Introductions Are In Order

Hello blogosphere! My name is WildWill and Gellman has graciously invited me to contribute to his awesome blog, and I'm very excited to be on board. While I've been collecting sports cards since 1977 (I can still remember when my late father would buy me packs of 1977 Topps Baseball on his LA Times paper route and we would sit together sorting and collating cards), I've only recently gotten back into the hobby after spending several years on the sidelines.

Over the years I've collected every major sport at one time or another, and am currently busting packs of Baseball and Basketball these days. The one thing that's changed for me though is that I'm now on a serious budget, as we have a 20 month old to feed and clothe, AND currently I'm not working. While my wife works for both of us and provides the hard earned cash to support my hobbies, it's not fair of me to take advantage of her generosity, so I try to keep my spending down to a reasonable level. So while that means I'm priced out of boxes and expensive packs guaranteeing an auto/relic/serial number parallel, I'm not out of collecting all-together. So far in the couple of years since I've been back, I've managed to put together a decent collection of my favorite players, and I have a LOT of trade bait. Whenever I pull something that isn't among my favorites, I will try to trade it for something I do want, which makes for an interesting collecting paradigm. Whenever I get really valuable cards that I can't trade I'll post them on the WWMP to try to earn some cash back to buy cards that I do want (typically Vlad Guerreros, Angels or former UCLA Bruin Basketball players).

There's only one problem with that collecting scheme, it doesn't allow much for busting packs, because while I love the "new smell" of unopened wax, I cannot often afford the latest and greatest boxes or packs. So while I'll use my own blog to post pack and the rare box busts, here I'll be commenting on the overall state of the hobby from an economic perspective, and boy is there fodder for biting commentary these days. From the exorbitant prices on Upper Deck Exquisite, to the gimmick cut-autos from certain brands, to the loaded box busts by nameless magazines who have a blatant conflict of interest, there is an awful lot to be saddened by in this hobby these days.

Fortunately we're all here to educate, advise and ultimately entertain as we point out from the sidelines everything that's wrong in sports-card collecting today. My purchasing philosophy, spawned from having Jewish parents and grandparents is to get the most bang for your buck, and also strive for the best deals. That's where I'm coming from when I sports blog, and I hope you'll enjoy.

Thanks for reading.