Going through Old Baseball Cards

In addition to my impending move to New York, my parents are also leaving the house they've lived in for 14 years, so I am forced to sort out the few valuable things I might have and throw out the rest of the majority, which can politely be called "junk." As part of this process, I've been forced to go through all the baseball cards I bought between 1987 and 1991-ish. During the time it has taken to do this, I've had plenty of time to reflect on several facts.

-As a kid, I heard the horror stories of people who lost really really valuable baseball cards, and as a 7-year old, in all of my infinite wisdom, I swore I'd never ever ever throw my cards out, because they could be worth something. But now that I'm facing a major move and being forced to toss some stuff out, I realize that throwing out baseball cards is something of a necessity. And while I am trying to keep whichever cards might have value (I'll be holding on to my 1989 Upper Deck Inaugural year Ken Griffey, Jr. rookie card, thank you very much), in every handful I toss out, I wonder if I'm throwing away a card like Billy Ripken's, or some other major error.

-Looking at the cards from the 80s, one thing has become patently clear: the porn-stache was a fixture to all baseball players, regardless of nation, creed, or race, in the 1980s.

-Seattle's uniforms were pretty bad in the 80s.

-I remember a lot of my childhood heroes from the Cleveland Indians, but I've had a bunch of "who?" moments when I see the cards, including Jon Perlman, Frank Wells, Tom Waddell, Ken Schrom, and Junior Noboa.

-There are great "irony" moments when you look back at baseball cards that are 20 years old, including seeing things like "Joey" (AKA "Albert") Belle, or a card celebrating Mark McGwire setting a record for rookie home-runs.

-Among my few football cards, I found a John Elway from about 1988. I'm debating whether or not to chew it up and crap it out, use it as toilet paper, piss on it, or sell it to Lyrad. It's a tough choice...