Latest / Sports Card Clubhouse / MidLife Sports Cards Q & A- April 1, 2026

Transcript

MidLife Sports Cards Q & A- April 1, 2026 · Sports Card Clubhouse

0:10
What's going on everybody? All right, this is Q&A day.
0:15
My Wednesday's. So much fun to hear your
0:18
questions, your topics that you want to start a discussion
0:22
about. It is always a blast to see what
0:24
is in store when I open up the mailbag from the previous week.
0:31
Now I've been doing these male episodes for just almost exactly
0:35
3 years and I I I may have missed one or two Wednesdays
0:41
like after going to the National or Strongsville or something,
0:47
but done it pretty much every single week.
0:50
Meaning if there are 52 weeks in a year, last I checked, and I've
0:54
done it almost every week for three consecutive years, we've
0:58
done about 150 Q&A episodes, which is wild, like absolutely
1:05
wild. And the first time something
1:09
happened, happened this week, the we have a first on Wednesday
1:16
Q&A. So hang tight and you will see
1:19
exactly what I'm talking about for the first time ever on Q&A
1:24
Wednesday. Now we are one week from
1:29
Strongsville and I know a lot of people.
1:31
Oh my gosh, are we talking about that already again here?
1:36
Because it's everywhere. I know we're just excited.
1:39
It's just like the National. It's like the National for us
1:42
vintage guys that get to go in a particular year.
1:45
Obviously, it's a new location, it's a new hotel, it's a new
1:48
situation. So there's a lot to be
1:51
determined about it this year. I'm excited to see how it plays
1:54
out. I'm excited to see some friends
1:57
and again, that will be next week.
1:59
So that will throw, you know, some of the cadence, the regular
2:04
routine of what comes out on the channel over the next couple of
2:08
weeks a little bit out of whack. So just be patient with me on
2:12
that. I will do my best.
2:13
I will absolutely have at least a couple of videos from the
2:18
Strongsville show. I will do my best to show some
2:21
tables and and give some contact information to some of the
2:24
dealers in case there's a deal that you want to have made.
2:29
So keep an eye out for that in just over a week later this
2:34
week, the CIA auction is going to open for the month, not the
2:41
month for the week. Well, it's you know what I mean.
2:44
It's the April CIA auction opens this week.
2:48
Those run about a week and 1/2. So later in this week I will
2:53
have my episode with Theo where we will go through some key
2:56
items that stood out. There were definitely some very
3:00
cool things. I went through the list 3 or 4
3:04
times and each time I went through it, a couple of items
3:06
jumped out at me. Some very cool stuff this month,
3:10
so look forward to that later in the week.
3:12
That's probably going to post on Friday.
3:15
Also keep in mind, if you've not yet submitted your favorite
3:20
pickup from the month of March, we're in April.
3:23
No, I'm not going to have an April Fool's joke.
3:26
There are no April Fool's gags that I'm in.
3:29
That's just not my thing. I'm not into Halloween and I'm
3:32
not into April Fool's. That's just not my thing.
3:35
That's not my lane. I'll let other people do their
3:38
thing for that, I'm sure. I'm sure Jeff Wilson has
3:42
something cool up his sleeve for April Fool's Day.
3:45
He usually does. For me, not so much.
3:50
But I will say that if you haven't yet submitted your
3:55
favorite pickup from March, get those in by Sunday.
3:59
Sunday is going to be my deadline.
4:01
I will put that video together and that will come out next
4:04
week. So Sunday's the deadline.
4:07
If you haven't, remember, go over to the Sports Card
4:10
clubhouse website, sportscardclubhouse.com.
4:13
Go to the Midlife tab. There is a spot where you could
4:17
purchase my book if you would like a signed copy, but then
4:20
there's also a spot where you can upload your favorite pickup
4:24
for the month. So still a few more days if
4:27
you're interested in participating in the March
4:31
Pickups of the Month. OK, question number one, we're
4:35
going to go through our questions here just like we
4:37
always do. Let's go to our first question
4:39
again. How do you submit a question
4:41
down below in the comments? If you have anything that you
4:45
want brought up, all you have to do is in the comments, simply
4:48
type out your question. I look forward to seeing what
4:51
you all want to hear about for next week, but this week's
4:53
questions start here. Hi Greg, Congrats on the new
4:59
position. As far as breaking goes, all I'd
5:02
advise is do your homework, including watch a bunch of
5:06
different Breakers shows before deciding to get in.
5:09
You need to know how they handle themselves and see the outcomes.
5:13
I've come to the conclusion it is a gamble, but some are better
5:17
than others. Yes, I pretty much buy
5:20
individual cards now. I may get into a break a few
5:23
times a year. Almost never happy with the
5:26
results though. I still watch Breaking that is
5:30
so I can see the new product coming out and make the
5:33
determination of which cards to go after.
5:36
My question for next week has to do with the eye appeal movement.
5:40
I am not questioning the idea of buying the card that appeals to
5:45
your eye the most, whether that is perfectly centered or a card
5:49
where the action on it is great. I am questioning the eye appeal
5:55
stickers for Mike Baker and other companies like his placing
5:58
them on top of an already graded slab from PSA, Beckett, SGC, TAG
6:04
and CGC. As a person who collects
6:07
autographed memorabilia, JSAPSADNA and Beckett
6:11
authentication stickers have been counterfeited once scammers
6:15
realize there is money to be made by putting one of these
6:19
stickers on a slab, counterfeit stickers will do that.
6:23
I also believe once PSA, Beckett, CGCSGC and TAG sees
6:28
money in I appealed designation for an extra fee, they will add
6:33
that on to the label that can be sonically welded in.
6:38
My question is, with this in mind, what do you think will
6:42
happen to MBA once counterfeit I appeal stickers hit the market?
6:47
As well as what will happen to MBA if the other grading
6:51
companies add an I appeal designation on their labels that
6:55
can be sonically welded in. See, I love questions like this
7:01
because what questions like this do is it allows us to kind of
7:05
dig in a little bit to different topics, different trends, things
7:09
that are happening, share some thoughts, share some pros, share
7:12
some cons, What's going to last? What's not going to last?
7:15
What's going to evolve and and how could it affect long term
7:19
stuff. Now I have shared a few thoughts
7:24
on NBAI have shown video of a friend doing a reveal at the
7:32
West Coast Card show of whether his cards got stickered.
7:35
I had him on the channel to explain why he went with doing
7:40
NBA stickering and and paid to have that service done.
7:44
I've talked about it a couple of times.
7:46
I have had people criticize me for shouting out.
7:51
We're not even shouting out, but giving a platform to NBA and the
7:58
because a lot of people remember.
8:00
I see the the thing about this hobby is there are certain
8:03
people who've been around for a long time and there are some of
8:08
those people who have some, you know, questionable skeletons in
8:14
their closet. And one of the people who has
8:18
had some, you know, issues, we'll say is Mike Baker.
8:24
No, I've never met Mike Baker. I've seen him a few times.
8:28
I've seen him at the National a couple of times.
8:31
I don't think I saw him at the West Coast Card Show.
8:35
I've seen him on other channels. I've heard him speak.
8:39
Now, I was not an active member of grading or using Gai when he
8:47
was running Gai, but I certainly have heard lots of rumors and
8:52
lots of, I don't even know if it's rumors, but lots of stories
8:57
about things that happened and some sketchy things that have
9:01
happened. And some of the people that he's
9:03
associated with. And, and I have, I have had
9:06
people unhappy with me because I talked about MBA or I, I
9:12
presented a platform for MBA, even though other people have
9:17
had Mike Baker on the channel and, and they weren't attacked.
9:21
But I, I, I don't know, I don't know what to say about that.
9:25
But let me talk specifically to your question to me, OK, your
9:30
question to me, what do I think about fake stickers?
9:34
What do I think about the other grading companies adding some
9:38
designations? First thing I'd say is I kind of
9:41
think think that for PSA, their I appeal designation is the half
9:46
grade. They don't usually give half
9:49
grades and when they do, it's usually a card that has
9:53
particularly nice eye appeal. So I kind of feel like PSA
9:57
already does have sort of an eye appeal sticker and giving it 1/2
10:02
grade. They don't do it a lot, but when
10:04
they do, those cards do tend to have better eye appeal.
10:08
So instead of giving A6, if it's a six, but it has really good
10:12
eye appeal, they'll give it a 6 1/2.
10:15
Kind of feels like they do that. Will they add a designation like
10:19
you say of this is a particularly good one?
10:23
I I'm sure that that is absolutely something that
10:26
they've discussed. I would, I would be surprised if
10:29
they weren't considering doing some of those sorts of things.
10:33
Any way to add additional fees to the Ledger to put more money
10:40
in their pockets? I'm sure every company is always
10:43
talking about additional add on services that you could choose
10:47
to include that would provide them with more revenue.
10:51
I, I'm I, I would not be surprised at all.
10:54
I think that's a perfectly good suggestion that that might be
10:57
happening, might happen sooner rather than later, but I don't
11:00
know. As far as the I appeal stickers
11:06
being counterfeited, it's a good point.
11:10
It's a good point. I mean, if you look at some of
11:12
the old PWCC stickers, it's not like they're particularly
11:17
intricate. It's it seems like they would be
11:21
pretty easy to duplicate. The NBA stickers seem like they
11:25
might be a little bit harder to duplicate, but it, it, it, it's
11:29
not, I mean, as far as I can tell, and, and I am, you know,
11:34
I'm just a guy who talks into his phone on a tripod on, on his
11:41
bed. So I don't know anything, but
11:43
I'm not aware of any sort of special, you know, intricacies
11:50
that the stickers have that make them particularly difficult to
11:55
duplicate. Have there been duplicates?
11:58
I'm sure. I mean, I'm sure that there are
12:00
counterfeit stickers already out there in circulation.
12:03
I would kind of be surprised if there weren't.
12:05
So at the end of the day, you do always have to take some of that
12:08
with a grain of salt. It has a sticker.
12:10
Is it real? Well, probably.
12:13
But does the sticker mean anything to you?
12:15
And everybody is different. The sticker might mean a lot to
12:18
you, it might not mean anything to others.
12:21
Here's the thing. And when I, when I talk about
12:25
the sticker thing and I hear people's feedback on the sticker
12:27
thing of the people that I personally know that have gotten
12:34
cards stickered through, you know, whether it be fanatics,
12:39
you know, PWCCI, think 4 Sharp Corners is doing it now, if I'm
12:43
not mistaken, MBA. The thing that seems consistent
12:49
is that people tend to like the stickers if they're going to
12:54
sell the card. I don't know of a lot of people.
12:58
I, I, I'm not personally aware of somebody who sends cards to
13:03
Mike Baker for the sticker because they like the sticker
13:07
for a card they're going to keep in their collection long term.
13:11
Everybody that I've talked to and that I'm aware of that, that
13:13
doesn't mean that's everybody. I mean, we're talking about a
13:16
very, very small niche of a small niche.
13:21
Everybody I know who has utilized MBA has said, well, I'm
13:28
going to put it up for stickering.
13:29
And if it gets stickered, I, I probably will try to sell it
13:34
because of the added value. Again, I, I, I don't know of
13:41
people again, I'm sure they're out there.
13:43
I'm not sure. I'm not aware of people.
13:46
I don't, I haven't spoken to someone who goes no, no, no, no.
13:49
I want to send in an MBA. I want to get a stickered and
13:51
then I want to put it back into my safe deposit box and it'll
13:55
sit there with a sticker in it. I've not met anybody who thought
13:58
that. So the analogy I used in the
14:02
past was it's like taking your car through a car wash before
14:06
you put it up for sale. Why wouldn't you bring it
14:10
through the car wash, get it nice and shiny before you put a
14:13
for sale sign in it? Why wouldn't you do that?
14:16
You'd be silly not to. And people say, well the the
14:20
stickers don't really add much value.
14:22
Well, I got a text message today from a friend and that friend
14:27
put 4 cards up for sale at auction.
14:31
Two of those, all four cards he felt were candidates for the
14:36
sticker through NBA. Two of the four cards got an NBA
14:41
sticker. Two of the four, the two cards
14:46
and he sold 4. So again, let me let me back up
14:49
'cause I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I want to make sure that it's this
14:52
is crystal clear. The friend has four cards that
14:57
he put up for auction. Of the four cards, all four he
15:02
thought were worthy of NBA stickers.
15:05
Very high. I appeal cards.
15:08
OK. Of those, 4/2 of the cards had
15:13
stickers. Silver stickers.
15:17
Two of the cards did not receive stickers.
15:20
OK, so 4 cards up for sale, 2 with stickers, 2 without
15:26
stickers. All four he felt were worthy of
15:29
stickers. The two cards that didn't have a
15:32
sticker sold within the normal comp range.
15:39
They've sold for normal amounts even though they were really,
15:42
really nice and he thought they probably should have gotten
15:45
stickers. The two cards that did receive
15:50
the silver sticker sold for around 50% above comp, so it
15:59
added an extra 50% in value with the sticker Now.
16:08
Very small sample size and I know other people have done some
16:13
videos on looking at this, but I think that it's hard to deny
16:20
that in many instances the sticker adds value, which is why
16:27
people are submitting cards for stickers before they sell them.
16:32
Will that last? I don't think it'll last long
16:35
term. I'm I've not submitted a card
16:40
for stickering. I've never really even been that
16:43
close. I brought one card to the West
16:46
Coast show and I was like, would I sticker?
16:49
Would I try to get this a sticker?
16:51
And I'm like, no, I'm not going to do this.
16:53
I'm not against it, not really for it, but I don't think that
17:00
the sticker thing, again, in the hobby, there are sellers and
17:06
there are buyers. There are two sides.
17:10
The people that I know that are pro sticker are the people who
17:14
are looking to potentially sell. I personally don't know of a
17:19
bunch of people who are only searching for cards that have
17:22
stickers. I'm sure they're out there.
17:24
Again, I keep saying that I'm sure that they're out there.
17:27
I just don't know of anybody. So do I think that the sticker
17:33
premium will erode? Probably.
17:38
Do I think that there will be stickers that are counterfeited?
17:42
Probably probably already are. Do I think that some other
17:47
grading companies or other groups will start to do some
17:50
sort sort of stickering or sonically welded in, you know,
17:57
addition that this is a particularly nice one probably.
18:02
And I think that's partly what the half grades are from PS as
18:07
perspective. Greg, are you going to go out
18:11
and sticker a bunch of cards? I have no plans of stickering
18:15
any cards. Greg, are you going to go out
18:17
and buy cards that have stickers?
18:21
I wouldn't say I wouldn't buy one, but I'm not planning on
18:25
spending the extra money it would take to have to get a card
18:28
that has a sticker when there are other cards out there that
18:31
don't have stickers, therefore wouldn't sell for that same
18:35
premium. So I'm not really in the market
18:38
to sticker to buy stickered cards, but I'm not against it to
18:44
think the thing I have continued to say and Darren and I said on
18:48
our last off topic episode, and I'm not going to put words in
18:51
Darren's mouth. Darren said what Darren said.
18:53
I said what I said. But I'll say again right here, I
18:57
don't care if you want cards with stickers or if you want a
19:02
sticker cards. I don't care if it's if it if
19:06
the sticker brings value to you more than the cost of the
19:11
sticker, then sticker. If you want to buy a card with a
19:15
sticker and that makes that card that much more special for you,
19:19
then buy cards with stickers. If you hate stickers, don't use
19:23
stickers. If you are anti sticker, don't
19:27
sticker. I don't care.
19:30
That's what I keep. I feel like I've been fairly
19:34
consistent on this point. I don't care, but do I think
19:40
that the premium will continue to be as great as it is now?
19:44
Personally, I don't really think so.
19:46
O if there are people out there that are thinking about selling
19:50
a card and thinking about stickering it before they sell
19:53
the card, I think the window isn't a super big window.
19:59
I think the window is fairly short where you could capitalize
20:03
on that. Again, I don't have a crystal
20:06
ball. Again, I'm not all knowing.
20:08
Again, I'm just a guy with an opinion and it's very possible
20:12
that my opinion is wrong, but that's kind of my thought on the
20:17
whole sticker thing. I appeal thing.
20:21
What's going to happen in the future thing I don't know what's
20:23
going to happen in the future. I don't think that the stickers
20:26
will continue to have a massive premium, but I do think in more
20:31
cases than not there is a premium right now.
20:35
And I have no plans on sending cards in for stickers.
20:38
But if you do go for it, I hope you get them.
20:42
But it's not going to change my life.
20:46
This one says why do you think the hobby is so critical of PSA
20:51
up charges but doesn't bat an eye when their favorite auction
20:54
house essentially does the same thing.
20:57
Takes more money when your card sells for more.
21:00
I don't think any auction houses work off a fixed price structure
21:05
even though the work is the same to sell a $100 card versus a
21:09
$10,000 card. And you can easily argue auction
21:13
houses provide less service overall than PSA provides in
21:17
grading a card and increasing the value.
21:20
I have a few rebuttals to this question myself, but curious to
21:24
hear your take. You know, I don't I've not
21:29
really talked that much about the PSA up charge thing.
21:37
Again, that's kind of like hobby news, sort of like the stickers.
21:42
So the only time I really talk about hobby news generally,
21:46
unless it's a major PSA thing that affects pretty much all of
21:49
us. But the up charges I've not
21:52
really talked a lot about. I have talked about the the
21:56
stickering with, with, you know, Mike Baker, but that's mostly
22:01
because other people have asked me in my take.
22:02
And then and then some people are happy about what I say and
22:06
some people are just furious at me about it, which, OK, like, I
22:11
understand that, you know, my opinion does not represent all
22:18
as far as up charges. Now I have a lot of friends and
22:22
a lot of friends in the hobby that work in real estate.
22:26
So get your rotten fruit ready guys.
22:30
Get your rotten fruit ready. If, if a real estate agent lists
22:37
and sells a $400,000 house or they list and sell a $2,000,000
22:44
house and let's say that both houses it's a hot market and,
22:50
and the house sells in a week and it's a 30 day escrow period.
22:58
There's not a lot more work for the $2,000,000 house than the
23:02
$400,000 house. But the percentage is the same.
23:08
So the, the pay to the realtor, a real estate agent or whatever,
23:15
whatever you guys call yourselves it it, it's
23:19
significantly different. I mean at 5%, right, At 5%, a
23:26
$2,000,000 house, it's like 100 grand, right?
23:31
And a $400,000 house at 5% is 20 grand.
23:39
Is that really an extra $80,000 worth of work?
23:45
I don't know about that. I don't know about that.
23:48
That seem I've always thought that I've always been curious as
23:53
home prices have gone up, doesn't it feel like the
23:57
Commission percentages should maybe come down a little bit
24:01
because the, the cost of housing and maybe I'm in California, so
24:05
it's like a different world. Well, it is a different world
24:08
here in California, but the prices of of houses in
24:12
California are so extreme. The the cost of housing has gone
24:17
up more than the cost of living and the percentage of people's
24:23
income that goes toward their home and their their home
24:28
mortgage payment is more than it used to be.
24:33
So I understand if, if the home prices went up to 3% a year or
24:38
4% a year, whatever the COLA is, that it would make sense that it
24:42
would still stay at the same percentage because you're paying
24:44
the person the same amount now as they were.
24:46
But if home prices go up 30% and the COLA is say 4%, then if
24:54
you're still paying 5% to the realtor, they're getting 5% of a
24:59
significantly higher number than COLA.
25:01
Their their increase in pay is way higher than mine.
25:06
But keep in mind, my union negotiated a negative 1% raise
25:13
this year -1 it's pretty kind that takes effort.
25:21
Negative, yes. You heard me rap -1% man.
25:27
Yeah, 23 years into teaching and a negative 1% now.
25:33
I'm not trying to complain. I'm just being, I'm just being
25:36
funny. OK, to your question up charges.
25:44
I think I this is kind of a complicated topic.
25:49
I'm going to just dive in a little bit with part of my
25:52
thought. Part of my issue with up charges
25:55
is this. If I put a card in it like a 30
25:57
day turn around. OK, so it's a 30 day turn
26:00
around. I don't know the prices.
26:01
I really, I have no idea. I haven't submitted to PSA in
26:06
two years maybe. So I'm just going to make up
26:09
some numbers and some turn around prices.
26:11
Let's say a 30 day turn around is 50 bucks.
26:15
Let's say a 15 day turn around is 100 bucks.
26:19
OK, well if I take my card that is the 30 day turn around,
26:26
that's $50 and I submit it. But then that card's value by
26:32
getting a 10 it it actually isn't eligible for the $50
26:38
submission. It only would be eligible for
26:41
the $100 submission. So they charge me an up charge
26:43
of 50 bucks. It still took 30 days to get me
26:48
the card. Part of the service of the $100
26:53
versus the $50 submission was I get it back twice as fast.
26:59
So now I get the card back, I get the card back in in 30 days
27:05
instead of 15. But I have to pay the the price
27:09
of the 15 day turn around instead of the 30 day turn
27:12
around. So part of my issue is when you
27:16
submit it at a higher level there is an additional service
27:21
which is faster it it would be like if I went to Disneyland and
27:27
I paid for the fast pass thing. What do they call it?
27:29
The Lightning Lane now? OI paid for the Lightning Lane
27:34
aid. It's not cheap.
27:36
It's like, I don't know, we'll call it 80 bucks per ticket per
27:39
day. O my family goes, there's four
27:41
of us. You know, that's like an extra
27:44
320 bucks a day. I don't even know if my math is
27:47
good right now. I'm throwing numbers around
27:48
doing math in my head and and I'm sure there are people with
27:51
calculators that are eager to down below in the comments tell
27:54
me that I got something wrong, but I got 80 bucks four of us
27:58
320 extra dollars a day to have the lightning lane.
28:01
I know the lightning lane is probably only 30 bucks.
28:04
Go ahead and just keep those comments to yourself.
28:07
And and I show up and I pay the money.
28:10
I pay the 80 bucks per person. I get the lightning lane thing
28:13
and I go in and I show up at Disneyland and say, oh, sorry,
28:18
all the lightning lanes are closed today because we were
28:23
cleaning those, those lanes. They're they're not available.
28:28
But thanks for the 80 bucks. See when you pay more for an
28:34
additional service like speed and then they take your money
28:41
but they don't give it to you at the faster speed, then I didn't
28:47
really get what I paid for. So my biggest issue personally,
28:50
my one of my, one of my biggest issues with the up charge is you
28:56
didn't grade it faster like I would have gotten had I paid the
29:01
increased fee for the higher level service.
29:04
So you don't get to charge me more because I didn't get the
29:08
card back twice as fast. I and, and I probably didn't
29:12
even meet you. You probably didn't meet the
29:17
threshold of what you had promised.
29:18
So you probably said 30 days. I paid for the 30 day services,
29:22
probably 45, which by the way, if you don't meet what you
29:27
agreed to, if you say it's a 30 day service and it takes 45, why
29:32
don't I get a discount? Where's my discount?
29:36
Like if, if, if the difference between 15 days and 30 days is
29:40
$50.00 to $100 hypothetically, and you get it in 45 days, so
29:46
it's an extra, it's an extra 15 days.
29:49
It seems like there should be a $50 discount.
29:53
There's no discount it see it's a one way St. it's if it just
29:58
goes into the next stratosphere on value, charge me more.
30:05
If they miss their deadline. Don't bother us.
30:09
We'll get it to you as fast as we can.
30:12
No discount, no coupon, no free submission ticket.
30:19
It's a one. Everything it, it's all goes in
30:23
One Direction. It's like the salmon that's
30:26
going upstream, while all the other.
30:29
We went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, beautiful aquarium in
30:33
Monterey Bay, central California.
30:36
It's like a world famous aquarium.
30:39
And there was this circular tank.
30:40
It's like a tube, like a cylinder, OK.
30:44
And there was this school of fish.
30:46
I remember this vividly, this school of fish, these little
30:50
silver fish, and they were all swimming in the same direction,
30:57
around and around in this tube. It's a big tube.
31:01
I mean, it would take 25 people to hold hands to go all the way
31:05
around this tube and they're all going the same direction.
31:08
They're just swimming all day, every day in the same direction
31:17
except for that one fish. And I remember saying, Lucy,
31:22
Lucy, come here. You see that fish?
31:27
I like that fish. Be that fish.
31:30
You don't always have to do what everyone else is doing.
31:35
Think for yourself. If you think they're going the
31:39
wrong way, then go the way you think is right.
31:46
I don't even know what I'm we're talking about.
31:48
PSA turn around times, right? That was the question.
31:52
OK, PSA turn around. Oh no, no, not turn around
31:58
times. PSA up charges, I guess.
32:03
I guess I feel the same way that I do with real estate agents.
32:09
I don't think that my $2,000,000 house should pay 5% and my
32:15
$400,000 house should pay 5%. I think the the realtor should
32:20
get a flat fee and I think that the PSA upcharge should get a
32:25
flat fee. So So yes, there are areas where
32:30
people get a different percent. Now if I go to a restaurant and
32:36
I order $300 worth of food and I tip say 20%, then they were
32:42
probably making more trips to and from, right?
32:46
It took longer to cook my steak, so they're filling out my drink
32:50
more. I was ordering appetizer, which
32:53
is why it was so expensive. So they were doing more work.
32:59
So 20% of more seems fair. I don't.
33:06
I don't. I'm not in favor of the
33:08
upcharge. So town down below in the
33:12
comments tell me why I'm wrong. I'm sure there are a lot of
33:16
ways, a lot of places you could go with that. 12 minutes.
33:20
It took me 12 minutes to answer that question, man.
33:25
My poor students, my poor children, my poor wife, my poor
33:30
great grandchildren, man. Sorry guys.
33:37
Question for next week. Do you think dealers setting up
33:40
for Strongsville raise their prices for the show?
33:46
Some dealers might do this. I think a lot of these dealers,
33:50
like my guy Ash, he's at shows so often he doesn't go, oh, wait
33:55
a second, this is a particularly big show, so I'm going to raise
33:59
all my prices. I don't think it's worth his
34:02
time to go in and Jack up the prices because he thinks there
34:06
will be more money changing hands in the room.
34:08
I don't really think that he thinks about that.
34:11
He's got carts for sale on eBay, on his website, on Facebook.
34:16
He's doing breaks. He's got, he's at a big show
34:19
every week. I don't think he messes with his
34:21
prices, but do some dealers possibly raise their prices for
34:27
some shows? Maybe.
34:30
I think before the National, I think most dealers re sticker
34:34
their prices and do they maybe up the price a little bit
34:39
heading into that show? Maybe.
34:42
But the overhead for the National is extreme.
34:45
It is not cheap to pay the table fee at the National.
34:50
It is very, very expensive to get a table at the National.
34:54
So the overhead is much, much higher.
34:57
And because the overhead is, I mean, it's like if you go to the
35:00
dinner, if you go to dinner at the Space Needle, right?
35:03
Isn't, isn't the space, the Space Needle's a restaurant up
35:05
there, I think never been up there.
35:08
I think it's AI think it's AI think it's a restaurant.
35:12
And and my guess is it's more expensive to run that restaurant
35:20
than it is to run the TGI Friday's down the street.
35:24
I think the overhead, the rent and stuff like that is more for
35:31
the Space Needle. So when I, I don't know if I
35:34
order like a, you know, a nice chicken breast with some rice
35:43
pilaf, I just would assume that at the Space Needle it would be
35:49
significantly more expensive then if I ordered a chicken
35:53
breast and a rice pilaf at Red Lobster down the street.
36:00
That that's just a guess. I don't know that to be true.
36:05
So if prices are jacked up for the National, do some dealers do
36:11
that? I'm sure some dealers do that.
36:13
Do all dealers do that? I'd say probably not.
36:16
In fact, there are some cards I know for a fact that I looked at
36:21
at Strongsville last year and those dealers 3 1/2 months later
36:26
at the National had some of those same cards and they had
36:30
the same stickers on them. So I know that some dealers
36:33
aren't jacking up prices depending on the show.
36:37
They just sticker them and that's where they're at.
36:41
I think some probably do sticker them for higher amounts.
36:46
The thing about it is, is we're actually in the driver's seat
36:50
because what people want more than cards is money.
36:55
And so if if you offer them a reasonable and fair amount for a
37:03
card of money for for the card that they don't think they could
37:09
get more from somebody else and they would rather have the money
37:13
than the card, they're going to sell you the card.
37:17
That's what I that's what I think.
37:20
I don't know what I don't know what the point of jacking
37:26
everything up 20% and then not selling anything would be, but
37:31
there's no question that some dealers will go now.
37:33
I don't know. These five cards are going to be
37:36
in really high demand, so I'm going to put a little bit of a
37:40
higher sticker on them for this particular show.
37:42
Does that happen? I'm sure it does.
37:44
I'm sure it does. But the beauty is we don't have
37:48
to buy. We don't have to buy.
37:51
I mean, the CIA auction ends the same day as the Strongsville
37:57
show. So if you're striking out of the
38:00
Strongsville show because you think the prices are too high,
38:03
you could be literally sitting in the show, in the show,
38:07
bidding on cards, on CIA. Nobody makes us buy.
38:14
Only buy if you like the card, you like the price, and
38:19
exchanging that amount of money for that item brings you more
38:24
joy than the money brings you. If it does, buy the card.
38:29
If it doesn't, don't buy the card and keep waiting.
38:35
I'm a very impatient person. Very impatient, but if you
38:41
looked at my card collection, I think most people would say you
38:47
must be pretty patient. There are a lot of times there
38:51
was a card that I said it's just not quite right.
38:57
I waited. If the price is too high, don't
39:01
buy it. But I really want the card.
39:04
It's the grade that I want. It's really nice for the grade.
39:09
If it's not worth it to you to hand over that much money for
39:13
the card, don't buy the card. It's pretty simple.
39:19
That's my take. Here is a question for a future
39:24
Q and AI. Always find your thoughts on Q&A
39:27
day interesting and informative. My question is simple, why don't
39:31
more of your subscribers ask questions on Q&A day?
39:36
I have asked many over the past three years and I appreciate
39:39
your thoughts every time. It is quite disappointing that
39:43
more people aren't interested in picking your brain.
39:46
In my opinion, I do not. Want Q&A day to go away.
39:52
Now that is an, that is a question unlike any question
39:57
that I have ever received on the channel and it's quite timely,
40:03
believe it or not. But, but let me just first say I
40:07
love talking about this stuff. Again, I'm not a channel that's
40:11
going to sit here and show you 20 new cards every episode.
40:14
I'm not going to get on and I'm going to teach about the origins
40:18
of this set versus this set. I've said this many times, There
40:24
is a huge menu of options on on YouTube channels.
40:30
There's a huge menu. There are lots and lots and lots
40:34
of different channels and they all have different styles.
40:38
What I like to do is talk about philosophy and points of view
40:43
and what do I think about this versus that?
40:46
What should we do here versus here?
40:49
That's what I like and that's one of the reasons that I almost
40:54
never miss these Wednesday episodes because I really look
40:59
forward to them. I love sharing my thoughts.
41:02
I love hearing what you all are interested in and I love
41:05
hearing. I love sharing my thoughts and
41:07
then hearing what you guys think of them.
41:09
And you don't have to agree with what I'm saying.
41:14
I'm sure that there are things that I said earlier about PSA
41:17
up, I don't know, up charges about NBA sticker.
41:21
I'm sure that I've said things in this episode that you don't
41:24
agree with, and it's interesting to hear why people don't agree.
41:27
These are conversations, they're discussions.
41:31
They're this is not me standing on a soapbox looking down on
41:36
everyone telling you to take notes on what I say, that that
41:39
is not how this works. So I love these episodes and
41:47
there are a lot of people that listen and watch but have never
41:53
submitted a question. And the way I look at it is I
41:56
want this to be a volunteer process.
41:59
You shouldn't feel obligated to ask a question.
42:03
You shouldn't feel like you are required to ask a question.
42:08
But this this week after about, I think it's been almost exactly
42:15
150 episodes, probably a little bit more, probably about 153 or
42:20
so of these Wednesday Q&A episodes.
42:25
And the first time that I ever ran out of questions is this
42:32
week. This is it.
42:35
This is the last question on the queue.
42:39
I add questions every week. I add to them.
42:42
If I have more than five questions, then I go to some of
42:45
those questions for future weeks and I'm always mixing them in.
42:50
We're officially didn't have 5 questions this week for the
42:54
first time ever. And in the week that we ran out
43:00
of questions is the week that you say why don't more people
43:05
ask questions? That is irony, I think.
43:11
I think that. Isn't that what irony is, Joe?
43:13
Is that irony? Define irony for me, Joe.
43:16
I think, I think Joe, I think it's, I think it's that.
43:25
So I have no more questions to answer, but I have a little bit
43:31
of time on the clock. So what I'm going to do is I'm
43:34
going to show some pickups I've had over the last month.
43:37
Now some of these I maybe quickly showed on the screen,
43:40
maybe I showed them in a discussion on a different
43:43
channel and I popped them up, but I'm going to show some cards
43:48
since I have no questions to talk to talk about.
43:50
I'll show some cards with the last few minutes of this
43:53
episode. Now let me remind you, if you
43:57
have a question for an upcoming episode, you could down below in
44:00
the comments, simply type it out.
44:02
Also, if you have a pickup from the month of March, the deadline
44:06
is Sunday to go to the sports card clubhouse, go to the
44:09
midlife link, go to the the the link on there to upload your
44:15
favorite pickup from the month of March for next week's
44:21
community show and tell episode. So I'm going to turn the camera
44:26
around and I'm going to show some cards because I ran out of
44:30
questions for the first time ever.
44:35
All right, a few weeks ago, like many of you, I was watching Team
44:38
USA win an improbable gold medal in hockey against the Canadians.
44:47
And while many people might think that the goal scorer was
44:50
our hero, I think it was Connor Halogic.
44:54
And this patch, Otto is freaking awesome.
45:00
I don't usually buy stuff spur the moment, but I couldn't help
45:03
myself. I had to buy that card.
45:06
Next I saw this card, this select certified mirror gold of
45:13
Derek Jeter in APSA 9 at the West Coast Card show and they
45:18
were asking. It was like 235 dollars.
45:22
I think I showed it on the episode.
45:24
And I was like, I just don't. Want to spend that much on this
45:27
card, but it's beautiful and I kept thinking about it.
45:29
You'd see it stamped mirror gold there on the back.
45:32
I just thought it was such a beautiful card.
45:34
Well, I didn't buy it at the show and a couple weeks later on
45:41
eBay this BSA 8 popped up and I got this for I think $108.00.
45:47
Worth every penny. Early Derek Jeter card insert
45:51
card. Loved that gorgeous thing.
45:54
Now this card I bought at the last CIA auction, the March CIA
46:01
auction. This is a Diamond Soul Derek
46:04
Jeter from Metal Universe. These cards came one in 72 packs
46:11
and then there are 15 cards in the series, so one in 72 packs
46:19
you'd get one of the 15 cards. So the chances of getting the
46:23
Jeter one is 1 in 15 of 1 in 72. So about one in 1000 packs you'd
46:32
get this card. Think that card was like 85
46:35
bucks at the CIA auction. My good in a nine.
46:39
But this card, this card is just different.
46:43
This is a 97 pinnacle artist proof Derek Jeter PSA 9 I know
46:51
what you guys are thinking. It was he is a modern collector
46:53
now. No no no, I collect some modern
46:57
but mostly vintage. Look at how gorgeous this card
47:00
is. The artist proof cards came one
47:04
in 47 packs, one in 47 packs. There were 200 cards in the set.
47:12
So what one in every couple of boxes there would be an artist
47:16
proof, but it could have been any of the 200 cards.
47:19
So the odds of pulling the Jeter is 1 in 47 packs for an artist
47:25
proof at all, and then one in 200 for the Jeter.
47:29
So what's that about one in 9000 packs for that card, which I
47:35
think I paid about $180 for? I just thought it was cool.
47:38
And then this card, my gosh, this is a really big card.
47:41
Actually, this is instantly in probably one of my top six or
47:48
seven most valuable cards in my collection.
47:51
This is a 1997 Essential Credentials from Skybox Derek
47:58
Jeter in APSA 8 and this thing is absolutely gorgeous.
48:03
This is a massive card and this card is the first year of
48:08
Essential Credentials and which to me adds a cool element to it.
48:16
But I wanted kind of a big cornerstone Jeter card, so I
48:21
went with this one. It's numbered out of a boy.
48:23
I just showed the back. What was it out of 99 or 100?
48:26
I don't even remember about 100. I think it's 99.
48:30
And Oh my, it's just it's just a stunning card.
48:35
Thrilled to have it. Bought this.
48:38
I rolled the dice and I bought this off of Instagram.
48:44
So some mom modern, obviously I just showed you.
48:47
Now let's look at some some vintage stuff.
48:50
So I mentioned this card a couple of times in a couple of
48:53
episodes, but here's a real good look at it.
48:56
So this is a 19 O1 Teddy Roosevelt card.
48:59
These came in packs of sweet cap tobacco and they would come on a
49:05
panel. There would be two cards.
49:06
They were hand cut and Teddy Roosevelt.
49:09
This is the Heroes of the Spanish American War, which is
49:15
really Teddy Roosevelt's thing. And this is a beautiful PSA 2
49:22
that I bought in an auction that was about maybe $300 or so.
49:29
And then I bought a few cards, 3 cards from this set.
49:32
This is Wild West gum. This set is from 1910 and I
49:37
think these are gorgeous cards. The color is unbelievable.
49:41
This is another Teddy Roosevelt card and you can see the back of
49:45
it here. I love the the picture on the
49:47
front of this card with with the hat and everything.
49:51
My kids growing up loved the movie Night at the Museum and
49:55
one of the stars of Night at the Museum was the Teddy Roosevelt
49:59
character who was obviously played from one of the best
50:05
comedians of all time. You know who I'm talking about
50:09
this Buffalo Bill card from the same set.
50:14
This is Dochman and sons gum Wild West gum set.
50:19
This is a gorgeous SGC 3 Buffalo Bill.
50:27
I love this card. I just think the color on it is
50:34
is nuts. It's, it's just, it's nuts the
50:38
image on these things. Then I got the the third one and
50:42
this is my second sitting bowl card in the last couple of
50:45
months. This is an STC 3.5.
50:48
But look at, I mean, look at the centering, look at the color,
50:50
look at the definition of that card.
50:55
My gosh, I, I again, I, I just, these popped up.
51:01
I know I probably showed them once, but I wanted to give a
51:04
really good look at them. They're just such cool cards.
51:08
I love non sport cards. I'm trying to expand my
51:12
collection now into some modern stuff.
51:16
I mean we got polar ends of the spectrum this month from some
51:21
Jeter cards to patch auto cards to some of the best non sport
51:28
looking cards you'll see. What a month.
51:32
Appreciate you watching. Feel free to ask a question
51:36
because I ran out.