Joey Chestnut on Oakland A's Collection, His Own Cards
In this story:
Growing up in Vallejo, California, as one of six children, eventual competitive eating icon Joey Chestnut learned to devour food quickly from a young age because whoever finished supper last had to do the dishes. At that point, no one knew what the future held, which, fast-forward two decades, includes his name at the top of the list of the most accomplished, famous, and important sports figures of our era.
Tony Reid sat down with Chestnut to discuss his collecting journey and his own time signing autographs for Topps.
Collecting Canseco
Growing up a big sports fan only 30 miles north of San Francisco, Chestnut's baseball and card collecting focus was strictly on the team of rock stars in the Bay Area: the Oakland A's. From the Bash Brothers to the greatest leadoff hitter in history and one of the best closers the game has ever seen, Chestnut was collecting the Athletics.
"The Bash Brothers, Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco, of course." Joey reminisces. "I grew up in the Bay Area, so they were my guys, and Rickey Henderson, too. Yeah, those guys were my favorites. Oh, and Dennis Eckersley. I definitely had his cards; I remember him throwing his sidearm style. I was kind of into it when I was younger, but yeah, I don't know, I look back, I wish I would have kept up with it."
After high school, attending San Jose State University and studied construction management. Fortunately for all of us, the universe intervened when a few of his close friends talked him into entering his first competition in 2005, a fried asparagus contest, which, naturally, he won.
For years, Chestnut balanced his competitive eating career growth with a full-time job as an engineer.
Chestnut became a household name in 2007 when he defeated six-time Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating champion Takeru Kobayashi.
Glizzy Gladiator Game Used
The Glizzy Gladiator was first immortalized on cardboard in 2007, with a number of Sport Kings cards including his notable introductions into the autograph and memorabilia piece of the market.
A year later in 2008, he was featured in the wildly popular pop culture heavy Topps Allen & Ginter set, receiving the full superstar treatment from Topps. The long-running Nathan's champ remembers his experience with Topps fondly.
"Oh my God, yeah." he notes. "I remember when Topps sent somebody to watch me autograph a bunch of them, and it was wild. I grew up to be an engineer, and I started doing competitive eating when I was 21, and then three years later, I had a Topps trading card. It's awesome."
His first cards appeared in the early 2000s, and then he popped up again in 2012, and with his success and rise to mainstream acceptance, it's been non-stop card production ever since. When asked if he managed to hang on to any of his own cards over the years, Joey has a bone to pick with a few of the early card producers. Regardless, he has a definitive wantlist of his own cards to add to his collection.
"There's a couple of them that I never got, any of them." he shares. "There are some of them where I sent a jersey out, and then they chopped it up and put it in a couple of cards. I don't have any of those. Those were a hot item; they didn't give me any of them. I forgot, I think it was Sport Kings or something, way back. I remember that. That's cool. I have a lot of cards. The Topps run, they did a cool job with all the miniature ones."
The Ohio resident has had unparalleled success in the sport of competitive eating. He holds over 50 records in more than 50 various food disciplines. Incredibly, we are just scratching the surface when we talk about the iconic mustard belts. When asked about how he houses all of his hardware, Chestnut offers a glimpse inside his home and close friendships with restaurateurs he considers friends.
"I have an office with a lot of stuff on the wall and shelves and it's a huge mess." Joey confesses. "It's something I really need to put work into, but then I have a couple of friends who have restaurants, and they have a couple of belts. They're displaying my belts proudly. But, yeah, no man cave. I'm on the road a lot. I think I have the best job there is. I get to travel around, meet happy people, eat, meet more happy people, beat people, eat, and make other people happy. It's just all around happy."
While on the topic of trading cards, we asked Joey if he could choose one fact or stat to be listed on a card back that he would want the world to know, he stayed true to his down to earth, everyman demeanor.
"Oh, I don't know." he ponders. "I'm really just a normal guy. I'm a goofy guy. Just a normal guy who got lucky and found something he loved and went all the way, went all in."
Add us as a preferred source on Google
Tony Reid spent more than a decade covering combat sports at the highest level. He has written hundreds of articles and conducted hundreds of interviews about sports collectibles for such publications as Beckett, Sports Collectors Digest, and Sports Collectors Daily. Reid worked full time at a sports card shop in Central Pennsylvania for a number of years. A lifelong collector, Tony treasures his rookie card collection of star players in baseball, basketball, and football. If you want to discuss the greatness of Michael Jordan, Bo Jackson or Ken Griffey Jr., you can reach him at @tonyreidwrites on all social media platforms