Appreciating Baseball Cards Across America

On Saturday, America celebrated National Baseball Card Day. Every baseball fan at one point or another has had a connection to America’s pastimes most storied collectable — the baseball card.

Young or old, baseball cards have connected generations. From fathers and sons to grandfathers and uncles, each card tells its own unique story.

The simple print of a picture on a sturdy piece of paper with numbers on the back has helped people make a living and has even been sold for upwards of $3 million.

But it’s not about money. Baseball cards are a part of baseball fans lives.There is not a better feeling being a young baseball fan and opening up a pack of cards — trust me I have about 15,000 myself.

Opening up a pack and seeing a Derek Jeter or Cal Ripken Jr., a Mike Trout or Clayton Kershaw, a John Smoltz or Randy Johnson feels good. It makes a baseball fan think about how great the sport of baseball is.

They also tell a unique story. Some are found in old dresser drawers and closets, some in garages, under beds and even in the garbage —where most of them ended up in the 1960s, 70s and 80s.

In those years in most families, cards were not considered valuable. Kids received them from relatives or bought them for about a nickel a pack. They were looked at, traded and even put in between bike spikes. As the kids grew older, they were thrown or tucked away never to be seen again.

Mickey Mantle rookies cards, Sandy Koufax and Jim Palmer, Hank Aaron and Roberto Clemente cards were tossed away.

Of course we look back now and think of how ridiculous that all is but to be honest, the value was just having them at the time, not worrying about the value down the road.

However, that was not all families. Most people kept there collections and passed them down to their kids and then those people to their kids and so on — memories and stories as well.

Baseball card companies are now taking a new digital approach, putting cards in an application and allowing people to trade them virtually. Card collecting may be changing, but the feeling of . opening a pack of cards is like no other feeling in the world.

So the next time you see a baseball card, appreciate it because you never know the story behind it.