OXNARD : Collectors Pin Down a Hobby

The familiar thwack of bat hitting ball won’t mean much to Katie and Milt Rohrer when they attend the Dodgers’ first home game of the season on Tuesday.

For them the thrill lies in the prospect of adding several shiny new commemorative pins to their collection.

“We go to get the pins and sometimes we stay to watch the games,” Milt Rohrer said as he displayed a complete set of Dodgers pins he’s collected since the team began issuing them six years ago.

The Rohrers are members of the California Pin Traders Club, a small but determined group of pin collectors who meet monthly in Oxnard to covet and trade pins. On Sunday, the self-proclaimed “pinheads” gathered in the back of an empty downtown office.

“It starts out as a hobby but then it turns into an obsession,” club president Howard L. Young said. “You’ll go places and do things just to get the pins.”

Young, who runs a car insurance company in downtown Oxnard, began collecting in 1984 and founded the club soon after.

The colorful pins, made of glazed paint baked onto metal, are usually given away or sold for a nominal fee to commemorate events or promote products.

As with all collectibles, those that are well-made and scarce are the most sought-after, Young said, bringing hundreds or dollars or other valuable pins to those willing to sell or trade.

The Rohrers’ 30,000-strong pin collection features the Dodgers, the Olympics and hot air balloons.

“I can’t even begin to figure out what it’s worth,” Katie Rohrer said, adding that an entire room in their house is devoted to their collection.

“The key,” she said, “is not to think about how much you’re spending or how many you have, but to just enjoy the hobby.”