This was the card that, to me, defined my collection. Out of all the cards that I had as a kid, this is the one I remembered having the most. I always knew I had a clean Ken Griffey Jr. rookie card. All the kids at school had Jordan’s shoes, but I had Swingman’s!

When I got my cards back, I learned that the rest of the world had the Griffey Jr, rookie. I might grade it just to protect it, but I’ll never let it go.

“You lose, you smile, and you come back the next day. You win, you smile, you come back the next day." Ken Griffey Jr.

I’ve been writing on Mantel for a week now, and I was wondering what I would call these posts. Are these just that, a post? Or are they a blog? I see people just sharing a card with the tag #personalcollection, or someone trying to sell cards, and some just promoting other sites.Whatever it is, I’m enjoying the comments and interactions. Thank you.

I suppose, these are a blog.

In my professional career, I work as a public information officer for a police department, but before that, I worked in media. I worked as a radio personality, a digital content manager/program director, and I even did video production for a news station. But one thing that I’ve done at every job? Taking pictures. You might call me a photographer, but I just enjoy capture moments. I’ve noticed that since coming back to the hobby of collecting, I’m looking at the cards differently. It’s not just about the value, that’s nice sometimes, but I’m enjoying some of the amazing photography that is behind each sports-card. One of my favorite photos on a card is this Penny Hardaway. Yes, it’s a Classic. They made some great looking cards.

Tonight I participated in my first live break and it was a 2025 Topps Black & White box. Man, they’re really cool. I got some good cards, but not the ones I really liked in the break. They have two versions called Frame Rate and Shutter Speed. As a photographer, it makes me smile seeing them. I’ll share when they arrive.

P.S. I only planned on buying into one box. Three boxes later, and I got some cool cards.