Collecting H.S. Sports Stuff

Cutter's Log - Stardate 2102.42.70
Current Song - Moonlight Serenade (Glenn Miller)

For old time's sake, I purchased some packs of baseball cards from the Casey's in town a couple of days ago. There weren't too much in them other than base cards worth a quarter - the ones that no one wants. No autographs, no game-used stuff and just a few minor inserts. All I can hope for is for a guy named Brett Lawrie to become real good, since I pulled two of his rookies.

These cards add to a baseball card collection that I have, which started 22 years ago. Collecting baseball cards was put in the backburner when the journalism thing kicked in, but I visited it from time to time. Now my large case of cards is pinned against a bedroom corner, with the handles against the wall so that I won't look at them and concentrate on other things. 

Collecting things costs money, and that was one of the things that I needed to stop doing in order to survive in this great big world. But a trip to an antique store brought back a time when I once collected high school sports items.

Collecting them didn't go over too well for some reason, but I was able to bring in a few things - rescuing them from the warehouse shelves of ebay users from out of state.

One of the first things that I bought was a plastic minature basketball from the late 1960s of Rockford East. Another find was a pennant from Belleville High School, before the high school split into two - making it a unique piece. I have lost track of the basketball, but I eventually donated the Belleville pennant to the new Illinois Basketball Hall of Fame Museum (opening in Danville in 2013).

But my most prized item didn't come from ebay. It came from a friend, who kept a basketball program from his playing days. This was from Limestone High School in the mid-1980s, and on the freshman boys basketball team that season was Jim Thome - yep, the same Jim Thome that has over 600 homeruns.

Programs are a unique find. I have three Sterling High School football programs: against Dixon in 1955 and Ottawa in 1956, and the best one I have is SHS's first football playoff game in history (against Normal in 1974).

What inspired me to write this was a trip to Savanna. My grandparents take me out to dinner for my birthday - and because of commitments we are just doing this now. We ate at Manny's, and afterward we went to an old Opera House that is now an antique shop. The gallery featured items found by American Pickers star Frank Fritz.

That further brought me back to one episode of American Pickers where they found an early liscense plate, made out of rubber. They dug it out of an old barn and eventually sold it to an automobile museum. Bringing things from the collective abyss and into more proper hands was something that fascinated me. It brought me back to when I collected these high school sports items; as I mentioned earlier, taking them from warehouse shelves and bringing them more closer to home. From there, I might just put them into more proper hands.

Also included in this collection of stuff are old jerseys and tournament t-shirts (but such that I have are probably not of value unless truly historical). I still have the cereal box of the 1999 Rock Falls basketball team, as well as a small basketball hoop of the team.

Antique stores may just be yet another stop on my sports travels. The older the item, the better. Oddball things are even better.