Why do you collect what you collect?

[One 'ol Cat]

I started all of this in 1972. The Sunoco football stamp album. It was a real mania for us twelve year olds. I still have it. I think I am a dozen or so short. The next year, a schoolmate named Joe got me going on the 1973 Topps baseball set. It was the year that Hank Aaron was making his assault on the home run record. Joe was a good guy. Unfortunately he was killed when a hydraulic cylinder failed while he was fixing a dump truck.
I worked on Topps baseball in the seventies. Learned about the Card Collectors' Company. Picked up some vintage stuff.
I fell victim to the 80's craze. Tried to corner the Don Mattingly market. So I have a little of everything. I had to liquidate a hoard of T207's and T206's I had collected because life happened.
I now focus more. I can't get everything, so I work on my Buffalo C46's. I am working on 2001 Topps gold parallel. Pick up an oddball thing here and there. I like the game. I like it's history. I like the graphic design of the old cards. And I don't worry if anyone cares. (Except for my wife, of course. I bury the card purchases under 'educational expenses')