Junior Riley Dodson waits outside of the J.W. Marriott for the Oklahoma City Thunder team bus to arrive. He is eager to meet the 2025 NBA MVP, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who is going to lead the Thunder to compete against the Indiana Pacers in the finals.
Sport card collecting is a common passion shared among many people. Regardless of age, there are many people that enjoy the combination of athletics and the excitement of discovering new cards and looking back at old ones that contain nostalgia. Like Dodson, senior Lincoln Madden, junior Cam Linder and sophomore Jackson Stiles seek out cards that feature their favorite players and teams. They view each card as an important piece of history in the sports world.
“What got me into collecting cards was watching people online collect cards and I found it interesting. I used to watch livestreams of people opening packs and every time it made me want to get a pack to open too. I’ve been collecting for about four years now,” Madden said.
For Madden collecting cards was brought to him through videos on social media and livestreams. But for Dodson, he grew up with family members who collected cards.
“I have been collecting since I was around 8 years old. What made me want to collect more was my dad taking me to Indians games when I was younger to try and get autographs,” Dodson said. “My passion just grew on me from there. My grandpa had a huge collection and my dad also has a pretty big collection. I always thought all of their memorabilia stuff was really cool and I wanted to get some for myself.”
The excitement-filled hobby of collecting is fueled by opening packs to find rare or special cards.
“I like the fun and thrill of opening packs of cards in hopes to pull autographs and my favorite players,” Stiles said.
Some, like Dodson, take this hobby and turn it into something more. He collects his cards and takes them to sporting events to get them signed by the players alongside his friends and family.
“My favorite thing about collecting cards and autographs is that I get to display the cool ones on my wall in my room. I also get to hang out with my friends and my family in different environments while collecting,” Dodson said. “My favorite memory was probably when I went to try and go get Shai Gilgeous-Alexander this past summer. I tried to go three different times to get him with some of my friends. I did not get him the first two times and I only had one opportunity left. I finally got him on the last day and all of my friends got him too. It was really cool because I didn’t have his autograph yet and it is a pretty good one.”
Like Dodson, Stiles ventures with his friends to games to get signatures of his favorite players.
“My favorite memory was meeting Saquon Barkley at a Colts game when I was 8 years old,” Stiles said. “My friend and I met him, I got a jersey and a card signed and the jersey hangs up in my room.”
There are other ways to use this hobby as a way to spend time with family too. Linder finds cards with his dad that are of high value and bring him the most profit.
“My favorite memory was a few years ago when my dad got me a Larry Bird signed card for my birthday. It was my first expensive card, so it is very important to me,” Linder said.
Sports card collecting usually evolves into more than just cards, going so far as to include autographed balls, game-worn apparel and autographed photos.
“I collect just about anything. I have game-used batting gloves, jerseys, bats. I have a bunch of signed baseballs, cards, non-game used jerseys, and pictures too,” Dodson said. “I like collecting signed cards, like my Tyrese Haliburton card, the most because they are easier to display and I can put more of them on my walls.”
In addition, Linder also collects tickets from games that are important to him and important to the history of the sport.
“I collect sports cards, signed jerseys, helmets, footballs, basketballs, baseballs, ticket stubs and a bunch of other things,” Linder said. “The ticket stubs I collect are from old basketball and football games from Indiana University and the Pacers. They are important to me because they are decades old and given to me by my dad.”
Whether it’s the hunt for an elusive card or a rare autograph opportunity, card collecting is a hobby that entertains sports fans.
“I am definitely going to continue this hobby for a long time. It is really fun and there are still more items I want to collect. I am not going to pursue a career in it though. It is definitely more of a hobby,” Dodson said.
Dodson watches the bus pull up to the front door of the hotel. Through the dark-tinted windows he can see the players getting out of their seats. He rushes to the players in hopes to get Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s autograph after trying many times before. After hours of waiting, Dodson finally walks away with Gilgeous-Alexander’s autograph in his hands.
