Card Collector

Adam Sedgwick
Cook with Cura
Hospitality at DevonHouse in Allentown, Pa.

Hometown: New York City

Lives in: Macungie, Pa.

Married: Wife, Theresa Eve, is a housekeeper and writer. Two stepchildren: Sonja, 22, and Derek 13

Adam Sedgwick, a cook with Cura Hospitality at 90-bed DevonHouse in Allentown, Pa., started collecting baseball cards at the age of eight when his dad brought home a sheet of cards. For the next 25 years, Sedgwick has continued to collect baseball cards; he now has nearly 23,000. Sedgwick talks about his love for America’s pastime and how a native New Yorker and Yankees fan has become a Boston Red Sox follower.

“The way I got started collecting baseball cards is that one day my father brought home a big sheet of uncut baseball cards. I started looking and cutting them out and that’s how I became interested. I was eight years old. My first baseball card was pitcher Rollie Fingers of the 1975 Oakland Athletics.

My father gave me a $5 allowance each week. I would spend $2 going to the movies and another $2 I spent buying baseball cards. A pack of about 10 cards cost between 30 and 40 cents, and I would spend about two dollars worth every two weeks or so. The last dollar I put in my savings account.

I would walk between two and three miles to this small grocery store to purchase baseball cards. Then the grocery store closed, so I had to go to another store, but it was located farther away. It was another three miles that I would ride my bike in order to purchase more baseball cards.

When I was a child, my favorite team was the Yankees. My favorite team now is the Boston Red Sox. I became a Boston fan when I learned that Tim Wakefield threw knuckleballs. After he retires, the Red Sox will still be my favorite team. I have to admit that I disliked Boston when I was a Yankee fan.

The first baseball game I attended was in August of 1978 when the Yankees hosted the Oakland Athletics. The Yankees won. I went to that game with my dad. Reggie Jackson, Mickey Rivers, Chris Chambliss were with the Yankees that season.

Some of my favorite baseball moments are going to the World Series in 1978 when the Yankees played the Dodgers. I also went to the 1983 World Series—the Baltimore Orioles played the Philadelphia Phillies—and that was the biggest thrill of my life. I went with my father. It was game 4. I was 15 years old.

I have some baseball cards that are worth a lot of money. I have the 1978 Mike Schmidt card, which is worth a lot of money. The Tim Lincecum 2007 rookie card for the San Francisco Giants is worth $50.

Reggie Jackson is my favorite player and he played right field for the Yankees. I also like Luis Tiant, who was a pitcher for [several teams in his career so far]. I like pitchers who can throw the knuckleball, which I love throwing too. I was a pitcher when I played baseball.

I organize most of my cards by the manufacturer and year. I show the cards once in a while for the residents, but I don’t really display them otherwise. One card I would love to have is the Luis Tiant 1964 rookie card, when he was a pitcher for the Cleveland Indians.

When I was 14 years old I used to go the mall for pizza and coke. One day I didn’t have any money and there was a display that was selling baseball cards. So I went home to get some of my cards and I sold them to the people at the mall for $5 each just so I could have pizza and soda. I was a stupid kid. So from that time on, I decided never to sell my cards to anyone. I treasure my cards.”