Vicki was very proud of her baseball card collection. She had been diligently collecting cards for the past 5 years, ever since she went to her first baseball game with her dad. That’s when she fell in love with the sport and became interested in learning about all the different players.
Her collection started out small, just a few packs of cards she would buy at the convenience store or receive as treats from her grandparents. But over the years, it grew into a massive collection that now numbered 210 individual cards. Vicki took very good care of her cards too, always storing them safely in plastic sleeves in a thick album organized alphabetically by the player’s last name.
On the surface, 210 cards may not seem like that many compared to some more serious collectors. But Vicki was proud of the diversity of players and teams represented in her collection. She had cards dating back to the 1960s featuring legends like Hank Aaron, Mickey Mantle, and Sandy Koufax. Some of those older cards were in worse condition due to their age, but it was stillcool for Vicki to own pieces of baseball history from when those greats played.
She also had a wide range of current players, making sure to stay on top of the latest season and try to get cards for any new rookies or stars. Some of Vicki’s favorite recent additions included Mike Trout, Christian Yelich, and Cody Bellinger. Those players had proven themselves as current elites in the league that Vicki enjoyed following. It was always exciting when she could add a new card to rep a player enjoying a breakout campaign.
Vicki didn’t just focus on one particular team either. While she was originally drawn to the New York Yankees due to growing up in the area, she soon learned to appreciate players and collect cards across MLB. She had representations from at least 25 different franchises in her collection. Some teams like the Yankees, Red Sox, and Dodgers had more cards since they’ve had more success and star players over the decades. But she made an effort to add cards highlighting players from smaller market clubs too to recognize their contributions.
In addition to filling her album, Vicki also used her collection as a way to learn more baseball stats and history. Each time she would add a new card, she would do research on the player to learn about their career highlights, numbers, awards, and place in baseball lore. Having the physical cards in her hands helped spark her interest to dig deeper. She kept detailed notebook pages on her favorite players, tracking their progress season over season. Some of the entries grew to multiple pages as she continued following certain stars year after year.
Vicki’s parents were always supportive of her new hobby, recognizing that collecting helped foster her love of the game as well as important skills like organization, number-crunching, and learning discipline to save up for new additions. They helped find ways to feed her growing collection, sometimes surprising her with a couple packs for birthdays or good report card grades. Other times they would take her to visiting card shows or local hobby shops where she could browse tables full of cards from other collectors and dealers.
At big card shows especially, Vicki would have to make tough choices about what to purchase since her budget was limited. She tried to focus first on filling any obvious gaps, like getting cards for any players she only had one of but wanted sets for. Then she might look to add some more history, chasing rare older cards within her price range. Occasionally she’d also treat herself to a pricier new star just because she really liked that player. With so much selection available, it took careful planning and decision making on Vicki’s part.
Even with over 200 total cards, Vicki’s collection was far from complete. There were always more players from across history she wanted represented. And as long as she continued collecting, her album would keep growing along with her knowledge of America’s pastime. She hoped to one day have a truly encyclopedic set chronicling the many greats of baseball over multiple generations. For now though, Vicki was proud of the diversity, quality, and stories already within her over 210 baseball cards. It had become much more than just a bunch of pieces of paper – it was tangible link to her deep love of the game.
