[todeen]

Pictures make everything better! I'm a secondary history teacher, MA in US History. My mom is a collector of furniture and milk glass. I'm also interested in family history. The combination of my mom and liking historical stories is the nature/nurture reason I collect. Started buying baseball cards in 1991 when it was Topps 40th anniversary. I also had/have ADHD, and cards and baseball were an incentive to pay attention in school.

I got rid of 95% of my card collection in college. I hate the gambling aspect of modern cards - spend money with no guarantee of return value. Refocused on whatever I thought was cool. I'd rather buy specifically what I want rather than blow money for no purpose.

Grew up in Billings, MT. Minor league affiliate of Cincinnati is/was there. Turned me into a Reds fan. I collect Barry Larkin, Joey Votto, Ernie Lombardi and 1939/40 era because of this. I'm hoping Tyler Stephenson will be the next Reds legend to be developed and stay with the team. The picture is Barry Larkin's personal WS celebration hat, signed. Picked it up this spring from a board member. Super excited about it. Centerpiece of my modern Reds collection. Have been working to put together the W-711 Reds set. Getting closer. W-711 is centerpiece of my 1939/40 collection.

I collect Tris Speaker because he is a distant relative. My grandma didn't know much about him other than my grandpa was related to him as distant cousins. But to a 7 year old, that's pretty cool. Picked up a Speaker auto from Lelands in 2013/14. Still love it!

I also collect items that tell the story of MLB history. This is probably most easily associated with type collecting. I'm in the middle of selling stuff because this idea is too broad, but I love it. If I had more room I'd continue collecting as I do. But I narrowed it down to Cal Ripken Jr and Lou Gehrig (this was my first major historical memory of MLB I can remember watching on TV). I also am thinking of expanding into Ty Cobb because of his friendship / relationship with Tris Speaker. I also have Joe Dimaggio because of his connection with the 1939 WS against the Reds. And Stan Musial. My LCS had some unique items for Stan one day that I bought. Makes a nice display. And I love advertisements for Wheaties!

I have a couple modern miscellaneous items for Griffey Jr, and Jeter. Might collect them some day when I get bored and need a new focus. I get bored of collecting the same old thing and need new outlets for searching on ebay.





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