No matter how modest or new — or old — a collection may be, it is unique, custom fit to the hobbyist who built it through blood, sweat, tears, dollar, and sheer cardboard love.

It’s inspirational.

But the truth is that some collections are just more inspiring than others.

And if you’re looking for some inspiration for your own hobby endeavors, or if you just want to be blown away for a few minutes, this list of incredible baseball card collections will set your imagination on fire.

The Dmitri Young Collection

Dmitri Young lived out every Little Leaguer’s dream, logging 13 seasons in the Major Leagues. Twice, in 2003 and 2007, he played at a high enough level to make it to the All-Star Game.

And, in his first season in the bigs, Young tasted October baseball, appearing in four games for the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League Championship Series.

But as sweet as realizing that dream of starring on the diamond is for any professional ballplayer, it must have been especially poignant for Young because, well, he is one of us.

That is, Dmitri Young is an inveterate baseball card collector.

And all during his big league career, Young set about meticulously piecing together one of the most blazing collections of “perfect” baseball cards the world has ever seen. Specializing in rookie cards that PSA graded as 10s, Young nailed down a run of RCs, the likes of which we may never see again.

Consider just a few of the 10s he accumulated:

• 1949 Bowman Roy Campanella
• 1954 Topps Ernie Banks
• 1955 Topps Roberto Clemente
• 1968 Topps Johnny Bench

All Hall of Fame rookie cards, all GEM-MT and slabbed.

Over the course of his career, news got out about Young’s hobby, and he became almost as famous for his cards as for his on-field exploits. It was a well-deserved reputation, too, and his collection eventually took on such a monster stature that PSA created a label just for Young — each of his cards is labeled as being part of the “DMITRI YOUNG COLLECTION.”

Not surprisingly, when Young put his monumental collection up for auction in the spring of 2012, the news rocked the hobby (in a good way). Also no surprise that the whole ball of wax hammered down at more than $2.4 million — a bunch, for sure, but likely a mere pittance compared to what the same cards would bring today.

The Jefferson R. Burdick Collection

If anyone ever tries to trivialize your card collection, telling you they’re “just” cardboard, you just remind them about good old Jefferson R. Burdick.

Burdick began collecting paper items of all types — postcards, programs, flyers, baseball cards (of course!) — at age 10 in 1910 and kept right on amassing his masterpiece until 1947.

By then, Burdick was an electrician and had more or less decided that his collection had finally outpaced his ability to properly display it in his home.

So, what’s a man to do?

Being the logician that he was, Burdick landed on the perfect solution to his “problem” — he’d donate the whole shebang to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. And so, The Met carved out a spot to house Burdick’s 300,000+ pieces of ephemera.

Then, when they weren’t quite doing justice to the cataloging of the massive collection, they brought the man himself in to do the work of creating a display worthy of the largesse, and Burdick labored pretty much up to his death in 1963 building out the perfect exhibition.

Today, the Burdick gift remains one of the most comprehensive baseball card collections in the world, fitting for the man who singlehandedly developed the original American Card Catalog (1939-1960).

The E. Powell Miller Collection

What’s the Holy Grail of baseball cards?

Well, with apologies to whatever chrome 1:1 auto patch refractor super rookie pre-prospect gadget just sold for some obscene amount in an online auction, the Holy Grail of baseball cards remains the T206 Honus Wagner tobacco card.

And, though other cards have proven to be more scarce than The Flying Dutchman over the years, nothing carries the mystique of “The Honus.”

I say all that to say this: the centerpiece of the E. Powell Miller baseball card collection is (or was) a beat-up Wagner that Miller paid $282,000 for.

But the thing is, that card is just the beginning.

Indeed, attorney Miller spent most of his adult life accumulating one of the most amazing collections of T206s in the world … along with blazing copies of monumental Detroit Tigers cards (Al Kaline rookie, for example), and bats used by Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth, and … so much more.

In the fall of 2020, Miller auctioned off his T206 set, deemed one of the greatest ever assembled, the news of which unsurprisingly rumbled through the hobby with all the subtlety of an elephant stampede.

The Joel Platt Collection

You want to know where there’s another Wagner card?

That would be at the Sports Immortals Museum and Memorabilia Mart in Boca Raton, Fla., which just so happens to have sprung from the personal collection of real estate developer Joel Platt.

In addition to the Wagner — complete with all four corners lopped off by scissor blades at some point in its life — the Platt collection includes autographed balls and cards of all sorts, an amazing assortment of tobacco cards, historic game-used balls (like the last one from the only “double no-hit games” in history), jerseys from the games greats, and on and on and on.

Like Burdick before him, Platt and his passion prove that sports memorabilia and cards are worthy of the title, “works of art.”

The Paul Jones Collection

“How many cards you got?”

It was the question that every card-collecting kid asked every other card-collecting kid in the 80s when we found out about our shared hobby.

And the answer was our badge of honor, our playground cred.

If you ever exchanged such numbers with Paul Jones, well … let’s just say chances are pretty good you’d lose the card-count bidding ward by an order of magnitude or more.

See, in 2008, the Guinness Book of World Records anointed Jones as the record holder among private collectors, citing his nearly 1 million cards. Since then, Jones has kept right on working to build his collection, with the number checking in at 2.8 million in February of 2020, according to an interview in SCD.

And, according to Paul’s father, Barry, that number jumps by at least 300,000 every year. And, while most of the collections on this list have already hit their peak and maybe even been disbanded, Jones vows to continue right on adding to that tally “until the day I die.”

The Uncle Jimmy Collection

It’s a dream every longtime collector has had at one time or another …

You’re excavating the deep recesses of some family dwelling, or rummaging through a trunk you bought at flea market and — BAM! — you stumble into a cache of old, stunning, valuable baseball cards.

Stuff like that doesn’t happen in real life, though … right?

Well …

James Micioni, a lifelong bachelor, always regaled his nieces and nephews with his tales of the baseball cards and memorabilia he collected during his life. Even told them he had Babe Ruth in the attic.

But they never saw any of it, weren’t sure they believed it.

When “Uncle Jimmy” passed away at age 97 in early 2020, though, the family finally made the trek to his attic, where they discovered … Babe Ruth!

Six Babe Ruth baseball cards in boxes and binders, to be exact.

That was just the beginning, too, as the “find” yielded a thousand or so vintage cards, among them plenty of Hall of Famers, many of which that would eventually grade out as 8s and 9s when PSA slabbed them.

Since the discovery, Wheatland Auction Services has brokered several of the cards, including an autographed 1933 Goudey Babe Ruth that sold for $761,100 in February of 2021.

So, the next time you hear some legend about buried cardboard treasure, don’t be too quick to laugh it off.

(Read all of our collector stories here. Want to share your own story? Let me know!)

Can you imagine tearing into a pristine wax pack of 1972 Topps baseball cards and pulling a vintage card of Hammerin’ Hank Aaron? Talk about a hobby dream come true.

But for Doug, a long-time collector from Grand Rapids, MI, it’s no dream — it actually happened!

That’s just one of the many awesome memories Doug has built during nearly four decades of collecting, and he was gracious enough to share his collector’s story with us.

Enjoy the golden memories …

—

How long have you been collecting?
37 years. Since I was 7.

How did you get started collecting?
My brother introduced me to them. I loved baseball and when he first showed them to me I was in awe.

What is the first card you can remember owning or buying?
My first pack was 1977. I remember opening it and hoping for a Mark Fidrych as we were diehard Tiger fans. I didn’t get that one, but I did get a Rusty Staub. The All-Star ribbon made it seem like I hit the lottery. Loved that card.

Which sports do you collect?
Baseball and football.

What other memorabilia, besides cards, do you collect?
Not much other than some jerseys and balls.

What is the focus of your collection?
Most of what I have I have sold over the years. I keep a small portion that I have on display. 1971 is my favorite year with 1959 a close second.

Who are your favorite players?
Lou Whitaker was my favorite player growing up. I loved George Brett. Mickey Mantle and Pete Rose as well.

Which is your favorite team?
Detroit Tigers

Do you have a favorite card or set?
Top three in no particular order: 1969 Mantle, 1971 Nolan Ryan, 1977 Rose.

Do you have a collecting project or goals you’re working on now?
Nope. Been pretty quiet. I still find myself on eBay staring at cards I either had or never got the chance to own. 1959 Mantle for sure. Can’t justify buying it at my age.

Where do you buy most of your cards?
Local Meijer store and the occasional eBay purchase

Which card or set have you always wanted to own but has always eluded you?
The cards I mentioned earlier, and the set is 1977 Topps. I never was able to complete it, and it was so special to me being the first year I collected

What’s your favorite hobby memory?
Card shows. The excitement of seeing the older cards has been unmatched. I would buy Al Kalines and Mantles and Aarons and then stare at them for hours.

Do you have any other memorable hobby moments to share?
Buying an unopened pack of 1972 Topps in 1985 — opened it up to a Hank Aaron. So it was worth the $5!

Anything else you want other collectors to know about you or the hobby?
I got in it for the love of the sport and the player. Never about the money. Looking at an old card brings back so many memories. Just picturing a 1962 Lou Brock instantly reminds me of the place I bought it (card show in Grandville), the price I paid ($9!), and how it made me feel. Not many other things can do that.

—

Amen, Doug!

Who doesn’t still get chills when a favorite old card passes our way, either in real life or on the computer screen?

While Doug doesn’t have a lot of time to devote to baseball cards these days, he does keep up with the hobby through Twitter and various websites he finds there.

It’s a pull veteran collectors know well.

After all, when you’re in it for the love of game, you can’t stay away from the cardboard gods for long.

UPDATE!!

In late June 2019, I caught up with Doug again, on Twitter, and he had some interesting things to share about his hobby activity over the last couple of years.

Here’s how that conversation played out …

What have you been up to, hobbywise, since we spoke in 2017? Any projects or focus areas come into play?

Well, we can blame Wax Ecstatic for my jump back into the hobby. I always bought a pack or two of the latest Topps each year, but that’s it. Listening to his podcast, especially going over the old years I loved so much, got me to eBay. I started buying up a bunch of the old cards I either had and sold or never got and wished I did. I bought every Rose from 64-79 and put on some shadow box displays to look at. Picked up several Mantles and Kalines. Just basically got acquainted again with old friends.

 

I’m not the kind to go back and start rebuilding sets but I have started buying old complete sets of the Tigers. Got the ’59 then ’74-’78. No real stars other than Kaline, so affordable except for some of the sets with a lot of high numbers.

 

Nice. So is eBay still your go-to, or are you using any other sites, too? Any online trading, going to card shows, etc.?

 

EBay only as it’s simply the cheapest route. Haven’t done any trading yet and have stayed away from the shows. Too dangerous. (WPG note: No Kidding!)

 

I keep track of release dates. Hit the Targets and Walmarts and Meijer out here for Topps, Heritage or Bowman. The thrill of opening a pack never leaves you.

 

Any favorites among recent issues? Favorite current players?

I loved this year’s Topps (2019). Last years Heritage was nice as there was just something about the 1969 set I liked despite all pictures being boring. The All-Star cards that year were awesome.

Love Cabrera and Verlander for sure. Judge is a great player. Kershaw. Not a huge Trout fan but that’s due to the media always thinking he deserved MVP votes over Miggy so often.

Are you doing much with football these days?

Not much new. I’ll grab a few Paninis for the new season but that’s it. Collected about ten old Lions sets off eBay. Those cards really don’t hold the memories like baseball ones do for some reason. I can see a card from the 60s or 70s and can remember the first time I saw it and if I owned it, who I bought it from. Or at least what show or LCS.

Any parting shots?

One thing I would like to add about cards….I loved looking at them for hours growing up. One of the main reasons was that was a rare glimpse into that player, that team, etc. You didn’t always see pics of say Pete Rose except on a magazine or All-Star Game. Because of the internet, pictures are countless. Video, etc. It’s not the same. You can’t go back unfortunately.

—

Thanks, Doug. Always fun “talking” to fellow collectors online, which does help me go back to simpler times, at least for a few minutes.

And speaking of going back, Doug indulged me by answering a couple of time-warp type questions with more personal interest to me …

First, Doug — who goes to 2-3 Tigers games a year — took on the subject of whether he preferred Comerica Park or Tiger Stadium …

That’s tough, as you are comparing memories. Tiger Stadium was my first game at 8 years old. It was being a part of “the wave” in 1984 with the stadium literally feeling like it was liquid. Comerica has hosted 2 World Series. It is beautiful, but I guess if I had to choose, I would choose the old one.

And then, at the prodding of my wife, Doug shared a few logistics about how he houses his collection — specifically, how much room it swallows in his house …

 

Funny question. I took from my house when we got married a large amount that I kept in a storage shed at our first place. It now resides in a full closet but, I now have 5 framed shadow box holders for my favorites. I have a room upstairs with some of my Tigers sets and even New England Patriots cards from the last Super Bowl. I try to not have them all over.

 

For the record, I do try to have them all over, but that generally doesn’t fly. Doug’s approach seems much more considerate and mature than mine, I suppose.

 

Thanks again for the updates, Doug. Fun to catch up!

 

(Read all of our collector stories here. Want to share your own story? Let me know!)

There are certain formative experiences that just seem to stick with us, to mold us, for the rest of our lives.

Maybe those first sweet days of Kindergarten, filled with snacks and naps and a doting teacher, inspired you with a love for education you just can’t shake.

Or maybe you tagged along to see The Empire Strikes Back with your older brother even though you’d never heard of Luke Skywalker or Darth Vader … and you’ve been steeped in geekdom ever since.

And, if you’re a baseball card collector (and you are, obviously), there is no breaking free from the grasp of the first cards you pulled from fresh packs.

That’s part of the reason we still have cases and cases of 1990 Fleer and 1988 Donruss and 1982 Topps Kmart boxed sets just sitting out there taking up space, waiting. Deep in our hearts, plenty of us still love these things because they’re part of our past.

So it is, too, for Santa Barbara collector Rocco Constantino.

Rocco came to the hobby just as the hobby was becoming The Hobby. That would be 1981, in case you’re wondering. You know, the year Fleer and Donruss crashed Topps’ monopoly party and issued a couple of the most, um, interesting sets of the last 50 years.

Which is to say, Rocco loves the 1981 sets. All of them.

But more than that,those early influences of baseball and baseball cards stick with him today — from his work as an athletic director to the baseball books he writes to the cards he collects, still.

Here is Rocco’s collecting story …

How did you get started collecting?

My uncle owned a corner store and my dad used to take me and my siblings there to play arcade games. He sold baseball cards and stickers too. We were already watching baseball games and learning about the sport’s history, so we would always get cards and stickers when we went to visit his store. We used to sit and sort our cards for hours watching Yankees and Mets games. It was probably the only thing that could keep us quiet and in one spot as kids, so our family had no problems bringing us packs of cards or stickers on an almost daily basis.

What is the first card you can remember owning or buying?

I don’t remember a first individual card that I owned, but I remember so much about collecting the 1981 Topps cards when I was seven years old. I do remember some of my favorites from that set were the Reggie Jackson and George Brett cards. I also remember thinking it was strange that Dave Winfield was pictured in a Padres uniform even though he was playing for the Yankees. I don’t think I comprehended the idea of free agency at seven years old. One of the first cards I remember buying individually as a kid was the 1983 Topps Traded Darryl Strawberry. I was probably about 12 and the book price was out of my price range. However, I came across one in a store for much cheaper than the Beckett listing because there was a crease along the back. The card looked perfect from the front though and that was good enough for me.

Which sports do you collect?

I mostly collect baseball, but I still will have interest in NFL, NHL, and NBA, in that order.

What other memorabilia, besides cards, do you collect?

Lately I have been collecting autographs in my copy of a baseball history book I had published in 2016. My book (50 Moments That Defined Major League Baseball) takes a look at interesting games and moments from the past 100 years and I have been getting many former Major Leaguers to sign my copy. Reggie Jackson wasn’t too happy to sign the chapter I wrote about his fight with Billy Martin in Boston, but luckily he signed it before he saw what the content was. It was cool getting Pete Rose to sign my chapter on his 4000th hit. Other highlights include Gaylord Perry and Goose Gossage signing my chapter about the Pinetar Game, Paul Molitor signing my chapter about his hitting streak, and Ron Guidry signing my chapter about the game the Yanke

es played the night of Thurman Munson‘s funeral.

What is the focus of your collection?

Right now I am most interested in pre-1970s cards; the cards that seemed like unreachable historical artifacts to us as kids. The fact that I own 1934 Diamond Stars or 1951 Topps Red Backs now would have

blown my 13-year old mind.

Who are your favorite players?

The Mets are my favorite team and my favorite Mets players are Keith Hernandez, Dwight Gooden, and Mike Piazza. Historically, I’d choose Sandy Koufax, Roberto Clemente, and Satchel Paige. From a collecting standpoint, my favorites are Tom Seaver, Reggie Jackson, Johnny Bench, Willie Mays, and Hank Aaron.

Which are your favorite teams?

I have been a big Mets fan my entire life. I moved to the West Coast last year and have been rooting for the Dodgers despite their upset of the Mets in the 1988 NLCS.

Do you have a favorite card or set?

I’d say my favorites are all three 1981 sets (despite the Donruss being printed on tissue paper) because that set is the most nostalgic to me. I also like the 1975, 1978 ,and 1982 sets too. My favorite cards are the Dwight Gooden’s 1984 Topps Traded, Tony Gwynn‘s 1983 Topps, George Brett’s 1975 Topps, and Tom Seaver’s 1968 card.

Do you have a collecting project or goals you’re working on now?

I don’t have any specific goals I am working on now. Just like adding pre-1970 cards of Hall of Famers that I do not have.

How much time do you spend on the hobby these days?

I don’t spend much time on the hobby on a daily or weekly basis now. When I have some extra spending money, I will look around for some interesting purchases though.

Where do you buy most of your cards?

Ebay.

Which card or set have you always wanted to own but has always eluded you?

Any of the Mickey Mantle cards from the 1950s; I don’t have any. Also Tom Seaver and Reggie Jackson rookie cards and early Sandy Koufax or Roberto Clemente cards.

What’s your favorite hobby memory?

My aunt lived in California when we were growing up in New Jersey. She used to ship us packs, sets, and individual cards she would find at swap meets. We never knew what we would get or when a package would show up. One day a package came in the mail and among the cards was a Nolan Ryan rookie card that I still have. To a kid in the late 1980s, that was the Holy Grail, and somehow I had it. I also still remember being very happy to finally complete the 1981 set as a kid. I specifically remember that among the last few cards I needed were Jim Slaton and the Yankees Prospects cards. I ended up getting them both in a rack pack my father’s aunt gave me.

Do you have any other funny or memorable hobby moments to share?

One of my best memories connected to cards came when I wrote my first baseball book a few years ago. I interviewed over 50 former MLB players, many of them who played in the 1970s and 1980s. Throughout the process of interviewing them, I just kept thinking back to collecting their cards 30 years earlier. I must have pulled dozens of Fred Lynn, Rod Carew, and Rudy May cards from packs in the 80s, and 35 years later I was interviewing them. As a kid, I would have never thought in a million years that I would one day be talking on the phone to the same players I’d be pulling from packs.

Anything else you want other collectors to know about you or the hobby?

I think what makes baseball card collecting and baseball in general great is that it seems to span generations more than other sports. My connection to the game and to cards comes from my father and uncles passing their interest down to me as a kid. I would hope present day fans and collectors do the same. Collecting cards is the best way to learn about the history of the game for kids in my opinion.

How can other collectors get in touch with you?

My Twitter is @MLB100Years and I have a Facebook Group for my book 50 Moments That Defined Major League Baseball as well.

—

So much of this resonates with me, and, I suspect other collectors.

Who doesn’t love to bask in the glory of cards from the 1980s hobby boom years or dream about all those Mantle cards we might yet lay our hands on … someday?

Thanks, Rocco, for sharing your story. It’s been a great ride!

Now, though, I have a hankering for some 1981 Donruss gum. Who’s with me?

(Read all of our collector stories here. Want to share your own story? Let me know!)

Baseball, more than any other sport, has a long and storied history of pulling families together across the generations.

Fathers play catch with their sons, who coach their own kids’ Little League teams. And they all gather around the Hot Stove to talk about what has been and what will be …

Will this be the year the New York Mets finally win another World Series? 

Will Aaron Judge be as good as Mickey Mantle? As Dave Kingman? As Kevin Maas?

When will these young kids realize that no one will ever be as good as Mickey Mantle?

Every family dynamic is different, of course, but you’ll find strong family bonds tethering most fans to the game if you look deep enough.

And for baseball card collectors, evidence of those ties can often be found right in the cozy pockets of our three-ring binders.  That’s the case for New York hobbyist Gregory Koutrouby, whose cardboard-bound family memories stretch back to the magical boom years of the 1980s and all the way forward to today.

Gregory was kind enough to share his collecting journey with us recently. Here is his story …

How long have you been collecting?

My childhood collecting days were from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s.

How did you get started collecting?

Dad introduced me to the game of baseball, taught me how to play, and brought home my first packs of baseball cards.

What is the first card you can remember owning or buying?

What I’m remembering is a 1983 Topps Baseball sticker that I didn’t own: Dave Concepcion of the Cincinnati Reds. His sticker was one of only a few that I needed in order to complete the album. No matter how many packs of stickers I opened, I just couldn’t get that guy.

Fortunately, if you were missing any stickers back then you could order 10 for $1.00 (plus a self-addressed stamped envelope). All you had to do was follow the instructions on the inside back cover of the album.

Which sports do you collect?

Baseball and hockey.

What is the focus of your collection?

Cards from the 1980s, and some vintage cards as well.

Who are your favorite players?

Aside from the players I grew up watching, like Don Mattingly, Howard Johnson, and Ozzie Smith, I tend to lean toward players of the Golden Age of baseball. Last year I bought a book called The Big Show, which features the photography of the legendary Charles M. Conlon. Instead of covering the glamorous big-name players of the era, this book focuses more closely on lesser-known players who may have only had a short stint in the big leagues. The photographs and accompanying stories capture a blue-collar grittiness and rawness that’s just incredible. Baseball players as they were meant to be, as far as I’m concerned.

Do you have a favorite card or set?

It’s difficult to choose just one. Baseball card companies have really run the gamut of design and style over the decades—and that means both the good and the bad. For example, Topps put out absolute masterpieces like 1965 Mack Jones (#241) and 1978 Nolan Ryan (#400), but then there are the “airbrush specials” like 1981 Gary Woods (#172) and 1987 Mike Laga (#321). Who knew the Cardinals wore satin pink jerseys?

Do you have a collecting project or goals you’re working on now?

Since I rediscovered my childhood collection a few years ago, I’ve been working on completing some of the sets that I didn’t quite complete back then. I’ve also been doing those sets justice by placing them in fresh nine-pocket pages and storing them somewhere other than the attic. (Side note: Inside two of my old binders I found handwritten lists of card numbers that I still needed. My penmanship sure was different in elementary school…)

How much time do you spend on the hobby these days?

An hour or two each week.

What’s your main source of hobby information?

There are many entertaining and informative blogs out there. Aside from this one, I try to find time to read The Topps Archives, Shoebox Legends, Night Owl Cards, and The Shlabotnik Report, among others.

Where do you buy most of your cards?

I’ll buy a card here and there on ebay, and trade for others on sportscardforum.com.

Which card or set have you always wanted to own but has always eluded you?

I’m more of an Ishmael than a Captain Ahab when it comes to card collecting.

What’s your favorite hobby memory?

For quite a few years of my early childhood, my dad lived in Manhattan, while my sister and I lived on Long Island with our mom. Every other Friday evening, dad would drive out to the island in a maroon Honda Civic hatchback to pick up his two kids for a weekend in the big city. The trip back to Manhattan took about an hour (without traffic), and during those rides, my sister and I would excitedly share events from the previous two weeks with dad: schoolwork, teachers, friends, Little League games, softball games.

And for the year of 1984, in particular, there was even more to look forward to on those rides: a small brown paper bag tucked between the seats of the car, filled with packs of Topps baseball cards. After we caught up with dad, my sister and I would divide the packs evenly and start opening them. We were still too young to have a favorite player or an allegiance to one New York team over the other, but we both loved baseball. I remember that whenever we found a hometown player in those packs we’d call out “Mets!” or “Yankees!”, and dad would ask us which player we got. What a great time.

Do you have any other funny or memorable hobby moments to share?

This past year I went through all my extra 1987 Topps cards, and with a little help from a few generous collectors, I managed to put together a third complete set. This set went to my brother, who is just about the same age as the cards. He couldn’t believe I had that many 1987s. But back in 1987, I think every kid had that many.

Later in the morning he and I decided to go out for a while, so we left the 800-count box on his kitchen counter and said goodbye to his two dogs.

When we came back, the box was on the floor—chewed open—and cards were strewn everywhere. I guess his dogs don’t like baseball. Or maybe they smelled traces of 30-year-old bubble gum and wanted to investigate. Either way, the cards themselves weren’t chewed up or slobbered on, so we took a few minutes to put everything back in the box. The next task is re-sorting them by number. It’s too bad the dogs can’t do that as part of their punishment.

The lesson? Don’t leave bubble gum cards on the counter if you have large, inquisitive dogs.

Anything else you want other collectors to know about you or the hobby?

I’ve been fortunate to have met and interviewed many brilliant artists over the past ten years, and I share the conversations I’ve had with them on a website called A Thousand Stories.

—

Thanks for sharing your story, Gregory!

Great to hear that you’ve joined the legions of us who have rediscovered our fair hobby after some time away. In a lot of ways, it’s better now than ever before, and connecting with other collectors on the net is a big part of that new magic.

(Read all of our collector stories here. Want to share your own story? Let me know!)

It’s the idealized picture of the hobby that so many of us hold of dear, a picture we hope to recapture every time we pick up a rectangle of cardboard …

A preteen boy hops on his bike and rides down to the corner store to plunk down whatever change he could scrape together for a pack or two of baseball cards. He rips open the wax wrappers right there in parking lot, one knee propped on his bike, and jams the sharp pink gum into his mouth.

He shuffles through his new treasures with great reverence, hoping against hope for a glimpse of his favorite player, or at least for a card he doesn’t have yet. Maybe this is the day he’ll get a Gary Carter card!

No matter what bounty he hauls home from his collecting expedition, our hero returns from his adventures with an even greater love for the game, and for the hobby.

For collector David Gourlay of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, this is no hypothetical dream world. It’s part of his hobby DNA and helps explain why he’s been at it for more than 35 years now.

Here is his story …

How long have you been collecting?

Since 1981!

How did you get started collecting?

I was 10 and just loved baseball (still do!) and baseball cards were simply a fun way to enjoy the sport that, at that time, we had limited access to unless it was on TV or a newspaper game box score.

What is the first card you can remember owning or buying?

I remember the 1981 Topps Bob Welch card with the Dodgers – I was with my parents on a holiday at Ogunquit, Maine, and I was collecting people’s used pop cans to collect the nickel deposit – once I had quarters collected, I had a pack!

Which sports do you collect?

baseball

What other memorabilia, besides cards, do you collect?

I collect autographed baseballs (my best one is of Willie “Pops” Stargell), old annual season previews, but my main passion is cards.

What is the focus of your collection?

My collection has a focus on my childhood hero Gary Carter (Expos). I also collect Roberto Clemente, Edgar Martinez, and the Pirates and, finally, I collect a series of sets over the past 36 years like 2007/8 Upper Deck Masterpieces, 2012-2017 Topps Archives. I just love the throwback focus!

Who are your favorite players?

Roberto Clemente, Gary Carter and Edgar Martinez.

Which is  your favorite team?

Pittsburgh Pirates

Do you have a favorite card or set?

The 1981 Topps Gary Carter base card.

Do you have a collecting project or goals you’re working on now?

I have too many to list! I am currently working on completing about 20-25 different sets over the past 35 years.

How much time do you spend on the hobby these days?

I am very active – I usually spend a few hours a day on my collection.

What’s your main source of hobby information?

I don’t really have a dedicated source – I am very active on social media and usually generate information on there.

Where do you buy most of your cards?

Online ; sadly, the hobby does not have strong retail presence anymore outside major markets.

Which card or set have you always wanted to own but has always eluded you?

The 1980 Topps set – some great memories of the game in that day and I’d love to open some packs from that year.

What’s your favorite hobby memory?

As a kid, getting on my bike and cycling over to the local convenience store to buy packs and enjoying the thrill of a new card plus the gum!

Do you have any other funny or memorable hobby moments to share?

I have had some great hits over the past 10 years when the hobby vastly changed with autos, relics, patches, etc. I recall pulling a Bob Gibson autograph patch card from 2008 UD Heroes and recently won a randomized draw for a Clemente 1955 rookie card – PSA 2, but what an amazing addition to my growing Clemente collection.

Anything else you want other collectors to know about you or the hobby?

I love the trading community – we benefit from communication, open dialogue, and helping each other to trade, collect, complete sets, etc. I always enjoying hearing from collectors and their experiences.

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Thanks for sharing your story, David!

It’s hard to shake this great hobby of ours, isn’t it? And, really, who would want to?!

If you’d like to get in touch with David, he’s happy to connect with fellow collectors through any of these channels:

Twitter (collecting/trading): @clementecards21

Twitter (personal): @davidgourlay

Website: https://clementecardsproject.org

(Read all of our collector stories here. Want to share your own story? Let me know!)

With a variety of baseball card projects underway at any given time, Sam dedicates a couple of hours each day to the hobby.

Recently, Sam took carved out some time to share his Collector Story with us. Enjoy!

How long have you been collecting?
37 years

How did you get started collecting?
I remember looking through the Sears catalog and asking for those lots of football cards they had for sale. Nothing but commons I’m sure but they were like gold to me. I also remember finding random packs of basketball cards at several convenience stores. I was also hooked on those stickers from the early 80’s.

What is the first card you can remember owning or buying?
Although I’m now a baseball-only collector, the first big card I can remember owning was the Joe Montana rookie.

Which sports do you collect?
Baseball

What other memorabilia, besides cards, do you collect?
Nothing

What is the focus of your collection?
Every collector goes for something different. I have a two pronged collection. First, I collect sets (base cards only:I’m not into the insert and special sets). I have every set from the major brands since 1972. Second, I collect star cards – mostly Hall of Famers, players that should/will be there someday, or just favorites from my childhood that I know won’t make it but that I like anyway (Dale Murphy…). In addition to the sets, I try to get one of every one of the star cards on my list and place in an album.

Who is your favorite player(s)?
Rickey Henderson.

Which is (are) your favorite team(s)?
Oakland Athletics

Do you have a favorite card or set?
I don’t have the set, but I’ve always like the 1962 Topps design.

Do you have a collecting project or goals you’re working on now?
I recently started working backwards again. I’m currently working on a 1970 Topps set.

How much time do you spend on the hobby these days?
After stepping back from cards in the early to mid 90’s, I got back into it again with the emergence of ebay/online sales in the late 90’s. I run a website and have ebay auctions so I usually spend a couple of hours a day on the hobby.

What’s your main source of hobby information?
ebay and twitter

Where do you buy most of your cards?
ebay

Which card or set have you always wanted to own but has always eluded you?
1960 Topps Carl Yastrzemski rookie card. I don’t actively pursue it but when I have, I just haven’t found the sweet spot of card condition and price I’m willing to pay.

What’s your favorite hobby memory?
Searching through Beckett magazines to find card shows in my area. Getting all my want lists together in the days before and then spending hours going from table to table finding what cards I needed.

Do you have any other funny or memorable hobby moments to share?
When I was in college I opened a card shop above my father’s business. I could only do it a couple of hours a day but it was great fun.

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Great memories that resonate with me and I’m sure many other collectors who were there for The Boom (and The Bust).

Thanks for sharing, Sam!

If you’d like to get in touch with Sam, you can follow him on Twitter (@McMillanSam) or visit hes website, CompleteYourSets.com.

(Read all of our collector stories here. Want to share your own story? Let me know!)

Jeff Katz – Mayor of Cooperstown

After all, it’s home to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and still holds the mythical title of the “Birthplace of Baseball,” accurate or not.

But Cooperstown is also the hometown of James Fenimore Cooper, the first major American novelist, making it a bucket-list favorite of the literary set, as well.

It’s little wonder, then, that when author and long-time baseball card collector Jeff Katz made his way east from Chicago, he eventually landed in Cooperstown.

Unlike many fans who make a pilgrimage to the picturesque village on Otsego Lake, though, Jeff never left. In fact, he dug in and became the Mayor!

“Village of Cooperstown” by drumminhands is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Recently, Mayor Katz took some time to reflect on his decades in the hobby, and he’s been gracious enough to share those memories with us.

Sit back and enjoy the ride …

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How long have you been collecting?
Since I was around 2 or 3, but seriously since 1971.

How did you get started collecting?
Beatles cards! But also baseball cards. Relatives would buy me packs. I got serious when I saw ads for card dealers in the back of The Sporting News in 1971, the year I first subscribed.

What is the first card you can remember owning or buying?
I can’t answer that. I have no idea.

Which sports do you collect?
Baseball, continuously. I always collected football, basketball, and hockey when I was a kid, from the late 60’s through the late 70’s.

What other memorabilia, beside s cards, do you collect?
Autographs, yearbooks, books, though more as an accumulator than a collector. I’m a big record collector, though I know that’s not memorabilia, per se.

What is the focus of your collection?
I’m a card collector, so my collection includes baseball, the other sports and non-sports. On a day to day basis, my focus is on the sets I’m currently working on.

Who are your favorite players?  
Tom Seaver, Sandy Koufax (old), Francisco Lindor (new), though I haven’t made a point of getting Lindor cards outside his Topps base cards.

Which is your favorite team?
None really. I like baseball. I was a huge Met fan until they traded Seaver in 1977 and I realized I liked Seaver more than I liked the Mets. That trade liberated me from team-based rooting.

Do you have a favorite card or set?
1967 Topps is my fave set. Two of my fave cards are the 1957 and 1961 Topps Wes Covington cards. That dude had some great cards!

Do you have a collecting project or goals you’re working on now?
1949 Remar Bread, 1952 Parkhurst, 1960 Topps, and 1971 Kellogg’s.

How much time do you spend on the hobby these days?
I really got re-energized about 1 1/2 years ago. I don’t’ spend too much time on the hobby each day, maybe 30 minutes or so checking websites for sales.

What’s your main source of hobby information?
I’ll read Sports Collectors Daily online. I follow a bunch of card people on Twitter, so that leads to news.

Where do you buy most of your cards?
eBay, Sportlots.com, various other sites.

Which card or set have you always wanted to own but has always eluded you?
I would love to get the 1960 Leaf high series, but it’s too pricey.

What’s your favorite hobby memory?
First big card show, at a church in Manhattan, 1973. It was pre-hobby explosion and every dealer was a hobby lover.

Do you have any other funny or memorable hobby moments to share?
I’m going to send you to this post I wrote for the SABR Baseball Cards blog:

Anything else you want other collectors to know about you or the hobby?
I’m Mayor of Cooperstown and an author of two baseball books (Split Season:1981 was my most recent). As a long time card collector, I can’t imagine a better world!

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Beyond his exploits in chasing down awesome vintage cardboard and running the show in Cooperstown, Jeff knows a thing or two about interpersonal relationships, and especially about finding the right woman. If you’ve ever had to come clean about your hobby to a significant other, you’ll love the story he penned recently for the SABR Baseball Cards blog.

And if you want to get in touch with “Your Worship!” — Jeff says that’s what they call mayors in Canada  — you can follow him on Twitter (@SplitSeason1981), visit his website, or drop him an email at splitseason1981@gmail.com.

And, of course, you can always visit his hometown, but beware — you may never want to leave!

(Read all of our collector stories here. Want to share your own story? Let me know!)

While veteran collector Matt Prigge may not have quite the baseball chops that Yount does, the two men do share one strong bond — an abiding devotion to their beloved Brew Crew.

Matt, who hails from Milwaukee, was kind enough to share his hobby journey with us, the latest in our series of Collector Stories. As you might imagine, his tale is tinged throughout with powder-blue Brewers memories.

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How long have you been collecting?
On and off since 1989, when I was seven.

How did you get started collecting?
The first thing I ever remember collecting was matchbox cars, and I started that when I was probably 4 or 5. I had a kind of fascination with cars then, which didn’t last, but I also had a fascination with baseball, which did last. I think pretty much as soon as I figured out such a thing as baseball cards existed, I wanted some.

What is the first card you can remember owning or buying?
I remember having a stack of Kraft Mac & Cheese cards, the kind you cut from the back of the box, which would have been 1987. I don’t remember anything about them, though. I vividly recall my first wax pack. It was 1989 Topps. One of my parents had stopped at a corner store and picked up some sodas (soda was a treat back then) and left them in the fridge to cool. When they told me I could go get my can, I opened the fridge and found a soda with the pack sitting on top. I have forgotten nearly all of the reading I did in grad school, but I still remember getting a Gil Hodges Turn Back the Clock and an Angels team leaders in that pack.

Which sports do you collect?
Baseball. I collected basketball and football as a kid, but can’t force myself to care about those sports anymore.

What other memorabilia, besides cards, do you collect?
I collect a lot of Brewers memorabilia and pretty much anything Milwaukee-related. Bobbleheads, maps, old hotel keys, political campaign pins, etc., etc.

What is the focus of your collection?
I’m trying to build Topps base sets. I have a 1974 set nearly done. I’m trying to see how many of those I can get signed. I’ve got about 80 so far. I’d like to see if I can get everything going back to ’74. I’ve tried a few of the pre-74 sets before, but always got stuck on the high numbers. I am also trying to build an All-Time Brewers set, one card of each guy who every played for the franchise and see how many of those I can get signed. Right now, I’ve got about 92% of the roster, with about 20% signed.

Who are your favorite players?
I don’t really focus on too many players. But if I had to pick a few, I’d go with Henry Aaron, Nyjer Morgan, and Paul Molitor.

Which is (are) your favorite team(s)?
That begins and ends with the Brewers. I don’t follow or root for anyone else.

What’s your main source of hobby information?
All those wonderful card blogs!

Where do you buy most of your cards?
Ebay or Sportslots mostly, some at Target. I don’t really have a local hobby shop.

Which card or set have you always wanted to own but has always eluded you?
The 1998 Pacific team checklist that pictures Julio Franco in a Brewers uni. I’m planning to do a whole post on it. It’s worth about a dollar, but I cannot find it anywhere.

What’s your favorite hobby memory?
It’s only kinda related to the hobby – it involves an item in my collection – but it would have to be when, back in 1998 at County Stadium, Greg Maddux tossed me a baseball before one of his starts. It was the first time I’d ever gotten a ball at a game, and I just about died.

Do you have any other funny or memorable hobby moments to share?
I once got former Brewers closer Curtis Leskanic to sign the instruction manual for my George Foreman Grill after I read him gushing about how great they were in the newspaper.

Anything else you want other collectors to know about you or the hobby? 
I’m always up for trades! I’m getting back into the hobby and figured that blogging would be a good way to keep me engaged. It’s been a lot of fun so far. 

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It’s clear that Matt is knee-deep in the hobby these days and a dedicated Milwaukee Brewers fan with big collecting ambitions.

Great to see another child of the 80s (and 90s, in Matt’s case) resurrecting his love affair with baseball cards!

If you want to follow Matt’s hobby exploits, you can find him on Twitter (@mjpmke) or on his blog, Summer of ’74.

(Read all of our collector stories here. Want to share your own story? Let me know!)