I'm not sure how many people will be interested in this, but I'm sure there are baseball fans out there, so we'll throw it out.

I've been a baseball card collector all my life. I got into the hobby in 1988. I was in the 4th grade and my mom would pay me 50 cents to walk to the store and buy some things for her. It was probably more to get me out of the house and not really things she needed all that urgently. As the father of a very loud and energetic 10 year old I now completely understand the desire for some peace and quiet sometimes.

Anyway, the store had packs of Topps 1988 baseball cards for 35 cents. In those days, at least in Indiana, they didn't charge sales tax for anything under a buck, so I could buy a pack and have 15 cents to save for future packs. Over the next year, I built up a pretty impressive collection of cards from that set, gained one or two packs at a time, almost everyday.

I didn't know much about collecting but I did know from my dad that mint was good so I tried to handle my cards with care. Still—I was a ten year old boy; cards got beaten up despite my best efforts. I used an old shoe box to store them. I fashioned a crude divider down the middle of the box so I could have two rows.

Maybe that card mistreatment would be tragic, but it's not really. That 1988 Topps set was so overprinted that even if they are in mint condition, almost none of the cards have any value at all. That was a pattern that held for most card sets in the the following years. Boomers who remembered collecting when they were kids finally had some extra money to play with and they were rushing into the game. Sports card stories were popping up overnight. The industry responded to this trend by printing the bejesus out of all their sets.

A hell of a time to get into the hobby, eh? But I didn't care anything about value and just enjoyed collecting. Everything being overprinted in fact probably made it easier for me to get into the hobby, as finding cards I wanted was never an issue. I memorized names and faces. I had most of the set.

I remember my biggest treasure was a McGwire "Record Breakers" error card with a white triangle misprint by his foot being the error. That one did make it up to a lot of money at the time, but in recent years the whole steroid thing deflated most McGwire cards. I'm sure mine had dinged corners and edges anyway, further reducing the value. When I left for Japan I stored all my cards at my parents' house, so they should still be there waiting for me, dings and all.

(A quick check on eBay shows prices for that card—for graded versions at that—ranging from $3.49 all the way up to $23,158. I somewhat doubt anyone is bidding on that high one, but I guess it shows dealers are optimistic.)

I always liked McGwire. He was a powerhouse even before steroids. He didn't need steroids—he was already a great player. Shame he took them and destroyed both his body and legacy. But I digress.

Anyway, this isn't a reflection post, although maybe it should be. This is to show off some recent cards I acquired. While it's not unheard of to see packs of American baseball packs here, it's also not a common thing. Mostly you have to find specialized sports card stores, and I don't have any of those near me. While I sometimes buy Japanese baseball card packs, I do miss cracking US packs.

That said, I occasionally use eBay and order singles from the US. I try to collect all the Japanese players. We're up to eight Japanese players currently signed to MLB clubs. Very exciting to watch them in action.

Last week I picked up a few Ohtani cards and Kodai Senga's American rookie card. I really like Senga. He's not on the same level as Ohtani, of course. No one is. But he's a pretty impressive pitcher in his own right. If his arm holds out, I see a lot of success in his future. His ghost forkball is incredible and a lot of fun to watch. That pitch makes him, I think, the most innovative pitcher since Nomo.

Here they all are again:

I don't think these Ohtani cards are going to have any value. They are regular cards, not rare variants. If they do go up in value it probably won't be for years until he retires. But that's ok. I enjoy holding them. I love the throwback designs of these three. Of them you might guess the 1988 throwback card is my favorite, given that the 1988 set was my intro to card collecting 35 years ago, and you'd be right.

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I never really liked that Topps 87 design. I guess wood paneling did fit the time period, but it makes an ugly card. Still—I couldn't resist picking it up. The other one is the Topps 1963 design. It's a classic design and Shohei looks great on it. The colors might have been faded more to really give it that vintage look, but it still looks great.

The Senga card is also just a regular one, not a rare variant, but it is his RC so if his arm holds out and he continues to do well, this one may climb up in value.

The edges and corners look pretty good and it looks balanced so this might even get a fairly high grade if I sent it to a grading service. We'll have to see how he does the rest of this year before I even consider that option, though.

Well, there we go. Some recent baseball card pickups. Any thoughts? If you are collecting, who are you looking for this year? Let me know in the comments.

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David LaSpina is an American photographer and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku.