Welcome.

     So I have been threatening for a while now to start a card blog; I'm not sure how sinister a threat this is, but it has been out there.  Some of you know me by my ages old school aol handle JacobMrley and some of you know me by the one they hung on me at birth, Max. Even if you don't know me at all, welcome to my blog.  I am tossing my hat in the ring years behind the curve.  This is nothing new for me, I am either way way ahead or way way behind.  Every February 29th, I decide to do something very different and very wacky, this time, I am starting a blog.  Anyway, I am rambling (get used to it) so I will get down to brass tacks.  I am using this as sort of a mission statement for what I want to accomplish with this site.  I have a vast need to collect things.  I am not quite a hoarder, but with a little less maintenance, I could easily end up on the Discovery Channel trying to explain why people can't get into my house.  The one obsession I have had longer than any other is collecting trading cards.  Baseball cards for the most part, but I have a predilection for all things cardboard.  I just want to share some of it with you.  Maybe trade some with you (I have been an active trader on other sites, to be sure) and maybe entertain myself and by extension, you, with my collection.  I will try to update everyday, but don't hold your breath.  So anyway, why Starting Nine?  Well, it all started many years ago when I decided to name all binders one day.  And in my need to be different, I didn't just want to name them "Stars" and "Hall of Famers" so I gave them sort of code names, like "Double Trouble" "Space for Rent" "Set Them Up And Knock Them Down" and "Starting Nine" - honestly, I am not certain what all of them were, and most of them have been replaced with more traditional labeling, but one of them, for whatever reason, stayed labeled, that one, I am sure you have figured out by now.  So, OK, focus, long story short, two years ago I decided to start really paring down my collection.  I had just stacks and stacks of cards, sets and sets upon uncompleted sets, boxes of unsorted cards from long forgotten trips to shows and shops.  It was a mess.  I decided to pare things down to just nine.  Nine cards representing a set, a player, a team.  One page at a time.  It has been fun and harrowing.  Oh sure, a few favorites will stay (Gary Carter, Keith Hernandez, Mike Piazza, etc.) but I am collecting cards now nine at a time.  This is how my collection, for the most part, will be presented to you.  I do have a few other odd collecting quirks, which I will reveal over time.  Otherwise, if you have gotten through this overwritten and under-thought. paragraph, I welcome you.