My name is Tai, but I am also known as Bobby. I am a Chicago Cubs fan who lives in Northwest Arkansas. I have a wonderful wife and two beautiful daughters.
People sometimes wonder why I became a Cubs fan with the Kansas City Royals and St. Louis Cardinals just north of us. The answer is simple - WGN. The very first baseball game I saw on TV was on WGN, and I eventually fell in love with the team from the North Side.
The more I watched the game, the more I learned about the history of baseball, the teams, and the players. One player caught my eye - Ryne Sandberg. He was arguably the best player on the team I loved. From then on, I followed his career as he paved his road to Cooperstown.
Since I was so impressed with Sandberg and the way he played the game, the wife and I decided to get married on the 17th anniversary of "The Sandberg Game." Actually, it was a coincidence, but I like to joke to the wife about it (seriously, it was just a coincidence).
I started card collecting in the early 90's as a set builder trying to complete as many sets as I could from scratch. After a few years of trying and failing, I gave up on set building and concentrated on player collecting. What a better player to collect than my favorite player of all time? With my attempt at set building, I had accumulated a few different cards of Sandberg.
Because the internet was in its infancy stage, the only way I could purchase Sandberg cards was at flea markets. There wan't much to choose from when it came to card shops. I made some headway with my flea market purchases but was nowhere near obtaining a complete list. Once I graduated from high school, which happened to fall during Sandberg's first retirement, my collecting came to a halt.
My hiatus lasted nearly eight years when I found my stash of cards at my parents' house during a visit one summer. It reminded me of the good old days. Since I needed a hobby and had a full-time job, I began collecting again in 2003. However, I went a different route this time around. Instead of working on completing Sandberg's master list of cards, I started picking up non-card memorabilia. eBay became my best friend (and worst enemy).
Two years later, the family and I decided to buy a house. Once again, my collecting came to a halt. For a couple of years after the move, my Sandberg collection remained boxed and in a closet. Once 2007 rolled around, I decided to take my treasures out of boxes and put them up for me to see, even if the world couldn't see them. Since we don't have any extra rooms, I put the memorabilia on display in my walk-in closet. The shelves and walls are lined with Sandberg goodies.
In January 2008, I found out that McFarlane was releasing a Sandberg figurine as part of their 2008 Cooperstown Collection. Because of that, I felt I needed to start collecting again. After searching eBay for Sandberg memorabilia, I didn't see anything that I absolutely needed to have, so I took another U-turn and went back down my original road of card collecting. I came across an amazing Sandberg collection that blew my mind while searching the internet. It pushed me even more to make my Sandberg collection more complete. Since then, I have joined The Bench, the best trading site I have come across, to help in my endeavor. My Bench name is rynofan23.
It has been a fun road to travel down thus far, but this journey is far from over. Since I have never met Sandberg, I am hoping a stop down this road includes a personal meeting with my idol. Wish me luck as I continue down this long and windy trail.