Collecting Items from your Youth

[wuluf]

I was a baseball nut. For a while there, I lived baseball. And while my dreams of ever becoming a major league second baseman eventually faded, in the back of my 73-year old mind, I still imagine I can turn a double play just as well as I did years ago.



As a result, a while back, I found a Wilson A2000 infielder's glove at a second hand store. Excellent condition. Now, for the uninitiated, the Wilson A2000 is undeniably the very best ball glove out there. Don't believe me? Just ask Google what the best baseball glove is. Dollars to donuts it will say "Wilson A2000."



Anyway, they normally go for about $300. I got this one for twelve bucks. Yep. Twelve bucks.



So, now I can sit in my chair by the fire, throwing the ball into my Wilson A2000, and dream about playing in the majors.

Same here. I stopped watching/caring about baseball a few seasons ago when they got political. If I hadn't stopped then, today's news about adopting the designated hitter in the National league would have done it. I'm gone forever..

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[wuluf]

I was a Batman comic book freak when I was a kid. In 1968 at age 12 my parents and I moved from NJ to Tucson-my older brother and sister were in college.

In prep for the move my mother threw out all-not just some-of my comic books!! I was very anal about how I took care of them even back then. Many years later we had a good laugh and cry when I let her know how much they would've been worth LOL.

Moving out of NJ as it turned it out was an outstanding decision on their part hahaha.

We are the same age and I lived in Tucson from 77-92!

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[wuluf]

I used to set all mine up in a two square foot area and then go back about 6 feet and thumb a bucket of marbles at them until I knocked them all over.

INCOMING!!!

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[James E. McCall]

Well guys I have a "real" keeper that I will pass on to my grandkids, Hope they don't fight over it, just keep it for one year and then pass it around to the next one in line ( I have 10, 6 girls and 4 boys) In 1945 my Mom and my brother Eddie were in a butchers shop on 9th avenue near 46th street in Manhattan ( hells kitchen) and my Mom was going to buy some chopped meat (this is before supermarkets) when a BIG Man wearing a camel hair long coat and a cap to match walked in saw my Mom and said hi Annie and my Mom answered hi George how are you today and he said fine its really cold out today, he then spied my brother and I and he said are these Ed's boys and my Mom said yes that is Jimmy and Edward. He then said what are buying and my Mom told him and he said that won't do and he told the butcher Fred give them three big steaks and put them on my tab. He then said how would you boys like my autograph and we said yes and he gave us his autograph on two pieces of buther paper in pencil which Mom put in her p[ocker book, he then said wheres Ed and My Mom told him, he is still overseas and won' be able to come home as he doesn't have enough points. He then shook both me and my brothers hands they were BIG HANDS. Later I asked my Mom who he was and she told me George Herman Ruth. I still have that autograph and thats my story.

 

[doublesharp]

I was a baseball nut. For a while there, I lived baseball. And while my dreams of ever becoming a major league second baseman eventually faded, in the back of my 73-year old mind, I still imagine I can turn a double play just as well as I did years ago.

As a result, a while back, I found a Wilson A2000 infielder's glove at a second hand store. Excellent condition. Now, for the uninitiated, the Wilson A2000 is undeniably the very best ball glove out there. Don't believe me? Just ask Google what the best baseball glove is. Dollars to donuts it will say "Wilson A2000."

Anyway, they normally go for about $300. I got this one for twelve bucks. Yep. Twelve bucks.

So, now I can sit in my chair by the fire, throwing the ball into my Wilson A2000, and dream about playing in the majors.

Another ball player who remembers the glory days. This Wilson A2005 was my playing days glove but I haunt ebay and will snag any premium glove that is going too cheap. I like Rawlings Heart of the Hide gloves equally well and MacGregor top of the line gloves are mighty fine, too.





I used to be a fishing guide on Lake Okeechobee back in the mid 1980s-90s and Quantum 381 Crankin reels were my favorites. Slow retrieve with magnum gears that were just right for winching big hogs out of heavy cover. Used wild shiners and 7 1/2' flipping sticks.

 

[Chubbo]

Childhood toy guns

Paladin, you surely brought back childhood memories to me.


I was of about the same age as you were when you told your story. Memories return of my similar toy pistols i.e., the Buck Roger ray gun was similar, not refinished, but was aluminum colored. I had a cast-iron chrome plated cap-pistol, that was intended to depict, a full-auto, pistol. It held a roll of paper caps, had a crank handle opening on either side, for the crank, enabling it to be used ambidextrously. When I got this unusual toy, the crank was missing. I made one from a length of 1/4" copper wire. When the copper wire was pounded square on the end, it fit the crank opening perfectly. That toy auto-pistol is the only one I've seen in my 90+yrs.

Chubbo

 

[Jon651]

If I were to get back anything from my youth it would be at least some of my hair! And I'm not talking about what migrated south and took up residence on my back...

Other than that, I loved Erector Sets and had a modest collection. Tinkering with them gave me a nice sense of accomplishment, and I was always one who followed the directions exactly - then branched out into my own designs. I can still recall some of the crazy complex stuff I used to make! Draw bridges, elevators, skyline cable cars - I still smile just thinking about it!

 

[wood714]

but in high school, it's where the Zig-Zag man lived, if you know what I mean.

And yes, I know what you mean.

Just found these in an old picture album.

JOB 1.5 was my favorite.

 

[wood714]

I wasn't a kid, but I still have all the Taco Bell dogs they gave away.

One of my kids friends worked there and got me the shirt, cap, and button.

Some of the wrapped dogs still have a working battery after all these years.

 

[jeffrefrig]

Just found these in an old picture album.

JOB 1.5 was my favorite.

I have an old album from C & C that's called Big Bambu; kinda looks like that pack on the left. The big paper that came in the album is missing. (Album was given to me; friend didn't know what happened to the paper.) I used the single sized. Less coughing.
All I have left over from my youth is great memories and all my record albums.

 

[AJ]

My parents gave me these just after I had open heart surgery in 1958. Still have them.

 

[Moo Moo]

Can't forget my GI Joe's.

 

[Rustyt1953]

 

[Kinman]

My uncle gave me an old Savage "Sporter" when I was nine, it had a cracked stock and no magazine...I glued the stock up and shot it like that for over twenty years, an old guy gave me a spare magazine he had and later his "Sporter". I found another one at a pawn shop with a nice stock that was checkered and had sling swivels. Bought it, had my original barreled action refinished and gave it to my granddaughter on her twelfth birthday, she shoots it real well. Thats about all I have from my childhood left, we never had much. The big Tonka trucks my brother and I got for Christmas 1959 got used up and even tied onto our feet and used as roller skates. If anything survived those years it would be amazing, I do have my first fishing rig somewhere...my dad won it from the business he worked for as a promotion, early Mitchell 309 and Garcia rod. I bet with that .22 and the fishing rod I could fill the bed of the truck with grouse and fish I caught or shot. I've never shot a grouse with a shotgun, in fact I think I was probably around fourteen before I knew a grouse could fly.

 

[Kevin J.]

Going through all these post there are to many to quote directly. So….

1) it isn't a real GI Joe if it's not the original 10" tall figure. Many versions to cover all the branches.

2) The small green army men were really cool to melt.

3) Cap guns were cool. Who else here knew how to make a roll of caps into firecracker?

Cool "toy" on the block was Ron's green beret. They sold them at a local department store shortly after the John Wayne movie.

 

[reedman]

Went to college, only to find mom had given to Goodwill my Mad Magazine collection of 8 years (got my first subscription in 5th grade--that probably explains my sense of humor...), AND my comic books that included HULK #1. Oh my...

 

[scout II]

I was lucky my mom saved lots of my **** after I moved out and I got most of it back about 15 years later. I had a lot of old baseball cards from the 1950's 1960's, and 1970's. I sold a lot of good ones in 1999 to pay for a down payment on my first house in CA. I also had a few G.I. Joe's from the early 1970's with the footlocker and lots of uniforms and guns. I had a submersible submarine that he fit in and a hang glider that he fit in, all with the original boxes. I sold that stuff a few years ago for some good money. I also kept my old red-line hot wheels from the late 60's and early 70's. They were all played with but still in good condition. I sold those for about $70.00 per car average, but had a few special ones that went for about $200.00 each. I don't think I have anything left from back then as I have sold it all.

 

[Ματθιας]

Can't forget my GI Joe's.

Those are cool!!! The Snake Eyes in the original packaging is interesting! Firefly, IIRC, Cobra Sabatour, he's too cool - 80's brick cell phone and all!

I collected most of the early series, up until, I think, the 4th when the GI Joes started going into neon colors.

Did you have a favorite character?

Me? I always liked Cobra Commander because of the comic book and especially the cartoon. The guy who voiced him, Chris Latta was great - I think he also did Starscream From the Transformers.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeGTV6fvgaM[/ame]

 

[ralph7]

I had one of these at 10 years old and wore it out.
When I saw this duplicate on a gunshow table for a little over $100, I jumped on it!

 

[Ματθιας]

Growing up in the 80s, I had a small collection of Stompers. They were 4X4s that were powered by a single AA battery - the headlights even came on! The first series had two sets of removable tires one rubber for outside and the other was sponge-like for inside. The second series wider tires and had two speeds - high and low and it could freewheel. They were cheap - money wise - IIRC -$3-4.00.

While I liked and collected GI Joes, I loved the Transformers! The Transformers Cartoon made them come alive. They were real expensive! I couldn't buy too many of them, but I saved and bought my favorite character, Soundwave.
Soundwave was COOL! He didn't say much but when he did he had a cool voice;
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOu3hYXE_tM&t=251s[/ame]

He was a Walkman and his cassettes transformed into different sub-characters that preformed different spy tasks. There were five of them that I remember and had; Ravage a black panther. Laserbeak and Buzzsaw, condor-like drones. Rumble and Frenzy "manlet" type characters.

I also love Starsream. He's an F-15 along with two others that I had, Skywarp, and Thundercracker. Starscream was always scheming to take over Megatron's leader leadership role but always failed.
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXtEdUmwH3A[/ame]

In the later movies Starscream is an F-22.

Megatron was a P-38 with a scope.

Back in the 80s Transformers, The Movie came out. There were so many famous voices actors in the movie including Orsen Wells, Scatman Crothers, Leonard Nimoy, Judd Nelson Robert Stack and Casey Kasem among others.
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_25RK5GbJIc[/ame]

Sorry about reliving childhood memories.