Ryan Hotchkiss has been an avid collector of baseball cards since he was just 5 years old. Now at age 30, his collection has grown to over 100,000 individual cards spanning all eras of the game from the late 19th century up to modern issues. His deep passion for the hobby started simply enough with a few packs of cards from the local drug store, but has blossomed into an extraordinary archive documenting the history of baseball.

As a child growing up in the 1990s, Ryan was immediately drawn to collecting cards as it combined his love of sports with the excitement of the chase to complete sets. Some of his earliest and most prized cards include rookie cards of Derek Jeter, Chipper Jones, and Nomar Garciaparra from his formative years collecting. Those cards hold a special nostalgia for him and kicked off a journey exploring the rich history of the national pastime through its trading card form.

In high school Ryan began delving deeper into the vintage side of the hobby, scouring antique stores, flea markets, and garage sales for old tins and boxes of cards predating the 1980s. Some of his earliest vintage finds included a 1919 Eddie Plank card, 1927 Babe Ruth card, and several 1930 Goudey cards which captured his intrigue in the earliest decades of issued baseball cards. As his collection and knowledge grew, Ryan was able to fill in sets and wantlists at a time before the vintage boom exploded cards to exorbitant prices.

Upon entering college as a History major, Ryan coupled his card collecting hobby with academic study of the evolution of baseball throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. He began a dedicated effort to assemble complete vintage sets spanning the earliest tobacco cards of the 1870s through the golden era of the 1950s. Some of his prized complete sets include 1909-11 T206, 1911-13 T207 White Border, 1914 Cracker Jack, and 1951 Bowman. Assembling these seminal issued required years of hunting, trading, and adding the toughest star and short print cards at a premium.

In more recent years, Ryan’s collecting passion has gone well beyond simply accumulating cards and into preservation and research of the hobby’s history. He began cataloging his entire collection database both for his own study and to share knowledge with others. Utilizing digital scanning technology, Ryan has amassed a virtual image bank of over 10,000 unique vintage cards to archive their visuals. He shares scans and his expertise actively online, such as through a popular blog and as a resource for documentarians and authors chronicling the origins of sports cards.

A highlight of Ryan’s collection came in 2018 when he was able to acquire one of the true gems of vintage cards – an unmatched 1909-11 T206 Honus Wagner card. Graded a stunning Gem Mint 9.5, it stands among the finest known examples in existence of the sport’s most iconic and valuable issue. While an immense investment, owning such a pivotal piece of sports collectibles history was a dream come true and cornerstone for his world class assemblage.

In addition to his own self-assembled archive, Ryan has also boosted his holdings through strategic purchases. Notable separate collections and individual cards he has acquired include a complete 1935 Diamond Stars set, 1952 Topps complete but for one Hank Aaron rookie, and a pristine 1933 Goudey Babe Ruth. He has also added rarities like an unprecedented 1882 Old Judge tobacco card and key rookies of legends from the 1940s-60s era including Ted Williams, Willie Mays, and Sandy Koufax.

Today, Ryan’s now 30 year journey has culminated in one of the most historically comprehensive and condition sensitive baseball card libraries in private hands. Beyond his extensive vintage holdings, he also keeps up with modern issues as a release date buyer. It is the early tobacco era through the golden age of the 1950s where his real football lies. His level of knowledge and passion for preservation is ensuring that these seminal cardboard issues documenting America’s pastime are studied and maintained for future generations. For an avid historian and student of the game like Ryan, few pursuits are as personally fulfilling.

Thanks to his vast collection and expertise, Ryan is now frequently consulted as a specialist resource on vintage baseball cards. He has appraised and authenticated rare individual cards for auction houses as well as provided curatorial support for sports museums exhibiting premiere card collections. While the value of his holdings have appreciated greatly in the collector market, Ryan considers his archive much more than a financial investment – it is a lifetime achievement preserving the irreplaceable historical artifacts of our national pastime. His passion started simply as a child but has grown into a lifelong dedication to understanding baseball through its splendid cardboard chronicles.