Cracker Jack Research

For most people starting a blog was a way to connect to other collectors, at least that was the case for me.  I needed a change of pace from my normal routine of buying a card and sticking it in a box. I figured their were other people like me and thus Bob Walk the Plank was born.

The trading and camaraderie has been fantastic, but I really underestimated how much I would learn from blogs. Individually we may all have deficiencies in our cardboard knowledge, but as a whole we are probably as good a resource as you can find on the Internet.

For every type of card question I could imagine I'm fairly certain I could think of another blogger that I would consider capable of answering with a high amount of expertise. Several times a week I'll read something about a certain type of card I knew nothing about.  Many times this leads to a purchase.

  1982 Cracker Jack Ralph Kiner

One thing I noticed not long after starting my blog is that I really underestimated the amount of oddball releases.  I was born in 1982 and started collecting during the junk wax era. The oddballs that I was familiar with consisted of store specific sets like Toys R Us, Ames and Kay Bee Toys, cereal sets and Sports Illustrated for Kids. The Cracker Cards of my childhood were of the mini variety. Thanks to blogs opening my eyes on oddball releases I knew I needed to dig deeper.

Now my collection is full of just about every type of oddball you can imagine. From local releases to vintage Kellogs sets I've found a little of everything.  The great thing is I've only scratched the surface, but thanks the blogging I at least know these cards exist.  

You may think a post showing off a random purchase is worthless, but people pay attention.