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.