As kids in the 80’s, my older brother Todd and I collected baseball cards. To some this might mean a shoe box or two worth of cards but to us it was way more than that. Our parents pushed us to be passionate about things and never just sit around and be lazy. Watching baseball games was a family pastime for us and while we would go to 10 - 15 San Diego Padres games every year at Jack Murphy Stadium, we would also make it out to Yuma, AZ every year for Spring Training. Our parents instilled a love for the game for the both of us. We would go to the games hours beforehand just to get autographs on our baseball cards from our idols. But that wasn’t enough for us… Todd and I would watch both teams’ batting practice before the game and we knew when one of their wood bats had broken simply by the sound. From there we were on a mission to get that broken bat from the player who just cracked it. We were methodical in the way we approached these players. Todd and I probably have about 30 broken bats from ex-MLB players. Here is our legendary pic with Tony Gwynn in 1985 when he gave me his broken bat and even signed it for me. The expression on my face as a 5 year old then tells you all you need to know. Tony Gwynn was everything to us growing up in San Diego. This moment captured from my dad’s camera means so much to me. it means so much to us.
Todd and I both faded out of baseball card collecting as we got into our teenage years but our past hobby was never forgotten. Our dad stashed all of our cards in the attic of our childhood home and we easily own over 100,000 cards combined. Sometimes I get nostalgic and look at them for old time’s sake but I had never gone back to actually collecting. My brother did though! When my brother’s oldest son Jack was born, Todd found a new renowned interest in the hobby of collecting baseball cards. Since our parents instilled sports and baseball cards in our childhood, Todd wanted to do the same with his firstborn. And let’s be real, Todd also was looking for any reason to get into the baseball card game again! Todd has collected big time since then and his knowledge of the game of baseball and the hobby of collecting sports cards can’t be matched. If you want to find Todd in his element just watch him open a few packs of baseball cards. Below is a picture of Jack after getting an autograph from the Anaheim Angels’ superstar, Mike Trout. While this moment meant a lot to Jack, I know how much more it meant to my brother. He was reliving some of the great memories of our childhood through his kids. And they loved it!
And while I was tempted many times, up until this point I still hadn’t started collecting cards again. But I was definitely getting the itch. Back in the day, Tony Gwynn was not only one of the top 3 hitters of all-time, he was also our role model. Our whole family loved watching Tony play. He let the game come to him and never tried to do too much. Off the field, Tony was such an amazing human being. This made my parents get behind him even more. Todd and I went out and played the game of baseball like Tony Gwynn. We hit line drives… We went to the opposite field… We took a strike in the count… Off the field, our parents taught us to be kind to others just like when Tony took time out of his life in 1985 to give me his game used baseball bat to me. I can’t write this whole article without some Tony footage so here you go….
Why hadn’t I started collecting cards again? Was it because my hometown team hadn’t had a Tony Gwynn type player in years? Was it because the sport hadn’t had a Ken Griffey Jr. type player in some time? I love watching Bryce Harper and Mike Trout play but they just don’t have that Gwynn and Griffey spark. And that is in no way a knock on them! Harper and Trout are so sick! But from where I sit, I like a little bit of swagger to go along with my baseball idols. Give me that Rickey Henderson type confidence and I’m all in. And then if you give me that player for my hometown team, I will not only go harder with the sport of baseball, but I might even buy a pack of baseball cards to see if it gets the juices flowing. Well, the baseball gods must have been listening because over the last couple of years they have given us Ronald Acuña Jr. of the Atlanta Braves and Juan Soto of the Washington Nationals. But, they gave us San Diego fans something as well… They gave us a young player with a smile like Tony Gwynn, a 5-tool approach like Trout, the passion of Griffey, and the swagger of Rickey all in one. They gave us Fernando Tatis Jr.
My itch to collect baseball cards had officially turned into a full on scratch. Tatis came into the league on day 1 and was amazing. All of my friends who had stopped watching baseball were now all back in. The texts were going back and forth nightly and I was jumping off of my couch repeatedly seeing the things he was doing at the plate, on the basepaths, and on defense at short. And while he gave us 40 year olds some new excitement in the lonely sports town of San Diego, he also inspired a youth movement with his sick gold chain and “the chop” that could be seen on the all little league fields across the county. My nephews and all of my friends’ kids looked up to Tatis just like we used to look up to Tony Gwynn. While my dad definitely didn’t like his swagger (he’s old school!), my mom could appreciate how nice he seemed. My mom always gets behind people that are nice and you just can’t not like Fernando. He is always super nice to the reporter in interviews, smiling on camera, and doing everything he can to represent the game of baseball the way it should be. Here are my nephews with Tatis at Spring Training in Arizona last year. Smiles all around! If you knew Fletch you would understand this is a smile!
I was so excited for baseball season this year! We had a great World Series last year where the Washington Nationals went out and won the title when nobody thought they could. They were led by a young Juan Soto who made the games fun to watch with his confidence in the batter’s box. For the Padres this year, our prospects had gained another year of experience and I felt that we were getting closer to sniffing a wild card birth this season. But then all of our hopes and dreams for the season came crashing down with the Coronavirus which postponed all major sports here. While I totally understand why, it’s hard to even put in words how devastating it is to not have sports to watch. Even worse, we all couldn’t hang out with our friends or let alone leave our houses! Thank god for Michael Jordan and The Last Dance documentary on Netflix which has been fantastic. But it still wasn’t enough. Old sports highlights weren’t doing the trick either. That was until March 28th when I got hit with an ad on Instagram from Topps showing a Ken Griffey Jr. rookie card but with an artistic twist on it that I hadn’t seen before.
I obviously had to click the IG ad to find out more because that rookie card was not only iconic to me, but there was this extra 90’s flair on it from the artist that I loved. While on the Topps’ website, I learned that this Griffey card was actually part of a collection called Topps Project 2020. With this collection, Topps had collaborated with 20 popular artists to have them give their own spin on 20 of Topps’ famous baseball cards from over the years. So in total, there would be 400 cards; 20 artists x 20 cards each. And better yet, each card would be sold on Topps’ website for $19.99 for 48 hours. Whatever was purchased in that 48 hour window would be printed. After that, the card would then be out of print. This created a scarcity for the cards that were sold when they first launched the project as not as many people were up on it then. Reading up on the background, and seeing my man Griffey along with some sick artwork from King Saladeen, I just had to buy one. There is it… I was finally back in the baseball card game! The pandemic and lack of sports on TV got me here. And with my new renewed interest in the hobby I have been talking about a lot of interesting ideas with my bro and my buddy Mickey. We have some things cooking on the content side of things!
By the way, that $19.99 investment I made? Well it’s now being sold for upwards of $400 on eBay so the ROI on my investment had me itching for more. Yikes… an addiction. This is what I was scared about. I now have purchased a total of 4 Topps Project 2020 cards. Time will tell how many I end up with once the project is over with. My gut is that I’ll be somewhere in the 20’s. But I’m approaching it as an investment. Here are the cards I’ve purchased so far….
Now I’m not the only one who has gotten back into sports card collecting. The business itself is the best it’s been in over 2 decades which is eye opening. And it’s not just baseball card fans. Investors are getting in. Sneakerheads are getting in. Opportunists are getting in. This is all just creating more and more buzz. And to know that Gary Vaynerchuck can help push this forward even more is amazing. Gary Vee always talks about his start in baseball cards. Gary is a huge collector. I think he is a marketing genius and is one of the best marketers in the world. He has been inspiring millions of fans (including me!) to chase their dreams for years. Now the baseball card buzz has him help pushing it forward?! Boom! I think baseball cards are here to stay and I am loving every moment of this wave!