Instead of worksheets and textbooks, the lessons came through baseball cards. Children and parents gathered inside the Wayne shop to learn how to evaluate a card’s value, study the market and make informed decisions without losing sight of what first attracts most people to the hobby: the fun of collecting.
Evans, known throughout the hobby as “The Hobby Principal,” has found a way to connect his background in education with his passion for sports cards. His National Youth Collector Clubs Initiative uses trading cards to introduce young collectors to financial literacy, market analysis, entrepreneurship and data interpretation.
The idea grew partly from a moment that concerned him.
“I remember seeing this clip of a kid talking about cards and his experience with cards,” Evans told the Philadelphia Baseball Review in an exclusive interview. “The interviewer posed a question to him and said, ‘What’s in your PC?’ The kid said, ‘I don’t have a PC. I’m in it for the money. All I do is sell cards.’
“That really broke my heart because kids are supposed to be kids, and they are supposed to be enjoying this.”
That concern shaped the lesson Evans brought to Wheelhouse.
He instructed dozens of young collectors as they examined how a card can move from its original release to its present-day market value. He explained the factors that can influence prices, answered questions from children and parents and gave away several cards from his own personal collection.
The goal was not to discourage children from understanding the business side of the hobby. It was to show them that collecting can be educational without becoming entirely transactional.
“They are the future, and the hobby is nothing without them,” Wheelhouse store manager Sean Aldinger said. “It starts with them, and the core of this entire space is collecting. At the same time, it has now grown into something much bigger than that.
“They can learn those life skills through the hobby to take into the next steps of their life. If we do that, we’ve done our jobs.”
The event also offered parents a smaller and more accessible alternative to the large card shows and conventions that have become increasingly common.
Adam Poppel brought his baseball-loving son to Wheelhouse to learn more about collecting. His son began building a collection two or three years ago and is particularly interested in Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber.
“My son is a huge baseball fan,” Poppel said. “Anything Kyle Schwarber-related.”
His son’s enthusiasm also brought Poppel back into a hobby he enjoyed when he was younger.
“I used to collect when I was younger,” he said. “I collect a little bit now just because he is doing it. We like autograph cards a lot and pulling those from a box.”
That connection between generations remains one of the hobby’s strongest qualities. A child can begin collecting because of a favorite player, while a parent rediscovers cards that once meant something to them. The collection becomes more than a group of objects. It becomes a shared experience.
Jamila Ogle appreciated having that experience in a local setting that did not carry the size or pressure of a major convention.
“It’s great to have something local,” Ogle said. “A lot of times we’ll go to these conventions, and they are huge. There is a lot there. This is kind of an educational piece with someone talking to the kids.”
Evans is well suited to translate the hobby’s increasingly complicated marketplace into terms young collectors can understand.
Modern sports cards exist at the intersection of fandom, nostalgia, scarcity, statistics and speculation. The value of a card can change because of a player’s performance, an injury, a trade, prospect hype, production totals, grading results or broader market demand.
For Evans, that creates an opportunity to teach children how to interpret information rather than simply react to it.
“The hobby is full of data,” Evans said. “It’s data-rich. We’ve got to make sure we’re looking at the right data, we understand the data and we’re making informed decisions about that data because there are a lot of variables driving card prices today.”
His educational background helps him take those concepts and make them approachable. Children can learn how to compare prices, recognize risk, establish a budget and distinguish between buying something because they genuinely enjoy it and chasing a card because someone else says it may increase in value.
But Evans also wants young people to see the hobby as more than buying and selling.
“It’s not the transactional experience where you just come to the store and buy cards,” Evans said. “Who are going to be the next people taking this hobby, you know, the next 150 years to its next level and elevating it? Who are going to be the next CEOs, executives, card store owners?
“I think it’s important we cultivate that crop of leaders now so they can drive innovation to the next level.”
That larger mission is at the center of the National Youth Collector Clubs Initiative. The program is designed not only to introduce children to sports cards but also to show them the possibilities surrounding the industry.
A young collector may someday become a card-shop owner, designer, entrepreneur, marketing executive, data analyst or hobby historian. The same pack that begins as entertainment can also introduce lessons in business, mathematics, communication and decision-making.
Evans wants young collectors to understand those possibilities while remembering that a collection should still be personal.
His advice begins with three principles.
“One, have fun,” Evans said. “Two, collect what you love. Three, take the time to understand the data before you purchase any card. Know the risk you are making, and don’t always make it about the monetary value.
“Make it about what the card does for you, the experience and the moments it’s going to create as you keep it in your PC and you share it with your friends.”
That may be the most important lesson Evans offered at Wheelhouse.
The excitement of opening a pack often comes from the possibility of finding something special. But the lasting value of collecting is not always printed in a price guide or reflected in the most recent sale.
Sometimes it is a child finding a favorite player. Sometimes it is a parent returning to a hobby after years away. Sometimes it is the conversation that begins when a card is pulled, traded or shared.
Evans wants young collectors to understand the market.
He also wants them to remember why they started collecting in the first place.
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