Tell us WHY you collect what you collect!

[nationals2k9]

I have been very interested for some time why we all collect what we collect. Why do you focus on a specific player? Why are you fascinated by just one team, or only players that meet certain criteria. What drives you to be so passionate about your individual pursuits?

[GotInk?]

My player focus goes back almost ten years to my first fantasy baseball team. I drafted Josh Phelps with the first "keeper pick" in our supplemental draft. He was supposed to be the next big thing (was even on the cover of Baseball Prospectus) and I started following his rise to the big leagues. After a few years of waiting for "it" to happen for him, I kind of realized that it was more interesting following his ups and downs in the big leagues (and minors) than it had been when I followed the players of my youth (stars like Mattingly and Gooden). Guy works hard, has flaws in his game, just trying to make it. This was especially true as he started bouncing around the league. He went from can't miss to former prospect to journeyman all while having a very respectable career. I had the good fortune to meet him when he was rehabbing with the Giants farm team in Connecticut and got to know him better this past year during his stint with the Bridgeport Bluefish. He is a fantastic person with a great family and he's as down to earth as you could ever hope someone could be considering they have lived a life most of us could never imagine. I've collected a lot of stuff over the years and met a lot of great players and hall of famers, but this part of my collection is what keeps me passionate about the game...

[Dewey2007]

Once I got back into collecting it took me awhile to finally settle on what I was going to focus my collection on full-time which is athletes from my hometown. Given the fact I have lived in the same place practically my entire life that makes it special to me to collect what I collect. Some of them I know personally and my hometown has a pretty rich history of athletes for a somewhat small town here in the Bay Area. On the flip side because some of the guys had obscure pro careers 15-20 years ago or longer it makes it harder to find stuff but the fun is in the hunt. I just wish I got to fire my collecting weapon a little more often with some of them!!

I also collect game used of Cal Bears athletes. I have worked on campus the last 17 years so it was kind of natural to gravitate to making this part of my collection since I have seen a number of them play while they were in college.

Looking forward to reading other posts...

[nationals2k9]

Right about the time I accidently stumbled on this game-used thing and had a little extra income, the Dodgers were in town to visit the Nationals. And as luck would have it, I sold a large group outing for one of the games and had a chance to stand by the cages for batting practice with some of the leaders of my group. The idea was to let the clients see the players take BP, and they did, but as the story goes.... I got to watch Manny Ramirez hit a baseball up close and personal. Never have I seen a guy with so much control with bat in hand. He literally had pinpoint accuracy spreading the ball around the diamond from base to base, first grounding the ball hard through the infield, followed by liners to the gaps, and then most impressively flicking shots off the wall in right center like it came naturally to him. Then suddenly he would have a goofy Manny moment and shout something in Spanish before yanking one out to left to treat the fans shouting his name.... before returning quickly to his standard scientific approach to hitting a baseball. Like an artist painting his masterpiece, it was clear he had a gift.

Long story short, my first Manny bat arrived a few days later and the rest is history. That bat no longer is in my collection and I've come to realize Manny is the ultimate 50/50 love 'em or hate 'em player in the entire sport. But that is what has kept me going, kept me chasing bats and other items bigger and better than the last. I decided the day I watched BP that I was going to be a Manny fan. There's no more interesting and topical guy in MLB that I can think of than Manny Ramirez and there aren't many bats more challenging than the genuine Manny article. If nothing more than a distraction from "real life," following Manny day after day has provided me with lots of personal joy and satisfaction.

[Tunis]

Jose Lopez. When he was in the Mariners organization, he spent time here in San Antonio with the Missions. They were, at that time, the Double A team for the Mariners. I realized that he was very young to be playing at Double A. The Texas League tends to have "older" players. I decided to collect autographs on his cards. It then went to single signed ball, a home run ball he hit in the play-offs, the jersey he was wearing in the play-offs and on and on. I now have 6 or 7 bats, 2006 AS Ball signed, and a pair of game-used pants.
He had a very rough year last year but he is still very young and capable of really helping the Rockies make a run at the play-offs.

[xpress34]

For me it's been a long road...

For as long as I can remember I've collected 'something'... stamps, coins, 1st Day Covers, GI Joes (12" REAL ones), comic books, sports cards...

In the 80's I had gotten pretty heavy back into Silver Age Marvel Comics when I got reintroduced to cards... by 1990 I had my 1st GU piece - a jersey that makes me cry to think about now - a Paul Lindblad 1972 Texas Rangers FLANNEL. (** It has been estimated that maybe a dozen or so original '72 Rangers Flannels still exist **)

That got me into autographed stuff and then I just started pretty much collecting anything baseball related.

By 1994 I was getting divorced from my 1st wife and had to sell off EVERYTHING - including a Vintage (possibly GU) Frankie Frisch Kren's Special Bat, one of Ivan Rodriguez's 1st MLB jerseys (#55) used in Spring Training, a 3 finger Denkert Mantle mitt and a 1910 Violet Chips tin, ad and Cy Young card.

I took some time away while I reset and restarted my life. I got back into collecting anything and everything baseball around 1996 focusing mostly on Nolan Ryan stuff.

As time went on, I had amassed quite a collection of 'stuff' with no focus. By the time I went to work doing Loss Prevention for Nike, I had just started getting into autograph chasing. Getting to work so close with the athletes that came through (Pujols, Gonzo, Andruw Jones, Joe Sakic, Bernie Williams, etc) really made my desire to get autographs grow.

The more autos I chased, the more I found out who were really fan friendly and who were just jerks - THAT's when the 1st focus of my collection started.

If I had stuff of a guy who I saw repeatedly being an ass to fans, I dumped his stuff. Guys who I never would have collected won me over with their sincerity and such towards the fans.

Then came the GU collecting again. Up until about 6 months ago, I was collecting still kind of willy nilly and I have recently started trimming back the 'fat' so I can focus on a few players.

That said, I now collect almost exclusively the following players when it comes to GU/AU items:

Nolan Ryan - my all time idol
Matt Holliday - followed since MiLB and he has always treated me with respect
Josh Hamilton - everything he has overcome and his respect for the fans
Albert Pujols - just the way he treated me in 2002 at Nike town - great guy
Jason Giambi - ever since he came to the Rockies, he has been awesome with the fans

I still collect HOF autos and vintage pieces, but those guys are my main focus.

- Smitty

[jordanhigh69]

I grew up as a shrimpy, shy white boy, who loved to play the game of hoops........Wrong combo for a shrimpy, shy white boy(especially with older brothers) in a tall man's sport! I followed MJ from the time he hit the big shot, as a Freshman at UNC, cause he just had something about him that was an inner fire of ultimate never quit competitor. No matter what the situation, he would NOT ever bow to anyone or any situation(sickness, controversy, bullying, etc.) and worked tirelessly to always try to get to the top of the mountain, even when he WAS on top of the mountain. He never had fear and always gave everything he had, even if the odds were tremendously stacked against him. There are VERY FEW people on Earth who can continue to keep that desire & focus throughout their career, no matter what sport or job. I learned from watching him that I could be successful too by adopting that mentality and attitude in whatever I did, especially the sport I loved. I envision that he was just simply the "King of the Beasts" and would fight to the death, much like a lion would with his pride, no matter the odds. I gained huge confidence in myself over the years watching him and that helped me tremendously in pretty much applying it to all aspects of my life. He was, is, and continues to be an inspiration to me, and is now also a friend of mine. I have collected his things for a long time and am now trying to utilize them to help others realize they ALL have that potential lying within them. They just need to work hard and apply that potential to be successful. I also collect neat basketball related memorabilia too, since I love the game, but focus on MJ. Good topic, OP!

[jordanhigh69]

For me it's been a long road...

For as long as I can remember I've collected 'something'... stamps, coins, 1st Day Covers, GI Joes (12" REAL ones), comic books, sports cards...

In the 80's I had gotten pretty heavy back into Silver Age Marvel Comics when I got reintroduced to cards... by 1990 I had my 1st GU piece - a jersey that makes me cry to think about now - a Paul Lindblad 1972 Texas Rangers FLANNEL. (** It has been estimated that maybe a dozen or so original '72 Rangers Flannels still exist **)

That got me into autographed stuff and then I just started pretty much collecting anything baseball related.

By 1994 I was getting divorced from my 1st wife and had to sell off EVERYTHING - including a Vintage (possibly GU) Frankie Frisch Kren's Special Bat, one of Ivan Rodriguez's 1st MLB jerseys (#55) used in Spring Training, a 3 finger Denkert Mantle mitt and a 1910 Violet Chips tin, ad and Cy Young card.

I took some time away while I reset and restarted my life. I got back into collecting anything and everything baseball around 1996 focusing mostly on Nolan Ryan stuff.

As time went on, I had amassed quite a collection of 'stuff' with no focus. By the time I went to work doing Loss Prevention for Nike, I had just started getting into autograph chasing. Getting to work so close with the athletes that came through (Pujols, Gonzo, Andruw Jones, Joe Sakic, Bernie Williams, etc) really made my desire to get autographs grow.

The more autos I chased, the more I found out who were really fan friendly and who were just jerks - THAT's when the 1st focus of my collection started.

If I had stuff of a guy who I saw repeatedly being an ass to fans, I dumped his stuff. Guys who I never would have collected won me over with their sincerity and such towards the fans.

Then came the GU collecting again. Up until about 6 months ago, I was collecting still kind of willy nilly and I have recently started trimming back the 'fat' so I can focus on a few players.

That said, I now collect almost exclusively the following players when it comes to GU/AU items:

Nolan Ryan - my all time idol
Matt Holliday - followed since MiLB and he has always treated me with respect
Josh Hamilton - everything he has overcome and his respect for the fans
Albert Pujols - just the way he treated me in 2002 at Nike town - great guy
Jason Giambi - ever since he came to the Rockies, he has been awesome with the fans

I still collect HOF autos and vintage pieces, but those guys are my main focus.

- Smitty

Chris,
My Dad won a contest put on by Southwest Airlines years back and got to go to the Houston Astrodome and play ball with Nolan on the diamond. He actually batted against him and hit a grounder. He pulled his hamstring running to first and that was the end of that. Never the less, he did get to meet Nolan, play ball with him, and get some things signed by him, one of which is a ball I now have! He said Ryan was a total class-act and good guy.

[Jags Fan Dan]

I live near Cincinnati. Fantasy football and the futility of the Cincinnati Bengals led me to the Jaguars and Mark Brunell in mid to late 1990s. I traded for Brunell on my fantasy team and he did very well, and I knew I would never be able to afford Marino or Elway memorabilia, so I started collecting Brunell. It was cool because at that time, the Jags were in the Bengals division, so I got to see them once a year here. The Bengals had been so bad for so long that they were impossible to be serious about. And that's how a guy in Ohio started rooting for the Jags!

[dplettn]

I live near Cincinnati. Fantasy football and the futility of the Cincinnati Bengals led me to the Jaguars and Mark Brunell in mid to late 1990s. I traded for Brunell on my fantasy team and he did very well, and I knew I would never be able to afford Marino or Elway memorabilia, so I started collecting Brunell. It was cool because at that time, the Jags were in the Bengals division, so I got to see them once a year here. The Bengals had been so bad for so long that they were impossible to be serious about. And that's how a guy in Ohio started rooting for the Jags!

Ahh, Jags Fan Dan...

You are killing a Cincinnati Bengals and Reds fellow local guy... For me, our team is THE team. Whether its the bat of my historical Reds hero's or something game used by the future of the Bengals (Carlos Dunlap), I collect because looking at it makes me feel happy. It reminds me of the good times... whether watching Eric Davis pound out a HR off of the mighty A's Dave Stewart in Game 1 of the WS or watching my Bengals with the AFC championship game in person a couple "short" years ago (1988).

I don't know what it is about sports and the passion we have for the history and our memories. Whatever it is... it is!