It's about time!

I am about to turn 30, and baseball card collecting has been an off-and-on hobby of mine since 1993. Astute baseball fans will recognize that year as the inaugural year of the Colorado Rockies. Yes, also the Florida/Miami Marlins, but that's not the team that got me hooked on the sport of baseball and its related collectibles.

I came of age in this hobby smack in the middle of the "junk wax" craze, when every third strip mall had a card shop, and we were all stockpiling 1991 Topps and 1992 Fleer as though it was our ticket to a life of wealth and luxury. Sadly, that was not to be, though I seemed to maintain enough interest in this hobby to keep most of my cards around all these years.

I still stop by the local card shop from time to time, I have a few local dealers I see once or twice a year, and I'll even pick up something at Target or eBay once in a while. In other words, I do not breathe, eat, and sleep this hobby like some of the other bloggers in this community, but I still have an appreciation and a healthy sense of nostalgia.

There are a few hundred blogs in this community, but I can't say I read too many of them. For a while, I read JB Anama's BDJ610's Topps Baseball Card Blog and the Dodger-centric Night Owl Cards. I've even glanced at Cards From the Quarry (because Go Rockies!) and Garvey Cey Russell Lopes (because there are an awful lot of Dodger fans in this community). But time constraints don't really leave room for much more.

I've even done a handful of trades. Several months ago, I sent some 1993 Upper Deck to TTG at From An Unlikely Source and he responded with a stack of Colorado Rockies cards, which were much appreciated.

But I really have to give full credit for my decision to finally join the blogosphere to Nick at Dime Boxes, who runs the best baseball card blog out there, in my opinion. He and I have done a few trades in recent months. In fact, I was the one who sent him the "Starter Kit" he blogged about in September, and I was ecstatic to see he was so pleased with the selection of cards and supplies I sent him.

So when I randomly won his New Year's contest a few weeks ago, and a stack of a couple hundred cards showed up in my mailbox earlier this week, complete with all the vintage goodies he promised, I decided I had to do justice to such a random act of kindness. I ordered a scanner on Amazon, and decided to stop lurking and start creating.

I am finally happy to count myself as a member of this highly esoteric yet tight-knit group of baseball card bloggers, and show one of my favorite cards that Nick sent my way.

2007 Upper Deck #339 Roger Clemens

I am a Colorado resident and native, and I have seen most of my professional baseball games at Coors Field. I mentioned this to Nick when he emailed to verify my address and what I collect, and what shows up? A broken-bat shot of 300+-game winner Clemens at Coors Field. I've read enough Dime Boxes to know that Nick is a huge fan of pitchers at the plate and broken bats. Combine the two and I can't even imagine how tough it must have been for him to tear this out of his collection.

But that level of generosity showed me that it was about time for me to just "start a blog already!" (as it appears on my to-do list) and join what I have found to be a generous and passionate community.

There is plenty more where that came from, but that will have to wait for a later post.