In 1972, life moved at a different pace. For a six-year-old kid in Bakersfield, the highlight of the week wasn’t a digital notification—it was the sound of the ice cream man turning the corner. That was where I bought my first pack of 1972 Topps Baseball, beginning a journey that would span over 50 years and thousands of miles.

I didn’t just watch the hobby grow; I was there when it found its soul. From completing the 1974 Topps set as a first-grader to the “Golden Era” of the mid-80s, I was physically opening history. I remember the adrenaline of hand-pulling a 1979 Topps Wayne Gretzky rookie and the iconic 1980 Bird/Magic three-panel.

By 1985, at nineteen years old, I found myself at the Anaheim Card Convention. It was a crossroads. While my friends and future industry legends were inventing the tools to protect our treasures—like the Card Saver—I realized my DNA was rooted in the “what” and the “why.” I fell in love with the stories the cards told and the connections they made.