(Even) Better Know a Blogger: Infield Fly Rule

Welcome to (Even) Better Know a Blogger week!  Each day this week, my goal is to publish an interview with a fellow blogger.  To be included, bloggers had to email me for a questionnaire, fill it out, and then email it back to me.  Simple!  I think many of us enjoyed getting to know fellow bloggers back when I ran a similar feature a number of years ago...and I'm happy to report that some of the same people that participated back then joined up this time around as well!  Let's get to it!

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1.       Your name (or alias if preferred): Adam Kaningher

2.       Your blog website: Infield Fly Rule

3.       Your social media handle(s): @AdamK0310 on most of the social networks. Also @InfieldFlyCards on Twitter.

4.       What are your favorite sport teams? The Denver pro teams. Rockies, Broncos, Avalanche, Nuggets. I also like the Yankees and Angels.

5.       What kind of collector do you consider yourself to be (team collector, player collector, set collector, etc.).  Why do you collect that way? 
At heart, I’m a set collector. There are a lot of sets I have zero interest in, and some I love dearly (read: Stadium Club). I buy the Topps factory set every year, and Topps can always count on a few bucks from me every year for a blaster of Opening Day. I find that I enjoy collecting most when I’m chasing the brands and designs I love, not when I’m just adding any card to my want list because they happen to feature my favorite team or player. That makes it feel like I’m not deciding what goes in my collection.

That being said, the blog community really makes it easy to gravitate toward being a team collector. I always pick the Rockies in the various group breaks out there, most of what I write about is Rockies-focused, and I’m one of just a couple fans of that team in the community. It’s just easy to say “I collect Rockies”, especially to someone who is less well-versed in the intricacies of this hobby.

Quick shout-out to Rosenort at Condition Sensitive, who is pretty much the only other Rockies blogger out there, now that Cards from the Quarry has gone quiet, although there are a growing number of Nolan Arenado player collectors.

6.       What is your favorite item in your collection? 
This answer remains the same as when I did this questionnaire the first time. It’s a 1994 Topps Archives 1954 Gold card of Hank Aaron, #128 with an on-card autograph.

I was just a kid, and I pulled this out a pack purchased from the card aisle at Wal-Mart. I was astonished, and I felt like I had won the lottery. I still have the pack wrapper showing 1:1,263 odds.

I’m not sure that answer will ever change.

7.       If you could add any one card to your collection (that you don’t currently own), what card would it be and why? 
I’d probably go for one of the iconic rookie cards, most likely the Nolan Ryan / Jerry Koosman card from 1968 Topps. It’s pretty recognizable but hasn’t been reprinted like crazy, unlike, say, the 1952 Mantle.

8.       Thinking back to when you first started collecting, how have your habits changed (if at all)?  Any ideas why? 
I had a handful of cards at a very young age, but I really got into collecting in 1993, the year the Rockies began play. I didn’t invest nearly as much in supplies as I do now, so there were a lot fewer binders and a lot more shoeboxes.

These days, I’m happy to sort cards by team, but I used to constantly reorganize cards based on which team the player was currently on, mostly disregarding the team shown on the card itself. Obviously, that quickly grew out of control, and I put an end to that practice at some point during the 1994 Strike. Probably when the Astros and Padres did that absurd 12-player trade.

As an adult with more disposable income than a couple dollars a week, I’ve gone a bit more upmarket, but I bought plenty of Fleer Ultra even as a kid.

9.       If an alien being came down from the stars and forced you to describe yourself using no more than three cards as talking points, how would you do it?  
1. 1987 Topps #29 Jimmy Key.

Like many collectors, my first-ever pack was from 1987 Topps. I had a stack of a couple dozen cards that were imprinted on me at a very young age. They are rooted deep, deep in my memory banks, and I could probably draw most of them from memory. Jimmy Key is one of the more recognizable names, but any of those several cards would do. Jeff Hamilton is in that stack, Bill Krueger, Phil Garner, Tony Armas, just a bunch of literally random players that got me started early.

2. 1994 Topps Finest Preproduction #35 Andres Galarraga.

Topps included this card in a factory set bonus pack, and it quickly became my favorite card in my budding collection. It was my favorite player on my favorite team. It was shinier than I ever thought possible. And it has a great shade of green, which is my favorite color to find on a card. It also reminds me of the great outdoors. This is why I liked 2013 Topps Emerald so much.

3. 1998 Collector's Choice #443 John Olerud.

We’re seeing a card from my Coors Field Frankenset, even though it’s not a Rockie. Behind John Olerud are the unmistakable light towers of Coors Field, instantly making this card a favorite. There are a few other reasons why I picked this card. First, John Olerud was a member of the 1993 Blue Jays, who won the first World Series I ever watched. Or at least, the first one I can remember watching. 1993 was the year when I learned what a great sport baseball is. Second, the dark storm clouds on the right side of the card are textbook Colorado. In spring and summer, afternoon thunderstorms will quickly roll through toward the Eastern plains, and this photo really reminds me of my home state. Finally, I first saw this card on Nick’s Dime Boxes blog. He’s the blogger who really got me started in this community, so my collection wouldn’t be where it is today without him.

10.   If you could give any of the major sport card companies one piece of advice about something you’d like changed (or perhaps simply continued) what would it be? 
As a set collector, I’d really like to have a realistic shot at completing something. Whether that means fewer parallels, fewer short prints and gimmicks, fewer inserts, or even just better collation, I am not sure. But I miss the days of being able to finish a set.

11.   Where do you live?  What is your favorite local food? 
I live north of Denver, Colorado, near Boulder. The trout is excellent here, and it’s not that hard to find some less common meats like bison, elk, and lamb. There is also a sizable peach industry on the Western Slope. But what Colorado is most known for is craft beer. There are enough microbreweries in even midsize cities to support a beer trolley, which shuttles you from brewery to brewery on a loop. In Longmont, for example, it makes stops at Wibby, Left Hand, Pumphouse, Oskar Blues’ Tasty Weasel Taproom, and more. And that’s just one city of about 100,000.

12.   If someone were to visit you, what place (within an hour of travel from your residence) would you suggest someone be sure to check out? 
Rocky Mountain National Park would be a great place to visit. I grew up going there, and I live near the base of the Rocky Mountains, so let’s say I’m a bit used to seeing snow-capped fourteeners. But the place is absolutely beautiful, especially in the fall when the wildlife is out and about in lower elevations.

13.   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 Product Manager at an IT distributor. More specifically, I’m focused on cybersecurity. “Product Manager” could mean a lot of different things depending on the industry, but previously my job title was Sales Operations. It’s not sales exactly, rather it’s more making sure that everything is set up in the system for sales to do selling.

I hear more than a few Chandler Bing jokes.

A previous coworker was hired at this company, and I followed several months later.

14.   Do you have any hobbies besides card collecting? 
Video gaming, photography, cooking, hiking, and reading. I enjoy the occasional LEGO set as well.

15.   Tell me something interesting about yourself that hasn’t been covered in the first 14 questions! 
Someday I’d love to do a stadium tour, but my current project is seeing every Major League team play. I’ve seen 28; only the Twins and Royals remain. I never got a chance to see the Expos, and the Angels I’ve only seen play in Anaheim in 2009. I was in London when they visited Denver last year, so I’ve yet to see the great Mike Trout. The interleague schedule doesn’t always play in your favor.

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Wow, it's hard to even know where to begin with Adam's interview, so let's start with the easiest part:  "thank you" to Adam for participating with such thoughtful answers.

I was intrigued/interested by much of what Adam wrote, but let's start with the biggie:  That Hank Aaron autograph is sweet - and pulling it from a retail pack makes it that much sweeter.  Quite honestly, I was expecting the odds to pull such a card from retail to be much worse than what you quoted (it's still super rare though).  I actually pulled a Hank Aaron autograph from a pack of cards that I bought at a hobby store in Florida when I was on vacation.  Unfortunately, I was but a kid and I needed/wanted money so I ended up selling the card on eBay.  The resulting funds did last me quite some time though, so it wasn't all bad (I do wish I had that card now, however)!

Adam's answers for the alien and 3 cards question were spot on as well.  I didn't realize that Olerud photo was taken at Coors Field.  Speaking of Coors Field (and Colorado in general), the great state of Colorado is another one of the few US states that I haven't been to.  Now that I see how many craft brewers are in Colorado, I'm even more interested in making a trip there some day!

I think it's pretty cool that a lot of sport card bloggers share other things in common as well.  A number of people seem to be in either education or technology, many of you like to play games of some sort (board or video), and more than I expected have confessed to liking LEGO (it's no secret that I like LEGO since I have my own blog dedicated to the little plastic bricks).  I must say, this (Even) Better Know a Blogger series is a blast for me - and based on the higher-than-usual comment rate (for my blog), I think many of you are enjoying it as well!