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Chris CountsWhat makes a great collector? It depends on who you ask. I believe I was at my collecting best when I put all my cards in team order with rubber bands, had posters of Bob Gibson, Pete Rose, Brooks Robinson and Don Drysdale thumbtacked to the walls of my room, and obsessively tried to figure out when and where the next series of 132 new cards would show up ...
I get the sense there is a real populist sentiment on this board. Bruce's post on the great collectors, however sincere, is percieved by many as elitist. Yet these aren't exactly a bunch of bumpkins taking offense, but hardcore collectors seeking vintage material and often willing to pay big time for it ...
So what's the lesson here? For me, it's never forgetting why I started collecting cards in the first place. It's about the thrill of getting something new and unexpected. I remember pealing open my first-ever pack of cards and seeing Willie Davis staring back at me. He seemed larger than life, like an action hero. Yet he was a ballplayer, and as a big league ballplayer, he could do things — like run and hit and throw — that blew my nine-year-old mind. From this moment on, I was a collector ...
So what makes a great collector? For me a great collector still experiences the same excitement and joy from his (or her) cards decades after pealing open that first magical pack. And that same collector is willing and able to pass on some of that excitement and joy on to other collectors ...
By the way, I just put all my cards back in team order ... I'm still using rubber bands, but I also use top holders now!