Next10pct

My original collection of baseball cards dates back to 1981. I remember buying my first pack at a local grocery story. It was a 1981 Topps Cello Pack. My Brewers were on their way to making it to the post season for the 1st time in years and Rollie Fingers was in the middle of an outstanding year on his way to winning the AL MVP and Cy Young Awards. After that first pack I couldn't get enough and spent the majority of my allowance at that same grocery store on all the packs I could afford and rip. These collecting days peacked in 1987 and fizzled out around 1991.

Over the years since I would occassionally rip a retail pack or two that caught my fancy in the store, but my job involved a ton of travel and I never found the time to follow sports teams or specific players to bring me back to the hobby.

Late 2019 was a perfect storm that resulted in me remembering the fun I had as a kid collecting my favorite teams and players. All of the 2018 rookies were starting to stake their claim (Ohtani, Soto, Acuna Jr., etc.), my Brewers made the playoffs for the 2nd consecutive year, Christian Yelich just missed his 2nd consecutive MVP Award, and quaratine was just around the corner. So while I started dabbling in 2019 my collecting really got going in early 2020 when I found myself with much more time on my hands.

My collection now spans decades as I have found interests in vintage baseball cards, 1980s cards from my childhood, 1990's inserts of top players like Ken Griffey Jr., Brett Favre, and Frank Thomas, modern super stars like Juan Soto, and I have even become extremely interested in modern soccer including Lionel Messi, Mallory Pugh, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Alex Morgan.

It's an exciting time for sports card collecting and I am so happy that my childhood hobby has returned to be just as fun as an adult.