Why Do You Collect What You Collect?

I bought a baseball card display case.

Then I spent some time pondering why I collect these pieces of cardboard. I’m a practical-minded person. I believe that anything I have sitting in my home should have some use, or else I should get rid of it. Baseball cards are no exception.

Much like fine china or paintings, the practical use of baseball cards is for display. They are, after all, sports memorabilia. So with this in mind, I’ve decided that this is what I collect:

Topps base cards for each Hall of Fame player or player I think will go to the Hall of Fame (Heroes of Baseball). These will go into my Hall of Fame binder.
A rookie card for each of my favorite prospects. These will go into my Prospects binder.
An autographed card for each Hero of Baseball and Prospect. The best of these will go into my display case. The rest will go into my Autographs binder.

That’s it. These are the only baseball cards that matter to me. I want to get rid of everything else.

I hope to be collecting for a long, long time, so it will have to be sustainable. Storing thousands of baseball cards in my office is not viable in the long run. Spending hundreds of dollars a year on cards that don’t enhance my life is not sustainable.