Noah was always a huge baseball fan. From a young age, he enjoyed going to games with his dad and cheering on their hometown team. His favorite thing to collect, though, were baseball cards. Whenever Noah had some extra money, whether from his allowance, doing chores around the house, or winning a little cash at a school carnival, he would use it to buy new packs of cards at the local convenience store or drug store.
Over many years of collecting, Noah amassed an impressive collection of 70 different baseball cards. Some of the cards were of current players on his favorite team, but many were of legends of the game from decades past. A few of the prized cards in Noah’s collection included a rookie card of Mickey Mantle from 1952, a rare Honus Wagner T206 card from the early 1900s, and a card showing Babe Ruth hitting his famous “called shot” home run from the 1932 World Series.
Noah took very good care of his baseball card collection. He kept all the cards stored safely in plastic sleeves in a couple of large binders. This protected the cards from any potential damage from bending, moisture, or other factors that could cause the cards to deteriorate over time. When he wasn’t looking through his collection or trading duplicate cards with friends at school, the binders were kept on a high shelf in his room out of reach from younger siblings.
In addition to taking great care in storing and protecting his collection, Noah also did research to understand the value and significance of the different cards. He knew that factors like the player, the year the card was issued, its relative scarcity, and its condition all impacted the potential worth of each card on the secondary market. While Noah enjoyed his collection first and foremost as a baseball fan, he did take pride in owning cards that could be quite valuable if ever sold.
One of Noah’s favorite pastimes was researching new information about players and researching the history of different baseball card sets from over the decades. He kept detailed notebooks tracking statistics, biographies, and other facts about the players featured on his cards. Noah also loved learning interesting stories behind the creation of certain iconic cards and sets. This allowed him to better understand and appreciate his collection on a deeper level beyond just the visuals printed on the cardboard.
As he got older, Noah’s curiosity about his collection and the business of sports collecting grew. He started paying closer attention to monthly Beckett price guides and sales reports from the hobby’s major auction houses like PWCC and Goldin Auctions. By tracking recent prices realized for comparable cards to those in his own collection, Noah estimated the total value of his 70 cards to be worth around $15,000-$20,000 depending on potential condition upgrades. While Noah had no current plans to sell his beloved collection, it was exciting for him to realize he owned such a valuable asset that was also his favorite hobby.
To continue feeding his passion, Noah saved up more money from his part-time job at a local card and collectibles shop on Saturdays. He enjoyed not just the hourly wages but also the employee discount on new supplies and boxes of cards. On his 16th birthday, Noah treated himself to a fresh case of the latest baseball card releases from Topps and Panini. He looked forward to sorting through the packs, adding any new players or parallel hits to his ever-growing collection, and of course keeping up with the stats of all the athletes featured in that year’s crop of cards.
Whether enjoying trips to the baseball hall of fame to see memorabilia from the games’ greatest eras, discussing the latest transactions and player movements with friends online, or simply gazing with pride at his neatly organized collection, 70 cards and counting, Noah remained as devoted a fan of America’s pastime as he was since attending his first big league game so many years ago with his father. His prized baseball cards provided not just monetary value but a lifetime of fond memories and enjoyment for the young collector. Noah looked forward to many more years of adding to his collection and watching his favorite sport continue to inspire new generations to pick up the bat, ball and glove.