Former Pro Weintraub Carries on Family Tradition
After his professional baseball career ended, Jason Weintraub took a few years to decide on his next occupation.
Ultimately, the Tampa native found his way back home doing what he loved to do with his best friend: running a hobby shop with his dad.
Weintraub — a former New York Mets pitching prospect who spent five years in the organization’s farm system — has been running Baseball Card Clubhouse since 2010.
Weintraub’s dad, Skip, opened the store in 1989, three years after moving from New York to Tampa.
“I grew up around it,” Weintraub said. “I was a collector. Obviously, it benefitted me being that my dad owned a shop, so I got some cool cards as a kid.”
Weintraub was a big baseball collector, going after cards of Ken Griffey Jr. and Frank Thomas, as well as sports legends Michael Jordan and Joe Montana.
Weintraub worked at his dad’s shop as a youngster as he made a name for himself on the baseball diamond. He attended all the big showcases and was ranked as a top 100 prospect in the country for high school and college players heading into the 2001 MLB Draft.
Getting Drafted
The Mets selected the right-handed pitcher out of Thomas Jefferson High School in the sixth round with the 192nd pick.
“When I got drafted, we had a draft party at the card shop,” Weintraub said. “There was media at the store. There was a draft party, and customers were hanging out. We had it live on the computer then, just waiting for your name to get called.”
With offers from all the top baseball colleges around the country, including Miami, Florida State, Florida, and Clemson, Weintraub wanted to stay close to home and had committed to South Florida. However, when the Mets entered contract negotiations with the 18-year-old, the money and the opportunity to play pro ball were too good to pass up.
During spring training, Weintraub played a few games with the big league club during his time in the Mets organization.
“I got to play with Roberto Alomar, Mike Piazza, Tom Glavine, Pedro Martinez,” Weintraub said. “There were some prolific, big guys. Just being on the bus and playing with those guys for even just spring training was a dream come true. It was amazing.”
His First Baseball Card
Not long after being assigned to the Mets’ rookie ball squad, the Kingsport Mets, Weintraub was getting photos taken for his first baseball card.
Weintraub appeared in the 2001 Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects release — along with big names such as Ichiro Suzuki and Chase Utley. The cards weren’t available in packs, just as a set. Weintraub recalls a Topps photograph at a road game in Bristol, Tennessee, against the White Sox farm club. The teenager is shown with his leg in the air during his windup. Card No. 101 in the 110-card set features a facsimile of his autograph, which Weintraub figures came from when he signed his contract.
“When you get that first card, and then you’re at spring training, and you’ve got kids and collectors coming asking you for your autograph as you’re walking out of the dugout or after games, it’s just incredible,” Weintraub said.
It would end up being Weintraub’s only card that would appear in a regular MLB product. Weintraub did, however, have minor league cards when he played for the Kingsport Mets, Brooklyn Cyclones, and Hagerstown Suns.
Weintraub remembers receiving a package from Topps in 2001 with around 50-100 of his rookie cards. He still has a nice little stash put away of his cards.
Weintraub owns his highest-graded Bowman card, a BGS 9.5. He also owns a number of PSA 9s; however, because of the black borders and the chance the 2001 Bowman cards could brick together, there has yet to be a Weintraub card graded PSA 10. Weintraub has a bounty out, and the first collector to hand him a PSA 10 of his card will receive $1,000.
“It’s kind of funny because a PSA 10 Ichiro is only selling for $400-$500, so I made it where technically I’d be the most expensive card in the set,” said Weintraub, laughing.
The four major grading companies—PSA, BGS, SGC, and CGC—have combined to grade 20 Weintraub rookie cards.
Weintraub will have customers buy his cards on eBay and send them to PSA, hoping for a 10 for his sake and their sake.
“I was teasing; maybe I should raise the bounty a little bit. If they can get a dual 10/10, my auto 10 and a 10 for the card, maybe I’ll double it to $2,000,” Weintraub joked.
Running the Shop
After leaving pro baseball in 2005, Weintraub went to school for various occupations, including EMT, firefighter, and registered nurse. But he said God’s will brought him back to the hobby shop to work with his dad.
Weintraub fully took over the shop in 2010, all the while his dad helped out. Skip had some health issues and had to step away from the store in 2019 permanently. Three years later, he passed away.
It was a dream come true for Weintraub to work at the shop with his best friend.
“My dad loved the hobby,” Weintraub said. “It was incredible to see the passion. Growing up, watching the effort and the love for the hobby, this was his life.”
In his dad’s honor, Weintraub runs pack wars at his shop on the last Friday of every month. It usually brings in between 50-100 customers. Pack Wars were an important tradition for Skip Weintraub. Alan Narz, who runs Big League Sports Cards in Casselberry, Florida, also runs Pack Wars at his shop. He has always said Skip might have been the one who originated the idea in The Hobby.
“The kids have so much fun with Pack Wars,” Weintraub said. “It brings the community together. That was one of my dad’s awesome things he did in the late ’80s and early ’90s. The memories people here have with that, it’s crazy.”
The 42-year-old also hosts a trade night on the first Saturday of every month. The three-hour event is really enjoyed by both kids and adults.
It’s about keeping it fun at the Baseball Card Clubhouse. And that fun was started by Skip 35 years ago when the doors first opened. Now, Weintraub is keeping his dad’s name alive by running the shop the best way he knows how.
“Probably at least half my customers, they all knew my dad,” Weintraub said. “They were teenagers dealing with him; now they’re my age or older. That legacy here is very important for me to keep that going.”
