Came across this business card today while working on cleaning out my parents' house…

HLT&T was a cool little shop that also had on-field authentic jerseys and caps, back when those weren't found a lot of places. Ted's Baseball Room on Westehimer was another great spot.

Growing up in Katy, a place called G&G Sports Cards and More was our go-to spot. Moving all my cards out of the house has made me nostalgic about card collecting for the first time in years.

What were some of y'all's favorite shops around the area?

Im from Kingwood, and growing up there was Sparkys Sports Cards and Kingwood Comics & Cards

Grew up in The Woodlands was a place called the castle in Oak Ridge, they had a small arcade too!

Sports Collectibles on W. Bellfort and Baseball Cards Etc on Gessner.

I grew up a few blocks away from HLT&T. Loved going there. Sports Collectibles as mentioned above was another great one. The guy who owned it still goes to card shows in the area to sell. My son has gotten into collecting and going to shows, and I've enjoyed talking with Larry at several of the shows we've been to and sharing my memories of his store.

Jackal99 said:

---

I grew up a few blocks away from HLT&T. Loved going there. Sports Collectibles as mentioned above was another great one. The guy who owned it still goes to card shows in the area to sell. My son has gotten into collecting and going to shows, and I've enjoyed talking with Larry at several of the shows we've been to and sharing my memories of his store.

---

Yeah he was a good guy back in the day. Man how old is he that he's still doing this?

drwong said:

---

Jackal99 said:

---

I grew up a few blocks away from HLT&T. Loved going there. Sports Collectibles as mentioned above was another great one. The guy who owned it still goes to card shows in the area to sell. My son has gotten into collecting and going to shows, and I've enjoyed talking with Larry at several of the shows we've been to and sharing my memories of his store.

---

Yeah he was a good guy back in the day. Man how old is he that he's still doing this?

---

His Facebook page says he was born in '48, so…

Damn, that's my mom's age. Good for him, doing something I presume he loves.

I used to see one of the HLT&T guys at Toyota Center back in the day. They were running it as an e-commerce site but not sure if they still do.

Diggity said:

---

G&G was also the card shop we went to. We would ride our bikes to Cici's, then stop by G&G.

We thought the owner (Glen?) was a total dick at the time, but I would have probably been the same if I dealt with kids all day.

---

Wasn't he a coach at one of the kisd schools?

He had a deal if you showed him your report card and had all a's you'd get 10% off or something like that.

I spent a sh*t ton of chore and summer job money in that place, to have a "friend's" step dad take all my stuff…

I don't remember him being a coach but who knows.

Big Wayne's in downtown Lake Jackson. Big Wayne was in my fantasy football league for a year or two. Nice guy but had to take a job at Wal-Mart and change his shop's hours to keep his family afloat.

Neil's cards was over on Flag Lake Drive. Small shop. He was a high school kid and ran his shop until he went off to Baylor.

And there was a really nice shop in Alvin. This was early 90's. A guy named Eddie and his wife had the place built and opened it. A friend that was way into collectibles took me there with him one Saturday. I had some cards I I wanted to sell.

When we were pulling into the parking lot, my friend said "ok, so don't stare when you get in there. Eddie was badly injured in an industrial accident at a plant. He used a chunk of his lawsuit money to open this place and that's why it's so nice, and he's a really nice guy, but he's not easy to look at."

I didn't have a problem with it but I could see how someone bringing their kid in and not being prepared could end up in an awkward situation.

When the card business seemed to change a few years later, I hated it for people like Eddie and Big Wayne. That was their livelihood and I'm pretty sure they had to close. I know Big Wayne did.

redaszag99 said:

---

Eddie Martinez still has the old ball park in Alvin

---

That's good to hear. I thought he had closed like so many others.

I just looked up his store and found this. It wasn't an accident in a plant like I had been told but happened when his tractor was engulfed in flame after a co-worker hit a propylene line.

Man, this is a tough read. Eddie is incredibly strong to have survived this the way he did.

https://www.alvinsun.net/news/article_75a8f271-e647-5743-8790-09f5ae5d7a77.html

Diggity said:

---

G&G was also the card shop we went to. We would ride our bikes to Cici's, then stop by G&G.

We thought the owner (Glen?) was a total dick at the time, but I would have probably been the same if I dealt with kids all day.

---

He was actually pretty nice at first, but evolved into a real ***** as the shop grew... and fair point about the impact of dealing with dumbass kids like myself all day, every day.

At one point, he started changing the prices in the current Beckett Guides by hand, which was always sort of funny to me. Hey, more power to him. It's just a guide and the buyer / seller agreement sets the price... but I had gone in at one point specifically to buy some Tom Gordon rookie cards. He pulls out the Beckett, and he's marked the guide price up by a factor of 10. I had no intention of being argumentative, I was just genuinely shocked by the price he had, and blurted it out as a reflexive reaction... "Ten dollars?!?!?" He got instantly pissed and raised his voice at me, saying, "YOU'RE NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO'S HEARD OF HIM!!!" Good times.

And yes, I believe he had been a coach at one of the neighborhood schools.

the players strike in 1994 hurt card shops badly

I have to think the overproduction of "premium" and "limited edition" sets and subsets, along with the intentional error cards did a lot more to kill the trading market.

I remember pulling a Shaq Rejector Stadium Club card out at G&G. I think it was trading in Beckett for around $100 and the guy offered me $30. I told him to go screw. Wonder if I still have that?

Strike Zone in South Belt. Still actually in same spot but was shifting heavy to the game world (magic etc) in the later 90s.

Did get some pogs there too.

jetch17 said:

---

We had a little neighborhood card shop in bear creek we'd ride bikes up to weekly and dump all allowance we had opening packs of 89 upper deck - then go to stop n go next door for a crystal Pepsi or clearly Canadian and try and talk the guy out of selling us a Playboy from the vaunted plastic wrappped naughty mags

Had another shop years later down hwy6 with a chain smoking old man we gave a lot of business to

---

Ol' sports galore. That guy was awesome. He talked so much he'd burn through two cigs before he could get a drag.

MJ20/20 said:

---

jetch17 said:

---

We had a little neighborhood card shop in bear creek we'd ride bikes up to weekly and dump all allowance we had opening packs of 89 upper deck - then go to stop n go next door for a crystal Pepsi or clearly Canadian and try and talk the guy out of selling us a Playboy from the vaunted plastic wrappped naughty mags

Had another shop years later down hwy6 with a chain smoking old man we gave a lot of business to

---

Ol' sports galore. That guy was awesome. He talked so much he'd burn through two cigs before he could get a drag.

---

Sports galore, that's it

Can still hear the old man "hey how ya doin"

jetch17 said:

---

We had a little neighborhood card shop in bear creek we'd ride bikes up to weekly and dump all allowance we had opening packs of 89 upper deck - then go to stop n go next door for a crystal Pepsi or clearly Canadian and try and talk the guy out of selling us a Playboy from the vaunted plastic wrappped naughty mags

Had another shop years later down hwy6 with a chain smoking old man we gave a lot of business to

---

Still mad to this day gave a pack of upper deck to my friend and a Ken Griffey rookie card was in there

You could have retired!

Diggity said:

---

G&G was also the card shop we went to. We would ride our bikes to Cici's, then stop by G&G.

We thought the owner (Glen?) was a total dick at the time, but I would have probably been the same if I dealt with kids all day.

---

Ha, this is something I never really thought about before. But yeah, 90+% of your clientele being 12 and under, with no clue how money or the world works, and no real manners, could get pretty frustrating I would imagine.

Diggity said:

---

I have to think the overproduction of "premium" and "limited edition" sets and subsets, along with the intentional error cards did a lot more to kill the trading market.

---

I spent more time at Roy's Collectors Showcase than I did at HLT&T, but similar thing happened w/ comic books. Way too many special collectors' editions and alternates, and huge jump in the cost of collecting "the whole set!"

Trying to haggle as a kid was always fun, along with the deflation of finding out what they would actually pay compared to the price guide. Didn't spend too much time in the sports shops though when I realized they were charging convention and top guide prices at the neighborhood store.

It was like, "I can help you with some of the rent you're paying to store all this stuff here, but I can't cover all of it."

Where are the card shops today? I know 3rd Coast in Katy, but that's mostly Magic stuff. The sports stuff is overpriced.

It seems there are a lot more shops in DFW. I've been to several good ones in the Frisco/Plano areas alone. Speaking of Griffey, as a 40+ year old I FINALLY acquired the 89 Upper Deck at one of those shops. A graded 8.5. I felt 12 years old again.

When I was growing up there were card shows at the hotel near me pretty much every month. Also Memorial City Mall had card shows every now and then. I got Ken Caminitti to sign a few cards at one of the shows at the mall once.

I definitely have a few of those.

Diggity said:

---

Diggity said:

---

I have to think the overproduction of "premium" and "limited edition" sets and subsets, along with the intentional error cards did a lot more to kill the trading market.

I remember pulling a Shaq Rejector Stadium Club card out at G&G. I think it was trading in Beckett for around $100 and the guy offered me $30. I told him to go screw. Wonder if I still have that?

---

found it! it was actually Fleer Ultra. Duh!



it's amazing looking at the cards I decided to keep.

is is 75% cokeheads, juiceheads and *******s.

A selection:

---

have a lot of those they are worth zero lol

Ah, but the trip down memory lane was priceless!

Don't forget annual visits to the card/memorabilia show in the domeskeller underneath the outfield seats at the dome. I recall some guy at shows that went by the name of Mr. Mint. Wonder whatever happened to that guy. I don't even recall what he looked like, age or anything. Just remember the name.

HLT&T had another shop on telephone road in the 80s for a little while too. Would drive in from Pearland to go there.

RenoAg said:

---

Don't forget annual visits to the card/memorabilia show in the domeskeller underneath the outfield seats at the dome. I recall some guy at shows that went by the name of Mr. Mint. Wonder whatever happened to that guy. I don't even recall what he looked like, age or anything. Just remember the name.

HLT&T had another shop on telephone road in the 80s for a little while too. Would drive in from Pearland to go there.

---

I'd forgotten about those in the Dome! We used to meet in the same area occasionally when I was active with the local SABR chapter back in the day.

There was a shop at Jones and Grant in cypress and one further east down grant rd towards cy Creek. Anyone remember those? Lord of memories going to those shops. The grocery stores also always had a section back those days