A Bit About Me

[Knucksie49]

When I was a kid my aunt and uncle used to give my brother and I vintage baseball cards that my uncle would pick up at auctions for Christmas. In 1988 when I was ten I was given a 1967 Topps Hoyt Wilhelm card. This began a life-long obsession with the knuckleball. As I grew older I left the baseball card collecting behind, but would attend games every year, and enjoy watching knuckleball pitchers, which became easier when the Navy stationed me in New England, as I watched Tim Wakefield at Fenway or one of the many minor league pitchers that would attempt to replicate the Wakefield experiment that had stuck with the Red Sox, including getting to watch Dickey in the 2012 season win a Cy Young award.
When my aunt passed away I picked back up the gathering of knuckleball cards, focusing on Wilhelm in particular. My Wilhelm library from his many years in the sport sits nearly complete, as I do not have, and likely (price based) will not have the 1952 Topps (unless someone has one in really rough shape). Getting these cards brings me back to Christmas 36 years ago, when I opened a present, and there, amidst cards that included a 1961 Frank Robinson, was the 1967 Hoyt Wilhelm card, the one that started an obsession, that would be fully realized. It transported me to being ten again, and reminded me why I love the game of baseball, and how it is the little things that show why we, as grown adults, continue to follow a game that means nothing in the grand scheme of things, but means everything when it comes to understanding who we truly are.