shape because they would be worth something someday. I was little so I didn't treat the cards as well as he would have liked, but I am very thankful to him for introducing me to baseball and to card collecting.

I remember one year he bought a wax box of baseball cards and a box of Wacky Packages. If I met certain goals (doing my chores, behaving in school, etc.), he would give me some packs. It was a nice incentive for me to try to be a good kid.

He also made me a storage box for me to keep my cards. He took a long box from a radio controlled airplane that he was working on and he made 24 sections for teams. He used balsa wood to separate each team, and he labeled each section (including "Dodgers--P.U."). Unfortunately the box became obsolete when expansion came around in 1977, and there was no section for checklists/leader cards, but I loved that box and carried it around with me everywhere.

For my 8th grade graduation in 1980, my dad got me a card lot of 200 different 1960 cards. I could have picked any year, but I liked that particular design. Since then I've been working on completing that set. I'm about 70 cards away. One of these days I'll get there! :)

Thanks again, Dad. I hope you're having a great Father's day!