Theme Week: Better Know a Blogger (Jeroen from The Dutch Card Guy)

Welcome to "Better Know a Blogger" Theme Week here at Nachos Grande.  About a week or so ago, I put out a call to any interested bloggers to answer a short questionnaire that I had prepared.  The goal of the questionnaire is for all of us to get to better know some of the various personalities on the blogs!  I hope you find this Theme Week as much fun as I did - and hopefully you'll learn something about your fellow bloggers as the week progresses!

1. Your name (or alias):  Jeroen aka The Dutch Card Guy
2. Your blog website:  The Dutch Card Guy
3. What kind of collector do you consider yourself (team collector, player collector, set collector, etc.). Why do you collect that way?

That’s a question I asked myself many times as well and one for which the answer has gradually evolved as well in recent years. I started out as a team collector (Yankees), gradually moved to a set collector (A&G, GQ, Topps Flagship) and currently mostly focused on my player collections. Key focus in my collection is to collect a version of each and every Tom Glavine and Bert Blyleven card, quickly followed by Clayton Kershaw and Anthony Rizzo. Always building on my Rivera and Sabathia collections as well. I am currently mixing this with chasing specific sets like 2011 GQ autos & relics, Topps 1976 and all A&G mini sets.  So plenty to keep a man busy at night !!

4. In your opinion, what could the major card companies (Topps, Panini, etc.) do to make your style of collecting better for you?

Well, cut down on the number of parallels is this is getting a bit ridiculous these days with 10-15 (numbered) color variations of each card.

5. What is your favorite part of your collection?  This could be one specific item, or a binder of cards, etc.

That’s a difficult one ! I have plenty of cards I really like. One of which is my only “wooden” card, a Bert Blyleven GQ. A gold-framed Glavine Museum Collection card or my Glavine Upper Deck Masterpieces card, all cards which are out of the ordinary. At the same time I can also enjoy a cool 1976 vintage card, a set I am trying to complete as my first vintage set !

6. Most of us have a favorite song that we like for no good reason – heck, it might even be embarrassing.  Do you have a favorite baseball card that might fit that bill?  

Wow, the questions keep getting tougher ! What I think are cool cards are the Cooperstown Ballparks cards with old pictures from ballparks. Nothing special but I really like’em !  

7. If you were forced to part with your entire collection except for one card, which card would you keep?

Probably the wooden Blyleven, the flying Dutchman ! although now I feel guilty not picking a Glavine card !!

8. Many of the blogs (including my own at times) seem to decry Topps’ lack of vision and creativity.  Can you think of something creative that could be done for an upcoming card set? 

 KISS it, so Keep It Simple Stupid. I love the relaunch of Stadium Club, great shots ! To be fair to Panini, I think they are making some great efforts as well with e.g. Panini Pastime. Hope they get a license again at some point in time, just to get the competition going a bit. 

9. What is your profession?  How did you end up there?  If you are in school, what do you plan to major in and/or what job do you hope to get after graduating?  

 I am a stock picker, trying to select the best stocks I can find. I started in this career right out of university and love the job of being an investor as you can constantly “investigate” and learn new things with the competitive element always there (i.e. beating the market).

10. What is your favorite place that you’ve ever visited?  Why?  

Probably that has to be Costa Rica, so many different environments in such a small country, I found it awesome to visit.  

11. Many of us have favorite foods or customs that are somewhat local to where we live.  Do you have any such things that you particularly love?  A website link to specific products would be spectacular.  

Peppernoten, a special type of candy for November and December, linked to a Children’s holiday Tradition called Sinterklaas (somewhat comparable to Christmas). Here’s a link with some pictures http://www.tumblr.com/search/peppernoten

12. Do you have any other hobbies besides card collecting?  

Watching series like Walking Dead, Suits, Game of Thrones and many others. Usually do several things at the same time, one of which is watching one of these shows. Also love playing computer games which started with Leisure Sweet Larry, King’s Quest and Space Quest decades ago, followed by games like Sim City, Railroad Tycoon, Civilication and even World of Warcraft !

13. Tell me something interesting about yourself (that we haven’t covered in the first twelve questions).

 I live in Holland, which I guess is already interesting by itself given most of this community is from the US !! I also have two great little kids and a lovely wife so always busy and hectic but fun !

 Thanks to Jeroen for answering the call to Better Know a Blogger!  When I read Jeroen's answers, the first thing I had to do was look up the Peppernoten candy.  It sort of looks like a gingerbread cookie of sorts but I have a feeling it doesn't taste like one!  Maybe someday I'll have the opportunity to visit Holland and try some Peppernoten.  

I was also intrigued by Jeroen's job - a stock picker.  I spent a bit of time this year trying to self-learn the stock market.  I've managed to come out ahead, but only barely.  Of the few stocks/mutual funds that I decided to invest (a very small amount) in, one has done really well and one has done really poorly.  I guess investing in an energy fund was a bad idea - who knew gasoline would drop so much in price?!

Finally, I agree wholeheartedly with Jeroen's assessment that there are too many parallels floating around these days.  I'm so happy that Larkin is retired because that drastically reduces the number of virtually identical cards that I need to track down!  

Thanks to Jeroen and thanks to all the others who have sent in their responses to my questions.  The Better Know a Blogger theme will continue tomorrow!