Latest / Sports Card Clubhouse / MidLife Sports Cards Q & A - October 15th, 2025

Transcript

MidLife Sports Cards Q & A - October 15th, 2025 · Sports Card Clubhouse

0:11
What's going on, everybody? All right, this is Wednesday,
0:14
Wednesday's Q&A day, which always revolves around your
0:19
questions. So if you like the topics, if
0:22
you don't like the topics, if you like the questions, I would
0:26
say ask a question, Ask it a question that you have as a
0:30
topic that you want brought up. Don't hesitate to do that down
0:34
below in the comments. I every week when I, I look at
0:39
the Wednesday video from the week before to see what new
0:41
questions rolled in. And if there aren't enough
0:44
questions from that week, I go into the vault and I find a
0:47
question that I've had for a while that hasn't been answered
0:51
yet. Now the last couple of weeks
0:53
I've been a little bit light on questions.
0:55
So I don't know if you guys don't like me anymore.
0:58
I don't know if you don't like Q&A anymore, but we've been a
1:01
little bit light, but we do still have 5 questions this
1:05
week. But I will say 2 of the
1:08
questions were similar enough that were overlapped enough that
1:12
I'm going to combine those two and give one response to the two
1:17
questions because a lot of the response that I would give kind
1:21
of answers both of them. So we will have 5 questions this
1:25
week for responses, for thoughts, for opinions on what I
1:31
think about the topics that you bring up or share, whatever the
1:34
story is or whatever. Now again, later this week, I've
1:38
got at least a couple of episodes coming out. 1 is going
1:42
to be my pickups from the month of September, including one of
1:46
my favorite pickups in a really, really long time, a card I've
1:51
been hunting for over 2 years. Also, we'll have our Off Topic
1:57
episode for the month. Remember, we do one on my
2:02
channel, 1 on Darren's channel, Return to Collecting.
2:06
And this month is my turn to host the guest.
2:10
And our guest is going to be none other than Ray from Philly,
2:14
one of the nicest and best guys in the hobby, and he will be on.
2:20
We will. We actually just recorded that,
2:22
but that will post here in the next two or three days.
2:25
So be on the lookout for that. And with that, again, questions
2:30
for upcoming episodes down below in the comments.
2:33
But let's look at our first question here.
2:37
This week's first question says I have a topic suggestion for an
2:42
upcoming episode. Which card or cards in your
2:46
collection has or have the most sentimental value to you and
2:50
why? For me, it's the 1987 Tops Cal
2:55
Ripken Junior given to me by my dad when I first started
2:58
collecting. That card sparked my interest in
3:02
collecting and I have never stopped since.
3:05
Thanks for the great videos. Well you know I love this
3:09
question. This question is right up my
3:11
alley. It is something that I've asked
3:14
on Monday episodes before of share a story of a memorable
3:19
pickup or memorable purchase or a card that means a lot to you
3:23
and to me. The the whole hobby.
3:27
It, it really doesn't revolve around the values of the cards.
3:31
It doesn't revolve around the rarity of the cards.
3:35
It it revolves around the memory of the cards.
3:39
To me, the the memory means as much as anything.
3:44
There are cards in my collection that for a certain price I would
3:50
sell them. I would hey, hate me, love me,
3:54
whatever you think. But we have a price for most
3:58
things. But then there are some things
4:01
where the value of that item to you is so much more than it
4:06
would be to anybody else. And, and that is where the
4:10
memory comes in. The cards that we remember how
4:14
we got it, where we got it, who were we with when we got it.
4:18
Those are the most special cards in our collection.
4:23
And when we sometimes will flip through our collection and go,
4:25
all right, let's see, which cards have I fallen out of love
4:28
with? Which cards am I willing to part
4:31
with? Which cards am I willing to
4:32
consolidate to get that big card that I've been wanting for a
4:35
while? My guess is for almost all of
4:38
us, the hardest cards to part with are the ones that have a
4:43
sentimental value, specifically an important story of how you
4:48
obtained it. And I've told the story before
4:51
about my Ernie Banks card. In fact, last week ago Monday, I
4:55
was on The Odd Couple Life on Tony Lebrik's Channel Southern
5:01
Collector 14 with my buddies. And when we were on, Tony asked
5:08
us to share about our cornerstone card in our
5:11
collection, the card that kind of tells the most about your
5:15
collecting. And I shared my 54 TOPS Ernie
5:18
Banks. And that definitely is an
5:20
important card, a cornerstone card with a very important story
5:24
attached to it. But there's a card that means
5:27
more to me than that. There's a card that means a lot
5:30
more than than to me than that. And I've told the story I think
5:35
once on my channel and then I told it once on another channel.
5:39
So some of you may have heard this and some of you maybe
5:42
haven't heard it, but when I was 10 years old, when I was in 3rd
5:46
grade, I was on the Red Sox, was my Little League team, and I was
5:52
the pitcher on the team. I was, I pitched if, if I had
5:55
the innings available to pitch, I pitched.
5:59
And so I'm a Red Sox pitcher and it's about 198788.
6:05
And before you know it, I become a Rodger Clemens fan because he
6:10
is an absolute stud at the time he is on the Red Sox, he is a
6:14
pitcher. So I identified so much with
6:18
Rodger Clemens and I, he, he became my guy for baseball.
6:24
Now, some of you love Clemens, some of you hate Clemens.
6:27
That's OK. He will always have a very
6:29
special place in my heart. I've seen him pitch live many
6:32
times. I thought saw him throw a
6:34
shutout at the Oakland Coliseum and I followed him, him closely.
6:40
Well, at this time in about now, 1988 or 89, when I'm heavily
6:46
into cards and I'm heavily into Rodger Clemens, I went to a card
6:51
show and there were not a ton of card shows at the time.
6:54
But one of the main card shows was a card show in Concord, CA,
6:58
which was about 40 minutes away from us.
7:01
And they held it in like an Elks Lodge or one of those sort of,
7:06
you know, higher Order of the Elk or whatever.
7:10
You know what these clubs for older retired guys where they go
7:14
and hang out and one of the members of the club was a card
7:19
collector and a card dealer. And so he would put on these
7:23
card shows and what he did to he wasn't trying to make money, he
7:27
was just trying to create this community event.
7:30
And so we would go and what would happen is when you came in
7:34
the show, it was like a dollar or two to get in.
7:36
And when you got in, you would get a ticket.
7:39
You know, like those tickets where it's got the two the keep
7:42
this coupon, the ticket. They you know, you split them
7:45
down the middle, you pull it off and then one goes into the
7:48
raffle and one goes, you hang on to and you you try to win.
7:53
So we would go to this card Showtime and time again and I
7:57
never won. But the the amazing thing is
8:00
this is in about 198889 and the raffle prizes was every hour on
8:05
the hour they raffled off a $100 voucher that could be used in
8:12
the show. Basically they were taking all
8:15
the entry costs for the people with the tickets at the door and
8:20
they were turning around and giving it back to the customers,
8:23
which had to be good for the dealers because then the dealers
8:26
had they had they had money kind of going around the room.
8:32
And so we would, you know, wait for an hour and Nope, didn't win
8:36
next hour. Nope, didn't win.
8:38
You know when we would stay for 3-4 hours at these shows because
8:40
this was sort of like the prime card shows that we would attend.
8:46
Well, about the third or fourth time we attended the show, my
8:50
brother and I kind of came up with this idea of, well, a lot
8:54
because what they would do is they would read the numbers and
8:56
people say, oh, that person is not here anymore.
8:59
You know, they wait. Nobody would come up and claim
9:01
it, that person must have left. Read another number, nobody
9:05
would claim it. That person must have left.
9:07
So somewhere in my head, I said what we need to do, since we're
9:13
just hanging out at the show, is as people are leaving, we need
9:17
to say, hey, are you leaving? Yes, we're leaving.
9:21
Would it be OK if I have your raffle ticket?
9:23
Well sure. Here you go.
9:25
So before long my brother and I had about 2025 raffle tickets
9:32
each and so they would read the number and we'd have them in
9:36
number order and we'd be going down seeing if any of them
9:38
matched because we were collecting the tickets of the
9:43
people leaving for the day. Well, at that time, my prized
9:49
card, my dream card, my absolute dream card was the 84 Fleer
9:56
Roger Clemens Fleer update card. I wanted that card so bad, but
10:01
it was so far out of reach because the card in Beckett was
10:05
$80.00. And at the time, if Beckett said
10:08
it was $80, you'd go to a card show, they were asking $80.
10:11
That's just the way that it worked then, right?
10:14
I mean, a lot of us remember those times.
10:17
So eventually we, we, my number gets pulled and I, I run up to
10:25
the front to the guy at the speaker.
10:27
I give him the ticket, he checks it.
10:30
Sure enough I won the $100 voucher and I am like so nervous
10:37
so beside myself and and I had been at the show all day so I
10:41
had already found and spotted the 1/19/84 FLIR update Roger
10:48
Clemens that was in the room for $80.00.
10:52
So I immediately ran to my dad, showed my dad that I won, which
10:58
I'm sure he knew because he probably saw the whole thing
11:01
transpire at the show and he said what are you going to buy?
11:05
I said I'm buying the Clemens. I ran straight over the table
11:08
and I hand over my $100. They were in $20 increments.
11:14
I handed him four of the $20 increment vouchers for the
11:21
Clemens card, and this right here is that Clemens card.
11:27
This is the exact one that I got that day that I got from the
11:34
vouchers from the raffle. Now at the time, again, $80.00
11:39
was like it's probably like 4 or $500 now.
11:43
It's just like so far out of my price range.
11:46
I would show up to a show with like maybe 20 bucks, 15 or 20
11:50
bucks. So to be able to land an $80
11:54
card, which was my absolute dream card is something I'll
12:02
never forget. And this is the exact one.
12:05
Again, this was probably about 19891990.
12:10
So we're talking 3540 years ago that I got this card and there
12:16
is not an amount of money that I would well, is there?
12:21
I can't imagine letting this card go.
12:24
It would have to be like $500,000 for me to to, It would
12:30
have to be money where I could like go quit my job.
12:33
But this card is the most special card in my collection.
12:37
And I have a lot of special cards.
12:39
But this is #1 because of the story and because of the memory
12:46
that I have attached to the card.
12:48
And that to me is the most important part of the hobby.
12:52
It's not owning the cards. It's the story of acquiring the
12:57
cards and saving for the cards and planning for the cards and
13:01
hunting for the cards and then finding the right one and making
13:04
the deal happen. And then you end up with
13:07
something like this. This next one says, hey, Greg,
13:12
I've been vacationing in Hawaii for a few weeks, so I haven't
13:16
asked you a new question for a while.
13:18
Here's one for you. Do you think it would be a great
13:22
idea to start a spreadsheet or any other way to document your
13:27
inventory of cards and their values to make it easier for
13:31
your loved ones to deal with the fallout if something were to
13:35
happen to one of us collectors? Is there a website that you know
13:41
of and would recommend that can put all this information in and
13:45
compensate for the fluctuation of values over time?
13:50
I am at the age where I am thinking of my kids and what
13:54
they will have to deal with when I am gone.
13:57
Any advice would be appreciated. OK, so I think personally one of
14:05
the things that I think is really important is financial
14:10
planning, future planning, estate planning.
14:14
I think that's really important stuff because if you don't plan
14:18
for the future and you react to the future, you're not going to
14:21
be prepared for the future and things aren't going to go the
14:25
way that you want them to go. And unfortunately, we don't know
14:29
if tomorrow will be here for each and every one of us.
14:33
And so if you have a decent amount of value in your
14:36
collection, I'm assuming that you want your family members to
14:41
be able to reap the benefits of that.
14:43
Now, my kids don't want my cards.
14:46
My wife doesn't want my cards. But I do hope that when I am
14:52
gone that I can leave them some money that would allow their
14:58
life to be more comfortable, allow their life to have some
15:02
less stress. And so leaving them instructions
15:08
or information to be able to liquidate the collection that I
15:12
have is something that I absolutely am planning to do and
15:17
I'm working on doing. One of the arguments I have made
15:21
for a long time is people say, why do you even need to get your
15:24
cards graded? Who cares?
15:26
Is it if it's just to authenticate them?
15:29
And one of my arguments has been, I think that cards that
15:33
have a decent amount of value, you need to get graded because
15:37
by grading them it makes it easier to sell them.
15:41
And it provides information about the quality, about the,
15:45
the type, about the player, about the, IT provides
15:48
information that makes it easier to liquidate.
15:52
And though you say I know all about my cards, I know that
15:55
these are worth money and these aren't worth money.
15:58
And these are worth a little bit.
15:59
And that's worth a little bit. But if, if somebody can just
16:04
simply go into eBay and type in whatever's on the flip,
16:08
including the grade, they know what the card is worth.
16:12
And to me, I want to make it easier for them.
16:16
So I believe one of the biggest reasons I believe in grading is
16:21
because it makes it easier to liquidate, not necessarily for
16:24
me, but for whoever ends up with them someday.
16:27
Because remember, all of our cards will eventually be sold by
16:32
someone, and we want that someone to have an idea of what
16:36
they're worth. Now you doing it in an Excel
16:42
spreadsheet could be a little bit cumbersome.
16:45
It wouldn't include pictures, it wouldn't take into account the
16:51
changes in values. So I have said now for a few
16:56
weeks, because I came out a few weeks ago and I said I've tried
17:01
VCP vintage card prices as a card comping app.
17:06
I have tried Market Movers as a card comping app, both of which
17:11
you can enter your collection into the system and it will
17:17
track the changes and fluctuations in the prices.
17:21
And I came out a couple of months ago and I told you guys
17:25
that I am all in with card ladder.
17:28
And what happened was I had card ladder, I had Market Movers, I
17:32
had VCP, but card ladder had everything that I wanted.
17:37
Card ladder had the best, the best ability to comp in my
17:42
opinion. It had the the easiest way to
17:47
check prices and and find cards. It was far less cumbersome.
17:52
It was easy to find pop reports, all of that.
17:56
And it has a fantastic spot where it's, it's called your
18:00
collection on the app and you hit the collection.
18:03
And once you hit the collection, you can very, very easily upload
18:07
your cards into the app. So if it's APSA graded card, you
18:13
just add and then you type in the the PSA serial number, it
18:19
finds it in the PSA database, it uploads it, it finds the value
18:24
and as the values change up and down it, it tracks it.
18:28
I mean, it's absolutely fantastic.
18:32
And a lot of people have said, oh, Greg, you know, it's like 15
18:35
or $20.00 a month. I understand that.
18:39
But to me, and I live in California, I don't know what
18:42
things cost elsewhere, but if I, Greg went to McDonald's today
18:49
and got a Big Mac meal, if I got a Big Mac meal at McDonald's, it
18:55
would be about 15 bucks. That that's about what it would
18:58
be $15 in today's day and age or $20 in today's day and age,
19:04
whatever the price is, is very, very little in my opinion.
19:09
And people say, I already have, you know, Disney subscription
19:12
and Netflix and Hulu and, and this and that.
19:16
And, and I understand that. I do understand that.
19:19
But the way I look at it is this is my hobby that I spend a lot
19:23
of time on. But also, this is a way it's
19:29
it's it's like a way to protect your family against getting
19:33
ripped off when you someday have them sell the collection.
19:39
Because if they can get into your card ladder app and they
19:43
can go into the collection, they know exactly what you have and
19:47
exactly what everything's worth as it goes up, as it goes down
19:50
and everything in between. So in am I sponsored by card
19:55
ladder? Yes, yes, I am absolutely saying
19:59
that. But I've also told you guys, the
20:02
only companies that I would be sponsored by under any
20:06
circumstance are the companies that I actually use and the
20:10
actually that I believe in. And card ladder is the best
20:13
option. So again, I've mentioned this a
20:17
few times, I'll continue to mention it from time to time.
20:20
It's at the end, at the outro of every episode but the.
20:24
Promo code Midlife lets you try it lets you try Card Ladder for
20:28
free for a month or if you go on Card Ladder's website, you can
20:33
try Card Ladder for a week, but if you use my promo code, you
20:37
can try it for a month. The other thing that you could
20:40
do is you could sign up for Card Ladder for a year and it takes
20:45
$20 off the price for the year. So it saves you a few dollars.
20:49
I think if you just go to their website, I think, I don't know,
20:52
maybe it's 5 or $10 off for a year.
20:54
So you get the most off. Now I negotiated those things
20:58
when Carl Ladder and I decided, hey, let's work together, let's
21:01
talk about this. I said you got to give me
21:03
something that's going to help out the people that are viewers
21:07
of my channel. If I'm going to suggest this to
21:10
them, you have to make an extra good deal for them.
21:14
And they said, OK, what do you want?
21:16
And I said I want a month trial instead of a week.
21:19
They said OK. I said I want more money off
21:23
through my promo code than the other promo codes.
21:27
And they said OK so $20 off or a free trial for a month.
21:33
Try it for a month. If you don't like it then get
21:37
rid of it. But you will absolutely like it.
21:40
So my answer to this is a very simple solution.
21:45
You sign up for card ladder. You now have the best card app,
21:50
the best card comping app, you have the best research tool, and
21:55
you have a place to upload all of your collection.
21:58
Store it and it tracks the values for you and load it onto
22:03
your spouse's phone. Put the password in, have it
22:08
saved at any time they can check and see it and have access to
22:12
your collection. This to me is an absolute no
22:16
brainer. So that's your answer.
22:19
Easy done deal. I really think you won't regret
22:23
doing that. Question.
22:26
How does 1 organically grow their network within the hobby
22:31
with no social media? I understand it's as simple as
22:36
saying hello and starting a conversation at a card show, but
22:40
vendors talk to so many people during a show and others seem to
22:45
be to themselves. May you give some examples of
22:48
making friends within the hobby before YouTube or connecting
22:52
through social media or purchasing a card from a vendor?
22:57
OK, this is you've painted me into a corner with the
23:01
parameters in which I can make suggestions here.
23:07
The first thing I would say is social media is actually really
23:12
good for social networking. Like that's the whole point of
23:17
social media is that you can network with other people with
23:21
similar interests. And so I, I kind of say, well,
23:26
why not use social media? I think Facebook, if you're a
23:30
card collector and you're not on Facebook and in a bunch of the
23:33
Facebook groups, I don't understand why not.
23:37
I don't. I just, I, I don't understand
23:39
why not. If you're not on Instagram, I
23:41
don't understand why not. Now let me say this.
23:45
I am not a fan of social media. I think that things that people
23:49
post on social media say on social media, the fake
23:53
information on social media is not good.
23:56
It is it is corrupting. It is, I don't have social media
24:02
for personal use. I mean, I think I, I years and
24:07
years ago I had, I had like a Facebook account and an
24:12
Instagram account and I literally shut them down like 5
24:17
or 6 years ago because it was like it was just bad.
24:20
And then I set up accounts for midlife for, for the channel.
24:26
And I think when I did that, it made those other ones active.
24:30
So if you've ever found me like on Facebook or Instagram, like
24:33
my personal account and you're like, why isn't he responding?
24:36
It's because I, I literally don't open them or check them
24:39
because I just think that it's like bad.
24:42
So I'm assuming that's what you're saying.
24:45
What I would say is have an account just for the hobby, just
24:50
for networking purposes. There's really no reason if you
24:54
don't want your name out there where people can find you or
24:57
something, put some nickname. I mean, Tony is southern
25:02
collector 14. He's he's southern collector 14.
25:07
You know, I'm midlife cards on Instagram and Facebook.
25:11
I, I mean you, I would, I would use social media because that is
25:17
what it's best for. But the that's not your
25:21
question. Your question is besides social
25:23
media. I think when I was growing up,
25:28
the way that we met people, the best was a couple of ways #1
25:35
hanging out at card shops, going to the card shop, not going in
25:40
for 20 minutes and then leaving. But going in and, and hanging
25:44
out and talking to the other customers and talking to the
25:47
owner and talking to the workers, looking at the cards,
25:52
making deals. You, you can start to
25:55
organically grow some form of a network through that.
26:01
But I think from, from my memory, if memory serves me
26:05
best, the way that I've made the the most connections is at card
26:12
shows. And I know what you're saying.
26:13
You're saying what card shows there's, you know, 500 customers
26:17
that go up to a dealer? How are they going to Remember
26:20
Me? How am I going to know them?
26:24
I would say because what most people do is they meet them and
26:28
then they connect to them on Facebook and Instagram and then
26:32
they message them, Hey, good seeing you at the show today.
26:34
You know, if you come across this card and this card, let me
26:38
know. You could make business cards,
26:43
you could make business cards. You could e-mail the person when
26:46
you get home, get their e-mail address, give them your card.
26:49
Hey, remember I'm the guy that gave you the business card
26:52
today. That could work.
26:56
But some of the best ways that we've really gotten to know
27:00
other people in the hobby is is by setting up as a dealer.
27:08
So like when you set up as a dealer, there's like this few
27:13
hour period where you're all kind of setting up and you're
27:16
all kind of looking out for each other.
27:18
And you got to go around and you look at other people's tables
27:21
and you say, Oh yeah, you know, my table's over there.
27:24
And people are other dealers are buying from you and you're
27:27
buying from other dealers. And there's that is a really,
27:31
really good way to make a memorable lasting connection to
27:37
someone. Now, depending on where you
27:39
live, sometimes the dealer cost is or the table cost is really
27:43
expensive. But I mean, if you could get a
27:47
table for 100 bucks, maybe sell $100 worth of stuff that you're
27:51
not interested in, break even. But then you have a day or two
27:55
where you're making connections with other people in the hobby.
27:59
That's the best way. Because once you form a core
28:02
group, that core group is going to kind of spread.
28:05
Because if you connect with five people and each of those people
28:09
have 5 people they're connected with.
28:11
And you say, hey, do you know anybody who is, you know, sells
28:14
T2O sixes and this guy goes, well, I have these two friends
28:18
and then that those guys, they have each have another guy and
28:21
all of a sudden you've got a connection.
28:23
So it does require some work. And a lot of us in the hobby are
28:29
quirky. Let's face it, there's a reason
28:33
that we're in the hobby or there's a reason that we study
28:36
cards that we, you know, look through our cards on our own.
28:40
A lot of us are kind of OCD types, myself very much
28:46
included. A lot of us are introverted
28:49
types because you can do this hobby independently, you don't
28:53
have to do it as a group. And so a lot of us have some
28:58
quirkiness and a lot of other people are in the same situation
29:03
as you where they're, they want to have a few hobby buddies, but
29:07
they don't know how to make hobby buddies.
29:09
So the best way to make a hobby buddy is to try to connect with
29:15
other people because I think those other people are looking
29:19
to connect to, they're just not really comfortable at how to do
29:22
that. So it's sort of like, you know,
29:24
in elementary school when there's a new kid at the school
29:28
that shows up and you say, hey, you want to eat in our group,
29:31
you know, at lunch and they go, OK.
29:33
And now all of a sudden they're a friend in your group.
29:35
It's just like that. But if you're anti social media,
29:40
I would say do it for the hobby only.
29:43
Don't do it for personal use, for connecting with family
29:47
members and friends. And I literally have most of if
29:53
not all of my family members blocked on my social media
29:59
accounts because I I don't have any interest in finding things
30:05
out and and seeing posts that they make that are going to
30:09
irritate me. So I just don't go there.
30:12
So that's my take I hope it helps.
30:15
But I would say maybe make cards, business cards, hand them
30:20
out, follow up with dealers at shows, e-mail them, start course
30:25
respondents with them. Try social media for the hobby
30:29
only. And, and I think setting up as a
30:33
dealer and just trying to sell off some of the stuff that maybe
30:36
you're not that interested in anymore, but that could help you
30:40
at least break even on the table.
30:42
If you are kind of active and social when you set up as a
30:46
dealer, you definitely would make a handful of connections
30:49
that way too. So those are my suggestions.
30:52
I hope they're good ones, but those are some things that I've
30:55
done before YouTube that I think have worked.
31:02
This one says since SCC is pretty much in shambles slowly.
31:07
I'm not a fan of PSA. If we are stranded with limited
31:11
options, why don't we switch to Beckett?
31:14
One thing I love about Beckett is their subgrades.
31:18
At least we know what's wrong with the card itself when we
31:21
look at subgrades. And a similar and related
31:26
question says. I think the real question at
31:29
this rate is if collectors really shuts down SGC, what do
31:34
people do with their current SGC slabs and who do they go to for
31:39
grading? I would think the majority would
31:43
choose CGC or BGS, but even if a minority pick PSA, it's a win
31:49
for collectors as the revenue will be as good or better due to
31:54
the higher priced and up charges.
31:56
And I think that's what collectors saw when wanting to
32:00
squeeze SGC down. All right, again, these are the
32:06
4th and 5th topics questions and I just kind of lumped them
32:10
together because they're very, very similar.
32:13
And I think that both of these make some really good points
32:17
and, and all of us don't know about the unknown.
32:21
You know, I did a video a week and a half ago or so about just
32:26
listing the facts of what was happening with SGC and it kind
32:31
of provides some clues on where they might be going.
32:35
I am going to continue to say that I hope that SGC is around
32:41
indefinitely. I like SGCI literally have APSA
32:47
order that I just, I'm sorry, I literally have an SGC order that
32:52
I just got back. In fact, I'll probably do like
32:56
an unboxing video and, and show how it went because there were
33:00
definitely some interesting things that happened.
33:03
And I, I think there might be some, I think, I think things
33:08
that SGC are maybe changing. I'll just say that, but watch my
33:14
video, you'll see what I mean. But I, I think that that's the
33:19
question is if SGC goes away, because I think most of us, a
33:23
lot of us, not most of us, a lot of us that have been cool with
33:27
SGC will continue to be cool with SGC as long as SGC is still
33:34
around. So the question really boils
33:37
down to if collectors, the parent company were to end SGC
33:44
and then try to divert all of the SGC people to PSA and people
33:50
don't want to do PSA, then what? That's the question.
33:55
And and also what the question is, is what does that do to the
34:00
PSA slabs that we have now? I mean, I have a couple of
34:04
pretty big cards. Some of the bigger cards in my
34:07
collection are in, did I say PSA slabs in the SGC slabs?
34:14
Some of my bigger cards are in SGC slabs.
34:17
So what happens to those cards 5-10 years into the future if
34:21
SGC goes away? Again, if SGC doesn't go away, I
34:24
I think this is a moot point for the most part.
34:28
So let me try to share my thoughts.
34:33
First, it depends on why you are a collector and it depends on
34:40
how much value matters to you, if at all.
34:44
And it partly depends on do you think you might be selling or
34:50
reselling at some point. If you are the type of collector
34:55
that once a card comes into your collection, it is never leaving
34:59
your collection until you are gone, then I think you can make
35:05
the argument that your SGC slabs versus your PSA slabs or or who
35:11
to go with. I don't know how much it matters
35:14
as long as you're enjoying the card.
35:16
Now do I think that it could potentially affect the value of
35:22
cards in SGC slabs? Yes.
35:25
Let me get to that in a second though.
35:27
So I think if, if people are going to pick graders now
35:32
because remember, we, I mean, some of us weren't back in the
35:36
hobby yet. Some of us were still in the
35:38
hobby. But there was a time, and it
35:42
wasn't crazy long ago where the number one grading company was
35:47
Beckett. It was the number one grading
35:50
company. The premium was on Beckett's
35:53
labs, not PSA slabs. And so you know, you know,
35:59
especially with modern, especially like APSA 10 versus a
36:03
ABGS 9.5, the premium was on the 9.5 and and that was real, that
36:10
actually happened. So things can change now, should
36:16
you go with Beckett instead of CGC or PSA or whoever else that
36:22
you'd consider maybe. I mean, it really boils down to
36:28
what is the reason you collect? How much does value matter and
36:33
what does the what does the slab even?
36:36
What is the importance of the slab for you?
36:39
The problem is going to be that the perceived value of some
36:46
holders and some grades is not equal.
36:51
That's the problem. So if, if you know, 10% of
36:57
people who are at SGC go over to Beckett and they start getting
37:00
Beckett grades, which by the way, I agree, I like the sub
37:03
grades. I, I, I don't mind their bigger
37:06
slabs. I think they're OK.
37:08
I have some Beckett slabs, but I I could see that that probably
37:14
wouldn't make a big impact because you're going to need
37:18
more than 10% of those SGC people to go to one company in
37:23
order for that company to be kind of come become viable.
37:27
See what what the problem is, is the perception for the retail
37:35
for the resale of cards in those different slabs.
37:40
So if you don't care about that and you like the subgrades, I'd
37:45
say go to Beckett. Problem is that there is
37:49
certainly a premium of what PSA slab cards sell for over Beckett
37:55
slab cards sell for, even though it might be the same card,
37:59
right? If I took a card in APSA holder
38:02
and I cracked it out and I sent it over to Beckett, same card.
38:07
And let's just say Beckett gave it the same grade, the same
38:11
exact card, it would sell for more in most cases in the PSA
38:17
holder than it would in the Becket holder.
38:20
That perception of, of the, the turnover of the, of the resale.
38:26
I mean, it was, I think it was SGC where recently a lot of the
38:31
repackers started saying we're not buying SGC anymore.
38:35
They're only buying Beckett and PSA slabs.
38:40
They're not buying SGC slabs now if if repacker.
38:45
Now keep in mind I know that SGC is mostly vintage.
38:49
It's not modern you know? PSA and BGS are mostly modern
38:53
and less vintage, although they have some of each.
38:57
I I could see why if the repackers all said no more SGC
39:05
that hurts the demand for SGC slabs.
39:09
And if the demand for SGC slabs goes down, then the value and
39:13
the resale value and the perceived value of SCC slabs
39:18
goes down because the demand is less and the resale value is
39:20
less. So it kind of depends if if
39:24
value matters to you. If it matters a a fairly
39:29
significant amount, then I don't really think that choosing a non
39:37
established, non quality, perceived value slab company is
39:46
going to be good for you in the long run.
39:49
And that's what I think PSA and collectors is banking on.
39:54
They don't want you to leave and they are trying to make it where
40:04
you don't have an option. I will continue to say this.
40:09
I really think my hope I'm not, I don't think my hope, my hope
40:13
is that SCC continues to to stick around, but their numbers
40:18
are going down. They're they're the the
40:22
repackers are eliminating them from their buying.
40:28
These are not good signs if value is something that is
40:35
important and for most of us it is.
40:39
I have, I, I, I have bought in the last two months, multiple
40:45
PSA slabs and multiple SGC slabs.
40:49
So I'm not telling you you should do this.
40:51
And instead of this, and whenever I give advice, whenever
40:55
I give suggestions, it's what I'm doing.
40:57
I am still buying SGC slabs. I am still buying PSA slabs.
41:02
But I will tell you this, the cards that I buy that are in PSA
41:07
holders, I feel much more comfortable buying those cards
41:13
in those holders than I do the SGC cards in the SGC holders at
41:19
this point. At this point I feel much more
41:24
comfortable in, and it's not because I think that one is good
41:28
and one is bad or one knows how to grade and one doesn't know
41:31
how to grade. It's because other people could
41:37
flee from SGC and shun SGC down the road if SGC were to go away.
41:46
And that could in turn affect the value.
41:49
Which the reason that matters to me is because if I ever want to
41:53
liquidate a card, it would be harder to liquidate for what the
41:57
card is probably actually worth if it's in that holder.
42:03
This is like a chicken and the egg, the a cat chasing its tail.
42:09
It's there. We're not going to know the
42:11
future you. We would have to be able to tell
42:14
the future. We would have to know that SGC
42:16
is going away. We would have to know that that
42:19
the resale value of SGC starts to go down.
42:23
We would have to know that PSA is going to remain as #1 there's
42:27
so many unknowns that at the end of the day, what we probably
42:33
need to do is we probably just need to keep buying cards that
42:38
we like the looks of and and just hoping and supporting SGC
42:47
so that they continue to have business.
42:51
And though I'm a planner and I'm not a reactor, in this case, I
42:58
have to believe that if a really successful company like SGC,
43:05
who's been successful for literally 3 decades, they've
43:11
been a successful company for three decades.
43:14
If SGC were to actually go away, I have to believe that the
43:24
majority of collectors would still respect those slabs
43:30
because it's not like they went out of business because of a
43:33
scandal. It's not like they went out of
43:34
business because they didn't know what they were doing.
43:37
They went out of business because they were purchased.
43:42
And if they're purchased, that doesn't mean that the previous
43:48
quality was bad. It just means they're
43:52
consolidating the two brands. But I also have said, and I also
43:59
believe that as time goes by and more people enter the hobby and
44:06
they'll go who's SGC? And people say, oh, that's a
44:09
company that's not around anymore, that could become an
44:13
issue. My hope, My hope is if PSA were
44:21
to shut SGC down, that they would do something to make good
44:29
on all those SGC slabs out there, whether it be some sort
44:35
of crossover, some sort of new SGC by PSA flip, something to
44:47
still honor the legacy of SGC but acknowledge that it's
44:52
different. That's my hope.
44:57
So I can't give great advice because even though I keep
45:02
looking in my crystal ball, I'm not seeing the future.
45:06
But I would just say continue to track it, continue to see the
45:12
developments, and if you start to feel one way or another,
45:18
start to adjust. I will continue to talk about it
45:22
from time to time. Once a month or something, I'll
45:25
do a video on updates or maybe every other month when questions
45:31
come up in Q and as I give my take with new developments.
45:35
But we're just going to have to wait and see and unfortunately,
45:42
patience is not something I'm good at.
45:45
It's not something most of us are good at.
45:47
But in this case, I don't think we have any other choice.
45:52
That said, if you have a question for an upcoming
45:56
episode, don't hesitate. Simply down below in the
46:00
comments, Take a second type out your question.
46:03
I'd love to show it and feature it on an upcoming episode.