Toronto Local with a Powerful Hobby Passion
Maddie Cholette’s father, Bob, has been collecting cards his entire life. So, it was only natural for his daughter to follow suit. When she was younger, Cholette and her dad would buy packs of cards if they stopped at a store. That’s how it all started.
Now 25, Cholette has learned a great deal over the years from her dad about collecting. He’s always been supportive throughout her journey in The Hobby.
“He just tells me to collect who I like and what I like,” says Cholette, who has really gotten into collecting seriously in the last five years. “That’s what he takes away from it, because, otherwise, what’s the point? I think that’s kind of how I’ve taken it in my collecting journey. We do have different players we like. I like more lesser-known guys, so I think that it can be a little frustrating for him to be on the hunt for like an Ernie Clement card from 2018. He’s like, ‘C’mon.’ But he’ll help me with it no matter what.”
Favorite Players
A lifelong Toronto resident, Cholette is a huge Blue Jays fan. She enjoys picking up cards of her favorite players and getting them signed at the ballpark. Top of her list is Toronto starting pitcher Bowden Francis.
“I’ve met him so many times, I have so many autos as it is,” she says.
Cholette enjoys meeting Francis before or after games to chat. She can’t say enough good things about him. They first chatted at a Blue Jays game in Cleveland last year. The two had a good conversation about coffee.
“I love coffee. I kind of go around asking MLB players about their go-to coffee orders, and I’ve been doing that for a while,” Cholette says. “But even before that, I’ve always been drawn to him. I admire his mindset as an athlete. He’s very locked in, confident, but also talks about mindfulness, and being present in the moment. That’s something that’s really important to me, because that’s helped me through a lot of my life.”
Blue Jays veteran outfielder George Springer and Washington Nationals top prospect Dylan Crews are two of Cholette’s other favorite players to collect. She also dabbles in prospecting, following young, up-and-coming players as they ascend the ladder into the majors.
“I find that they’re the future, and as a fan, those are the guys that I kind of gravitate toward because I know they’re going to be around for a long time, and I like to be a fan from the start,” Cholette says. “I’m pretty locked into who’s up and coming. Dylan Crews, I knew that from the draft he was going to be a good player. I got on that pretty early.”
Cholette also enjoys collecting Blue Jays stars Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette, along with A’s rookie Jacob Wilson and Seattle Mariners pitcher Bryce Miller. A lot of the players Cholette collects are around her age, which makes it that much more relatable and fun for her.
“I just like collecting every year of a certain player and feel like you’re following their journey with them through their career,” Cholette says. “For me, it was like George Springer, collecting his Houston cards and then collecting his Jays ones. I followed his career throughout that whole timeline, so it’s kind of like a little time capsule of my fandom of him.”
Collecting as a Woman
Cholette admits it’s not the easiest sometimes collecting as a 25-year-old woman, but she loves it. She enjoys seeing female collectors — especially young ones — entering The Hobby, and she encourages and offers advice to any girls who might be interested in collecting.
“I would say, collect your own way,” she says. “I’m finding now that a lot of friends, we all just collect the same way and together it kind of brings a sense of community of just finding cards of players we like and trading with each other. I think that’s the way to go. I would say, collect players you like, series you like, whatever you like, and who really cares what somebody’s going to say to you about it. If it’s literally the most basic base card, who cares.”
