I started collecting baseball cards when I was a kid, I believe in 1975, when I was a first grader. I developed a big collection over the years, getting older cards either via trading or at baseball card conventions, as well as eventually buying complete sets. When I was in college in the late 1980s, my cards were quite valuable, and I sold most of them for a nice profit. My timing was good, as it was before Topps, Upper Deck, and Fleer flooded the market in the 1990s with countless new cards, which tanked the market.
I still have a few older cards left from my collection that I didn’t sell, as well as some of the 1990s cards which have little to no value. A couple years ago I was in a sports card store in north Jersey, and saw a hand-painted card in the display case that was wildly out of place, as some kid somewhere decided to mess with a card he didn’t like. I wish I had bought it – I didn’t – but it sparked the seed for my own art-customized cards.
As you can see in the picture above, why not take one of those worthless 1990s cards and transform the ballplayer into a Picasso-like face? He’s a lot more interesting than he used to be.
With that said, I’ve been developing a collection of altered baseball cards, some of which you can see below. If any of these interest you, either as a baseball card collector, or as an art collector, let me know – they’re all available for sale. $10 will get you a unique card unlike any other baseball card you’ll ever get in a pack of cards. Reach out to me if you’re interested in any of these.
