How long have you been collecting for and how did you start out??

[kylehess10]

Title says it all....



I've been collecting since January, 2006. My collection originally consisted of just 3 items: A Chipper Jones game used bat, a Glenn Hubbard game used bat, and a Horacio Ramirez locker room nameplate. I still have those 3 pieces, but in the past 2 years I've gained my collection up to having about 50 pieces. I have everything from Ken Griffey Jr.'s All Star Game helmet to Carlos Guillen's shower sandle. I used to mainly collect game used cards, with those lone 3 pieces of game used memorabilia in my collection, but after my brother got me a pair of Chipper Jones game worn batting gloves for Christmas, 2005, I decided to quit with cards and start collecting full game used memorabilia. I sold every single game used card I had and got quite a pretty penny from it, which I turned around to get my new collection started. I love every bit of it!

[skyking26]

Back in the late 70's my brother and I had a running rivalry. He was a huge Tigers fan, I followed the Cubs. No particular reason, they were on here in the Detroit area on cable when I got home fom high school. Dave Kingman became my player to watch, so I began collecting his cards along with assembling my usual yearly Topps sets.

As time went on, that manifested into oddball material, and 10 years later my first GU purchase in 89 was a '75 Mets home jersey and a 84/85 Louisville Kingman bat. While in college I started to put together bats and a jersey here and there, but the oddball collecting and autos were mostly the thing. Today, I have soon to be 10 of his jerseys, about 24 bats, and pursue bats of the Tiger championship teams along with auto'd baseballs of HOF's and local stars.

[3arod13]

I starting collecting cards in 1968. I grew up in Syracuse, NY and went to all the Syracuse Chiefs baseball games. Back then, Syracuse Chiefs were the minor league farm team of the NY Yankees. I use to love when the Yankees would come to Syracuse and play in their exhibition games. When Syracuse lost their minds and then decised to become the farm team of the Toronto Blue Jays, I died! Started collecting game used stuff in 1993 when I purchased my first few pieces of Juan Gonzalez, but it ended their. Once I found this site, it got me really interested in game used stuff, based on what I have learned in this forum. I'm very selective in what I buy due to the fact that the more I learn and the more fakes I see, the more I hesitate. Overall, I just love to collect!

[geoff]

I started collecting Game Used in Oct of 2005 and have a nice size collection since then spending all the extra money I have on items.My first Game Used item was a Signed Game Used Spring Training Twins Bat.The Bat is Signed By Johan Santana and got that off EBAY.I since sold that Bat to a Friend.My Second Game Used Bat was a Andruw Jones Signed Bat that I bought from a Forum Member and Signed Game Used Batting Gloves.I met other People on here and have got Stuff from them also.I collect all Game Used now and only that as I used to collect Cards also.Now that I bought a Condo a few months ago I have to slow down on what I buy and have had to sell a few items along the way and are selling items now.But I will never get out off collecting Game Used as I think the World off this Hobby.I am even trying to teach my new Girlfriend about the Hobby and she wants to learn about it and I am happy to teach her what I have learned from others on here.I love Game Used and will never stop collecting even if I have to sell to buy more Game Used.

[chicagoglen]

I started in 2006 like Kyle. Being a life long White Sox fan and they just having won the 2005 World Series I decided to collect a bat from every position player on that team. My first bat was a signed Jermaine Dye gamer and the rest is history. I have since completed the Team Bat set (Minus Raul Casanova since the White Sox state he never ordered a bat and only had 5 at bats that year) and have yet decided what will be next on the list. I have had game used batting helmets of Uribe, konerko, and Pierzynski but sold them off. (Regret it) and I think I might start collecting some of these again. I am upset because I am missing Soxfest this weekend because of some business out of town. So I will have to wait for the Garage sale later in the year.

If anyone ever see's a Raul Casanova non-team descipt bat I would appreciate if you let me know.

Thanks,

Glen

[bigklu18]

I started seriously collecting in 1988. My grandfather worked for General Electric here in Cincinnati and in April of 76 the Reds came there for a tour and he was able to get a ball signed by the entire team. The ball is also dated 04/76. I took the ball to a local shop to get a value and was very pleased. Afterwards I went home and found some cards I was given back in the 70's and bought a Beckett and was hooked. I got a pretty good job and began to visit a baseball card shop at least once a week for awhile and began to stockpile cards. I went from just buying cards, to buying packs of certain years hoping to find the big names to just collecying certain players and then to autographs and game used bats and now more higher priced game used things and only certain cards if they appeal to me. WHAT A GREAT HOBBY !!!!

[eGameUsed]

Great topic! I started collecting in 1987 at the age of 8. Jim Pankovitz gave me a cracked bat at the end of the game when I was trying to get some autographs. Since, I have been hooked and have focused on Astros items ever since. I now collect Astros bats, jerseys, and other equipment starting with the 1962 Colt .45s to the current players. And yes . . . I still have the 1987 Jim Pankovitz bat and one of the few items I didn't pay for :). I remember the first "insider" I had. He set-up every Saturday and Sunday at a Flea Market on the south side of Houston near the Astrodome. He had trash cans full of bats and cleats and gloves. I recall all the Biggio and Bagwell bats I passed on at $50, when I only "needed" one. I also remember not having the $100 for the Biggio catcher's glove, mask, and shingaurds. What was I thinking?

Thanks,

[bigtruck260]

Been collecting Cardinals items for 25 years - mostly autographs - though I have sold off most of that collection:D

Game used stuff began in 2002 - and has blossomed into a hobby rather than an obesession like some folks here. I don't collect the high dollar guys, just players I enjoyed watching or had experiences with over the years. My first game used item was a Jason Kendall (Pirates) bat that he handed me after a game in the late 1990's. I sold it in 2002 to acquire my first Cardinals item - a Lance Johnson fielder's glove that has long been sold.

Dave

[Birdbats]

Bought my first pack of cards in 1969 and collected every card produced until I went to college in '80. Laid off for a while, then when I got a real job (making real money) I started collecting vintage cards -- tried to get high-grade rookie cards of each Cardinals HOFer. I have a good friend who had a few autographed bats and I liked the way they looked. So, in 1994, I bid on and won a 1974 Lou Brock GU bat. I was hooked on bats from then on. In 2002, I won Edgar Renteria's post-9/11 2001 jersey at a charity auction -- that started the jersey collection.

[jonincleve]

true story, i was 6 years old 1975, it was the first time i was allowed to go to a friends house by myself 3 streets over. my friends mom was throwing out a bunch of baseball/football cards and i asked if i could have them. i brought home about 300-400 cards and started sorting them by teams etc... i was hooked. our parents would joke years later that those 300 cards became over a million plus cards at one point and it all started with them.

i never stopped even through the high school/college years. being diabetic i never really drank or smoked and all of my friends used to joke/tease me about my collection. now we are all near 40 and i bring up the fact that all their beer/cigarette money is gone and my money is hanging on my walls or displayed. plus they all got home safe from the bars and partying due to a great designated driver :)

through baseball cards and memorabilia i have been able to supplement paying for college, get married,own a house and adopt our little girl. now we are going for child number 2 within the next year hence the adoption sale in the for sale forum hint,hint. amazing how one small act one day back in the 70's can change the course of one's life.

take care
john
jonincleve@sbcglobal.net

[karamaxjoe]

It's funny how time have changed. Today if you let your 6 year old wonder three blocks away, you'd probably end up in jail. Good luck with baby number two.

Mike

[Nnunnari]

Back in '96 I was collecting autographs in spring training like I had every year, except this time Matt Stairs gave me a broken bat, I was hooked on bats ever since. I started collecting all different kinds of bats of my favorite players, since then I have focused on Hall of Famers and sold just about all of the commons.


Nick
nunnari19@yahoo.com

always looking for Gwynn bats

[plt4008usmc]

I started collecting cards in the early 90's with my younger cousin. During the 2006 season I won 2 jerseys of the players that were living with me at the time and that really started my game used collection. Since then I have not really collected cards unless they are of certain players.

[AWA85]

I have been a long time autograph collector and card collector when I was younger. I picked up a few bats from some minor league players and a foul ball from Adam Dunn in STL during their first season at the new park but never thought anything of it at the time. I found this website and thought it would be pretty cool to get into and something different from all the autographs. Thanks to this site I have added a couple of Reds bats, a hat and one amazing Jason LaRue batting helmet all within the past month or two. A hobby that is hard to get away from!

[yanks12025]

I started collecting around 3 three's ago. Started off with a bang, collecting game used bats. The first one that i got, was a 1950-53 Larry Berra game used bat. Man i would do anything in the world to have that bat back.

[Jags Fan Dan]

For me, it started when my mom bought me a few packs of the mini 1987 Topps cards. I guess I was about 12. I collected baseball cards until about 1991. Then I stopped, then I got into football cards (mainly Mark Brunell) again in the late 1990's. I bought my first Brunell game used jersey about 3 and a half years ago.

Coincidentally, however, I just bought my first game used bat two days ago! And while I don't plan to have a huge collection of those, I have already arranged to purchase my second one on Monday!

The reason for this latest switch is I rarely find any football memorabilia I want, and when something does pop up it is usually so expensive that I cannot justify pulling the money out of savings for it. Where as game used bats are more plentiful, and also a lot less expensive.

Currently on my list of game used bats ( I am not picky with condition) that I want are the following:

Lenny Harris game bat from when he was a Red.
Shawon Dunston
Buddy Bell -preferrably from when he was a Red)
Jose Oquendo
Tony Pena
Glenn Braggs
Chris Sabo
Eric Davis

[stlcardsfan]

I started when I was in first grade. My parents bought me some cards and a beckett price guide for christmas. I thought it was the coolest thing ever. I am 16 now and havnt looked back. I now have around 500 autos. I only collect Cardinals stuff. The only game used stuff I have are a Preston Wilson game used Rockies bat I never got the chance to get signed and a Braden Looper 2003 game used marlins jersey I got signed myself.

[Kong's Landing]

Hello Fellow Sports Addicts,

I have been collecting Dave Kingman memorabilia since 1976 at the age of 11. As a child, I use to be a Cubs fan & when the Mets would come to town, a lanky 6'-6" guy use to turn me on with a few Waveland Avenue bombs. It started primarily with cards & articles, but over the years it has spread to magazines, bats, oddball, you name it. When it came to Kingman items I did not have, "If I could afford it, I wanted it...Bad". Same holds true today. However, one of my biggest highlights was when Dave called me up & congratulated me on the birth of my daughter. I've met some great people in the hobby over the years & have had a some great friendships like the one with my ole' pal SKYKING from early 1989.

As Dave would say "Warmest Regards"

Erik Bakalar

Dolphins fan since 75' & Dan Marino collector since 84'
(Please have pitty on my team)

[skyking26]

Hello Fellow Sports Addicts,

I have been collecting Dave Kingman memorabilia since 1976 at the age of 11. As a child, I use to be a Cubs fan & when the Mets would come to town, a lanky 6'-6" guy use to turn me on with a few Waveland Avenue bombs. It started primarily with cards & articles, but over the years it has spread to magazines, bats, oddball, you name it. When it came to Kingman items I did not have, "If I could afford it, I wanted it...Bad". Same holds true today. However, one of my biggest highlights was when Dave called me up & congratulated me on the birth of my daughter. I've met some great people in the hobby over the years & have had a some great friendships like the one with my ole' pal SKYKING from early 1989.

As Dave would say "Warmest Regards"

Erik Bakalar

Dolphins fan since 75' & Dan Marino collector since 84'
(Please have pitty on my team)
Welcome Erik. Yes, it is true, he has know me since '89 (although I am going with 87 as i was still in college and knew you then). Erik is always a little off, but a standup guy and one of the reasons I am still in this hobby. With Erik, it friendship stuff, not "all about the $$" like he and I have witnessed over the years. I guess there are a few cracks where people can be found who are passionate about this!

[godwulf]

Chris mentioning how he passed on all those Flea Market bargains reminded me something I heard Joe Garagiola say once...that the first time he saw a broken bat for sale was back in the '70s - somebody was selling a Pete Rose gamer for $15, and he remembered thinking, "Who would pay money for a broken baseball bat?"

I did the usual card collecting when I was a kid, and gave away my two shoeboxes full of cards in about 1968, when I was 14, having "outgrown them"...then never really followed sports at all till I happened to be back from overseas briefly during the Phillies' run in '80, and became a fan of that team. My interest in Baseball petered out again till I'd retired from the Navy and moved to Phoenix in '93, and then in '95 Arizona was awarded a franchise, and the Diamondbacks began playing in '98. The whole idea of getting in on the ground floor of a team's history just struck a chord within me, and I became an overnight fanatic, collecting everything in sight. Ten years later, I'm still pretty much doing that.

I was searching for DBacks stuff on eBay, sometime in '98, and came across a listing for a game-used Karim Garcia Diamondbacks bat - I was thunderstruck! Own a game-used bat!? Who knew such a thing was possible? I probably paid 40 or 50 dollars for it - unfortunately, I wasn't keeping very good records in those days - and it now has a lot of company, to say the least.

One thing that I used to do more than I do now is to buy the "other team" bats of Diamondbacks players. I still do it sometimes, but not nearly as often, and usually only with the players that I particularly like and admire. I used to try to buy every bat of every player who ever played for my team, but I'm starting to develop some selectivity as my living space becomes filled with old lumber.

[Dewey2007]

I started collecting cards as a young kid and in the early 80's I started to collect autographs and game used. The Raiders practiced in my hometown and we would always go there to get autographs. I got a couple pair of cleats I still have and actually almost got a job with the team but they moved to L.A. Still hate Al Davis for that one!!

I live about 5 miles from the Oakland Coliseum so I collected game used bats at A's games and shoes at Warriors games mostly from '81-83. Wish I would have had the foresight to go at it harder back then. Stuff was fairly easy to get back then and not a lot of competition except for a few other kids. In 1981 I got a George Brett as my first ever game used bat and I was hooked for a time. I fell out of collecting during my sophomore year in high school when I started playing baseball and partying. I actually gave away a Ripken gamer to my buddy a few years after high school. Man I wish I could have that one back :(

Anyhow, I got back into collecting late last year after pulling my old bat collection and other items out of storage after almost 20 years. I ended up selling my bat collection to John Taube and have since started working on collecting items of guys from my hometown and on the side Cal Bears players since I work at Cal Berkeley. Since I am collecting guys from my hometown I'm always in the market for a reasonably priced Jimmy Rollins jersey or bat so if anyone has one keep me in mind.

Happy Collecting!!

[10thMan]

I started collecting in the early 90`s. I started collecting Stars of the 80`s & up. All the main guys, mac, a-rod, bonds, sosa, raffy, glaus, vlad, gwynn. I still have most of these guys "main" rookie cards. Mostly PSA/BGS 9`s & 10`s. I`m a so-cal guy & was given a cracked Steve Finley bat & the Bat collecting was "on" I intend to sell most of the cards I have & continue to look for bats.

When I was a little kid (about 5) I started to collect ball cards, I would buy the gum packs, eat the gum, take home the cards. I had some cool stuff, about 1969, my brother threw out my shoebox full of my treasured cards.
Sean

[ivo610]

I was a big Michael Jordan fan when I was a kid and that lead to collecting his cards. From 5 -14 I collected basketball cards. Which lead to collecting basketball shoes. But my passion has become NFL stuff. It started with signed picture and jerseys. Now I am working on collecting all the Proline helmets each team offers and have them signed by an important player in that franchises history. I am also starting to collect game used jerseys but I am still trying to learn more about what to look for when I buy. Boy am I glad I came across this site.

[MiLe HigH]

I've collected game used jerseys since around 2001. Then I found this site in early 2008. I had around 25 game used jerseys and no bats at that time. This site single handedly turned my collecting around. I now maybe buy only 1-2 jerseys a year, and now have more than 50 game used bats(with lots more to come). I can truly say I have got addiction to bats....Thanks GUU

[legaleagle92481]

In the 80 and 90's I collected cards and autographs. Since those markets are so saturated, now I collect only game used, which I took up about 1.5 years ago by buying a Carlos Beltran bat.

[Tay1038]

My first purchase was on eBay when I was 11 or 12 years old back in 1998-99' era. My first purchase was actually a pair of game used Minnesota Twins bats - Greg Colbrunn & Brent Gates. When I met the gentleman with my dad at his apartment near the University of Minnesota campus - he kindly welcomed us in and even gave me a FREE bat -Brent Brede Twins bat to go with my other stuff! Whata guy I thought! I remember seeing a lot of his stuff - which was awesome! In particular I was in awwwww over his 500 HR club signed photo by every member hung in his little living room in his college apartment! At the age of 12 - you bet it was pretty sweet to see that! Signatures of Mantle, Aaron, Killebrew, Jackson, Banks...ect

The best part of this purchase is that I bought from Andy Benish (when he was a young college student) - who is a member of the forum, a major asset to this hobby and considered one of my good friends in the collecting world! I have been able to keep in contact with Andy over the years growing up and have obtained some great items for my collection from him. He has always answered every question I have had and is always willing to educate me on memorabilia. Without Andy's kindness, willingness to share his knowledge my collection would not be where it's at today! Thank you my friend for everything!

[dcgreg25]

I started collecting baseball cards back in '87 when I was 11. Collected for about four or five years and then moved on. In 1997, I started to collect some sports autographs- mostly Indians and Browns players and then in 2004 I stumbled into collecting game used items. My primary focus has been jerseys but I probably have about a dozen bats or so about a half dozen batting helmets, fielding gloves, etc. At this point, I probably have about 100+ Indians jerseys 1980-present. My side focus in baseball has been Kenny Lofton jerseys and, at last count I own six jerseys as well as a hat and batting helmet.

On the football side, I have a few high-end jerseys of players I grew up watching but most of my jersey purchases now are either former ND players or Browns & Redskins players with a few helmets and cleats mixed in.

[70to66]

I collected football and hockey cards back in the late 1970's then outgrew them, then the Billy Ripken error card came out and sparked my interest! I started back into collecting football and baseball cards until whatever was hot died out when the next hot brand or card came out and whatever was hot before tanked. So then I switched to getting autographs at the old busch stadium and going to spring training to get autographs and was hooked.

Walt Weiss and I visited two years in a row at spring training about his son being ill and my wife being ill and what all we both dealt with, one day at the end of practice I asked him if he had any broken bats and he said no, but asked if I wanted one anyway! I said yes and he went down into the clubhouse and brought me one out and signed it, I've been hooked to game used bats ever since. Thanks again Walt!