My New Obsession - CONTEST ENTRY

[Hawkeye1338]

It’s official: I have created an obsession, and it all began because of one of my favorite baseball players: Minnesota Twins side-armer Pat Neshek. I am a regular reader of Pat’s blog, and have always admired him because of his ability to connect with his fans. One thing that Pat is very passionate about is baseball card collecting. I had read his posts about new cards he had collected, new cards of himself that he had signed, and his pursuit to build nearly every set of cards each year. It had aways been an interest to me as I am a die hard baseball fan, but I had never gotten around to collecting cards. I was under the impression that there is simply one card of every player produced each year, so the complete set that Pat talked about were the 30 cards in the set. I was naïve to game used, relic, autographed, serial numbered, and refractor cards. I had no idea that they even existed. I didn’t even know that there was more than one manufacturer of cards. That is until Strasburg mania began and I saw the Strasburg 1/1 Chrome Refractor sell on eBay.

I spent the next two months religiously researching cards. I learned about everything. I learned the simple things like the difference between Topps and Bowman, the products that they release each year, and the individual sets that make up the products. A couple months ago, I decided it was time to get involved with the local card community as well as the card community around the Internet. I found a forum that provides a place for people to talk about, buy, sell, and trade cards. I also found a great local card shop (and, in turn, learned what LCS stood for) that I loved to frequent. I even sent a Facebook message to Pat and got a great, lengthy response from him about cards, which is yet another reason why he is such a great athlete and awesome guy.

And then the time came to buy my first box of cards. Through my research, I had to decide what I wanted to collect. My research eventually led me to land on 2010 Topps. I debated starting with 2008 Topps or 2009 Topps, as they were a bit cheaper, but I felt that starting in the current year would be a smart idea. I also considered collecting Topps Allen and Ginter, but it’s a bit more pricey and I am a poor college student (go Hawkeyes!). I went to my LCS and grabbed my first ever box of cards: a hobby box of 2010 Topps Series 2. I got home, sat on the patio, and cracked open the box. I was excited beyond belief. All kinds of thoughts were racing through my head. “What if I get the Strasburg Million Card Giveaway Redemption.” “Remember, keep an eye out for Pie Face Variation Cards.” As I opened back after pack and loaded the cards in to my 1,000 slots worth of nine page binder sheets, I began to realize that this new hobby was going to get addicting. About 20 packs in, I got my hit. I was hoping for an autograph, and it wasn’t Strasburgh, but I was not at all disappointed to see a game used Buster Posey Peak Performance card. I was happy with that, as I was a catcher in high school and have a soft spot for good, young catching talent. I also pulled two Cards Your Mom Threw Out Original Back cards and the Brennan Boesch Rookie Redemption card.

As soon as the cards were all pulled and sorted, I sat back and marvelled at the sort of mini collection that I had already grown. It’s been a couple months since that box, but my collection has already grown. I have completed the entire 2010 Topps base set (both series 1 and series 2) and have a decent collection of the insert cards. I am so hooked to the hobby already that I have already made a few trades, and can’t go to Target or Walmart without picking up a Blaster Box, or at least a few packs on the way out.

My involvement in the baseball card collecting hobby has been brief, but it has been nothing but completely pleasant. The people in the hobby community are awesome, and I could not be happier to be involved in something so addicting and fun.

[WilyWestbrook0]

Posted! Nothing like the enthusiasm of a new collector.

https://www.sportscardforum.com/artic...new-obsession/