thedrifter
05-05-06, 08:29 AM
Kicking off a second career
May 05,2006
ANNE CLARK
DAILY NEWS STAFF
Tom Hatchel bought his first pack of baseball cards in 1981 for 20 cents. He traded them with friends but never threw them away, just adding to his collection anywhere he traveled. He even searched for Topps’ special edition “Desert Storm Trading Cards” while stationed in Kuwait in 1991.
Now Hatchel has more than 20,000 cards that are the foundation of his new business, “CardCrazey Sports,” located in Swansboro.
“Collecting is a passion,” said Hatchel, a master sergeant in the Marine Corps. “It’s a way to hold onto the past.”
“CardCrazey Sports,” which opened last Saturday, draws you in with a wall full of team jerseys and caps and posters and autographed pictures. But it was the sports cards, slipped in shiny plastic sleeves and filed in alphabetical rows, which interested collector Ashley Brooks. Among them, he found three complete sets of baseball cards, all from the 1980s, featuring the players of his youth.
“It’s not what the cards are worth, so much as what they meant to me,” said Brooks, who will someday pass on the cards to his son.
Hatchel’s shop also carries current editions of sports trading cards, still in their foil packs or in boxes. Some of them hold treasures inside, maybe a piece of the player’s jersey or baseball leather built into the card. A lucky collector might also find a card with the player’s cut signature embedded in it.
“It’s a rush, opening up a pack,” said Hatchel, “but you don’t risk losing something. At the end of the day, you’ve still got the cards.”
Another one of his customers is Nick Brothers, a student at Swansboro High School. His family is from Pittsburgh, so last year Brothers bought a Ben Roethlisberger card for $40. It proved to be a solid choice: after the Steelers won this year’s Super Bowl, the card more than doubled in value.
“It’s like an investment,” said Brothers, 16, who came by after school to catch some sports on the shop’s high-definition, wide-screen TV. On Saturday, about a dozen customers huddled around the same TV to watch Mario Williams get drafted into the NFL.
A Mario Williams card hasn’t yet been released, said Hatchel, who diplomatically doesn’t pick a favorite team or player (though his shop’s walls are painted Carolina Blue.) He’ll say that his greatest card is a Ken Griffey Jr. 2003 with a piece of baseball embedded and Griffey’s signature in red ink across it, one of only 10 he signed in red. One of the least expensive is the 25-cent Ricky Williams card, sure to delight any Miami Dolphins fan.
“A real collector knows them all and loves them equally,” said Hatchel, paraphrasing art historian Lou Klepac.
Hatchel’s store has been a dream he’s carried through nearly 18 years in the Corps and three combat tours. After returning with 2nd Marine Logistics Group in February, he decided now was the time to make it a reality, though he’ll stay on active duty at least another two years.
“I get to know now if it’s going to work,” said Hatchel. Helping him run the business is store manager Stephanie Phelps, whose husband served with Hatchel on recruiting duty in West Virginia.
It was an assignment that helped prepare Hatchel for this moment, as he learned to deal with the public, speak with intelligence and authority and deal with service after the sale.
“There are no limits to what Marines can do,” said Hatchel.
Ellie
May 05,2006
ANNE CLARK
DAILY NEWS STAFF
Tom Hatchel bought his first pack of baseball cards in 1981 for 20 cents. He traded them with friends but never threw them away, just adding to his collection anywhere he traveled. He even searched for Topps’ special edition “Desert Storm Trading Cards” while stationed in Kuwait in 1991.
Now Hatchel has more than 20,000 cards that are the foundation of his new business, “CardCrazey Sports,” located in Swansboro.
“Collecting is a passion,” said Hatchel, a master sergeant in the Marine Corps. “It’s a way to hold onto the past.”
“CardCrazey Sports,” which opened last Saturday, draws you in with a wall full of team jerseys and caps and posters and autographed pictures. But it was the sports cards, slipped in shiny plastic sleeves and filed in alphabetical rows, which interested collector Ashley Brooks. Among them, he found three complete sets of baseball cards, all from the 1980s, featuring the players of his youth.
“It’s not what the cards are worth, so much as what they meant to me,” said Brooks, who will someday pass on the cards to his son.
Hatchel’s shop also carries current editions of sports trading cards, still in their foil packs or in boxes. Some of them hold treasures inside, maybe a piece of the player’s jersey or baseball leather built into the card. A lucky collector might also find a card with the player’s cut signature embedded in it.
“It’s a rush, opening up a pack,” said Hatchel, “but you don’t risk losing something. At the end of the day, you’ve still got the cards.”
Another one of his customers is Nick Brothers, a student at Swansboro High School. His family is from Pittsburgh, so last year Brothers bought a Ben Roethlisberger card for $40. It proved to be a solid choice: after the Steelers won this year’s Super Bowl, the card more than doubled in value.
“It’s like an investment,” said Brothers, 16, who came by after school to catch some sports on the shop’s high-definition, wide-screen TV. On Saturday, about a dozen customers huddled around the same TV to watch Mario Williams get drafted into the NFL.
A Mario Williams card hasn’t yet been released, said Hatchel, who diplomatically doesn’t pick a favorite team or player (though his shop’s walls are painted Carolina Blue.) He’ll say that his greatest card is a Ken Griffey Jr. 2003 with a piece of baseball embedded and Griffey’s signature in red ink across it, one of only 10 he signed in red. One of the least expensive is the 25-cent Ricky Williams card, sure to delight any Miami Dolphins fan.
“A real collector knows them all and loves them equally,” said Hatchel, paraphrasing art historian Lou Klepac.
Hatchel’s store has been a dream he’s carried through nearly 18 years in the Corps and three combat tours. After returning with 2nd Marine Logistics Group in February, he decided now was the time to make it a reality, though he’ll stay on active duty at least another two years.
“I get to know now if it’s going to work,” said Hatchel. Helping him run the business is store manager Stephanie Phelps, whose husband served with Hatchel on recruiting duty in West Virginia.
It was an assignment that helped prepare Hatchel for this moment, as he learned to deal with the public, speak with intelligence and authority and deal with service after the sale.
“There are no limits to what Marines can do,” said Hatchel.
Ellie