It was a mess. The living room floor was covered, and I am confident my wife was less than pleased at the time.
However, I found myself happy at the sight.
My children were excitedly sorting baseball cards, and it reminded me of my own passion for those glossy cardboard rectangles.
In trying to pinpoint how my daughter and son both became enthralled with baseball cards, it has to be a recent visit to my boyhood bedroom at my parents’ house. They were alongside me, and we stumbled upon my old card collection.
I hadn’t actively maintained it, but my old three-ring binders filled with images of Major League Baseball greats, nobodies, and everyone in between sparked a nostalgic joy. I had to take them home with me, and my children suddenly wanted some too.
My father graciously handed out boxes of cards he had collected over the years, and the kids and I went home to start building binders for each of them.
Now, these weren’t the first baseball cards they had been given. They already had some courtesy of my father and my father-in-law, but this time it was different. This time the cards were a homerun.
Maybe it was because they were older and found the cards more interesting. Maybe it was because I found a renewed interest in collecting.
Whatever it was, they are now ravenous baseball card fans.
I’ve had to explain to them that “finishing” wasn’t the goal. It isn’t a race to fill a binder with those plastic sleeves that have three rows and three columns of slots to hold nine cards. It’s a marathon. It’s about the joy of collecting.
I think they are slowly getting it.
And the grandpas are helping to egg them on.
My father gifted them with hundreds more cards he had squirreled away, and when he heard that his grandchildren were into them, my father-in-law kicked in countless more.
Their interest in collecting cards reinvigorated my own passion for the activity, as well as my interest in the history of baseball cards (that’s a topic for another day, though).
In a remarkable act of romance, I took my wife to the Town East Square mall in Wichita on Valentine’s Day. Not to shop. Just to walk around until we were ready to grab a bite to eat.
I know. I’m a true gentleman.
We happened into Scheels. We’d never been before, but we both loved the variety of products the store offered.
They also had a fairly extensive baseball card section.
I went a bit crazy and bought several packs for myself. After all, each pack was filled with only St. Louis Cardinals cards, which is my favorite team, so I had to buy them, really.
I also grabbed a few packs for the children.
They were stoked, and they continue to ask when we can get more cards.
I have to admit, I’m itching to buy some more too, especially with the 2026 MLB regular season starting on March 25. It’ll be fun to collect cards and then see the players on the cardboard show up on the screen.
More importantly, though, it’s great to have a hobby we can all share.
Speaking of hobbies, I remember being into POGs. Those were the 1990s-era milk caps that came in a variety of designs and were made out of different materials, though the majority were cardboard, and you played games with them, using a “slammer” to bounce a stack of POGs so you could claim the ones that landed face-up. At one point, if memory serves, my brother and I had a sizeable collection.
I’m sure they are long gone now, but just like baseball cards, they bring back memories.
And in this season of life, I am a fan of memories — remembering them and making them.
Hopefully, baseball card collecting will be an opportunity to make memories that my children and I can both look back on someday.
Thankfully, my 6-year-old son already seems committed to collecting and is thinking ahead. The other day, he looked me in the eyes and asked, “When you die, can I have your cards?”
As long as he doesn’t stick the cards in his bicycle spokes to make it sound like he’s riding a motorcycle, I suppose he can have them.
But only once I’m dead.
Todd R. Vogts, Ph.D., is a native of Canton, a resident of McPherson County, and a media researcher and educator. He can be contacted with questions or comments via his website at www.toddvogts.com.
