October 24, 2025 • 28 mins
It's been a bit since we caught up with Gemrate's Ryan Stuczynski so we do just that on this week's episode.
Talking points on this episode may include:
*The evolution of Gemrate.
*What's new and what's coming.
*Dealing with the grading companies themselves...good, bad or both.
*Thoughts on the SGC acquisition then and now.
*Top graded athletes.
*Caitlin Clark thoughts.
*"Junk Slab" era?
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Talking points on this episode may include:
*The evolution of Gemrate.
*What's new and what's coming.
*Dealing with the grading companies themselves...good, bad or both.
*Thoughts on the SGC acquisition then and now.
*Top graded athletes.
*Caitlin Clark thoughts.
*"Junk Slab" era?
Follow us on Social Media:
Website:
https://www.sportscardnationpo....com
https://linktr.ee/Sportscardna...
Merch shop:
https://sports-card-nation.pri...
To eliminate pre & post-roll ads
https://www.spreaker.com/podca...
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Sports Guard Nations hobby is the people weekly news and interviews.
It's your number one song. Sports Garnation hobby is the people.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Sports Guy Nation.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
What is up? Everyone? Welcome to episode three fifty nine Sportscardination.
Heeded to four hundred. It's funny. I remember approaching two
hundred episodes, three hundred episodes, and now we're on the
other side closer to four hundred. And when you think
about it being a weekly show, that's that's crazy. Here
(00:42):
we are seven years later, just about so, just a
little short of seven years. But enough about that. Let's
talk about you know, one one house cleaning thing. I've
been a little quieter on social media then I traditionally am,
(01:05):
although I try to cut down on my social media use.
This was kind of extreme for, you know, just to
inflect a little bit of what's going on sort of
outside the hobby. My mother in law lives in my
house with me and my wife and my son is
here as well, and she had a medical emergency slash scare.
(01:30):
It was in the hospital three or four days, so
we were going up back and forth there and so
she's home now. She's doing a lot better than she was,
and eighty years old, God bless her, and so that
you know, that was a reason where you know, the
hobby and social media wasn't that important in the grand
(01:54):
scheme of things. So I know a couple of people
actually asked, like, is everything okay because just not posting
the same you know, algorithm if you will, or as much.
But uh just kind of wanted to put that out there,
and uh, but a lot better now and uh uh
here we are. So today's guest is an alumnus of
(02:17):
the show. He's been on the show before, but it's
been a bit and when I realized how long it
was since he was last on, I'm like, man, there's
a lot has changed, uh since since then. And we
got we've got to tackle a bunch of stuff. And
my guest today is gem Rates Ryan Stezinski, and we're
(02:38):
going to tackle the grading terrain what's going on. And
one thing I love about Ryan is not only does
he do great work and kudos to them for all
the way he breaks all these numbers down and and
grading numbers even by player, uh and by company, and
(02:58):
he's just added on to the information he puts out
there for the hobby too to digest. But one thing
I love about Ryan two is he tells it like
it is. Even when he's on a show such as this,
he doesn't mince words. He doesn't have play favorites. He
gives sort of what he thinks is going on or
(03:21):
what he thinks may happen. Again, it's all speculation when
we predict future events, right, but really really really forthcoming
and doesn't you know, doesn't shy away from anything whenever
you know, I've had him on twice now he's like,
ask me anything you want. There's nothing off base. So
(03:44):
glad to have him on. And this is again part
one of two with him, and he does great work
and his gen rate report and now email and he's
just added so much to the repertoire. And I look
forward to seeing, you know, all those numbers. And you know,
sometimes we get you know, paralysis by analysis, but the
(04:09):
way he does it is just very It's it's easy
to understand and tells a lot about the story of
the hobby, if you will, So enough me doting on him.
Let's speak to the man himself right now. Always excited
(04:33):
to talk to the next gentleman on the Sports Carnation
guest line. It's been a couple of years. When I
looked that up, I was a little surprised and disappointed
in myself. So let me start off with an apology.
It's way too long not to have this next gentleman
on the podcast with everything going on in the hobby,
(04:54):
but glad to have him back, regardless of how long
it's been in I'll make a promise, Ryan Saysinsky, not
not to have it be that long a wait for
the next appearance. But Ryan from jem Rate, welcome, Welcome back,
even though I made you wait a little bit too longer,
at least in.
Speaker 4 (05:13):
My well, John, always a pleasure. Thank you for having
me back on.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
Yeah, And with that being said, two plus years since
I've had you on, I mean a lot's changed with
you know, what you do and what you produced with
the geen rate reports and all the work that you
put into it, Like even back then that you know,
I always it was a great thing, and you've just
added so much more to it kind of speak to
(05:38):
since the last time you've been on, like the evolution
of gem rate.
Speaker 5 (05:43):
Yeah, I mean big picture, just we're still doing the
month of reports, which do well that gets sort of
the most attention from just a you know, a visibility
from the genrate brands standpoint, and we'll just continue to
sort of try to add value or sort of build
on that. We do an iconic Tracker report now every month,
which is only an email I don't post to social
that does really well, but it's more about, you know,
if the monthly report is sort of known for the volume.
Speaker 4 (06:05):
You know, it's kind of the.
Speaker 5 (06:06):
Fast few fast food sort of equal of the hobby,
which is just sort of like what's moving in and out,
you know, where what are people grading at volume and
at scale? And then we do this iconic tractor which
is more of like what of substance is moving in
and out of the greater's doors as well, and that
just focused on sort of the cards of significance. Who's
seeing what's being great at the most? Where is it
being great at the most that does well?
Speaker 4 (06:28):
And that's something that is only.
Speaker 5 (06:29):
Available on email, just one of those things that tends
to do really well. There wasn't really sort of something
on social that was doing quite as well, just because
it's sort of the the the presentation and also sort
of the just sort of the intended audience. And then
we just started releasing Within the last few months, we're
starting to just venture into the sales world a little
bit more. So, we started to do data around what's
(06:51):
sort of people are moving in and out of on eBay. So,
you know, we're not trying to do a pricing tool.
We're not really trying to sort of compete on that front.
We're just trying to provide another look from almost like
a market research standpoint of just you know, if, for example,
one hundred million dollars are spent on eBay last month
and one hundred five million dollars were spent this month,
where did that five million additional dollars go? What players
(07:11):
are sort of getting more attention, what players maybe lost
some you know, visibility in the hobby or sort of
interest in the hobby.
Speaker 4 (07:18):
That's sort of a sort of a.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Stock up stock down if if you will.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
I love it, I get that, I get that when
you send it out, and uh.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
I think it's great. I think it's an enhanced feature.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
Right, you can look at not just you're not get
to look at just what the companies are getting, but
what specific athletes and people on the on the cards
themselves are are getting something, and you know where we're,
like you said, where the money is going? Where people
are you know, whether you whether you people like the
investment word or not, it's used, and it's a it's
(07:55):
it's a thing. And so where are people putting their
their hard earned dollars what particularly? And then where are
they sort of taking that away and not doing that
as much anymore. I think it's a it's a great
tool to see and just and again another feature. Yeah,
and I sorry to cut you off there, but I
wanted to kind of chime in there because I love it.
(08:17):
And you know, was that something was that something requested
or was that something like you just said, Hey, I'm
gonna I'm gonna add this on.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
To my report.
Speaker 4 (08:27):
I just seemed like a white space. It seemed like,
you know, we have a little bit of a different
way that we approach most the hobby.
Speaker 5 (08:31):
We kind of do a very macro level sort of
view of what's happening where a lot of the pricing
tools and stuff, just because of the nature of sort
of the Need day service are very card oriented or
very player oriented sort of from their inception, and this
is much more of a just like big picture, you know,
where is money moving in the hobby, and I also
one of the things that's you know, trickiest across you know,
you just watch a lot of content where people are
(08:52):
trying to compare you know, players from different generations or
even you know a few years apart. A Prism silver
might be very different one year from the next, or
a top splagship. You know, there's things that change year
to year that just make it hard to comp on
a card level. And so this was sort of trying
to help level the playing field of hey, what's happening
in somebody like an Aaron Judge or Otani's market first,
what you know we're traditionally seeing with Griffy or what
(09:13):
we're traditionally seeing with Mickey Mantle and just sort of
makes things a little bit more apples to apples of
just sort of like where are people spending their dollars?
How does that compare, you know, within a sort of
certain sport or category, and then even across categories, you know,
like how does a Jordan compare to an Otani and
things like that, or you know, Lebron or stuff or
somebody like that. So that was kind of the idea
is just because of the way the other tools are built,
(09:33):
They service a lot of great needs, and they do
indexes and things like that which are really valuable. This
is just sort of a different approach to sort of say, hey,
here's another way to sort of view important concepts in
the hobby that's not really being presented today. We felt
like we were uniquely suited to do it, and so
it's still new. It's definitely like one that we're building
momentum towards. But yeah, we were excited to bring in
to market. It's being well received so far.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
Yeah, and you two thumbs up for me and kudos.
I love reading that stuff. And you know, it's funny.
Most of my emails, you know, you read them and
then you delete them and they're gone. Right, you're the
gen rate ones I keep because I refer back to uh,
you know, it's like, hey, well I want to I
want to recheck that or I think it was this,
but let me let me verify that. So like my work,
(10:18):
once they get they get they get deleted. The gem
rate ones. Uh stay, I know I asked you this.
You know the last time you're on, which again was
was a couple of years back. And now with all
the added stuff that you you've added to your repertoire.
I mean, has it gotten more difficult to do what
you do or you know, how how would you answer
(10:40):
that not necessarily or depends on what's going on.
Speaker 5 (10:45):
Uh No, I would say not more difficult than any
other sort of hobby company. Just you know, one of
the hardest problems in this industry is just the card
catalog continues to expand faster than sort of data tools
can structure, you know, the information, and so you know,
there's just so many different products that are becoming increasingly
more relevant or you know, we're in sort of the
junk parallel era where there's you know, hundreds of parallels
(11:06):
for certain sets now for specific players and things. It's
just it's hard to catalog and sort of catch up.
And so I just feel like we're sort of, you know,
playing this this game where we're sort of never ever
going to sort of be above water. We're always sort
of underwater in this hobby and I think, so, you know,
it's not necessarily any easier, but it's also you know,
we're fighting the same battle that most companies in space are.
(11:27):
So you know, it's one that I knew I was
signing up for though when I entered into it, I
enjoy it, which is part of why I could sort
of persevere through a lot of that noise.
Speaker 4 (11:35):
So you know, some of some things are easier. But
I mean we also we.
Speaker 5 (11:38):
Look at things too, like additional opportunities with like additional
grade cups.
Speaker 4 (11:40):
We get a lot of requests to add tag.
Speaker 5 (11:42):
To our data set, for example, and that's one that's
sort of you know, emerging and interesting, and you know
they're they're a little niche in a sense that there's
doing a lot of Pokemon these days. You know, so
even when we do get sort of close to being
about water, will always throw something else onto the roadmap
that's going to sink us right back down.
Speaker 4 (11:57):
And so you know, that's an.
Speaker 5 (11:58):
Example of something that we're looking to do the next
couple of months that you know, it's just going to
sort of offset a lot of the momentum that we
have from ah, if we're catching up, we'll sort of
set ourselves back a little bit, but in a positive way,
and that we're sort of incrementally adding to the data
that we're bringing to market, but we're always sort of
playing catch up.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
Yeah, I like to term me used the last time
you hear like organized chaos, you.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
Use it, it's I love it.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
I think I've probably stolen it a couple of times
and used it in something I was doing in the context.
Uh there, I know, I actually this last time too.
Obviously you're you're a bigger entity today than you were.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Even when you were on a few years back.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
And I actually instead, you know, how are the degrading
companies themselves to work with?
Speaker 2 (12:45):
Have they?
Speaker 3 (12:46):
Have they sort of embraced what you're doing more now
that it's become more hobby mainstream, if you will, more
readily used or and received.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
Or or not necessar not not necessarily.
Speaker 4 (12:59):
Yeah, for sure, definitely more.
Speaker 5 (13:00):
You know, I think almost five years ago when we launched,
I think our first report came out four and a
half years ago. You know, people just weren't sure what
to make of us. You know, there's a lot of
you know, bad actors quite frankly, but also there's just
uncertain agendas in this hobby at times, and so you know,
I think people were just cautious and guarded about what
we were doing. And now we've sort of you know,
we've I've met a lot of the teams, I've met
(13:22):
with a lot of the executives at the companies and
had good conversation with them. They know our intentions are
strong and what we're trying to do for the hobby,
and I would just in general, I think people now
give us sort of the benefit of the doubt, where
maybe four years ago that wasn't the case. And so,
you know, from a that' standpoint, I just say that
we're they're easier to work with from the benefit of
the doubt standpoint and sort of their trust in what
(13:43):
we're doing.
Speaker 4 (13:44):
And then you know, more and more we're getting.
Speaker 5 (13:45):
Companies that are volunteering information and trying to sort of
necessarily get ahead of their story, but just try to
sort of help in that sense as well, which is
more tooling that they can make available, or ways that
they can make our jobs or lives a little bit easier,
or even could textualize the things we're doing. So yeah,
the short answer is definitely much more of a welcoming
environment from the grading company standpoint, which is fantastic. I mean,
(14:05):
I'd like to think that we bring more visibility whether
you're sort of performing well or sort of maybe you're
having a little bit of a you know, adjustment period
or recalibration period. You know, we're just trying to bring
more transparency. And you know this, we could have just
done PSA data forever, but without the context of other
grading companies, you know, the story would have been limited.
And so even for companies you know that are sort
of emerging or for PSA itself, it's again it helps
(14:27):
to compare contrast against what's being seen and what's being
done across the board. And so I think people will
understand that while they could post their own stories, having
the context of what everybody else is doing also sort
of facilitates just like more dialogue, more of an understanding
and transparency.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
Yeah, it's nice to hear that there's some communication that
that goes back and forth.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
It's time for a quick break, thoughts will be right.
Speaker 6 (14:52):
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(15:15):
Hobby Hotline.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
Sports Combination has returns.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
I don't know, if this does happen, I'll ask you.
You know, you don't even have to mention necessarily a
company specifically, does a grading company ever like refute something
you've reported, like hey, that that's too high or that's
too low, like hey, can you correct at or there's
a discrepancy there that you need to fix.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
Does that ever happen or not? Not necessarily?
Speaker 5 (15:50):
A few years ago, Becket, would you know, offhand comments
sometimes and to say your numbers would feel like they're underrepresented,
and candidate they were because but it's underrepresented, and how
they would measure internally not necessarily how we would view
it publicly, which is, you know, we are literally just
going to pop reports consuming that information. We only take
what the public would see to make sure that we're
sort of on the same level as everybody else and
(16:13):
reporting that back to the hobby and so, you know,
Beckett says certain things where either they were weren't caught
up at the time or they have you know, they
have bas and certain things that just aren't as well
sort of factored into how they present data on their
pop reports and so or you know, even BCCG, which
they create a lot of right, but that doesn't show
up on a pop report like a traditional pop report,
and so you know their volume was underrepresented to some degree. First,
(16:36):
how they might think about it internally, I think they've
come to terms with like they know what our approaches
and sort of what we stand for and why we're
doing what we're doing, and so generally speaking, I think
even Beckett would agree that, like our narratives generally like
reasonable with what is available to us. And so they
were the only ones and I was a few years ago. Otherwise,
you know, we CGC or PSA. You know, they've they've
mentioned us in their marketing or you know, and just
(16:58):
we partner with them in certain ways, so they're much
more of I would just say, there's much more alignment
of like, yeah, we're not going to be perfect, but
we're gonna put sort of you know, our best foot forward,
and that's usually really well represented, and you know, we
sort of stayed that course, and I think that we've
built a lot of trust as a result of that.
Speaker 4 (17:14):
So occasionally, but it's been a few years since we've
heard that.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
Yeah, and I can I get it.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
And you know, it's not a perfect science, right, You're
doing the best you can and then when you factor
in right people breaks tough out of slabs and rese them,
that can alter you can't. That's hard to that's almost impossible,
if not impossible, to track that right it. So yeah,
(17:40):
I guess a question off that, Ryan, do you ever
think there'll be a day where you know, and it's
something I've I rarely do personally. I think I've done
it twice in thirty plus years of grading. But like
you think at some point, like people who maybe crack
it out of a slab and either resubmit it, whether
(18:00):
it be to the same company or try to cross
it over to a different one, do you think that'll
be more trackable or for whatever technology or that's just
really hard to do.
Speaker 5 (18:12):
I don't know that that ever comes into plane lest
there's an incentive for people to report it and sort
of make that more obvious to the companies. Right now,
there's just you know, misinformation to sort of carried the
hobby for decades and so or a lack of information,
and so you know that continues to be somewhat of
an incentive, and that's something that we're sort of trying
to counteract, which is bringing more information and making it
easier to access. You know, I.
Speaker 4 (18:34):
Would love if that were the case.
Speaker 5 (18:35):
It's probably the biggest pushback we get is that there's
just the Popperport data is not accurate or sort of
not representing sort of what the essence of it is,
which is how many of these cards exist there and
supply it just actually reflects how many times it's been graded,
which is not necessarily one to one.
Speaker 4 (18:51):
And there's nothing we can do about it. There's nothing
that grating companies can do about it. You know, I
would love if that were the case.
Speaker 5 (18:56):
I just I don't know that there will ever be
sort of a great answer that I think most important thing, Like,
at some point I'd love to bring like a metric
to the market of like cards that might be much
you know, more susceptible to being cracked and regraded, so
people might factor in like a you know, some sort
of multiplier of like, hey, this card's like you know,
one hundred and twenty percent of sort of like the
realistic volume versus card that's much more like on card
(19:18):
because you know, the cards that are the highest profile
are the ones that are cracked and regraded, and so
the ones that people are talking about are the ones
that are most susceptible to that behavior oftentimes, and so anyways,
you could cherry pick that and sort of make noise
about it, reasonably so about the crack game and what
that does for the numbers. But ultimately it's something that
we just want to make people aware of so that
they consider it. But we're not necessarily going to solve
(19:40):
that problem anytime soon.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
Yeah, it's it's it's difficult.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
I get it, you know, I've I've heard I've read
articles where some of these grading card companies are trying
to almost like with an invisible ink or some sort
of uh, you know, insignia or some kind of you know,
kind of mark the card where it doesn't obviously they
roomed the card, but makes it aware that it was
(20:04):
already graded once.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
And and kind of track it on on those terms.
Speaker 3 (20:09):
I mean, if something like the ever, if something like
that's ever really goes into like full effect you think
it then we might see it, or even then.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
It still becomes a difficult task.
Speaker 5 (20:21):
I would you know, I would love to think that
it's going to be productive and sort of would would
sort of manifest in that way of surface in that way.
I mean p S as fingerprinting that they talk about,
you know, related to their acquisition a few years ago
with gentlemen. And you know, I do think like some
sort of invisible ink or something like that could be interesting,
But I don't know that that's a priority for these companies.
(20:41):
And so even if that's possible, I don't know that
the companies care enough for that to be sort of
something that they want to you know, solve for at
this stage. So potentially i'd love to I'd love to
see something happen there. I'm not sure that that's going
to be a priority anytime and then you know, the
next few years, but potentially that could be at least
a you know, progress on that.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
Yeah, it's a good point you just made too write
To implement that, you gotta have the technologies, and that
costs money, like does it? You know, a grading company's
gonna have to wanna make an investment in that, and
and is it worth it to them to do that,
let's say, And you know, those are those are decisions
that that others have to make. But uh, you know,
(21:23):
be interesting, all the new technologies and the AIS and
and the all the stuff that you hear, it's gonna
be interesting. Uh, you know where where the space is going?
Speaking speaking of the grading space again since the last time,
you know, uh two years ago, oh, probably more like
two and a half years ago, which again I promise
(21:44):
won't happen again. I'm gonna write one hundred times I
will not not have Ryan on uh and for that
amount of time. But you know, how would you describe
the grading terrain from from that the last time you
hear to what we're seeing now. I know that's a
tough question to you know, just a general answer, but
(22:05):
the best you can do, uh, in the in two
and a half years.
Speaker 5 (22:09):
No, I think it's a great question, and it's it
shows how much you know, how dynamic this industry is
and how sort of quickly things can change. You know,
even two years ago when we last chat and SGC
was just starting to build enough credibility where people were
taking them serious, just from the standpoint of like, could
they you know, replace BGS as the number two? People
were just unwilling to consider that even a possibility because
(22:31):
you know, SGC stood for sort of pre war and
and vintage, and you know they were grading a lot
of ultra modern cards all of a sudden and you know,
they had to build trust if that was something that
they were capable of doing at scale and consistently, and
to their credit, they stayed the course on that and
they did some really smart programs with TOPS to sort
of get really great volume in the door and they
(22:53):
were able to replace or supplant BGS as the number two,
which was really interesting. And then you flip the script,
you know, two years later now and sgc's obviously been
acquired and things have changed, you know, pretty dramatically on
that front, where.
Speaker 4 (23:07):
You know they were sort of staying the course.
Speaker 5 (23:08):
You know, they were probably tasked with not break things
for a year, and then now you've seen sort of
things pull back as the agenda has changed for you know,
Collectors the parent company of both the SA and SGC,
so you've.
Speaker 4 (23:21):
Seen some changes there.
Speaker 5 (23:22):
So you've seen sort of what can happen when a
company sort of really nails or sort of leans into
a strength, which SGC was doing with service and turnaround times,
and that was something that they really leaned into.
Speaker 4 (23:35):
You've also seen you know.
Speaker 5 (23:36):
There's just every company sort of has lanes, and what
you're seeing now is more of like CGC is thriving
because TCG is doing so well.
Speaker 4 (23:43):
You know, to their credit, that was sort of their
bread and butter.
Speaker 5 (23:46):
That was sort of always their sweet spot once they
got integrating because of their you know, because of their
comic lineage, and so that translated really well. And now
that TCG is carrying grading in many ways, they're they're
doing really well. PSA on many number of fronts is
doing really well. And you know, they've continued to do well.
You know, they've operated and executed extremely well since the
(24:08):
team transitioned a few years ago.
Speaker 4 (24:10):
You know, they've invested a.
Speaker 5 (24:11):
Lot and infrastructure a few years ago, and they're seeing
so many dividends from that. And what they're doing not
only from a grading standpoint and volume standpoint, but how
they actually their general understanding of like why people grade
cards is a big you know, and this isn't this
is an over generalization, but a lot of people grade
cards either make back money from opening wax that they
lost money on or ultimately which is to liquidate cards,
(24:34):
right this is this is usually inventory that they no
longer want to hold on to. Then one of the
ways to increase the value that inventory is to grade it.
And they've put a lot of pieces in place to
facilitate allowing people to get the best return on their
dollar when they send cards to them. And then you
have somebody like Becket on the other side of this,
which is you know, they've stumbled, they were quiet. You
didn't hear a lot happening there for a while, and
you know, again, I think that was a company that
(24:56):
was limited in what they could do with tasks of
not breaking things because that was sort of what they
were asked to do, and that was sort.
Speaker 4 (25:01):
Of the the mo for a while there. I think they.
Speaker 5 (25:04):
Finally have sort of been able to revisit and sort
of reimagine what that could look like, you know, for
them to be a different participant in the hobby. And
you're starting to see some you know, tailwinds build there,
which is good because I think people love the Becket brand.
It stands for so much, and so people would love
to see that brand thrive again. And so, you know, ultimately,
people like having competition in our space as well. You know,
it's a constant battle, and so to degree that a
(25:25):
company that you.
Speaker 4 (25:26):
Know, especially like even though CGC is.
Speaker 5 (25:28):
Doing well, they're still very early on the sports side
of the equation, and you know, Beckett's a long standing
brand that people have loved over the years, and people
would love to see that brand re emerge again in
a way that you know, just looks different, it feels
different than how it has the past few years, and
so there's an opportunity. So anyways, people like that. It
also puts more pressure on PSA to do things. I mean,
(25:49):
you know, even though I just sort of spoke the
graces of PSA, if you're a set registry person or
you're a vintage person, you probably have all sorts of
gripes with what PSA has done over the last four
years because it hasn't serviced sort of their most loyal audience,
their core audience that built up that brand over the years,
and so they've kind of pushed that aside for some
initiatives to help sort of with all the Altra modern
activity and the TCG activities. So you've got all these
(26:11):
different sort of moving pieces, which I think is fascinating,
and it looks very different than it did just two
years ago, and I'm willing to bet it looks pretty
different two years from now too. Even though again people
would argue that, you know, PSA is dominating there's always
sort of room for other players to emerge and other
sort of lanes to sort of for people. You know,
people just want to sort of for one reason, zag
against PSA or don't believe in what PSA stands for,
(26:32):
sort of question consistency over there because of other initiatives
that they sort of prioritize, and so people are looking
for alternatives. And so I just continue to think the
landscape's going to evolve, which is great.
Speaker 4 (26:42):
I love it. It's interesting, makes my job more interesting.
Speaker 5 (26:45):
Day in and day out, and it makes you know,
the data that we bring to market, you know, just
to continue to be well received because it sort of
continues to sort of reflect or represent sort of how
things are trending, which is always interesting to see.
Speaker 3 (26:57):
Yeah, it's changing, like you said, and two years from
now it will look much different than it is as
we're speaking today. Awesome reconnecting with Ryan, and again this
was part one, so if you enjoyed it, Part two
will be next Friday. We get more into the the weeds,
(27:19):
including you know what his thoughts of the acquisition of
SGC at the time. And that's what I love about
Ryan is he he's not shy to share his kind
of personal thoughts when I talk to him and when
we've had him on.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
So that will be next week.
Speaker 3 (27:38):
And so we're gonna hear from our hobbies the people,
announce it and wrap up this week's episode.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
Time for all. Hobby is the People Announcer of the week.
Speaker 5 (27:52):
This is Ray from Philly and remember the Hobby is
the People.
Speaker 1 (27:56):
If you'd like to be the Hobby is the People
Announcer of the week. To have one or MP three
file and send it to Sportscardination PC at gmail dot com.
Sports Guard Nations hobby is the people weekly news and interviews.
It's your number one song. Sports Garnation hobby is the people.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Sports Guy Nation.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
What is up? Everyone? Welcome to episode three fifty nine Sportscardination.
Heeded to four hundred. It's funny. I remember approaching two
hundred episodes, three hundred episodes, and now we're on the
other side closer to four hundred. And when you think
about it being a weekly show, that's that's crazy. Here
(00:42):
we are seven years later, just about so, just a
little short of seven years. But enough about that. Let's
talk about you know, one one house cleaning thing. I've
been a little quieter on social media then I traditionally am,
(01:05):
although I try to cut down on my social media use.
This was kind of extreme for, you know, just to
inflect a little bit of what's going on sort of
outside the hobby. My mother in law lives in my
house with me and my wife and my son is
here as well, and she had a medical emergency slash scare.
(01:30):
It was in the hospital three or four days, so
we were going up back and forth there and so
she's home now. She's doing a lot better than she was,
and eighty years old, God bless her, and so that
you know, that was a reason where you know, the
hobby and social media wasn't that important in the grand
(01:54):
scheme of things. So I know a couple of people
actually asked, like, is everything okay because just not posting
the same you know, algorithm if you will, or as much.
But uh just kind of wanted to put that out there,
and uh, but a lot better now and uh uh
here we are. So today's guest is an alumnus of
(02:17):
the show. He's been on the show before, but it's
been a bit and when I realized how long it
was since he was last on, I'm like, man, there's
a lot has changed, uh since since then. And we
got we've got to tackle a bunch of stuff. And
my guest today is gem Rates Ryan Stezinski, and we're
(02:38):
going to tackle the grading terrain what's going on. And
one thing I love about Ryan is not only does
he do great work and kudos to them for all
the way he breaks all these numbers down and and
grading numbers even by player, uh and by company, and
(02:58):
he's just added on to the information he puts out
there for the hobby too to digest. But one thing
I love about Ryan two is he tells it like
it is. Even when he's on a show such as this,
he doesn't mince words. He doesn't have play favorites. He
gives sort of what he thinks is going on or
(03:21):
what he thinks may happen. Again, it's all speculation when
we predict future events, right, but really really really forthcoming
and doesn't you know, doesn't shy away from anything whenever
you know, I've had him on twice now he's like,
ask me anything you want. There's nothing off base. So
(03:44):
glad to have him on. And this is again part
one of two with him, and he does great work
and his gen rate report and now email and he's
just added so much to the repertoire. And I look
forward to seeing, you know, all those numbers. And you know,
sometimes we get you know, paralysis by analysis, but the
(04:09):
way he does it is just very It's it's easy
to understand and tells a lot about the story of
the hobby, if you will, So enough me doting on him.
Let's speak to the man himself right now. Always excited
(04:33):
to talk to the next gentleman on the Sports Carnation
guest line. It's been a couple of years. When I
looked that up, I was a little surprised and disappointed
in myself. So let me start off with an apology.
It's way too long not to have this next gentleman
on the podcast with everything going on in the hobby,
(04:54):
but glad to have him back, regardless of how long
it's been in I'll make a promise, Ryan Saysinsky, not
not to have it be that long a wait for
the next appearance. But Ryan from jem Rate, welcome, Welcome back,
even though I made you wait a little bit too longer,
at least in.
Speaker 4 (05:13):
My well, John, always a pleasure. Thank you for having
me back on.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
Yeah, And with that being said, two plus years since
I've had you on, I mean a lot's changed with
you know, what you do and what you produced with
the geen rate reports and all the work that you
put into it, Like even back then that you know,
I always it was a great thing, and you've just
added so much more to it kind of speak to
(05:38):
since the last time you've been on, like the evolution
of gem rate.
Speaker 5 (05:43):
Yeah, I mean big picture, just we're still doing the
month of reports, which do well that gets sort of
the most attention from just a you know, a visibility
from the genrate brands standpoint, and we'll just continue to
sort of try to add value or sort of build
on that. We do an iconic Tracker report now every month,
which is only an email I don't post to social
that does really well, but it's more about, you know,
if the monthly report is sort of known for the volume.
Speaker 4 (06:05):
You know, it's kind of the.
Speaker 5 (06:06):
Fast few fast food sort of equal of the hobby,
which is just sort of like what's moving in and out,
you know, where what are people grading at volume and
at scale? And then we do this iconic tractor which
is more of like what of substance is moving in
and out of the greater's doors as well, and that
just focused on sort of the cards of significance. Who's
seeing what's being great at the most? Where is it
being great at the most that does well?
Speaker 4 (06:28):
And that's something that is only.
Speaker 5 (06:29):
Available on email, just one of those things that tends
to do really well. There wasn't really sort of something
on social that was doing quite as well, just because
it's sort of the the the presentation and also sort
of the just sort of the intended audience. And then
we just started releasing Within the last few months, we're
starting to just venture into the sales world a little
bit more. So, we started to do data around what's
(06:51):
sort of people are moving in and out of on eBay. So,
you know, we're not trying to do a pricing tool.
We're not really trying to sort of compete on that front.
We're just trying to provide another look from almost like
a market research standpoint of just you know, if, for example,
one hundred million dollars are spent on eBay last month
and one hundred five million dollars were spent this month,
where did that five million additional dollars go? What players
(07:11):
are sort of getting more attention, what players maybe lost
some you know, visibility in the hobby or sort of
interest in the hobby.
Speaker 4 (07:18):
That's sort of a sort of a.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Stock up stock down if if you will.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
I love it, I get that, I get that when
you send it out, and uh.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
I think it's great. I think it's an enhanced feature.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
Right, you can look at not just you're not get
to look at just what the companies are getting, but
what specific athletes and people on the on the cards
themselves are are getting something, and you know where we're,
like you said, where the money is going? Where people
are you know, whether you whether you people like the
investment word or not, it's used, and it's a it's
(07:55):
it's a thing. And so where are people putting their
their hard earned dollars what particularly? And then where are
they sort of taking that away and not doing that
as much anymore. I think it's a it's a great
tool to see and just and again another feature. Yeah,
and I sorry to cut you off there, but I
wanted to kind of chime in there because I love it.
(08:17):
And you know, was that something was that something requested
or was that something like you just said, Hey, I'm
gonna I'm gonna add this on.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
To my report.
Speaker 4 (08:27):
I just seemed like a white space. It seemed like,
you know, we have a little bit of a different
way that we approach most the hobby.
Speaker 5 (08:31):
We kind of do a very macro level sort of
view of what's happening where a lot of the pricing
tools and stuff, just because of the nature of sort
of the Need day service are very card oriented or
very player oriented sort of from their inception, and this
is much more of a just like big picture, you know,
where is money moving in the hobby, and I also
one of the things that's you know, trickiest across you know,
you just watch a lot of content where people are
(08:52):
trying to compare you know, players from different generations or
even you know a few years apart. A Prism silver
might be very different one year from the next, or
a top splagship. You know, there's things that change year
to year that just make it hard to comp on
a card level. And so this was sort of trying
to help level the playing field of hey, what's happening
in somebody like an Aaron Judge or Otani's market first,
what you know we're traditionally seeing with Griffy or what
(09:13):
we're traditionally seeing with Mickey Mantle and just sort of
makes things a little bit more apples to apples of
just sort of like where are people spending their dollars?
How does that compare, you know, within a sort of
certain sport or category, and then even across categories, you know,
like how does a Jordan compare to an Otani and
things like that, or you know, Lebron or stuff or
somebody like that. So that was kind of the idea
is just because of the way the other tools are built,
(09:33):
They service a lot of great needs, and they do
indexes and things like that which are really valuable. This
is just sort of a different approach to sort of say, hey,
here's another way to sort of view important concepts in
the hobby that's not really being presented today. We felt
like we were uniquely suited to do it, and so
it's still new. It's definitely like one that we're building
momentum towards. But yeah, we were excited to bring in
to market. It's being well received so far.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
Yeah, and you two thumbs up for me and kudos.
I love reading that stuff. And you know, it's funny.
Most of my emails, you know, you read them and
then you delete them and they're gone. Right, you're the
gen rate ones I keep because I refer back to uh,
you know, it's like, hey, well I want to I
want to recheck that or I think it was this,
but let me let me verify that. So like my work,
(10:18):
once they get they get they get deleted. The gem
rate ones. Uh stay, I know I asked you this.
You know the last time you're on, which again was
was a couple of years back. And now with all
the added stuff that you you've added to your repertoire.
I mean, has it gotten more difficult to do what
you do or you know, how how would you answer
(10:40):
that not necessarily or depends on what's going on.
Speaker 5 (10:45):
Uh No, I would say not more difficult than any
other sort of hobby company. Just you know, one of
the hardest problems in this industry is just the card
catalog continues to expand faster than sort of data tools
can structure, you know, the information, and so you know,
there's just so many different products that are becoming increasingly
more relevant or you know, we're in sort of the
junk parallel era where there's you know, hundreds of parallels
(11:06):
for certain sets now for specific players and things. It's
just it's hard to catalog and sort of catch up.
And so I just feel like we're sort of, you know,
playing this this game where we're sort of never ever
going to sort of be above water. We're always sort
of underwater in this hobby and I think, so, you know,
it's not necessarily any easier, but it's also you know,
we're fighting the same battle that most companies in space are.
(11:27):
So you know, it's one that I knew I was
signing up for though when I entered into it, I
enjoy it, which is part of why I could sort
of persevere through a lot of that noise.
Speaker 4 (11:35):
So you know, some of some things are easier. But
I mean we also we.
Speaker 5 (11:38):
Look at things too, like additional opportunities with like additional
grade cups.
Speaker 4 (11:40):
We get a lot of requests to add tag.
Speaker 5 (11:42):
To our data set, for example, and that's one that's
sort of you know, emerging and interesting, and you know
they're they're a little niche in a sense that there's
doing a lot of Pokemon these days. You know, so
even when we do get sort of close to being
about water, will always throw something else onto the roadmap
that's going to sink us right back down.
Speaker 4 (11:57):
And so you know, that's an.
Speaker 5 (11:58):
Example of something that we're looking to do the next
couple of months that you know, it's just going to
sort of offset a lot of the momentum that we
have from ah, if we're catching up, we'll sort of
set ourselves back a little bit, but in a positive way,
and that we're sort of incrementally adding to the data
that we're bringing to market, but we're always sort of
playing catch up.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
Yeah, I like to term me used the last time
you hear like organized chaos, you.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
Use it, it's I love it.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
I think I've probably stolen it a couple of times
and used it in something I was doing in the context.
Uh there, I know, I actually this last time too.
Obviously you're you're a bigger entity today than you were.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Even when you were on a few years back.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
And I actually instead, you know, how are the degrading
companies themselves to work with?
Speaker 2 (12:45):
Have they?
Speaker 3 (12:46):
Have they sort of embraced what you're doing more now
that it's become more hobby mainstream, if you will, more
readily used or and received.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
Or or not necessar not not necessarily.
Speaker 4 (12:59):
Yeah, for sure, definitely more.
Speaker 5 (13:00):
You know, I think almost five years ago when we launched,
I think our first report came out four and a
half years ago. You know, people just weren't sure what
to make of us. You know, there's a lot of
you know, bad actors quite frankly, but also there's just
uncertain agendas in this hobby at times, and so you know,
I think people were just cautious and guarded about what
we were doing. And now we've sort of you know,
we've I've met a lot of the teams, I've met
(13:22):
with a lot of the executives at the companies and
had good conversation with them. They know our intentions are
strong and what we're trying to do for the hobby,
and I would just in general, I think people now
give us sort of the benefit of the doubt, where
maybe four years ago that wasn't the case. And so,
you know, from a that' standpoint, I just say that
we're they're easier to work with from the benefit of
the doubt standpoint and sort of their trust in what
(13:43):
we're doing.
Speaker 4 (13:44):
And then you know, more and more we're getting.
Speaker 5 (13:45):
Companies that are volunteering information and trying to sort of
necessarily get ahead of their story, but just try to
sort of help in that sense as well, which is
more tooling that they can make available, or ways that
they can make our jobs or lives a little bit easier,
or even could textualize the things we're doing. So yeah,
the short answer is definitely much more of a welcoming
environment from the grading company standpoint, which is fantastic. I mean,
(14:05):
I'd like to think that we bring more visibility whether
you're sort of performing well or sort of maybe you're
having a little bit of a you know, adjustment period
or recalibration period. You know, we're just trying to bring
more transparency. And you know this, we could have just
done PSA data forever, but without the context of other
grading companies, you know, the story would have been limited.
And so even for companies you know that are sort
of emerging or for PSA itself, it's again it helps
(14:27):
to compare contrast against what's being seen and what's being
done across the board. And so I think people will
understand that while they could post their own stories, having
the context of what everybody else is doing also sort
of facilitates just like more dialogue, more of an understanding
and transparency.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
Yeah, it's nice to hear that there's some communication that
that goes back and forth.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
It's time for a quick break, thoughts will be right.
Speaker 6 (14:52):
Hobby Hotline is the Hobby's only live, interactive call in show.
Join some of your favorite hobby personality every Saturday eleven
am Eastern eight am Pacific to discuss the hottest hobby topics.
If you miss us live, catch us after the fact
on all major podcast platforms. Follow us on socials at
(15:15):
Hobby Hotline.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
Sports Combination has returns.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
I don't know, if this does happen, I'll ask you.
You know, you don't even have to mention necessarily a
company specifically, does a grading company ever like refute something
you've reported, like hey, that that's too high or that's
too low, like hey, can you correct at or there's
a discrepancy there that you need to fix.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
Does that ever happen or not? Not necessarily?
Speaker 5 (15:50):
A few years ago, Becket, would you know, offhand comments
sometimes and to say your numbers would feel like they're underrepresented,
and candidate they were because but it's underrepresented, and how
they would measure internally not necessarily how we would view
it publicly, which is, you know, we are literally just
going to pop reports consuming that information. We only take
what the public would see to make sure that we're
sort of on the same level as everybody else and
(16:13):
reporting that back to the hobby and so, you know,
Beckett says certain things where either they were weren't caught
up at the time or they have you know, they
have bas and certain things that just aren't as well
sort of factored into how they present data on their
pop reports and so or you know, even BCCG, which
they create a lot of right, but that doesn't show
up on a pop report like a traditional pop report,
and so you know their volume was underrepresented to some degree. First,
(16:36):
how they might think about it internally, I think they've
come to terms with like they know what our approaches
and sort of what we stand for and why we're
doing what we're doing, and so generally speaking, I think
even Beckett would agree that, like our narratives generally like
reasonable with what is available to us. And so they
were the only ones and I was a few years ago. Otherwise,
you know, we CGC or PSA. You know, they've they've
mentioned us in their marketing or you know, and just
(16:58):
we partner with them in certain ways, so they're much
more of I would just say, there's much more alignment
of like, yeah, we're not going to be perfect, but
we're gonna put sort of you know, our best foot forward,
and that's usually really well represented, and you know, we
sort of stayed that course, and I think that we've
built a lot of trust as a result of that.
Speaker 4 (17:14):
So occasionally, but it's been a few years since we've
heard that.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
Yeah, and I can I get it.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
And you know, it's not a perfect science, right, You're
doing the best you can and then when you factor
in right people breaks tough out of slabs and rese them,
that can alter you can't. That's hard to that's almost impossible,
if not impossible, to track that right it. So yeah,
(17:40):
I guess a question off that, Ryan, do you ever
think there'll be a day where you know, and it's
something I've I rarely do personally. I think I've done
it twice in thirty plus years of grading. But like
you think at some point, like people who maybe crack
it out of a slab and either resubmit it, whether
(18:00):
it be to the same company or try to cross
it over to a different one, do you think that'll
be more trackable or for whatever technology or that's just
really hard to do.
Speaker 5 (18:12):
I don't know that that ever comes into plane lest
there's an incentive for people to report it and sort
of make that more obvious to the companies. Right now,
there's just you know, misinformation to sort of carried the
hobby for decades and so or a lack of information,
and so you know that continues to be somewhat of
an incentive, and that's something that we're sort of trying
to counteract, which is bringing more information and making it
easier to access. You know, I.
Speaker 4 (18:34):
Would love if that were the case.
Speaker 5 (18:35):
It's probably the biggest pushback we get is that there's
just the Popperport data is not accurate or sort of
not representing sort of what the essence of it is,
which is how many of these cards exist there and
supply it just actually reflects how many times it's been graded,
which is not necessarily one to one.
Speaker 4 (18:51):
And there's nothing we can do about it. There's nothing
that grating companies can do about it. You know, I
would love if that were the case.
Speaker 5 (18:56):
I just I don't know that there will ever be
sort of a great answer that I think most important thing, Like,
at some point I'd love to bring like a metric
to the market of like cards that might be much
you know, more susceptible to being cracked and regraded, so
people might factor in like a you know, some sort
of multiplier of like, hey, this card's like you know,
one hundred and twenty percent of sort of like the
realistic volume versus card that's much more like on card
(19:18):
because you know, the cards that are the highest profile
are the ones that are cracked and regraded, and so
the ones that people are talking about are the ones
that are most susceptible to that behavior oftentimes, and so anyways,
you could cherry pick that and sort of make noise
about it, reasonably so about the crack game and what
that does for the numbers. But ultimately it's something that
we just want to make people aware of so that
they consider it. But we're not necessarily going to solve
(19:40):
that problem anytime soon.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
Yeah, it's it's it's difficult.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
I get it, you know, I've I've heard I've read
articles where some of these grading card companies are trying
to almost like with an invisible ink or some sort
of uh, you know, insignia or some kind of you know,
kind of mark the card where it doesn't obviously they
roomed the card, but makes it aware that it was
(20:04):
already graded once.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
And and kind of track it on on those terms.
Speaker 3 (20:09):
I mean, if something like the ever, if something like
that's ever really goes into like full effect you think
it then we might see it, or even then.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
It still becomes a difficult task.
Speaker 5 (20:21):
I would you know, I would love to think that
it's going to be productive and sort of would would
sort of manifest in that way of surface in that way.
I mean p S as fingerprinting that they talk about,
you know, related to their acquisition a few years ago
with gentlemen. And you know, I do think like some
sort of invisible ink or something like that could be interesting,
But I don't know that that's a priority for these companies.
(20:41):
And so even if that's possible, I don't know that
the companies care enough for that to be sort of
something that they want to you know, solve for at
this stage. So potentially i'd love to I'd love to
see something happen there. I'm not sure that that's going
to be a priority anytime and then you know, the
next few years, but potentially that could be at least
a you know, progress on that.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
Yeah, it's a good point you just made too write
To implement that, you gotta have the technologies, and that
costs money, like does it? You know, a grading company's
gonna have to wanna make an investment in that, and
and is it worth it to them to do that,
let's say, And you know, those are those are decisions
that that others have to make. But uh, you know,
(21:23):
be interesting, all the new technologies and the AIS and
and the all the stuff that you hear, it's gonna
be interesting. Uh, you know where where the space is going?
Speaking speaking of the grading space again since the last time,
you know, uh two years ago, oh, probably more like
two and a half years ago, which again I promise
(21:44):
won't happen again. I'm gonna write one hundred times I
will not not have Ryan on uh and for that
amount of time. But you know, how would you describe
the grading terrain from from that the last time you
hear to what we're seeing now. I know that's a
tough question to you know, just a general answer, but
(22:05):
the best you can do, uh, in the in two
and a half years.
Speaker 5 (22:09):
No, I think it's a great question, and it's it
shows how much you know, how dynamic this industry is
and how sort of quickly things can change. You know,
even two years ago when we last chat and SGC
was just starting to build enough credibility where people were
taking them serious, just from the standpoint of like, could
they you know, replace BGS as the number two? People
were just unwilling to consider that even a possibility because
(22:31):
you know, SGC stood for sort of pre war and
and vintage, and you know they were grading a lot
of ultra modern cards all of a sudden and you know,
they had to build trust if that was something that
they were capable of doing at scale and consistently, and
to their credit, they stayed the course on that and
they did some really smart programs with TOPS to sort
of get really great volume in the door and they
(22:53):
were able to replace or supplant BGS as the number two,
which was really interesting. And then you flip the script,
you know, two years later now and sgc's obviously been
acquired and things have changed, you know, pretty dramatically on
that front, where.
Speaker 4 (23:07):
You know they were sort of staying the course.
Speaker 5 (23:08):
You know, they were probably tasked with not break things
for a year, and then now you've seen sort of
things pull back as the agenda has changed for you know,
Collectors the parent company of both the SA and SGC,
so you've.
Speaker 4 (23:21):
Seen some changes there.
Speaker 5 (23:22):
So you've seen sort of what can happen when a
company sort of really nails or sort of leans into
a strength, which SGC was doing with service and turnaround times,
and that was something that they really leaned into.
Speaker 4 (23:35):
You've also seen you know.
Speaker 5 (23:36):
There's just every company sort of has lanes, and what
you're seeing now is more of like CGC is thriving
because TCG is doing so well.
Speaker 4 (23:43):
You know, to their credit, that was sort of their
bread and butter.
Speaker 5 (23:46):
That was sort of always their sweet spot once they
got integrating because of their you know, because of their
comic lineage, and so that translated really well. And now
that TCG is carrying grading in many ways, they're they're
doing really well. PSA on many number of fronts is
doing really well. And you know, they've continued to do well.
You know, they've operated and executed extremely well since the
(24:08):
team transitioned a few years ago.
Speaker 4 (24:10):
You know, they've invested a.
Speaker 5 (24:11):
Lot and infrastructure a few years ago, and they're seeing
so many dividends from that. And what they're doing not
only from a grading standpoint and volume standpoint, but how
they actually their general understanding of like why people grade
cards is a big you know, and this isn't this
is an over generalization, but a lot of people grade
cards either make back money from opening wax that they
lost money on or ultimately which is to liquidate cards,
(24:34):
right this is this is usually inventory that they no
longer want to hold on to. Then one of the
ways to increase the value that inventory is to grade it.
And they've put a lot of pieces in place to
facilitate allowing people to get the best return on their
dollar when they send cards to them. And then you
have somebody like Becket on the other side of this,
which is you know, they've stumbled, they were quiet. You
didn't hear a lot happening there for a while, and
you know, again, I think that was a company that
(24:56):
was limited in what they could do with tasks of
not breaking things because that was sort of what they
were asked to do, and that was sort.
Speaker 4 (25:01):
Of the the mo for a while there. I think they.
Speaker 5 (25:04):
Finally have sort of been able to revisit and sort
of reimagine what that could look like, you know, for
them to be a different participant in the hobby. And
you're starting to see some you know, tailwinds build there,
which is good because I think people love the Becket brand.
It stands for so much, and so people would love
to see that brand thrive again. And so, you know, ultimately,
people like having competition in our space as well. You know,
it's a constant battle, and so to degree that a
(25:25):
company that you.
Speaker 4 (25:26):
Know, especially like even though CGC is.
Speaker 5 (25:28):
Doing well, they're still very early on the sports side
of the equation, and you know, Beckett's a long standing
brand that people have loved over the years, and people
would love to see that brand re emerge again in
a way that you know, just looks different, it feels
different than how it has the past few years, and
so there's an opportunity. So anyways, people like that. It
also puts more pressure on PSA to do things. I mean,
(25:49):
you know, even though I just sort of spoke the
graces of PSA, if you're a set registry person or
you're a vintage person, you probably have all sorts of
gripes with what PSA has done over the last four
years because it hasn't serviced sort of their most loyal audience,
their core audience that built up that brand over the years,
and so they've kind of pushed that aside for some
initiatives to help sort of with all the Altra modern
activity and the TCG activities. So you've got all these
(26:11):
different sort of moving pieces, which I think is fascinating,
and it looks very different than it did just two
years ago, and I'm willing to bet it looks pretty
different two years from now too. Even though again people
would argue that, you know, PSA is dominating there's always
sort of room for other players to emerge and other
sort of lanes to sort of for people. You know,
people just want to sort of for one reason, zag
against PSA or don't believe in what PSA stands for,
(26:32):
sort of question consistency over there because of other initiatives
that they sort of prioritize, and so people are looking
for alternatives. And so I just continue to think the
landscape's going to evolve, which is great.
Speaker 4 (26:42):
I love it. It's interesting, makes my job more interesting.
Speaker 5 (26:45):
Day in and day out, and it makes you know,
the data that we bring to market, you know, just
to continue to be well received because it sort of
continues to sort of reflect or represent sort of how
things are trending, which is always interesting to see.
Speaker 3 (26:57):
Yeah, it's changing, like you said, and two years from
now it will look much different than it is as
we're speaking today. Awesome reconnecting with Ryan, and again this
was part one, so if you enjoyed it, Part two
will be next Friday. We get more into the the weeds,
(27:19):
including you know what his thoughts of the acquisition of
SGC at the time. And that's what I love about
Ryan is he he's not shy to share his kind
of personal thoughts when I talk to him and when
we've had him on.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
So that will be next week.
Speaker 3 (27:38):
And so we're gonna hear from our hobbies the people,
announce it and wrap up this week's episode.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
Time for all. Hobby is the People Announcer of the week.
Speaker 5 (27:52):
This is Ray from Philly and remember the Hobby is
the People.
Speaker 1 (27:56):
If you'd like to be the Hobby is the People
Announcer of the week. To have one or MP three
file and send it to Sportscardination PC at gmail dot com.
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