Hobby Musings: Shop owners share hobby memories – Most everyone who collects has a story about how they got into the hobby, as well as their favorite memories of it. This goes for store owners as much as anyone. I had the chance to catch up with The Bleachers’ Ron McCall, Top Shelf Breaks’ Chris Keller and Sports Card Junction’s Chad Weldon and find out some of their hobby memories.

KS: How did you get into the hobby to begin with?

Hobby Musings: Shop owners share hobby memoriesRM: I got into the hobby when I read an article about the 1999 Fleer Billy Ripken error card at the age of 42. A few years later at the age of 44, I decided I wanted to be a seller, not a buyer, and my wife and I opened our own baseball card store. Next month I start my 30th year. I just turned 73 with no interest in retiring!

CK: I started collecting in the late 80’s, early 90s. A friend of mine brought me a magazine with pricing in it, and he was showing me how he was making money in the hobby. From there I started buying boxes and packs from book stores and hobby shops. Through the 90s and into the early 2000s, I was deep in my career in the music industry and radio and lost touch of collecting through those years, only picking up a box or packs from retail now and again just for nostalgia.

2007 or so, my career changed, and I had more time and found pack/box openings live on YouTube and other streaming platforms. That piqued my interest big time. I was hooked and drawn right back into the hobby. I couldn’t stop thinking that I wanted to do breaks and be a breaker with my own company and shop some day. Fast forward to 2014, I started up TSB with my buddy Nate and went on to open my own shop in my town, Top Shelf Sports Cards.

CW: My first experiences in this hobby were hanging out in my family’s shop when I was just a toddler. As far back as I can remember I have always collected sports cards. I was born in 1992 and the family business started in 1995, so I was literally learning how to do everything in the shop.

Collecting was never forced onto me, I truly enjoyed every minute of it. When most kids were asking for new video games and bikes for Christmas, I would ask for various vintage cards that I knew the shop had in stock. My love for the hobby continued through the years, and I was always wanting to expand my knowledge and collections.

It’s now been 25 years since our family shop opened, and we are a week away from opening our new store, and me and my wife are a couple months away from welcoming a baby boy into the world. Hopefully, I am able to watch my son grow to love this hobby just as I did, all while growing up in the shop.

KS: What is your favorite hobby-related memory?

RM: My favorite, if you can call it that, is this year. I closed for 10 weeks in March, reopened May 31 and the business for the last 5 1/2 months has been absolute crazy with sales I could have never dreamed of!!! I used to see one or two new customers a month. It’s now one to four every day.

Hobby Musings: Shop owners share hobby memoriesCK: One of my highlights of my hobby career was doing breaks at the NFL draft with Panini in downtown Chicago. This was in my first year as a breaker. I was so nervous, but also excited. Some of the players that came by my table to join me were Sterling Shepard, Michael Thomas and Jacoby Brissett. It was so surreal being right there in the heart of the action at the NFL Draft doing breaks. I had the players sign a board I made that day. It’s one of my cherished items. Also, meeting Ric Flair at the National in Chicago. Woooooooooo!

CW: When you have only been alive for 28 years, and 25 of them have been spent within the hobby, you tend to have quite a few important memories.  One of my favorite memories was the first National I got to attend. I believe it was in 2005 maybe, if not within a couple years. The entire five days I spent wheeling and dealing, and it was my first experience at a show of that level.

Our store was not very big into setting up at shows at the time, so I only had experiences at smaller shows. The National has so many great memories for me, but that week in particular is where I really cut my teeth.  Over the course of that week I made dozens of deals with adult dealers and really started to learn negotiating, the art of trading up, flipping etc. Now I am not one who encourages kids to just flip cards for the sport of it, but if you can do it and then buy the cards you really want, its great.
That memory is even more important to me now as we will no longer be having The National in Cleveland, so more memories like that will not be able to be made.


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.
Hobby Musings: Shop owners share hobby memories
Kelsey Schroyer

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