Guest Blog - The Power of Community
Tell me if you've heard this one before. Middle aged man gets back into the sports cards hobby after a 30 year hiatus during COVID. I am no different.
I collected everything as a kid. Cards, buttons, pins, pencils, hats, magazines. I pretty much ran the gamut. Like most of us, at a certain age, my love for collecting faded when other priorities in life came along.
I got back into the hobby in November 2022 by mistake. My son became very excited about Pokemon cards and all the kids at school were talking about them and he wanted in on the action. I took him to a local LCS and for several months, he opened Pokemon packs and I relived my youth by opening packs of baseball. In Feb 2023 I hit (what I found to understand was) a God box. An anomaly. I could not believe my luck hitting that many insane redemptions in one jumbo box of flagship Topps. Two weeks later, opening up my very first box of Upper Deck Allure, I pulled a Brad Marchand Golden Treasures Auto. I was hooked! The money side of the hobby got a hold of me, but within a few months I realized this isn't what I wanted from the hobby so I made a big decision.
I stopped chasing big cards for the flip and decided to focus on being a player collector. Building the best PC of my sporting idol growing up - Steve Yzerman. I bought my first Yzerman card at my first Toronto Expo in April 2023. As I acquired more cards I started getting messages from other Red Wings or Yzerman collectors and their stories drew me in. I became somewhat obsessed with learning as much as I could about Yzerman's card catalogue. I would randomly reach out and ask a million questions to other Yzerman collectors who were much smarter than I am. It soon became apparent that not only was building my Yzerman PC important, becoming more immersed in the community that took me in as their own was just as exhilarating.
I have met so many wonderful collectors and I revel in hearing their stories about how they got in, why they collect, why they collect who they do. I am a sponge with a thirst for knowledge. As I look back on that God box and the Marchand Golden Treasures, the excitement I felt opening those boxes, in retrospect, pale in comparison to the joy I get every day conversing with the amazing people I talk to in this awesome hobby of ours. Community has made me a better collector and has brought joy in a way that chasing big cards in an act of randomness never could.
~Bernie Ward
Instagram: Bernie Ward
