1994

"1994"

Picture it: Sicily, 1922”- Sophia, albeit it was not 1922, but around
1990 that my twin brother and I became enthralled with sports cards. I
can still remember my dad bringing home a new box for us to rip…the
smell of fresh newly printed cardboard. The wrappers were newly
printed and two excited kids tearing into the packs like a
velociraptor on its prey.

These were simpler times. We were both just excited to have cards to
open. There was no worrying about price or this insert or that insert.
All we had by our side was our trusty monthly Beckett price guide.
Fast forward a few years to the baseball shortened season of 1994. In
an instant things changed. My love for sports cards, MLB, and
collecting as a whole went away. In fact, I did not watch a baseball
game for almost thirty years. I was not sure if I would ever come back
to America’s Pastime. As a dedicated fan who loved the Houston Astros
and was a collector of all things Jeff Bagwell, the crushing blow of
the 1994 season ending while both Bagwell and the Astros were having
fantastic years was brutal.

Fast forward to 2024 and my wife says that I need a hobby. Around that
same time my twin brother decided we should start a Facebook group for
breaking sports cards. Mind you it had been thirty years since I had
bought any sports cards. Fast forward to 2025 and not only has our
Facebook group been a success we are also now in the preliminary stage
of opening a retail space just outside of Knoxville, TN. Apparently,
as Billy Wagner said when he received the call that he was going to be
inducted into the MLB Hall of Fame “dreans do come true.” I just did
not know that this new dream/hobby would take place thirty years later
after a dreadful day in 1994.