DENVER — Like many young boys in the 1950s, Denver native Marshall Fogel grew up collecting baseball cards. Unlike most of those other boys, he never stopped.
Today, he owns the most valuable card in the hobby: a mint-condition 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle. That card, which Fogel calls “the holy grail,” is just the beginning of his impressive collection.
Fogel’s collection is considered one of the most complete sports memorabilia collections in the country.
Over the course of 35 years, he’s collected game-use bats and baseballs, original photographs, game tickets, uniforms and even a piece of the original Yankees Stadium, to name a few.
Fogel, 82, began seriously collecting in 1989 after attending the National Sports Collector Convention in Chicago. It was around that time that the hobby began to grow into the industry it is today. Many collectors, including Fogel, were still figuring out what was authentic and valuable.
As Fogel’s collection grew, so did his knowledge about how and what to collect.
“Through the years, people would write articles about what was worth collecting, what was authentic, what was restored,” Fogel said. “People that were experts, like collectors like myself, were able to mentor the industry.”
