September 27, 2025 • 45 mins
Card collecting is a journey that often times has many twists and turns along the way. Sometimes we hold cards for years while others may only stay in our collection for a short period of time. In this episode, Graig talks with Tony of @southerncollector14 about the evolution of card collecting and how we often start with modern cards but eventually work our way back to vintage cards of all time greats.Mike of @junkwaxhero & Graig of @MidLifeCards have partnered with Adam of @SplendidSports to create a new podcast network called @SportsCardClubhouse . This weekly podcast will cover a wide range of topics, but will primarily revolve around the sports card industry.This podcast is also available on traditional podcast platforms.#sportscards #vintagecards #vintagesportscards
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
In our massive country, there are card collectors throughout
the land participating in the hobby.
There's Mike of Junk Wax Hero and Greg of Midlife Cards.
And while distance may separate them, here is where they come
together to talk cards. All right, here I am.
(00:21):
I'm here with Tony Lebrik, though, not Mike.
Junk Wax Hero. Mike, Mike wasn't feeling well.
And so he said, hey, do you wantto postpone a couple of days?
And I go, Nah, dude, I'll just replace you.
That's no big deal. So.
It's hard to replace Mike, man. So a quick call over to my boy
Tony, and here we are. So thank you for coming in out
(00:44):
of the bullpen on short notice. You're the man.
Hey man, I anytime dude. I just love talking about cards.
I love spending time with you, so it's a win win.
Hey, likewise. SO basically if, if people
aren't familiar with you becausewe're on different platforms and
stuff than we normally are, but tell people where they can find
(01:07):
you if if they're not familiar with you, Tony.
Yeah, so on YouTube, Southern Collector 14, it will take you
right to my channel. And then on Instagram, Southern
Collector 14 made it really easy.
It's the same on both. So yeah, I've been on Instagram
for a couple of years and built a community there and then
(01:28):
branched out to YouTube. Thanks to you, you know, help me
out, get me started and give me all the pointers and and coming
up on my one year anniversary onthat.
So yeah, it's been a lot of fun.So Tony's got a great channel.
If you aren't following Tony at Southern Collector 14 you are
missing out for sure. Does lots of research for his
(01:50):
videos. Has an amazing collection,
really likable guy, has great guests on, so highly recommend
him. We are going to talk about
something when when I found out on short notice that, you know,
Mike wasn't going to be on and II gave you a buzz and you said,
yeah, I'm in. The first topic that came to my
(02:11):
mind when I thought about you and I thought would be really
fun to talk about is how a lot of the times a lot of us in
collecting cards, we will we will kind of just pivot from
where we're going and what we'redoing and then kind of on a
dime, we'll just start heading in a different direction.
And I think there are a lot of us that do that.
(02:33):
A lot of us, you know, we were doing one thing and then all of
a sudden we're doing a differentthing.
You know, you're collecting basketball cards and all of a
sudden you go into a baseball, you go from, you know, golden
era and all of a sudden you're you're suddenly really
interested in in pre war cards. And when when you first got back
(02:53):
into the hobby, you were doing alot of player runs and you were
doing Hank Aaron player runs, you're doing Mickey Mantle
player runs and and now you're doing something completely
different. So tell us about from your
perspective, why did you change?Why did you pivot from what you
were doing into what you're doing now?
(03:13):
Just take me through that process on what kind of spurred
that, because I think a lot of people at times start to think
of themselves as well. I'm the, I'm the, you know, the
Hank Aaron guy. And now I can't, I can't start
collecting something else because Hank Aaron is sort of
what I do. So how did, how did you, how did
you come to that point? Well, yeah, so when I got back
(03:36):
in, it was, what do I do? Like, I didn't know I knew what
I knew. And what I knew was golden era
baseball cards, 'cause even in my teenage years, in my early,
like elementary, middle school school years when I was
collecting, I knew those cards like the back of my hand.
(03:58):
Those were in the Beckett's. Every now and then I'd see a
really cool one at the flea market or at my local card shop.
It really wasn't that local was downtown Nashville.
And my Mama would take me every now and then and me and my
brother and we'd look at the cards under the glass and, and I
remember wanting a, a Willie Mccovey rookie card so bad.
(04:20):
Like that was just so cool to me.
And of course you always dreamt of having a Mickey Mantle card
or something like that. So that was what I knew.
I knew some of the pre war, I knew the T2O6 set, I knew the
Gowdy's, I knew all that stuff. And so you know one of those I
remember I still have like when I first got back in, I don't
(04:42):
think I've ever told you this. I was collecting the golden era
stuff. But man I was seeing some of
this T2O6 stuff when I found eBay and I order cause at this
point I wasn't spending money man I've never dreamt I'd spend
the kind of money I've been spending.
(05:03):
This is stupid. But anyways it was just I was
dipping a toe in and I ordered 2T2O6 cards and some dudes I've
never heard of because it was really cheap and I thought the
card looked really cool. It was an action shot, this dude
diving for a ball. And it was kind of weird
looking. And I remember getting that card
(05:24):
and it's showing my wife and going, this card right here is
115 years old. Can you believe that?
And she was like, wow. And I think I paid, I don't
know, 60 bucks for it or something, you know?
Yeah. And so I, I was already kind of
dipping a toe in. And then I, I started watching
(05:47):
YouTube and that's what changed things because I started being
inspired by people. And you know, seeing Orlando go
through the catalog and show allthese different pre war sets.
And then Dave Blue Jacket 66, you know, seeing him show all
the stuff he was showing and man, it was interesting and it
(06:09):
was sexy and it, man, I've neverseen that stuff before.
And all of a sudden that was piquing my interest cause while
I still love the Golden Air stuff, that was new and it was
exciting. So I started going down that
route. And then there was one thing
that really kind of changed me alittle bit.
(06:29):
I'd all, when I was a kid, when I'd go to the library, we had
the book fair. I'd always check out baseball
books, you know, and I'd buy, buy a little baseball book.
And I remember reading about Hank Aaron and Willie Mays and
Ted Williams and those guys in Babe Ruth.
And I was always into baseball history.
I wanted a Cracker Jack card, but again, I wouldn't spending
(06:52):
big money. And I was able to get a Chief
Bender Cracker Jack card. I didn't know who Chief Bender
was, but I thought it was cool. He had the pill box had on had
the stripes around it. And I didn't know why he was
even named chief. And I, and I read the back of
that card, the biography thing and it talked about how he grew
(07:13):
up in a, on an Indian Reservation and, and it, I was
thinking, Dang man, that's awesome.
So I ordered a book on Chief Bender.
So there I go. Now I'm getting back into that
history side. And once I started reading
books, now I'm reading about different people in these books
I didn't know about and I'm it'sstarting to piquing my interest
(07:34):
on different players. Then she was Joe Jackson
happened and I start reading about him and man alive, dude, I
knew the name and I knew, you know, 8 men out and I knew Field
of Dreams and all that stuff. But when I started really
reading about his story, it really hit home for me as a
(07:56):
Southerner about how this guy didn't know, you know, he didn't
know how to read and write. He just loved to play baseball.
He ends up going to the Northeast.
He's kind of a weirdo because hehas a Southern accent and he
doesn't know how to get around atown and he can't read a menu.
And that piqued my interest. So now I'm, I'm like, man, I got
(08:16):
to get me some shoes. So Jackson cards.
So I go down that route. In the meantime, what's always
kind of lingering there as I'm seeing more and more cards and
I'm getting into auction houses.Autographed cards have always
been a thing for me, man, alwaysbeen a thing for me.
And you know the story, I've told it.
(08:38):
I had Nauseam about me getting Mickey Mantle's autograph on my
59 Mantle Tops card when I was 14 years old, standing in front
of him. And also earlier than that, in
1980, the Braves came through town on the Braves Caravan and
they all sat in my local mall behind tables.
And it was Jerry Royster and it was Phil Necro, and it was Dale
(09:00):
Murphy and it was Glenn Hubbard and all these dudes that I had.
I mean, these are major leaguers.
And I took my little cards with me and they signed the cards.
I got a 69 Tops Phil Negro sign that day.
He touched that card. He looked me now and handed it
back. And I'm sure he was thinking how
this kid get a 69 Tops. I was 10.
(09:21):
I didn't know how I got the card, don't remember, but I
still have that card. So I've seen all this stuff and
I'm like, man, dude, that's cool.
And so I don't remember what thefirst one I bought that was.
I don't remember which card thatwas.
I wish I did. I don't have that kind of
memory. But when I got those cards in,
(09:44):
that affected me more than just having an unsigned card.
It brought back the memories of meeting Mantle.
It brought back the memories of meeting Dale Murphy and Phil
Negro and, and, and then the Nashville Sounds would have
exhibitions. Sometimes they bring in Major
League teams. And I remember the Indians came
and I got Corey Snyder's autograph and some dudes, they
(10:06):
were just, you know, hanging over the dugout asked for the
autograph when I was like 14 years old.
And, and so and getting Dave Winfield's autograph when I was
in 7th grade at a Sounds game and the Yankees were playing the
Sounds and he autographed my program and taking that to
school the next day and showing all my buds.
So having an autograph card in my hand that Jackie Robinson
(10:30):
touched or Mickey Mantle touchedor Yogi Berra touched, even if I
didn't see him autograph it and I wasn't there.
You know, it says PSADNA on thatslab.
It has their DNA on it. It really does.
It touched that man. And to me, that is more of an
(10:52):
emotional attachment to a, you know, a object that I would ever
have by just getting a, a 1959 pink Bob Gibson card that
doesn't have a signature on it. So it was an emotional thing to
me. And it, you know, I just think
it's cool as crap, man. So it's, it's grabbed me and,
(11:14):
you know, I've, I've gone down other routes, the Negro League
route trying to pick those guys up.
You know, I, I started reading some of those books.
I read the book about the, the, the 1948 Indians and read all
about Larry Doby and man, dude, that blew my mind.
Like, why did I not know his story like that?
(11:37):
Felt guilty for not knowing thatman's story and it he did
everything Jackie Robinson did. So now I went on a Larry Dobie
run and then I start reading about Monte Irving, did Monte
Irving. And now I'm starting to read
about the Negro League era and then I get a Josh Gibson and
then I'm reading about Josh Gibson.
Now I'm learning about, you know, Buck Leonard and I'm
(11:59):
learning about Cool Papa Bell and Satchel Paige.
And so it the history kind of intertwines with my collecting
journey in it, and it spurs on stuff.
It all started with Chief Bender.
It's his fault. It sounds to me like the the
method behind the the growth is exposure.
(12:23):
It sounds to me like what you'resaying is before when I would
look at a book at the book fair,get a Beckett and there was a
Babe Ruth cart on it. You became aware of those cards
and and that was now in your awareness and some of the
players and some of the the setsand some of the stories you just
(12:45):
previously weren't aware of. But then you watch Orlando and
you watch Dave and, and they kind of they kind of they're the
tentacles kind of outreach a little bit further.
And then you read a book and then, well, there's this guy in
there and this guy in there too.So let's find out about them.
And, and it's almost like this domino effective.
(13:07):
Once the first domino goes, it, it just starts to spread.
And I think that that's, I thinkthat that's an interesting
concept that it's one of the beauties of YouTube is it's a,
it's a wonderful learning tool. It, it can be a negative tool,
it can be a positive tool. It can, but it's a really,
(13:29):
really good medium for learning and for sharing knowledge and
for showing pictures and videos and telling stories.
And you know, books are great too.
And you, you're doing a lot of reading and, and that's a lot of
your exposure, but a lot of people don't read books.
And so I think that those two things, it sounds like to me,
(13:53):
are sort of the genesis of the spread.
Would you agree with that? Yeah, I mean, it started on
Instagram actually. You know, I was seeing now that
that is real surface because you're just seeing the card and
you're getting exposed to different cards.
You're kind of seeing stuff you like.
But YouTube is 3 dimensional, man.
People are talking, they're telling stories, they're
(14:15):
teaching. That's what I like about your
channel. You teach.
But you know, Dave, Blue Jacket,he teaches Mangini.
He'll show stuff I've never seenbefore.
He's teaching me about a card. And so, you know those channels,
Rick, vintage oddball cards, he'll show me stuff, man.
And I'm learning stuff. And it's opening new doors.
(14:37):
And all of a sudden the scales fall off your eyes and you're
like, whoa, you know, and everything's in vivid color and
you're seeing stuff you never knew before.
And to me, man, that's what's rich about the hobby.
It ain't about the dollars and the cents and the man I got to
invest in this card or I hope this car, I hope this got no
(14:58):
man. It's deeper than that.
And so at least it is for me. So that's how I tried to do my
channel. I've seen guys, man, these
influencers get on there and talk about their cards and you
hear them talk about and they'renot even saying stuff right.
And they're mispronouncing people's names.
(15:19):
And then and you realize real quick, man, they're on there
just to try to get their name out there.
They're they're influencers, butthey, they're influencing you
not even knowing what they're talking about.
I ain't that guy. And that I want to know.
I don't know it. I'm, I'm not, you know, and the
all knowing I'm, I'm learning every day where it's what we're
(15:40):
discussing, but I try to be humble about it.
And I want my channel to be one of those channels that people
learn and people talk about experiences and there's an
emotional attachment to things. And that's why I do my Collector
Spotlight series. It's it's a focus on the cards
and your experience on grabbing that card.
I do my episodes on players and we do deep dives into Ted
(16:03):
Williams and Larry Dobie and Jackie Robinson, you know,
because to me, the key to the hobby is the history of the
game. If you don't, if you don't have
an appreciation for the history of the game, you have no reason
to ever dig deeper, to be intrigued and, and, and want to
(16:24):
learn, you know so. There, you know, there's when we
were when I was younger and and I don't want to paint with too
broad of a brush because there are always outliers.
There are always, you know, anomalies that but but generally
speaking, younger people in the hobby, I can speak for myself
when I was younger in the hobby,I wanted, you know, the chases
(16:48):
where the Daryl Strawberry cards, the Jose Canseco cards,
the Mark McGuire, the Rodger Clemens, the Will Clark, Those
were the guys that everybody wanted.
And, and there wasn't, in some cases, I had attachments to some
cards, like the Clemens cards that came into my collection
were prized. But some of the other stuff,
(17:08):
there were times where you would, you would want to pick up
a card 'cause it was good trade bait.
You know, it's good trade bait for, for getting what, what you
wanted more. And there was less of a
connection. Now again, I, I still have some
cards from my childhood collection that, you know, I'll
never sell. But then as we get older, I
(17:28):
think that there is more of an appreciation for the history of
the game. There is more of a appreciation
for the beauty of an image or ofa card or of a design.
There's more of an appreciation for the rare, you know, and, and
(17:52):
I, I mean like the cards where you could go online right now
and what not and see a bunch of people just ripping packs of the
same thing. Like like tops basketball is
about to come out like in October and that that stuff's
going to be all over the place and they're going to be people
spending all sorts of money to get it.
Great that I don't have any problem with that.
But to me, I'm a little bit moreintrigued by the card that you
(18:16):
don't see very often or the design you don't see very often.
And I see a beauty in that. And I do think it, and correct
me if I'm wrong, you tell me if you agree or disagree.
But I feel like it's part of theevolution that we go from being
interested in prospects that have a high potential ceiling
(18:37):
and the chase and and the hot potato to being more intrigued
by the history and the legend and the beauty and the design.
I mean, if, if right now you andI went to the Museum of Modern
Art, there would I would say theaverage age in the building
(19:02):
would probably be about 70 yearsold.
There's not a bunch of kids justsitting there looking at the art
going, this is amazing. Like, again, I know I'm speaking
in generalities and of course there are anomalies, but why is
that? Do you think that people go from
being interested in in the hot thing, not having the emotional
(19:26):
connection to then getting to the point where the beauty and
the history and the the age of it and the the impact that was
made? The impact becomes really
important. And I've heard you talk about
this a little bit in the past, but but take me through your
thoughts on that. Yeah.
(19:48):
So I have talked about this in the past.
I talked with it with Brett McGrath about this on stacking
slabs and got a little play. Chris Hoge even picked up on it
and talked about it on Jeremy Lee.
But. I was just trying to explain to
him and it kind of hit a nerve with some people.
But it's true. As we get older, you start to
(20:09):
look back because I'm 56 years old, man.
My life is all already over halfway done.
I'm not living 112. And if I am, I don't want to
because I'll probably be in a bed somewhere.
Bed sores, somebody changing my diaper.
I don't really need that. So that's not quality of life
thing. But just yesterday, man, I was
(20:30):
over there hanging out with my grandson and I got emotional
just holding my little buddy. You know, he's, he's 10 months
old and he knows who his pops isnow and he's climbing on me and
I'm getting emotional. I'm thinking this is my legacy
right here. Everything I've done, it doesn't
matter what kind of thing I've done in my business, what kind
(20:51):
of thing I've done at my church or what kind of thing I've done,
you know, financially, what kindof house I live in, none of that
crap matters. What kind of cards I have.
What matters is that little dude, did I raise a good enough
son that one day my grandson is going to be a good person?
That's what's important. And so I'm looking at my little
grandson thinking this is this. He's, he's got my last name.
(21:15):
He's even got my middle name just passed down.
And this is my legacy right here.
And I'm looking back at my life.It's kind of like Saving Private
Ryan when, you know, he kind of flashes back.
And so that's what you do the older you get.
It ain't I'm looking back and going, man, Dang it, man, I'm
almost going to be dead. No, I'm looking back thinking,
(21:37):
man, I remember when my kids learned to walk and when they
were that age. And I'm looking back with
fondness. And so those baseball players I
watched when I was 14 years old,man, they're old men now.
They're being wheeled out on thefield.
Like I remember seeing Dave Parker, big, huge Dave Parker
being wheeled out in a wheelchair to wave at the fans
(21:58):
have getting help standing up. And, you know, I watched him
play, man. So I watch him now.
You know, he's gone. But he just got in the Hall of
Fame. I appreciate his older cards,
all that kind of stuff. So you look back with fondness.
And so the more that kind of stuff happens to me, you turn
(22:18):
into somebody who wants to look back in history, you know, in in
human DNA. It's the older people who tell
the younger people about the past.
It goes way back, man. When Cavemen were sitting around
drawing things on the walls, they were trying to tell the
kids, hey, back then we killed this antelope over that hill
over there. You know, in the Jewish culture,
(22:41):
it's the older people at Passover who talk about the
Passover meal. You know, in, in churches, it's
the older people who are the elders of the congregations.
You know, in, in Indian tribes, it was the older Indian men who
sat around and they were the chiefs and they would pass down
the history of their tribe. It's just who we are.
(23:02):
And, and so people say until they're blue in the face, all
these young kids, these young kids, man, they've been saying
that since my mom was young and her daddy wouldn't let her watch
Elvis because he shook his pelvis on TV.
So it's just what it is, man. I mean, we're built the same.
I I agree and, and I also think and, and, and I'll share some
(23:25):
experiences here. For me, I think that there are
seeds that are planted and, and,and they don't root in for a
while, but the seed is there in the soil.
When I was in, it was like 4th or 5th grade, there was my, my
class read a book together. Like you'd go through different
books for the, you know, you'd all read it and the teacher
(23:47):
would read and you'd follow along or you'd go around the
room and take turns reading or whatever.
And the book was called in the Year of the Boar and Jackie
Robinson. And it was this little kid book.
And it was about this little girl who came to America from
China and she felt different than everyone else and she felt
like an outsider. I mean, I remember it.
And that would have been 35 years ago that I was in 4th
(24:11):
grade or whatever. And and she ended up getting
turned on to baseball and she would sit by the radio and hear
Jackie Robinson playing and he became her hero.
And it was the year of the boar because in the Chinese culture,
every year has a different animal and it rotates through.
And it was the year of the boar.And it was 1947 when Jackie
(24:32):
Robinson went to the major leagues and she lived in
Brooklyn. And that was the first time I
said, Dang, like this, Jackie. I mean, I'm getting chills just
talking about right now. Jackie Robinson left an imprint
on little kids, little boys and girls growing up during that
(24:53):
era. And that left a seed.
Now, I didn't run out when I wasin 4th grade.
I was collecting cards. But I went, OK, cool, let's go
now get my Garbage Pail Kids andand try to get my 87 tops.
You know, Mark McGuire. Yeah.
But it left an impression on me that Jackie Robinson was
(25:13):
important not just as a baseballplayer, but to the culture of
America and to the Society of America.
A couple years later, I'm sitting there in my 6th grade,
my 6th grade class, and my teacher, Mr. Morgan, he played
us a movie one day and it was Brian's song and it was about
(25:36):
Brian Piccolo and Gale Sayers. And I remember going that Gale
Sayers dude is awesome. I love this dude and I Gale
Sayers, he's my guy. And ever since I've been a Gale
Sayers fan. Now I didn't buy a Gale Sayers
card for 30 more years, but the seed was planted that I knew
(26:01):
that Gale Sayers was different. And I knew that Gale Sayers was
an impact on me, on me on how you treat people and Brian
Piccolo and how he treated Gale Sayers and Gale Sayers, how he
treated Brian Piccolo. And that left an impression on
me. And I knew that they they left
(26:22):
an impression on others and, andnow I've got a bunch of Gale
Sayers cards. I just picked up a Gale Sayers
card a couple of weeks ago. I I've bought a couple of Jackie
Robinson cards in the last six months.
And so I totally agree with whatyou're saying about looking
back, but I also think that there are seeds that are planted
(26:45):
and it just takes a while for the soil and the nutrients and
and for it to take root and for it to actually develop into an
outward expression, which is card collectors.
It's acquiring the card. Yeah, I really think that these
young kids, we're kind of going,we were different.
(27:07):
Well, were we? I mean, I, I took on the Gale
Sayers thing and I took on the Jackie Robinson thing, but I was
still buying Garbage Pail Kids at the time.
And here I am now buying those guys who left an impression on
me from a long, long time ago. And those guys weren't playing
then. This is after they were playing.
(27:28):
So I think that there's some some of that.
Are there players other than your experience with Mantle and
and meeting Mantle and all that kind of thing?
Do you have some experiences of memories where you were sitting
around or you read an article oryou interacted with someone that
left an impression where it's now affected what you collect?
(27:52):
Yeah, yeah. But first, before I jump into
that, I somebody said something the other day, this kind of
going back what you were just saying about when you get a
little older, it's hard to root on guys that are your kids age.
And I never really thought aboutthat that way.
So like Shohei Otani in them, I got a daughter that's 31 years
(28:16):
old. And so I can't look at those
guys as heroes. When I was a kid and I watched
Reggie Jackson hit three home runs in the World Series, that
dude was a hero. He was older.
You could look up to him. I can't look up the show.
Hey, Donnie. I think he's amazing.
(28:37):
So it kind of changes the way you view things.
So all of a sudden your heroes are dying, they're getting old,
and they ain't playing no more. And and now you just that again,
that's another way of looking back.
And so you just asked a question.
Yes, that has happened. I've I think I've shared this
with you before. Well, just give me a quick
little a little Cliff note version then.
(28:59):
Yeah, it was a Willie Mays. Tim and I went to a card show to
get his autograph and I had a baseball.
I didn't. I didn't have a Willie Mays card
because I wasn't collecting at the point at that point.
But I did love autographs. I go to shows, just get
autographed when I was in my early 20s and he just was a, he
(29:20):
just was an honorary old man. He wasn't nice.
There was somebody there was a sign and it said it and that
person either disregarded or just didn't see it, I think.
And it was like sign only flats or balls or something.
And somebody tried to give him abat.
I don't remember what exactly happened.
It was something like that. And he snapped at them and they,
(29:43):
it was like 2 people in front ofme and I'm like, whoa.
And you know, he shouldn't have done, he should have let his
handler do that. But I mean, it was kind of, and
that's Willie Mays, man. And that, that person recalled
now I got up there and I was like, thanks, Mr. Mays.
And he didn't even look up, wouldn't make eye contact.
And he was like that the entire time.
(30:04):
So I don't, I, I, I don't collect Willie Mays cards.
I don't like them. No and and.
I That's how I looked at Barry Bonds, too, because that's his
godson. So, so it, it went all the way
down to the God son you, you felt that way.
Well, I know you have other issues with bonds, but I, I, I
really think that, you know, I think that younger kids that are
(30:28):
collecting right now where we think that they're not paying
attention. I think that they're paying
attention to things and they're picking up things more than we
think. But right now they're into the
the now and they're not yet intothe past.
And and I think you give a greatexplanation as to why.
(30:49):
Eventually we start looking toward the past.
And I think some of those kids will will change.
But you know, if they don't, that's fine.
But again, they've been saying this for a long time now.
One of the things also that I notice is as we get more and
more into the hobby, people tendto be more.
(31:11):
I mean, if you look on YouTube, for example, and you look at the
most veteran collectors of guys on YouTube or that have podcasts
or Instagram, the guys that havebeen doing this the longest,
they seem to be most intrigued by the ultra rare stuff and they
(31:33):
seem less intrigued by the more common stuff.
Even though some of the common stuff are absolute iconic cards,
You know, they still tend to be,they get, they get fired up when
they see something that they don't see very often.
(31:54):
And you know, you look in Orlando's eyes and, and he pulls
up out a Venezuelan that he justbought and he gets pretty
excited. You know, he, he gets a
Deportivo card and he gets pretty excited, but he doesn't
get super excited for a 68 tops card.
What do you think that's all about?
Well, it's just something new. I mean, it's, you know, I I'm
(32:17):
not a bird watcher, but some people do that for a hobby and
if they're out there looking andjust there's a dove right there,
Robin, but they see that purple headed Nutcracker something
bird. I don't know where I came up
with that, but but you know, they're going to get kind of
excited. So yeah, it's the chase, man.
(32:38):
It's all about the chase. And it has to do with rarity.
You know, in the modern hobby today, that's what they're
doing. They're chasing one of ones or
one of fives. And, you know, with us, we have
our own chases. And so that's one of the reasons
I like the sign cards. You know, I pick up a a 1955
(33:01):
Jackie Robinson, but to have onethat signed now, man, there's
what, 12 of those or sixteen of those in in the world.
So to have one of those, it's just just that extra level, you
know, It's just cool. Now we, we when we were growing
up, it was all about set collecting.
And then we kind of went away from set collecting.
(33:24):
Yeah. But now I just finished building
a set. You're in the middle of a set
build. Yeah, it is that for the same
reason. Is it the hunt?
Is it the trying to find something?
Because I went through a stretchwhere I was like, man, why am I
buying? Why am I buying cards of guys
I've never heard of, like just to build the set, finish a set
(33:44):
like this does. Why am I doing this?
But then I went out and bought abunch of pirate cards of guys
that pirates I'd never heard of either.
I'd only heard about two or three of those pirates in that
set of 50. But is is it the chase?
Is it? Is that what was the intriguing
part? I mean, you're doing a set
build. What are you doing a set build
for? Why?
Yeah, it's absolutely the chase and it's a lot of fun, man.
(34:07):
Every day I look to see if one popped up on eBay.
You know, I've got to save searches and it comes up on my
on my e-mail and then I look andsee what the new ones are.
And then so yeah, I'm building that 1915 Cracker Jack set.
And man, I've been looking at that a while back.
Dane's, which they're outrageously expensive.
(34:28):
They had full sets. You could buy the Cracker Jack
or you could downgrade and get the full set without the Cobb
and the Joe Jackson and the Wagner or you get the whole
thing. And it was crazy expensive in
inside toyed with building a set.
And I thought, same thing you'resaying, well, I don't want a
(34:49):
bunch of dudes I've never heard of, you know, but man, I got I
just fell in love with that said, it's beautiful.
The dudes I've never heard of got some really cool looking
cards. And so, yeah, they're expensive,
but I'm spreading that bad boy out over a couple of years and
gives me something to look for in a chase and I'm 84% done now,
(35:09):
man. And just to lay those out and
look at them, it's just cool as crap, man.
When I get my new card room, I'mgoing to have those bad boys all
displayed and I'm building a bookcase just for the Cracker
Jack set and they're going to all be laid up there and man,
it's going to be cool. Yeah, yeah.
I mean, one of the things I've been working on for, I don't
know, three years now is I'm trying to get every T2O6 Hall of
(35:34):
Fame card, not Plank or Wagner. And for a while I just wanted
one of each guy. And.
And now I'm just like, no, I'm just, I'm just going to get
every card except for those two.And, and I mean, spoiler alert,
I just bought 2 today. Then I haven't even, yeah, I
(35:55):
haven't even told you that. But it was like a, a Facebook
post, which I dug into like a comments area and ended up, and
there were a couple of beauties that were really well priced.
And I'm like, I mean, 'cause I'mpretty picky.
And that's The thing is like, those cards aren't that rare.
Cracker Jacks are pretty rare. The pirate cards are pretty
(36:18):
rare. You got to get them when you see
them, but with the T2 O 6 is where they're, they're pretty
plentiful. The thing that's rare is finding
them centered and finding them not look like your dog got after
them. And and so when I find one, it's
just, it's fun to just add another piece to the puzzle.
One more thing before we wrap this up because we've been going
(36:40):
about 3637 minutes so far. I was listening to my buddy
Shane, Shoebox Legends this morning and on the way to work
and he had a great video and Shane is a fantastic guy.
And he was talking about how he never really paid attention to
the values of his cards, but some of the cards that he's had
(37:04):
for a while have gone up in value so much that they're more
valuable to other people than they are to him.
So he's like, yeah, there were these cards he was talking about
these buyback cards. He was like, yeah, I bought
these for like a dollar two each.
Well, there's some collector trying to pick them up and
(37:25):
they're rare and guys paying like 30 to $40 each for him.
So he's been selling them off and he's like, I still like
them. I still like these cards and,
and I like having them, but thisguy going to give me 30 or 40
bucks and they're just sitting in a box and, and, and how do I
(37:46):
justify keeping a card that thisother person really wants and
values way more than I than I value it and is willing to pay
big money for it where I can, I can sell some of this and get
some stuff I never thought I could get.
And, and I guess that brings me to the question of when we get
(38:09):
to the point with cards where other people value them more
than we do, or even though we might like them, even though we
still like the cards, but somebody else likes them more
and they're willing to pay more than we would pay for them, how
(38:30):
do we give ourselves permission to move on from them?
Yeah. So yeah, go ahead, go ahead.
No, no, no, I'm. That's pretty much it.
So the value part, we're not talking about dollars and cents
here, really. We're talking about if I don't
look at that card, am I really valuing it?
You know, you, your wife, you don't value me.
(38:51):
You didn't give me roses in the last year.
So that has nothing to do with money.
It has to do with, you know. Appreciation.
Yeah, exactly. So want to make sure it's clear.
Been a lot of talk about value. So anyways, so yeah, money's
involved there. I you know, when I first started
collecting, everything I bought was my collection was really
(39:13):
small. I valued right and I was
building a collection. I built the mantle run and then
I finished it and I'm like, yeah, you know, that's awesome
yeah. I kind of feel like Chevy Chase,
you know, when they went to the Grand Canyon, like, OK, now
what? So.
Well, yeah. So yeah, it was like, cool, I
(39:34):
can keep looking at the same cards over and over again, but I
know I can go out and grab another 65 mantle, you know?
But there was some other cards out there that I would value
more than those. And if I could sell those, I
could land something big, you know, and that I value.
And so I found myself willing topart with cards, man.
(39:57):
So I, you know, it's pretty documented what I did.
But, you know, there are other people that wouldn't do that.
Like there, I wouldn't call him a hoarder.
But, you know, they're trying tobuild a collection.
And it's about the quantity of acollection.
And they can catalog all these cards and they got them.
And, you know, if you want to ask.
Oh yeah man, I mean I watch Moynihan and Yogi.
(40:22):
Chris from Missouri do the the showdown, yeah, the showdown
thing. And I'm in awe.
Like, man, a lot, dude. They got every Hall of Famer.
And I know. I mean, that's cool that they
can do that, but with me, I'd rather if there's a card over
there in the corner that I neverlook at, then yeah, I'd sell
(40:43):
that and get something I look atfor a while and conquer another
hill. I it almost feels like you're
right. And I think you nailed it on the
head when you said it's not really about value.
I don't think value is the rightterm.
I think the right term is appreciate when someone else
appreciates it more than you appreciate it because value has
(41:05):
the term, you know, the, the term value has a financial
aspect to it and then it has an appreciation aspect to it.
But if I've got a bunch of cardsthat are sitting in a box and I
never look at him, I'm, I'm justlike, Oh yeah, I mean, I got
that, you know? And there's this other guy who's
searching everywhere and really wants that and he's willing to
pay up for it 'cause he really appreciates that.
(41:27):
And I don't really appreciate it.
But the thing I would really appreciate is that thing over
there, maybe what you do is you set it free to the place it's
going to get appreciated. And then you go get the thing
that you appreciate. And that's kind of I think what
which Shane was saying today andand I just thought it was a
great video and it and it kind of got my head kind of you got I
(41:50):
got my wheels turning a little bit about I started going maybe
maybe what I need to start doingis regularly, like once a month,
maybe go through my cards 1 by 1and just sit and look at it and
go, does this one still get me excited?
This one still get my juices flowing.
(42:11):
And if it doesn't, maybe I put it in the pile where I'm going
to think on it, on whether it's still the right card for me.
And it it's not necessarily because the financial value of
the card went up, but it's maybethat the appreciation value of
the card isn't as high as I oncewas.
(42:32):
Maybe I just fell out of love with the card for whatever
reason. Maybe I got bored with that set
or that player or that era, and something else gets me really
excited and I just need to give myself permission to go.
It's not that you don't like it,you just don't appreciate it as
(42:53):
much as this other thing. And if we have a fixed amount of
assets, shouldn't we be spendingour assets on the things that
we're going to appreciate the most?
Yeah. So but I also do respect those
guys that have the volume and they love having everything.
Like I respect that. I just don't know if that's for
me and that's for them, and that's cool.
(43:15):
Yeah, I know we're up against it, so I'll just say this real
quick. The way I look at it is you
talked about when you were a kidhow you would trade cards.
You use something for trade bait.
So the way I look at it is I'm basically trading cards for one
card. I'm trading 10 for one big
bigger one. I'm trading.
So I asked myself what I trade these cards for that card.
(43:38):
It's that's all I'm doing. I'm just trading.
I'm doing like I did when I was a kid.
It's just, you know, because those cards, the great thing
about collecting vintage cards, they typically hold their value.
It's like a savings account in your card room.
So you spend a little bit overtime getting these, and then
you're like, yeah, you know, butI'd really like to have that
one. And you just cash in your chips
(43:59):
and you trade and you get a bigger one.
That's what it is. Yeah, well, I appreciate you
jumping in. You were the best bullpen call
of of the of the spring or whatever you fall.
You did a great job. I had an absolute blast talking
(44:20):
to you, Mike. We hope he feels better soon,
but you know, everyone's replaceable.
Well, I mean, you remember WallyPip, so yeah, remember that is.
Mike, Wally, Pip, that might be the question out there.
That's awesome. All right, buddy, I appreciate
(44:41):
you. Thanks again for spending some
time with us. To those of you out there, if
you've not subscribed yet to us,consider it.
And if you've not subscribed to Tony Southern Collective 14, I
highly recommend it. And remember, we are available
on Spotify and Apple and I thinkAmazon now too.
So we're we're, we're taking over.
(45:03):
Big Tony. Yeah, all right, buddy.
Thanks man. Bye.
In our massive country, there are card collectors throughout
the land participating in the hobby.
There's Mike of Junk Wax Hero and Greg of Midlife Cards.
And while distance may separate them, here is where they come
together to talk cards. All right, here I am.
(00:21):
I'm here with Tony Lebrik, though, not Mike.
Junk Wax Hero. Mike, Mike wasn't feeling well.
And so he said, hey, do you wantto postpone a couple of days?
And I go, Nah, dude, I'll just replace you.
That's no big deal. So.
It's hard to replace Mike, man. So a quick call over to my boy
Tony, and here we are. So thank you for coming in out
(00:44):
of the bullpen on short notice. You're the man.
Hey man, I anytime dude. I just love talking about cards.
I love spending time with you, so it's a win win.
Hey, likewise. SO basically if, if people
aren't familiar with you becausewe're on different platforms and
stuff than we normally are, but tell people where they can find
(01:07):
you if if they're not familiar with you, Tony.
Yeah, so on YouTube, Southern Collector 14, it will take you
right to my channel. And then on Instagram, Southern
Collector 14 made it really easy.
It's the same on both. So yeah, I've been on Instagram
for a couple of years and built a community there and then
(01:28):
branched out to YouTube. Thanks to you, you know, help me
out, get me started and give me all the pointers and and coming
up on my one year anniversary onthat.
So yeah, it's been a lot of fun.So Tony's got a great channel.
If you aren't following Tony at Southern Collector 14 you are
missing out for sure. Does lots of research for his
(01:50):
videos. Has an amazing collection,
really likable guy, has great guests on, so highly recommend
him. We are going to talk about
something when when I found out on short notice that, you know,
Mike wasn't going to be on and II gave you a buzz and you said,
yeah, I'm in. The first topic that came to my
(02:11):
mind when I thought about you and I thought would be really
fun to talk about is how a lot of the times a lot of us in
collecting cards, we will we will kind of just pivot from
where we're going and what we'redoing and then kind of on a
dime, we'll just start heading in a different direction.
And I think there are a lot of us that do that.
(02:33):
A lot of us, you know, we were doing one thing and then all of
a sudden we're doing a differentthing.
You know, you're collecting basketball cards and all of a
sudden you go into a baseball, you go from, you know, golden
era and all of a sudden you're you're suddenly really
interested in in pre war cards. And when when you first got back
(02:53):
into the hobby, you were doing alot of player runs and you were
doing Hank Aaron player runs, you're doing Mickey Mantle
player runs and and now you're doing something completely
different. So tell us about from your
perspective, why did you change?Why did you pivot from what you
were doing into what you're doing now?
(03:13):
Just take me through that process on what kind of spurred
that, because I think a lot of people at times start to think
of themselves as well. I'm the, I'm the, you know, the
Hank Aaron guy. And now I can't, I can't start
collecting something else because Hank Aaron is sort of
what I do. So how did, how did you, how did
you come to that point? Well, yeah, so when I got back
(03:36):
in, it was, what do I do? Like, I didn't know I knew what
I knew. And what I knew was golden era
baseball cards, 'cause even in my teenage years, in my early,
like elementary, middle school school years when I was
collecting, I knew those cards like the back of my hand.
(03:58):
Those were in the Beckett's. Every now and then I'd see a
really cool one at the flea market or at my local card shop.
It really wasn't that local was downtown Nashville.
And my Mama would take me every now and then and me and my
brother and we'd look at the cards under the glass and, and I
remember wanting a, a Willie Mccovey rookie card so bad.
(04:20):
Like that was just so cool to me.
And of course you always dreamt of having a Mickey Mantle card
or something like that. So that was what I knew.
I knew some of the pre war, I knew the T2O6 set, I knew the
Gowdy's, I knew all that stuff. And so you know one of those I
remember I still have like when I first got back in, I don't
(04:42):
think I've ever told you this. I was collecting the golden era
stuff. But man I was seeing some of
this T2O6 stuff when I found eBay and I order cause at this
point I wasn't spending money man I've never dreamt I'd spend
the kind of money I've been spending.
(05:03):
This is stupid. But anyways it was just I was
dipping a toe in and I ordered 2T2O6 cards and some dudes I've
never heard of because it was really cheap and I thought the
card looked really cool. It was an action shot, this dude
diving for a ball. And it was kind of weird
looking. And I remember getting that card
(05:24):
and it's showing my wife and going, this card right here is
115 years old. Can you believe that?
And she was like, wow. And I think I paid, I don't
know, 60 bucks for it or something, you know?
Yeah. And so I, I was already kind of
dipping a toe in. And then I, I started watching
(05:47):
YouTube and that's what changed things because I started being
inspired by people. And you know, seeing Orlando go
through the catalog and show allthese different pre war sets.
And then Dave Blue Jacket 66, you know, seeing him show all
the stuff he was showing and man, it was interesting and it
(06:09):
was sexy and it, man, I've neverseen that stuff before.
And all of a sudden that was piquing my interest cause while
I still love the Golden Air stuff, that was new and it was
exciting. So I started going down that
route. And then there was one thing
that really kind of changed me alittle bit.
(06:29):
I'd all, when I was a kid, when I'd go to the library, we had
the book fair. I'd always check out baseball
books, you know, and I'd buy, buy a little baseball book.
And I remember reading about Hank Aaron and Willie Mays and
Ted Williams and those guys in Babe Ruth.
And I was always into baseball history.
I wanted a Cracker Jack card, but again, I wouldn't spending
(06:52):
big money. And I was able to get a Chief
Bender Cracker Jack card. I didn't know who Chief Bender
was, but I thought it was cool. He had the pill box had on had
the stripes around it. And I didn't know why he was
even named chief. And I, and I read the back of
that card, the biography thing and it talked about how he grew
(07:13):
up in a, on an Indian Reservation and, and it, I was
thinking, Dang man, that's awesome.
So I ordered a book on Chief Bender.
So there I go. Now I'm getting back into that
history side. And once I started reading
books, now I'm reading about different people in these books
I didn't know about and I'm it'sstarting to piquing my interest
(07:34):
on different players. Then she was Joe Jackson
happened and I start reading about him and man alive, dude, I
knew the name and I knew, you know, 8 men out and I knew Field
of Dreams and all that stuff. But when I started really
reading about his story, it really hit home for me as a
(07:56):
Southerner about how this guy didn't know, you know, he didn't
know how to read and write. He just loved to play baseball.
He ends up going to the Northeast.
He's kind of a weirdo because hehas a Southern accent and he
doesn't know how to get around atown and he can't read a menu.
And that piqued my interest. So now I'm, I'm like, man, I got
(08:16):
to get me some shoes. So Jackson cards.
So I go down that route. In the meantime, what's always
kind of lingering there as I'm seeing more and more cards and
I'm getting into auction houses.Autographed cards have always
been a thing for me, man, alwaysbeen a thing for me.
And you know the story, I've told it.
(08:38):
I had Nauseam about me getting Mickey Mantle's autograph on my
59 Mantle Tops card when I was 14 years old, standing in front
of him. And also earlier than that, in
1980, the Braves came through town on the Braves Caravan and
they all sat in my local mall behind tables.
And it was Jerry Royster and it was Phil Necro, and it was Dale
(09:00):
Murphy and it was Glenn Hubbard and all these dudes that I had.
I mean, these are major leaguers.
And I took my little cards with me and they signed the cards.
I got a 69 Tops Phil Negro sign that day.
He touched that card. He looked me now and handed it
back. And I'm sure he was thinking how
this kid get a 69 Tops. I was 10.
(09:21):
I didn't know how I got the card, don't remember, but I
still have that card. So I've seen all this stuff and
I'm like, man, dude, that's cool.
And so I don't remember what thefirst one I bought that was.
I don't remember which card thatwas.
I wish I did. I don't have that kind of
memory. But when I got those cards in,
(09:44):
that affected me more than just having an unsigned card.
It brought back the memories of meeting Mantle.
It brought back the memories of meeting Dale Murphy and Phil
Negro and, and, and then the Nashville Sounds would have
exhibitions. Sometimes they bring in Major
League teams. And I remember the Indians came
and I got Corey Snyder's autograph and some dudes, they
(10:06):
were just, you know, hanging over the dugout asked for the
autograph when I was like 14 years old.
And, and so and getting Dave Winfield's autograph when I was
in 7th grade at a Sounds game and the Yankees were playing the
Sounds and he autographed my program and taking that to
school the next day and showing all my buds.
So having an autograph card in my hand that Jackie Robinson
(10:30):
touched or Mickey Mantle touchedor Yogi Berra touched, even if I
didn't see him autograph it and I wasn't there.
You know, it says PSADNA on thatslab.
It has their DNA on it. It really does.
It touched that man. And to me, that is more of an
(10:52):
emotional attachment to a, you know, a object that I would ever
have by just getting a, a 1959 pink Bob Gibson card that
doesn't have a signature on it. So it was an emotional thing to
me. And it, you know, I just think
it's cool as crap, man. So it's, it's grabbed me and,
(11:14):
you know, I've, I've gone down other routes, the Negro League
route trying to pick those guys up.
You know, I, I started reading some of those books.
I read the book about the, the, the 1948 Indians and read all
about Larry Doby and man, dude, that blew my mind.
Like, why did I not know his story like that?
(11:37):
Felt guilty for not knowing thatman's story and it he did
everything Jackie Robinson did. So now I went on a Larry Dobie
run and then I start reading about Monte Irving, did Monte
Irving. And now I'm starting to read
about the Negro League era and then I get a Josh Gibson and
then I'm reading about Josh Gibson.
Now I'm learning about, you know, Buck Leonard and I'm
(11:59):
learning about Cool Papa Bell and Satchel Paige.
And so it the history kind of intertwines with my collecting
journey in it, and it spurs on stuff.
It all started with Chief Bender.
It's his fault. It sounds to me like the the
method behind the the growth is exposure.
(12:23):
It sounds to me like what you'resaying is before when I would
look at a book at the book fair,get a Beckett and there was a
Babe Ruth cart on it. You became aware of those cards
and and that was now in your awareness and some of the
players and some of the the setsand some of the stories you just
(12:45):
previously weren't aware of. But then you watch Orlando and
you watch Dave and, and they kind of they kind of they're the
tentacles kind of outreach a little bit further.
And then you read a book and then, well, there's this guy in
there and this guy in there too.So let's find out about them.
And, and it's almost like this domino effective.
(13:07):
Once the first domino goes, it, it just starts to spread.
And I think that that's, I thinkthat that's an interesting
concept that it's one of the beauties of YouTube is it's a,
it's a wonderful learning tool. It, it can be a negative tool,
it can be a positive tool. It can, but it's a really,
(13:29):
really good medium for learning and for sharing knowledge and
for showing pictures and videos and telling stories.
And you know, books are great too.
And you, you're doing a lot of reading and, and that's a lot of
your exposure, but a lot of people don't read books.
And so I think that those two things, it sounds like to me,
(13:53):
are sort of the genesis of the spread.
Would you agree with that? Yeah, I mean, it started on
Instagram actually. You know, I was seeing now that
that is real surface because you're just seeing the card and
you're getting exposed to different cards.
You're kind of seeing stuff you like.
But YouTube is 3 dimensional, man.
People are talking, they're telling stories, they're
(14:15):
teaching. That's what I like about your
channel. You teach.
But you know, Dave, Blue Jacket,he teaches Mangini.
He'll show stuff I've never seenbefore.
He's teaching me about a card. And so, you know those channels,
Rick, vintage oddball cards, he'll show me stuff, man.
And I'm learning stuff. And it's opening new doors.
(14:37):
And all of a sudden the scales fall off your eyes and you're
like, whoa, you know, and everything's in vivid color and
you're seeing stuff you never knew before.
And to me, man, that's what's rich about the hobby.
It ain't about the dollars and the cents and the man I got to
invest in this card or I hope this car, I hope this got no
(14:58):
man. It's deeper than that.
And so at least it is for me. So that's how I tried to do my
channel. I've seen guys, man, these
influencers get on there and talk about their cards and you
hear them talk about and they'renot even saying stuff right.
And they're mispronouncing people's names.
(15:19):
And then and you realize real quick, man, they're on there
just to try to get their name out there.
They're they're influencers, butthey, they're influencing you
not even knowing what they're talking about.
I ain't that guy. And that I want to know.
I don't know it. I'm, I'm not, you know, and the
all knowing I'm, I'm learning every day where it's what we're
(15:40):
discussing, but I try to be humble about it.
And I want my channel to be one of those channels that people
learn and people talk about experiences and there's an
emotional attachment to things. And that's why I do my Collector
Spotlight series. It's it's a focus on the cards
and your experience on grabbing that card.
I do my episodes on players and we do deep dives into Ted
(16:03):
Williams and Larry Dobie and Jackie Robinson, you know,
because to me, the key to the hobby is the history of the
game. If you don't, if you don't have
an appreciation for the history of the game, you have no reason
to ever dig deeper, to be intrigued and, and, and want to
(16:24):
learn, you know so. There, you know, there's when we
were when I was younger and and I don't want to paint with too
broad of a brush because there are always outliers.
There are always, you know, anomalies that but but generally
speaking, younger people in the hobby, I can speak for myself
when I was younger in the hobby,I wanted, you know, the chases
(16:48):
where the Daryl Strawberry cards, the Jose Canseco cards,
the Mark McGuire, the Rodger Clemens, the Will Clark, Those
were the guys that everybody wanted.
And, and there wasn't, in some cases, I had attachments to some
cards, like the Clemens cards that came into my collection
were prized. But some of the other stuff,
(17:08):
there were times where you would, you would want to pick up
a card 'cause it was good trade bait.
You know, it's good trade bait for, for getting what, what you
wanted more. And there was less of a
connection. Now again, I, I still have some
cards from my childhood collection that, you know, I'll
never sell. But then as we get older, I
(17:28):
think that there is more of an appreciation for the history of
the game. There is more of a appreciation
for the beauty of an image or ofa card or of a design.
There's more of an appreciation for the rare, you know, and, and
(17:52):
I, I mean like the cards where you could go online right now
and what not and see a bunch of people just ripping packs of the
same thing. Like like tops basketball is
about to come out like in October and that that stuff's
going to be all over the place and they're going to be people
spending all sorts of money to get it.
Great that I don't have any problem with that.
But to me, I'm a little bit moreintrigued by the card that you
(18:16):
don't see very often or the design you don't see very often.
And I see a beauty in that. And I do think it, and correct
me if I'm wrong, you tell me if you agree or disagree.
But I feel like it's part of theevolution that we go from being
interested in prospects that have a high potential ceiling
(18:37):
and the chase and and the hot potato to being more intrigued
by the history and the legend and the beauty and the design.
I mean, if, if right now you andI went to the Museum of Modern
Art, there would I would say theaverage age in the building
(19:02):
would probably be about 70 yearsold.
There's not a bunch of kids justsitting there looking at the art
going, this is amazing. Like, again, I know I'm speaking
in generalities and of course there are anomalies, but why is
that? Do you think that people go from
being interested in in the hot thing, not having the emotional
(19:26):
connection to then getting to the point where the beauty and
the history and the the age of it and the the impact that was
made? The impact becomes really
important. And I've heard you talk about
this a little bit in the past, but but take me through your
thoughts on that. Yeah.
(19:48):
So I have talked about this in the past.
I talked with it with Brett McGrath about this on stacking
slabs and got a little play. Chris Hoge even picked up on it
and talked about it on Jeremy Lee.
But. I was just trying to explain to
him and it kind of hit a nerve with some people.
But it's true. As we get older, you start to
(20:09):
look back because I'm 56 years old, man.
My life is all already over halfway done.
I'm not living 112. And if I am, I don't want to
because I'll probably be in a bed somewhere.
Bed sores, somebody changing my diaper.
I don't really need that. So that's not quality of life
thing. But just yesterday, man, I was
(20:30):
over there hanging out with my grandson and I got emotional
just holding my little buddy. You know, he's, he's 10 months
old and he knows who his pops isnow and he's climbing on me and
I'm getting emotional. I'm thinking this is my legacy
right here. Everything I've done, it doesn't
matter what kind of thing I've done in my business, what kind
(20:51):
of thing I've done at my church or what kind of thing I've done,
you know, financially, what kindof house I live in, none of that
crap matters. What kind of cards I have.
What matters is that little dude, did I raise a good enough
son that one day my grandson is going to be a good person?
That's what's important. And so I'm looking at my little
grandson thinking this is this. He's, he's got my last name.
(21:15):
He's even got my middle name just passed down.
And this is my legacy right here.
And I'm looking back at my life.It's kind of like Saving Private
Ryan when, you know, he kind of flashes back.
And so that's what you do the older you get.
It ain't I'm looking back and going, man, Dang it, man, I'm
almost going to be dead. No, I'm looking back thinking,
(21:37):
man, I remember when my kids learned to walk and when they
were that age. And I'm looking back with
fondness. And so those baseball players I
watched when I was 14 years old,man, they're old men now.
They're being wheeled out on thefield.
Like I remember seeing Dave Parker, big, huge Dave Parker
being wheeled out in a wheelchair to wave at the fans
(21:58):
have getting help standing up. And, you know, I watched him
play, man. So I watch him now.
You know, he's gone. But he just got in the Hall of
Fame. I appreciate his older cards,
all that kind of stuff. So you look back with fondness.
And so the more that kind of stuff happens to me, you turn
(22:18):
into somebody who wants to look back in history, you know, in in
human DNA. It's the older people who tell
the younger people about the past.
It goes way back, man. When Cavemen were sitting around
drawing things on the walls, they were trying to tell the
kids, hey, back then we killed this antelope over that hill
over there. You know, in the Jewish culture,
(22:41):
it's the older people at Passover who talk about the
Passover meal. You know, in, in churches, it's
the older people who are the elders of the congregations.
You know, in, in Indian tribes, it was the older Indian men who
sat around and they were the chiefs and they would pass down
the history of their tribe. It's just who we are.
(23:02):
And, and so people say until they're blue in the face, all
these young kids, these young kids, man, they've been saying
that since my mom was young and her daddy wouldn't let her watch
Elvis because he shook his pelvis on TV.
So it's just what it is, man. I mean, we're built the same.
I I agree and, and I also think and, and, and I'll share some
(23:25):
experiences here. For me, I think that there are
seeds that are planted and, and,and they don't root in for a
while, but the seed is there in the soil.
When I was in, it was like 4th or 5th grade, there was my, my
class read a book together. Like you'd go through different
books for the, you know, you'd all read it and the teacher
(23:47):
would read and you'd follow along or you'd go around the
room and take turns reading or whatever.
And the book was called in the Year of the Boar and Jackie
Robinson. And it was this little kid book.
And it was about this little girl who came to America from
China and she felt different than everyone else and she felt
like an outsider. I mean, I remember it.
And that would have been 35 years ago that I was in 4th
(24:11):
grade or whatever. And and she ended up getting
turned on to baseball and she would sit by the radio and hear
Jackie Robinson playing and he became her hero.
And it was the year of the boar because in the Chinese culture,
every year has a different animal and it rotates through.
And it was the year of the boar.And it was 1947 when Jackie
(24:32):
Robinson went to the major leagues and she lived in
Brooklyn. And that was the first time I
said, Dang, like this, Jackie. I mean, I'm getting chills just
talking about right now. Jackie Robinson left an imprint
on little kids, little boys and girls growing up during that
(24:53):
era. And that left a seed.
Now, I didn't run out when I wasin 4th grade.
I was collecting cards. But I went, OK, cool, let's go
now get my Garbage Pail Kids andand try to get my 87 tops.
You know, Mark McGuire. Yeah.
But it left an impression on me that Jackie Robinson was
(25:13):
important not just as a baseballplayer, but to the culture of
America and to the Society of America.
A couple years later, I'm sitting there in my 6th grade,
my 6th grade class, and my teacher, Mr. Morgan, he played
us a movie one day and it was Brian's song and it was about
(25:36):
Brian Piccolo and Gale Sayers. And I remember going that Gale
Sayers dude is awesome. I love this dude and I Gale
Sayers, he's my guy. And ever since I've been a Gale
Sayers fan. Now I didn't buy a Gale Sayers
card for 30 more years, but the seed was planted that I knew
(26:01):
that Gale Sayers was different. And I knew that Gale Sayers was
an impact on me, on me on how you treat people and Brian
Piccolo and how he treated Gale Sayers and Gale Sayers, how he
treated Brian Piccolo. And that left an impression on
me. And I knew that they they left
(26:22):
an impression on others and, andnow I've got a bunch of Gale
Sayers cards. I just picked up a Gale Sayers
card a couple of weeks ago. I I've bought a couple of Jackie
Robinson cards in the last six months.
And so I totally agree with whatyou're saying about looking
back, but I also think that there are seeds that are planted
(26:45):
and it just takes a while for the soil and the nutrients and
and for it to take root and for it to actually develop into an
outward expression, which is card collectors.
It's acquiring the card. Yeah, I really think that these
young kids, we're kind of going,we were different.
(27:07):
Well, were we? I mean, I, I took on the Gale
Sayers thing and I took on the Jackie Robinson thing, but I was
still buying Garbage Pail Kids at the time.
And here I am now buying those guys who left an impression on
me from a long, long time ago. And those guys weren't playing
then. This is after they were playing.
(27:28):
So I think that there's some some of that.
Are there players other than your experience with Mantle and
and meeting Mantle and all that kind of thing?
Do you have some experiences of memories where you were sitting
around or you read an article oryou interacted with someone that
left an impression where it's now affected what you collect?
(27:52):
Yeah, yeah. But first, before I jump into
that, I somebody said something the other day, this kind of
going back what you were just saying about when you get a
little older, it's hard to root on guys that are your kids age.
And I never really thought aboutthat that way.
So like Shohei Otani in them, I got a daughter that's 31 years
(28:16):
old. And so I can't look at those
guys as heroes. When I was a kid and I watched
Reggie Jackson hit three home runs in the World Series, that
dude was a hero. He was older.
You could look up to him. I can't look up the show.
Hey, Donnie. I think he's amazing.
(28:37):
So it kind of changes the way you view things.
So all of a sudden your heroes are dying, they're getting old,
and they ain't playing no more. And and now you just that again,
that's another way of looking back.
And so you just asked a question.
Yes, that has happened. I've I think I've shared this
with you before. Well, just give me a quick
little a little Cliff note version then.
(28:59):
Yeah, it was a Willie Mays. Tim and I went to a card show to
get his autograph and I had a baseball.
I didn't. I didn't have a Willie Mays card
because I wasn't collecting at the point at that point.
But I did love autographs. I go to shows, just get
autographed when I was in my early 20s and he just was a, he
(29:20):
just was an honorary old man. He wasn't nice.
There was somebody there was a sign and it said it and that
person either disregarded or just didn't see it, I think.
And it was like sign only flats or balls or something.
And somebody tried to give him abat.
I don't remember what exactly happened.
It was something like that. And he snapped at them and they,
(29:43):
it was like 2 people in front ofme and I'm like, whoa.
And you know, he shouldn't have done, he should have let his
handler do that. But I mean, it was kind of, and
that's Willie Mays, man. And that, that person recalled
now I got up there and I was like, thanks, Mr. Mays.
And he didn't even look up, wouldn't make eye contact.
And he was like that the entire time.
(30:04):
So I don't, I, I, I don't collect Willie Mays cards.
I don't like them. No and and.
I That's how I looked at Barry Bonds, too, because that's his
godson. So, so it, it went all the way
down to the God son you, you felt that way.
Well, I know you have other issues with bonds, but I, I, I
really think that, you know, I think that younger kids that are
(30:28):
collecting right now where we think that they're not paying
attention. I think that they're paying
attention to things and they're picking up things more than we
think. But right now they're into the
the now and they're not yet intothe past.
And and I think you give a greatexplanation as to why.
(30:49):
Eventually we start looking toward the past.
And I think some of those kids will will change.
But you know, if they don't, that's fine.
But again, they've been saying this for a long time now.
One of the things also that I notice is as we get more and
more into the hobby, people tendto be more.
(31:11):
I mean, if you look on YouTube, for example, and you look at the
most veteran collectors of guys on YouTube or that have podcasts
or Instagram, the guys that havebeen doing this the longest,
they seem to be most intrigued by the ultra rare stuff and they
(31:33):
seem less intrigued by the more common stuff.
Even though some of the common stuff are absolute iconic cards,
You know, they still tend to be,they get, they get fired up when
they see something that they don't see very often.
(31:54):
And you know, you look in Orlando's eyes and, and he pulls
up out a Venezuelan that he justbought and he gets pretty
excited. You know, he, he gets a
Deportivo card and he gets pretty excited, but he doesn't
get super excited for a 68 tops card.
What do you think that's all about?
Well, it's just something new. I mean, it's, you know, I I'm
(32:17):
not a bird watcher, but some people do that for a hobby and
if they're out there looking andjust there's a dove right there,
Robin, but they see that purple headed Nutcracker something
bird. I don't know where I came up
with that, but but you know, they're going to get kind of
excited. So yeah, it's the chase, man.
(32:38):
It's all about the chase. And it has to do with rarity.
You know, in the modern hobby today, that's what they're
doing. They're chasing one of ones or
one of fives. And, you know, with us, we have
our own chases. And so that's one of the reasons
I like the sign cards. You know, I pick up a a 1955
(33:01):
Jackie Robinson, but to have onethat signed now, man, there's
what, 12 of those or sixteen of those in in the world.
So to have one of those, it's just just that extra level, you
know, It's just cool. Now we, we when we were growing
up, it was all about set collecting.
And then we kind of went away from set collecting.
(33:24):
Yeah. But now I just finished building
a set. You're in the middle of a set
build. Yeah, it is that for the same
reason. Is it the hunt?
Is it the trying to find something?
Because I went through a stretchwhere I was like, man, why am I
buying? Why am I buying cards of guys
I've never heard of, like just to build the set, finish a set
(33:44):
like this does. Why am I doing this?
But then I went out and bought abunch of pirate cards of guys
that pirates I'd never heard of either.
I'd only heard about two or three of those pirates in that
set of 50. But is is it the chase?
Is it? Is that what was the intriguing
part? I mean, you're doing a set
build. What are you doing a set build
for? Why?
Yeah, it's absolutely the chase and it's a lot of fun, man.
(34:07):
Every day I look to see if one popped up on eBay.
You know, I've got to save searches and it comes up on my
on my e-mail and then I look andsee what the new ones are.
And then so yeah, I'm building that 1915 Cracker Jack set.
And man, I've been looking at that a while back.
Dane's, which they're outrageously expensive.
(34:28):
They had full sets. You could buy the Cracker Jack
or you could downgrade and get the full set without the Cobb
and the Joe Jackson and the Wagner or you get the whole
thing. And it was crazy expensive in
inside toyed with building a set.
And I thought, same thing you'resaying, well, I don't want a
(34:49):
bunch of dudes I've never heard of, you know, but man, I got I
just fell in love with that said, it's beautiful.
The dudes I've never heard of got some really cool looking
cards. And so, yeah, they're expensive,
but I'm spreading that bad boy out over a couple of years and
gives me something to look for in a chase and I'm 84% done now,
(35:09):
man. And just to lay those out and
look at them, it's just cool as crap, man.
When I get my new card room, I'mgoing to have those bad boys all
displayed and I'm building a bookcase just for the Cracker
Jack set and they're going to all be laid up there and man,
it's going to be cool. Yeah, yeah.
I mean, one of the things I've been working on for, I don't
know, three years now is I'm trying to get every T2O6 Hall of
(35:34):
Fame card, not Plank or Wagner. And for a while I just wanted
one of each guy. And.
And now I'm just like, no, I'm just, I'm just going to get
every card except for those two.And, and I mean, spoiler alert,
I just bought 2 today. Then I haven't even, yeah, I
(35:55):
haven't even told you that. But it was like a, a Facebook
post, which I dug into like a comments area and ended up, and
there were a couple of beauties that were really well priced.
And I'm like, I mean, 'cause I'mpretty picky.
And that's The thing is like, those cards aren't that rare.
Cracker Jacks are pretty rare. The pirate cards are pretty
(36:18):
rare. You got to get them when you see
them, but with the T2 O 6 is where they're, they're pretty
plentiful. The thing that's rare is finding
them centered and finding them not look like your dog got after
them. And and so when I find one, it's
just, it's fun to just add another piece to the puzzle.
One more thing before we wrap this up because we've been going
(36:40):
about 3637 minutes so far. I was listening to my buddy
Shane, Shoebox Legends this morning and on the way to work
and he had a great video and Shane is a fantastic guy.
And he was talking about how he never really paid attention to
the values of his cards, but some of the cards that he's had
(37:04):
for a while have gone up in value so much that they're more
valuable to other people than they are to him.
So he's like, yeah, there were these cards he was talking about
these buyback cards. He was like, yeah, I bought
these for like a dollar two each.
Well, there's some collector trying to pick them up and
(37:25):
they're rare and guys paying like 30 to $40 each for him.
So he's been selling them off and he's like, I still like
them. I still like these cards and,
and I like having them, but thisguy going to give me 30 or 40
bucks and they're just sitting in a box and, and, and how do I
(37:46):
justify keeping a card that thisother person really wants and
values way more than I than I value it and is willing to pay
big money for it where I can, I can sell some of this and get
some stuff I never thought I could get.
And, and I guess that brings me to the question of when we get
(38:09):
to the point with cards where other people value them more
than we do, or even though we might like them, even though we
still like the cards, but somebody else likes them more
and they're willing to pay more than we would pay for them, how
(38:30):
do we give ourselves permission to move on from them?
Yeah. So yeah, go ahead, go ahead.
No, no, no, I'm. That's pretty much it.
So the value part, we're not talking about dollars and cents
here, really. We're talking about if I don't
look at that card, am I really valuing it?
You know, you, your wife, you don't value me.
(38:51):
You didn't give me roses in the last year.
So that has nothing to do with money.
It has to do with, you know. Appreciation.
Yeah, exactly. So want to make sure it's clear.
Been a lot of talk about value. So anyways, so yeah, money's
involved there. I you know, when I first started
collecting, everything I bought was my collection was really
(39:13):
small. I valued right and I was
building a collection. I built the mantle run and then
I finished it and I'm like, yeah, you know, that's awesome
yeah. I kind of feel like Chevy Chase,
you know, when they went to the Grand Canyon, like, OK, now
what? So.
Well, yeah. So yeah, it was like, cool, I
(39:34):
can keep looking at the same cards over and over again, but I
know I can go out and grab another 65 mantle, you know?
But there was some other cards out there that I would value
more than those. And if I could sell those, I
could land something big, you know, and that I value.
And so I found myself willing topart with cards, man.
(39:57):
So I, you know, it's pretty documented what I did.
But, you know, there are other people that wouldn't do that.
Like there, I wouldn't call him a hoarder.
But, you know, they're trying tobuild a collection.
And it's about the quantity of acollection.
And they can catalog all these cards and they got them.
And, you know, if you want to ask.
Oh yeah man, I mean I watch Moynihan and Yogi.
(40:22):
Chris from Missouri do the the showdown, yeah, the showdown
thing. And I'm in awe.
Like, man, a lot, dude. They got every Hall of Famer.
And I know. I mean, that's cool that they
can do that, but with me, I'd rather if there's a card over
there in the corner that I neverlook at, then yeah, I'd sell
(40:43):
that and get something I look atfor a while and conquer another
hill. I it almost feels like you're
right. And I think you nailed it on the
head when you said it's not really about value.
I don't think value is the rightterm.
I think the right term is appreciate when someone else
appreciates it more than you appreciate it because value has
(41:05):
the term, you know, the, the term value has a financial
aspect to it and then it has an appreciation aspect to it.
But if I've got a bunch of cardsthat are sitting in a box and I
never look at him, I'm, I'm justlike, Oh yeah, I mean, I got
that, you know? And there's this other guy who's
searching everywhere and really wants that and he's willing to
pay up for it 'cause he really appreciates that.
(41:27):
And I don't really appreciate it.
But the thing I would really appreciate is that thing over
there, maybe what you do is you set it free to the place it's
going to get appreciated. And then you go get the thing
that you appreciate. And that's kind of I think what
which Shane was saying today andand I just thought it was a
great video and it and it kind of got my head kind of you got I
(41:50):
got my wheels turning a little bit about I started going maybe
maybe what I need to start doingis regularly, like once a month,
maybe go through my cards 1 by 1and just sit and look at it and
go, does this one still get me excited?
This one still get my juices flowing.
(42:11):
And if it doesn't, maybe I put it in the pile where I'm going
to think on it, on whether it's still the right card for me.
And it it's not necessarily because the financial value of
the card went up, but it's maybethat the appreciation value of
the card isn't as high as I oncewas.
(42:32):
Maybe I just fell out of love with the card for whatever
reason. Maybe I got bored with that set
or that player or that era, and something else gets me really
excited and I just need to give myself permission to go.
It's not that you don't like it,you just don't appreciate it as
(42:53):
much as this other thing. And if we have a fixed amount of
assets, shouldn't we be spendingour assets on the things that
we're going to appreciate the most?
Yeah. So but I also do respect those
guys that have the volume and they love having everything.
Like I respect that. I just don't know if that's for
me and that's for them, and that's cool.
(43:15):
Yeah, I know we're up against it, so I'll just say this real
quick. The way I look at it is you
talked about when you were a kidhow you would trade cards.
You use something for trade bait.
So the way I look at it is I'm basically trading cards for one
card. I'm trading 10 for one big
bigger one. I'm trading.
So I asked myself what I trade these cards for that card.
(43:38):
It's that's all I'm doing. I'm just trading.
I'm doing like I did when I was a kid.
It's just, you know, because those cards, the great thing
about collecting vintage cards, they typically hold their value.
It's like a savings account in your card room.
So you spend a little bit overtime getting these, and then
you're like, yeah, you know, butI'd really like to have that
one. And you just cash in your chips
(43:59):
and you trade and you get a bigger one.
That's what it is. Yeah, well, I appreciate you
jumping in. You were the best bullpen call
of of the of the spring or whatever you fall.
You did a great job. I had an absolute blast talking
(44:20):
to you, Mike. We hope he feels better soon,
but you know, everyone's replaceable.
Well, I mean, you remember WallyPip, so yeah, remember that is.
Mike, Wally, Pip, that might be the question out there.
That's awesome. All right, buddy, I appreciate
(44:41):
you. Thanks again for spending some
time with us. To those of you out there, if
you've not subscribed yet to us,consider it.
And if you've not subscribed to Tony Southern Collective 14, I
highly recommend it. And remember, we are available
on Spotify and Apple and I thinkAmazon now too.
So we're we're, we're taking over.
(45:03):
Big Tony. Yeah, all right, buddy.
Thanks man. Bye.
Popular Podcasts
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.