What does collecting mean to you?

Are you an avid sports card collector? Do you remember the excitement you felt as a kid when you'd open a pack of cards? The crinkle sound? The smell of the freshly opened cards? Did you dare chew the bubble gum that lost its flavor in eighteen seconds? Lets talk about how I started and why it is still with me today.

I started collecting in my pre-teen years. Probably around the tee ball age. I can remember coming home during the spring evenings from school to watch the Braves play on TBS or the Cubs play on WGN. Every single evening without fail. We'd watch all the way through October and hope the Braves made it that far. Aside from watching and playing america's favorite pastime, card collecting just came natural to me. If parents weren't buying me GI Joe or Ninja Turtle action figures, it was Topps baseball cards. Then we'd trade them at school during breaks or on the playground.

Many years passed and I had accumulated quite the collection. My favorite cards always bearing the red, white, and blue Atlanta Braves colors with their players on them. Oddly enough...with the Braves being my favorite team, my favorite players were Ryne Sandberg and Cal Ripken Jr. I guess we can thank those WGN Cub watching evenings for that, and Paw-Paw.

I never thought about the hobby ever amounting to anything. As Ive gotten older, I now see the value in the collecting aspect. That's not why I do it though. I do it because it occupies the mind. It takes you back to when life was slower and much more simple. Enjoying a Lookouts game at the historic Engel Stadium in Chattanooga, TN with all the sights, smells, sounds, and cheers. Or maybe watching the Braves at the old Fulton County Stadium in Atlanta doing the chop until your arm almost fell off. I guess some of us get older and forget that somewhere inside of us there's an eight year old boy full of excitement and awe for the world of sports. If we'll only pay attention, the cards will trigger memories that will allow us to relive those moments. As long a true collectors stay true to the hobby, youth, joy, passion, pride in your team, excitement, and cherished memories will never die.