Genesis

I started collecting in the early 90’s. I don’t know when or where it happened, but I was like any little kid collecting- I bought the cheapest stuff possible and paid no attention to condition. It was fun to open a pack.

The first card I ever remember “wanting” was a 1995 card of Marquis Grissom wearing a Braves uniform- he had just been acquired from Montreal. It was a ubiquitous beginning, but would lead to much greater depths.



For the next few years I would dabble in collecting. Occasionally picking up a pack of football cards, but almost universally sticking to low end baseball products- Score and Collector’s Choice were my poison.

The first true collecting I did was compiling the 1997 Score set. I had gotten a paper route and for the first time ever, had a decent income source. While the ’97 Score set will never be confused with a mediocre set, it was my passion. Once I got the Mike Grace #292 card to complete the set, life was good. I would pick up a few more sets over the next few years.



For years I weaved in and out of Chipper Jones collections. But as time went by, and cards became more scarce and expensive, compiling a widespread Chipper collection grew improbable. So many cards were very scarce and very valuable.

The genesis of Every Braves Rookie came about in the early 2000’s when I decided to collect every rookie card of the 1999 Atlanta Braves team. The ’99 team had always been my favorite. It was a scrappy bunch that overcame losing its cleanup hitter and closer to win over 100 games and make it to the World Series. Also it was the year Chipper won the MVP.

It took me a while, but with the 1998 Pacific Online Kevin Millwood, I had my set. Rather then rest on my laurels, I dove in to a new challenge- the 1995 team set, the year we won the World Series.

When this set became attainable, I moved on to a much broader goal- every player that had been a part of the Braves run of consecutive division titles. At the time I started this collection the streak was at 13 years- It would end a ear later, in 2005, at 14. For the first time there were players that I didn’t really know (Dan Petry and Rico Rossy, to name a few)- I didn’t start actively following the Braves until 1994 or so.

A few years passed, and it reached the point where I had every rookie from the set that I could reasonably acquire. I decided to move on to a much broader and intimidating set- Every rookie card of every player ever to play for the Atlanta Braves. Because the Braves started playing in Atlanta 20 years before I was born, and the first cards from this set were produced more than 50 years before I was born, and many cards hail from some of the most prestigious/rare sets ever created, completing the set would be a gargantuan test.

I decided to take on the challenge

An added bonus about collecting Every Braves Rookie is the fact that the checklist never stops growing. As soon as the Braves sign a player, complete a trade, or call a minor leaguer up, the checklist grows.

It’s a big task…hopefully you’ll enjoy my journey