The term "transitional" refers roughly to the area between our internal world and the external world.

Transitional objects can offer comfort, love, memories, joy, consolation, tension-regulation, and play.

For children and adults, transitional objects might be a blanket, lovey, pet, ring, picture, or sports card.

Interestingly, it often turns out that issues in everyday life provide remarkable insights into psychology, psychoanalysis, and the internal working of the mind. I will start with the concept of transitional objects, and then discuss the meanings of these objects. Sports cards, especially baseball cards, are one of the most popular of "transitional objects."In psychology and psychoanalysis, the term “transitional” refers roughly to the area between our internal world and the external world. In children, “transitional objects” might include a teddy bear, blanket, pet, lovey, and so on. In adults, these objects might be special items (a ring, a picture), books, a pet, and the like. These transitional objects can provide a variety of functions: comfort, love, memories, consolation, tension-regulation, joy, play, and more.

The psychoanalyst Donald Winnicott was especially helpful in showing us how transitional phenomena can help us reach our authentic, creative, less-defended parts. Winnicott suggested that it is creative self-awareness “more than anything else that makes the individual feel that life is worth living. Contrasted to this is a relationship to external reality which is one of compliance, the world and its details being recognized but only as something to be fitted in with or demanding adaptation.” (Playing and Reality, 1971, p. 65)

My colleague Tony Schaefer has run a world-class sports card collection business for over 30 years. He has a remarkable window on the world of transitional objects from childhood through adulthood. I asked him to share a bit about what transitional objects mean to collectors he's met. Here, Schaefer discusses these transitional objects from a psychological perspective, integrating the internal world, development, and everyday life:"'It's just sports!' In one form or another, I hear that sentiment or read it on the internet often. It usually accompanies a story about fan overreaction or dollars spent on a new arena. However, I'm here to understand sports. In nearly 30 years as a sports card dealer, I've met so many great people through fandom, fantasy sports, and, of course, sports card collecting. Friendships and connecting with people are what life is all about!As my card business grew, I noticed myself changing as well. I was less interested in the dollars and cents and more interested in the people I dealt with. I wondered about the "what" of their collections, as I found people were very creative in their quests. Then, I questioned about the "why." It turned out that these cards not only trigger nostalgia for their own childhoods but also generate a connection to history — to times before they were born and after they would die.The........

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