Hobbies: Collecting Trading Cards

A long time ago when I was a kid I collected baseball cards as a little side hobby. I kept the Nolan Ryan cards, and most others ended up in my bike's spokes so I could sound like a motorcycle, lol. It was the later 80's / early 90's, though, so the Junk Wax Era of cards was in full swing. In early 2024, after seeing a couple of A's games that year, my kids and I were that the trading cards section of Target just to look. The kids enjoyed the baseball games we were able to go to, and I knew how excited I would get opening packs as a kid.

The only packs they had at the time were the "fat packs" of the 2024 Topps Big League. There were a 36 cards in each of those fat packs for about $7 or so. Looking at the pack, it looked like a fun series the kids would enjoy. At the time, I really didn't know much about trading cards, only that you could get them for other sports, games, movies/tv etc. I asked the kids if they wanted to get a pack of baseball cards each and we could open them together after we got home. They both excitedly said yes, and once we got home, we opened our packs of cards together for the first time ever, and for me in probably about 30+ years. After that, we were hooked (I think myself more than the kids, but they still love ripping packs together).

And that's the thing about trading cards, whether it's baseball, hockey, Pokemon - whatever - it can easily become an addiction of sorts. That seratonin drop I get when I'm opening packs is sooooo nice, even if I don't get any hits in the pack. I like this so much that it's been less than two years and I would estimate my card collection growing from those first 36 cards to - and this is an honest estimate - somewhere between 3,000 to 7,000 cards. TONS of baseball, a little bit of Star Wars Chrome, a tiny bit of football, a chunk of hockey (go Sharks!), and I have a side collection of a space flight trading cards known as "Space Shots."

I also ended up creating my own YouTube channel (Wide Rips)for opening card packs. Right now due to school I have quite the backlog of videos to edit and publish, but I have fun even though the channel isn't that big or anything. My kids will make videos with me from time-to-time, as well. Below you'll find a photo gallery that highlights some of my favorite cards including those in my PC (personal collection) which is mostly A's cards (there's even a /25 Reggie Jackson on-card autograph in that mix). Below that gallery, you'll find some select videos from my channel embedded. Thanks for viewing, and I hope you enjoy trading cards as well!