How long have you been collecting for and how did you start out??

[Jags Fan Dan]

Re: How long have you been collecting for and how did you start out??

For me, it started when my mom bought me a few packs of the mini 1987 Topps cards. I guess I was about 12. I collected baseball cards until about 1991. Then I stopped, then I got into football cards (mainly Mark Brunell) again in the late 1990's. I bought my first Brunell game used jersey about 3 and a half years ago.

Coincidentally, however, I just bought my first game used bat two days ago! And while I don't plan to have a huge collection of those, I have already arranged to purchase my second one on Monday!

The reason for this latest switch is I rarely find any football memorabilia I want, and when something does pop up it is usually so expensive that I cannot justify pulling the money out of savings for it. Where as game used bats are more plentiful, and also a lot less expensive.

Currently on my list of game used bats ( I am not picky with condition) that I want are the following:

Lenny Harris game bat from when he was a Red.
Shawon Dunston
Buddy Bell -preferrably from when he was a Red)
Jose Oquendo
Tony Pena
Glenn Braggs
Chris Sabo
Eric Davis

[stlcardsfan]

Re: How long have you been collecting for and how did you start out??

I started when I was in first grade. My parents bought me some cards and a beckett price guide for christmas. I thought it was the coolest thing ever. I am 16 now and havnt looked back. I now have around 500 autos. I only collect Cardinals stuff. The only game used stuff I have are a Preston Wilson game used Rockies bat I never got the chance to get signed and a Braden Looper 2003 game used marlins jersey I got signed myself.

[Kong's Landing]

Re: How long have you been collecting for and how did you start out??

Hello Fellow Sports Addicts,

I have been collecting Dave Kingman memorabilia since 1976 at the age of 11. As a child, I use to be a Cubs fan & when the Mets would come to town, a lanky 6'-6" guy use to turn me on with a few Waveland Avenue bombs. It started primarily with cards & articles, but over the years it has spread to magazines, bats, oddball, you name it. When it came to Kingman items I did not have, "If I could afford it, I wanted it...Bad". Same holds true today. However, one of my biggest highlights was when Dave called me up & congratulated me on the birth of my daughter. I've met some great people in the hobby over the years & have had a some great friendships like the one with my ole' pal SKYKING from early 1989.

As Dave would say "Warmest Regards"

Erik Bakalar

Dolphins fan since 75' & Dan Marino collector since 84'
(Please have pitty on my team)

[skyking26]

Re: How long have you been collecting for and how did you start out??

Hello Fellow Sports Addicts,

I have been collecting Dave Kingman memorabilia since 1976 at the age of 11. As a child, I use to be a Cubs fan & when the Mets would come to town, a lanky 6'-6" guy use to turn me on with a few Waveland Avenue bombs. It started primarily with cards & articles, but over the years it has spread to magazines, bats, oddball, you name it. When it came to Kingman items I did not have, "If I could afford it, I wanted it...Bad". Same holds true today. However, one of my biggest highlights was when Dave called me up & congratulated me on the birth of my daughter. I've met some great people in the hobby over the years & have had a some great friendships like the one with my ole' pal SKYKING from early 1989.

As Dave would say "Warmest Regards"

Erik Bakalar

Dolphins fan since 75' & Dan Marino collector since 84'
(Please have pitty on my team)

Welcome Erik. Yes, it is true, he has know me since '89 (although I am going with 87 as i was still in college and knew you then). Erik is always a little off, but a standup guy and one of the reasons I am still in this hobby. With Erik, it friendship stuff, not "all about the $$" like he and I have witnessed over the years. I guess there are a few cracks where people can be found who are passionate about this!

[godwulf]

Re: How long have you been collecting for and how did you start out??

Chris mentioning how he passed on all those Flea Market bargains reminded me something I heard Joe Garagiola say once...that the first time he saw a broken bat for sale was back in the '70s - somebody was selling a Pete Rose gamer for $15, and he remembered thinking, "Who would pay money for a broken baseball bat?"

I did the usual card collecting when I was a kid, and gave away my two shoeboxes full of cards in about 1968, when I was 14, having "outgrown them"...then never really followed sports at all till I happened to be back from overseas briefly during the Phillies' run in '80, and became a fan of that team. My interest in Baseball petered out again till I'd retired from the Navy and moved to Phoenix in '93, and then in '95 Arizona was awarded a franchise, and the Diamondbacks began playing in '98. The whole idea of getting in on the ground floor of a team's history just struck a chord within me, and I became an overnight fanatic, collecting everything in sight. Ten years later, I'm still pretty much doing that.

I was searching for DBacks stuff on eBay, sometime in '98, and came across a listing for a game-used Karim Garcia Diamondbacks bat - I was thunderstruck! Own a game-used bat!? Who knew such a thing was possible? I probably paid 40 or 50 dollars for it - unfortunately, I wasn't keeping very good records in those days - and it now has a lot of company, to say the least.

One thing that I used to do more than I do now is to buy the "other team" bats of Diamondbacks players. I still do it sometimes, but not nearly as often, and usually only with the players that I particularly like and admire. I used to try to buy every bat of every player who ever played for my team, but I'm starting to develop some selectivity as my living space becomes filled with old lumber.

[Dewey2007]

Re: How long have you been collecting for and how did you start out??

I started collecting cards as a young kid and in the early 80's I started to collect autographs and game used. The Raiders practiced in my hometown and we would always go there to get autographs. I got a couple pair of cleats I still have and actually almost got a job with the team but they moved to L.A. Still hate Al Davis for that one!!

I live about 5 miles from the Oakland Coliseum so I collected game used bats at A's games and shoes at Warriors games mostly from '81-83. Wish I would have had the foresight to go at it harder back then. Stuff was fairly easy to get back then and not a lot of competition except for a few other kids. In 1981 I got a George Brett as my first ever game used bat and I was hooked for a time. I fell out of collecting during my sophomore year in high school when I started playing baseball and partying. I actually gave away a Ripken gamer to my buddy a few years after high school. Man I wish I could have that one back

Anyhow, I got back into collecting late last year after pulling my old bat collection and other items out of storage after almost 20 years. I ended up selling my bat collection to John Taube and have since started working on collecting items of guys from my hometown and on the side Cal Bears players since I work at Cal Berkeley. Since I am collecting guys from my hometown I'm always in the market for a reasonably priced Jimmy Rollins jersey or bat so if anyone has one keep me in mind.

Happy Collecting!!

[10thMan]

Re: How long have you been collecting for and how did you start out??

I started collecting in the early 90`s. I started collecting Stars of the 80`s & up. All the main guys, mac, a-rod, bonds, sosa, raffy, glaus, vlad, gwynn. I still have most of these guys "main" rookie cards. Mostly PSA/BGS 9`s & 10`s. I`m a so-cal guy & was given a cracked Steve Finley bat & the Bat collecting was "on" I intend to sell most of the cards I have & continue to look for bats.

When I was a little kid (about 5) I started to collect ball cards, I would buy the gum packs, eat the gum, take home the cards. I had some cool stuff, about 1969, my brother threw out my shoebox full of my treasured cards.
Sean

[ivo610]

Re: How long have you been collecting for and how did you start out??

I was a big Michael Jordan fan when I was a kid and that lead to collecting his cards. From 5 -14 I collected basketball cards. Which lead to collecting basketball shoes. But my passion has become NFL stuff. It started with signed picture and jerseys. Now I am working on collecting all the Proline helmets each team offers and have them signed by an important player in that franchises history. I am also starting to collect game used jerseys but I am still trying to learn more about what to look for when I buy. Boy am I glad I came across this site.

[MiLe HigH]

Re: How long have you been collecting for and how did you start out??

I've collected game used jerseys since around 2001. Then I found this site in early 2008. I had around 25 game used jerseys and no bats at that time. This site single handedly turned my collecting around. I now maybe buy only 1-2 jerseys a year, and now have more than 50 game used bats(with lots more to come). I can truly say I have got addiction to bats....Thanks GUU

[legaleagle92481]

Re: How long have you been collecting for and how did you start out??

In the 80 and 90's I collected cards and autographs. Since those markets are so saturated, now I collect only game used, which I took up about 1.5 years ago by buying a Carlos Beltran bat.

[Tay1038]

Re: How long have you been collecting for and how did you start out??

My first purchase was on eBay when I was 11 or 12 years old back in 1998-99' era. My first purchase was actually a pair of game used Minnesota Twins bats - Greg Colbrunn & Brent Gates. When I met the gentleman with my dad at his apartment near the University of Minnesota campus - he kindly welcomed us in and even gave me a FREE bat -Brent Brede Twins bat to go with my other stuff! Whata guy I thought! I remember seeing a lot of his stuff - which was awesome! In particular I was in awwwww over his 500 HR club signed photo by every member hung in his little living room in his college apartment! At the age of 12 - you bet it was pretty sweet to see that! Signatures of Mantle, Aaron, Killebrew, Jackson, Banks...ect

The best part of this purchase is that I bought from Andy Benish (when he was a young college student) - who is a member of the forum, a major asset to this hobby and considered one of my good friends in the collecting world! I have been able to keep in contact with Andy over the years growing up and have obtained some great items for my collection from him. He has always answered every question I have had and is always willing to educate me on memorabilia. Without Andy's kindness, willingness to share his knowledge my collection would not be where it's at today! Thank you my friend for everything!

[dcgreg25]

Re: How long have you been collecting for and how did you start out??

I started collecting baseball cards back in '87 when I was 11. Collected for about four or five years and then moved on. In 1997, I started to collect some sports autographs- mostly Indians and Browns players and then in 2004 I stumbled into collecting game used items. My primary focus has been jerseys but I probably have about a dozen bats or so about a half dozen batting helmets, fielding gloves, etc. At this point, I probably have about 100+ Indians jerseys 1980-present. My side focus in baseball has been Kenny Lofton jerseys and, at last count I own six jerseys as well as a hat and batting helmet.

On the football side, I have a few high-end jerseys of players I grew up watching but most of my jersey purchases now are either former ND players or Browns & Redskins players with a few helmets and cleats mixed in.

[70to66]

Re: How long have you been collecting for and how did you start out??

I collected football and hockey cards back in the late 1970's then outgrew them, then the Billy Ripken error card came out and sparked my interest! I started back into collecting football and baseball cards until whatever was hot died out when the next hot brand or card came out and whatever was hot before tanked. So then I switched to getting autographs at the old busch stadium and going to spring training to get autographs and was hooked.

Walt Weiss and I visited two years in a row at spring training about his son being ill and my wife being ill and what all we both dealt with, one day at the end of practice I asked him if he had any broken bats and he said no, but asked if I wanted one anyway! I said yes and he went down into the clubhouse and brought me one out and signed it, I've been hooked to game used bats ever since. Thanks again Walt!