From Webster Groves, Missouri to Earlham College in Richmond and even to Indianapolis where he has taught here for 26 years, one thing has remained a constant for math teacher Mr. Paul Schroeder: his passion for the St. Louis Cardinals.

According to Schroeder, St. Louis is a big baseball city. “Just being a kid, growing up in St. Louis made me a Cardinals fan,” saidSchroeder. “I imagine there were very few kids in St. Louis who didn’t like the Cardinals.” Like many boys growing up in St.Louis, Schroeder wanted to be a professional baseball player.

However, Schroeder’s dreams were dashed when he said he “did high school baseball and I thought it was boring so I quit and played soccer year round.” Because of this obsession with the Cardinals, Schroeder said, “I started collecting baseball cards around (age) 6.” His collecting has continued to this day.

Over the years, Schroeder said he has amassed “close to every Cardinals baseball card that exists.” His collection is “probably the closest to a Cardinals hall of fame in Indianapolis.” Schroeder said, “We could wallpaper most of Cathedral’s walls in my Cardinals baseball cards.”

In addition to these cards, his large collection includes but is not limited to “over 100 autographed 8 x 10 photos, lots of autographed balls, hundreds of magazines, cards back from 1911 and hundreds of jersey cards.” In fact, Schroeder said, “If you tried to buy everything I have, it would probably be $70,000” or more.

However, it’s not the money that matters to Schroeder; it’s the process of collecting and his passion for the Cardinals. Schroeder said, “I’ve had a good time collecting all that stuff over the years.”

Unfortunately for Schroeder when his Cardinals take on the Mets today at 1:15, he won’t be able to listen, but no doubt he will be pulling for his team to come away with a win.

Of all of the cards he has and all of the players throughout Cardinals’ history, Schroeder’s favorite player is Bob Gibson. Schroeder said, “He was the most popular and best player on the Cardinals when I was a kid. His baseball cards looked really cool.”

Schroeder displays his collection in shelves and frames that he makes. Schroeder said, “I have three rooms in my basement that have shelves all the way around to display it. Only about  5 percent of it is displayed, and the rest is in boxes in my basement.” To clear out some of the bulk, Schroeder is selling some of his collection. For some of the more common players, Schroeder has up to 200 of the same card.

In addition to collecting Cardinals memorabilia, Schroeder also follows the Cardinals’ baseball season. Schroeder goes to St. Louis to watch the Cardinals play two to three times a year. However, Schroeder prefers hearing games on the radio to watching them on TV. Schroeder said, “I grew up listening to them on the radio.” Schroeder also follows the box scores and how the various baseball teams are faring in order keep track of how the Cardinals are doing.

On Oct. 28, 2011 in St. Louis, the Cardinals won the World Series in Game 7 by beating the Texas Rangers 6-2. That day, Schroeder bought a ticket to see the Cardinals and drove to St. Louis to watch them win. Schroeder said that buying the ticket to that game was one of the best purchases of his life.