What brings me Joy in the Hobby?
2024 PWHL 1st Edition Emerance Maschmeyer UD Exclusives
Not only have I been given the reigns to the third PWHL set and beyond, it has motivated me to collect each UD Exclusives /100 of each goaltender in the 1st Edition set!
As I sit back and think of this new beginning of sorts, I’m taking some time to reflect on why the word “joy” kept popping into our heads when we were coming up with the name of the Website/Podcast/Instagram pages. Happiness, love, joy all came to mind, but the word “joy” was the one word that had the biggest impact on me and Ben. Let’s take a bit of a deep dive into why that is, featuring some cards that define what brings me joy in this delightful hobby.
it is said that Joy comes from our connectedness…that’s a major reason this hobby of collecting trading cards brings me so much joy! Alan Chen, a co-host of mine back when I was on The Essential Credentials, used to say, quite often, that he was consistently surprised by the energy I bring to collecting. That energy comes from many places, the most prominent being my connection with fellow collectors! My connection with my co-host and fellow collector Ben is one that I am extremely grateful for. We both share the same passion for old and new cards alike, and it all stems from our love for cards from a very young age. We chat on a weekly basis about card and non-card topics, and that consistent connection really keeps my joy for this hobby at a high level.
Another instance of a connection keeping my joy for collecting going strong comes from Dynasty Central Sports. He is one of the funniest box breakers on YouTube, and as a fellow goaltender fan, he went out of his way to help me add a card I’ve had on my Wantlist for quite some time! The 2005-06 Upper Deck Ice Rainbow was the first ever base parallel of an Upper Deck Ice base set. These parallels are highly sought after for star players and I’ve only ever seen one sell before this! Take a peek on the right side of this post 👉.
As some may know, a dream came true of mine in September: I got hired at Upper Deck. Since I was a little kid and my dad introduced me to hockey cards, I’ve always been fascinated at HOW they came to be…how are they printed, how they decide on how they look, and how do they know which cards to make rare and more collectible than others? So many other questions started creeping into my mind as I switched to collected Marc-Andre Fleury primarily.
After my co-worker and friend Billy Celio gave me the confidence that I could indeed work with his amazing team of Product Managers, I took a leap of faith and found myself interviewing, in a suit albeit, for the next chapter in my professional career. So far I am loving it…so much so that the set that I built for my interview, is one that I just finished working on! I can’t wait to share how much Joy this brings me, and will bring me in the coming months/years.
I’ve been handed the reigns for PWHL sets and I take that VERY seriously! There are so many young/new/veteran hockey collectors out there that are thrilled that women are getting their chance to showcase their talent to the world. While I wait patiently for my first set to come into being, our 1st Edition PWHL set came out last week, and a goal of mine is the own a UD Exclusives of each goalie in the set. I am 2 away currently!
The community and being given the responsibility of the PWHL License brings me immense Joy, and I can’t wait to see where this journey of our podcast brings us. No doubt, there is joy to be had from here on out!
~Matthew
2005-06 Upper Deck Ice Rainbow
Huge shout out to Dynasty Central Sports for helping me add a big want. People like him who go out of their way to help fellow collectors are the real MVPs of the card community and deserve lots of love for the joy they bring others!
Dynasty Central Sports YouTube Channel
