Honus Wagner t-206
By: Jared Perkins and Joe Lowry
As a kid or even as an adult collecting baseball cards, have you ever wondered what the players whose pictures grace the cardboard think of their trading cards and if any of them actually collect them? Famously, Honus Wagner’s 1909-1911 t-206 is so scarce (and partly why it is so valuable) because he told the tobacco company to no longer produce his card. The most common theory was that he did not want kids to have to buy a pack of cigarettes to get his baseball card. So we know what one of baseball greats thought of his card which, by the way, is now one of the Holy Grails of the hobby.
Outside of that, however, we don’t have a lot of players’ opinions on their own trading cards let alone collecting them in general until the last 30 years or so. With the hobby boom over the last few years and the increasing social media usage and engagement, we’ve been much more exposed to the players’ excitement over their own cards they get from the manufacturers to sign before they end up in packs all the way to seeing them take part in their own collecting journeys.
Former Players Collecting Cards
Dmitri Young was a good and at times great player with 13 years in the big leagues and two all-star appearances, but likely isn’t on the tip of your tongue when asked to name a player that was from his specific era (1996 - 2008). However, if you were in the hobby prior to the recent pandemic-fueled boom, likely the first name that any collector would come up with as a former player that was a collector himself would be Dmitri Young.
PSA 10 1954 Topps Rookie Card of Ernie Banks from the Dmitri Young Collection
Like many collectors’ stories, Dmitri was collecting as a kid, especially big Mets and Braves players of his youth like Dwight Gooden, Darryl Strawberry, and Dale Murphy. However, what kickstarted his dive headfirst into the hobby was receiving a PSA 8 Pete Rose rookie after a card show in 2000. By 2001-02, he began a mission to collect the highest PSA-graded example of every Hall of Fame rookie card from post-World War II era (1948 through 1990) and ending up with one of the finest collections in the hobby ever put together. It was so good that the card grading company PSA gave out a very rare personal collection designation to all of his graded cards - the “Dmitri Young Collection”. He estimated that he spent around $5 Million dollars on his collection over the years and ended up selling it in 2012 for $2.4 Million dollars at auction to start up his charitable foundation. Needless to say, that collection would conservatively fetch double if not a LOT more if it went to auction today.
2019 Topps Chrome Sapphire Edition Rookie Auto Rainbow completed by Phil Hughes
For those collectors that came back to the hobby in the past few years, more than likely the first name that comes to mind for ex-players in the hobby is Phil Hughes. The former Yankees, Twins, and Padres pitcher started a Youtube channel in 2019 called Phil’s Pulls where he opens trading card packs that are just released, some oldies but goodies products, and explores other parts of the hobby. Most famously he popularized the Box War and put together the Fernando Tatis Jr. 2019 Topps Chrome Sapphire Autograph Rainbow. Box Wars were all the rage for a short period of time and engaged that all or nothing endorphin rush that ex-players like Phil probably are seeking out in their post-playing days. Rainbow chasing can be very difficult, especially of an expensive and highly sought after player, which likely was also hooking into that challenge-seeking mentality that athletes like Phil Hughes have in spades.
Various other ex-players used to or currently partake in the hobby for varying reasons. Greg Gagne was known to collect it back in the 90s as a way to connect with his kids and put together a collection of over 100,000 cards. Tom Candiotti was on a similar search as Dmitri Young, looking to put together an elite collection of baseball and hobby icons. Brad Lidge put together vintage sets of some of the rarer products in the baseball card realm while also using the hobby as a way to spend quality time with his son. Pat Neshek has collected over 50,000 autographed cards and is heavily engaged in the buying, selling, and opening of baseball cards for that “hobby rush” as he calls it.
Current Players Collecting Cards
With their focus on playing the game and social media often being a negative space for public figures, we surely don’t have a full picture of the current amount of baseball players that collect cards. One of the more well known ones is Matt Strahm who was a collector in his youth and was brought back into the hobby by his brother and the aforementioned and former teammate Phil Hughes in 2018. He now is a co-host of The Card Life TV, a show found on regional sports networks completely focused on the hobby and has his own popular series on Youtube called Strahm’s Stadium Pulls. In his Youtube series, he will find a cool spot in his home baseball stadium or one he is currently visiting, usually with no one around, and then rip open a box of cards. A fun idea and one that would be almost impossible for the average collector to replicate. He’s also got a fun personal collection approach that is unique to the baseball player collecting experience. Any player that has hit a home run off of him is a player’s card that he wants to collect. As he told his wife, “If they hit a home run off of me, they’re worth collecting.”
Other players we’ve seen engaging in the hobby span from the well known names to up and coming prospects. Evan Longoria got back into it with his kids during the pandemic with Pokémon cards and is now heavily into Formula 1 cards. Josh Donaldson has over 200,000 cards and posts some of his slab collections and pickups to his Instagram. Zac Lowther loves collecting his own cards and occasionally will host baseball card breaks. Carlos Rodon will post recent pickups of his to his Twitter feed. Blaze Jordan has done a guest appearance breaking cards, partnered up with the hobby marketplace StarStock, and posted the highlights of his collection to his Twitter feed.
Current Kansas City Royals relief pitcher Tyler Zuber fell in love with card collecting. It all started with a reward for excelling in school.
“I started collecting when I was a kid. My dad would give me incentives to make all the As in elementary and that was with a box of Sweet Spot Classic cards,” Zuber said. “The best two I have are Mike Schmidt and Nolan Ryan.”
The hobby took off for Zuber as a kid because of the unknown of what he might pull next.
“There is a thrill of trying to get a quality signed card by one of the game's best.”
The hobby has evolved for Zuber after he opened up his first pack of cards. It turned into a collection of boxes of cards.
“It took after that, died down for a while and then during COVID it picked back up,” Zuber said.
He was re-energized to go through his collection during quarantine due to his teammate Daniel Tillo and the collecting he has done. Zuber started to go through his collection and tweet what he was finding to Tillo. He has everything from Ken Griffey, Jr. rookie cards to Derek Jeter signed rookie cards.
Signing Autographs
When it comes to signing autographs, players have a tendency to have differing opinions. Some like to sign for kids only, others realize that there might be those trying to obtain autographs for a more personal reason, and others know that there are people out there trying to sell their autographs. For Zuber, he enjoys collecting autographs from people he has faced and also enjoys the process of signing for others.
“I try to sign for as many people as possible,” Zuber said. “I just remember when I was a kid wanting someone’s autograph at a game and how exciting it was to me.”
Even though he enjoys signing, it can be a lot to handle.
“It can be taxing signing so many, but gotta take breaks and realize when your autograph gets sloppier to stop ha!”
Players also get the opportunity to sign cards that get inserted in packs of sets by Bowman, Topps, and many other card companies. There is a thrill that comes for players in having the opportunity to sign that first card.
“Signing my own card was pretty cool, just a dream to have my own card,” Zuber said. “I know the dream of getting a card signed in a pack and knowing someone out there got it and it made their day is always a good feeling to me.”
There is a satisfaction in not just being able to see your own card signed, but having the opportunity to make some kid or a collector who may have a personal meaning with your signature can mean the world to players. The feeling that comes with that is almost priceless.
Fun with Inscription Autos
We couldn’t write this type of an article without mentioning a newer take on the player inscription auto. Typically inscription autos were along the lines of “Hall of Fame” or a significant stat or award like “Rookie of the Year 1992” that the player would tag on after signing their name. However, Phil Hughes and Benny Montgomery have taken a much more humorous angle to the inscription auto. Miguel Cabrera absolutely crushed Phil Hughes to the tune of an OPS of 1.51 with 7 home runs in 46 at bats. So amongst the various fun inscriptions he includes, his most popular ones are various flavors of “Miggy is my daddy”.
Benny Montgomery captured the heart and imagination of most baseball card collectors (outside of a few curmudgeons) when, in response to a well-known hobby figure questioning the differences in Benny’s auto (he has a basic one and a fancy one), he threw in an additional response wondering when someone would pull his 1st Bowman card that he signed “Borat!”. And in that one tweet, a hobby legend was born. He’s added in a few more - he did a play on Benny and the Jets with a hand drawn jet in 2022 Bowman, partnered up with fellow 2021 draft pick Jordan Lawlar, again in 2022 Bowman, to do a half of a drawing for each player’s card that when put side by side for a completed picture while also signing the other player’s name, and signed an Onyx Premium card with the inscription “Go Rockies” in braille.
Final Thoughts
This is not just about collecting and owning pieces of cardboard with pictures of baseball players on them. It reconnects ex-players with the game. It triggers those same synaptic connections in their brains that fire when in the midst of athletic competition. For those that are looking for it, there is an element of gambling to it that isn’t forbidden territory for players. For ex-players and current players, it returns them to their pre-playing days collecting cards as kids. It engages them with, and helps build, their fan bases. It provides an opportunity to participate in an activity tangential to their sport with their friends and families.
Ultimately, there is something unique in being able to share this hobby with the players that are on the cards themselves. The thrill of the hunt, the euphoria of hitting the big card, and all the ups and downs in between are just the same for the average collector as it is for Phil Hughes, Matt Strahm, Tyler Zuber and all the others.