Title: Tom’s Baseball Card Collection

Tom has always been a big baseball fan. Ever since he was just a little kid, he enjoyed playing baseball in the backyard with his friends and following his favorite Major League teams. One thing Tom got really into was collecting baseball cards. It started out small, just picking up a pack or two of cards when he went to the store with his parents. But over the years, his collection grew substantially.

Now at age 12, Tom has amassed an impressive collection of 114 baseball cards. Organizing and caring for his collection has become a fun hobby. Each Saturday, he spends a couple hours sorting through his cards, showing them to his friends, and reading about the players and stats on the back of each one. His favorite cards are of current star players, but he also enjoys learning about players from past eras by reading the biographies on their cards.

The earliest card in Tom’s collection dates all the way back to 1975. It features Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson, known as “Mr. October” for his clutch postseason heroics with the Oakland A’s and New York Yankees. Though the photo and design are dated by today’s standards, Tom thinks it’s really cool to own a card from over 45 years ago. He keeps it stored carefully in a protective sleeve to preserve its condition.

A good portion of Tom’s collection consists of cards from the late 1980s and 1990s. This era holds a special nostalgia for him, as many of the players from that time period were active when he first started following baseball. Tom treasures cards of stars like Ken Griffey Jr., Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Cal Ripken Jr., Greg Maddux, and Tom Glavine. He has multiple cards of some players as their careers progressed and their stats changed over the years.

One of the crown jewels of Tom’s collection is a mint condition 1998 Ken Griffey Jr. Upper Deck card, featuring Griffey perfectly silhouetted against a sunset sky as he rounds third base. This particular Griffey card is highly sought after by collectors. Tom was lucky to find one still in great shape at a card show a few years ago. He doesn’t let many people handle it without protective gloves in order to maintain its pristine surface.

In addition to old-school stars, Tom’s collection reflects many of today’s best players. He enjoys following current MLB action and actively tries to acquire rookie cards or early career cards that could gain value if those players live up to their potential. Some of his modern cards feature superstars like Mike Trout, Christian Yelich, Cody Bellinger, Ronald Acuña Jr., and Juan Soto. He hopes that in 20-30 years, people will be excited to see cards from these eras in the way he appreciates vintage 1980s cards now.

While Tom primarily collects baseball cards, he has started to branch out into supplementary collectibles too. His room is decorated with posters of historic ballparks and current team rosters. He has a small collection of authentic jersey swatch cards, containing tiny cut-out pieces of authentic game-worn uniforms embedded in the cardboard. Tom also enjoys perusing annual publications like beckett baseball to research prices, analyze player stats, and learn about the business side of the hobby.

Caring for his large and valuable collection properly is important to Tom. He stores his cards in several 400-count boxes organized alphabetically by player last name. High-end cards are secured in ziplocked penny sleeves and toploaders. The boxes are then kept on a shelf in his closet, safe from sunlight/UV rays that can damage the fragile paper and ink over time. For display, Tom has a few pages of cards carefully slotted into screw-down holders on his bedroom walls.

As Tom’s collection continues to grow, he is gaining a deeper appreciation for the history of the game and individual player accomplishments. Part of the fun for him is imagining what some of his vintage heroes from photos might have been like on the field. He hopes to one day complete sets for some of his all-time favorite teams and pass down his collection to his own kids someday. For now, Tom will keep adding new cards to his roster, enjoying baseball cards as both an art and analytic statistical archive of the national pastime.