clipped from www.nptelegraph.com

Collecting cards is time-honored tradition

For many people, collecting sports cards and other memorabilia began soon after they discovered the joys of participating in or watching sports.

Over the years — and after countless pieces of thin, hard gum — shoeboxes were filled to the brim with “old” cards. Sometimes those boxes sit in attics for decades. And, sometimes they are tragically tossed out by unknowing moms the collector leaves home to seek his or her own way.