Paul Olden on baseball cards

In 2009, Paul Olden replaced the legendary Bob Sheppard as the public address announcer at Yankee Stadium. Yankee fans like me remember him from his time announcing alongside Phil Rizzuto on WPIX in 1995 and 1996. He was also an announcer for the Indians, Devil Rays, and 12 Super Bowls. He is also a photographer, and you can see his photography on his blog, Taking Shots. He kindly took the time to share some of his stories about baseball cards.

"I don't collect cards anymore and haven't for a long, long time. I did collect from 1964 to 1968. And I still have all of those cards - many in mint condition. The Nolan Ryan rookie card and the Sandy Koufax are among my favorites. And I did make it a point to buy many of the Cal Ripken Jr. cards including his actual rookie cards. But when companies started putting out 12 to 15 different cards of the same guy - as in Ripken's case - I stopped buying.



I have my own baseball card. It's in the Spokane Indians set of cards by Pacific Trading Cards (I think) and I think the year was 1981 or 1982. It was a hot day in Albuquerque and I was wearing an orange and brown sweater when I posed for my card."

Thanks! I couldn't find a picture of the Spokane Indians (actually a TCMA card, not Pacific), but here is a picture of Olden at Yankee Stadium earlier this year.