Dylan Crews’ Love of Baseball Cards Began at a Young Age
Growing up in Longwood, Florida, Dylan Crews was instantly drawn to America’s pastime of baseball from a very young age. His grandfather was an avid Boston Red Sox fan who passed down his fandom and love of the game to young Dylan. By the time he was 5 years old, Crews was playing tee ball and spending hours in the backyard tossing the ball with his dad. But it was his discovery of baseball cards that truly ignited his passion and paved the way for his future career in professional baseball.
“I remember the first pack of cards I ever opened, it had to be when I was around 6 or 7 years old,” Crews recalls. “My grandpa took me to the local card shop and let me pick out a pack. I pulled a Mike Trout rookie card and was just in awe – I had no idea who he was at the time but I knew it must be special because my grandpa was so excited. From that moment on, I was hooked.” Crews began amassing boxes upon boxes of cards, constantly trading with friends and scouring yard sales for new additions to his ever-growing collection.
In addition to collecting, Crews became engrossed in learning every detail about the players and teams represented by his cardboard treasures. He spent hours reading baseball encyclopedias and scouting reports, memorizing stats and analyzing the intricate nuances of the game. “The cards were like a portal into the history of the sport for me,” Crews explains. “I loved learning about the eras before I was even born by studying the old school players in my collection. Guys like Hank Aaron, Willie Mays and Nolan Ryan were like superheroes to me.”
Crews’ bedroom walls became adorned with posters of his favorite players as his fandom blossomed. He joined multiple baseball fantasy leagues with his friends and would draft teams comprised solely of the players residing in his collection. On road trips with his family, Crews would bring stacks of cards in the car to trade with other kids he’d meet at rest stops along the way. His mother recalls many summer days finding Dylan out in the front yard for hours on end playing “baseball card baseball” with neighborhood kids, meticulously keeping score and stats on loose leaf paper.
As Crews entered his teenage years and began dominating on the baseball diamond, his card collection grew exponentially. Scouts took notice of his impressive 5-tool skills and he committed to play Division 1 ball at Louisiana State University. By then, Crews estimated he owned well over 100,000 individual baseball cards carefully sorted and stored in boxes lining the walls of his bedroom. “It was truly a labor of love at that point,” Crews laughs. “I had cards from every year dating back to the 1950s and rosters from every team. It was really a work of art.”
In addition to his personal collection, Crews began buying, selling and trading high-end vintage and rookie cards as a side business throughout high school. He developed keen expertise in properly grading cards and understanding market values. Crews estimates he made over $30,000 through various card deals and flips during those years. The profits went towards helping fund his travel ball expenses as well as beginning to invest in even rarer find cards for his personal PC (personal collection).
Some of Crews’ prized baseball card possessions include:
A 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle PSA 8 (near mint-mint condition) he purchased for $8,000.
A 1909-11 T206 Honus Wagner that is kept securely in a safety deposit box. Its estimated value is well over $1 million.
A complete set of 1957 Topps cards which is one of the highest grossing vintage sets ever made.
Autograph rookie cards of Mike Trout, Bryce Harper, Mookie Betts and Ronald Acuña Jr. that he pulled himself from packs as a teen.
A collection of over 500 Hank Aaron cards spanning his entire career.
When Crews arrived at LSU in 2020, he was selected as a freshman All-American after batting .346 with 15 home runs. Scouts were dazzled by his combination of raw power, blazing speed and defensive prowess in centerfield. He was selected 13th overall in the 2021 MLB Draft by the Los Angeles Dodgers and received a signing bonus of $3 million. Crews made his professional debut that season for the Low-A Rancho Cucamonga Quakes.
These days when Crews has a day off from the ballpark, you can likely find him back at his childhood home poring through his vast card collection. Even as his playing career advances, his first love of the cardboard relics from baseball’s past remains strong. “The cards will always be a big part of who I am,” Crews says. “They fueled my passion for the game from a young age and now I feel incredibly lucky to be living my dream in professional baseball. I like to think my cards had a little something to do with getting me here.”