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sanjosefuji is a very valuable member to these boards. He always has very unique stuff that he posts, and I thought it might be interesting to hear some about his collection from his point of view. So, with that said, on to the interview...
1) How did you originally get into collecting?
I started collecting Star Wars cards before sports cards. My mom would buy me packs back in the 70's from one of the grocery stores we go to.
As for sports cards, one of my neighbors gave me a big box of 1979 Topps baseball cards. I loved going through and sorting them. Pretty soon I was begging my mom for baseball cards.
2) How long have you been collecting?
Star Wars Cards - Since the late 70's
Baseball Cards - Early 80's
Other Sports - Late 80's
3) What all do you collect?
Pretty much a little bit of everything. Although I'm going through a phase where I'm starting to get picky on my purchases. But since that doesn't really answer your question, here's a list of my collections:
Baseball - Oakland A's (Kurt Suzuki & Rickey Henderson), San Diego Padres (Tony Gwynn), Montreal Expos, Greg Maddux, Steve Carlton, Jackie Robinson, Thurman Munson, and Frank Thomas.
Football - Green Bay Packers (Brett Favre & Aaron Rodgers), Seattle Seahawks (Steve Largent), Ray Lewis, and Ed Reed.
Hockey - San Jose Sharks (Devin Setoguchi & Patrick Marleau) and Ryan Miller.
College - Stanford Cardinals, Cal Bears, and SJSU Spartans
I also have an ever-growing collection of Japanese athletes.
4) Do you have a favorite item in your collection, and if so, what is it and where and when did you get it?
Wow. Tough question. I have a lot of stuff I really, really, really love including gifts from friends and family members. But if I could only keep one thing... I'd probably go with my 1956 Topps Jackie Robinson card. I picked it up at a card show a few years ago myself, so there's not sentimental ties. However it's the one card in my collection that every single card gets compared to.
5) I know you have your own blog, so, how and when did that all start?
My first blog post was on March 2nd, 2010. I started reading other people's blogs back in 2008 when I reentered the hobby and after awhile I decided to start my own. It's helped me meet a lot of people who share a common interest. But when the dust settles... it's a personal journal of my cardboard experiences.
6) I also always see you talking about swaps and flea markets you go to, can you tell us a story of the most impressive deal you have gotten at one of these?
I guess I'd go with a pair of purchases that occurred over a three day period. Back in January 2013, I went to the Capitol Flea Market on a Thursday and found a box of cards that contained a Jerry Rice rookie card, a Lebron James jersey card, and a dirty Kobe Bryant patch card. The box also contained a bunch of S.I. for Kids card sheets that included the Tiger Woods rookie card. The price for all of these? $2
Two days later, I went to the De Anza Flea Market and purchased a huge basketball and football card collection for $150. It's safe to say that the purchase easily doubled the size of my collection for about a tenth of the price. I just recently started sifting and organizing bits and pieces of the collection again.
7) Can you share a favorite story about an experience you had in the hobby such as possibly meeting one of your favorite players, or something else possibly to do with the hobby of collecting?
I'd say one of my best memories of being in the hobby was working at a card shop back in the late 90's to help supplement my income. I had just started teaching and was living on a tight budget. The card show was across the street from my school, so I was in there several days a week. One day, the owner offered me a part time job to deal with the kids who were interested in Pokemon. Anyways... I'm still really close friends with one of the guys who worked there. Whenever we hang out, we always reminisce about our days working at Fun Stuff.
8) You have cards that you sometimes include in trades that are a caricature of yourself. I know because I have a few. I love the idea. What ever made you think of that, and do you plan to create any newer cards so I can expand my fuji collection?
Believe it or not, it started with an end of the year present for my students. I designed a card that included a class photo (sort of like a team photo) and included everyone's names and our class motto on the back. The next year, I made a card for myself to hand out to students who did random acts of kindness. Eventually after I had established my blog, I decided to make one for the collector side of my life. One of these days I'll update the design and put out a new edition. But I still have a few more I need to give away before I place a new order.
9) Where do you store all of your stuff? Can you take some pictures of your collection in place, and I would also, if allowed love to see your classroom where you teach, and all of the stuff you have there as well.
My collection is pretty insane. Not in terms of value. But mainly because I'm sort of a packrat. Unfortunately, I live in a townhouse, so space is very limited. To make matters worse, I'm very OCD and can't stand clutter.
Luckily I have a few places where I house my collection. The bulk of my nice stuff and completed sets are stored in my parent's garage. They live in Las Vegas, so the dry climate is the perfect environment for my cards. The downside is that I don't have access to that stuff on a regular basis, which is another reason I started a blog and website. Now I can electronically see my cards anytime I want.
My buddy also let's me use part of his garage space. That's where I keep most of my sports figures, magazines, and larger collectibles.
As for my own place, my office is decorated with shelves that house figurines and bobbleheads of my favorite teams. I also house the bulk of my lowend stuff.
You can see some photos of my office walls here:
http://sanjosefuji.blogspot.com/2013...l-of-fame.html
And here's a quick look at how I store/organize my cards in my office:
http://sanjosefuji.blogspot.com/2014...-man-cave.html
The rest of my collection is in a rented storage unit and believe it or not... I have cards stored in my classroom as well.
10) Do you have a long term collecting goal?
I guess my long term collecting goal is to continue to have fun. The past few months I've been a little burnt out, but hopefully that will pass.
Check out some of his handy work in threads in the baseball showcase sections!
Baseball Showcase - The Cardboard Connection Forum
1) How did you originally get into collecting?
I started collecting Star Wars cards before sports cards. My mom would buy me packs back in the 70's from one of the grocery stores we go to.
As for sports cards, one of my neighbors gave me a big box of 1979 Topps baseball cards. I loved going through and sorting them. Pretty soon I was begging my mom for baseball cards.
2) How long have you been collecting?
Star Wars Cards - Since the late 70's
Baseball Cards - Early 80's
Other Sports - Late 80's
3) What all do you collect?
Pretty much a little bit of everything. Although I'm going through a phase where I'm starting to get picky on my purchases. But since that doesn't really answer your question, here's a list of my collections:
Baseball - Oakland A's (Kurt Suzuki & Rickey Henderson), San Diego Padres (Tony Gwynn), Montreal Expos, Greg Maddux, Steve Carlton, Jackie Robinson, Thurman Munson, and Frank Thomas.
Football - Green Bay Packers (Brett Favre & Aaron Rodgers), Seattle Seahawks (Steve Largent), Ray Lewis, and Ed Reed.
Hockey - San Jose Sharks (Devin Setoguchi & Patrick Marleau) and Ryan Miller.
College - Stanford Cardinals, Cal Bears, and SJSU Spartans
I also have an ever-growing collection of Japanese athletes.
4) Do you have a favorite item in your collection, and if so, what is it and where and when did you get it?
Wow. Tough question. I have a lot of stuff I really, really, really love including gifts from friends and family members. But if I could only keep one thing... I'd probably go with my 1956 Topps Jackie Robinson card. I picked it up at a card show a few years ago myself, so there's not sentimental ties. However it's the one card in my collection that every single card gets compared to.
5) I know you have your own blog, so, how and when did that all start?
My first blog post was on March 2nd, 2010. I started reading other people's blogs back in 2008 when I reentered the hobby and after awhile I decided to start my own. It's helped me meet a lot of people who share a common interest. But when the dust settles... it's a personal journal of my cardboard experiences.
6) I also always see you talking about swaps and flea markets you go to, can you tell us a story of the most impressive deal you have gotten at one of these?
I guess I'd go with a pair of purchases that occurred over a three day period. Back in January 2013, I went to the Capitol Flea Market on a Thursday and found a box of cards that contained a Jerry Rice rookie card, a Lebron James jersey card, and a dirty Kobe Bryant patch card. The box also contained a bunch of S.I. for Kids card sheets that included the Tiger Woods rookie card. The price for all of these? $2
Two days later, I went to the De Anza Flea Market and purchased a huge basketball and football card collection for $150. It's safe to say that the purchase easily doubled the size of my collection for about a tenth of the price. I just recently started sifting and organizing bits and pieces of the collection again.
7) Can you share a favorite story about an experience you had in the hobby such as possibly meeting one of your favorite players, or something else possibly to do with the hobby of collecting?
I'd say one of my best memories of being in the hobby was working at a card shop back in the late 90's to help supplement my income. I had just started teaching and was living on a tight budget. The card show was across the street from my school, so I was in there several days a week. One day, the owner offered me a part time job to deal with the kids who were interested in Pokemon. Anyways... I'm still really close friends with one of the guys who worked there. Whenever we hang out, we always reminisce about our days working at Fun Stuff.
8) You have cards that you sometimes include in trades that are a caricature of yourself. I know because I have a few. I love the idea. What ever made you think of that, and do you plan to create any newer cards so I can expand my fuji collection?
Believe it or not, it started with an end of the year present for my students. I designed a card that included a class photo (sort of like a team photo) and included everyone's names and our class motto on the back. The next year, I made a card for myself to hand out to students who did random acts of kindness. Eventually after I had established my blog, I decided to make one for the collector side of my life. One of these days I'll update the design and put out a new edition. But I still have a few more I need to give away before I place a new order.
9) Where do you store all of your stuff? Can you take some pictures of your collection in place, and I would also, if allowed love to see your classroom where you teach, and all of the stuff you have there as well.
My collection is pretty insane. Not in terms of value. But mainly because I'm sort of a packrat. Unfortunately, I live in a townhouse, so space is very limited. To make matters worse, I'm very OCD and can't stand clutter.
Luckily I have a few places where I house my collection. The bulk of my nice stuff and completed sets are stored in my parent's garage. They live in Las Vegas, so the dry climate is the perfect environment for my cards. The downside is that I don't have access to that stuff on a regular basis, which is another reason I started a blog and website. Now I can electronically see my cards anytime I want.
My buddy also let's me use part of his garage space. That's where I keep most of my sports figures, magazines, and larger collectibles.
As for my own place, my office is decorated with shelves that house figurines and bobbleheads of my favorite teams. I also house the bulk of my lowend stuff.
You can see some photos of my office walls here:
http://sanjosefuji.blogspot.com/2013...l-of-fame.html
And here's a quick look at how I store/organize my cards in my office:
http://sanjosefuji.blogspot.com/2014...-man-cave.html
The rest of my collection is in a rented storage unit and believe it or not... I have cards stored in my classroom as well.
10) Do you have a long term collecting goal?
I guess my long term collecting goal is to continue to have fun. The past few months I've been a little burnt out, but hopefully that will pass.
Check out some of his handy work in threads in the baseball showcase sections!
Baseball Showcase - The Cardboard Connection Forum
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