Show Notes
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Several people replied to my original video about the 5 cards that changed my life. They shared the cards that changed their lives – and now I’m going to share them with you!
There were many duplicate cards that changed many of our viewer’s lives, including rookie cards of Jose Canseco, Ken Griffey Jr., Rickey Henderson, Bo Jackson, Don Mattingly and Cal Ripken Jr.
We’re relaying some of the comments on why these cards changed your lives.
Please enjoy both the good and the bad stories of how little pieces of cardboard affected so many of us during our formative years!
Sports Cards That Changed YOUR Lives… For the Good and Bad!
Some of these comments came from our Substack article, some from our podcast, and some from our YouTube video on the subject.
Super Substack Happy Hobbyist JB80 said a card that changed his life came just this past summer, as he pulled a 2025 Panini Luminance Patrick Mahomes auto #/10 card!
“I had to get in a bidding war just to get the Chiefs in a case break,” he said. “I had to do that while explaining to my wife why I wasn’t paying attention. She was a little frustrated that I entered the break, but when they pulled that card -- she became a believer.”
Our spouses like the “Happy Hobby” stories much more than the “Wallet Breaker” stories.
Well done, JB80!!!
Matt Musico, author of the MLB Daily Dingers Substack, shares one of his favorite memories.
“I remember getting a Michael Jordan Rookie of the Year card at a Mall card show in the 1990s, and I was sooo stoked.”
My guess is one from 1995 Upper Deck, or maybe 1996?
@Audwillsdad mentioned several junk wax cards we all loved, but his fifth card jumped out at me:
* 2025 Topps Platinum Holofoil Signed and Sealed Drake Powell
You might be wondering, “You mean, the Tar Heels guard that the Hawks drafted with the 22nd pick in 2025 before sending his rights to Brooklyn?”
Our commenter went on to explain why this card changed his life.
“My 8-year-old son pulled his first 1/1 card!”
Yeah, that’s a life-changer right there – this Dad is going to be talking about that pull for the next 10 years, and his son will now connect that with great memories – and he’ll be a collector for life.
Orioles fan @stevederw5 shared his five life-changing cards, which included mostly cards from the 1970s, including a 1972 Topps Willie Mays he bought 40 years ago for $5, and a 1975 Topps George Brett rookie card his girlfriend bought him as a gift because he pointed it out in an antique store.
(She’s now his wife, which makes good sense to me!)
But he also mentioned what he called, a “Boneheaded choice.”
He said when he was a kid, he had pulled from packs, TWO of the 1980 Topps Larry Bird/Magic Johnson rookie cards. He sadly ended up separating the perforated cards from each other into six pieces, and he stored them in an old Kool-Aid can.
That hurts my heart a little bit.
One of my favorite 5-card lists came from @RussellThornton-f9z, where he listed off his Driver’s License, Social Security card, Selective Service card, Voter ID and Mastercard as his life-changing cards!
Brilliant!
Russell also went on to list his real top-five cards, which included 1955 Topps Jackie Robinson, 1954 Topps Larry Doby, and 1986 Topps Patrick Roy.
Like many other Comeback Collectors, user @drawstraw4483 jumped back into the hobby in 2022 after not collecting for 20 years. In that first year back, he grabbed seven out of the 11 Shohei Ohtani rookie cards that were numbered, when many people were sleeping on the Japanese giant. Awesome!
Then he said one card he had changed his life TWICE!
He happened to pull a redemption card from 2022 Topps Heritage for a red-ink auto of Wander Franco #/73.
Obviously, the second time it changed was when Franco ruined his life with huge legal troubles. He said it’s a beautiful card that he still holds onto, but yeah, that’s quite the Wander-ing rollercoaster ride, for sure!
Another Comeback Collector named @petertseperkas1343 shared the top-five cards that changed his life, including the 1989 Upper Deck Griffey, of course, along with a 1972 Topps Roberto Clemente In-Action card. He said it was the first vintage card he ever traded for – and he had to give up a 1989 Rated Rookie lot of the same stud player to get it. Can you guess which Rated Rookie? If you guessed Ken Griffey Jr. – you’d be wrong. It was a bunch of Gregg Jefferies cards. Good deal, Peter!
He also said the 1990 Score Bo Jackson was one of his favorite pulls, too, but that he had to give that to his brother. You see, his brother “owned” the rights to all Bo Jackson cards in his family!
I absolutely love the concept of two brothers getting the all the cards pulled of the players they liked! My brothers were kinda similar. My brother Mike loved Ron Guidry and Thurman Munson, and I was the Bucky Dent fan. Looking back, I want to yell at 5-year-old David for not being more of a Benjamin Franklin fan! 💵💵💵
Side note, Peter said he just got back into cards this summer, and he bought his FIRST Mickey Mantle card – a 1968 Topps Mickey Mantle SGC 2. “I love it,” Peter said. “I always dreamed of owning a Mantle as a kid.”
Congrats, man!
One of our old school Happy Hobbyists on YouTube, @eddywil commented,
“The one card that changed my life is the 1993 Bowman Drew Bledsoe Gold Foil rookie card!”
Eddy said he used to go to flea markets with his friend Dennis to buy cards, and they happened to go in on a wax box together and split the packs. Eddy pulled TWO Drews – and he was kind enough to give one of them to Dennis. That’s why you get friends in the hobby, folks. Be nice to each other.
Sadly, Eddy said he still thinks about his friend Dennis, who passed away, every time he sees that Drew Bledsoe card.
My man @BayouBets shared five pretty sick cards that changed his life. From a Josh Allen Optic Uptown card, to a J.J. McCarthy Optic Downtown, to a 2024 Topps Elly De La Cruz Gold RC # /2024!
But No. 1 was a 1998 Upper Deck Michael Jordan Instant Winner card! He found out years later you were supposed to mail the card in to get the actual prize card and he never did. Ugh!
Commenter @mikemorrissey7928 shared some cards that he said seemed like “milestone cards from my life,” including the 1992 Upper Deck Shaquille O’Neal Trade Card 1b, with the time-lapse photography of Shaq dunking. He said that card specifically changed his method of collecting, so he would start investing in cards as a collector, rather than just buying wax.
Mike also said his 1974 Topps Pete Rose #300 card was pulled from the very first pack his father ever bought him. It’s still his favorite all-time card, even though it’s pretty beat up, and he’ll never get rid of it.
That just means it’s a well-loved card, and that’s OK.
After 20 years of not collecting, Mike was part of the same Comeback Collector wave most of us rode in on during the pandemic. He watched a Chris Sewall video from the Baseball Card Investor Collector Dealer YouTube channel.
“One of my first purchases coming back into collecting was a 20 card lot of Shohei Ohtani’s rookie debut (batting) card. I’ve graded them all -- and 18 of the 20 graded an SGC 10! This lot introduced me to grading, which I find both fascinating and frustrating at the same time!”
Preach, brother, preach!
Who doesn’t love Sandy Koufax, right? Commenter @notarealastronaut did a deep dive into why Koufax is one of his favorite players, and how his 1965 Topps card is a big deal for him.
“Rewind to 1992, when 11- year-old me found my uncle’s cards rubber-banded up in my grandparent’s basement. This stack included a 1953 Topps Jackie Robinson, 1956 Topps Willie Mays, and a slew of 1955 Bowman cards.”
Apparently, he absconded with his uncle’s cards. I’m not sure if the uncle knew or not, but we’ll move on.
“I knew that quite a few like the Robinson and Mays were ones to hang onto, but there were others in there, like a 55’s-ish Yogi Berra and Pee Wee Reese. My guy, however, was Koufax.”
“One day in 4th grade, a classmate of mine brought in his collection, which included a 1990 Topps Turn Back the Clock Sandy Koufax!”
“Well, I went wild over that Koufax and didn’t even think twice about trading him the Berra and Reese for the it. It was a very foolish trade, but I loved Koufax!... One day I’ll tell the story of me losing the ‘53 Robinson and ‘56 Mays, but that’s for another day!”
I don’t know if my heart can take hearing that story!
User @brandonhenry said the 1985 Topps Mark McGwire Team USA card got him into cards when he was just 5 years old. He also got a 1984 Topps Don Mattingly card as a gift when he was 10.
Amazingly, he bought a 1980 Topps Basketball pack on eBay for $25 – and pulled a Magic/Bird rookie card!
Note to Brandon: Don’t separate those panels!
Our buddy @neworleanssaints3743 listed his 1958 Topps Mickey Mantle All-Star card as his prized possession, while also mentioning the 1991 Upper Deck Michael Jordan SP1 and the 1990 Topps Frank Thomas rookie card as his favorites.
Finally, one of our favorite Happy Hobbyists, Scott Hedrick, shared his five life-changing pieces of cardboard. Understand that this guy is a junk-wax ripping maniac, with boxes and boxes of stuff that he and his brother have been ripping every weekend over the past several years.
Scott mentioned Jose Canseco and Don Mattingly rookies, as many of our commenters did, from their respective Donruss rookie years. Those two cards, along with the ’89 Upper Deck Griffey, were iconic in the ‘80s. Scott said, “Anyone kid who managed to get one walked around school like a god amongst mortals.”
Interestingly, the 1981 Topps Joe Montana rookie card was a huge reason Scott returned to the hobby in 2009 – a virtual grizzled Comeback Collecting veteran compared to most of us!
“I had always wanted the rookie card of whom I considered the greatest QB of all time (Joe Montana), and since my Dad was more into baseball than football, we didn’t get many football packs as kids. So, this was another iconic card whose image I would stare out longingly in Beckett.”
“Well, fast forward to having a little disposable income and no one yet relying on me, I ran across a Baseball Card Exchange recap video from The National one day, and it got my brain working about having a chance to pull all these iconic cards from my youth that we couldn’t afford.”
“Maybe a year after buying packs (and figuring out rack packs might be easier for others to sequence search), I pulled one, and then a couple more after that. The last one I hit was probably 10 years ago when I split a box with my brother. We’ve graded all of them, with one getting a PSA 8, and the others getting 7s.”
You can read more about Scott’s return to the hobby and how you can also become a junk wax junkie here. He was also kind enough to list out the Top 10 Junk Wax Boxes Under $100 (more like under $150 these days). It’s one of our most popular newsletter posts ever!
Got some content ideas for me? Shoot me a note at gonoscards@gmail.com !
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