6am . . . .

.. not too dark out though..
waking up this early on an early June morning..

I'm only 13 years old.. i grab a pair of shorts and a tshirt..
my Binghamton Mets hat.. and open my bedroom door.

I don't even have to think.. the coffee is already sitting there for me with steam comming out of it..

My dad is already up asking me what I want for breakfast...

The sun is rising.. and our hopes are high..

*For the sports fans*
Alonzo Morning, and Larry Johnson were the hot names for the Charlotte Hornets.
Mickey Mantle was still alive..
The Yanks will come close to the World Series but it'll be another year before they win won.
The Rangers will not repeat for the Stanley Cup.
The Cowboys will win the Superbowl this year.

I had more going for me at this stage of my life then i realized ..

I grab my coffee and get a bowl of Fruit Loops, take my toast, and head out into our garage..

Here in this garage.. simple small one car garage.. was my safe haven.

Barefoot now.. I take the first step onto the somewhat cold cement.. but only 2 more feet ill be on soft .. green carpet.

Ill walk around my dads desk.. and in between a table and sit down at what was my workstation.

The table where I looked up thousands of cards that summer.

It was crazy.. back before ebay.. back before the internet was something so common.. back when cards and memorabilia were worth something because it wasn't so hard to get a hold of things back then..

So i had the latest monthly guide of Beckett Magazine .. and I'd take each card from a box of 3000 or 5000 .. give or take.. and look at the player..

Look at the face.. .. then flip that card over.. ck out there age.. where they played before their current team.. The actually # on the card.. how much it was.. then back to the stats.. .. I'd actually read everything on the card..

It got to the point where I had seen just about everything so many times.. my dad could just ask me a price on a card and though I knew he'd ck the book before he'd price it and put it on display.. I could honestly 90% of the time give him the right price out of thousands of cards...

Now back to the carpet.. .. I'm barefoot again.. the sun has risen, it's about 8am now.. Shop is open for business. and we opened the garage door and move the vehicles from the driveway.. put out a sign.. and the fun starts..

Now my dad . he's a clever guy..

He had consignments.. people came in and could sell their stuff from our shop..

Also we didn't just sell cards.. we kept up with packs and what was hot.. At the time .. Magic cards.. plus whatever Pogs were good for.. but we had everything...

plus.. he put spots up in the shop for at the time bran name players....

You have to remember.. this is back before Bonds and McGwire and the steroid error tarnished baseball. before records were destroyed like they never existed. the year after the strike.. ..

So Randy Johnson was the best pitcher.. Frank Thomas and Ken Griffey Jr. battled for Home runs.. .. and well today.. Thomas is the only one still hitting well.. and they all are at the end and should have retired about 3 years ago..

The new names were Jason Kidd and Grant Hill.. .. rookies that now are future hall of famers.. well kidd is at least..

Gretzky.. Messier.. .. the Penguins had Mario..

Emmitt Smith.. Neon Deon.. The days where players had nicknames.. like the crime dog fred Mcgriff.. wow back when life was always sunny ...

The quiet breeze would bring in the summer heat.. I'd feel it brush off my feet and I'd look out the door to see clear blue sky's and a hillside..

Business. well.. wasn't good at all.. but it was fun.. and at 13 that's all I knew and cared about.. .. My dad was the person who actually took care of things.. I mean he read a lot of books about sports.. and trusted me and my friends like Leith and Rich to know what was going on and to let him in on big names..

whenever Leith would call me.. that summer I'd run to his place.. we'd play wiffle ball for about an hour then go back to "the shop" .. he got really big into the card business..

not really sure who Leith is anymore..
but.. who he was back then.. was my best friend.. didn't stop hanging out one day without my bro... played baseball together .. soccer.. and well just about anything.. but it would all come back to the card shop..


back to the place where everything seemed to click..
my dad always had a plan of attack on cards that had to be ck'd and looked up .. and sleeved, and set aside or boxed up as commons.. we had so many cards.. we just gave away boxes of 3000 cards for 20.00 a box.. .. it was like we were just trying to make some room.. .

but my dad always had a plan.. he'd have Leith stay the night and we'd work till 4 or 5 am on cards some nights.. it was a job.. but didn't feel like a job..

but for all the craziness of it all..

it's the smell ..
the noise..
the talks..
the cushioning feel of the carpet on my bare feet..
the coffee.. ahh yes the coffee..
and talking to my dad on players.. finally having something in common with my dad..
the birds chirping.. and the music from that time on the radio..

all turns into one giant mess of happy memories..

at the end of that summer everything changed..

Leith's mother passed away.. my grandfather passed away.. my family fell into financial troubles and the card shop just never was the same after that year..
A year after that we closed up the shop.. couldn't keep up anymore and just put everything away..


I know my dad meant a lot to Leith.. in fact the 4 times I've seen Leith since high school .. 9 years ago.. .. he's asked me how my dad was.. and really didn't give a crap about me.. .. he'd buy me a beer .. usually he was already half in the bag when we talked..

Rich.. well he's a doctor.. his wife's a doctor and they have a son..

Me.. I'm 27 .. getting married.. for the 2nd time.. ..

but our youth.. how it comes and goes and we look back and realize how much one year or one summer can mean to us..

I look back and see sun. Wiffle ball home runs.. Yankees Games on tv.. Babe Ruth Allstar game.. Leith and Rich.. My dad.. and the look at the clock.. above the racks of cards.. and..

So reality hits home again.. another memory on pause.. for a while as my fiance needs my help with cleaning of our place..

But I'm glad I could share this with you..

The Summer of 95.. MY Favorite summer