Latest / Sports Card Clubhouse / MidLife Sports Cards Q & A- February 18, 2026

Transcript

MidLife Sports Cards Q & A- February 18, 2026 · Sports Card Clubhouse

• 0:10
  What's going on, everybody? Man, that trip this weekend was
• 0:15
  just a shot in the arm that I needed of friendship, good
• 0:21
  times, cards. Oh man, we had an absolute
• 0:25
  blast. It's crazy.
• 0:28
  It's crazy that everything went absolutely perfect until Monday
• 0:35
  morning when it was time to come home.
• 0:37
  So I was supposed to go to breakfast to me and Tony
• 0:40
  Southern Collector and Mike Petty and I get awakened by my
• 0:46
  phone is going nuts on the night stand and I'm getting all of
• 0:51
  these messages that my flight has been cancelled, cancelled,
• 0:59
  not postponed, cancelled. And there's a big storm that's
• 1:05
  been going through California and I'm like, oh man.
• 1:09
  So they rebooked me on a flight for like 8:00 PM.
• 1:13
  No, I take the back nine PMI was supposed to fly out at 1 and now
• 1:18
  all of a sudden my flight is 9:00 PM.
• 1:20
  I'm like, Oh my gosh, I'm not going to get home until like
• 1:23
  11/11/30 midnight, something like that.
• 1:28
  And so I go over to Tony's room, which was down the hall and, and
• 1:32
  I'm like, Tony, help me figure out what am I going to do?
• 1:35
  So he's like, Oh yeah, yeah, I'll help you, man.
• 1:36
  So he's coming over to help me in his room and all of a sudden
• 1:41
  he says, Oh no, no, no, you got to be kidding me.
• 1:43
  His flight got cancelled. So here we are.
• 1:47
  And all of a sudden both of our flights get cancelled and we're
• 1:50
  like, how is it? What in the heck is happening?
• 1:53
  So then we get these emergency broadcast alerts that there's
• 1:58
  like flash flood warnings and all sorts of the storm is going
• 2:05
  to like, I don't know, a break California off into its own
• 2:09
  island, which would actually probably be good for most of us.
• 2:13
  It it it's. Yeah.
• 2:15
  So it nonetheless, we made the best of it.
• 2:19
  I rebooked my flight for LAX. Tony rebooked his flight for
• 2:24
  LAX. We're supposed to fly out of
• 2:25
  Burbank. So then Petty says let's go to
• 2:28
  breakfast. He takes us to this absolutely
• 2:33
  incredible restaurant, I think it was called Brent's Deli.
• 2:37
  Corned beef and eggs from a bagel, a coffee.
• 2:41
  We got some Pickles. We got the bad rye.
• 2:44
  But we already ate that. What do you got, Petty?
• 2:46
  I was very disappointed the good rye was not done yet.
• 2:49
  We were here so early. This is an ultimate omelet.
• 2:52
  Ultimate omelet that looks pretty legit.
• 2:55
  Boring. Scrambled eggs, bacon and hash
• 2:58
  Browns. Yep, they can't ruin that.
• 3:01
  This is, this is, I mean, this is the only way to fix a day
• 3:05
  that Southwest Airlines tried to ruin.
• 3:08
  It is. Prince Deli all the way.
• 3:11
  All right, let's see how it goes Oh my goodness, it was
• 3:16
  fantastic. So we had a great meal again,
• 3:20
  Petty, man, I, I literally, I don't think I spent any money on
• 3:27
  anything food wise. For me, the whole trip between
• 3:31
  Petty picked up most of the meals, Tony picked up a meal.
• 3:36
  I think I bought myself a coffee at Starbucks once.
• 3:40
  Those guys are the best. And I had a blast.
• 3:43
  Eventually I finally got on the flight, finally came home.
• 3:47
  But what a trip man, I got I got a lot of memories for a long
• 3:54
  time. OK, so to this episode.
• 3:57
  What am I talking about? I'm supposed to be focused here,
• 3:59
  focused on today's episode. This is Wednesday.
• 4:02
  Wednesday is Q&A day. This is where I share my
• 4:06
  thoughts on your topics and questions, and there are several
• 4:09
  really, really good ones this week that I am super excited to
• 4:12
  talk about. As always down below in the
• 4:15
  comments, leave your question if if you have any topic or
• 4:19
  question you want to hear my thoughts on it.
• 4:21
  I love being a conversation starter by sharing my thoughts
• 4:25
  on things. These are these are really,
• 4:27
  really fun for me. So, but again, they don't happen
• 4:30
  unless you all ask questions. So please don't hesitate.
• 4:33
  Ask questions. I'm going to now finally get to
• 4:37
  the first question right here, Greg.
• 4:42
  Super awesome content. As always.
• 4:45
  So one of many questions that has been floating around in my
• 4:49
  Gray matter lately is this. After being away from the hobby
• 4:53
  for about 40 years and now back all in head first, how did do
• 4:59
  you determine the size and scope and amount of your PC?
• 5:04
  Meaning when I disconnected from the hobby in my late teens, we
• 5:09
  just got cards as many all the time without much regard for a
• 5:14
  collection. Now I am more discerning but
• 5:18
  sometimes I feel like I have too many cards in my PC and other
• 5:23
  times not enough. Trying to find a happy medium.
• 5:27
  Thanks, Anthony. I love this question and I love
• 5:32
  this question for so many reasons and there's so many
• 5:36
  different directions I can go with it and you guys know me.
• 5:38
  I could definitely get go down many different, you know,
• 5:44
  directions with this. But but let me just start and
• 5:47
  say this. The first thing I'll say is why
• 5:51
  do we have to know where our collection is headed?
• 5:55
  Why can't we just discover how our collection is going to turn
• 6:00
  out by doing it? I think every single collector
• 6:06
  changes things. That's why sometimes people sell
• 6:10
  and sometimes people buy sets and then they buy singles and
• 6:13
  then they buy certain players and then they buy certain teams
• 6:15
  and then they do pre war and then they do post war and then
• 6:18
  they do auto cars and they do non auto cars.
• 6:21
  I mean, if you just look at some of my buddies, I mean look at
• 6:24
  Tony Southern collector. You know, Tony's got an
• 6:27
  incredible collection and he was having a lot of fun.
• 6:31
  I mean, he was having a blast collecting cards of Hall of
• 6:36
  Farmers, Mickey Mantle run, Hank Aaron run.
• 6:40
  And then he discovered man, this, you know, read a book or
• 6:43
  two and man, a shoeless Joe card would be amazing.
• 6:46
  And then he starts going down this pre war thing, which is
• 6:49
  amazing. And then the the next thing you
• 6:52
  know, he he starts looking at auto cards.
• 6:54
  He's like, these are amazing. And his collection has
• 6:57
  absolutely changed and evolved. And I would say this, I, I'd say
• 7:02
  we don't know. It's sort of like, you've
• 7:07
  probably heard stories about like authors who write like a
• 7:10
  book and they don't know how the book is going to turn out as
• 7:15
  they're writing the book, they're finding out how the
• 7:19
  ending is going to go as they're writing it.
• 7:24
  Now, if you knew, well, I know I want them to die at the end.
• 7:28
  How am I going to get there? That would be much different in
• 7:32
  in the perspective and and in the direction that somebody
• 7:35
  would take then if they just found out.
• 7:40
  You know, a lot of us entered high school and we said, I'm
• 7:43
  going to play on the football team and the baseball team.
• 7:45
  And then the next thing you know, you're on the golf team
• 7:48
  and you're playing lacrosse. Like that kind of stuff happens.
• 7:54
  I'm a planner. I have planned out my whole
• 8:00
  life. That's what I do.
• 8:03
  And one of the things that I'm trying really hard to do with
• 8:06
  this hobby is I'm trying really hard to be open to new
• 8:12
  directions. I'm not forcing things.
• 8:15
  I'm not collecting the way I think that I'm supposed to or
• 8:19
  the way that you all are going to.
• 8:21
  Like, I mean, I have bought some cards in the last 3-4 months
• 8:26
  that some of my friends just absolutely roll their eyes at me
• 8:31
  and they're like, you do you bro.
• 8:34
  And, and I have to collect what I like.
• 8:39
  I didn't think that three years ago I would be buying Goonies
• 8:44
  auto cards. I didn't think that was going to
• 8:46
  happen. I didn't think three months ago
• 8:49
  I was going to be collecting Sandlot auto cars.
• 8:54
  I didn't. I didn't think five years ago
• 8:57
  that a core part of my collection would be Alan and
• 9:01
  Ginter pirate cards. But what I try to?
• 9:06
  Do is just be? Open minded to where I go.
• 9:10
  I I want to discover and sometimes you turn over a new
• 9:13
  rock and you go, whoa, what's that?
• 9:16
  What is that down there? You look down a, a, a new
• 9:21
  hallway and you say, oh, maybe I want to head over there.
• 9:25
  If if you go shopping, right? So you go, you go to the mall.
• 9:29
  Do people still go to the mall? You go to Kohl's.
• 9:33
  I think they have Kohl's most places, right?
• 9:35
  You go to Kohl's if you know exactly what you want.
• 9:38
  I want a red long sleeve button up with some blue lines on it.
• 9:45
  That's a much different experience than if you go.
• 9:48
  I think I need a new long sleeve shirt to wear out for
• 9:51
  Valentine's Day. You know, for all those people
• 9:54
  who spend Valentine's Day with their wives and not at card
• 9:57
  shows, for example. But it's a much different
• 10:02
  experience if you just walk in open minded and look around.
• 10:06
  Now, I know part of what you're saying is I don't want to be
• 10:10
  hoarding. I don't want because a lot of
• 10:13
  the times what people will say is, well, the problem is, see
• 10:16
  Greg, the reason I want to have direction and focus is because
• 10:21
  if I continually go off track, I'm wasting money or I'm using
• 10:26
  money on resources that are preventing me from getting where
• 10:31
  I actually want to go. And I understand that.
• 10:36
  And you know, my buddy Dave, who I've had on the channel a couple
• 10:39
  of times, is this amazing collection.
• 10:41
  And he's a much more amazing guy than his collection is amazing.
• 10:47
  He says, well, you need like a mission statement.
• 10:50
  You need like a kind of a sentence, a line, a focal point
• 10:56
  so that you can just head in that direction.
• 10:58
  You can always refer back to it and go, is this in line with
• 11:01
  what I said I want my collection to be?
• 11:03
  And I think that's really good advice.
• 11:07
  And if you don't know what that looks like for you, what I would
• 11:10
  say is this, think about your collection for a second and
• 11:14
  think about the five cards, the five cards from your collection
• 11:19
  that mean the most, that when you look at them, you just go,
• 11:22
  man, I love this thing. Maybe not mean the most, but
• 11:26
  that you enjoy the most. OK, Not because it was a gift
• 11:31
  from, you know, your, you know, I don't know, brother or best
• 11:38
  friend or spouse or something. But the card that you just like
• 11:42
  the card, not because of how you got it or who gave it to you or,
• 11:47
  or but the card itself. What is it that you like about
• 11:50
  it? Maybe you say, oh, well, it's a
• 11:53
  1960 Tops Mickey Mantle. Because when I see that, it
• 11:56
  reminds me of watching the dominant Yankee teams of the 50s
• 12:01
  and 60s, and I loved rooting for those teams.
• 12:05
  And Mickey Mantle was my favorite player.
• 12:07
  Whatever it is, think about the five cards that mean the most to
• 12:11
  you. OK?
• 12:13
  What is it that they have in common?
• 12:17
  What is it? Is it, is it the image itself
• 12:20
  that you love? Is it the history of the player
• 12:23
  or the team that you love? Is it the look of that
• 12:26
  particular set? Is it the color of the card?
• 12:30
  Is it the back of the card and some of the information on the
• 12:33
  card? There's going to be some sort of
• 12:36
  similarity that links those five cards together, and if those are
• 12:42
  your five favorite cards, find that.
• 12:44
  Similarity. And figure out what is the thing
• 12:49
  that unites these? Why are these five?
• 12:52
  I love the pictures, I love the player, I love the team, I love
• 12:56
  the set, I love the age of the card, whatever it is.
• 13:01
  And then once you identify what it is that links those five
• 13:07
  cards, that makes you feel really excited when you look at
• 13:12
  those items and hold those items, that linkage, the thing
• 13:18
  that they all have in common is probably the thing that drives
• 13:22
  you the most in your collecting. And maybe you should focus more
• 13:26
  on whatever that thing is. It's the beautiful picture.
• 13:32
  It's the beautiful color. It's the history of the age of
• 13:36
  the card. It's the set and the design of
• 13:39
  the set. Whatever it is, look into your
• 13:43
  collection and remind yourself of what you enjoy and love, and
• 13:48
  then look out and see what things are out there in the
• 13:54
  collecting world that also have those attributes.
• 14:00
  Then focus on that. I have a new question for next
• 14:06
  week. This question is quite personal
• 14:09
  and if you don't want to answer it, I completely understand.
• 14:12
  I know you put family first in your life.
• 14:15
  So do I my? Question is, does your wife or
• 14:19
  children ever get upset or concerned about all the time and
• 14:23
  effort you put into your channel and card collecting while you
• 14:26
  also have a full time job? Do you ever question yourself
• 14:30
  that if it is worth it to spend so much time with this hobby?
• 14:35
  I'm extremely fortunate to have an understanding wife who knows
• 14:38
  my passion for cards, going to shows and watching hobby
• 14:41
  content. My kids are grown now and I am
• 14:44
  retired a few years ago so I needed something to fill that
• 14:47
  void and Cards has always been my favorite.
• 14:50
  Hobby I find. This hobby so enjoyable and it's
• 14:54
  great to be part of this community.
• 14:57
  Thanks for all you do, Greg. Now, first of all, I appreciate
• 15:02
  this question and, and I'm happy to answer my thoughts on this
• 15:05
  question. And without any question,
• 15:08
  without any doubt, my, my wife and my daughters are as
• 15:13
  important to me as anything. If, if, if I needed to drop this
• 15:18
  hobby in a second, I would. If I needed to move across the
• 15:22
  country in a second for them, I would.
• 15:24
  If I needed to change my career, I would.
• 15:27
  If I needed to do anything I needed to do.
• 15:30
  They are priority number 123456. They are.
• 15:34
  And then once they are taken care of, then there are things
• 15:41
  about me and there are things about this hobby.
• 15:45
  Now, one of the things that my family is big on is supporting
• 15:48
  each other in whatever it is that we're doing.
• 15:52
  If we're studying for a test, we support the person, we help the
• 15:55
  person, we help prepare the person.
• 15:57
  We do whatever we can to help them be successful at whatever
• 16:00
  it is that they are driven towards.
• 16:03
  I have flown to many states. I have driven many miles.
• 16:08
  I have spent many dollars in support of my daughters and
• 16:13
  their athletic prowess. Lucy and her soccer, Molly and
• 16:17
  her golf. Those I love passion.
• 16:22
  I am passionate about being passionate.
• 16:25
  And what I want to do is I want to be supportive of that.
• 16:28
  And they are the same toward me. And they see how much I enjoy
• 16:33
  this stuff. And I don't think they fully
• 16:37
  understand it. Why do I like this stuff so
• 16:40
  much? But they are so supportive.
• 16:43
  It is unbelievable. And you know, my wife, when I
• 16:48
  got home from the garden show this weekend, she's like, well,
• 16:51
  show me what you got. And I'm like, she doesn't care
• 16:53
  what I got. She doesn't care.
• 16:55
  But she's acting like she cares because she knows it matters to
• 16:58
  me. I got very lucky with my wife.
• 17:04
  I have amazing kids and I would drop anything for them.
• 17:10
  The question about do I ever wonder is it worth it?
• 17:16
  I do think about that. I do think about that, you know,
• 17:21
  I don't know how people in the world and community and YouTube
• 17:26
  verse and at card shows or whatever.
• 17:29
  I think a lot of people probably look at me and kind of roll
• 17:32
  their eyes. You know, look at this guy.
• 17:35
  You know, he thinks he's, he thinks he's special.
• 17:37
  Oh, I don't trust me. I don't, I, I, I think there are
• 17:45
  a lot of people who like me. I think there are quite a few
• 17:51
  people who don't. And there are times, OK, let me
• 17:58
  back up as a teacher, and I was just telling some friends about
• 18:02
  this today. As a teacher, it is very
• 18:08
  emotionally depleting to be a teacher right now.
• 18:13
  The the deck is stacked against teachers right now in the rules
• 18:18
  and the expectations in the appreciation.
• 18:24
  And so I use a lot of my emotional tank with my job.
• 18:31
  Well, then Greg, you should change your job.
• 18:33
  Well, it's not quite that easy and I could go into that another
• 18:37
  time, but, but I, for me personally, I use a lot of my
• 18:45
  emotional energy and I use a lot of my strength of dealing with
• 18:57
  the opposition because with, with work, because my students
• 19:04
  tend to in this world see their teachers as the opposition.
• 19:10
  And that's OK. I can deal with that.
• 19:13
  But there are times where I'll I'll do a video and and there
• 19:20
  will be a comment or five, there will be a thumbs down or 10
• 19:29
  where I go. Why, why am I putting myself out
• 19:34
  there? I mean, I am this is free
• 19:36
  entertainment, guys, just scroll away.
• 19:39
  You know, just, you know, it's that easy.
• 19:42
  If you want to shut me up, you can hit mute, you can hit pause,
• 19:47
  you can swipe. So why would why would somebody
• 19:51
  be so unhappy that they leave a negative comment and I go, why?
• 19:56
  Why do we do this? There are times I think about
• 19:59
  that and I'm just being honest. This is not a Boo Hoo, Greg.
• 20:02
  I just got home from a weekend where I had so many amazing
• 20:07
  people that I got to meet. I got gifts from people.
• 20:11
  I had conversations. Handshakes, hugs.
• 20:15
  The overwhelming majority of people in the community are
• 20:18
  fantastic. And then you'll have a friend
• 20:25
  who casts his YouTube Hall of Fame ballot and they don't
• 20:35
  include you even though they're your friend.
• 20:37
  And I thought they liked my channel.
• 20:40
  And it kind of stinks. Again, this is not a Boo Hoo.
• 20:45
  This is not Greg coming on here to pout.
• 20:48
  This is Greg answering the question, do I ever think it's
• 20:51
  worth it? And there are times where I'm
• 20:53
  like, man, that kind of hurt. I'm a human.
• 21:00
  I am. I am who I am.
• 21:04
  And I understand why people would like me because I think
• 21:08
  that I'm a nice guy. I think I'm a kind person.
• 21:10
  I think that I I'm a generous person.
• 21:14
  I try to be an interested person, but I also understand
• 21:16
  why somebody wouldn't. But you have to remember, like
• 21:22
  when they designed our DNA, there was not a program that
• 21:29
  prepared your DNA to have your face and your heart and your
• 21:39
  voice and your thoughts broadcast to thousands of people
• 21:45
  there there. That wasn't part of the
• 21:47
  programming package. And so then when thousands of
• 21:52
  people hear your thoughts, there's going to be a few that
• 22:01
  don't like it. And when they don't like it,
• 22:06
  they're going to be a couple. They feel the need to share that
• 22:10
  they don't like it. And we're not programmed to
• 22:17
  experience that. It's not normal.
• 22:21
  This is not the agrarian South of the, you know, I don't know,
• 22:28
  8, early 1800s. That's just not where we're.
• 22:33
  At. This is a different world and
• 22:38
  the fact that there are people in multiple locations around the
• 22:43
  world that might be hearing me right now and might feel the
• 22:48
  need to say you're a clown, you're boring with a, with a
• 22:55
  crying with a crying face emoji. They might be right.
• 23:01
  I mean, let's be honest, they might be right, but there are
• 23:06
  times that you go, I spent a lot of time on this.
• 23:11
  I wear my heart on my sleeve. I share a lot about my life.
• 23:19
  Why am I doing this again? And then, and then I go down to
• 23:26
  the West Coast Card Show and I have somebody come up to me and
• 23:31
  introduce themselves and give me a gift and give me a handshake
• 23:38
  or a hug. And they tell me how much they
• 23:40
  appreciate, you know, me, me and the work that I put out to try
• 23:45
  to make this hobby more fun for us.
• 23:49
  And it fills me back up. The depleted cup is refilled.
• 23:57
  So all of you out there that I met this past weekend, who did
• 24:01
  that for me, I needed that and I appreciate it.
• 24:07
  This one says The question I have is why collectors don't
• 24:10
  appreciate rarity of a card rather than they only convey an
• 24:14
  appreciation in the. Value of those.
• 24:17
  Cards. I'm a collector first and
• 24:19
  foremost. I will talk a card up even if I
• 24:23
  want to buy it. I like this question because I
• 24:28
  feel like I just experienced sort of exactly what you're
• 24:33
  suggesting at the show this weekend.
• 24:36
  I mean, I, I flew down to Southern California, I spent two
• 24:41
  days at this card show with hundreds of tables with millions
• 24:46
  of awesome cards, and I came home with two new ones.
• 24:51
  One was a Brooks Robinson rookie card, 57 tops, autographed with
• 24:58
  a ballpoint pen, which is extra special to me because it was an
• 25:03
  early autograph from Brooks Robinson and the other was in
• 25:07
  1888. Allen and Ginter card of Sitting
• 25:12
  bowl. I'm almost certain that the only
• 25:18
  Sitting Bowl Allen and Ginter card in the room I came home
• 25:23
  with, and I'm almost certain that the only 57 tops Brooks
• 25:28
  Robinson autograph that was an early autograph of the ballpoint
• 25:32
  pen I came home with. So I certainly can can share
• 25:37
  tell you that I also appreciate rarity.
• 25:40
  But that doesn't mean that's the right way to collect or or the
• 25:45
  only way to collect. Some people want the cards that
• 25:49
  have nostalgia attached that remind them of their childhood.
• 25:53
  Some want to buy cards that they think have upside potential.
• 25:58
  Some people want to collect cards that they think are rare.
• 26:03
  However you do it is fine. However I do it is fine.
• 26:08
  And like I've said many times, if we all did this thing the
• 26:11
  same way wouldn't be that much fun.
• 26:15
  The differences between how we collect, the fact that I could
• 26:18
  go up to a table and Mike Petty could be interested in one card,
• 26:22
  Tony could be interested in another card, and I'd be
• 26:25
  interested in yet another card. And none of us be interested in
• 26:29
  the same card. And we're three friends who love
• 26:32
  each other and and spent the whole weekend together to me as
• 26:37
  part of the fun of the hobby. So I like rare but doesn't mean
• 26:41
  it's for everyone. This next one says hi Greg.
• 26:46
  I understand most of what you collect is vintage, but my
• 26:49
  question for you deals with the modern day hobby of graphs and
• 26:53
  memorabilia inside sports cards. Let's say you fall in love with
• 26:57
  a player you are watching in sports.
• 27:00
  Whether it is? A hot prospect you teach.
• 27:02
  Or a collegiate athlete and you want to start collecting their
• 27:05
  cards, especially ones with autos and memorabilia inside it.
• 27:10
  Keep in mind the first time they signed the talent gives you a
• 27:14
  Full Auto before they shortened. After that signing.
• 27:18
  For whatever reason to just initials or a scribble, the
• 27:22
  first time they signed it was for an unlicensed company, but
• 27:26
  they licensed the card as a player so that Full Auto will
• 27:30
  only be available on this company's cards.
• 27:33
  What rules do you go by with modern sports cards with the
• 27:37
  above factor in mind when collecting ones with autographs
• 27:41
  on it for parameters? And what are your?
• 27:44
  Expectations with memorabilia cards with these players to pick
• 27:48
  up for your collection. Ethan Holiday and Fernando
• 27:52
  Mendoza are two athletes who signed one time in a full
• 27:57
  autograph, then shortened it for all other signings for cards.
• 28:02
  OK, I will tell you this. I I much the dismay of many of
• 28:08
  my vintage card collecting friends.
• 28:10
  I have been more and more and more interested in modern cards
• 28:14
  as well as vintage cards over the last six months.
• 28:19
  IA lot of the channels that I watch are not just vintage Shard
• 28:23
  channels, a lot of it is modern stuff.
• 28:26
  So I can definitely tell you my thoughts on all of this.
• 28:32
  And to me, it's not like one way is good and one way is bad, or
• 28:36
  one way is right and one way is wrong.
• 28:39
  It's more of a preference. What do I like most?
• 28:43
  And then what do I like a little bit less?
• 28:45
  And then what do I like less? But I do tend to like all of it.
• 28:49
  So let's just start with autographs.
• 28:51
  For me, if I'm going to spend any sort of substantial amount
• 28:57
  of money, and when I say that I mean over 50 bucks, I want it to
• 29:02
  be an on card autograph. Does that mean I won't buy a
• 29:07
  sticker autograph? It doesn't mean I won't buy a
• 29:10
  sticker autograph, but I won't spend a ton of money on a card
• 29:15
  that's a sticker auto. I love George Kittle of the
• 29:20
  49ers, love the guy and pretty much all of his best rookie
• 29:25
  cards that are autographed are sticker autos.
• 29:28
  And I'm just like, I mean, it would be cool to have one, but
• 29:34
  they're sticker autos. So I like how will I say this?
• 29:40
  I would say this, this might surprise some people.
• 29:43
  I think I would rather have. So obviously I'd rather have an
• 29:46
  on card auto. And I think I'd really rather
• 29:49
  have a card not autoed and then a card with a sticker auto.
• 29:56
  That might make me crazy but but I think I think I would rather
• 30:00
  have a non auto than a sticker auto.
• 30:04
  That doesn't mean I again doesn't mean I hate sticker
• 30:07
  autos. It does doesn't mean that I'll
• 30:09
  never own a sticker auto. But it's not the same as the
• 30:15
  player holding it and signing it as far as memorabilia goes.
• 30:19
  I mean, obviously game used is head and shoulders above
• 30:24
  everything else. Then player Warren would be
• 30:28
  next. Even if it's at a signing or a
• 30:31
  photo shoot or something, that would be next and then not
• 30:35
  related to an event or a player. And it was pulled off the rack
• 30:40
  at Dick's Sporting Goods and they cut it up and put it in the
• 30:43
  card that would be third. It's not that I won't buy a card
• 30:49
  that has that that has a patch that was never worn by the
• 30:57
  player. It's not that I wouldn't buy
• 31:00
  one. I just rate it third out of the
• 31:02
  three options. I mean, game worn is cool, but
• 31:09
  let me also say this it it it kind of it kind of does it bug
• 31:17
  me? I don't like the fact that the
• 31:21
  the items were cut up, I feel like it they should have left it
• 31:27
  intact, but knowing that now they haven't left it intact and
• 31:33
  the items are no longer intact, I would rather it be game worn,
• 31:38
  player worn, game use, player worn, and then not affiliated
• 31:43
  with anything. I would be willing to own any of
• 31:46
  the three, but that's how I rate them.
• 31:50
  Licensed to me is five times better than unlicensed, maybe 10
• 31:56
  times better than unlicensed. I own some unlicensed cards.
• 32:00
  I have spent some decent money on cards of players that are
• 32:03
  unlicensed, but licensed cards are superior to unlicensed
• 32:09
  cards. So I'd be willing to own any of
• 32:13
  these things, but that's how I rank them.
• 32:17
  Rarely will I buy a sticker auto, Rarely would I buy a patch
• 32:21
  card that has never been worn in by the player, whether in a game
• 32:26
  or in some other event. Rarely do I buy an unlicensed
• 32:31
  card, but I'd be willing to buy any of it.
• 32:37
  The thing that you want most is on card.
• 32:40
  Auto game worn, player worn, licensed, obviously, right.
• 32:48
  As far as the player changing their autograph, that doesn't
• 32:51
  really bug me. I understand why players
• 32:55
  sometimes change their autographs for a variety of
• 32:57
  reasons, but that doesn't really bug me.
• 33:03
  Yeah. So I think I think I covered
• 33:05
  everything. My point is children are
• 33:10
  carrying cases around with graded cards where is.
• 33:13
  The passion, the feel, the good old.
• 33:15
  Smell is gone. I understand I bought cards not
• 33:20
  to sell, but trading was the fun.
• 33:22
  There was cards and games and you could play both football and
• 33:26
  baseball. That's why I think your podcast
• 33:28
  could reach out. Can we ever get back to the
• 33:31
  simple times without a child saying he cannot afford to grade
• 33:34
  a card? What the hell?
• 33:36
  Shouldn't a child enjoy the experience and not incapacitate?
• 33:41
  Do the children anymore love the sport they are collecting?
• 33:44
  That's why I collected. I really don't think the
• 33:47
  children and their peers care about the tradition and history
• 33:50
  of games I enjoyed playing as a child.
• 33:53
  Someone needs to step up and tell children to enjoy the
• 33:56
  sport. Invest in medals, college and
• 33:58
  trade school. Someone make a difference what
• 34:02
  not. It could be you guys.
• 34:03
  You're a teacher and an influencer.
• 34:06
  I believe and trust your opinion since why I gravitate to your
• 34:10
  channel. I ran a business for 30 years.
• 34:12
  You're a good egg. I respect what you're saying.
• 34:19
  I do respect it, but things change.
• 34:24
  First of all, I mean, remember when baseball didn't have
• 34:28
  batting helmets and pitchers hit and they didn't have the big
• 34:33
  elbow guard the the the shin guard and the batting gloves and
• 34:38
  the oven Mitt that they'd slide into second base when stealing a
• 34:41
  base? Remember all that stuff?
• 34:43
  I remember all that stuff. Well, not that no helmet thing,
• 34:47
  but you get my point. Things do change and it's very
• 34:52
  easy to say I want it back the way that it was.
• 34:55
  The way that it is now isn't as good as the way that it was.
• 35:00
  I understand that and some people used to collect trading
• 35:09
  cards. Some, some kids used to use them
• 35:12
  to gamble. They'd flip them, try to win
• 35:14
  cards, win more cards. Some people would put them in
• 35:18
  their bikes books 'cause they thought it was fun.
• 35:22
  They didn't all collect them for the sake of collecting.
• 35:25
  Even way back, people were gambling with baseball cards.
• 35:32
  I hear what you're saying. Because it sounds to me like
• 35:36
  you're a passionate collector who loves the history of the
• 35:38
  game, who loves the history of learning.
• 35:42
  You like to, you know, honor the, the past and honor the past
• 35:46
  historical players and the importance of the game and, and
• 35:49
  the reverence around it. I understand all of that.
• 35:52
  And I, I absolutely can relate to a lot of that and a lot of
• 35:59
  the kids, you're right, a lot of the kids at these card shows
• 36:03
  that have these cases, they are not attached to the cards.
• 36:06
  They look at it as a commodity. They say this is worth X, this
• 36:11
  is worth X + 5. I have to try to get the X + 5
• 36:15
  for the X so that I can scale up and I can get ahead.
• 36:19
  That's what they're doing. And I understand why.
• 36:24
  As a collector, as a person who loves the history of the game
• 36:29
  and the history of the the hobby and the history of the evolution
• 36:32
  of all of it, I understand why that would be irritating.
• 36:37
  But it doesn't necessarily mean that these young kids that are
• 36:42
  doing that are wrong. And let me explain why.
• 36:49
  You know, at school for years, we used to have to memorize
• 36:52
  dates, right? The date that World War One
• 36:55
  started, the reasons why World War One started, the date of
• 37:00
  this battle, the date of this surrender, the name of this
• 37:04
  leader, the name of that leader. We used to have to memorize all
• 37:06
  that stuff. Why do we have to?
• 37:08
  Why did we have to memorize all that stuff?
• 37:11
  Why do we have to memorize the date that World War One started?
• 37:15
  Why do we need to know that? Seriously.
• 37:19
  Well, now a lot of that has gone away because I can pull out my
• 37:25
  phone and I can type it in and I can have an answer like that.
• 37:29
  So why do we need to memorize facts anymore when it's so
• 37:34
  instantaneous? We can get the answer to a fact.
• 37:36
  What we need now is we need people who can think.
• 37:41
  We need people who can innovate. We need entrepreneurs.
• 37:47
  We need people who can think of creative ways to improve systems
• 37:57
  and creative ways to negotiate and people who can talk to each
• 38:03
  other. I mean, we live in a world where
• 38:06
  I give my students free time. Like, we might finish a test
• 38:09
  with 10 minutes left in the pier and I go, OK, guys, you guys are
• 38:12
  free. They don't talk to each other.
• 38:15
  They get out their phone and they communicate with other
• 38:18
  people on their phone. It's silent.
• 38:22
  The last 10 minutes of class. If I give them free time after a
• 38:26
  test, it's silent. These kids don't know how to
• 38:30
  talk to each other. So while I understand what
• 38:34
  you're saying, what these card collector flipper, you know kids
• 38:40
  are doing is they're learning how to talk to people.
• 38:43
  They're learning how to negotiate.
• 38:45
  They're learning values. They're learning hard lessons at
• 38:49
  times. They're learning about trends in
• 38:52
  markets. They're learning about supply
• 38:55
  and demand. They're learning entrepreneurial
• 38:58
  skills in a way that is better than they could ever read in a
• 39:04
  textbook. They're learning some life
• 39:09
  skills in real time that will help many of them to be
• 39:17
  successful. And many of the skills that
• 39:21
  these kids are learning when they're collecting and when
• 39:24
  they're participating in the hobby, or maybe while they're
• 39:27
  not collecting, but while they're flipping, many of the
• 39:29
  skills that they're learning are skills that we need.
• 39:33
  And so let's just say, for example, let's just say for a
• 39:36
  second, you're right. And they don't care about the
• 39:38
  history and they don't care about the players, and they
• 39:40
  don't care about the reverence for the game and things.
• 39:45
  They're still getting a lot out of this hobby.
• 39:51
  They're still improving themselves and they're learning
• 39:55
  things that are more valuable than things.
• 40:01
  That they could otentially learn at school.
• 40:03
  So I agree with you. Trade schools are great, college
• 40:05
  is great. But the things that I learned in
• 40:08
  my college classes, from my tests, from my textbooks, none
• 40:14
  of that really comes into play. The thing that came into play is
• 40:18
  how to work with people, how to negotiate with people, how to
• 40:22
  communicate with people, how to do group projects, how to
• 40:26
  overcome adversity. Those are the things that I got
• 40:29
  most out of college, not facts. So I agree with what you're
• 40:37
  saying to a certain extent, but I don't want us to overlook the
• 40:43
  fact that in my opinion, even the kids who don't really care
• 40:47
  about the cards themselves, they are still getting a benefit from
• 40:55
  the whole experience. Now, like you, I'm a collector.
• 40:59
  So like you, I want these kids to care about the cards and the
• 41:04
  hobby and the sport and the history.
• 41:07
  I want that. That would be ideal if they were
• 41:10
  doing their thing at card shows and they cared about the cards
• 41:14
  and they cared about the hobby. But I do think it's important
• 41:19
  that we at least recognize that even if they don't care about
• 41:23
  the players and they don't care about the sport, they are
• 41:26
  learning life skills that they're really benefiting from,
• 41:33
  whether it's a Pokémon card or a Magic the Gathering card or a
• 41:40
  football card. I think it's helping these kids
• 41:45
  learn very, very valuable skills for life.
• 41:50
  That's just me. If you all have a question for
• 41:53
  an upcoming episode, do not hesitate.
• 41:55
  Ask it down below in the comments.
• 41:57
  I would love, I would love to share my thoughts on it. 9 days.
• 42:05
  9 days got a major announcement. Major.