This year was the first I started buying baseball cards. I would have turned 7 in May of 1977. I remember going to my grandparents' apartment and there was a grocery store on the corner. I remember purchasing both wax and cello packs. I have almost all my cards from when I was a kid. Though my checklists are marked and we flipped them and threw them against the wall, so condition is rather beat up. I'm starting to put these sets together, trying to relive my childhood. I've made a few purchases over the years to help.

It was my seventh birthday when my Pop put a full box of 1977 Topps down in front of me. It took me an hour or so to rip all the packs and gawk at the giants who played baseball. My initial thoughts were, this gum kinda sucks, even though I had a full cheek full, Nolan Ryan (My favorite player) looked so bad ass. George Foster's side burns were absolutely magnificent. Dave Rader looked just like my Grandpa and Tommy Helms and Rick Jones looked really fake. I played with those cards so much that, I wore them out and finally after a decade of destruction I gave them to my cousin who absolutely destroyed everyone of them looking them over like I did. Only Nolan Ryan survived the purge. My first card I ever pulled was Craig Swan, followed by Boog Powell. I must have had Boog's stats totally memorized as I was fascinated that someone was named Boog.

I remember collecting these cards as a kid. My dad knew the owner of a local grocery store/deli and would get full unopened display boxes from him at a discount. I had tons of these cards. Sadly, not now, of course.