My Cardboard History, Part 1: 1988-95

2018 marks my 30th anniversary in the hobby. I began at 4 years old, and I've never truly left the hobby. I've been planning out my celebration for quite some time, over a year in fact, setting on my main goal of the year in December 2015! Yes, I do play the long game sometimes, hah! I'm so excited for the anniversary that I'm even beginning this first part of my collection retrospective on June 30th, 2017! As I'm sure you've guessed by now, this three part series is going to take a year-by-year look at my collection, and I'll discuss what I was doing and look at any milestones that occurred during that year, if I know. Some were lost to history which I will touch on as I get to them.

My collecting habits can be broken out into three general eras, and that's why I'm breaking the posts up as I am, not in even 10 year segments, but in my three collecting eras. This is, afterall, My personal cardboard history, if you will.

Unfortunately, there are very few photos of me with my cards...I believe the first one was only taken in 2003, but since I am building in a lot of lead time, I'm going to scour my family picture albums and see if I can locate any others to share. If I can find the couple I'm thinking of, it will be the first time I've ever shared them publicly.

So, let's begin, with...

1988

I was born in 1984, to a family that is very supportive of collecting things. Before I would hit 2 years old I would already have a comic book collection (started the month I was born, in fact!) and a diecast car collection. I still collect comics and would still collect the diecast cars if my medicine that keeps me alive wasn't so expensive. 1986 was a pivotal year for me as it's when my love of everything automotive would really take form, an unending undercurrent of my entire life. It was in 1986 that I became a monster truck fan. At the time, I loved everything about them...although nowadays I do not, back then, it was the be-all-end-all for me. In 1988, the first set of monster truck trading cards was released, by a company called Leesley that, to my knowledge, released only two card sets ever, both of monster trucks. The first was the Bigfoot set, which I've mentioned several times was the first set of cards I ever got.

For many years, I believed that the Star Wars cards my brother gave me- his duplicates- were my first, he remembered that he did not give them to me until after I had the Bigfoot cards.

I think our dog chewed on this one, but I can't rule out the chewing being done by me!

My collection was still small in 1988...and still stored in pages. I'm pretty sure my brother probably paged my cards for me, as none of the corners are damaged on them, something that probably wouldn't be the case had I shoved them in myself as a 4-year-old.

Although I do have some memories of things before 1988, my memory really kicks in with this year, and lasts through to about 1998. Anything after '98 is hit or miss, if I remember it or not, but usually I don't, which is one of the reasons I started this blog- to get stuff written down before it leaves my spotty memory. 

1989 

1989 was a quiet year for my collection. I believe the only cards I got in 1989 were Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle cards, which I was very much into at that time. I got some of the single packed cards, with brown backs, and also my first sort-of milestone, my first factory set, which had white backs, and the 1989 Batman movie cards. I'm not a fan of the Batman movies but I still collected the cards...and still add to the collection from time to time. The Bigfoot cards may have carried over into 1989 as well. I know that Leesley's second set, which was all different monster trucks, and released in 1989, was never seen by me. In fact, all these years later, I STILL have not hunted down even a single example of the set!

1990

1990 was a bit of a watershed year for me. I did my first box of cards, and completed my first set- one in the same, actually. Classic issued it's only Monster Truck set this year, and I remember opening a box of it...which led me to complete the set. The same year, I got a complete set of 1990 Marvel Universe, which is somewhat surprising because this is a DC household. In fact, I've got way more Marvel cards than DC. It was the day after Thanksgiving 1990 that I became a GI Joe fan...something that would play a huge role in my life and while significantly diminished now, still plays a small role as I still get the comic book every month.

1991

1991 was the start of the greatest time period ever for cards. It's when they began to be everywhere, and when I really began to be the card collector I still am today. I was getting more cards now, from various topics, but the big set of the year to me was the Impel GI Joe set, which became my 3rd completed set that year. This is the year I began to add oddballs to my collection, Also completed this year, was the Pro Set Bill & Ted set. At that time, instead of opening packs, my brother would buy me complete sets. The first DC set of my lifetime-or at least the first one I remember- came out this year. (The actual first was in 1940). Needless to say I am referring to comic cards, not the Batman movie cards. I also got some of the Desert Storm cards, which would be my first military cards. At the time, it was just a very small part of my collection, but I would come back to the military cards in Stage 3. Stay tuned!

1992

1992...that is the year that everything changed. Hyperbole aside, it was this year where I became a sports fan. Although technically monster trucks are a form of auto racing, it's really a totally separate thing...1992 is when I got into NASCAR. It was the day after Christmas, and I got a big box of 1/64 Racing Champions cars from my uncle...a moment my mom happened to capture on film, thankfully! In a bit of a humorous twist, I didn't actually count my die cast cards as part of my NASCAR collection until January 2017. Before then I considered them a separate collection. What can I say, I am OCD and tend to compartmentalize things. During the year, however, I was collecting non-sports only, primarily super hero cards, from both DC and Marvel, which both had issues this year. At this time the majority of my card collection was coming from the various comic shops we went to.

Me discovering NASCAR. The car I am holding is Ernie Irvan.

1993

While it was at Christmas 1992 that I got into NASCAR, it was in 1993 that I actually began watching. NASCAR would soon become one of if not the most important things in my life for many years to follow, in very short order.
'93 saw three important milestones for my collection: My first card show. I don't know the exact date, but it was early in the year. I do know where...the Dutchess Mall, in Fishkill NY, and I remember some of the cars (which came with cards, so it counts) that I purchased there. Fun fact...all these years later, I still know the vendor although he no longer sells diecast, I see him once a year at a model car show I've mentioned from time to time, the NNL East.
My second was my first visit to a card-only shop. Diamond Jack's, again in Fishkill, was my first all-card shop, and I went there from 1993 until he closed in either 2001 or 2002, due to retirement. It was in sight of my doctor's office, which is probably how we first found it in fact. I spent countless time in his shop, and it will be mentioned several times in this project.
My third milestone was my first completed NASCAR set, 1992 Maxx, which I purchased in factory set form from the local comic shop. I remember my dad helped me sort these, which is highly unusual...it may have been the only time he ever did actual card stuff with me.
Star Wars cards returned to the shelves for the first time since 1983, but I didn't really care for them and did not chase them at the time. My earliest memory of anything is of watching Empire Strikes Back, and as I mentioned in 1988, for many years I thought that the Star Wars cards came first.

1994 

'94 may be my favorite year in this stage of the project card-wise, yet it has no real milestones. That was the best year ever for NASCAR cards in my opinion, led by Action Packed, still one of my all-time favorite sets. By now, NASCAR had clearly supplanted non-sports cards as my favorite, a position they would not retake until 2009, but I'm getting ahead of myself. At this point we are now attending mall card shows on a regular basis, with six malls in the area, all of which held card shows, although shows held at the Newburgh Mall, Danbury Mall and Crystal Run Mall were rarer than at the three local malls- the Dutchess Mall, South Hills Mall and Poughkeepsie Galleria, with the Galleria having the most. I believe 1994 Action Packed may be the first actual box of NASCAR cards I ever opened, but I'm not sure that was actually in 1994...they were still on the shelves at my local K-mart until 1996.

1995

The 1995-96 school year is, without a doubt, the best year of my life. It was the happiest I've ever been, and it's also the last time I was truly healthy...which I'll touch on more in part 2, but will try and gloss over because this is a happy retrospective. 1995 itself doesn't hold too many card-related memories for me, though. I was still avidly collecting NASCAR, and still collecting non-sports cards- a particular highlight for me that year is DC Power Chrome Legends '95, but with no records kept by me, nothing really stands out. Some years, really, just hold steady...but there's nothing wrong with that at all. As I know now, though...it was the calm before the proverbial storm, as 1996 would be one of those years that's truly life-altering.

Come back tomorrow for part 2!