Man spent years collecting same baseball card as an unwitting kid — the internet thinks he's a legend

Childhood is a world full of wonder and discovery. It's the time when our hobbies lead us to some of the most unforgettable adventures. For some, the thrill of collecting rare trading cards, vibrant stamps, or quirky figurines ignites a passion that lasts a lifetime. That sounds familiar, right? On a related note, Doug—who goes by @catsupwithdoug on TikTok—was always fascinated with collecting baseball cards as a child. But little did he know, he was actually "terrible" at it. He shared the hilarious video on the platform, which has garnered over 456k views. 

"As a kid, apparently, I was terrible at collecting baseball cards," Doug began, giving a sneak peek into his book filled with the same Will Clark rookie cards. "Cause I didn't understand the concept of trying to collect them all or get a full team set or anything like that," he revealed. Doug then flipped through the pages of his book, with each slot in the 9-card sheet filled with identical 1986 Will Clark Topps rookie cards. "I thought you picked a favorite card and stuck with it," he remarked. Notably, one of the cards on his desk had Will Clark's autograph, which Doug had gotten from him in person before a Rangers game. Next to it was a small cardboard cut-out of a baseball player, likely Will Clark.

Moreover, Doug revealed how he collected all the copies of the identical baseball card, highlighting his crazy obsession. "Try to get all the copies of it that you could," he added. Besides, he wrote in the captions, "If you've ever wondered who's hoarding all of the 1986 Topps Traded Will Clark Rookie Cards, it's me." The video received an overwhelming response on social media. Meanwhile, numerous people who responded to his video took the opportunity to make jokes while also letting Doug know that his childhood self was collecting baseball cards the right way.

For instance, @thatashleychick commented, "I dedicated myself to finding different cards of the same player. I have 25 Tony Gwynn cards." @noahrgriffin wrote, "As someone who's been working at a card shop for 3 years now and been collecting for 16 years, I love this!" @kv added, "I love that your parental supervisor didn't say anything and just let you do what you were doing." @shannon shared, "You're one of the best collectors I've seen! I can only imagine how difficult that was." @philhoundelphia said, "I'd say you were excellent at collecting baseball cards."

@anne-marie wrote, "That's actually quite impressive. I've never seen someone collect just 1 specific baseball card before, and you've excelled at it." On the other hand, @picklerick commented, "I grew up a Yankees fan and Don Mattingley was my favorite player. I wish I had more of his cards. Also, my second favorite player at that time was Will Clark." @patrickmiranda chimed in, "There is a guy who has collected 138,000 versions of stone rain for Tor magic the gathering. He has so many that he has affected the value of it. It is probably worth .25 but still impressive."

You can follow Doug (@catsupwithdoug) on TikTok for more lifestyle content.