Drew Knowles is a senior in high school with a passion for both card collecting and sports. For Drew, collecting sports cards was just a childhood hobby. But when COVID-19 hit in 2020, he decided to get back into it collecting baseball cards (as well as various other sports’ cards).
When the time came for him to pick a topic for his senior project, Drew thought of a way to turn his childhood hobby into something more… A way to give back to his community.
The idea came about while Drew was brainstorming with his family at dinner.
“We were at a Texas Roadhouse and my parents said to me “why don’t you go too little league games and give out baseball cards?” And it’s taken off ever since.”
His father was one of the reasons why Drew got into card collecting in the first place. After introducing him to the likes of Alan Trammel and Wayne Gretzky rookie cards, Drew went to his local Wal-Mart and kicked off his own obsession with the hobby.
Drew thought back to his days playing little league baseball and remembered how much the community gave back to him and his team when he was younger. Now it’s his turn, his opportunity to give back
Creating An Opportunity
Knowles knew how competitive the market is for baseball cards and how little kids are left unable to get into the hobby. “There’s way too many 40-year olds, 30-olds going into Target taking all the cards and making them ultra expensive. I just want to try to help get kids to love the game of baseball and get into sports collecting.” In addition to supporting the program himself, he’s reached out to numerous sources on social media for baseball cards and many have come up with supporting his goal.
Since that tweet, he’s been getting a lot of support from many different card collectors that are willing to set him up with some cards from their collection.
People with a strong passion for card collecting like Aaron Jaffe, John Morton, and twitter user @carddealer05, have reached out to support and express interest in Drew’s project. @Carddealer05 even said he would be sending over a Tom Glavine signed baseball to help the cause!
Everyone supporting Drew in this endeavor, values and appreciates the love of sports collecting and want to help give back to kids that don’t have the opportunity to get into an exciting and in some cases, life-changing hobby.
Worth The Wait
With the looming implications of COVID-19 still hindering the organization of youth sports leagues, the local season in Drew’s town will not start until next year. With that in mind, Drew hasn’t wasted any time preparing..
Based on what he has received thus far, those little league players will be beyond excited for what they are about to get. He has two, 500 count boxes that he’s going to sort through and divide into individual packs. He plans on giving them out to the kids on May 7th, which marks opening day for the Little League season
Drew clearly is putting his heart into this senior project and is going to impact many kids’ lives just through the power of giving them baseball cards. While it may seem like a simple gesture, you never know what kind of impact it can have on a kid’s life and whether they take up the hobby for themselves.
