A Hobby of Passion

I have written a lot about what my collecting style is like over the last couple of months.  I do love the “junk wax” years for nostalgic purposes.  I could sit and open boxes from the late 80’s all day long and be as happy as a fat kid in a candy store.  I do get happy in the candy store too so take that however you’d like.  That doesn’t mean I don’t buy new products, because I do.  I just find myself focusing more on the “hits” when I buy new product.   I can really stop and smell the bubble gum scented roses with a box of ’89 Topps, if you know what I mean.Card collecting is something that can be driven by various factors.   Some people want to make money, some people want to keep memories of their youth alive, some people like the challenge of building sets or collecting specific players and some people just have compulsions that they can’t conquer.   I fall somewhere between youthful memories and set/player collecting but I haven’t always been there.  I was once in the “making money” portion of the hobby, as most of us were at some point.  After all, that’s what created the boom and crash of the Junk Wax Era.  Everybody wanted in and everybody wanted to make a buck.I will be honest with you, I’ve never increased my net cash flow because of card collecting.  Sure, I have sold some cards but I always pump it right back into another box or PC singles so “profit margin” would likely be considered negative.  I also realized that the time period I spent trying to pull those monsters was also the least fun I had in the hobby.  It left me wanting more and more and never really feeling satisfied.  If I didn’t pull that big hit, I’d think it was surely in the next box so I’d run out and buy another high priced box.  If I did pull a big hit, I’d feel like I had a little streak of good luck so I’d go out and buy another high priced box.  See the problem here?Don’t misinterpret what I’m saying here.  There’s nothing wrong with being a monster chaser.  It’s just not for me.  Now I’ll splurge every now and again and even hopped in a couple of box breaks last week with Top Shelf Breaks and had some good luck.  I’ll go back to the box break from time to time as well when the product and price are right.  When I do, be assured that it will be TSB that I go to.  But I’ve sort of found my happy place.  Maybe it’s part of hitting the big 4-0 this year and having a different perspective.  Maybe it’s my bank account screaming at me to change my ways.  Or maybe it’s the Ghost of Collector’s Past showing me how happy I was when I studied the cards and the players as opposed to shuffling past base cards to find a relic or auto and basing the success of the pack solely on that search.  I don’t know how it happened but in the words of the great Kin Kinsley, I Feel Like A Collector Again!I remember sitting in my bedroom as a kid, reading the back of every card and memorizing stats.  In 2012, I couldn’t tell you what the back of a Topps card looked like because that’s not where the autographs were.  I missed out on some fun during those days.  As I’ve said before, Every Card Has A Story, and I missed some good stories while I was daydreaming of my appearance on Pawn Stars.  If there had been autographs in 1989, I wouldn’t have my Orel Hershiser All-Star story.  If 1991 had 1 of 1’s, I wouldn’t get so excited to pull a card that glows under a black light.  I’ve decided that I need goals to reach and I need players to seek and I need 80’s sets to complete.  That’s my happy place.  That’s where I feel most at home.Along those lines, I’ve gotten a fair share of Twitter DM’s asking me why I PC Ron Gant.  Well, it’s really sort of a simple explanation.  I’m a lifelong Braves fan.  My parents have photographs of me in the stands with Bruce Benedict warming up in the on-deck circle behind me.  I remember watching Gerald Perry and Dion James and Claudell Washington play long before Chipper Jones and Freddie Freeman.  Skip, Ernie and Pete were my announcers growing up.  We were bad.  We were real bad.  Dale Murphy was the only superstar we had for many years.  Well, when I started collecting in 1989, I started watching the game closer.  I started collecting about the same time that my favorite team called up the 1986 Atlanta Braves Minor League Player of the Year. In 1990, we were still bad but I was 13 and playing little league ball had me starting to emulate the ball players I admired.  Also in 1990, Ron Gant joined the 30/30 club.  He did it again in 1991, becoming the first MLB player to do so in back to back seasons.  At 13-14, looking at Ron Gant was like looking at superman.  He was chiseled.  He was strong and fast.  He was the ball player I wanted to be.  The timing was right for Gant to be my favorite ball player.  My age, my interest in collecting, his status with the Braves and his 1989 Donruss card just brought it all together like a perfect storm.I’ve remained a Gant fan since 1989.  I basically mourned when he had his accident and parted ways with the Braves.  I still followed him with the Red and Cards and others and always pulled for him.  I was thrilled when he came back to work at Fox Sports a few years back.  I even finally got to meet him at a game and my wife said I almost knocked him over slapping him on the back.  I seriously doubt that because Gant is built like a small tank but I can imagine that I was a little over excited in the moment.  I just don’t remember that part of it.  So I decided around that time that I was going to try and collect every Ron Gant card that was produced.  I had around 80 of them so I though I was off to a good start.  Then I looked him up on The Trading Card Database and discovered that he had 868 cards.  I realized that I had a lot of work to do.  Monster Chaser Dub would’ve said “no way” to a challenge like that.  But Collector Dub accepted the challenge and has been dedicated to it ever since.  I wore the man’s number in sports for 25 years, the least I can do is try to complete the collection.So that’s why I PC Ron Gant.  And this post is why I love to open Junk Wax.  I once read, “You find out who you are by figuring out who and what you’re not.”  The same can be applied to collecting.  I’ve tried lots of collecting styles and that is how I’ve figured out what does and doesn’t work for me.  Some things I learned the hard way.  Some things just weren’t fun.  But for whatever reason, I’m here.  I’m buying $6 mid-80’s oddball sets.  I’m ripping boxes of 1989 and 1991 Topps.  I’m grabbing every Ron Gant card that finds its way into my sight line.  I even received my latest wax box, 1991 Fleer, in the mail today.  I’m not always proud of my mail days but I’m going to love going through that box and looking at those old Pro-Visions once again.  And that’s me.  That’s what I’m most passionate about in the hobby.  That’s what floats my boat.  What floats yours?

J-Dub