Judy has always had a passion for baseball ever since she was a little girl. She grew up watching baseball games with her father who was a die hard Boston Red Sox fan. While most girls her age were into dolls and dress up, Judy enjoyed learning about the players, their stats, and studying the intricacies of America’s favorite pastime.
For her 8th birthday, her father surprised her with her very first baseball card – a 1984 topps card of Wade Boggs. From that moment on, Judy was hooked on starting her own baseball card collection. She saved up her allowance and would shop the card aisle at the corner store, hoping to find deals to expand her collection. Within a year she had amassed over 100 different cards featuring players from across the major leagues.
As Judy entered her teenage years, her passion for the cards grew stronger. She began doing more research – reading baseball card price guides, scouring auctions online, and visiting card shops on the weekends with friends to dig through boxes of commons in search of hidden gems. By the time she graduated high school, her collection had ballooned to over 350 different cards organized meticulously in carefully sorted binders by team, position, and year.
After graduating, Judy pursued a degree in sports marketing and communications at the University of Massachusetts. Her plan was to someday work for a major league front office helping to promote the team. During her college years, Judy’s card hobby grew more sophisticated. She began to focus mainly on collecting rookie cards of hall of famers as well as stars from the 80s and 90s. Knowing these cards would gain value over time, she began investing more of her paychecks towards acquiring high end pieces for her collection.
By budgeting carefully and making strategic trades online, Judy was able to add cards like Mariano Rivera’s 1993 donruss rookie card, Ken Griffey Jr.’s upper deck rookie, and Cal Ripken Jr.’s 1981 topps traded rookie card to her collection. She also landed autograph rookies of Chipper Jones, Derek Jeter, and Mike Piazza which she was especially proud of. Through hard work at her campus job and discipline with her spending, by her senior year, Judy’s collection had reached over 450 baseball cards, carefully curated and showing strong potential for future appreciation.
After graduating with honors, Judy landed her dream job working as a group sales executive for the Tampa Bay Rays. Finally making a steady income, she was able to pursue her card collecting hobby more aggressively. With ample disposable income, she started expanding her horizons beyond just rookies. Judy began acquiring graded vintage gems from the 50s, 60s, and 70s including Treasury bond stars like Mickey Mantle, Hank Aaron and Willie Mays. She also nabbed authentic game used cards that further fed her love of history and authentic memorabilia.
Five years into her career, after many promotions and accolades, Judy’s collection had grown exponentially. Through savvy buying and research, her card cache now totaled a staggering 573 different pieces. She owned a pristine 1957 topps mickey mantle psa 8, a 1972 topps Nolan Ryan psa 10 gem mint, and a 1911 t206 Honus Wagner psa 4 regarded as the crown jewel of her collection. Her cards were now worth thousands, with steady increases anticipated due to her strategy of collecting only the best of the best.
While Judy’s passion for baseball never waned, she decided it was finally time to put her collection front and center. She began professionally displaying her 573 card collection at local card shows, where it received widespread praise from dealers and collectors alike. Slowly but surely, Judy transitioned into becoming a prominent buyer, seller and trader in the vintage card space. Leveraging her collection and deep knowledge, she was now a respected authority in the hobby. In her spare time, Judy also began mentoring young collectors just starting out on their journey.
At age 35, Judy made the difficult decision to part ways with her prized 1987 Topps collection to fund a down payment on a new home. While she shed tears selling the bulk of her childhood cards, she took comfort knowing they would bring someone else years of enjoyment. Judy’s collection is now a beloved part of baseball card history and serves as an inspiration for collectors young and old. Through years of hard work and dedication to her craft, Judy’s journey exemplifies how a passion can transform into much more with focus and perseverance. Today, her vastly reduced but highest caliber collection continues to gain value as baseball card mania keeps growing stronger with each generation.