11 Sports Card Collectors We LOVE!💖
We take time to complain about a lot of other collectors, but let's take some time to give props to the collectors who make this hobby great!
Each Happy Hobby Sports Card Newsletter For Collectors has a handful of great sports card subjects, helping sports card collectors working with limited budgets!
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This Week’s Newsletter Highlights!
⚾🏈🏀 11 SPORTS CARD COLLECTORS WE LOVE!
⚾ SPORTS CARD TRIVIA!
🏀 🏈 ⚾ IF PATRICK IMHOFF BECAME CEO OF FANATICS
⚾ 🏀 🏈 REMEMBERING ROOKIE CARDS FROM 1952 IN EVERY SPORT!
⚾11 SPORTS CARD COLLECTORS WE LOVE!🏀
A few weeks ago, I was in a grumpy mood, and I detailed the 11 Card Collectors Who ANNOY Us! Here in our Happy Hobby world, we’re usually not ones to complain or gripe about the bad actors in this industry, but we also want to help collectors avoid pitfalls, so I wrote that piece.
Now, though, we want to balance it out and share about a dozen of our favorite types of card collectors. These men and women underscore the Happy part of our Happy Hobby!
1. “Bonus Card” Shippers
When people pack the card you bought with fun, no-name junk wax commons. I love it. It’s neat getting bonus cards of players you might have forgotten about!
2. Those Who PC Random Players
Chris Goff is relatively new to our YouTube channel, and he recently told me that he collects Mike Yastrzemski cards because he was friends with Mike’s dad (Carl’s son). That made me feel so happy for him, and now I’m going to try to track down some of my Mike Yaz cards for him!
3. People Helping Kids Get Excited About Cards
If kids get excited about cards, the hobby gets rejuvenated with a new cycle of collectors. If you see a kid at a card show, or anywhere else, hook the kid up with some cards. (Make sure the parent is cool with it, though.)
4. RAK People Who Heard You Liked a Player/Team
“RAK” stands for Random Acts of Kindness, which is what some people do when they hear you like a player or a team, then they send you some cards for your PC! How great are these people!?!
5. Humble Collectors with Great Collections
Storytime: When I moved to Central Texas, I met Jim, a fella in my congregation who was excited to hear I collected cards. We talked for a while, as I probably rambled on about my awesome collection of not-that-awesome cards. He was kind and showed excitement about the cards I talked about excitedly.
Near the end of my Narcissistic rant, I eventually asked him about his collection. He hemmed and hawed and eventually told me about his Mickey Mantle cards, and high-grade vintage slabs he had acquired over the years. After I picked my jaw up off the ground, I apologized for thinking he was just another junk-wax guy like me. He laughed and we had a good time. (I’m going to have him on for a YouTube interview at some point!)
Humble collectors with great collections make their collections even more impressive! Thank you.
6. Set Collectors
Patrick Imhoff pointed out how awesome this group of collectors are, and I couldn’t agree more. I’m always impressed by their patience and diligence in putting together complete sets. Very cool.
7. Fast/Safe Shippers
Is there anything cooler after you buy a card on eBay than when you get a notice that night that your card has shipped!?! When you get your card, how much better do you feel when it’s nicely protected? Give that seller some good feedback!
8. Junk Wax Appreciation Club
“Junk Wax” is a misnomer.
First, wax packs started being replaced in 1989, which is in the heart of the era referred to, when dozens of manufacturers overprinted cards by the millions.
Second, calling them “junk” because of their overproduction is incorrect because so many of those cards are either a) worthy money (see Ken Griffey Jr.) or b) they represent a joyous time in our card-collecting lives that we love to revisit.
I love seeing videos from guys like The Wax Pack Dad, I Love Baseball Cards and so many more.
9. Super Organized Collectors
I wish I spent more time organizing my collection, which would help me appreciate my cards more. I love seeing how other people have things neatly sorted out. It’s impressive!
10. Brand Loyal Collectors
People who are smart to focus their collection on one sport, one manufacturer and one product are also impressive to me. It’s so much easier to improve your collection when you walk down one aisle, as opposed to collecting anything and everything, and not saving some money to improve the sets you truly love.
11. People Who Get Excited About Base Rookie Cards
Whether I’m opening new product or old wax, I love a good rookie card! I’ve created a list of the best rookie cards from every year in every sport, but even just some of the RCs of good players from any year is fun to find in any pack. I love when other people get excited about pulling a base Wyatt Langford or Masyn Winn. It’s their TRUE ROOKIE CARD! Who knows what lies ahead for both the player and the card!?!
I get many comments on my YouTube videos, complaining about my excitement over pulling a .25 card, as I hit the hype horn and enjoy the card a couple extra seconds on screen. I tell those people, “I’m not for everyone.” And I hope they find someone else’s videos to watch.
We appreciate and thank you, sports card collectors we love! Keep up the good work, and we hope to follow in your footsteps! Are there some other collectors you appreciate that I missed? Drop a comment below!
⚾ BASEBALL CARD TRIVIA!
Send me the answer to this question – you could win this free card from me! 2021 Topps Ted Williams – Cards That Never Were #CNW-2.
Which Hall-of-Fame hitter had two cards in the 1954 Topps set?
Email your answer to gonoscards@gmail.com and you can win this 2021 Topps Ted Williams card! Rather than take the first person who answers it right, I’m going to do a random drawing of all the people who answer this question before midnight, Friday, January 3. Winner will be announced in Dec. 5 newsletter.
Question from Dec. 12: Both Hank Aaron and Ernie Banks have just one base card issued from Bowman in the ‘50s – what year was it? Answer: 1955 Bowman. Winner: Robert Springs! Congrats, Robert! You won the 1977 Kellogg’s 3-D Super Stars Pete Rose card!
🏈 ⚾ 🏀IF PATRICK IMHOFF BECAME CEO OF FANATICS: #23 of 23
Imhoff breaks down all the moves Fanatics should make, just two years away from when they unify the baseball, football and basketball card licenses in 2026. He shared his first move in our June 20 newsletter, and he’ll continue to share other great card nuggets with us in future issues.
No. 23 – FUTURE PLANS
Two items I would look into for the future would be digital cards (NFTs) and a trade forum. I am not keen on digital cards, but there are those who love them. They are part of the hobby and I would look at ways to support them.
The trade forum is tough and complicated but something we should be able to figure out. It may start like a card show, but the end goal would be to push people to an online forum. It’s all very complicated to control… but I can dream!
Well, 23 suggestions on how I’d fix Fanatics if I were CEO seems like a good starting point. Luckily (or maybe unluckily) for you all, I am not the CEO at Fanatics and I feel confident that is not in the future. I hope you enjoy these ideas and let me know what ideas you would like to see.
You can subscribe to Patrick Imhoff’s Substack Newsletter here.
🏈 ⚾ 🏀 REMEMBERING THE BEST ROOKIE CARDS FROM 1952 IN EACH SPORT!
In 1952, Gene Kelly was “Singin’ in the Rain,” the Yankees, Lions and Lakers (Minneapolis version) won their respective league’s titles, and Topps jumped into the card game! Here are your top sports rookie cards from 1952!
Baseball (Topps):
Basketball:
There were no basketball cards produced in 1952.
Football:
There were no football cards produced in 1952.
Hockey (Parkhurst):
Coming Next Week!
⚾🏈🏀 HOW TO SET SPORTS CARD COLLECTING GOALS!
🏈⚾🏀 SPORTS CARD TRIVIA!
⚾🏈🏀 CARDS THAT MAKE US HAPPY!
***Important Card-Collecting Articles on DavidGonos.com***
Connect with David Gonos on:
Email me: mailto:gonoscards@gmail.com
Have a #HappyHobby!
Podcast Music: "I dunno" by grapes - 2008 - Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution (3.0)
 | A guest post by
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There are a lot of great collectors put there which make it so much better. I know we hear the negative alot but so many make great contributions to a Happy Hobby!
Patrick, i think the iconic Upper Deck is the obvious answer, but they aren’t easy or cheap to pull. Collation of ‘89 Upper Deck can be all over the place, I’ve seen boxes with numerous Star Rookie cards, and some with none. Besides, it being such a sought-after card, and being the only key card in the set, boxes can be prone to some forms of searching shenanigans.
Luckily, the 2 remaining options offer fun and cheaper alternatives. I recommend both ‘89 Fleer and Donruss as very entertaining rips, with each having their own advantage. Both have solid rookie classes, of course, which provide a bonus chase. With Fleer you also get the chase of the Billy Ripken, and which version you will pull. Some of these sell well graded, as well. With Donruss you get an extra key rookie with the Schilling, and you get the fact that (last I looked), PSA 10’s of Griffey were going for a solid number (not that a 10 is easy, I’ve never sniffed an example I thought had a great chance, whereas Fleer tends to come out of pack in better shape overall, generally) So I would definitely recommended you pick up either one for a fun chase! Many times over the last few years I’ve picked up rack packs of either, because I also like collecting racks with stars/rookies on top, and while a rack with Griffey showing is unlikely, I’ve gotten many of the others showing from BBCE racks of both. I think you would definitely enjoy either. Let me know if you end up lacking either one, cause I will be very happy to send you a sharp Donruss or Fleer Griffey rookie, if you miss out, or just desire one. Whatever you decide, good luck!