The Emotional Appeal of Baseball Cards

1972 Topps was the first of cards I ever collected. The drug store where I bought my first pack of cards still exists. However, it probably has been 30 years since they sold cards. When I see 1972 Topps Baseball Cards, they evoke a real physical reaction/emotion within me. Of all the cards Tommie, Agee’s has the most effect on me. I don’t know if this has to do with the colors on the card(that big blue warmup jacket) or if this was the first baseball card I ever saw (maybe pulled from that first pack back at that drug store.) When I see the Agee card I can reach back in the past to when I was 7 and still get that same feeling that I can only describe as an extreme “want” or have to have. I can still see in my mind all those unopened packs of cards sitting behind that glass case at the drugstore. His card (and other cards from that time) allow me to still can get that feeling of euphoria of seeing those unopned packs behind the glass and wanting them all more than anything in the whole wide world. Looking over the 1972 Topps cards (including football, basketball and hockey cards), I can just relive those childhood feelings, emotions and memories.