WHS junior Brady Volin may seem like just your average student. Behind the scenes, however, Volin is an avid sports fan and collector, acquiring all sorts of memorabilia. More specifically, Volin likes to collect baseballs, jerseys, and photos signed by many well-known athletes.

While Volin loves to collect items from all sports, he admits that he has a special place in his heart for baseball. Hence the reason why Volin’s favorite sports team is the Boston Red Sox. And his favorite athletes? Mookie Betts and Jayson Tatum.

Volin has been a sports fan for quite some time.

He shares, “Ever since I can remember I have always been drawn to sports.”

And how long has he been collecting sports memorabilia, you might ask, “I started going to PawSox games when I was really young. When my dad and I took it to the ‘next level’ I was probably in middle school. I went to Arizona for spring training and places like Cooperstown for Memorial Day games with former players.”

Volin is an experienced sports collector who has some highlighted memories which he has gathered over the years. His favorite sports memory, was his time spent with Pedro Martinez and David Ortiz, and got their autographs after the Pedro Martinez charity dinner.

Volin reminisces another favorite time was during the batting practice he did with former Toronto Blue Jay/St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Chirs Carpenter. What could beat seeing live pitches from a Cy Young award winner?

Volin also remembers his worst experience with a professional athlete, Clayton Kershaw, star pitcher for the LA Dodgers.

“He came over to me, took my pen, used it for other items around me, and gave it back without signing my item and left. That killed me for a little bit,” Volin says.

According to Volin, no sport in particular has more approachable players, however, there are most definitely more approachable individuals.

Volin reflects, “Sometimes [athletes] are in a great mood and will talk forever; other times they will just ignore you.”

Lastly, Volin answers the question, “If you could meet one player from any time period, who would it be and what would you ask them?”

With a quick response, he replies, “I would love to talk to David Ortiz since he is such a big Red Sox legend. I would love to know the feeling of having all of those clutch hits in the playoffs and how the fans made him feel.”