Iggy Suarez has had a lifelong passion for baseball and collecting baseball cards. Born in 1989 in San Diego, California, Iggy grew up going to Padres games with his father and inheriting his love of the sport. By the age of 10, Iggy had amassed his first collection of baseball cards that he would continue adding to throughout his childhood and beyond.
Iggy’s collection started out modestly with packs of cards from the local drug store. He enjoyed opening the packs and seeing which players he might pull. Some of his earliest cards included Tony Gwynn, Trevor Hoffman, and Ken Caminiti from the 1998 Topps series. Those initial cards sparked a fire in Iggy that would lead him on his journey to build one of the most extensive baseball card collections in existence.
In middle school and high school, Iggy would spend much of his allowance and money from odd jobs buying packs, boxes, and individual cards online or at local card shops. His collection grew rapidly during those teenage years to include stars from all eras like Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, Nolan Ryan, Barry Bonds, and David Ortiz. He also made sure to grab rookie cards of up-and-coming players that would go on to have Hall of Fame careers like Derek Jeter, Chipper Jones, and Mariano Rivera.
By the time Iggy went to college at San Diego State University in 2007, his collection had grown into the thousands of cards spanning all years from the late 1800s to the present day. It was in college that Iggy’s collecting hobby hit a new level. Having more financial freedom and access to the internet, Iggy was able to start targeting high-end vintage cards and complete sets that added tremendous value and rarity to his growing hoard of baseball nostalgia.
Some of the most notable additions from Iggy’s college years included a 1909-11 T206 Honus Wagner, a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle, and a complete 1933 Goudey set – among the earliest and most iconic issues in the history of the modern trading card industry. Acquiring cards of this caliber required savings, researching the market, and luck to find sellers willing to part with such valuable stars of the hobby. But Iggy was diligent and relentless in his hunt to grow what was fast becoming one of the finest private collections anywhere.
Upon graduating college in 2011 with a business degree, Iggy used his newfound career skills and income to take his collecting to an even higher level. He started attending major hobby conventions and card shows, networking with dealers, and using online auction sites to source even harder to find gems for his collection. Some highlights from this period include an unprecedented run where Iggy acquired seven highly coveted T206 Cabinets containing thousands of vintage tobacco cards in mint condition.
He also obtained extremely rare signed rookie cards like a 2006 Bowman Chrome Draft Kris Bryant PSA 10 Gem Mint and a 2007 Bowman Chrome Draft Mike Trout PSA 9 Mint that are arguably two of the most desirable modern rookie cards in existence. At auctions, Iggy set personal records by spending over $150,000 on single cards like a 1974 Topps Nolan Ryan PSA 8 and over $500,000 on complete vintage sets. Along the way, he also managed to collect autographed cards from every living Baseball Hall of Famer to date.
As Iggy’s collection blossomed into one of truly epic proportions, he started gaining recognition within the international sports memorabilia community. Articles were written about his accomplishments and some of the incredibly rare pieces within his library of cardboard legends. In 2016, portions of Iggy’s collection were even featured in an exhibit at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York – a major honor cementing his status as an elite card collector.
Over a decade after graduating college, Iggy’s collecting shows no signs of slowing down. He now devotes much of his free time and income to continuously upgrading his collection, mixing in new acquisitions with the thousands of older cards. Iggy estimates his collection conservatively holds over 1.5 million individual cards in immaculate condition from over 140 years of baseball history. Valued well into the tens of millions of dollars, it stands as one of the most complete and impressive lifetime sports collections ever amassed by a single individual.
Iggy has even started sharing his passion by loaning prized pieces to philanthropic exhibits, working with other collectors and clubs, and even mentoring young collectors just starting out. He hopes his journey and collection can help preserve the culture and memories encapsulated on these small pieces of paper while also passing the torch to new generations of baseball enthusiasts. For Iggy Suarez, his treasure trove of baseball cards represents both a lifelong love of America’s pastime as well as an incredible history captured. It remains the joy, challenge, and reward of a true enthusiast who pursued his dreams through cardboard.
