Editor’s note: Some text has been altered for grammar and clarity.
KS: What got you into collecting in the first place?
PN: I mean my dad would always take my brothers and I to a store in Minnesota called Shinders, and we were hooked growing up. Then everything was refueled in college with my roommate and our autograph adventures. The thing I loved about collecting was there was always going to be a story, or you could learn a lot about history just reading the back of a baseball card. It could teach you about geography…where guys lived/were born. You could learn about math and %…batting averages, and there was always a cool little blurb about the player…I loved that stuff.
I loved the chase of a hard autograph from an unknown guy that played a week in the big leagues and vanished. Guys would think why would this guy want my autograph, and we would tell them we need your autograph more than this big-time Hall of Famer…and it was true!
KS: Are you still as heavily into collecting in retirement as you were when you played?
PN: I am. I have my sets I’m chasing, autographs I’m chasing…certain cards I’m always chasing. Each day is filled with checking in on my eBay saved searches, and I get a good laugh when something unexpected comes up for sale. Heck last week, a college kid cleaning his closet found a 1/1 of me from 2015. I love the chase. I love seeing what old timers are doing signings…who is now signing TTM.
KS: What are you currently chasing?
PN: I’m always on the lookout for any of my 1/1’s. Always trying to find more of my 2006 Topps Update Chrome rookie refractor #’d to /25. I own nine of them and have dreams about where the rest of them are hiding. I love the PSA registry and have certain sets. I’m always on the lookout for cards to upgrade my sets. I have some really cool high-end PSA sets with Garbage Pail Kids, 1970 Topps baseball, 1970 and 71 Topps hockey and a really cool 1910 e96 set and 51 Bowman.
The problem is there aren’t too many upgrades I can find nowadays. New stuff rarely is out there or comes to auction, and when it does, the prices are crazy. I’m still chasing a few guys’ autographs to finish completed Topps sets. I’m also doing some cool Clear Cut and Exclusives Upper Deck hockey sets. Also, I’m doing all the rainbow sets in 2022 NXT wrestling.
KS: I imagine it would be a hard choice, but what is your favorite item in your collection?
PN: I have so much stuff it’s hard to pick. I love the items like my Topps sets because they are one of a kind and nearly impossible to replicate.
KS: Is there a dream item that you would like to be able to have in your collection?
PN: I’d love to find more of my 2006 Refractors. I have not seen one come up for sale in five years, and only two in the last 15 years. I’m amazed that only 10 have surfaced of the 25 that are out there.
KS: How much would you say being an MLB player affected your collecting efforts?
PN: It greatly helped my collecting efforts. It opened the doors for me to meet so many cool people all across the hobby. It’s so cool to look back at the journey I got to experience and the people I got to meet.
KS: What memorabilia, if any, have you kept from your career?
PN: I have most of my jerseys…like 250 jerseys! I have all my tickets stubs from anytime I got a win or a save in a game. I have numerous game balls, first win balls, all my save balls, locker tags etc. All my hats, cleats, my debut lineup cards. I was a hoarder so if it was something I wore, I most likely still had it. At the end of my career, it seemed like MLB had about 25 different jerseys each season, and I kind of stopped taking them all home…kind of lost that nostalgia feeling from earlier in my career when we had two sets of a home and road jersey.
PN: I feel like I did about as well as I could’ve and got everything I wanted out of the game. Maybe some more bats from teammates. As a pitcher it always felt weird to me asking for a bat, but they are so cool to display, and my son loves feeling the different models and what guys would swing.
KS: You’re well known among fans for your willingness to sign autographs. Out of all the things you’ve autographed, what do you think is the strangest thing you’ve ever been asked to sign?
PN: I always hated signing those older cards from the 90’s with stadiums on the card or team cards that I never played on. Like it pisses me off. Why do I want to sign a 2013 Cardinals team card when that was a team I played against in 2013? People still send weird stuff like that, and I just send it back unsigned.
KS: Your signature always had a cool artsy look to it. How did you settle on that for your signature?
PN: Being an autograph collector in college, I got to see all the different styles and random autographs. I don’t know who the guy was, but we were autographing a team in 2001, might’ve been Seton Hall basketball, and the guy had a basketball with seams in his autograph. I thought it was so cool, and I wanted to incorporate baseball seams into mine. Some of my early autographs were rough, but eventually after signing thousands, it became pretty refined.
KS: I’ll get you out of here on this. How many autographs do you think you’ve signed over your career?
PN: Wow…man that’s tough. Being so open to signing through the mail was crazy. During my playing career, I think I would get around 75-100 letters a week with four cards in each envelope, and this was constant for 15 years. My best guess is between 250,000 and 500,000, but who the heck knows??!!!
KS: If someone wanted to get your autograph now, what would be the best way to do so?
PN: I continue to sign TTM through my PO Box, PO Box 510092 Melbourne Beach, FL 32951. If you send a trade…another signed card or $5 I will return it immediately. If not, I usually sign everything up once a year around Christmas time.
Hobby Musings: Catch Up with Former MLB Pitcher, Pat Neshek, Part 2
Kelsey’s ability to bring hobby coverage to the mainstream sports fan has been a true asset. GTS is happy to feature his thoughts on collecting in Hobby Musings. The opinions expressed are his and do not necessarily reflect those of GTS Distribution.
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