The Joy of the Hobby Podcast

Streams live at 7 p.m. CST every other Sunday

Joy of the Hobby is a platform designated for all things fun and exciting about the card collectable hobby.
Matt and Ben aim to bring fun, uplifting content on the blog and podcast to keep collectors excited!

TEAM

Ben Mercer

Like many, I started collecting as a kid at 7 years old, took time off from college through my late 20s and came back 2018 after moving and rediscovering my childhood collection. The amount of elation I had going through those cards brought me back in. My focus is on baseball, with a concentration on the history of the sport through cards, combined with the history of the hobby and the developments through card innovation.

Matt Burrows

Cards

Swipe to see how I saved another card from a slab prison!! The look of this 2020 Topps sapphire green /45 is so stunning without the slab to interfere with its brilliance. Anybody else cracked a card recently to enjoy how it looks? #saphire #topps #2
Interrupting the ‘B’ posts to circle back to a new pickup - 2000 SP Authentic Rick Ankiel auto. Always wanted one of his autos, just a great story and someone that’s inspiring. AND I’ve seen many copies of this card but never
For those of you that follow @joyofthehobby the DadCast is officially on tonight at 7CT - see you there! #thehobby #baseballcards #collecting #sportscards
Card 4/13 in the ‘B’ part of my collection. This one is a good reminder of how flexible the HOF can be. No knock on Harold, he was… good. And this set,especially the gold stamp versions are gorgeous cards so I like having one in my
3/13 from ‘B’ in the alphabetized portion of the PC. 1998 leaf statistical standouts die cut /250 Jeff Bagwell. I love 1997 and 1998 leaf, great inserts, sneaky rare parallels and an overall ‘lux’ feel to the product while sta
Card 2/13 from ‘B’ in the alphabetized part of the PC: 1975 Topps George Brett RC. Could I upgrade this copy? Absolutely, but this is the one my dad bought for me in 2002. Nostalgia FTW #1975 #topps #hof #royals
Time for letter ‘B’ of the alphabetized subset of my PC. 13 cards, card 1: 2014 bowman blue border Mookie Betts /500. Bought this back in 2020 thinking he was on a #hof trajectory for $11. Still want the chrome auto version as an upgrade!
Last card in the ‘A’ of my alphabetized portion of my collection. Had the opportunity to grab to grab this one after Ronald was injured last season. With the scratched slab I was able to get a nice discount on a card I think could be ico
Number 2 of 3 in my alphabetically organized ‘A’ part of the PC. 2001 upper deck UD decade 1970s Louis Aparicio jersey/auto. Bought this in 2001 with my mom, we were walking around a mall card show and she stopped and said ‘oh, Loui
As part of my ‘PC Audit’ I thought it’d be fun to start posting the part of my collection I have organized alphabetically. A lot of it is nostalgic, especially this one. 1999 Topps Tek Roberto Alomar 8B P1 gold 4/10. I pulled this o
We all love to post some HUGE cards when they come in, but I’d also like to start a trend of posting card that maybe you picked up just because you think they’re cool! Maybe start with a #1dollarcard - this is the 1994 Topps complete set
My first Ichiro 1 of 1!! 2006 Topps Turkey Red black printing plate. Man, I love the way they used to house printing plates in cardstock. This one is super awesome with the 1/1 sticker and the one of one designation at the bottom of the frame. This c
2005 Fleer Ultra platinum medallion /50. I really like the look this year with the silver background and Ichiro’s photo is fantastic! Happy to add this to the PC!! #ichiro #platinum #fleer #ultra #2005 #mariners #ichiro
I finally get to be part of the club! 1995 Pinnacle Artist’s Proof ‘test foil’ Larry Walker. Ever since I saw one of these on the rare 90’s inserts FB group a few years back for the first time I wanted a copy. Landed! #rockies
2001 leaf rookies & stars Barry Bonds GU shoe /100. This is the first time I remember any company reaching for the shoe/cleat relic. 1997 leaf was pretty bold with the Frank Thomas cuts but this one felt different to me. #leaf #barrybonds #bonds
If you haven’t seen these yet, the 2024 Stadium Club pearl parallel /30 is pretty lux. Has a bit of foil, but the white background really makes the photo pop. #topps #ichiro #stadiumclub #pearl #hof
1996 Metal Universe Ken Griffey Jr. 107 A baseball card? Yep! This card has immense meaning for me and was the card the truly set me on my path to working where I do now! Not only do I remember seeing this card for the first time at the card shop
2010-11 Artifacts Gold Spectrum /10 Marc-Andre Fleury I was looking through some photos I took when I first moved here and realized I never posted this stunning parallel from Artifacts /10! I was having a conversation with a coworker about the best
Couldn't pass up an opportunity to add the Grand Finale parallel of Juuse...just look at that sweet color match!! 2024-25 SPX is a big highlight IMO so far this year. The reconfiguration has been well received by collectors and I'm excited to try a
2023-24 Premier Fight Strap /5 I recently added one of my favorite type of mem pieces on a card in this Fight Strap from Premier. Each year premier churns out some sweet and unique mem cards for Flower! This year's design is stunning as well! The f
One of the best looking under the radar cards from the 90's is this Donruss Priority Stamp of Approval parallel /100! When I first got back into collecting hockey, this was a card that I immediately fixated on finding a copy of. It's got the shine,
1996-97 Flair Blue Ice /250 I spent the morning going through my Thibault collection and decided to take a few pictures. Out of any parallels from the 90's, this Blue Ice from Flair will always make the Top 5! The overall elegance of 1996-97 Flair
2024-25 Black Diamond Exquisite Moments Gold Spectrum /25 What a perfect ending to Flower's final regular season game! Gus asked for him to come in for OT and he makes some signature saves and gets the Win! I need to let this sink in for a day or
E-X 2000 Hall or Nothing Gold /25 Huge thanks to @hammerhawks_cards aka Eric, one of the hosts of @centericecardcast for working out a trade for this beauty he pulled on their live podcast with @billycelio joining them. One thing you have to love
I owe a big shout out to @brianmingeriak76 & @wideopenripzz for working with me to add this card to my collection! Chasing down the neckline parallels /3 has been something that I could have only imaged a few months ago when I owned 0 of them.
Each year O-Pee-Chee comes out, I look forward to chasing down ONE card of Fleury, the Retro Blank Back. These are yearly Easter Eggs with an unannounced print run! I know they aren't for everyone, but I personally love to mystery behind cards like t
I can't get over how beautiful the 2023-24 Premier Base design (with parallels) looks! Here we have the premium mem parallel /10 which is a game-used pad piece of The Flower. I really love the use of colors with this card as well as the photo used f
As I'm not 6 months into working at Upper Deck, there are certain cards I've gained a deeper appreciation for. When you spend time coming up with ideas and hearing about other ideas that came to fruition, you naturally learn to love certain cards tha
Big shout out to @clw.sports.cards for helping me cross off a big card for the Blomqvist Young Guns collection! I find myself liking the exclusives much more than any others because they are still tough, but a bit easier to obtain price wise and av
Now that I've really started studying the techniques of goaltenders, I've come to appreciate Juuse Saros' ability to push in the butterfly! He's so quick and agile and it's truly special to watch him move laterally in person. I got to watch him play
My guy @taylorrandco deserved a mega shout out for tagging me in @anderson_trio ‘s post on Facebook that he had this card for sale! Collecting unique memorabilia of Flower on cards is truly what brings me the most joy as far as additions go!
One of the biggest chase parallels every year is the O-Pee-Chee Platinum Retro Pink Pulsar! They are exclusive to retail and seeded at 1:120 blaster packs and with a 100 card set, pulling the player you are after is darn near impossible! Super happ

BLOG

Blog
Baseball Season is Here - Yearly Flashbacks!
Read More →
Why do I own so Many Cards?
Read More →
The Pleasure Trap (Guest Blog)
Read More →
Defining my ‘checkboxes’ helps land a new favorite card
Read More →
Monthly Wrap - March
Read More →
Guest Blog - The Power of Community
Read More →
Guest Blog - Entering the World of Hockey
Read More →
Maximizing joy in 1 of 1s
Read More →
25 Years in the Making!
Read More →
Monthly Wrap - Feb 2025
Read More →