Who do you collect? Why?

[cpr1981]

I have always wondered why some people collect the people they do. Is it because they saw them in the minors and wanted to get a jump on everyone else? Was it because they were nice to them at some event or simply because they played for a specific team?

I collect quite a few players, most of whom I have some sort of reason.

For example, I collect pretty much every player to have put on a uniform at LSU (Mahtook, Addai, Landry, Hester, Mitchell, etc.)

Matt Kemp (Every year I play fantasy baseball and during my research back in '07 I had him on my list of players to keep an eye on so I decided to start collecting his stuff)
Joba Chamberlain (My favorite team is the Yankees and some have said we look alike so...there you have it)
David Wright (always been a fan...can't think of a reason lol)
Brandon Wood (met Brandon a while back at a Tristar show and he was the nicest "Top Prospect" I had met to date so I started collecting his stuff.)

I'm interested to know why you collect who you do.

Colvin

 

[NYMets6986]

Carl Yastrzemski- Just because he is one of the greatest players in Red Sox history
Tony Conigliaro- The player he was before the injury was phenomenal
Bobby Thomson-My great grandfather knew him

 

[redsoxfan1979]

Here is a little story I dont think I have shared here.

My avatar (Lowell Spinners) is a Redsox Single A team from my home town of Lowell AKA (The fighter)

I go see them about 10 times a year.

A long time ago I took my son maybe 3 or 4 at the time to one of these Spinners games. A player was by the fence signing autos we had a ball so I gave it to my lil guy to go get his autograph...

This was a nice moment for a dad to see his son do this. Those who have kids must know what I mean.

Some guy decided to cut my lil guy for a autograph. I was beyond angry as I walked down to tell the guy to screw. The Player said hey your not next buddy. He then proceeded to talk and sign the ball for my son. I thanked him and wished him good luck.

The player........

Hanley Ramirez

 

[cpr1981]

Here is a little story I dont think I have shared here.

My avatar (Lowell Spinners) is a Redsox Single A team from my home town of Lowell AKA (The fighter)

I go see them about 10 times a year.

A long time ago I took my son maybe 3 or 4 at the time to one of these Spinners games. A player was by the fence signing autos we had a ball so I gave it to my lil guy to go get his autograph...

This was a nice moment for a dad to see his son do this. Those who have kids must know what I mean.

Some guy decided to cut my lil guy for a autograph. I was beyond angry as I walked down to tell the guy to screw. The Player said hey your not next buddy. He then proceeded to talk and sign the ball for my son. I thanked him and wished him good luck.

The player........

Hanley Ramirez

Very nice story...can't help but wonder what if with him. Still think the Sox got a couple decent players in return though.

Thanks for sharing!

Colvin

 

[ckinney]

redsoxfan1979 - Very cool story.

I collect the A's, I found it hard to select a player to just become one main focus, as there have been so many greats that have played for the team. The issue I had was many of them were not A's their entire carrer. I grew up in the Bay Area and they were my team, collecting cards that didn't have an A's on it just didn't sit with me well.

Also, having a team collection mean there are very few times that someone has nothing to trade me in return for something they want - and that is the fun in this hobby meeting and trading with people.

I love them good or bad, they are my team.

- Chris

 

[redsoxfan1979]

Thanks,

We all talk about what if with him. That trade won us that 1st World Series.

 

[cpr1981]

Thanks,

We all talk about what if with him. That trade won us that 1st World Series.

Yea...I don't think yall win it all without Beckett and Lowell.

Hanley and Anibal Sanchez have done well away from the Sox also though.

Win.Win

Colvin

 

[kugelmanco]

Excellent thread

Indianapolis Colts - Lifelong fan through the bad and the good years. Limiting this collection to only Indianapolis Colts cards...

James Loney - One of the first cards I bought a few years ago when I started collecting was a James Loney Refractor bowman chrome auto from the LCS for just a few bucks. Then when I discovered the world of online trading and "supercollectors" and player collectors I thought since I was a big baseball fan and there are no teams in Indiana I needed a player to collect and why not start with Loney. Been working on it every since. I really like his defensive skills and smooth left handed swing. Just wish he'd start slamming some more homers but he's a solid contact hitter although his average dipped pretty far last year.

Ricky Williams - I was hoping the Colts would have drafted him but instead they picked Edgerrin James. Even though James turned out to be the right pick I still have always been a big fan of Ricky Williams. On and off the field though he may be controversial to others at times. Also it seems to my eye that all of his cards have a very appealing appearance. Some cool sets and inserts and I really like the late 90s early 2000s football inserts and parallels.

Derek Jeter - My wife collects him for reasons other women would probably want to collect him. Also cool to share some of my collecting with her and she enjoys ripping packs occasionally. She has a jeter jersey she wears often and gets ripped by the Reds fans at work.

Eric Davis - Favorite player growing up and wore #44 in Little League a few years. Can remember friends and I trying to imitate his awesome high leg lift swing.

Vlade Divac - Grandmother on mother's side is from Serbia and moved to the US as a young child way before the war in Yugoslavia. Recently watched the 30 for 30 piece on ESPN and decided to start my only basketball player collection in her honor. Vlade still does alot for his home country and was always fun to watch as a player.

Walter Johnson - My Great Grandfather had a friend who was a big time baseball memorabilia collector. Tons of old stuff and all the big hall of famers signed. Well when he passed he gave a ball signed by Walter Johnson to give to me. I was about 10 or so, so I didn't really know how much of a treasure I had. I did look up some books from the library and such and knew he was a Hall of Famer inducted in the same class as Babe Ruth. Then when I was about 18 I found it in the closet and did some more research, ended up getting it authenticated a few years ago from PSA and keep it in the safe now and don't plan on getting rid of anytime soon. So I also like to pick up his cards, although only recent ones because no way can I go after any vintage Big Train cards.

 

[dbarbos1]

Here is a little story I dont think I have shared here.

My avatar (Lowell Spinners) is a Redsox Single A team from my home town of Lowell AKA (The fighter)

I go see them about 10 times a year.

A long time ago I took my son maybe 3 or 4 at the time to one of these Spinners games. A player was by the fence signing autos we had a ball so I gave it to my lil guy to go get his autograph...

This was a nice moment for a dad to see his son do this. Those who have kids must know what I mean.

Some guy decided to cut my lil guy for a autograph. I was beyond angry as I walked down to tell the guy to screw. The Player said hey your not next buddy. He then proceeded to talk and sign the ball for my son. I thanked him and wished him good luck.

The player........

Hanley Ramirez

I do not collect Hanley, but I too have a story about him.
Before a Spring Training game in Ft. Myers, FL. I saw Hanley signing and I walked over to him. He was talking to other players in the Sox dugout and got sidetracked. He took my hat, which had other signatures on it (Youkilis and Arroyo), into the dugout with him-I was like " Anyway he ran back out and said "I'm sorry" and signed my hat for me and gave it back to me.

 

[Hoyt55]

I collect MANY different players, but my main ones are:

Hoyt Wilhelm-- My favorite player has always been Roberto Clemente, but most of his stuff is just too rich for my blood. So I settled on collecting my second favorite player in Hoyt, whose cards are much more attainable.

Casey Kotchman-- I don't exactly remember how I started collecting him, but one of my favorite teams of all-time was the 2002 Angels, and he was their top prospect at the time. That's probably how I started collecting him.

Marlon Byrd-- I always liked his all-out style of play with the Phillies and he caught my eye. I started collecting him when he was with the Nats and now he's on the hometown Cubs, all the more reason to collect him!

Other guys I collect are the smaller, scrappier players (Ryan Theriot, Mike Fontenot, Jamey Carroll, etc). Another guy I collect is Tom Gorzelanny because he went to one of the local community colleges that is about 10 minutes from my house.

 

[Tim Carroll]

Bill Hall (current Astros 2B): He played American Legion ball with my brother for 3 years (Jr. and Sr. leagues). I got to know he and his family. Good guy, very down to earth, and stays true to his roots by giving back to his small hometown of Nettleton, MS. I worked with Michael (Bill's brother) for the first 7 years of his pro career, and I have been able to obtain some incredible game-used stuff from him. The coolest thing was the game-used bat that he used the first time he faced Randy Johnson (too bad he didn't get a hit).

Brian Dozier (Twins minor leaguer): I taught him at a baseball camp one summer, then coached him on a team a few months later.

Eli Whiteside (SF Giants C): Just started picking his stuff up recently. Another local product, he quickly showed up at our school to talk to my all-boys 3rd grade class when I asked - and this was less than a month after winning the World Series. He couldn't have been a classier guy, giving thoughtful drawn-out answers to every single question the boys threw at him. And of course......he signed for everyone in the room.


Tim

 

[ArodYanksFan]

Arod- I always liked him, but when I was a little younger it seemed that ever pack of cards I would open he would be in it. So I just kept putting them together, and before I knew it I had a collection started. Then he came to my beloved Yankees! See it was fate!

Tino Martinez- He was my favorite player on the Yankees after Don Mattingly retired...so I just wanted to collect him thinking not to many other people would...boy was I wrong! His stuff seems to sell higher than some Arod stuff! Go Figure hahaha

 

[David K.]

Got started by my nephew....brought a box of the 1989 fleer looking for Griffey jr rookie cards for his birthday present! I had two choices back in 1990....Griffey jr. or Frank Thomas....Picked Mr. Thomas to collect.....I have over 100 of his 1990 leaf rookie cards.....Stopped buying them once the price reached the $30.00 price!! Best regards, David

 

[Trader Rich]

As a Cub fan living in the Phoenix area, I decided on Mark Grace for several reason. The obvious Arizona connection and I always like the way he played the game.
I wanted to collect a Cub star player, but the obvious choices, Banks, Sandburg, Santo or Williams would cost me an arm and a leg. So I decided on Mark Grace.
He is a great signer. I have six TTM's. He also does the color commentary for the D-Backs and is a very popular personality in the area.

Thanks, Rich

 

[BiggioDiogu759]

Craig Biggio-All time favorite Astro

Ike Diogu-Favorite basketball player from ASU

Derek Hagan-Favorite football player from ASU

Johnathan Joseph-Favorite football player from USC (South Carolina)

Derrick Brooks-Favorite Buccaneer pleayer EVER

Cameron Garfield-Favorite All-Time TimerRattler (plus 1st player born same year as me-1991)

YSL Set-I love Yankee Stadium

I think thats it lol

 

[Jaybo374]

Jeter and Pujols - only for trade bait

Rich Gedman - my idol growing up in the 80s. A MA native (like me) a catcher (like I was) and a very everyman physique (again, like me) are what prompted me to start collecting him - didn't hurt that he was an All-Star too. Anyway, kids would trade me four or five Gedmans for a Clemens or a Boggs.

Kent Hrbek and Gormn Thomas - When I first started following baseball - 1982 - these two just looked like the way I envisioned Casey of the imortal poem Casey at Bat. It seemed to me every time they played the Sox that year they just hammered them. I remember going to Fenway that year when they played the Brewers. Gorman Thomas hit two taters and one of them cleared the net on the Green Monster - supposedly all the way to the Mass Pike. Althoug he played for Milwaukee, I was in truly in awe and have collected him since.

However, outside of these guys, I collect no one. I am a set builder who is trying complete sets from 1969, 1972, 1973 and 1975.

 

[mrmopar]

I'll mention some side projects, since my primary collections have no other reason that they were great players that I came to appreciate and collect.

Al Oliver - One of the most overlooked players of my youth. Scoop is a career .300 hitter and although he missed the magic 3000 hit milestone, he is 52nd all-time has the 2nd highest career hit total (aside from current players Jeter, I-Rod, Griffey who are likely shoo-in's and Omar Vizquel, who has a good shot) of a player not in the Hall of Fame, 2nd only to Vada Pinson, who is another deserving player. I also liked many of the Expos and Pirates cards he was featured on and it doesn't hurt that he played briefly in LA for the Dodgers too. I have thought about making his collection more of a priority, but have not found the will to do it as intensely as my primary player.

Willie Davis - A long time Dodger and one of their bright spots in the 60s and early 70s. He held many of the Dodger records as well, because he was one of few that stayed that long with the team. I also liked him because I collect Dodgers and he is in a number of interesting oddball issues. These days he is definitely a side project, in which I do not actively pursue.

Rod Carew - The guy was an awesome hitter. I liked many of his Twins issues and he also have a fair number of oddball issues to track down. His fame drives the prices up on a lot of his items but not as high as some of his lesser contemporaries, which has left me only a casual collector of his.

 

[Sportnut08]

Here is a little story I dont think I have shared here.

My avatar (Lowell Spinners) is a Redsox Single A team from my home town of Lowell AKA (The fighter)

I go see them about 10 times a year.

A long time ago I took my son maybe 3 or 4 at the time to one of these Spinners games. A player was by the fence signing autos we had a ball so I gave it to my lil guy to go get his autograph...

This was a nice moment for a dad to see his son do this. Those who have kids must know what I mean.

Some guy decided to cut my lil guy for a autograph. I was beyond angry as I walked down to tell the guy to screw. The Player said hey your not next buddy. He then proceeded to talk and sign the ball for my son. I thanked him and wished him good luck.

The player........

Hanley Ramirez

My favorite player

 

[avstars]

I just like sports and cards let me follow my favorite players more. I collect Derek Jeter, Tino Martinez, Deron Williams, and Mike Modano.

 

[potvin48]

Ok...Lee Smith and Leon Durham because they were my coaches at the Cubs fantasy camp last year, and because I remember watching them play, it was great that I got them as coaches. Both guys are great to hang out with, and Lee Smith is frickin hilarious, and Leon is a ****, that dude dresses sharp!

Marlon Byrd because he hustles, and always gives it 100%

Felix Potvin because of his demolition of my Blackhawks back in the first round of the 1994 playoffs. The Maple Leafs last 3 wins in that series were all 1-0. Potvin played like a man posessed. I played goal myself, so I was watching the series for Ed Belfour, but Potvin stood out because I still remember sitting there, head in hands, trying to figure out what the Hawks had to do to beat him...The answer was simple, nothing. And they went down in game 5 and 6, both by shutouts 1-0. From that moment on, Potvin has always been my favorite sports athlete.