During the mid-eighties was also a fun time to follow hockey. A guy named Gretsky was making headlines and the New York Islanders were winning Stanley Cups like crazy. I always enjoyed the sport of hockey and even played hundreds of games on a nearby lake growing up (pond hockey). Although there were no organized hockey leagues where I grew up, I still followed the sport and watched Gretsky out play every team he faced.

It was also the mid-eighties that a hockey team from Colorado moved to NJ giving the state its first hockey team - New Jersey Devils. I quickly stopped following the NY Islanders and became an instant NJ Devils fan. Because Gretsky did not play for the Devils, I could not make him my hockey idol so instead I decided to make the entire Devils team my idol - until I found Mike Modano.

Listed below are some of my favorite hockey rookie cards.

The wood frame rookie cards are from the 2004 Bee-Hive card set and they include limited cards (identified by the number on the front).

The cards are:

#244 - Jason Pominville - 40 or 67 "Silver" produced

#241 - Sergei Zinovjev - 03 of 67 "Silver" produced

#236 - Alexander Semin - 01 or 15 "Gold" produced

#224 - Aaron Johnson - 67 of 67 "Silver" produced

#216 - Mike Smith - 13 of 67 "Silver" produced

Growing up in NJ, by the beach, was great during the Spring and Summer seasons but there was not much to do at the boardwalk during the Fall and Winter seasons. So my friends and I all went to the park to play football and pretend we were professional players. Of the popular NFL teams during the seventies, the Dallas Cowboys seemed to grab very much television time (especially on Thanksgiving). Since most of my friends, at that time, were Cowboy fans, I decided to jump aboard.

At the time I became a Dallas Cowboy fan, Roger Staubach was a rookie and soon became known as the comeback kid. I stayed a loyal fan of the Cowboys through the retirement of Roger and waited patiently through 15+ seasons when the Cowboys did not produce many playoff appearances.

Then came the biggest trade, in NFL history, that I can remember. The Dallas Cowboys made a deal with the Minnesota Vikings which sent Hershel Walker to Minnesota for many draft picks. Through these draft picks came a group of Cowboys, selected by the Dallas coaching staff, which ultimately sparked the Cowboys into winning three Super bowl championships. Among the players selected were Troy Aikman - a QB drafted from UCLA. Troy quickly became my football idol and amazed me with his accuracy and ability to read defenses.

Listed below are football rookie cards of some key players that brought back the swagger in Dallas, including a player from the past.

During the mid-eighties was a fun time to follow baseball. The Yankees were doing well, I lived in NJ (where it seemed like everyone followed NY baseball) and I followed player statistics in the daily newspaper. My baseball idol growing up was Thurman Munson - a catcher for the Yankees whose life was cut short in a terrible plane accident. This baseball captain was a great player to watch - a Right handed clutch hitter and a good catcher with a work ethic that was unparalleled during that time.

That was until Don Mattingly came along. A first baseman, Left handed clutch hitter who had the same work ethic as Munson, soon became the next Yankee captain. When it came time to collect baseball card, I went after the player that brought so much excitement to the game.

Listed below are five of my favorite baseball rookie cards of Don Mattingly.