Bob Ross was well known for his afro hairdo and soothing painting instruction on his long-running TV show The Joy of Painting. Many people may not know that Bob Ross had another creative passion outside of painting – collecting baseball cards. Baseball cards held a special place in Bob Ross’s heart from his childhood all the way through his adult life. The joy he found in collecting and appreciating baseball cards paralleled the joy he tried to spread to viewers through painting.
Bob was born in 1942 in Daytona Beach, Florida. As a young boy growing up in the 1950s, he became enthralled with America’s pastime of baseball. He would spend hours at local baseball fields watching games and idolizing his favorite players. It was baseball cards that truly sparked his love and interest in the sport. Starting from a young age, Bob would eagerly await the release of the newest baseball card sets each year. He enjoyed searching through packs, hoping to find rare cards of the stars of the day like Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, and Hank Aaron. The colorful images and stats on the back of each card brought the players to life for him.
As his collection grew, Bob took great care in organizing his cards in binders by team, position, and other categories. He enjoyed learning more about the players and their careers by studying the details on their cards. The cards also fueled his vivid imagination, allowing him to pretend he was playing on his favorite team. Baseball cards became an escape and a joyful hobby for Bob during his childhood years. Even when he couldn’t afford to attend real games, his card collection brought the game directly to him.
Bob continued his passion for baseball cards into his adult life and military career. He carried his prized binders with him during his time serving in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. Having his card collection nearby provided comfort during difficult or stressful times. After returning home from the war, Bob never lost his love for the hobby. He made it a priority to keep up with the latest releases and add new stars to his ever-growing collection.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the hobby of baseball card collecting exploded in popularity across America. This coincided with Bob beginning his famous painting show, The Joy of Painting. Though focused on teaching painting techniques, Bob often found ways to work his passion for baseball into episodes. He would casually mention stats or stories about players on certain cards between demonstrations. Fans of the show began to learn more about Bob’s deep baseball fandom through these lighthearted asides.
Behind the scenes, Bob’s co-workers on The Joy of Painting set also knew about his baseball card avocation. It was common to find him during breaks poring over his latest card purchases, swaps, or additions to his collection. He generously shared his vast baseball knowledge with anyone interested in the sport or hobby. Bob’s enthusiasm for cards was truly infectious. Even those unfamiliar with America’s pastime found themselves wanting to learn more after seeing Bob’s joy.
In the decades after The Joy of Painting, Bob continued collecting all the way into the early 1990s until his passing in 1995 at the age of 52. His collection grew to include thousands of cards spanning the entire history of the hobby from the late 1800s cigarette cards to the modern era. Bob took pride that his collection contained rare examples from every era that helped tell the story of baseball card history. He was also ahead of his time in his belief that vintage cards from the early 20th century held significant monetary and nostalgic value for future generations.
Sadly, the whereabouts of Bob Ross’s prized baseball card collection are unknown following his death. His passion for the hobby lives on through fond memories from friends and in archived Joy of Painting episodes. Bob Ross proved that collecting baseball cards is about far more than monetary value – it’s about childhood memories, learning history, fueling imagination, and simply finding pure joy in appreciating America’s pastime. Through his enthusiasm for cards on his TV show, Bob helped spread that joy to millions of new fans for decades to come.
