Latest / Sports Card Clubhouse / MidLife Sports Cards Q & A- December 24, 2025

Transcript

MidLife Sports Cards Q & A- December 24, 2025 · Sports Card Clubhouse

0:10
What's going on, everybody? Merry Christmas Eve, everybody
0:15
who showed up to Monday's live stream.
0:18
Thank you so much for that. If you've not yet seen a
0:21
recording of it, check it out. Always a good time with that
0:26
great group of guys and a lively chat.
0:30
Now we are headed into a couple of days where our priority
0:35
should be on our family and our loved ones.
0:38
And make sure to actually soak that in and enjoy it because at
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the end of the day, those are the things that matter most, not
0:46
all the hobby drama. Now I have two new additions to
0:51
the collection that I'll share with you here in just a second.
0:54
But first I want to shout out the difficult questions this
1:01
week, some very some land mine filled questions.
1:08
And what I will continue to do is I will continue to answer
1:12
them honestly from my heart. And surely there are going to be
1:18
some people who are not thrilled with the way I answer some of
1:21
these because you guys asked me some dicey ones.
1:25
And but I'll just be me and share my thoughts and be honest
1:30
with you all and tell you where I'm at with these very difficult
1:35
questions. But first have a couple of
1:38
additions. Our first question today comes
1:41
from Trevor over at Blue Collar Cards, and he sent me a nice
1:45
Christmas card with this Martin Dehigo card from our friend
1:52
Scott over at Reindeer Studios. Scott was doing a fundraiser in
1:58
honor of our buddy Orlando of a collector's dream, and Trevor
2:04
bought one of these custom cards and sent it to me.
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So thank you, my friend, Appreciate that very much.
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Even though you asked me a brutally tough question, it's
2:13
not really that tough actually, but it could be.
2:18
And then I got a TTM in the mail.
2:21
My all time favorite golfer is Fred Couples and I've long
2:28
wanted a Fred Couples autograph. I heard that he TTM Ed.
2:33
So like 8 or 9 months ago I sent a card off for TTM to Fred
2:40
Couples and it never came back and I figured it was gone
2:43
forever until it showed up in the mail this week.
2:48
How about a Fred Couples rookie card signed in?
2:54
Look at that in a penny slipper semi rigid.
2:58
Oh my goodness was I thrilled to get this back.
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This is an 82 card. This is an 82 Donras.
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Very very excited to get that back.
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So two very cool additions to the collection.
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All right, before the Christmas festivity start. 5 questions,
3:24
tough questions. Let me know how I did.
3:29
I'm just going to answer them all from the heart.
3:32
So here we go. Entertaining video.
3:37
I have a question for a future episode.
3:39
After the 2025 national, it seemed like there was an
3:43
explosion of channels being sponsored.
3:46
By card. Ladder card.
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Ladder is owned by Collectors Universe.
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Do you think the recent PSA Collectors Universe scandals
3:54
involving switching nines to 10s after offers for nines were
4:00
accepted and their purchase of Beckett have made content
4:04
creators question their decision to partner with Card Ladder?
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Do you think that the opinion of Card Ladder in the hobby will
4:12
suffer because of their parent company?
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Or do you think that too few people realize that Card Ladder
4:20
is owned by Collectors Universe to have any implications?
4:26
All right, Trevor, not let me off the hook at all, nor should
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you guys definitely always ask me whatever you want to know.
4:37
I'm happy to share my thoughts Now.
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First of all, you said a whole bunch of people came out with
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sponsorships from card ladder after the national.
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I'm I'm not aware. I don't I watch a lot of
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YouTube. I don't watch as much as some.
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So I'm not really aware of a bunch of other channels coming
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out being sponsored by Card Ladder.
5:00
I think King of Cards recently started a sponsorship from Card
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Ladder if I'm not mistaken. I'm not 100% sure.
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Nonetheless, I did come out with my first ever sponsorship from
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Card Ladder and the team at Card Ladder.
5:18
And and then you go into kind of a little bit of a recent news
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thing. So let me first back up.
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The reason that I agreed to a sponsorship with the great
5:31
people at Card Ladder is because I believe in the people at Card
5:36
Ladder. I got to meet Chris and
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Christina at the National. I spoke with both of them.
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After the National, we had a meeting, virtual meeting, video
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conversation where we talked for about an hour.
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And during that conversation, I got to know them better.
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I got to hear more about the company.
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I got to hear more about how they do things.
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And quite frankly, for me, they are fantastic people.
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In addition to being fantastic people.
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I, I, I believe that they have the best card app on the market.
6:16
I've had VCP, it's good. I've had market movers, it's
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also good, but I I believe that card ladder is the best one.
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And because I think that they're the best one and because I think
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that they're great people, it was a very easy decision to want
6:38
to align myself and partner with them.
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I have since deleted Market Movers and VCP off of my own
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personal devices and the only one that I feel that I need is
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Card Ladder. I think they're the best.
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If you don't think they're the best, then you shouldn't use
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them. If you are interested in trying
6:57
them to see if you think they're the best, I have a promo code
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which I've shouted out many times, which is midlife.
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If you go to Card ladder and you sign up, you use the promo code
7:08
midlife. You get a 20% discount on a year
7:12
subscription. It's a great deal.
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I don't know why anybody wouldn't at least try it.
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It's a fantastic app. Now you mention how Card Ladder
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is owned by Collectors Holdings. Collectors Universe Collectors
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with a capital C, whatever you want to say.
7:30
That is true. They are the same company that
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owns PSA, that owns SGC, that owns Beckett.
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They also own Card Ladder now. I think that we have to keep a
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couple of things in mind here. First of all, I know a lot of
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people who only use PSA. I know a lot of people who hate
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PSA, who hate collectors, who hate what they've done to SGC.
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I understand that I have been very vocal in my frustration at
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what has been done to SGC over the last couple of years by the
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parent company of collectors. I've been very vocal about that.
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Just a week or so ago I released a video sharing my dad's
8:17
experiences, which were about how kind of flip it PSA was
8:23
about changing some grades from authentic all the way up to
8:27
nines, changing the value of cards by 10s of thousands of
8:31
dollars, and how I have an issue with that, which I do.
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But here's the deal. In my humble opinion, a company,
8:41
the parent company, does not represent everything under the
8:46
umbrella. This is my opinion.
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I, for example, I worked at the Jim Henson Company.
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The Muppets, Lisa Henson and Brian Henson, when I was there,
9:01
were running the company and they were fantastic people.
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I got to meet Brian Henson. I got to meet the heads of many
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different departments, worked closely with a lot of people.
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It's kind of a small company and their headquarters are in
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Hollywood, CA. They have a London office, they
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have a New York office. And I think that they're great
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individuals. I think they run a great company
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at Jim Henson. Well, Jim Henson is owned by
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Disney. Disney does not always do things
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or say things that. Everyone agrees with.
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And when the parent company that overseas ESPN, ABC, National
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Geographic, Lucasfilms, Marvel, Pixar and the Jim Henson
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Company, if Disney does something or says something or
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supports a candidate for something and you're like, I
10:06
don't really like Disney, do you go out and unsubscribe and stop
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using ESPN? Do you say, Oh my gosh, I'm
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never going to have my kids and my grandkids are never going to.
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They're never going to own a Kermit the Frog stuffed animal
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because I don't like the Disney did this thing with this other
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piece that they own. I don't like that ABC has a news
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anchor who said something that I don't like.
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I don't like Stephen A Smith over at ESPN.
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Therefore I'm never watching the National Geographic Channel
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again. To me, that doesn't make sense.
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Collectors, the parent company that overseas card grading and
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comic grading and magazine grading and video game grading,
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and they also own Card ladder. They have a wide range, a wide
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range of things that they own. Just because they might be doing
11:19
something that I'm not on board with, with one piece of their
11:23
company, like how they have been handling SGC, does not mean that
11:31
the people who are over here running card ladder or the card
11:35
ladder app is something that I should run away from.
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And I know that some people out there would say, Oh no, I mean,
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if you give any dollar, if you give a single dollar to
11:47
collectors, then you're a bad person.
11:51
OK. I don't.
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That's not the way that I live. When the Disney theme park
11:59
changes a rule or changes a philosophy or has some sort of
12:04
belief that you may or may not agree with, it doesn't affect
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whether or not I'm going to watch a football game on ESPN.
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For me, for me, that's not how I work at times.
12:19
I like watching the National Geographic Channel.
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There are some beautiful scenery.
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There's some beautiful documentaries that you can watch
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on a channel like that. I'm not going to swear off the
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National Geographic Channel because the Disney theme park
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raised their prices and made it harder for me and my family to
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go visit. Am I naive?
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Maybe. Am I an idiot?
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Quite possibly. But I'm sorry, I can't have a
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life that I live when there are companies.
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I mean, heck, guys, Phillip Morris used to own Nabisco.
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They used to own Nabisco. I'm not a person who thinks that
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the tobacco companies are good for the average person.
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But I didn't run out and say I'm not buying any Nabisco crackers
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anymore because Phillip Morris owns them.
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I believe that there are brands that fall under umbrellas that
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are good, even if other aspects of that umbrella or other brands
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within there may do things that I don't always agree with.
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You get to make your choices, and everybody gets to pick with
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their own pocketbooks who they want to support and who they
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don't. And if you decide that you don't
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like that that PSA is is now basically calling the shots for
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Beckett, and therefore you don't want to have your video games
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graded by WADA, who was the brand before they recently
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changed their grading division over to PSA.
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Or you don't like the fact that they stuffed SGC in the broom
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closet, therefore you don't want to use card ladder and you want
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to use an inferior option, that's fine.
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But for me, that's not how I am. I do want to address one thing
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in there though, that you mentioned about the selling the
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cards to somebody or some somebody making an offer,
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getting an offer for nines and then they changed them to 10's
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and how the the drama around that story.
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If you're not familiar with the story, what happened was
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somebody sent some cards in for grading.
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They got graded by PSA, they came back as nines.
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They then offered the person a sale for the nines.
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And then later the cards got reviewed and turned into 10s.
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I don't believe personally that that was like a whole thing that
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they're doing. I, I don't personally believe
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that they're going out making offers, buying cards and then
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secretly right raising the grades.
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Anytime you're talking about a company that is creating
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2,000,000 cards a month, they're going to make mistakes.
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All of their databases are not going to align perfectly all of
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the time. Am I just making excuses for
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PSAI? Don't think so, because I've
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been very vocal about frustrations with PSA, with the
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lack of consistency in the grading, especially recently of
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PSA with what they've done to SGC, with the fact that I'm not
15:59
happy about what has happened with them purchasing Beckett.
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I've been very vocal about that. PSA is a company I have some
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serious concerns about. But to me, that doesn't mean
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that Card Ladder is somebody that I and I now don't want to
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support. That's just me, but you guys get
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to do you. Companies can all exist under
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other companies and sometimes they're hands off companies.
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When I was working at the Jim Henson Company, I can tell you
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this, they didn't care what Disney thought.
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Disney people weren't coming in calling the shots.
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They were hands off and let the Jim Henson Company do what the
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Jim Henson Company people thought was best for the brand.
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And that to me is a good example of what is happening with Card
17:01
Ladder and collectors. But if you don't want to support
17:04
them, don't support them. But they're the best product and
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the people who are in charge of Card Ladder are great people who
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I consider friends and I'm going to continue to support.
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And I recommend you do it as well and use the promo code
17:21
midlife when you do it so you can get 20% off.
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I'd like to hear your definition of I appeal.
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It seems to me that more dealers have taken it upon themselves to
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define high eye appeal as any low grade car that they're
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trying to sell. The collector portion of the
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hobby should be defining these things.
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I don't think there's a universal term for high eye
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appeal. I don't believe that you can say
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high eye appeal means this and everyone necessarily agrees.
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Listen, when I am walking down the beach and I look around,
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there's a lot of attractive females there and there might be
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a female that I think is really attractive that you don't
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particularly find attractive. We might have different
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qualities in the physical appearance of a female that
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differs. And it doesn't mean that you're
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right and it doesn't mean that I'm right.
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It doesn't mean that anybody's wrong.
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It's just a difference of opinion.
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And with cards, I think it's the same way.
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Someone might see a card and go, that thing is stunning.
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And another person might say that cards way off center.
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Somebody might say this is a beautiful card and somebody else
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says it's got a lot of surface issues on it.
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There isn't a defined characteristic or lack of
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characteristics that make a card high I appeal or not high I
19:02
appeal. It is just what you like.
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Now if you're going to look for a generic description of what is
19:13
high, I appeal. To me, it would be a symmetrical
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card that is enjoyable to look at and doesn't have any
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characteristics about it that detract from the appeal of
19:30
looking at it. So a card that is mostly well
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centered isn't a distracting card.
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A card that doesn't have a crease through the face is a
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card that doesn't have something that detracts from looking at
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it. If you look at a card and
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there's something that you look at it and you go, man, too bad.
19:56
Too bad about this. The centering or that one corner
20:02
that's completely folded over, or that big surface mark across
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the chin of the person, or the paper loss over his forehead,
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Those to me. Would detract from the enjoyment
20:19
of looking at the card. So that's how I define it.
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I define it as when I look at this card, there's no
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characteristic about the card that is detrimental to the
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enjoyment of looking at it, whether that be centering,
20:38
color, clarity, registration, surface edges, a little bit of
20:46
all of the above. The cards that I buy tend to be
20:50
cards that don't have anything about them that is distracting
20:55
to the point where it takes away some of the enjoyment when
21:00
looking at it. That's what I appeal means to
21:03
me, but that doesn't mean that that makes me right.
21:08
But that is my definition of I appeal, which is what you're
21:13
asking. But just like I might walk down
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the beach and look over and go whoa, you might not, you might
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not, and that's fine. So I don't think I appeal or
21:28
high. I appeal is a universal term.
21:31
A lot of us like to make it seem like our opinion is the right
21:36
opinion and the universal opinion, but it's not always the
21:40
right universal opinion. It can differ, and for me it's
21:47
all of the characteristics and all equalities don't detract
21:53
from the enjoyment of looking at the card.
21:56
That to me is high eye appeal. Generally speaking, that means a
22:01
card that has good color, that has good centering, that has
22:05
corners that are symmetrical, that doesn't have any
22:09
distracting surface flaws that detract from looking at it with
22:13
a lot of joy. Question for the future One day
22:19
someone from PSA reaches out to you with questions about your
22:22
opinion on grading vintage cards.
22:25
They fly you in and you realize it's an open interview.
22:30
PSA is looking to create a new vintage card grading division
22:34
and want your input as well as your time 40 to 50 hours a week.
22:40
They ask you for another interview, You can't say no
22:43
right? Nat is looking to clean up their
22:46
vintage grading and create subdivisions, TCG, 90s, non
22:51
sport, etcetera, etcetera. PSA values your opinions,
22:55
expertise and thoughts. They offer you a full time
22:58
consulting position at the company.
23:01
You will be one of the few. People involved with the PSA.
23:04
Vintage card grading division. This involves grading criteria,
23:09
QC criteria, traveling to card shows, deciding if SGC rebrands,
23:15
etcetera etcetera. The salary offer four times your
23:19
current salary with top notch benefits and a 1226 start date.
23:27
Some caveats, you have to be a champion of PSA.
23:32
You represent the company and also must rebrand your channel.
23:37
To be. APSA champion and their
23:39
subsidiaries? Or take the job and stop your
23:43
channel entirely due to conflict of interest.
23:47
My question would you take the offer to join the Dark?
23:51
Side. All right.
23:54
I really like this question a lot.
23:58
Basically, would I drop my job to go work for PSA at four times
24:06
the salary? And I mean, they're down in
24:09
Santa Ana, so I would have to move.
24:12
Would I do that for four times the salary working full times
24:16
with vintage cards? And but then I also when I'm
24:21
making my channel, I would, I would have to be aware of the
24:24
fact, in theory at least, that this is my employer and so I
24:29
can't do anything that would call them out first.
24:35
I feel like there's a lot I need to share about me, some of which
24:39
I don't think I've ever shared before.
24:42
So this is a, this is a first time revelation on the channel.
24:49
I I got good grades in school and I got into a really high end
24:57
school with a high end business program.
25:00
And as I was going through school, I continued to get
25:03
really good grades. And my plan I'm I'm not saying
25:07
that to make myself sound special by any means, nobody is
25:13
beats themselves up more than I beat myself up.
25:17
So I'm not trying to flex here. I'm just saying I did well in
25:21
school. And my original plan was I was
25:25
going to go to grad school and get my MBA and I was going to go
25:30
work in marketing, promotion, advertising, consulting, that
25:37
whole realm. And that was my plan, and I was
25:42
getting close to finishing up my undergrad degree when I did this
25:49
internship that I was just talking about where I worked at
25:52
Jim Henson for three months. And it changed my life for many
25:57
reasons. And one of the reasons that it
25:59
changed my life is because it opened my eyes to the amount of
26:05
hours and what hours people in that industry worked.
26:10
And the amount, and this is the most important part, the amount
26:13
of time they were away from home.
26:16
See, a lot of people when they were growing up, when they were
26:20
getting older, when they were thinking about their future,
26:23
they were very focused on their career.
26:26
They were very interested in what their job would be, what
26:29
their career would be. Would they be a doctor or a
26:32
lawyer? Would they be, you know, a mail
26:35
carrier, an electrician, A firefighter, a teacher, a nurse?
26:40
And in when I envisioned my life growing up, it was never about
26:48
what my job would be, because my job drove my happiness the way
26:58
that I have lived since I was little.
27:01
It was always about what was the career that allowed me to put my
27:09
priorities as my priorities, and my priorities forever have been
27:17
being a husband and being a dad. Those were the things I wanted
27:22
when I was little. It was not, oh, I can't wait to
27:25
someday be a doctor. It was, oh, I can't wait to
27:28
someday be a dad. It was not I can't wait until I
27:33
can start traveling and seeing the world for business trips.
27:38
It was I can't wait to coach the soccer team and the Little
27:42
League team. That is what drove me and when I
27:46
did my internship, what I realized was I'm going to miss a
27:52
lot of stuff if I stay in this industry.
27:57
My degree was almost up and I said I don't think this is going
28:01
to work. So what I did is I finished my
28:05
degree and as soon as I finished my degree, I enrolled in a
28:11
firefighter Academy. And one of the reasons I
28:15
enrolled in a firefighter Academy is because my Little
28:19
League coach was a firefighter and he was at everything.
28:23
And his schedule was was one where he would be home a lot,
28:29
but then he would be away a little bit, but then he would be
28:32
home a lot again. And I saw that as a potential
28:36
career that checked a lot of boxes for me is a job where I
28:41
can help people. It's a career where I could do
28:44
good things in the community, but I can make my priority my
28:48
priority. And then what happened, and this
28:51
is true. This is all true story.
28:53
I was in the fire Academy in the fall.
28:57
I started it in the fall of 2001 and 911 happened.
29:05
And when 911 happened, I think it rocked a lot of us.
29:09
And I had a girlfriend at the time.
29:12
And the girlfriend talked about, oh, yeah.
29:15
I mean, if if I was married to a firefighter, after all these
29:20
firefighters and all these police officers and all these
29:23
people perished in that incident, she said I wouldn't be
29:28
able to sleep at night knowing that, you know, when my husband
29:32
went off to work, he might not ever come home.
29:36
And that that got me. Not because of her.
29:42
I mean, she was cool not but it wasn't because of her.
29:45
It was, well jeez, will my future wife feel this way?
29:51
Will my future wife worry for two days while I'm on my 48 hour
29:58
shift at the Firehouse? Because if my priority is being
30:04
a husband and being a dad, and what I'm doing is I'm causing
30:09
them to worry every moment I'm not home because of the type of
30:15
job that it is, this isn't going to work either.
30:19
So here I was completely on one track to go into the promotion
30:26
and advertising and marketing and sales world, and I hung a
30:31
hard left toward firefighting. And then that happens and I have
30:38
this conversation and though I don't talk to that girl anymore,
30:42
I don't even know what she's up to.
30:44
I'm thankful for her expressing that because it made me then
30:48
again, look in the mirror and go, this isn't going to work
30:52
because I need to make my priority my priority.
30:56
And then I looked at the job that my parents had.
30:59
My mom was a teacher, my dad was a teacher, career teachers, and
31:04
they were at everything and, and they were devoted parents and,
31:10
and they had the schedule that allowed us to maximize our time
31:14
together. And I said, even though teaching
31:17
isn't really the thing that I had envisioned for my life, what
31:23
it did is it allowed me to make the thing that I did envision
31:28
for my life the priority. And so I ended up being a
31:35
teacher. No, Oh my gosh, Greg, are we
31:37
talking about the story of your life here or are we talking
31:39
about sports cards? Well, I'm explaining the reason
31:44
why I wouldn't take the job at PSAI, wouldn't take the job at
31:49
PSA because it doesn't make my family the priority.
31:54
It sounds like we would have to move, which I know that my
31:58
teenage, well, I have a, I have an 18 year old and a 20 year
32:01
old. They wouldn't move right now.
32:04
They wouldn't want to move. It would ruin my retirement
32:07
program as well, which you know, again, the retirement of
32:12
teaching is one of the best financial perks of it.
32:16
And so I would have a hard time with convincing my wife that
32:22
that was a good decision and financially it wouldn't be.
32:27
And so I wouldn't do that. But let me say this, I love
32:34
being analytical. I love looking at a situation
32:38
and trying to solve problems. I like looking at issues and
32:42
saying what could we do here to improve this issue.
32:48
So if the question was would I be interested in being a part
32:53
time consultant with PSA? Because I see PSA is having
32:58
quite a few problems right now. They've got some PR dilemmas
33:04
that they should be dealing with.
33:07
What are they going to do now that they've acquired Beckett?
33:09
With Beckett what? Do they do from here with?
33:13
SGCI have opinions on these things and I, I would love to be
33:20
a consultant and share some of those opinions from both my
33:24
business background and my card collecting background.
33:28
But I don't expect them to call. I don't think they're going to
33:32
call. I have a lot of ideas, marketing
33:36
ideas for a lot of companies in the industry, a lot of the
33:40
brands under collector's umbrella.
33:42
I have some opinions on things that some of these companies
33:46
could be doing and some of these brands could be doing, but as a
33:52
full time job, I'm not interested As a part time gig
33:57
consulting, maybe occasionally heading down there for some
34:02
meetings and some, you know, discussions about some of those
34:06
ideas and some things. I would be interested in that.
34:10
But the other thing is, you know, I've partnered with CIA
34:16
auctions, I've partnered with, with card ladder.
34:22
And in doing that, that does not mean I'm not going to give my
34:27
opinion on those areas. I'm if, if there's something I
34:31
think card ladder could or should do, if, if there's an
34:36
issue, I, I voice it. Even now I do, I have voiced
34:41
some stuff to CIA. I have voiced some stuff to card
34:43
ladder. I'm not going to say, oh, well,
34:48
you know, they're a sponsor of the channel.
34:52
Therefore I just have to kind of let them let them do some things
34:58
that I don't agree with. That's that's just not, that's
35:01
just that wouldn't work for me either.
35:03
So the last thing I'll say is this.
35:08
You know, when I started my channel, I had three goals.
35:13
My first goal of the channel was I wanted to be able to get to
35:19
1000 subscribers, 1000 subscribers.
35:25
Then my goal was to eventually reach 5000 subscribers.
35:34
And my other goal was to connect with other collectors.
35:40
I have reached all those goals. If my channel went away
35:45
tomorrow, I'd be OK because I'm a goal oriented person.
35:52
I set three goals. I reach those goals.
35:56
I feel fulfilled from the channel.
35:59
That's why I said before, if you don't like the channel and you
36:02
decide to not watch anymore, I'm OK with that.
36:05
I don't blame you if you don't like the channel, you shouldn't
36:08
watch the channel. If you think that I'm the worst
36:13
person ever then I would unsubscribe.
36:17
I wouldn't be subscribed to someone I think is the worst
36:20
person ever. That's just my take.
36:23
So not interested in the full time job for PSA.
36:28
Would be interested in sharing some of my problem solving and
36:31
opinions in a consultation type view.
36:35
But my job is just a job. See some people live to work.
36:47
I I work to live, nothing more, nothing less.
36:54
And my job that I have right now allows my priorities to be my
36:59
priorities. This one says.
37:02
Greg, I always. Enjoy your thoughtful comments
37:05
on question and answer day. I have a new question.
37:09
In the near future, say a year or two, do you think it is going
37:14
to be harder to sell cards in BV, GB, GS and SGC slabs?
37:20
I have for decades submitted to both companies and I am now
37:23
really concerned about values and potential much lower demand.
37:29
For those slab cards. I will never submit or regrade
37:33
with PSA due to some obvious reasons.
37:37
Also, would it be wise to start selling in those slabs now if
37:42
some of those cards were not going to be in my your long term
37:47
personal collection your. Thoughts.
37:51
I have very much been working on what do I think is going to
37:56
happen with SGC as SGC continues to fight for elbow room in the
38:02
broom closet. I have also in this first week
38:08
or so since we've heard about the Beckett acquisition by
38:11
collectors. I actually think that my opinion
38:16
on this has changed a little bit.
38:20
I believe that the Beckett brand, the name Brackett
38:24
Beckett, that brand I actually think is a really valuable
38:29
brand. And I I really don't think that
38:34
collectors is going to kill it. There's will they change what
38:38
Beckett does? Maybe, very likely, maybe.
38:43
But I don't think the Beckett brand is going to be erased.
38:48
I don't think that's going to happen.
38:50
I think there's too many positive thoughts and nostalgia
38:56
around the Beckett brand for the Beckett brand to go away.
39:02
But that's not your question. Your question is what do I think
39:04
is going to happen to the values?
39:06
I've kind of gone back and forth on this for a while and for a
39:10
while I don't think anything is imminent.
39:14
I don't think if, if tomorrow collectors announced that
39:20
Beckett was being shut down and SGC was being shut down and they
39:24
only had PSA grading, if they announce that tomorrow, which I
39:28
don't think is going to happen tomorrow.
39:30
But I mean, it would be something interesting to do on
39:33
Christmas Day. But I guess they could do it on
39:35
Christmas Day tomorrow. But I don't think it's going to
39:37
happen. But what I expect, I don't
39:42
expect that to happen. But if they did do that, what do
39:45
I think would happen? I don't think that in the near
39:50
future, the values would plummet.
39:54
I think that over time, some of the younger collectors, as they
40:00
got older would say, what's this SGC?
40:03
There would be some of that. But let me just remind you of,
40:09
oh, about 3 weeks or so ago now, I went down to Los Angeles and I
40:15
rode. With Mike Petty in his Trans Am.
40:21
And it's a cool car. It's an awesome car.
40:26
I really enjoyed it. And you know what?
40:29
You can buy Trans Am still used ones, old restored ones, and
40:35
they're not cheap. It's not cheap to buy a Trans
40:40
Am. In fact, Mr. Petty told me what
40:42
he paid for his wasn't cheap, and as far as I can tell it was
40:47
worth every penny. But because that legacy brand
40:53
was a brand with a lot of nostalgia, with a lot of
41:01
positive thoughts around it, that car is still actually very
41:08
expensive. But you can't go buy a Trans Am
41:12
today. Can't go buy one.
41:15
There are a lot of cars that you can't buy anymore, but those old
41:21
ones that are still out there and have been fixed up and have
41:25
been restored, they still have a lot of positive feelings about
41:31
them. People say oh, like trans and
41:34
that thing is sweet. There are a lot of cars like
41:38
that, lot of cars like that, that are positively thought of
41:44
because when they went away, they got phased out, but they
41:49
didn't get phased out because there was a scandal.
41:54
It's not like the Pinto, remember the Pinto where it
41:58
would like explode and catch on fire and be when, when it got
42:04
rear-ended or whatever, it had like some major flaws.
42:08
Those don't have a lot of resale value.
42:10
There's not a lot of positive thought about that SGC, if it
42:15
goes away, Beckett, if it goes away, if it goes, they go away.
42:21
It's not like they're going away because something negative
42:25
happened, some scandal happened, which put into question all of
42:30
the cards in all of the slabs. They're going out strong.
42:36
It's like retiring. It's like, you know, Sandy
42:39
Koufax retired when he still had it.
42:42
You know, he didn't want to go out because he was forced out.
42:47
You know, Seinfeld stopped the show at the height of the show.
42:51
It's one of the reasons it's still looked upon with such a
42:55
great admiration. So in my my personal opinion, I
43:02
do think in in the distant future, there could be some
43:07
erosion of value because newer collectors who are buying the
43:15
cards in those holders at some point won't be as familiar with
43:21
those brands as we are if they were to go away.
43:25
But I think they'll still hold a good amount of their value, just
43:31
like a Trans Am is still a really cool car even if they
43:36
don't make them anymore. Hall of Fame commenter Andrew
43:41
says hi Greg, what is a hill or hills that you swore you would
43:48
die on but ultimately came off of whether it's in your life or
43:53
just want to talk about some of the different changes and
43:57
mindsets in the hobby part of your.
43:59
Life. Thanks, Andrew Hall of Fame
44:06
commenter, Great guy. Andrew's an important part of
44:09
this community. I appreciate you, Andrew, taking
44:12
the time to ask this question. You know me, you know me.
44:17
I'd like to talk about life as I've done a lot in this
44:20
particular episode, as well as cards.
44:24
There's definitely a lot of intermingling between those
44:27
areas. Couple of things that I never
44:30
thought that I would change my opinion on the hills that I
44:37
would die on. I swore I would never become a
44:40
teacher. I talked earlier this episode
44:44
about why I ended up going that route.
44:49
So that's one for life. In my collecting.
44:53
I I have an answer, but then I also have a whole philosophy.
44:56
I'll give you the answer first. For a long time when I was a
45:00
kid, there was a lot of scandalous stuff with
45:04
autographs. And there's no doubt that there
45:07
still are a lot of scandalous stories and and fishy situations
45:14
with autographs. And for a long, long time, I
45:18
swore that unless I saw a card get autographed by a particular
45:24
athlete that I wouldn't, I wouldn't buy it.
45:29
Over time, my opinion on that has changed some.
45:33
I'm not, I am not somebody who thinks that just because a card
45:39
is slabbed that it is 100% authentic 100% of the time.
45:45
There is certainly a level of risk involved.
45:48
There is certainly a level of there is a margin for error of
45:54
autographed cards, even authenticated autographed cards.
45:58
But I also think that the authentication is pretty good.
46:03
I think that they error on the side of caution.
46:07
I think if they have any doubt, I think in most cases they
46:11
probably put it off as not real or can't authenticate.
46:17
But there are also times that things get authenticated that
46:21
aren't authentic. But I'm not naive to the fact
46:25
that there are also cards in slabs that were trimmed, that
46:31
were altered, that had shenanigans done to them, that
46:36
have number grades. So that's just kind of part of
46:40
it. And so I think anytime you're
46:43
dealing with authentication of a card, whether it's been altered,
46:49
whether an autograph is authentic, any time that a card
46:53
is encapsulated, there is definitely still going to be a
46:57
margin for error. But for whatever reason, I've
47:01
become more open to autographs that I wasn't there to see be
47:08
autographed. I've kind of gone that route.
47:12
Was that a hill I would die on? It was something, it was sort of
47:16
like a rule. I just wouldn't buy a card
47:18
unless that that was autographed.
47:21
But now I do. So I don't really know why that
47:26
happened. But I think my philosophy and my
47:29
theory is, is this. And, and the bigger point I want
47:32
to make to this question, and it's a great question, is I
47:37
would encourage people to not be, don't be unwilling to change
47:44
your opinion on things. You know, for a long time I was
47:47
like, if a card is altered, I don't want it.
47:51
If it's trimmed, I don't want it.
47:54
I would, I would be. Willing at this point now for
47:58
certain rare cards to have one that has had something happen to
48:02
it with an altered designation. For a long time.
48:06
I used to say, oh, a card that has writing on it, a card that
48:09
has a stamp on it I wouldn't want.
48:14
Now I think stamps and sometimes even the writing, depending on
48:18
where it is, like if it's on the back, if it's in handwriting
48:22
from 100 years ago, those sorts of things in some ways are
48:27
actually kind of cool. I would just encourage everyone
48:32
to be open minded to changing your opinion on things.
48:36
Maybe you forever said I don't want to do pre war.
48:40
Maybe you said I don't want to do ticket stubs, I don't want to
48:42
do type one photos. I don't want autos, I don't want
48:45
base cards, I don't want All Star cards.
48:47
I don't want to collect this particular player.
48:50
I would just say be willing to stay fluid on your opinions and
48:56
not just with cards, but with life.
48:59
You know there are times that you'll be upset.
49:03
There are going to be times that you're going to be angry.
49:05
There are going to be times that somebody will do something that
49:09
will offend you. There will be times that you
49:12
will offend somebody else. I think at the end of the day, I
49:17
think that it's best to be forgiving and to be open minded.
49:24
And as we head into Christmas tomorrow and Christmas Eve
49:28
tonight, good luck to all of you that are going to be staying up
49:32
late tonight. That will not be me, but as we
49:38
think about this holiday, as we think about the end of the.
49:42
Year I would just. Think about being open minded to
49:46
others, being open minded to opinions of others, being open
49:51
to changes in the direction of the hobby and direction of your
49:57
interests. Just be open minded to, to
50:02
anything that you've been closed minded about.
50:06
And, and I try to do that every day.
50:09
I try to be a good person every day.
50:12
I am far from perfect, far from perfect.
50:16
And when I make a mistake, I try to be quick to admit it, try to
50:21
be quick to apologize my try to represent myself and my beliefs
50:27
as best I can. But I guess that would be my
50:32
main answer, Andrew, is don't ever be so hard headed and don't
50:40
ever be so close minded that you don't allow yourself the
50:45
opportunity to change your opinion on things.
50:50
And there might be things out there that are really important
50:54
that you've always been close minded about.
50:58
Give yourself permission to be open to some of those things
51:03
because it could end up being a really good decision.
51:08
If you're reading between the lines, you know what I'm talking
51:11
about. Merry Christmas, everybody, I'll
51:14
see you in a couple of days. I'll have a video later this
51:18
week, maybe 2, depending on holiday travel.
51:22
But thank you to everybody who submitted a question.
51:26
As always, feel free. Please take a second to ask a
51:30
question down below for an upcoming episode.
51:32
But more importantly, thank you to everyone for your friendship
51:37
and thank you to everyone for your contributions to this
51:40
channel, to our channel, to being a part of this community
51:46
because it is really added so much joy to my life.
51:51
Did I ever think that I would have a YouTube channel?
51:54
Did I ever think that I would record myself talking into a
51:57
camera and post it for the world to see?
52:00
Never thought that would happen, but here I am and I'm glad that
52:04
I did.