Letters from Our Readers:

In a letter to Matt Bashie dated November 24, 2009:

  
 

Hi Matt,

I've been reading your Far Rockaway memoirs with great interest and anticipation for the next segment.

This recent article brought back great memories about baseball cards. I was an avid collector and also "flipped" cards. I mostly remember flipping for matches (matching 5+ cards at a time). I couldn't have been more than 9 or 10 years old (1956-1957) when I was at my peak of card collecting.

There was a method, most likely due to my height, which worked very well for me and contributed to my success in winning cards from my friends. I would hold the card in the palm of my hand and let it role off my fingertips. Whichever side of the card was facing my palm would likely be the side that ended facing up on the sidewalk. I was pretty good at it, and won quite often. I remember a friend, Hershel Elias, who decided that bending the cards and just letting them float down to the sidewalk was a way to win. My other friends and I found this to be breaking the rules and ruined the cards. So, we banned that methodology. Other card games included toppers, wallers, and leaners.

 
Gary Siegel

As you astutely mentioned, when I lost interest, my mom likely through my cards away. I do remember getting multiple copies of Jackie Robinson cards. My dad told me that Jackie was one of the greatest players ever!}

Thanks for resurrecting great times and great memories!

Gary Siegel

p.s. I lived on Beach Channel Drive at Hartman Lane and went to P.S. 215 with everyone from Wavecrest Gardens. The only person I'm sure I remember from there was Stevie Post. I ran into him in the early 70's when we met-up in the National Guard. Also, Sam Texler may have lived at Wavecrest, as well.

 

Matt Bashie's reply dated November 25, 2009:

Hello Gary,

Thank you very much for your recent response to my autobiography which is currently being presented (in installments) on the www.rockawaymemories.com website.

I cannot tell you how pleased I am that something I wrote found a common ground with you and rekindled some of your earlier memories of life in our Far Rockaway. I can only hope that you enjoyed our small community as much as I did and that you look back on your youth and relive (in your mind) many happy times.

It really is too bad that you were not able to "hold on" to those baseball cards you collected and traded as a kid -- those cards from the early and mid 1950s are worth a small fortune today. I remember "flipping" cards with my friends and I even know most of the terms you use -- matchers, toppers, leaners. It seems that when I was in the fifth grade, almost all my male friends were doing the same thing with the cards! Oh, such fun!

I have to admit, I was not really into the "sports" cards -- but I am sure I had many of them as well. What I collected were the "non-sports" cards; probably because they were so much harder to find! It seems that back in those days almost every candy store and luncheonette was stocking those baseball cards and had the cardboard counter box in full view -- they charged a nickle for each waxed pack.

The trading cards I most favored back in those days featured movie stars and recording artists of the day -- but I also collected cards showing vintage automobiles, trains, airplanes (you got a free 5-cent pack inside each large loaf of Tastee Bread -- the series was called "Wings"). Unlike most children, I was (and still am) a "saver" so I still have most of my original cards -- they are now tucked safely away in plastic slots in specialized pages I purchased from a Staples Office Supplies Store. I keep my collection in loose-leaf binders. To me, the value in these old cards is that they continually remind me of my lost youth and happier days living amongst my friends in old Far Rockaway.

Again, thanks for your lovely eMail. I hope you will continue to read my book as each chapter is posted on the website -- and if you do, I sincerely hope you will continue to enjoy reading what I have written.

Matthew Bashie