Baseball cards have been an integral part of the game and culture in Trussville, Alabama for decades. Many current and former residents of Trussville have fond childhood memories of collecting cards, trading with friends at local shops and shows, and learning about their favorite players through the pictures and stats on these small pieces of cardboard.
While the collection and trading of baseball cards was a popular hobby throughout much of the 20th century, it really started to explode in the late 1980s in Trussville. This was fueled by two main factors – the rise of “junk wax” era products that made cards widely available and affordable, and the debut of stars like Ken Griffey Jr. that captured kids’ imagination. Kids in Trussville could be found at card shops like Chandler’s Coins & Collectibles on Gadsden Highway on a near daily basis, scoping out packs of Topps, Fleer and Donruss cards to add to their collections.
Along with the individual card shops, the greater Birmingham area started seeing a number of large baseball card shows take shape in the late 80s/early 90s as well. Two of the biggest and longest running in the region were run by the Birmingham Baseball Card Club, who hosted bustling events twice a month that would attract hundreds of collectors, dealers and fans from across Alabama and surrounding states. Many Trussville residents have fond memories of saving their allowance to buy packs, boxes and individual cards from the endless rows of tables at these sprawling shows.
One of these Birmingham Baseball Card Club shows would become known as the best and biggest in the Southeast – their annual National Convention held each fall at the BJCC. Running from 1988 through the early 2000s, this epic multi-day extravaganza would see upwards of 5,000 people descend upon downtown Birmingham each year to buy, sell and trade in the hobby. With a vast dealer room larger than a football field, autograph signings featuring Hall of Famers, and activities for kids, it truly captured the baseball card boom period at its peak. Countless Trussville kids made the Saturday trip downtown with their parents to experience the buzz and splendor of this enormous pop culture happening.
While the 1980s-90s represented the true golden age of baseball card collecting in Trussville and beyond, the popularity of the hobby has continued on to this day. In the late 2000s/early 2010s, a mini-resurgence occurred alongside new products like Topps Archives and Panini Prizm that appealed to nostalgia and created a modern collecting experience. Trussville’s Chandler’s was still going strong supplying the community with packs, cases and memorabilia well into this decade. And smaller but dedicated local shows like the monthly “Birmingham Card Show” at the Hoover Met still operate today, run by enthusiasts who aim to keep the time-honored tradition alive for new generations.
For many lifelong Trussville residents, their baseball card collections remain an important link to their childhood and the joys of summer afternoons spent pursuing their favorite players. Some still have intact sets and rosters from the 1980s neatly stored away in boxes and binders. Others look back fondly on how their initial connections to hometown heroes like Mark McGuire, Greg Maddux or Chipper Jones were first formed through the stats and photos on a card. Whether actively collecting or not, baseball cards will always hold a special place in the history and culture of the city. They were both a link to America’s pastime for young fans as well as a fundamental part of the baseball experience for decades. Today’s Trussville natives can still feel an extra sense of hometown pride when coming across a well-worn card depicting a Ballplayer who once represented their community on the field.
Baseball cards were hugely popular with kids in Trussville through the 1980s-90s boom years. Local shops like Chandler’s fueled collecting passions, while giant shows by the Birmingham Baseball Card Club were communal events. Though the frenzy has died down, dedicated shops, collectors and monthly shows ensure the tradition lives on. These simple slices of cardboard remain treasured mementos of childhood summers for many lifelong Trussville residents even today.
