With 10 hits to go, I look back through my Derek Jeter cards

As Derek Jeter gets closer to 3,000 hits for his career, I have looked through my card collection that I started when I was just a teenager. Yes, this was more than a decade ago.

I was just 16 years old when Jeter broke onto the scene. I didn't follow prospects back then, so I had no idea who he was when he started for the Yankees at shortstop that year. A rookie, yes. But no one really expected him to do what he did.

It didn't take long for him to capture the heart of this young girl. I had Jeter posters – among other Yankees – plastered on my wall. When I got my first job at 17, I used my paycheck just to buy cards of his off eBay. I wrote a lot of check in those days.

My collection has grown greatly since then, even though Jeter is one of the most expensive current players. My numbers – while not exact – are pretty decent. I have roughly 1,613 unique cards, 52 memorabilia and six autograph cards.

I know there are Jeter collectors out there who have greater collections than I do. But I love looking through my cards. Just flipping the pages in the binders brings me a sense of calmness. I love looking at a card and knowing exactly how and when I got it - from buying a pack at Yankee Stadium to buying a hobby box at a card show in Denver during the 2007 NLCS.

With just 10 hits to go for Jeter, I plan on unveiling some of my top 10 favorite types of cards that are in my collection. I had a problem where I couldn't just pick 10 cards. So, I had to group them into categories.

I left a bunch of them out too. When you have more than 1,600 unique Jeter cards, it's hard to pick your favorites.

The card at the top of the blog. I liked it, but just didn't have a category for it. So, here it is.