I am not very good at collecting Packers memorabilia.

Don’t get me wrong, I like it a lot. I love having stuff connected to the Packers, and I love looking at what I’ve got and telling others about it.

But I am not good at getting it. I don’t have the patience to comb through thrift stores for interesting things, and I’m a little put off by the idea of just buying stuff on eBay. That’s not so much collecting as hoping interesting things pop up and then getting out the credit card.

I did have a phase where I was big into eBay collecting, though. About 10-12 years ago, I regularly scoured the world’s largest garage sale for interesting Packers memorabilia cards, specifically what are referred to as “swatch” or “patch” cards. That is, cards that have a piece of a player’s jersey or some other kind of physical object inside of them.

I’ve probably got a couple dozen such cards, maybe more, but I figured the offseason is a good time to showcase a few of my favorites. None of these are overly valuable, but they’re special to me.

The first actually isn’t a swatch card. Not really. But it is unusual! This Bart Starr card has what the manufacturer claims is a piece of seating from County Stadium inside. There’s no way to verify this, obviously, but if it’s true, it’s a cool connection Packers history. Who might have sat here watching the Packers (or Braves or Brewers!) play?

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