I am an unfortunate child of the late 80s / early 90s when baseball card collecting went from a fun hobby for kids to a crazy, commercialized overproduced hot mess.
My best memories as a kid at Christmas come from excitedly looking for the long rectangular wrapped box under the tree knowing that Santa brought the year's Topps set. Knowing that the rest of those long Christmas breaks stuck indoors would be spent sorting those cards by team and then alphabetically by player. After getting all the sorting done, I'd get those oh so carefully put into sheets and baseball card binders to be admired throughout the upcoming baseball season.
I have a ton of cards from 1987 to 1992, like most kids do of that time. How many of us remember riding bikes to the 5 and Dime Store or CVS to pick up a pack of Topps or Donruss for 25 cents? When Upper Deck came along we were all shocked at the price of a pack?
Getting back into collecting took 26 years, and having two boys of my own that starting playing baseball. We found that it was a great way to learn about legendary baseball players like Ted Williams, Shoeless Joe Jackson, Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron and so many others.
I still have all those 1987 Topps, 1988 Topps, and sets of the late 80s perfectly stored away, and they're fun to look at every once in a while.
My favorite player to collect is Ryne Sandberg - my own personal hero growing up. Along with being a great player was just known as a great all around guy. A memory I will always cherish, is that my oldest son getting to meet him and have his photo taken with him at a clinic he did in our area in 2019!
I've decided to expand my personal collection by working on things that are fun or historically significant to the amazing game of baseball. Going to focus on All-Star cards (mainly Topps), league leader cards, and historical stat leaders (like HR leaders, Wins leaders, Strikeout leaders), and other statistical leaders in baseball throughout the years...
