The Collector

What do you collect? Cards, comics, coins? Marbles, matchbooks or even something else? Maybe like me you collect a few different things that remind you of another time. Maybe like the Collector, you just do it to collect.

For this post, let’s stick to baseball cards. Some people collect teams and others go after specific, often favorite players. With the advent of accessible and standard grading, some of us collect graded cards. Then you have your set builders. Others maybe autographed or “game used” cards. Even unopened wax, cello and rack packs are collected.

Like most of you I really enjoy the cards I have collected over the years. Some of it may be the memories but there is also the thrill of the hunt (less so with the internet). When you get down to brass tacks, I still enjoy just looking back thru my cards. I realize these aren’t something we can take with us. So why not share your collection with the next generation?

Something I’ve enjoyed this long provides plenty of stories to tell. I love sharing time and my collection with my son but why limit it to that? Many of us have boxes of common cards we don’t throw out or recycle even though we know what they are worth? Here are a couple of ideas, some of which I have tried and others I plan to down the road.

I have a super cool and curious nephew who is about 2 years old and frequently visits us here at home. I took a few commons off our worktable one day and just handed them to him. I gave him a 1990 Topps Hensley Meulens and he loved it. Then there were a couple of 1982 Jim Palmer and Rollie Fingers Fleer cards. He keeps these here and every time he visits he gets them out and carries them around. Sure they are creased, and the corners are shot, but we can cover that later. Everyone starts somewhere…

Another thought was to set up a card display in the public library case here in town. It’s a place where people share all kinds of things and may be a way to introduce someone new to the hobby. Other ideas are card exchanges or swap meets where like-minded kids can get together and interact. Even donating your cards to organizations like Cub Scouts could help with getting some kids started in their own collections or learn how to handle and display cards. Donations could help support school projects about sports or athletes that kids may be studying too. We enjoyed it so let’s help hand down what we’ve learned. Everyone starts somewhere.

Wax Pack Wednesday

Wax Pack Wednesday is pretty big in The Dugout. It may be our biggest day of the week but it’s not our only day with a theme. In fact, we have a whole week of themes here that help give us a nudge when we’re not feeling any certain direction to go. When my son Elliott really started getting into baseball cards he wanted us to put together a “shop” where we could work on our collections, trade and sell cards. No sooner than we were up-and-running he presented me with a weekly schedule. Here is what it looked like.

This has been great to have for a few reasons. First, it gave us some nights to work on specific parts of what I had collected over the years. Non-sports card Mondays got us thru sorting most of my Garbage Pail Kids and Magic cards. It also paved the way for a great discussion and history lesson when we got to the Desert Storm cards. I didn’t have a complete set put together but I still have 3 Pro Set wax boxes, and now his help, to finish it.

Beckett Thursday is a good father and son time for us to look up cards and spend time either laughing at page after page of Matt Nokes or celebrating a Fleer Cal Ripken rookie. This has also helped him understand all of the differences in card sets and subsets and see, like we did, the industry become over-saturated with cards. I mean Beckett covers the 70s and 80s in just 3 pages. The 90s were so crazy that it takes Beckett 18 pages to cover those. At least we won’t run out of things to do on Thursdays…

Wax Pack Wednesday though has been everyone’s favorite. This often times means a visit from Uncle Jeff and has also become our night to hit the local card shop. It started with opening up the cheap and available stuff but then Elliott started collecting unopened wax packs too. It’s fun to see him enjoy some of the very same things we did growing up. We still pick some up when we’re out or rip into a few from our own stash and enjoy every one.

I have to point out that this has led us to discovering some non-sports packs I didn’t even realize were being put out at the time. Packs like King Kong, The Black Hole, Jurassic Park and even Growing Pains. Trust me there are plenty more TV, movie and just plain weird packs to discover including Cyndi Lauper and Michael Jackson wax. I am guessing Topps simply switched these 80s production line volumes over to baseball in the 90s.

Give it a shot. Make your own night or nights where you set aside some time to just unwind with a certain part of card collecting. That Ripken rookie was pulled a few weeks ago on Wax Pack Wednesday from a pack we picked up at the local card shop. And yes, Uncle Jeff was there to help us celebrate.

Chris Sabo Autograph Day

Hottest day of my life? Easy. Chris Sabo autograph day. You may well remember that baseball card shows would often feature players who would sit behind a table and sign memorabilia. It still happens today but not as frequently. Some of these shows were held in hotel conference rooms or similar facilities. Sometimes shows were put on in rented spaces that I recall being like pole buildings, and often times with no air conditioning. This was one such show and, as my friend’s dad would put it, was hotter than a snake’s butt in a wagon wheel.

Not easily deterred we were present and in line. My dad, my brother and me. This was a chance to get Chris Sabo’s autograph. While we collected autographs I had one rule I always applied. I never collected an autograph that I personally didn’t see signed. I just mean I never purchased memorabilia that was already autographed. I got them myself mostly at stadiums or card shows. Of all the card shows we went to I can’t remember many specifics. This one I do though and maybe because of the photo taken that still haunts me, but my wife and daughter won’t let it go.

Collecting player autographs started when I was young. I can repeat the stories from my first autograph but honestly do not have my own memories of the night. We were at dinner with my family in Norwood Ohio and sitting by Stan Musial. My grandpa gets the credit here for making sure I met him and got his autograph on the back of an advertising card of the restaurant. I still have it.

Now fast forward to a vacation where again, out to dinner with my family, I have another great autograph opportunity. This one I remember. We were eating at Harry Caray’s in Chicago after seeing our first Cubs game at Wrigley. Who comes in a sits by us? Harry Caray. Under the watchful eye of my dad, my brother and I don’t bother him or his wife during their dinner. Of course mom has her purse and is carrying a couple of brand new baseballs in case we have an autograph opportunity. As soon as he finishes dinner Harry waves us over say hello and we get our autographs. Perfect dessert.

And just to set the record straight, there was the one time I was given a Gary Carter autographed picture as a gift later in life. I didn’t see that one signed but I still have it in my collection.

Do you have a specific autograph story that stands out?

Card Collection 2.0

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. Some of my other favorite things from the 80s are experiencing a reboot or resurrection since their popularity a few decades ago. The Star Wars franchise, Ghostbusters, GI Joe, Bon Jovi, Green Day, Depeche Mode, Commodore 64…well maybe not. But now I am seeing my card collection in a new light with the help of my son.

I spent a good portion of the 80s amassing sports cards and non-sports cards like most kids. I collected, traded, bought, sold and even worked in a friend’s card shop for a little while. It was fun and affordable. I still enjoy opening wax packs and collecting certain players today. When we started pulling all of my cards out of the closet though I had more than I remembered in volume and variety.

My son jumped in with both feet. He was able to see baseball cards representing all the brands along with other sports cards and non-sports cards I had collected. He took to early modern baseball cards (1980s) and is even building some sets. His newly acquired Wade Boggs cards have now found their way into books alongside his Pokémon collection. He is having as much fun as I did…collecting some of the same cards.

We still have a great card shop where we live and regular shows similar to what my dad would take us to when I was growing up. My son and I now go to both and work on cards here at home in the basement. He decided to name our “shop” and came up with the logo on his own. We will use this blog to help document some of our card collecting, father and son time, and hopefully encourage others.

I am curious where your collection is and how it’s being used?