When I Was 7 + 3, It Was A Very Good Year

When I get around to posting about my 100 favorite cards of all time - and make no mistake, it's. going. to. happen. - inevitably several cards from the first Topps set I collected will make the list.

1978 Topps takes me back to my childhood like no other set. This was the first set I actively collected. My parents got me started by bringing me home a stack of wax packs at the time.

One of the cards that will always mean the most to me is this very card - the '78 Johnny Bench. I treated this with such kid gloves even then, that it's still in fairly good shape. Johnny Bench wasn't my favorite member of the Big Red Machine at that time, it was Mr. Rose (although no longer), but I still thought a lot of Bench - whom I once met down by the dugout at Riverfront Stadium.

Years ago, as a kid, many of my '78s were destroyed when our basement flooded. When I returned to collecting earlier this year, I discovered I no longer had many cards from the set. One of my key collecting goals is to build it back up and eventually complete it.

Jeff - my new trading friend and proprietor of Cardboard Catastrophes - gave me a big assist in a trade we just completed. He just posted about it here. Jeff sent me a nice-sized stack of '78s as he ended up with quite a few dupes from a lot he had once purchased. He also shipped over some 2011 Series 2 and much-coveted Kimball Champions.

Desperate to keep organized in our current living arrangement, I filed everything away right away, so that's it for the images, but I truly greatly appreciate the help.

My Kimballs for the Update Series are coming along pretty nicely, with more promised to be on the way, but my '78s - well - it likely will be a few years before I complete this set but complete it I shall.