It started with a card.
After my first round or two of disc golf, I wasn’t fully hooked. (Can you imagine that?) It was interesting, to be sure. But it’s not something I thought I would catch on as a personal sport or hobby.
I couldn’t see it on TV.
The closest course was a little more than an hour away.
And, truthfully, it was frustrating to throw a disc, watch it sail 20 feet up in the air and then drop a mere 75 feet away.
A few months after my initial exposure to the sport, I was at a baseball card show with a friend. I’ve long been a collector of baseball cards, so I’m always interested in opening new items. During this trip, two of us decided to split a hobby box of 2010 Allen and Ginter cards, a Topps product.
Midway through the box, I cracked a pack and sifted through the cards. I abruptly stopped as I came across an interesting one.
It was Avery Jenkins.
Though Allen and Ginter cards are mainly baseball, the set also features some interesting people — such as athletes from other sports, pop culture items and even odd things from many years ago (such as having a strand of hair from George Washington).
The card I pulled out of an Allen & Ginter pack.
And there, staring back at me, was Avery Jenkins putting. A disc golfer and somebody I had never heard of.
That made me wonder why in the world he was on a card.
Turns out he’s one of the best in the world. At disc golf.
When I started playing, I realized there was some sort of a national tour. I understood there were some major tournaments. And heck, I realized people made some coin playing disc golf.
But was this game big enough that Topps would find a disc golfer to put on a card? And with further research, I found out there were certified autographs and game-used cards for Jenkins.
That intrigued me.
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