Archive for category: TTM

When I was collecting sports cards as a kid, I had two binders.  Being the organized type that I am (har har) they were separated for a reason.  One binder, had all rookie cards. Baseball, football, basketball, hockey. The entire gamut.  Spanning from Pudge Rodriguez to Jay Buhner, from Terry Bradshaw to Barry Bonds (1987 Topps style).  In the other binder, I had attempted to sort out all of my cards of ‘value’.  Sorted by player, I had pages worth of Frank “Big Hurt” Thomas, Ken Griffey Jr, Cal Ripken Jr and Don Mattingly.  Later on, they were littered with Alex Rodriguez, Nomar Garciaparra, and Rick Ankiel. It made them easier to find to trade with others to help expand my own personal collection.  And then I got older.

As I got older, I got a job, which meant I had more money to spend.  I was no longer begging my parents for a pack of Triple Play cards from the dollar store.  As I had more money to spend, I was able to buy more cardboard pictures at once. It wasn’t just a pack anymore. Eventually, as the hobby crashed and rebuilt itself, I would tear open packs just to find the hits.  Gone were the days of trying to get my collection to 5 full pages of Frank Thomas cards. Instead, as I was ripping through packs, glancing slightly at who I pulled, the thrill of it had dissipated.  Nobody left to trade with as everyone but me had grown up, so card collecting wasn’t the same.  It was all about perceived monetary value instead of personal nostalgic value.

Last week, my mindset was reset.  About two years ago, I joined a forum where fellow collectors could get together and share their collections, discuss the hobby, and orchestrate trades through the mail.  Without getting too long winded, I set up with a trade with a fellow collector in Washington, and he proved to me that wonderful ‘strangers’ do still exist.  “Fellow Collector” also does TTM autographs like I do.  In exchange for what he wanted, he pulled out all of the stops from his collection and in one swoop made my collection better (much better).  He went above and beyond in his end of the trade and I can’t thank him enough.

For the first time in probably 10 years, my ‘value binder’ got dismantled last week.  Tearing out all of the cards that I once collected as I boy, I replaced them with all of the through-the-mail autographs that I’ve recieved.

It makes me feel like a kid again.

Instead of taking the cards that current and former players took the time to sign for me and just holing them up in a box, I’ve put them back on display.  I’m able to browse back through the pages, pull out the binder and share stories with anyone that will listen, and I’m finding that it’s getting me more in tune with the history of the sports.  Had I not started doing this, I wouldn’t know about Howie Bedell, or Lou Brissie, or Dan Fouts.  I know that there are plenty of people that question my passion for this hobby, especially after it’s grown exponentially in the past two years.  But that’s okay.  I wouldn’t have it any other way.  I like feeling like a kid.