Latest / Sports Card Clubhouse / MidLife Card Talk- With Ash Of Legacy Cardz

Transcript

MidLife Card Talk- With Ash Of Legacy Cardz · Sports Card Clubhouse

0:15
What's going on, everybody out there?
0:17
I am joined by my good buddy Ash of Legacy Cards.
0:23
We've done a couple of YouTube videos.
0:25
This is the first time I'm doing a podcast only, but I am excited
0:31
to have you as the first guest for that.
0:33
Ash, how are you, buddy? I'm great.
0:35
When your intro comes on and I see the Jose Canseco, it just
0:38
brings me. It brings me, brings back
0:40
memories. Oh yeah, that was the card.
0:43
When I was like nine it was Z card.
0:47
That's right, man, Mr. 4040. Oh, and now we are up to 5050.
0:52
So, yeah, who would have known? So, all right, so I want to get
0:57
right into it because I have so many things I want to ask you.
1:00
I do want to say that, you know, I think I think we're both
1:04
hoping to do this somewhat regularly with you and your
1:07
crew. You know, you got your son, you
1:10
got your godson, and so having a few of you guys circle in here
1:14
from time to time. So if you are not subscribed to
1:18
the Sports Card Clubhouse Podcast Network, do that because
1:22
that's the probably going to be the only place you're going to
1:25
hear these conversations. And you know, you guys are
1:30
really have become at the forefront of the vintage car
1:34
dealer network is Legacy cards. Let me just start with a little
1:40
update since the last time we talked.
1:42
I feel like you guys are doing a lot of new stuff.
1:45
What tell us briefly, where can people find you not besides at a
1:51
show and in addition to where can people find you?
1:57
What, what are the what are the things that you guys are doing
2:01
right now on Legacy cards? So we, I mean, we're pretty easy
2:06
to find, right? You just Google and you'll find
2:09
us on Instagram. You can find us on eBay, our
2:12
website at shows. So we, you know, we put
2:18
ourselves out there and we are, we, we try to make ourselves
2:23
pretty easy to find. I mean, you know, when we, when
2:27
we're at shows, usually JB goes live, not he doesn't go live,
2:30
but he does a little video, kind of an intro video saying, hey,
2:34
we're going to be in Philly, we're going to be in Tennessee,
2:38
Dallas, etcetera, etcetera, wherever we are.
2:40
And and then we try to post, post our, our cards and, you
2:46
know, again, just make ourselves accessible.
2:49
So, so you should be able to find us on most any social
2:54
channel. Just search legacy cards 777 and
2:58
it's cards with AZ and there you go and.
3:03
I got to spend a little bit of time talking with JB at the
3:06
National. We ended up about in the front
3:10
four year area. We've talked for 2025 minutes.
3:14
He's he's a really impressive guy.
3:16
I like him a lot. And yeah, he's very personable.
3:20
He does a great job. You're set with your son on the
3:23
videos now you started doing eBay lives.
3:27
I don't know if a ton of people know that yet, but what what
3:32
kind of led to that? Like tell people who aren't
3:35
familiar, because a lot of people buy on eBay, but they're
3:38
not used to other types of ways other than just buy it nows and
3:42
auctions. Tell us about eBay live.
3:45
Why are you doing that? And and how's that work when you
3:48
guys do it? So I got a good buddy that
3:51
approached me on on the eBay side and he said, hey man, we're
3:55
doing it. You know, we're doing eBay live
3:58
and we don't have a vintage presence.
4:01
Well, guess what? I have, I have a lot of vintage
4:03
cards that, you know, that we don't even bring to shows.
4:06
But you know, there's, there's, there's just AI think there's a
4:11
demand for for lower end cool cards.
4:15
And so whether it be Hank Aaron's, Clemente's mazes,
4:20
Colfax, of course, mantels, right.
4:23
And just just cool cards and in general.
4:27
And, and so they want us to stream, you know, two to three
4:31
times a week. We're, we're working on, we're
4:34
working on that. I mean, I've done it 2, I want
4:38
to say two or three times. And I could probably commit to
4:41
doing it once once every week or maybe 2.
4:47
You know, I mean, honestly, it's a lot of fun to, to do that part
4:51
and, and to just get on and, and sell baseball cards.
4:55
It's, it's fun to, and it's like, we don't even sell cards.
4:58
We're just talking about cards and putting, putting cards up in
5:01
their 15 second auctions. And, and it's, it's pretty easy.
5:04
But it also one of the goals of that was to drive people to our
5:07
eBay page. And so now we've listed a lot of
5:12
cards that we have scans for on our eBay page from higher end to
5:18
cards that are under 500 bucks. They're on eBay, they're on our
5:23
website now. And, and, and I don't know, man,
5:27
it's just something new that we're doing.
5:28
And, and thankfully I have the infrastructure to be able to
5:33
support that, right? Because obviously I can't do all
5:36
this by myself. Like I'm, I'm not a robot.
5:39
And so I have a couple of really good folks that work with us
5:43
and, and man, we're just, you know, 2025 was an awesome year
5:47
for us, you know, with, with the tragedy of 2024, right, that
5:55
happened to us. And but you know, 2025 was, was
6:00
our best year ever and by far. And, you know, just just looking
6:07
at the momentum that we have just starting off in 2026, which
6:12
is crazy to say we're in 2026, but, but just just starting off
6:16
in 2026 and, you know, just just just just doing what we do.
6:22
I guess, you know, Greg, I mean, it says it's, there's, there's,
6:26
there's so many cards to, to price and to just, just to screw
6:30
around with. It's, it's just fun, man.
6:32
We have a, we have a great time doing it.
6:34
And I'm, I'm glad that that we can still enjoy the hobby, even
6:40
though we operate at a high, high, high scale.
6:44
So it's it's fun. Yeah, it, I have noticed a lot
6:48
more times that I see a card on eBay and I'm like, oh, that's a
6:53
nice card. And I click on it, I'm like, oh,
6:54
that's Ash's card, you know. And it's, I mean, I, I don't
6:58
know, but I'm guessing that if somebody were to see something
7:02
on eBay, but they are able to contact you through the website
7:07
or through a social media, that would maybe be a better place to
7:11
get a deal. I, I'm assuming, I don't know, I
7:14
mean, you could maybe touch on that, but you know, eBay your
7:19
bit huge on Facebook. Obviously the website going
7:23
directly to you guys is at legacycards.net and that's cards
7:29
with AZ. Now I, I, I want to at least
7:34
touch on it because, you know, a lot of us, you know, have become
7:37
good friends with you. The, the YouTube community loves
7:41
you, the, the hobby community loves you.
7:44
I feel like, you know, you and I met just about two years ago and
7:49
I feel like we've become pretty good friends and connected on a
7:53
level far beyond cards and communicate and well wishes and
7:57
things. And you know, you, you just
8:00
mentioned the 2024, the tragedy in the 2024, you know, tell,
8:07
tell us about what you if people aren't aware or they haven't put
8:12
two and two together that of what happened, share what you're
8:16
willing to share about that 2024 incident.
8:20
Well, I mean, all I can really say it's still an ongoing
8:23
investigation. So I I can't share but so much,
8:26
honestly, I don't know, but so much the public probably knows
8:29
just as much as I do because the authorities are not very they're
8:35
not very forthcoming when it comes to evidence and when it
8:39
comes to what's going on, although tell me is still an
8:42
ongoing investigation. So I don't really have much to
8:45
that. That's all I really know.
8:48
You know, there's a lot of hobby detectives out there that think
8:50
they know a lot. But you know, I, I digress
8:53
there. And but other than that, I mean,
8:57
you, the insurance took care of us to the, to the ability that
9:01
they were able to take care of us.
9:02
They did not make it easy. I'll, I'll tell you that.
9:05
But you know, I had to hire an attorney and I probably lost 10%
9:08
of my payout in attorneys fees. But you know, at the end of the
9:13
day, they, they did cut, cut a check after close to close to 9
9:18
months and and then proceeded to drop us but but I didn't.
9:26
I didn't know that part. Yeah, but I, I, I guess that's
9:30
to be expected. I don't know.
9:32
But, but you know, they did, they let our, they let our, our
9:37
contract run out, but they said they wouldn't renew us because
9:41
you, you know, because of what happened.
9:43
And you know, I mean, it is what it is.
9:46
And I was able to pick up another insurance company.
9:49
So I mean, you know, that's that's a good thing.
9:52
And there you go. What?
9:56
OK, so there's a lot of people that are going to be listening
9:59
to this who have extensive collections and, you know, some
10:04
of us, you know, things happen to everybody and, and there's
10:09
fires, there's floods, there's, you know, mail things.
10:12
And that's a big thing that's been happening more recently is
10:15
stuff getting, quote, UN quote, lost through the mail.
10:19
Yeah. What?
10:21
I mean, based on your experience with the insurance thing, you
10:25
know what, what advice do you have for people?
10:28
Like at what point should people get insurance?
10:32
Based on your experience? Should we be over insuring?
10:36
What are the insurance companies?
10:37
I get that question a lot, like should I get hobby insurance?
10:41
And if so, what's a company I should go with?
10:45
I get that question a lot. I don't, I personally don't have
10:48
hobby insurance, so I don't know the answer to that.
10:51
I don't even know what to say. Yeah.
10:55
What is your take on on that? So I I used collector collect
11:04
insurer, right? That's that's who dropped me.
11:08
But I mean, you know, I'll be obvious.
11:10
I was with collect insurer. Oh, sorry, I don't know what
11:14
happened to my camera, but whatever I was with collect
11:16
insure for, I don't know, 2-3, four years.
11:19
I filed it, you know, maybe less than 5 claims over that time and
11:26
they paid every one of them. So and they, they had reasonable
11:29
prices. I'm now with a company called
11:32
Stadium Insurance and I, I haven't filed a claim yet,
11:39
unfortunately. I get, you know, with us selling
11:43
on eBay, everything guy has to go through Los Angeles or
11:46
through California. And California is probably the
11:48
funnest place to ship to, right? It's always an adventure.
11:52
And, and unfortunately I had two packages, a Schmidt SGC 9 and a
11:57
Ty Cobb Red 3.5 that arrived there December 9th and have not
12:05
moved since. So that's that's pretty
12:07
frustrating. But I may have to file my first
12:10
claim with stadium. And so once I do that, I'll be
12:13
able to share a little bit more about my experience there.
12:15
But I mean, the, the representatives over there have
12:18
been great and get, you know, taking care of me.
12:20
But I guess we don't know until the rubber meets the road,
12:23
right? And they have to cut that check.
12:25
But you know, both of those companies, you know, are
12:28
companies that I've had experience with.
12:31
And, and so that's, that's, that's, that's that.
12:37
I wouldn't go with your homeowners policy because the
12:41
homeowners don't, they don't know much about sports cards and
12:45
sports collectibles. And, you know, I, I, I that's
12:49
just my, my opinion. Yeah.
12:53
You know, you probably want to go with somebody that
12:54
specializes in it. And especially for somebody
12:57
that's got a collection that's, let's say your collections, 102
13:00
hundred grand. I mean, to ensure $100,000
13:03
collection, you're probably talking about less than 2000
13:06
bucks a year. And it's probably less than that
13:10
if I'm not mistaken. So it would probably like I, I
13:14
don't see why you wouldn't. Yeah.
13:17
That's a pretty low percentage to have it covered.
13:21
That's really good advice. I mean, again, I've, I've had
13:25
that question and I, I've never really known how to answer it.
13:29
My collection, I have a nice collection, but I don't, I'm not
13:33
really at the threshold where you, you mentioned homeowners
13:35
and it's like, well, my deductible, you know, isn't I
13:40
don't know. So that's good advice.
13:41
So I appreciate that. I want a lot happened in 2025 in
13:46
the hobby and included in what happened was, you know, Peter
13:52
left SGC, which immediately changed the trajectory of SGC at
13:58
the end of the year. You know, collectors purchased
14:03
Beckett. I know you know, a lot of us
14:07
have opinions on that. You're a person who has a lot of
14:10
cards coming in, a lot of cards coming out over the course of
14:15
the year. Have you seen any sort of trend?
14:19
Well, first, I guess, what is your take on that whole thing?
14:23
And have you noticed any sort of trend in preferences of holders
14:28
when people are approaching you and the Oh no, I only want SGC
14:33
or oh Nope, I only want PSA? Oh, with what's going on, I'm
14:37
now leaning this way. Have you noticed anything like
14:39
that? Well, I, I have a couple
14:42
collector friends that only collect SGC, funny enough, and
14:46
they have their PSA holders and they want them in SGC.
14:52
I, I personally love SGC, right? And I think many people in the
14:55
vintage end of things love SGC and also we think it sucks.
15:00
What's happened to SGC, right? You know, it seems like PSA just
15:05
bought them and or I, I say PSA, sorry, collectors just bought
15:08
them and and just kind of shelved them and which again for
15:14
us in the hobby sucks, right. You know, SGC was prominent at
15:19
shows. They were, you know, I mean,
15:23
like, you know, when they were acquired right before the
15:26
national and then they didn't come to the national, right.
15:30
And and then they, you know, they, they don't come to any
15:33
more shows and then PSA like all the stuff.
15:37
I don't even follow it that heavy, Greg, because like, like
15:40
at the end of the day, at the end of the day, it's going to be
15:44
what it's going to be. And I have no, nothing I can say
15:48
or do is going to make a difference, right?
15:50
We're talking about billions and billions of dollars.
15:53
We're not, you know, so they, they could care less what, what,
15:56
what, what I think or probably what any of us think, right?
16:00
Because look at what they've done.
16:02
They've destroyed basically their competition and you know
16:07
that's that's just my opinion, but yet you know SGC SGC didn't
16:13
compete with the PSA in the modern game.
16:16
They competed with them in the vintage game and us vintage
16:19
people love SGC. Let's just call it what it is
16:22
right. We love the we love the five to
16:25
10 day turn around yeah. You know, we love Peters energy
16:28
at SGC and how he he just made you feel like he cared and and
16:35
he showed that he cared, right, saying hey, you know what,
16:37
sorry, we're not going to have a 510 day turn around.
16:39
We're going to have a 10 to 15 day turn around because you guys
16:42
are supporting us so much and and all that kind of stuff.
16:45
And so I don't know, the SGC thing is just it just sucks.
16:49
Like just call it what it is, right, It sucks.
16:52
Beckett was you know and look man I know people at Beckett and
16:56
stuff like that but at the end of the day none of us buy
16:59
Beckett holders for the most part unless they're dirt cheap.
17:04
Now with that being said I got a buddy that turned a Beckett 52
17:07
Barra 7 into a PSA 8. Like go figure that and that's.
17:13
That's a big financial gain there.
17:16
Yeah, good. Good for him, man.
17:17
It was probably like a $20,000 lick for him.
17:20
But but you know, so, you know, with that being said, always buy
17:24
the card, not the holder. Look at the card and use your
17:28
four eyes and use your tools that you have available and and
17:31
check them out. I mean, you know, I think a lot
17:34
of us, I'm 51, a lot of us growing up, Beckett was
17:38
everything. We love Beckett.
17:40
We waited for the Beckett magazines to come out.
17:42
We, you know, we, we just love Beckett.
17:46
Beckett was awesome. We love to see the little arrows
17:48
in our, in our cards going up. And whatever it was, it was a
17:52
lot of fun. And somewhere along the way,
17:55
man, Beckett just got in their own way and screwed themselves
17:58
up. And you know, with collectors
18:01
buying them, I, I think it's probably, maybe it's more so for
18:06
the modern market. Like I don't know that part.
18:08
I don't know. Cuz like I don't buy much
18:12
Beckett. I mean, I, I will don't get me
18:14
wrong, but, but you know, I mean, I have a Beckett Nolan
18:19
Ryan 8 priced at 6500 where APSA 8 is almost double that and and
18:28
SGC 8 is, is, you know, I don't know, I don't know what SGC is 8
18:32
is 3040% more. But you know, it's just
18:37
unfortunate what happened to the best grading, what the the most
18:41
popular grading company when we were kids.
18:43
But also it shows what happens when you don't take care of the
18:46
hobby. Yeah.
18:48
Right. I mean, people see you come out
18:50
with BCCG that you know, for some reason something's a BCC G6
18:55
or 7 and it looks like a 2. Like what is it?
18:58
Like, you know, at that point it's just disrespectful and
19:01
like, Nope, who's going to support that?
19:04
Yeah, that really confused people.
19:07
And as soon as they said it's a Beckett, well, is it, is it BGS?
19:11
Is it BVG? Is it BCG?
19:15
The scales are different. It seemed like it kind of threw
19:18
everyone to not no. Now, let me ask you this.
19:21
I, I know that you buy collections and if, if somebody
19:24
has a collection to to sell, you know, I'm sure Ash is
19:28
interested. I've, I've seen him make big
19:30
purchases at shows and, and he's always buying.
19:34
But let me ask you this. If you bought a big raw
19:37
collection, would you sell those cards raw or would you grade
19:41
those cards? I know it's going to be, well,
19:43
it depends. But let's say they were cards
19:45
that you decided you wanted to grade.
19:48
If that were the case, who would you grade them with?
19:51
Who would you submit some 1950s cards of Aaron Maze and Mantle?
19:58
What? Where would you submit cards
20:00
right now? What a crappy question.
20:04
Is it? Is that a crappy?
20:05
Question Well, I'm like in like cuz like there's no OK, my first
20:10
instinct is well PSA because PSA will get me the most money.
20:14
But I I and I have a video of this.
20:17
I bought a collection of 5250 twos and 50 threes.
20:22
Shout out to Mark Mandel who who helped me out and he's got a
20:25
company coming out called Auction Wire.
20:27
That's pretty cool. But he connected me with a
20:29
collector. Well, he, he wasn't even a
20:31
collector. A guy that inherited these cards
20:35
didn't know what he had, but well, he knew what he had,
20:37
right? He knew the 52 mantle was worth
20:39
money. He knew the 52 maze was worth
20:41
money, etcetera, etcetera. So he brings me the cards and
20:47
they're in a binder, the eight pocket binder.
20:50
And you know, you open up the binder and it's dusty and you
20:54
know what I mean? So these cards haven't been
20:55
touched in, who knows, 30-40 how many years?
20:59
OK, there's a 52 mantle, there's a 52 maze, there's a campy,
21:03
there's a Hoyt, etcetera. Anyhow, I grade the cards, I
21:07
send the cards into PSA. The maze gets a 5, which it
21:10
should have got a 5. Nice card.
21:12
The mantle comes back authentic altered, right, Which is just
21:17
like the card is not off. I, I just told somebody this, I
21:21
was talking to a collector 20 minutes an hour ago and anyway
21:25
talking about this. But anyhow, bottom line, the
21:27
card comes back, the mantle comes back authentic altered.
21:30
And I messaged my buddy at PSA and like, I'm like, hey man,
21:35
like they told me it was like 2 grand a grade.
21:37
It's like, OK, it's fine. I said, hey, have somebody else
21:42
look at it. The card is not altered and it
21:45
had a little brown mark on the bottom or whatever, like a
21:49
little whatever it was. I like I said, I have a video of
21:51
this. I actually in the video I
21:53
dropped the 52 mano. It didn't get damaged, but
21:58
anyhow, that was crazy and I got that on video too anyhow, So I'm
22:05
like man, whatever. I asked him to look at it again.
22:07
They said Oh no, it's it's altered.
22:09
You know, the bottom or whatever, whatever man, just
22:11
send me the card back. So they send me the card and the
22:14
holder I busted out. I still have the the sleeve and
22:17
all of that stuff, right? And I send it to SGC.
22:20
It's a 2.5. Like what is that man?
22:24
Like, you know, it just doesn't it's it just like, so that part
22:29
sucks, right? I mean, I've known guys that
22:32
have sent a card in two and three different times and got
22:35
three. You know, we all have our
22:36
stories, right. So back to your original
22:38
question, if I bought a raw card, what will raw collection?
22:42
What would I do with what happened to SGC now?
22:46
I mean, it's, it's almost like you're handicapped to send it to
22:49
PSA. I mean, sure, I've sent cards to
22:51
SGC, but now SGC has taken two months, three months to get back
22:55
to you. So not only do they destroy
22:58
everything great about the company, now they take that,
23:01
that like, it's just like a slow death, you know?
23:04
And, and it just, it's just unfortunate, man.
23:09
You know, I've sent some cards to PSA and that's I guess what
23:13
I'll do. I don't know, like, you know,
23:16
it's it, it, it just makes it annoyingly hard.
23:20
Yes. And, and so my buddy is so, so
23:24
there's a, there's a company called DGA who's been grading a
23:27
lot of star bags, right. And, and many people may not be
23:31
familiar with DGA, but if you're in the star community and you're
23:35
familiar with the star one O 1 Jordan card and you know, he,
23:39
he's the only company that's grading the bags.
23:42
Well, he also grades vintage cards and, you know, back when
23:46
or cards in general, it doesn't matter.
23:49
But you know, back when I first started in 2020, his name is
23:53
Blaine. He used to help me out a lot.
23:55
Like we'd be on the phone, I don't know, an hour, 2 hours.
23:58
He would sell me stuff. Like he would just help me.
24:02
Like that's it. All he would do was help me.
24:04
I didn't know anywhere near as much as I know now.
24:07
And he was just always very generous.
24:09
So he loves the hobby and he's got a great, a great company.
24:14
His cards have sub grades on them and you know that that kind
24:18
of stuff. And he he, there's even a report
24:20
card for every single card. It'll tell you why your card got
24:24
the grade that it got so really cool.
24:26
And I think he charged like 15 bucks to grade like you.
24:29
You know, I can, I don't know, I'll send you a link Greg, and
24:31
you could put in the comment. Oh, I don't know if there'll be
24:33
comments, but whatever. There are, yeah.
24:35
Yeah, it's not hard to find his company, right?
24:38
Dynamic Grading authority, DGA grading, whatever.
24:41
You, you just Google it and you'll find it.
24:43
But he, he doesn't phenomenal job.
24:45
Mike Baker does a great job. And Mike Baker's really coming
24:49
on strong, you know, with this silver and gold labels, but he
24:52
also grades cards too. And, and, you know, every, I, I
24:57
think the majority of us who are our age know who Mike Baker is,
25:00
right? And so, so there are options and
25:05
you know, it's just who do you grade with and and, and and so
25:09
forth and, and, and it's just you got them.
25:13
I guess you got to make a choice.
25:15
And maybe one of these companies will come out with would do do
25:18
some AI grading. Who knows?
25:20
TAG does AI grading, but they're based in Canada.
25:23
And I don't know, you don't see many tag cards and who knows?
25:28
But you know, for us in vintage, man, we just want, we just want
25:31
a company we can trust and somebody that somebody that's
25:34
going to just make our cards look, we want the slabs to look
25:37
cool, right? SGSGC did a phenomenal, does a
25:41
phenomenal job in making your 1973 Roberto Clemente in a three
25:47
look like a $500 card just because the the case looks cool
25:51
and it looks so pretty inside the case.
25:53
But you know, what are you going to do?
25:57
Yeah, I, I think that what you just described is how a lot of
26:02
us are feeling is, oh, it's a crappy question because the
26:06
options are crappy. Like we don't feel like we have
26:10
a great option anymore. And I really think that the
26:14
opportunity is now for somebody to really step into the opening
26:19
because there are some people that are frustrated and there is
26:22
definitely an opportunity. Let me ask you another thing.
26:26
We met for the first time in person at Strongsville.
26:30
And the Strongsville show has become this Mecca where vintage
26:35
collectors go. And it's like as much of A
26:38
hangout. I mean, I, I rode in the
26:40
elevator with you at the first Strongsville show I went to and,
26:44
you know, everybody's hanging out at the breakfast area, you
26:47
know, hanging out the dealers and the collectors.
26:51
And it felt like this big party for us people that are all into
26:56
vintage. And then they announced over the
26:59
past week or so that the the show is still going to be a
27:03
vintage show, but it's going to be on this half of the room.
27:07
And as a dealer, does the additional traffic of the
27:14
combined shows, is that a good thing?
27:17
Or is it like, well, it may have lost its charm?
27:20
I'm still going, I'm sure you're still going.
27:23
It's still going to be fun. It's going to be different.
27:26
What it what is your take away from the dealer perspective on
27:30
this change? Do we think it's permanent?
27:33
Where are you at on that? I mean, I think what they're
27:37
trying to do is just get more people in the hobby to the show
27:42
and expose people to, to, to maybe to vintage, maybe to maybe
27:51
just expand the show and, and make it a, make it a, a, a, a
27:55
better, a quote UN quote better show for for everyone.
28:00
And you know, I mean, think about the national.
28:03
The National has everything modern, vintage, whatever you
28:07
go, I don't think anything's going to change at Strongsville.
28:10
I'm going to still go to Strongsville.
28:13
And if they can make the venue a nicer venue and you know, I
28:16
mean, hey, I mean, you know, Strongsville is what it is.
28:19
We know what to expect when we go to Strongsville, right?
28:22
We just, you know, it's it's not the biggest card show, but it's
28:25
a cool card show it and but like you said, it is the vintage card
28:30
show. It is the vintage card show.
28:32
You know, JB has been trying to encourage me to do a card show
28:38
here in the Texas area. And OK, it's just a lot of work,
28:43
man. You know, Mike Monahan, I hope I
28:46
didn't, you know, MM talked about doing a show and I said,
28:51
hey, man, I'd support it. I just don't want like another
28:53
thing to do, you know what I mean?
28:55
Like. You're a busy dude, man.
28:57
You've got 80 things going. Yeah, I, I'll tell you this,
29:03
there are a lot of people that are going to the Strongsville
29:05
show this year who are hopeful that the charm continues.
29:10
But if the charm doesn't continue, they'll be looking for
29:16
a potential new vintage only show.
29:21
And people want a central show. They and and Dallas is a little
29:25
bit more central. You know, Texas is a little bit
29:28
more central. Wherever it would be, you know,
29:30
even up in Saint Louis or somewhere in that area where
29:36
there would be an opportunity. And I know that the YouTube
29:40
community is a little frustrated right now.
29:42
And if it doesn't, if it loses the charm, they're open, so.
29:48
Well, hopefully some. Collaborative thing.
29:51
Yeah, hopefully, you know, I, I guess it's good that they have
29:55
it on two sides. I guess we won't know until we
29:57
know, right. And and, you know, Leland's has
30:00
plenty of cash to back up what they do.
30:03
So hopefully Leland's you'll hear this.
30:05
Just do a good job. You know, Laura, Laura's Laura
30:09
Laura's great. And the guys that the people at
30:11
Leland's are great. They always, that they always
30:13
get, you know, put forth a great, great show.
30:17
We, we love Strongsville for a reason, right?
30:19
They, they put forth an awesome show.
30:21
So I don't, I, I, I hope that they're going to do this.
30:26
Like, I, I wouldn't think that they'd do any less.
30:28
You know, hopefully they don't collectors the Strongsville show
30:32
and like like that would that would, that would suck, right?
30:37
You know, but, but I'm, I'm a positive thinking guy, man.
30:41
I, I, I try to show up and just, you know, whatever's like, I
30:45
drove up to Austin yesterday, today to, to go to a little card
30:48
show. Well, it was like 400 tables.
30:50
I was like, all right, well, there's a card show that's not
30:53
far away. It's a pretty big show.
30:55
Let me see what's going to happen.
30:56
And you know, I mean, I call it, you know, we got to swing the
31:00
bat. Sometimes you, you get singles
31:03
and sometimes you hit home runs. But if you don't swing, you
31:07
know, you know, chances are you, if you don't swing, you're not
31:09
going to get a hit. That's that, that's what I know.
31:13
And so they're trying something different and I think they're
31:17
trying to get more people, more people in the door, but more
31:24
people in the door that are going to enjoy the hobby in
31:26
general, not just vintage, because the our hobby is not
31:30
just vintage, right? I don't know.
31:33
I watched the World Series, right?
31:36
I love watching showy Otani do what he did.
31:41
You know, I, you know, we, we all love the competition aspect
31:45
of sports and, and so as long as they do a good job, man, and you
31:50
know, they, they don't, I hopefully they don't dilute
31:52
stuff. I I like it.
31:54
You know, honestly, yesterday when I was at the show was a
31:57
little frustrating because half of this show was Pokémon.
32:00
And that's great, right? Have all the pokey you want to
32:03
have, but like have it in one area and have sports cards in
32:07
another area so we don't have to walk like, you know, you know,
32:11
around the whole show to find everything that we're looking
32:14
for. I mean, I, that's my advice to a
32:17
tour promoter. And I know it's not easy, right,
32:20
because then you got to ask people, you know, what do they
32:22
want? But like, I don't know, man.
32:24
I I think it's just like with everything, if you care, it's
32:27
going to show. Yeah.
32:29
If you care about your card show, it will show and you'll
32:32
have it allocated correctly. And for the most part you can
32:35
only do what you can do but. And I'd say that the
32:39
Strongsville show, they've always done a great job.
32:42
There's no reason to think it won't be great.
32:44
And they're, it sounds like they're doing what you just
32:46
described, which is on one area is going to be this stuff and
32:50
another area is going to be this stuff.
32:52
So we'll kind of see how that works.
32:54
I mean, I know some people have been advocating for the national
32:58
to do because I know the national has grandfathered in
33:00
rules where it's like first pick is the guy who's been there for
33:03
a million years, even if all he does is sell bobble heads.
33:07
Like I get all of that. I know.
33:09
And but they currently have their rules that they have.
33:13
And I think a lot of people wish when you walk in this side of
33:18
the show is vintage. This side is, is modern upstairs
33:22
is, you know, whatever. So we'll get a taste of how that
33:26
works at this show. It's it's at least different
33:29
than what they've done. Let me ask you a couple last
33:33
quick questions. Before you before you, because
33:35
you hit on a great point about the national, but you know a
33:39
couple things about the national that I would say to the bobble
33:43
head guy. You know, without those guys, we
33:46
may not have a national. That's true.
33:48
And and so they deserve, they've been doing it since the 70s and
33:53
80s. And if they didn't show up to
33:56
those shows, who knows if we would have what we have now.
34:00
So we got to give them their and hey, if they choose to log all
34:03
their boxes that are 40 and 50 years old, like they literally
34:07
like I, I recognize those card protecto boxes and the, the
34:12
boxes that they have and stuff. I'm like, oh, wow, I remember
34:14
that. And so like, you know, I think
34:17
that's what's awesome about the hobby too, is you still have the
34:20
old school dudes that, that love what they, they don't always,
34:24
they don't do it for the money. You can't go in there with
34:27
bobble heads and videos and, and be like, yes, I'm gonna, I'm
34:30
gonna retire off of this. They're they're more so doing
34:35
it, man, because they love and have a passion for the hobby.
34:38
And I have nothing but respect for those brothers and, and, and
34:41
people that that that do that man.
34:43
It's it's it is great. And but I but I do think that's
34:46
a great idea for them to have different sections that would
34:50
be, that would make it an awesome experience for the
34:53
collector to instead of roaming around aimlessly.
34:57
Yet, you know, you know, of course you have your boots that
35:00
you want to hit, But like there's so many other cool
35:03
booths to hit and so many other people that have so many cool
35:06
things that if you know, hey, all the pokies here, all the
35:11
whatever modern modern is here, all the vintage is here, all the
35:16
memorabilia is here. That that's AI think that's a
35:20
phenomenal idea that, you know, maybe some of the guys at the
35:24
National would want to implement that.
35:26
I mean, they care about the show and they love the show.
35:29
I I attend, you know, I set up at the promoters at their
35:33
regular shows, right. And, and so that I think that's
35:38
that's, that's great feedback. So yeah.
35:42
Couple more things. I try to keep these podcast type
35:46
things under 45 minutes. We're at 35 at the moment, so,
35:50
but I do have a couple other things that I want to ask you
35:54
first. Auction houses.
35:57
There's been a lot of talk about auction houses recently about
36:02
rules that have always been there, but people maybe weren't
36:05
aware of them. And, you know, I, I think that
36:10
every rule, every auction house having different rules makes it
36:14
a little bit complicated. And what is what is your take on
36:19
for your own sourcing of cards through auction houses and
36:25
listing things on auction houses and, and the confusion around
36:31
auction houses right now, Like what is your take on auction
36:36
houses as it as it relates to cards?
36:42
What? What's the confusion?
36:44
I'm sorry. I think the confusion is that
36:46
Rea has one set of rules like. Like what?
36:50
They're buyers premium. Like hidden reserves for
36:53
example. Some of them have hidden
36:55
reserves, some of them allow in house bidding, some allow
36:59
employee bidding, some don't allow any of those things.
37:04
Some have a 20% buyer premium, some have a 15, some have a 23.
37:09
And, and I think that there are, I feel like as much as the
37:16
grading has been consolidated by collectors, capital C collectors
37:23
and over the past year or so or two years I guess I should say,
37:27
I feel like there's been a deconsolidation.
37:30
There's more auction houses with more different rules and, and
37:35
you mentioned auction wire earlier and, and we could talk
37:38
about that another time because I do think that Mark's product
37:41
is, is a very intriguing product.
37:44
But are you using auction houses or checking auction houses as
37:50
much as ever? Or has your opinion changed at
37:53
all on auction houses? I, I, I honestly, I think it's
38:01
our responsibility to know what we're doing when we click that
38:04
button and, and to, they haven't changed that much, OK.
38:10
Rea changed their buyer's premium from 20 to 23%.
38:13
Heritage changed theirs from 20 to 22, golden etcetera,
38:17
etcetera, etcetera, right? They changed it a little bit.
38:19
Fanatics hasn't changed surprisingly, which you know, I
38:23
don't think that 2% deters any of us, right?
38:27
And so I give Fanatics credit for not changing their buyer's
38:29
premium because they could. And then maybe Michael Rubin
38:32
over here this and be like, why don't we get that not 2% because
38:36
it makes sense. But I I digress there and sorry
38:38
if I cost us money, but you know, I mean, I love the auction
38:44
houses as far as hidden reserves, they're not hidden
38:47
reserves because the reserves are are there on let's say an
38:53
auction ends Sunday. It'll say this reserve is this
38:56
now it may not say that on Wednesday, right, because the
39:00
because they try to give the the the card itself legs to run by
39:06
itself, but the reserves are meant to protect the seller.
39:10
And I mean, I'll be honest, I put reserves on my card
39:13
sometimes like I had, I still have the Joe Jackson T210.
39:17
And if, if that ever hits an auction house, you better
39:21
believe it's going to have a reserve, right?
39:23
Because I'm not getting my butt handed to me.
39:26
And, and so the reserves are meant to protect the seller.
39:29
And guess what? The seller doesn't have to sell
39:31
their card. It's their choice.
39:33
And if they choose to put a reserve on it and you don't want
39:36
to pay the reserve, then guess what?
39:38
Guess what you don't get? You don't get the baseball card.
39:41
Like, so, so goes life, right? Like, yeah, you know, and most
39:45
of the time, reserves are put on pretty big cards.
39:47
They're not put on cards that are, you know, they're not put
39:50
on smaller cards. They're put on big cards.
39:52
I remember there was a, a Wagner Bruner's BBG 5 that I wanted at
39:58
Heritage, but the guy had a darn reserve on the card.
40:01
And like, I just couldn't push myself over the reserve.
40:04
Guess what happened? He didn't sell in the spring.
40:07
He ran it again in the fall. Recently and what did it do?
40:13
It went over the reserve. Guess who bid over the reserve
40:15
and still didn't win this guy, right.
40:19
So I mean, it's just, you know, you never know with cards and
40:22
and you know, so that, that's how I feel.
40:25
I mean, we should be educated. We should educate.
40:27
Look, you, you, you cut your check, right?
40:31
So you go buy a car. You read the contract.
40:34
Yeah. You know, and, and granted, this
40:36
isn't a car, it's a baseball card.
40:38
Granted, this is more fun than buying a car in most instances,
40:44
but you, you know, at the end of the day, you know, when you're
40:47
dealing with big money, which is what the hobby it, it's so, so
40:51
the, the rules are only there to protect themselves.
40:54
I, I, as far as employees bidding on cards, you know, if
41:03
it's done in an ethical way, I, I know people that work at
41:06
auction houses that collect and love to collect, like literally
41:11
love their job and love that they get to play with baseball
41:16
cards, build relationships with consignors and hey, guess what?
41:20
If there's a Willie Mays card that they like because they
41:25
collect Willie Mays's or they collect Mays autographs or they
41:28
collect Mantle autographs or whatever the case is and they
41:32
want to bid on it and it's done ethically, then then that's
41:37
fine. Now when it's done unethically,
41:40
you know, IE we all heard the of the story of, you know, what
41:44
happened with the eBay and the other guy, but I, I don't even
41:47
want to mention that. Then then look, you reap what
41:49
you sow, right? Like at the end of the day, but
41:52
like you, you know, I don't know, I just so that's some
41:57
people may not like my opinion, but that's, that's, that's my
42:00
thought. And you know, auctions are fun,
42:04
man. I mean, you know, sometimes you
42:07
can get cards for a good deal and sometimes the cards go for a
42:10
moon shot and it's, it's all the, the fun of clicking that
42:14
button and it's all, it's a lot of work.
42:16
Some people will say, hey, man, I, I, I'll, because I buy cards
42:19
at auctions, right? I'm one of the top buyers of the
42:22
52 tops Mickey Mantle card out there in the country.
42:26
And you know, I'll, I'll buy the card and I'll be the comp and
42:30
I'll sell it for over the comp and people be like, Oh, you just
42:33
paid this. You're right.
42:35
Guess what though? I stayed up.
42:36
I clicked the button, I sent them my bank wire.
42:40
I did the things that I had to do to get the card and you
42:43
didn't. But now you want to diminish
42:45
what I did to get the card? How about all the other cards
42:48
that I didn't win and, and, and the research that goes into
42:53
that. And a lot of times people don't
42:54
see that and it's OK. Like I, you know, I take it with
42:58
a grain of salt. It's I don't want to argue with
43:00
anybody. Either we're going to agree over
43:01
the price of the baseball card or we're not like it's not it's
43:05
not the end of the world either way, right?
43:07
You know, I try to not have AII try to be light hearted about
43:12
it. It's it's no, no fun to argue
43:15
with people over baseball cards like that sucks.
43:18
So. Yeah, I, I agree.
43:21
And I mean great points, fair points.
43:25
You know, accountability, self accountability for your actions
43:30
versus not. I hear what you're saying
43:34
completely and, and it's hard to disagree with what you're
43:36
saying. Last question I have for you,
43:39
2026, you know, as we record this, it's January 3rd.
43:44
This is probably going to post on the 6th, I would think on the
43:48
Sports Card Clubhouse podcast network.
43:53
And what's going to be different?
43:55
Like are there goals? Are there things you're looking
43:59
to do differently, things you're you're going to add to the
44:02
portfolio as far as new shows? I mean, if you look back at this
44:08
last year, you really took off and launched the YouTube
44:11
channel, a lot more social media.
44:14
You are doing eBay live now, a lot more places you're you're
44:18
launching more stuff on eBay for sale.
44:21
Any goals or places that are going to be different that
44:24
people can find you other than you and I doing this fairly
44:28
frequently and, and obviously we'll bring in the two boys on
44:33
from time to time as well. Anything else that you think is
44:36
going to be new this year? You know, Greg, we're, we're
44:41
just open to to new, new things. I mean, you know, in the month
44:45
of December, we sold a ton on eBay.
44:48
We sold more than more than I thought we would sell.
44:52
And a lot of people on the dog eBay because of this and because
44:56
of that and whatever eBay does their job really, really well.
45:01
And, you know, I don't know, I mean, I hate that I have to ship
45:06
to California to get stuff verified, but the only reason
45:11
they get stuff verified is because people get a lot of
45:13
fraud. And so now they're trying to
45:16
protect people and get, you know, and they had to eat that
45:19
fraud. I wouldn't want to eat the
45:20
fraud. You wouldn't want to eat it, and
45:22
none of us would. So I mean, it's just that that
45:25
part is what it is. You know, the social, social
45:30
aspect of it. We're trying to, we're trying to
45:32
get people to come to our website more and more.
45:35
We've seen a lot more website sales, you know, and so our, our
45:42
social, social stuff, website stuff, you know, Facebook is
45:47
always great that that's where, you know, honestly, the Facebook
45:52
community is what has made, has made me what, where has has
45:59
taken us to where we are today. Facebook, because, you know,
46:03
without the Facebook community, I would have never have start
46:06
started to go to shows as much because I, I can go to shows,
46:10
but you know, honestly, I go to shows.
46:14
I used to say I go to shows not to sell, but to buy, but I sell
46:18
by default because, you know, we bring pretty good inventory,
46:22
right? Well, you know, Facebook is the
46:26
reason why I would do that, right?
46:28
Because I'd go to shows, I'd buy cards, I'd post my cards on
46:32
Facebook. So, so there were, there were
46:33
some shows, Greg, that we used to do more on Facebook then we
46:37
would do at the physical show. And you know, so I'm very, very
46:42
grateful for that, for that platform.
46:44
And you know, I'd post my I'd fly to other shows and I'd post
46:49
my pickups and they would sell and then rinse, repeat, rinse,
46:53
repeat, rinse, repeat. Like, who would have thought?
46:54
Like I would have, you could have told me four years ago,
46:58
like, hey, man, you're going to have a website and you're going
47:00
to be this in the hobby. And I like, I would have never
47:04
imagined any of that, right? I'm like, I don't know, man, I'm
47:08
just buying and selling baseball cards.
47:11
And it, it, it turned into a monster.
47:14
And the only reason it turned into a monster is because we get
47:17
the support from the community that we get the support from.
47:20
And, and you know, so you know, without, without the community,
47:25
without you guys, without like, you know, me and you met because
47:29
of baseball cards, right? But then we met because of
47:32
baseball cards. Then we get to talk about the
47:34
Lord. Then we get to talk about the
47:36
Lord with friends and we get to share with other folks and, and
47:41
bring different perspectives to life that a lot of people have
47:45
never even experienced and seen And like, it's just just a
47:50
beautiful, beautiful thing. And I don't know, man, I try not
47:54
to overthink things too much. And, you know, sure, I have a
47:57
business and OK, we have goals and this, that the third man,
48:01
but I, I don't know, the guys at eBay knocked on my door and
48:04
said, Hey, let's do this. And I was like, all right, let's
48:07
try it. And you know, eBay is competing
48:11
with what not and what not killing it.
48:14
But you know what not probably won't be eBay, but what not
48:20
rocks it too. And and so like, you know,
48:23
they're banging on my door too, but like, I'm only one human,
48:25
man. I'm not going to kill myself
48:27
over this stuff. And like, you can only do what
48:29
you can do. And I'm OK with that, right?
48:32
I don't like, I'm, I'm OK with just being.
48:36
And so, so it's just good, man. I, I just kind of take things
48:40
how they come. And, and, you know, like I said,
48:45
I would have never thought the response that we're getting on
48:47
eBay that we would have gotten yet, you know, this week alone,
48:50
we've sold, which for us is a lot, probably close to 200 cards
48:56
on eBay, which for again, which for us is a lot, some, some,
49:00
some, you know, some other dealers that auction stuff and
49:03
stuff like that. They do thousands of cards in a
49:06
day and they have a huge infrastructure and it's, and
49:09
it's awesome. We, we specialize in vintage and
49:12
only want to really do vintage. And you know, there's not, but
49:16
so many vintage cards out there, There's not so many vintage
49:18
cards you can sell. And but we're, I mean, we're,
49:21
we're, you know, we love the way things are going.
49:25
We love the support that the community has given us and, and
49:28
just are very thankful and grateful for that.
49:30
And I don't know, man, we just have have a great time doing
49:34
what we do. And, you know, when it becomes
49:37
not a great time, then it then it sucks, right?
49:40
So hopefully it won't be, it won't turn into that.
49:44
I'd say 90 plus percent of the people in the hobby are
49:47
phenomenally awesome people and just enjoy doing, you know,
49:52
baseball cards or I was talking to a guy in Austin.
49:54
I know we're getting close to. Coming.
49:56
You're good. You keep going.
49:58
Talking to a guy in Austin yesterday at the show and he's
50:01
got a software company, but he's at the card show set up with his
50:05
13 year old, right? Shout out to Mike.
50:09
And but he's at a card show set up with his 13 year old and he's
50:14
like, you know, this is, this is my, my relief, This is this,
50:21
this is, you know, where I don't have to think about work and my
50:24
software company and all this stuff.
50:26
Like I get to hang out and play with baseball cards and, and
50:29
chill with my 13 year old. Like, you know, life is good,
50:32
man. We get to yet, you know, for and
50:34
for many of us, it's just a it's just a way for us to kind of be
50:38
kids again and be young again and relive our youth.
50:42
And yet, you know, you know, a lot of us like to like, we love
50:46
competition. Competition like gets your blood
50:49
flowing and it's a good time. And, and so, you know, but
50:55
healthy competition and fun competition, not, you know, want
50:58
to punch you in the face competition.
50:59
That's, you know, that's, that's that, that's stressful.
51:03
And so, so, you know, it's, it's good, man, it, it's, it's just
51:07
good. And we're going to, we're going
51:09
to see what this takes us. And you know, Greg, this was,
51:11
you know, honestly, I love talking to you.
51:13
Whenever we talk it, it's, it's, it's always a it's always a good
51:17
time. And you know, all the guys in in
51:21
the hobby, man, that you know, that are that are cool and, and
51:25
just love to love, to love to come talk to us at the shows.
51:29
We we appreciate like it's, it's it's fun, right?
51:33
You know, you talk to my son. He likes talking to folks.
51:36
JB likes talking to folks. You know, Frankie, who's who's
51:39
new, new with us, but you know, he's been a friend of mine for
51:44
for a long, long time. He likes going to the shows and
51:46
he likes the he likes talking to people, man.
51:49
And, and you know, I mean, I think that's what it's all about
51:52
is just the camaraderie that we have when we go to the shows and
51:57
we get to exchange cardboard for paper, right, like or digital,
52:03
whatever, man. Like we get to transact stuff,
52:05
but like, it's, it's more than a transaction.
52:08
It's fun, right? And and so that's what eBay live
52:11
brings and eBay brings. It's just, it's another
52:14
extension of the hobby to be able to take care of, nurt and
52:17
nurture the hobby and to be able to help people with their
52:20
collections and help wives by their husbands or their kids
52:24
cards and you know, all the things that go along with it,
52:27
right? Hey, man, people get their first
52:29
Mickey Mantle card or their first you, you know, whatever
52:32
Hank Aaron or Clemente Carter, their Detroit Tigers or their
52:36
Cardinals cards or whatever, Like, like whatever it is that
52:39
you're into, you're into, right? It's the fun of it.
52:42
Yeah, well, buddy, I got to tell you, the thing that has been the
52:47
most fun of this whole hobby has been the friendships and the new
52:51
friendships and the camaraderie. And I'm blessed to call you a
52:56
friend. And we've had some good memories
52:59
already over the last two years. I'm looking forward to doing
53:03
this with you at least somewhat regularly.
53:07
Like you just said, this is for me.
53:09
This is as fun as anything is getting on here, having a
53:13
conversation about the hobby, recording it and posting it in
53:17
case anybody else is interested in listening.
53:20
So I, I genuinely appreciate your friendship.
53:24
I'm glad that we've gotten to know each other.
53:26
I'm looking forward to doing this more often.
53:30
I appreciate your time and I am excited about 2026 and, and one
53:35
of my goals and one of my new endeavors is doing a little bit
53:39
more of this, conversating with people like yourself.
53:42
So I appreciate you buddy. Any final words?
53:46
Again you can find ashswebsite@legacycards.net
53:50
cards with AZ, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, eBay.
53:59
Lots of places to find you. Any final words before we in
54:04
this first episode together? Yeah, I mean, just, I don't
54:09
know, Greg, I appreciate what you do for the hobby and many,
54:11
many, many other folks do as well.
54:16
Yeah, yeah. I was in Canada at the Toronto
54:18
Expo and there were guys like, Oh yeah, I've heard you on the
54:21
Midwest, you know, yeah, I'm sorry, on the on the on the
54:25
midlife channel and and so forth.
54:28
And, you know, it's it's awesome how far it reaches and it's
54:33
awesome how how many people. It's just awesome how many
54:36
people love the hobby. And it's just great, man.
54:40
It's just it great. We, I'm sure you're appreciative
54:44
of all the people that support you and, and love on you, man.
54:47
I'm, I'm very appreciative as well of all the people that that
54:52
support us and, and take care of us.
54:54
Again, we're, we're nothing without the people like legacy
54:57
cards doesn't exist without the people that are listening to
55:00
this and the people that click the buttons, man, and, and, you
55:03
know, buy cards from us and and so forth.
55:05
And we don't, we don't, we don't take that lightly.
55:11
We, we, we appreciate the people, we appreciate the
55:15
community. We try to treat the community
55:18
like, like at the end of the day, like we should, right?
55:21
You know, that's, that's it. It's not, not rocket science to
55:24
treat people nicely. So.
55:27
And you do. You've always been very good to
55:31
many, many people. If you're not subscribed to the
55:35
Sports Cart Clubhouse podcast network, again, Apple, Spotify,
55:40
anywhere you can get podcasts, more conversations like this,
55:45
including several with my buddy Ash.
55:48
My friend, thanks for your time and this is going to be a fun
55:52
year. I, I I can tell.
55:54
All right. All right, Greg.
55:55
Thanks. Bye everybody.