Hi all,
My name is Donato DiVecchia. I’ve been reading the boards here for a few months now and I thought it was time to introduce myself. I am new to this board, but some of you may know me from the CU or other boards that I have been a member of. Here is a little background about my hobby.
Like most kids of the 70’s I collected cards; baseball, hockey, football and basketball. I gave it up early in my mid-teens as I had no time for it between school and working. I did not go back to collecting until September of 1993 and it was totally by accident. By then I was married and had a 5 year old daughter and all I did was work 60-70 hours/week. One day my wife’s car broke down and we were waiting for it to get repaired at the shop. The mechanic said it was going to be a while to fix the car so we decided to go for a walk. While we were walking this shop with some old memorabilia in the window caught my eye. I told my wife, let’s go in. Once I got inside and we started looking around at all the great stuff I got bit by the collecting bug. I just had to collect something, but I was unsure as to what it was. In talking with the shop owner he suggested a few things. I could collect autographed baseballs, which he had a bunch of or I could collect cards of a particular player or team. I was unsure so he suggested buying a few different things and seeing what piqued my interest over the next few weeks. The two items I decided on were a Ted Williams autographed baseball and a 1971 Topps Nolan Ryan card. For the next few weeks every night after work I would take a good look at my two items. The autographed baseball just wasn't doing anything for me so I decided I would do a player collection of Nolan Ryan. He had a long career and some interesting stats. At first I started with just a run of Topps cards, but that soon expanded to Donruss, Fleer, Upper Deck and then on to the oddball issues. It seemed never ending which was great for someone that just wanted no end to it. I still have that 1971 Topps Nolan Ryan card that I bought in that shop. I had it graded a few years back and I have to give the shop owner credit as he said it was near mint and that is what it graded when I sent it in to PSA. I eventually amassed over 4,000 different Nolan Ryan cards in mostly raw form dating from 1967 through and including the year 2000.
Here is the card that started my obsession with Nolan Ryan cards. Raw as I originally purchased it and in the PSA 7 holder it now resides in.
By 2007 my Nolan Ryan want list had shrunk down to less than 50 cards on it and finding a card I didn't have was getting tough. Sometimes I would go more than 6 months without picking something up. It was getting a little depressing. It was at that point that a fellow Ryan collector Keith (Con40) got me interested in collecting vintage HOFer baseball cards as a side project. It managed to be a great filler while I kept looking for those last few Ryan cards that I was having trouble finding. That side project lasted for about five years in which time I managed to build a top 5 HOF PSA Registry set. I enjoy looking at vintage cards as they are a window to the past and their design is simple and pure. The newer cards today just have way too much going on for me.
This brings me to my most recent project which I started in 2012. I was looking for a way to reinvigorate my passion for Nolan Ryan cards and it was Keith that suggested I try and tackle the Nolan Ryan Master set on the PSA Registry. At first, I couldn't bring myself to doing the set as there are so many worthless cards that you are basically paying for the slab; as the common card inside the slab can be had for a few cents raw. On the other hand, what I did have in my favor was the fact that I had most of the tougher cards. Cards like the 1970's Topps Test Issues and all three Venezuelan cards to name a few; I just needed to get them graded. To do this I needed some funds as the Ryan Master set is large at well over 2,000 cards. To fund this new project I ended up selling off all the vintage HOFer’s. That stung a bit at first, but I think it’s worked out well for me as my passion for Nolan Ryan cards has only grown since starting the Nolan Ryan Master set. It’s allowed me to go through all my cards one by one to see which were worthy of sending in to PSA. While doing this I realized my passion for Ryan cards was stronger than ever. All I needed to do was pull them out and look at them every once in a while. I am currently ranked in 4th place and at 85% complete in the Nolan Ryan Master set. Although it seems like the set is near completion; I assure you it's not! Between all the upgrades and finding the last few hundred cards that are the more difficult to find in high grade, I think I will be going at this for the next 25 years if not longer and I'm OK with that.
That’s my story, thanks for reading.
Donato