I have never been too keen on collecting things. I am sort of a simple guy at heart, so I love having only what I need. I have one running collection, however, that only seems to get bigger as the years go on. Sports cards. I really love gathering, trading and owning sports cards.
My love for sports cards began as a young child. My dad would reward me with sports cards when I did well at my chores or when I studied well for school. It was one of the only rewards he offered, and it quickly became the only reward that I was interested in. I remember the joy of buying my first binder to hold my sports cards in. I had saved my allowance for a couple of months and could finally buy the special sports cards holder that I had been looking at in the sports cards store.
As I got older, I phased in and out of looking for new sports cards, but I continually cherished my sports cards collections and I spent many hours of free time looking at them and memorizing everything I could about them. Some of my brothers and my friends made fun of me for loving my collection of sports cards so much, but I didn’t care. I collected cards from baseball and basketball players mostly,...