About Trader Crack's

A Brief History of Trader Crack's:

Trader Crack's traces its humble beginnings back to 1996 when a first-year university student got hooked onto the Internet. Between browsing at pointless sites, sorting through my almost-done-but-not-quite finished sets of baseball cards and starting new sets to circumvent my frustration, I decided that something had to change. I knew somewhere out there people had what I needed and I was bound to have something other people wanted.

I learned coding basics and let Geocities do the rest. After a few hours of playing around, the original Trader Crack's was born, one of the first exclusively trading sites at the time. Sure it was a hideous format, but it worked. Immediately I began to reap the rewards. My hunch was right. There were traders out there. Almost daily I was going to the post office. Hours and hours were spent adding lists and figuring out what worked and what didn't. Most of all, the hobby was fun for me again.

After a short hiatus due to personal reasons, Trader Crack's returned, better than ever with increased listings and gradually a few extra things. I am proud of what I have done with this site. I continue to expand and carve the trading site niche.

The site continues to evolve as I collect fewer things via the old pack busting. As Trader Crack's evolves into its next state, the focus is shifting to make the site a resource for all rather than a dumping ground for my wantlists. There's plenty more I envision and we'll see what happens as time goes on and the tools that are out there continue to change.

Take care, have fun and happy collecting!

 

Trader Crack's continually strives to...

• ...promote the hobby in a fun, honest and entertaining way.
• ...provide reference materials to help people build their collections.
• ...welcome all collectors, new and experienced.
• ...be as interactive as possible, encouraging reader feedback. 

Who are we (am I)?

My name is Ryan Cracknell and I love to a good grilled cheese sandwich. I am starting to show signs of grey hair, which may or may not be in part to being the father of two wonderful young children.


I am a collector who's in the hobby for the fun of it. I builds sets (mostly non-sport and baseball) and have huge collections of my favorite ex-player (John Jaha) and favorite ex-team (Montreal Expos). I also like picking up stuff that I think is a little bit different, has great artistic merit or simply stands out from the majority of the stuff that's released. That is the essence of my collection and also what Trader Crack's is all about, remembering that those laminated pieces of cardboard can still be a hobby.

I write for Non-Sport Update Magazine on a variety of topics. I also run a film review site called Movie Views. From 2002-2005 I wrote a monthly baseball column for Canadian Sports Collector magazine and have also written for Beckett Baseball Card Plus. I graduated from the University of Victoria in 2001 with a BFA in Writing and a Minor in Film Studies. I returned to school a couple of years later to pursue a childhood dream and got his BEd in 2005. I am currently an assistant principal and teacher in northern Alberta.