October 26, 2025 • 41 mins
Welcome to my weekly MidLife Sports Card Q&A episode where I answer your top questions about collecting, investing, grading, the current market, and everything in between.Whether you're new to the hobby or a long-time collector, this Q&A dives deep into the hottest topics in the sports card world right now. This week, we cover a wide range of topics that include:*What is the most meaningful part of the hobby?*When are sports cards worth grading?*What's my favorite set to collect?*Much More!!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:10):
What's going on, everybody? When I started my channel over
three years ago, crazy. That is crazy.
But when I started my channel over three years ago, the number
one thing I wanted was dialogue.I loved watching YouTube videos.
I loved watching other channels.I love people going to card
(00:32):
shows and people going to show off their collection and and
teach about different cards. I loved all of that and the
thing that I wanted to do was I wanted to hear from other
people. I wanted to connect to them,
hear their thoughts, hear their opinions because as we know
there isn't a right or a wrong way to do the hobby.
(00:53):
But I am always curious on how people are wired, why people
have the opinions that they have, how they change their
opinions, what their thoughts are on different events that are
happening with the hobby. I've always been a sports talk
radio person for my whole life. As a kid, I listened to sports
talk radio and it was because I loved hearing people share
(01:16):
ideas, having callers call in and share their takes and then
and then seeing where the discussion went.
And that's the foundation of whyI even started a channel and the
Q&A's that we do on Wednesdays, it's not really Q&A's, it's you
bring up a topic. I share my thoughts on the
topic. Doesn't mean it's an answer,
(01:38):
just means it's an opinion. But when I do these, this is
what it's all about. It's what do you guys want to
talk about? What are you guys curious about?
And I share my thoughts. And then I encourage you down
below in the comments to share your thoughts.
And the reason is because I am not the disseminator of
information for all card collectors.
(02:01):
I am simply a person who is interested in what people think.
I have strong opinions. Many of you have strong
opinions. Many of you are trying to form
strong opinions. My opinions are always changing.
So my question to you is, what do you guys want to hear about?
(02:23):
Well, every week you all share your questions with me down
below in the comments. If you have a question for an
upcoming episode, I hope you share it down below.
So with that said, without further ado, let's go ahead and
get to the first question right here.
This first one says howdy good Sir, what hypothetical cart
(02:46):
hobby channel would you want to watch that doesn't exist?
I would love one where people just do before and afters of
cracking slabs for crossover andregrading.
Another one would be a channel about vintage foreign non sport
cards, another would be about iconic cards and a dedicated
show on each specific card. And another all about one of
(03:10):
ones would be pretty cool too. OK, this is a super interesting
question. I mean, I was just talking a
second ago about one of the reasons I started my channel is
'cause I was interested in a back and forth in a place to
share dialogue and a place to share opinions and a place to
talk about what topics they wanted and, and share their
(03:32):
thoughts on different topics. That was that was really the
reason I started this channel isbecause there were a lot of
great channels out there, but I didn't feel like there was a ton
of that. So without doing only live
streams, which I like doing livestreams, but those are difficult
to do and schedule. But one of the things that one
(03:54):
way we can do that back and forth without it being a live
stream is things like this Q&A and things like my Monday
episodes were ask you questions and then you share your thoughts
and then we talk about it. And, and there are a couple of
things that aren't being done inthe community that I think would
be great. I'll share a couple of them.
(04:18):
I like learning. I like learning not so much
about the what, but I like finding out about the why.
Why do people like what they like?
Why do people buy what they buy?What is the strategy behind what
people are doing? And there are some episodes that
do that, but I've always been a documentary person.
(04:41):
I love documentaries. And so I think something that
would be really interesting is like a documentary from a
dealer's perspective. Now there are dealer videos,
there are dealer channels where they set up a shows and they set
up a camera. But I would be curious to see
the before what cards are they buying for the upcoming show?
(05:05):
How are they buying them? What are they buying?
What are they thinking is going to sell?
What are they thinking they're going to have trouble selling
when they set up their dealer booth?
Why are they setting it up the way they're setting it up?
Why are they putting the cards the way they're putting them?
And then see the people show up and see what sells, see what
(05:26):
doesn't sell, see the negotiations.
Again, there are some great channels that do a lot of the
negotiations, but I want to see leading up to it too.
I also am curious about the post.
So the dealer who what's he buying up for the show that's
coming up, then setting up his booth.
(05:46):
Why is he setting it up? How he's setting it up?
Then see the negotiations. Then after the show, see kind of
how it went. What did they think?
Were they surprised about what happened?
What were the sales they were excited about?
What were the the sales or the the purchases that they were
excited about? I think that would be
interesting and sort of a documentary style.
I think some sort of documentaryabout collectors on their way to
(06:11):
a show. So a lot of the times we'll see
people, you know, do videos where they walk around and they
show the cases and I do some of those too, and those are cool.
But what about before the show talking about what are they
looking for, preparing for the show, Actually going into the
show, seeing the negotiations and the back and forth of them
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making the purchase, then their thoughts after the negotiations,
and then getting home and addingthe cards to their collection
again, sort of a documentary style.
When I was a kid, I liked watching Mr. Rogers, and one of
the things that Mister Rogers would have frequently is he
would go to like different factories.
Like he'd go to a pencil factoryand it would take you to the
(06:58):
beginning and it would show you the process of how they make
pencils, how they get the lead in between the wood and how they
cut the wood and how they add the erasers.
And the whole process would be shown in like a Mr. Rogers type
(07:19):
episode. And that process I think would
be really interesting. Show me, what if Tops had a
channel where they showed us thefull process from ideas of the
cards that they're thinking about trying out the design.
What does that look like? The actual production of the
(07:41):
cards? How are they inserted into
packs? How is it done randomly?
How do they make sure they get one auto per box or two or
whatever? How does it then get
distributed? I would love to see the process
from inception sitting around a table of what they're thinking
about using for different cards,new inserts or something all the
(08:04):
way to the end of delivering thecases to a hobby shop.
I think that would be interesting.
So I would say more of a, a learning of how those things
happen and from the dealer perspective, from the buyer
perspective, from the productionperspective, I'd love to see the
(08:29):
process of a card from PSAI meanPSA has a channel.
I'd love it if PSA just chose a,a box that showed up and they
show us opening the box. Then what happens then where's
it go? Then it gets identified.
The research process, how's thatwork?
What's that look like? Take us into the grading room.
(08:51):
What's that look like? What does it look like when they
encapsulate the cards and add the flip?
And how is what's automated? I want to see the process of how
things work. We all, I mean most of us have
sent in cards for grading, but we don't really know how it
works. Why don't we see from the time
(09:11):
the package arrives, literally the delivery come in from the
post office to the the card or the cards are packed back up
into a box and then sent back out?
I think that would be really interesting.
I think that would get a ton of views.
Now, I'm sure that there are certain things that they don't
(09:33):
want to show and that's a whole different, you know, that's a
whole different topic, but I want to see how things work.
I want to learn the process of of what's happening in the
industry, from production to buying to selling to all of it.
(09:54):
Documentary style behind the scenes.
I think that'd be interesting. My good friend Tony, Southern
Collector 14, says the story of your Clemens purchase back in
the day is awesome. My question for a future episode
is the following. If you could only collect cards
from one set for the next two years, what set would it be?
(10:18):
This means picking one year of acertain set.
Tony bringing a good question. You know, this is one of the
things that I always find interesting is there are so many
options in this hobby. There are so many directions we
can go. There are so many targets, so
(10:39):
many players, years, sets, eras,types of cards.
There's so much. At times it's overwhelming.
If you walk into the National and you're open to buying
anything, that could actually beoverwhelming, that could be too
much. So by actually having a filter
of I'm looking for this sort of thing, it allows you to actually
(11:00):
make your way through the whole room because there is so much
there. So when I think about this
question, I think about what is a set that has a lot of cards
that I'd like to have that I don't already have.
Well, there are a lot of those. But then I also have to think
about what are sets that are at a price point that I could
(11:23):
afford to purchase more than oneor two, Unless I'm OK only
making one or two purchases 'cause I guess I could say
something like the 33 Gaudi set and then I just save all year by
one card from that set. I couldn't give that answer.
That almost seems like cheating.So what's this set where I like
(11:45):
a lot of the cards? I want a lot of the cards.
It fits what I'm doing and what I'm currently working on, but
there's enough there to be able to sustain me for a year.
And I think it's got to be the T2O6 set and, and I know that a
lot of people love the T2O6 set.A lot of people don't love the
(12:05):
T2O6 set. I just have so many memories of
a kid of seeing the Hannes Wagner going to cards, card
shows, big card shows in the BayArea and seeing in cases some of
those and not knowing most of the players, but still just
being like, those are incrediblelooking that I like having them
(12:27):
in my collection. And it's interesting because
I've kind of been changing my target a little bit.
So when I started, I said I wantto try to get one card from
every Hall of Famer not named Wagner or Plank.
And that's what I've been working on now for about 2 1/2
three years. Just about the time I started my
(12:48):
channel is about the time I started that project and, and I
have several now. I, I, I, I probably should have
looked, I, I'd say I have 30 of those cards, 35 of those cards.
And some of them I have double ups.
And recently I've been looking at them and I did a video a
couple of weeks ago on cards that I think are some of the
(13:10):
most beautiful cards. And I picked 2 cards from that
set in my top 10 most beautiful cards in my collection.
And both of them were portrait cards, which is interesting.
And I've been looking at those cards because I've had a couple
of a couple editions. On Friday of last week, I did an
(13:30):
episode where I showed my pickups from the month of
September and I had two new 2O6 cards that I added to the
collection. And neither of them were
portrait cards. And though I was excited to pick
them up, I was kind of like, these aren't portrait cards and
I don't know if I like him as much.
(13:52):
So recently over the last like 3or 4 days, I've been thinking
maybe instead of trying to pick up one card of every player from
the hall in the Hall of Fame from the T2O6 set not named
Wagner playing for obvious reasons, maybe I go after all of
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the portrait cards from the T2O6set not named Plank or Wagner.
Now that's not to say that I won't own some of the action
poses. I mean I love my hands at chest
Walter Johnson card, I'm not getting rid of that.
(14:35):
But instead of picking up all ofthe cards, I'm kind of now
thinking I want to pick up all of the portraits because those
are the ones that when I add a portrait to the collection, I
get especially excited. There's something special about
those at the National. I got the Ty Cobb red back
(14:59):
portrait, I got the Cy Young portrait, and I was like, so
jazzed to pick those up. So to answer your question,
Tony, I'm going to say T2O sixes.
I've been working on that project.
I still have a long ways to go, even if I kind of change it to
portraits. Let me know down below.
(15:21):
What do you guys think? Should I continue on with trying
to get all of them and, and again, that's like a lifelong
type goal, or should I, I kind of narrow the scope a little bit
and go over just the portraits, since those tend to be the ones
that I like the best. And then I could pick up a few
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others of of cards that maybe ifI, you know, like that
particular card, like the WalterJohnson or, you know, a Sam
Crawford or something like that.Let me know what you guys think
about that. But T2O6, I'd say cracker Jack,
Tony, but that's AI know you andyour cracker jacks.
(16:03):
I love them too. I just wouldn't be able to pick
up many cards this year And and I like picking cards up from
time to time. So I'm going T2O6 this next one
says Greg. I've been collecting cards for a
while now and most of them are ungraded.
What price point or value of thecard would you consider to set
(16:25):
if you were to want to start grading some?
Thanks. So my first question is, what's
the reason you want to start grading them?
Do you want to start grading them because you think it adds
value? Do you want to grade them
because you feel like it preserves and protects them?
Do you want to grade them because you think they look
better? Because depending on how you
(16:46):
answer that question would depend on how I would answer
that. I mean that those things matter
in how I would respond. One of the main reasons
personally that I am a fan of grading is I, I do think they
look good. I think they look good graded.
Some people don't. I think they look good graded.
(17:08):
I think they make them more of like a museum piece.
The way they're presented in, ina holder.
I just think it's got information on them.
They're they're kind of framed in, they look, they look
awesome. And so I like them graded partly
for that. Another reason I like them
graded is the ease of being ableto liquidate them because again,
(17:29):
every card will be sold. It will be sold or it will be
lost essentially. And so if they're graded, it is
easier to transact cards becauseof the information on the card
and because of the third party opinion.
Even if the third party opinion is not a particularly great
(17:50):
opinion, maybe you disagree withthe opinion of the grade, at
least it provides some more information about the card.
So it kind of depends. Now, generally speaking, I think
a price point is sort of like this.
If if the cost of grading adds at least that amount of money to
(18:15):
the value of the item, then it'sprobably worth grading.
So for example, if I have a cardthat as it sits ungraded is a
$40 card and I decide I want to send this to grading at PSA and
we'll say it's $25. I know the prices are moving
(18:36):
around and stuff, but let's justsay it's $25.00.
So I got this ungraded card, $40ungraded, it's $25 to get it
graded. OK, so now I would have a a $40
card plus $25 for a total of $65that would be spent on it.
(18:57):
If if the increase in value of getting it graded is more than
the $25, meaning the card is worth more than $65 now that
it's in in a holder, then I would say it's probably worth
grading. Because if you can create more
value from grading it than it costs to grade it, then you have
(19:22):
added value. You have a gain in value as a
result. And I know a lot of people are
like, oh, value, value. I understand that.
But again, at some point they'regoing to be sold and they may
not be sold to you. So you may not care about the
value, but you do probably care about the person who is going to
sell it. The person who is going to end
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up with the card, selling the card.
You probably care that they get top value for it and they get as
much as possible for it. When when I am gone, I hope that
my wife and my kids, if they decide to sell the house, get
the most money possible for the house.
And so in the meantime, I'm going to keep the yard looking
(20:04):
nice. I'm going to maintain the house.
I'll, you know, clean out the gutters and paint the house and
make sure that the roof is in good condition.
I'm going to do all those thingsto try to keep the value of the
house up even though I'm not planning on moving.
So if I'm not planning on moving, who really cares what
the house is worth? At some point it will matter.
(20:26):
So I guess my simple rule of thumb is if you can spend $20 to
make something worth $30 more, $40 more, $50 more, $60.00 more
than it seems like a pretty goodinvestment.
Sort of like there's certain things you could do to your
house that will make it increasein value more than it costs.
(20:53):
So maybe it costs $8000 to recarpet your house, but
recarpeting your house makes your house worth $20,000 more
valuable. Well then that seems like a no
brainer. You can spend 8 grand to add 20
grand in value. That would make sense.
(21:13):
So if you can do something to the card to add more value than
the cost to do it, then you're at a net positive.
Now we don't really know, and I know what you're thinking some
of you are saying, but we don't know how much value it's going
to add. It depends on how it's graded,
depends on the grade that it receives.
(21:33):
When I do that process, I tend to go very conservatively.
I go worst case scenario, this card is going to get a six.
If it gets a six, is it going tostill be a net positive by
spending the money for grading? And if it is, then it's worth
(21:55):
it. And then if it gets A7 or an 8,
you come out even further ahead,right?
So that's kind of my rule of thumb is the cost to grade.
If I'm going to gain at least ormore than that, the amount in
value is probably worth it. But again, if you like your
(22:15):
cards ungraded, if you prefer your cards ungraded, then you
can leave them ungraded. Of course, you don't have to
grade anything, but that's sort of my rationale for what I do.
But the other thing is, is maybeit doesn't increase it in value,
but it increases your joy of that card more than $15.00.
(22:38):
That's another reason to do it if you really like the way that
they look holdered, if it preserves them, if you think
that it adds a professional lookto the card and and it adds $15
or in this case I think I was saying SG or PSA was 25.
If it adds $25 in value to the card in your enjoyment, even if
(23:01):
the card doesn't go up in value $25.00, but you like it $25 more
than grade it. This next one says thanks for
answering my question Greg. I will give Card Ladder a try.
Here's a new question for you. The last two years I went down
the rabbit hole and picked up graded cards of all the Hall of
(23:24):
Farmers in the 1961 Fleer and 1969 Topps basketball sets and I
couldn't be happier with that endeavor.
Most of those cards were quite reasonably priced as well.
I know you are trying to put together all of the Hall of Fame
player cards from the T2O6 set. Have you found that hunt
(23:44):
rewarding, and do you find that it is frustratingly hard to find
the examples you want? Also, since it is a much more
expensive set to put together, will you be able to complete it
someday? If and when you do complete it,
what's next? Do you have any ideas of what
(24:05):
rabbit hole you might go into next?
Thanks. OK, I, I am.
We're all wired differently and and some of us owning the card,
having the card in our collection is our favorite part
of the hobby. For me, the thing that is the
(24:28):
fun part is is not necessarily owning it.
It is the the hunt for the rightitem, The fact that it's hard to
find T2O6 cards in the right price range that meets my I
(24:49):
appeal thresholds. That's the fun part.
I don't get discouraged by that at all.
There are certain cards I have been searching for for multiple
years, 234 years. I've been searching for certain
cards and, and I started this T2O6 project about 3 years ago.
(25:11):
And and that's the fun part, because then when you see one
and it's the right one and the price is right, the payoff is
fantastic. If something was easy, if it was
easy to have, I mean, think about these people who like do
an Iron Man and they've trained for months and ate their diet
(25:38):
right for months. And they biked and they swam and
they did everything and they rested and nutrition and weights
and all this stuff. They worked and worked and
worked and worked for so long. And then they crossed the finish
line. Man, that's got to feel good,
don't you think? It feels better crossing the
(26:01):
finish line of a marathon then it would be running 40 in your
front yard. I think that the payoff of of an
Iron Man or a marathon is just incredible.
(26:21):
It's got to be incredible when you're watching the Olympics and
there's this athlete up on the medal stand and they're crying.
There were years and years and years.
(26:42):
Lucy had a game on Friday night and Lucy's been playing soccer
since she was four. And Lucy has been a warrior.
I mean, practices 3 nights a week, 50 minutes away.
We would drive 50 minutes there,practice 50 minutes home for
(27:08):
year after year after year afteryear, all with the hope of being
a quality high school player with the big dream of maybe
having the opportunity to make acollege team.
(27:28):
Like, that's really the goal because the number of kids who
go on to play in the Olympics orplay professionally is like such
a small number. That's not even really a goal.
The goal is I want to make my high school team and I want to
be a good player on my high school team.
(27:49):
Well, Lucy got offensive player of the year her junior year and
her senior year she was a very productive high school player.
And a Friday night she had a game about 3 hours from where I
live and I took 1/2 day sub and I drove 3 hours to her game.
(28:09):
And Lucy's team is very good. They're 14 or 15 and O and they
were playing one of the best teams in their league.
And Lucy gets some minutes. She doesn't play the whole game
by any means. She probably plays about, oh, a
(28:30):
quarter to half of the games now.
Again, a very good team. So they're in this very tough
game on Friday. This is last Friday, and it's 00
and Lucy's on the field and she's in the right spot.
(28:54):
A teammate makes a cross. Lucy sees it kind of get through
some traffic, she sprints over. She hits a perfect shot up into
the top left corner of the goal to go up 1.
Nothing against the only team that beat her team last year and
(29:16):
the excitement on her face and how high she jumped into the air
with excitement and her team starts screaming and comes
flying over hugging her. It.
It was like the payoff for all of those long nights, all of
(29:40):
those long road trips. It was arguably the biggest goal
of her life and it was worth every second I spent on the road
for that game. And that's the thing about
cards, is when when you have these situations arise where
(30:07):
there's the card, it's finally there, the right one that you've
been waiting for and searching for, and you're able to acquire
it. It makes it so much more
special. If, if Lucy scored, you know,
100 goals this season, that goalin that game, it would have
(30:31):
meant something. If, if it was the first game
when she was five years old, it would have meant something.
But that goal was an accumulation of years of hard
work to put herself in that spotat that moment.
(30:53):
So I bet you're saying if you'restill, if you're still
listening, you're probably saying, oh man, I wish I could
see the goal. Well, guess what, you're in
luck. I don't.
(31:19):
I mean, if you looked at the very top of the screen, the top
right hand corner, there's one guy standing by himself who win.
The goal goes in jumps up in theair.
That was this guy super proud dad moment.
(31:39):
The hunt the search makes that pay off when it happens so
awesome. It it it makes it so much more
special. This next one from my guy at
Straight Race card says love thestory on the Clemens Greg.
(32:01):
Never get tired of hearing it. Question for next week.
Can you share any more stories where cards or the hobby have
had a profound impact on your life?
Whenever I record any episode and I'm looking into the camera,
my phone like this, I never knowwhat I'm going to say.
(32:26):
I don't have notes. I don't write things down, I
just talk. I'm just me and for some people
that's great and some people it's not.
So I don't really know where this answer is going to go.
So here we go. For me, this hobby, it's, it's
(32:54):
so much more than cards. I hear people say, I mean, come
on, it's just, it's just baseball cards.
It's just sports cards. That's all.
Like, what are we getting so worked up about?
Or, you know, why do people get all bent out of shape?
It's just cards. You know, my buddy Chris from
(33:17):
Missouri, who loves collecting, he says it's just a hobby,
collect what you like. I agree it's a hobby and I agree
you should collect what you like, but in my opinion it's not
just a hobby. This hobby is so much more than
(33:43):
accumulating pieces of cardboard.
This hobby is an escape from difficult times.
Since my channel started three years ago, I've had some tough
times. We got a phone call one
(34:04):
afternoon couple of years ago that Megan, my wife, her dad had
collapsed. The paramedics were there.
He was unresponsive. Without any warning, he was
gone. I went through that since this
channel started and one of the things who that helped me get
(34:28):
through that is this hobby is this channel are these carts.
It's not just a hobby, It's it'slike therapy.
My dog, my best little buddy, the the endorphin rush I would
(34:49):
get when I'd come home every dayand she would be excited to see
me. My good pal Mandy, I lost her
since this channel has started and you know, I know people have
different feelings about pets and the importance of pets.
My dog, Mandy, she did a lot forme.
(35:13):
She did a lot for my mental health and losing her was
brutal. And I still at times come home
and I'm like, and then I realizeshe's not here.
(35:34):
It's been almost two years. It's been over a year and a half
since I lost Mandy and this hobby helped get me through it.
I went through some tough times in life.
I've seen some people I care about go through some tough
times in life. You know, when my parents split
up as a kid, I don't find it coincidental that that's when I
(36:01):
really got into cards. I don't find it coincidental
that that's when my dad really got into cards.
Cards were a massive form of therapy, I believe, for both of
us during that brutal time. Another thing that happened
(36:21):
right before I started my channel is my dad's wife passed
away and my dad was he lost his wife.
That was a absolutely excruciating time.
(36:43):
And that's one of the ways that he got back into the hobby is I
saw what he was going through. He needed a distraction.
He needed a distraction from real life.
And I dragged him back into the hobby and now he's back.
(37:04):
I believe, I genuinely believe, that cards helped save my dad.
I don't think that is just a hobby.
I don't think that it's just cardboard with pictures of
(37:24):
athletes or non athletes on them.
This is more than that. This is a place that is safe,
where we can go and escape the realities of the world.
I've had some struggles with work over the last couple of
(37:47):
years I've had I Another time I was heavy in the hobby was back
around the year 2000 to 2002. I got kind of heavy into golf
cards and I was going through some difficult times at that
moment in my life, but cards helped get me through it.
(38:12):
So for me, it's not necessarily a moment or a card that leaves
an impression. This is not just a hobby to me.
This is so much more than that. So whether somebody watches this
(38:33):
channel, whether somebody finds me entertaining, it doesn't
matter. At the end of the day, it
doesn't matter because this hobby is helping me to be a
better person. It is helping to distract me
from negativity in this world, which there's a lot of right
(38:56):
now. I did get a card and I pulled a
card 'cause you asked for a specific card.
But when my dog Mandy passed away, a friend of mine named
David gave me a really special card, which is probably the
first and one of the very few cards of a dog and his owner.
(39:22):
And he sent me the card with a really nice note.
And it made me cry because of how much it meant to me and that
it was a way to honor and remember my relationship with
Mandy. I know that we all are in this
(39:45):
hobby for different reasons. And and people talk about values
and people talk about investing and people talk about grading
and people talk about added value like I was a few minutes
ago. And people talk about modern,
they talk about vintage. Everybody has a different set of
(40:07):
reasons why they're here. I can just tell you that I don't
think it's a coincidence that insome of the most difficult times
of my life, I have been most involved in this hobby.
I don't think it's a coincidencethat in two of, if not the two
(40:34):
of the toughest, the two toughest points of my dad's
life, he was most involved in the hobby.
This is not just a hobby. This community, this hunt for
cards, this distraction from therealities and the horrors and
(40:59):
the negativity that at times arise in life, at times can
genuinely be lifesaving.
What's going on, everybody? When I started my channel over
three years ago, crazy. That is crazy.
But when I started my channel over three years ago, the number
one thing I wanted was dialogue.I loved watching YouTube videos.
I loved watching other channels.I love people going to card
(00:32):
shows and people going to show off their collection and and
teach about different cards. I loved all of that and the
thing that I wanted to do was I wanted to hear from other
people. I wanted to connect to them,
hear their thoughts, hear their opinions because as we know
there isn't a right or a wrong way to do the hobby.
(00:53):
But I am always curious on how people are wired, why people
have the opinions that they have, how they change their
opinions, what their thoughts are on different events that are
happening with the hobby. I've always been a sports talk
radio person for my whole life. As a kid, I listened to sports
talk radio and it was because I loved hearing people share
(01:16):
ideas, having callers call in and share their takes and then
and then seeing where the discussion went.
And that's the foundation of whyI even started a channel and the
Q&A's that we do on Wednesdays, it's not really Q&A's, it's you
bring up a topic. I share my thoughts on the
topic. Doesn't mean it's an answer,
(01:38):
just means it's an opinion. But when I do these, this is
what it's all about. It's what do you guys want to
talk about? What are you guys curious about?
And I share my thoughts. And then I encourage you down
below in the comments to share your thoughts.
And the reason is because I am not the disseminator of
information for all card collectors.
(02:01):
I am simply a person who is interested in what people think.
I have strong opinions. Many of you have strong
opinions. Many of you are trying to form
strong opinions. My opinions are always changing.
So my question to you is, what do you guys want to hear about?
(02:23):
Well, every week you all share your questions with me down
below in the comments. If you have a question for an
upcoming episode, I hope you share it down below.
So with that said, without further ado, let's go ahead and
get to the first question right here.
This first one says howdy good Sir, what hypothetical cart
(02:46):
hobby channel would you want to watch that doesn't exist?
I would love one where people just do before and afters of
cracking slabs for crossover andregrading.
Another one would be a channel about vintage foreign non sport
cards, another would be about iconic cards and a dedicated
show on each specific card. And another all about one of
(03:10):
ones would be pretty cool too. OK, this is a super interesting
question. I mean, I was just talking a
second ago about one of the reasons I started my channel is
'cause I was interested in a back and forth in a place to
share dialogue and a place to share opinions and a place to
talk about what topics they wanted and, and share their
(03:32):
thoughts on different topics. That was that was really the
reason I started this channel isbecause there were a lot of
great channels out there, but I didn't feel like there was a ton
of that. So without doing only live
streams, which I like doing livestreams, but those are difficult
to do and schedule. But one of the things that one
(03:54):
way we can do that back and forth without it being a live
stream is things like this Q&A and things like my Monday
episodes were ask you questions and then you share your thoughts
and then we talk about it. And, and there are a couple of
things that aren't being done inthe community that I think would
be great. I'll share a couple of them.
(04:18):
I like learning. I like learning not so much
about the what, but I like finding out about the why.
Why do people like what they like?
Why do people buy what they buy?What is the strategy behind what
people are doing? And there are some episodes that
do that, but I've always been a documentary person.
(04:41):
I love documentaries. And so I think something that
would be really interesting is like a documentary from a
dealer's perspective. Now there are dealer videos,
there are dealer channels where they set up a shows and they set
up a camera. But I would be curious to see
the before what cards are they buying for the upcoming show?
(05:05):
How are they buying them? What are they buying?
What are they thinking is going to sell?
What are they thinking they're going to have trouble selling
when they set up their dealer booth?
Why are they setting it up the way they're setting it up?
Why are they putting the cards the way they're putting them?
And then see the people show up and see what sells, see what
(05:26):
doesn't sell, see the negotiations.
Again, there are some great channels that do a lot of the
negotiations, but I want to see leading up to it too.
I also am curious about the post.
So the dealer who what's he buying up for the show that's
coming up, then setting up his booth.
(05:46):
Why is he setting it up? How he's setting it up?
Then see the negotiations. Then after the show, see kind of
how it went. What did they think?
Were they surprised about what happened?
What were the sales they were excited about?
What were the the sales or the the purchases that they were
excited about? I think that would be
interesting and sort of a documentary style.
I think some sort of documentaryabout collectors on their way to
(06:11):
a show. So a lot of the times we'll see
people, you know, do videos where they walk around and they
show the cases and I do some of those too, and those are cool.
But what about before the show talking about what are they
looking for, preparing for the show, Actually going into the
show, seeing the negotiations and the back and forth of them
(06:36):
making the purchase, then their thoughts after the negotiations,
and then getting home and addingthe cards to their collection
again, sort of a documentary style.
When I was a kid, I liked watching Mr. Rogers, and one of
the things that Mister Rogers would have frequently is he
would go to like different factories.
Like he'd go to a pencil factoryand it would take you to the
(06:58):
beginning and it would show you the process of how they make
pencils, how they get the lead in between the wood and how they
cut the wood and how they add the erasers.
And the whole process would be shown in like a Mr. Rogers type
(07:19):
episode. And that process I think would
be really interesting. Show me, what if Tops had a
channel where they showed us thefull process from ideas of the
cards that they're thinking about trying out the design.
What does that look like? The actual production of the
(07:41):
cards? How are they inserted into
packs? How is it done randomly?
How do they make sure they get one auto per box or two or
whatever? How does it then get
distributed? I would love to see the process
from inception sitting around a table of what they're thinking
about using for different cards,new inserts or something all the
(08:04):
way to the end of delivering thecases to a hobby shop.
I think that would be interesting.
So I would say more of a, a learning of how those things
happen and from the dealer perspective, from the buyer
perspective, from the productionperspective, I'd love to see the
(08:29):
process of a card from PSAI meanPSA has a channel.
I'd love it if PSA just chose a,a box that showed up and they
show us opening the box. Then what happens then where's
it go? Then it gets identified.
The research process, how's thatwork?
What's that look like? Take us into the grading room.
(08:51):
What's that look like? What does it look like when they
encapsulate the cards and add the flip?
And how is what's automated? I want to see the process of how
things work. We all, I mean most of us have
sent in cards for grading, but we don't really know how it
works. Why don't we see from the time
(09:11):
the package arrives, literally the delivery come in from the
post office to the the card or the cards are packed back up
into a box and then sent back out?
I think that would be really interesting.
I think that would get a ton of views.
Now, I'm sure that there are certain things that they don't
(09:33):
want to show and that's a whole different, you know, that's a
whole different topic, but I want to see how things work.
I want to learn the process of of what's happening in the
industry, from production to buying to selling to all of it.
(09:54):
Documentary style behind the scenes.
I think that'd be interesting. My good friend Tony, Southern
Collector 14, says the story of your Clemens purchase back in
the day is awesome. My question for a future episode
is the following. If you could only collect cards
from one set for the next two years, what set would it be?
(10:18):
This means picking one year of acertain set.
Tony bringing a good question. You know, this is one of the
things that I always find interesting is there are so many
options in this hobby. There are so many directions we
can go. There are so many targets, so
(10:39):
many players, years, sets, eras,types of cards.
There's so much. At times it's overwhelming.
If you walk into the National and you're open to buying
anything, that could actually beoverwhelming, that could be too
much. So by actually having a filter
of I'm looking for this sort of thing, it allows you to actually
(11:00):
make your way through the whole room because there is so much
there. So when I think about this
question, I think about what is a set that has a lot of cards
that I'd like to have that I don't already have.
Well, there are a lot of those. But then I also have to think
about what are sets that are at a price point that I could
(11:23):
afford to purchase more than oneor two, Unless I'm OK only
making one or two purchases 'cause I guess I could say
something like the 33 Gaudi set and then I just save all year by
one card from that set. I couldn't give that answer.
That almost seems like cheating.So what's this set where I like
(11:45):
a lot of the cards? I want a lot of the cards.
It fits what I'm doing and what I'm currently working on, but
there's enough there to be able to sustain me for a year.
And I think it's got to be the T2O6 set and, and I know that a
lot of people love the T2O6 set.A lot of people don't love the
(12:05):
T2O6 set. I just have so many memories of
a kid of seeing the Hannes Wagner going to cards, card
shows, big card shows in the BayArea and seeing in cases some of
those and not knowing most of the players, but still just
being like, those are incrediblelooking that I like having them
(12:27):
in my collection. And it's interesting because
I've kind of been changing my target a little bit.
So when I started, I said I wantto try to get one card from
every Hall of Famer not named Wagner or Plank.
And that's what I've been working on now for about 2 1/2
three years. Just about the time I started my
(12:48):
channel is about the time I started that project and, and I
have several now. I, I, I, I probably should have
looked, I, I'd say I have 30 of those cards, 35 of those cards.
And some of them I have double ups.
And recently I've been looking at them and I did a video a
couple of weeks ago on cards that I think are some of the
(13:10):
most beautiful cards. And I picked 2 cards from that
set in my top 10 most beautiful cards in my collection.
And both of them were portrait cards, which is interesting.
And I've been looking at those cards because I've had a couple
of a couple editions. On Friday of last week, I did an
(13:30):
episode where I showed my pickups from the month of
September and I had two new 2O6 cards that I added to the
collection. And neither of them were
portrait cards. And though I was excited to pick
them up, I was kind of like, these aren't portrait cards and
I don't know if I like him as much.
(13:52):
So recently over the last like 3or 4 days, I've been thinking
maybe instead of trying to pick up one card of every player from
the hall in the Hall of Fame from the T2O6 set not named
Wagner playing for obvious reasons, maybe I go after all of
(14:13):
the portrait cards from the T2O6set not named Plank or Wagner.
Now that's not to say that I won't own some of the action
poses. I mean I love my hands at chest
Walter Johnson card, I'm not getting rid of that.
(14:35):
But instead of picking up all ofthe cards, I'm kind of now
thinking I want to pick up all of the portraits because those
are the ones that when I add a portrait to the collection, I
get especially excited. There's something special about
those at the National. I got the Ty Cobb red back
(14:59):
portrait, I got the Cy Young portrait, and I was like, so
jazzed to pick those up. So to answer your question,
Tony, I'm going to say T2O sixes.
I've been working on that project.
I still have a long ways to go, even if I kind of change it to
portraits. Let me know down below.
(15:21):
What do you guys think? Should I continue on with trying
to get all of them and, and again, that's like a lifelong
type goal, or should I, I kind of narrow the scope a little bit
and go over just the portraits, since those tend to be the ones
that I like the best. And then I could pick up a few
(15:41):
others of of cards that maybe ifI, you know, like that
particular card, like the WalterJohnson or, you know, a Sam
Crawford or something like that.Let me know what you guys think
about that. But T2O6, I'd say cracker Jack,
Tony, but that's AI know you andyour cracker jacks.
(16:03):
I love them too. I just wouldn't be able to pick
up many cards this year And and I like picking cards up from
time to time. So I'm going T2O6 this next one
says Greg. I've been collecting cards for a
while now and most of them are ungraded.
What price point or value of thecard would you consider to set
(16:25):
if you were to want to start grading some?
Thanks. So my first question is, what's
the reason you want to start grading them?
Do you want to start grading them because you think it adds
value? Do you want to grade them
because you feel like it preserves and protects them?
Do you want to grade them because you think they look
better? Because depending on how you
(16:46):
answer that question would depend on how I would answer
that. I mean that those things matter
in how I would respond. One of the main reasons
personally that I am a fan of grading is I, I do think they
look good. I think they look good graded.
Some people don't. I think they look good graded.
(17:08):
I think they make them more of like a museum piece.
The way they're presented in, ina holder.
I just think it's got information on them.
They're they're kind of framed in, they look, they look
awesome. And so I like them graded partly
for that. Another reason I like them
graded is the ease of being ableto liquidate them because again,
(17:29):
every card will be sold. It will be sold or it will be
lost essentially. And so if they're graded, it is
easier to transact cards becauseof the information on the card
and because of the third party opinion.
Even if the third party opinion is not a particularly great
(17:50):
opinion, maybe you disagree withthe opinion of the grade, at
least it provides some more information about the card.
So it kind of depends. Now, generally speaking, I think
a price point is sort of like this.
If if the cost of grading adds at least that amount of money to
(18:15):
the value of the item, then it'sprobably worth grading.
So for example, if I have a cardthat as it sits ungraded is a
$40 card and I decide I want to send this to grading at PSA and
we'll say it's $25. I know the prices are moving
(18:36):
around and stuff, but let's justsay it's $25.00.
So I got this ungraded card, $40ungraded, it's $25 to get it
graded. OK, so now I would have a a $40
card plus $25 for a total of $65that would be spent on it.
(18:57):
If if the increase in value of getting it graded is more than
the $25, meaning the card is worth more than $65 now that
it's in in a holder, then I would say it's probably worth
grading. Because if you can create more
value from grading it than it costs to grade it, then you have
(19:22):
added value. You have a gain in value as a
result. And I know a lot of people are
like, oh, value, value. I understand that.
But again, at some point they'regoing to be sold and they may
not be sold to you. So you may not care about the
value, but you do probably care about the person who is going to
sell it. The person who is going to end
(19:43):
up with the card, selling the card.
You probably care that they get top value for it and they get as
much as possible for it. When when I am gone, I hope that
my wife and my kids, if they decide to sell the house, get
the most money possible for the house.
And so in the meantime, I'm going to keep the yard looking
(20:04):
nice. I'm going to maintain the house.
I'll, you know, clean out the gutters and paint the house and
make sure that the roof is in good condition.
I'm going to do all those thingsto try to keep the value of the
house up even though I'm not planning on moving.
So if I'm not planning on moving, who really cares what
the house is worth? At some point it will matter.
(20:26):
So I guess my simple rule of thumb is if you can spend $20 to
make something worth $30 more, $40 more, $50 more, $60.00 more
than it seems like a pretty goodinvestment.
Sort of like there's certain things you could do to your
house that will make it increasein value more than it costs.
(20:53):
So maybe it costs $8000 to recarpet your house, but
recarpeting your house makes your house worth $20,000 more
valuable. Well then that seems like a no
brainer. You can spend 8 grand to add 20
grand in value. That would make sense.
(21:13):
So if you can do something to the card to add more value than
the cost to do it, then you're at a net positive.
Now we don't really know, and I know what you're thinking some
of you are saying, but we don't know how much value it's going
to add. It depends on how it's graded,
depends on the grade that it receives.
(21:33):
When I do that process, I tend to go very conservatively.
I go worst case scenario, this card is going to get a six.
If it gets a six, is it going tostill be a net positive by
spending the money for grading? And if it is, then it's worth
(21:55):
it. And then if it gets A7 or an 8,
you come out even further ahead,right?
So that's kind of my rule of thumb is the cost to grade.
If I'm going to gain at least ormore than that, the amount in
value is probably worth it. But again, if you like your
(22:15):
cards ungraded, if you prefer your cards ungraded, then you
can leave them ungraded. Of course, you don't have to
grade anything, but that's sort of my rationale for what I do.
But the other thing is, is maybeit doesn't increase it in value,
but it increases your joy of that card more than $15.00.
(22:38):
That's another reason to do it if you really like the way that
they look holdered, if it preserves them, if you think
that it adds a professional lookto the card and and it adds $15
or in this case I think I was saying SG or PSA was 25.
If it adds $25 in value to the card in your enjoyment, even if
(23:01):
the card doesn't go up in value $25.00, but you like it $25 more
than grade it. This next one says thanks for
answering my question Greg. I will give Card Ladder a try.
Here's a new question for you. The last two years I went down
the rabbit hole and picked up graded cards of all the Hall of
(23:24):
Farmers in the 1961 Fleer and 1969 Topps basketball sets and I
couldn't be happier with that endeavor.
Most of those cards were quite reasonably priced as well.
I know you are trying to put together all of the Hall of Fame
player cards from the T2O6 set. Have you found that hunt
(23:44):
rewarding, and do you find that it is frustratingly hard to find
the examples you want? Also, since it is a much more
expensive set to put together, will you be able to complete it
someday? If and when you do complete it,
what's next? Do you have any ideas of what
(24:05):
rabbit hole you might go into next?
Thanks. OK, I, I am.
We're all wired differently and and some of us owning the card,
having the card in our collection is our favorite part
of the hobby. For me, the thing that is the
(24:28):
fun part is is not necessarily owning it.
It is the the hunt for the rightitem, The fact that it's hard to
find T2O6 cards in the right price range that meets my I
(24:49):
appeal thresholds. That's the fun part.
I don't get discouraged by that at all.
There are certain cards I have been searching for for multiple
years, 234 years. I've been searching for certain
cards and, and I started this T2O6 project about 3 years ago.
(25:11):
And and that's the fun part, because then when you see one
and it's the right one and the price is right, the payoff is
fantastic. If something was easy, if it was
easy to have, I mean, think about these people who like do
an Iron Man and they've trained for months and ate their diet
(25:38):
right for months. And they biked and they swam and
they did everything and they rested and nutrition and weights
and all this stuff. They worked and worked and
worked and worked for so long. And then they crossed the finish
line. Man, that's got to feel good,
don't you think? It feels better crossing the
(26:01):
finish line of a marathon then it would be running 40 in your
front yard. I think that the payoff of of an
Iron Man or a marathon is just incredible.
(26:21):
It's got to be incredible when you're watching the Olympics and
there's this athlete up on the medal stand and they're crying.
There were years and years and years.
(26:42):
Lucy had a game on Friday night and Lucy's been playing soccer
since she was four. And Lucy has been a warrior.
I mean, practices 3 nights a week, 50 minutes away.
We would drive 50 minutes there,practice 50 minutes home for
(27:08):
year after year after year afteryear, all with the hope of being
a quality high school player with the big dream of maybe
having the opportunity to make acollege team.
(27:28):
Like, that's really the goal because the number of kids who
go on to play in the Olympics orplay professionally is like such
a small number. That's not even really a goal.
The goal is I want to make my high school team and I want to
be a good player on my high school team.
(27:49):
Well, Lucy got offensive player of the year her junior year and
her senior year she was a very productive high school player.
And a Friday night she had a game about 3 hours from where I
live and I took 1/2 day sub and I drove 3 hours to her game.
(28:09):
And Lucy's team is very good. They're 14 or 15 and O and they
were playing one of the best teams in their league.
And Lucy gets some minutes. She doesn't play the whole game
by any means. She probably plays about, oh, a
(28:30):
quarter to half of the games now.
Again, a very good team. So they're in this very tough
game on Friday. This is last Friday, and it's 00
and Lucy's on the field and she's in the right spot.
(28:54):
A teammate makes a cross. Lucy sees it kind of get through
some traffic, she sprints over. She hits a perfect shot up into
the top left corner of the goal to go up 1.
Nothing against the only team that beat her team last year and
(29:16):
the excitement on her face and how high she jumped into the air
with excitement and her team starts screaming and comes
flying over hugging her. It.
It was like the payoff for all of those long nights, all of
(29:40):
those long road trips. It was arguably the biggest goal
of her life and it was worth every second I spent on the road
for that game. And that's the thing about
cards, is when when you have these situations arise where
(30:07):
there's the card, it's finally there, the right one that you've
been waiting for and searching for, and you're able to acquire
it. It makes it so much more
special. If, if Lucy scored, you know,
100 goals this season, that goalin that game, it would have
(30:31):
meant something. If, if it was the first game
when she was five years old, it would have meant something.
But that goal was an accumulation of years of hard
work to put herself in that spotat that moment.
(30:53):
So I bet you're saying if you'restill, if you're still
listening, you're probably saying, oh man, I wish I could
see the goal. Well, guess what, you're in
luck. I don't.
(31:19):
I mean, if you looked at the very top of the screen, the top
right hand corner, there's one guy standing by himself who win.
The goal goes in jumps up in theair.
That was this guy super proud dad moment.
(31:39):
The hunt the search makes that pay off when it happens so
awesome. It it it makes it so much more
special. This next one from my guy at
Straight Race card says love thestory on the Clemens Greg.
(32:01):
Never get tired of hearing it. Question for next week.
Can you share any more stories where cards or the hobby have
had a profound impact on your life?
Whenever I record any episode and I'm looking into the camera,
my phone like this, I never knowwhat I'm going to say.
(32:26):
I don't have notes. I don't write things down, I
just talk. I'm just me and for some people
that's great and some people it's not.
So I don't really know where this answer is going to go.
So here we go. For me, this hobby, it's, it's
(32:54):
so much more than cards. I hear people say, I mean, come
on, it's just, it's just baseball cards.
It's just sports cards. That's all.
Like, what are we getting so worked up about?
Or, you know, why do people get all bent out of shape?
It's just cards. You know, my buddy Chris from
(33:17):
Missouri, who loves collecting, he says it's just a hobby,
collect what you like. I agree it's a hobby and I agree
you should collect what you like, but in my opinion it's not
just a hobby. This hobby is so much more than
(33:43):
accumulating pieces of cardboard.
This hobby is an escape from difficult times.
Since my channel started three years ago, I've had some tough
times. We got a phone call one
(34:04):
afternoon couple of years ago that Megan, my wife, her dad had
collapsed. The paramedics were there.
He was unresponsive. Without any warning, he was
gone. I went through that since this
channel started and one of the things who that helped me get
(34:28):
through that is this hobby is this channel are these carts.
It's not just a hobby, It's it'slike therapy.
My dog, my best little buddy, the the endorphin rush I would
(34:49):
get when I'd come home every dayand she would be excited to see
me. My good pal Mandy, I lost her
since this channel has started and you know, I know people have
different feelings about pets and the importance of pets.
My dog, Mandy, she did a lot forme.
(35:13):
She did a lot for my mental health and losing her was
brutal. And I still at times come home
and I'm like, and then I realizeshe's not here.
(35:34):
It's been almost two years. It's been over a year and a half
since I lost Mandy and this hobby helped get me through it.
I went through some tough times in life.
I've seen some people I care about go through some tough
times in life. You know, when my parents split
up as a kid, I don't find it coincidental that that's when I
(36:01):
really got into cards. I don't find it coincidental
that that's when my dad really got into cards.
Cards were a massive form of therapy, I believe, for both of
us during that brutal time. Another thing that happened
(36:21):
right before I started my channel is my dad's wife passed
away and my dad was he lost his wife.
That was a absolutely excruciating time.
(36:43):
And that's one of the ways that he got back into the hobby is I
saw what he was going through. He needed a distraction.
He needed a distraction from real life.
And I dragged him back into the hobby and now he's back.
(37:04):
I believe, I genuinely believe, that cards helped save my dad.
I don't think that is just a hobby.
I don't think that it's just cardboard with pictures of
(37:24):
athletes or non athletes on them.
This is more than that. This is a place that is safe,
where we can go and escape the realities of the world.
I've had some struggles with work over the last couple of
(37:47):
years I've had I Another time I was heavy in the hobby was back
around the year 2000 to 2002. I got kind of heavy into golf
cards and I was going through some difficult times at that
moment in my life, but cards helped get me through it.
(38:12):
So for me, it's not necessarily a moment or a card that leaves
an impression. This is not just a hobby to me.
This is so much more than that. So whether somebody watches this
(38:33):
channel, whether somebody finds me entertaining, it doesn't
matter. At the end of the day, it
doesn't matter because this hobby is helping me to be a
better person. It is helping to distract me
from negativity in this world, which there's a lot of right
(38:56):
now. I did get a card and I pulled a
card 'cause you asked for a specific card.
But when my dog Mandy passed away, a friend of mine named
David gave me a really special card, which is probably the
first and one of the very few cards of a dog and his owner.
(39:22):
And he sent me the card with a really nice note.
And it made me cry because of how much it meant to me and that
it was a way to honor and remember my relationship with
Mandy. I know that we all are in this
(39:45):
hobby for different reasons. And and people talk about values
and people talk about investing and people talk about grading
and people talk about added value like I was a few minutes
ago. And people talk about modern,
they talk about vintage. Everybody has a different set of
(40:07):
reasons why they're here. I can just tell you that I don't
think it's a coincidence that insome of the most difficult times
of my life, I have been most involved in this hobby.
I don't think it's a coincidencethat in two of, if not the two
(40:34):
of the toughest, the two toughest points of my dad's
life, he was most involved in the hobby.
This is not just a hobby. This community, this hunt for
cards, this distraction from therealities and the horrors and
(40:59):
the negativity that at times arise in life, at times can
genuinely be lifesaving.
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