Latest / Sports Card Clubhouse / Will People Think I'm Crazy If I Make This Deal?

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Will People Think I'm Crazy If I Make This Deal? · Sports Card Clubhouse

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In our massive country, there are card collectors throughout
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the land participating in the hobby.
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There's Mike of Junk Wax Hero and Greg of Midlife Cards, And
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while distance may separate them, here is where they come
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together to talk cards. All right, here we are.
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This is where they come to talk cards and suddenly I'm looking
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at my screen. If you're listening on podcast,
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you don't have this luxury, but if you're watching on YouTube,
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you will notice that Mike got significantly better looking
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overnight. That's because we have a fill in
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this week. We have my pal Jake of Wax Pack
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Wisdom. How are you my friend?
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I am absolutely fantastic, Greg. Thank you so much for having me.
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I am I'm thrilled to make my this is my sports card clubhouse
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debut, actually, and I'm I'm couldn't be more excited to be
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here and then fill filling the very large shoes of Mike Chunk
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wax hero. He does have big feet, I will
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say that. So I I don't know what is he
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like a size 16 or 16? It's something crazy as a ball
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player in a past life, I think. Or yeah, maybe at certain points
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in his life he was. But yeah.
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Well, we're excited to have you. You obviously on your channel
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have an outstanding duo that you do with everybody.
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Matt from Providence. Highly recommended if you're out
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there listening and not a subscriber to Wax Pack Wisdom.
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At the very least, it's worth subscribing for that.
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I love those episodes. Those are must lessons for me.
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Well, thanks man. Appreciate it.
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Yeah. We, we got a few things to talk
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about here today. I'm we did not do any sort of
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pre discussions. You have no idea what I'm going
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to say. None.
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Zero. I'm scared honestly.
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So I, I guess I got to do a little bit of a lead in here.
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So I did, I went to a card show this weekend and when I was and
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I did a video on that card show. So some of you may have seen it.
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I don't know if you got a chance to see it, Jake.
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I did. Yep.
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Yep, I watched it. So, so one of the dealers that I
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featured is my buddy MO. And MO has some amazing carts
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and he's one of the top dealers in Northern California.
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And I was at his show about two months ago and as I was looking
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through the stuff, because he's always picking up new stuff, he
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had this 57 tops Brooks Robinson autographed with a ballpoint pen
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in the perfect spot on the card. It's a beautiful, I, I think
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it's a black, I think it's black, maybe a ballpoint pen.
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And that card is a, one of my childhood grail cards because I
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love Brooks Robinson. I love the youthful image.
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It's just such a great card of his.
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And I saw that card about about 2-3 months ago to show and it
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just kind of struck me. I was like, man, this thing is
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amazing. And I thought about it and I'm
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like, you know, I'm not going to buy it, but it's amazing.
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And then I saw it again this past weekend on when I was at
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the show and I kind of featured the card in the episode in the
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show video. And I just, I can't stop
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thinking about the card. And Brooks Robinson signed a lot
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of autographs. He signed through the mail.
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Literally I got a auto through the mail from Brooks Robinson
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like 3 months before he died. He literally signed until he
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died. So his autographs are not rare.
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But this is on his rookie card. One of my favorite cards, and
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it's clearly an earlier version of his autograph.
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It's not slanting down like he did as he got older.
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It's not as big and loopy. It's tighter.
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And I'm like, I, I really want this card.
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So first of all, let me start with this.
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What is your take if you remember the card from the
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video? What is your take on the card?
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What is your take on on vintage autos on cards?
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Is that something you do? Is it something you don't do?
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Are you on the Tony bandwagon? Are you like you respect it, but
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it's not for you. What are your thoughts?
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Just as I'm I'm starting to roll out the situation.
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So the the card itself was that was amazing.
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And I, I think that, like you said, it's that really nice
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tight signature, definitely early the ballpoint pen like,
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and I, you know, my, my feeling again, you know, with all stuff,
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stuff like this all the time is like, if it's a card that you
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can't get out of your brain and you love it, then, you know, if
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you, if you can't live without it, you should, you should buy
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it. You should if you can, if you
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can make it work. But as far as like on like
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autographs, I've had this like pretty interesting journey with
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this where I for a long time never really cared about
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autographs on cards. I was almost like there was AI
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think it was a point where I kind of felt like that feeling
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of like it kind of sometimes it can kind of ruin the card.
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That definitely was like where I where I my thought process was
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on that. I've definitely softened on that
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for sure. I generally will probably not go
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out of my way to buy a card just because it's autographed or, and
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I, I won't buy a card because like, yeah, I really want this
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guy's card auto. Like, yeah, that, that like I
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wouldn't go out of my way to buy an autograph card.
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I still wouldn't do that. But what's happened with me
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recently is that, and I've, and I've been documenting this on my
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channel, is that I have really thrown myself deeply into doing
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TTM because I think it's a lot of fun.
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And it's to me, you know, I'm in a little bit the sort of, I
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would say for the next couple months ahead of the Strongsville
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show, I'm in a little bit of a lull in terms of big buys for
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collecting. And there are, we don't need to
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get into it. I mean, there's various reasons.
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So you, there's, there are financial reasons why I've, I've
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kind of slowed on some of my big spending on cards.
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And So what am I doing to occupy my, my time?
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Well, one of the things I'm doing is, is I'm sending out
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TTM, specifically my 60 from my 68 top set.
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And I've, I decided like late last year to break up the set
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just because it wasn't doing a lot for me.
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I have AI have my 59 set that I love.
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I'll never break that up. But I built the 68 set during
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the course of 2024 and I just realized like this isn't doing a
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lot for me. So I sold I've, I've graded a
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few cards. I'm still grading a few more
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cards and, and going to be selling those.
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But there's all these, you know, there's then there's like 575
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other com other cards, not all comments, obviously Hall of
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Farmers. And I'm like, what do I do with
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these? And it just hit me.
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I was like, why don't I just do TTM with, with the guys that are
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still alive? And it has been a blast and I
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have really enjoyed, I've enjoyed the whole process of
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writing, you know, a handwritten note and, you know, sending it
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off and, and you're really excited when you see this sort
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of informed delivery in the mail, like, oh, I'm getting
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something today. And you know, you know, you do
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it with like the both, you know, both return addresses on it.
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So like you don't, I don't know who it's from, can kind of guess
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based off the postmark. Oh, maybe it's this person or
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whatever. And you know, I got a great one
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yesterday that I'll show on my channel on Friday of Camilo
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Pasquale. And he signed like, I used the
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like the sleeves thing, like over it and the picture corners.
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And he signed the inside of the, in addition to the card.
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He signed the inside of the card sleeve.
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It's his best wishes, Camilo Pasquale on it.
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And it's a gorgeous signature. And I was just like, wow, this
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is great. And this is a guy who Ted
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Williams said had the best, the most feared curveball in the
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American League for 18 years. And that guy is still alive and
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he signed my card and, and send it back to me and also sent that
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nice other note. So I've really, I've really
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dived into that part of it. I don't think that I'm going to
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take stuff to like shows to get signed or anything like that.
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Like to me, it's exclusively like I want to do TTM, Like I
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want to send stuff through the mail, have it autographed, get
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it back. There's sort of an old school
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feel to it, I feel like. And the other thing I wanted to
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mention on this is that I've said this on the channel, this
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68 tops TTM project sadly is a race against time because I
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don't know if you saw the news today, sadly, Mickey Lolich
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passed away. You know, he was 85.
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He was the, the, the star of the 1968 World Series.
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He pitched, he, he out pitched Bob Gibson.
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He was the MVP. And I had his car.
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It was on my list and I didn't get it out in time.
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So I'm I'm I'm sad about that, but that is just kind of how,
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how it goes. So, so I'm loving the TTM part
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of it. But like, but you, you talking
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about like us an autographed Brooks Robinson card.
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Maybe the fact that like I didn't get it autographed myself
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kind of takes some of a little bit of the, a little bit of the,
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the joy away from of it for me. The other, the only other guy
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who I collect his collected stuff that's autographed that I
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didn't get myself is, is both, I would say both Ted Williams and
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Carl Yastromski and I have a few Yaz autos. 1 was a gift from my
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wife and another I bought at the National.
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So, so yeah, that's, that's my, my feeling on autographs.
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Yeah, I I understand all of that and I'm going to put it up on
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the on the screen here. I just.
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Yeah, it's fantastic. I just pulled up.
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I guess it is a blue pen after all.
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It it's just like the perfect spot and and it again, it he's
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got a very distinct signature, but this is clearly distinctly
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his. But it's also distinctly kind of
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a not later in his life and not that later in life ones are bad,
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but no. So this is the card and ITTMD as
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a kid myself, I mean IITTI in the back of Beckett magazine,
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every couple of months they would have the addresses of the
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stadiums and so I would mail to the stadiums and then at a local
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card shop, there was this book that we found one time and it
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was like every living baseball players home address.
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It was a book crazy home address.
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We had Mickey Mantle's home address and Hank Aaron's.
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And so we just we that summer we just sent off tons of them and I
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got some pretty good ones. But, you know, some were like
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guys that I was a fan of as a kid, you know, who didn't really
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turn out to be much, you know, but, but it was like, it was
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pretty amazing. And and so like, you know, I got
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Mike Schmidt back and I got, you know, Andre Dawson is a kid
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who's still TTMS. And you know, there were Chris
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Mullen came back and a lot of guys, you know, and all the
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different sports. So I'll pull this off the screen
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for a second and then I'm going to take you through the, the
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process. So I I'm first of all, the
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asking price on the card is from my buddy.
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He has $900 on it now. For a guy who signed as much as
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Brooks Robinson, that seems high to me.
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But not all autographs are created equal.
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And not all autographs are created equal when it was
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clearly an earlier in life auto. To me, that makes it a
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distinctly different, distinctly better autograph.
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So if you, if you were to just like look up what it sells for
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autographed in APSA holder, you'd go, well, you know it,
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it's not worth anywhere near that.
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But that auto to me, the way it's signed and everything is,
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is worth, it's worth a lot more than than it is on paper.
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And that's one of the things I wanted to ask you about is
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sometimes there are cards that like you, you look up the comp,
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but the comp, there's some things you just can't comp.
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Like you can't comp. Yeah, it's an autographed Brooks
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Robinson again. I'll pull it back up.
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It's in APSA 2 for the card, 9 for the auto.
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It is a newer certification. And it's it's just not the same
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as all of them. It's, I mean, I'm pulling it up
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tight here. It's just, it's just such a
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cool. I just love it.
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And so one thing I would say it part of the discussion and part
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of where I want to start this with you is, you know, are there
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times where you look at comps, where you don't look at comps
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and you go, I know this is what it says it goes for.
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But to me, that item right in front of me, you got to throw
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all that out the window and just say like that card, I don't even
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know what it comps at because honestly, I haven't even looked
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because it doesn't even matter because the comps don't apply to
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that to me. But but let's just say it comps
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for 400 bucks, OK, it comps for 400 bucks.
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But to me, the $900 price tag is more in line with what I
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actually think that it's probably worth.
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How do you approach comps? And and have there been times
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for you where you're like, yeah, I mean, this is this is what it
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says they sell for, but I don't even care.
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I'm just going to blow that out of the water because what I'm
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looking at is not what the history of similar things sold
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for. That just that doesn't even
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apply. It's a great question and I
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think it's a reminder that this is a hobby and we do it because
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we love it. And it's that we, I think we try
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to a lot of times apply these sort of very rigid, like
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analytical, almost like business standards to how we approach
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building our collections. And at the end of the day, we
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have to remember that for the like, you know, for the most
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part. And this gets back to like
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Jeremy Lee's whole, you know, the spectrum and everything of
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where you, where you fall on the spectrum.
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I think, you know, like some folks are, they're in it for
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investing and they, they, they have to be sort of cold and
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analytical about it. I'm going to pay 85% or 80% of
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the comp on this because I need to be able to, you know, sticker
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it at 25 to 30% over and get closer to the the comps.
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Like that's the way they view it.
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But if you are a collector and you collect cards and that's
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what you're in this for, then sometimes, occasionally, if as
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long as financially you can, you can afford it.
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And it's not going to put you in this whole, you know, and, and,
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and I know that's something that, you know, you've, you've
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advocated for and, and, and talked about quite a bit.
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And I, I have tried to say that as well is just like, you know,
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don't put yourself in the poor house for us buying a specific
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card. But if you can reasonably afford
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it and it is something that means something to you
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personally and it's going to be part of your collection and it's
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a long term piece of your collection, then I do think, and
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I certainly advocate for don't be, don't be beholden to the
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comps like, like spend a bit over if that's what you want.
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Now, I'll give you, I will give you an example of of the
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situation that happened with this.
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And it's the story that I've told on my channel and it's been
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told on other channels of me buying my 1915 Cracker Jack
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Smokey Joe Wood from Stanlock at the White Plains show just about
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a year ago. It was, it was a year ago in
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March. And I, I went to that show
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knowing that Stan had that card in his showcase.
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He had told me at a previous show that he was planning to, he
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was going to be getting that card.
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I didn't even know until I got to the show A, that it was a
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1915 and B, that it was APSA one, because if it had been kind
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of anything else, it would have been pretty much because I
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could, I could tell from A, it was a pixelated picture on
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Instagram and I couldn't get a hold of stand before the show to
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ask him. I could tell it wasn't, it
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wasn't an authentic, but I couldn't tell if it was a 1914
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or a 1915 and I couldn't tell what the number of grade was and
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if it was anything other than APSA 1/19/15.
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I knew that I wasn't going to be able to afford it.
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And so I get to the show and I get to his showcase and lo and
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behold, it's a 1915 and it's APSA 1.
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So he had a number on the back of it that I, you know, I don't
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even think I had even looked at what the comps were.
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I just had an idea and a number in my mind of like, I'm not
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going to spend over this much because that's not reasonable.
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But if it's anything under, under such and such a number, I
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will not walk out of the card show without that card.
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I will probably try to haggle with Stan on price a little bit,
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try to get him to come down. And he did come down a little
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bit. And as the and as my story goes,
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I hadn't quite brought enough cash, but I had brought cards.
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I, I, he was, Stan wasn't interested in doing a trade.
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I walked across the aisle to Brian Rothstable.
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Brian bought a bunch of cards for me.
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I went back over to Stan and I was shaking, taking the bills
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out and, and, and I walked and I, I went home with that card
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that day. That card as a Red Sox
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collector, as somebody that grew up sort of in the like idolizing
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Smokey Joe Wood from his story, his place in Red Sox history,
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the Cracker Jack set meaning so much to me.
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It was I, I, I collected the sort of replicas of the cards as
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a kid from Cracker Jack boxes. And the I've, I've told this
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story also before that growing up, the name of the local card
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shop in my town was the Cracker Jack baseball card shop.
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And it was a, you know, there's a picture of, of the Cobb card
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that was the sign out front and that and getting a Cracker Jack
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Cobb. That's also a goal, but that's a
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whole other story that's going to take years to save for, I
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think. But that was a situation where I
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didn't really care what the cops were.
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I was like, Stan's got this card.
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If it's if it meets these parameters and it's not at the
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certain number, I'm walking out with the card.
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I don't really care what the number is.
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So sometimes if, if you can reasonably do that, I think you
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should do it because again, this is some like this collecting is
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emotional. Collecting is not just about
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numbers on a on a spreadsheet or in your card ladder app or your
19:00
VCP app or whatever. It's about getting the cards
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that you want your collection. If you can afford them and they
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mean something to you, you know buying them is better than not
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buying them. And you mentioned something in
19:14
your story about selling some cards to B Roth to buy this
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bigger card that you were looking for.
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And, and I do want to say that, you know, if you are looking to
19:26
sell your collection or a bunch of cards, you can always reach
19:31
out to our friend Chris Sewell, Crystal collector, investor,
19:35
dealer, in that order. Collector investor, dealer.com.
19:38
He is the sponsor of Surface Issues, which is what you're
19:42
listening to here on the Sports Card Clubhouse.
19:45
Remember chris@collectorinvestordealer.com,
19:48
reach out to him. You can also remember, access
19:52
his information on our website. If you go to
19:56
sportscardclubhouse.com and up at the top you go to partners,
20:00
you will see a picture of Chris. And a link to his website under
20:05
Learn more. So highly recommend Chris.
20:08
He is a great guy. And again, he is a sponsor of
20:12
Surface issues. I think you make some good
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points there. I think you make some really
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good points. I agree with you.
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It's one of those things where I think that I'm, I'm, I'm asking
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people that I think are going to confirm what I'm wanting to do.
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So, so my buddy MO is going to be at the Ontario show, the West
20:32
Coast card show and, and I don't know if he sold the card or not.
20:37
So I'm mentioning this to a couple other people and you
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know, our buddy Tony Southern collector 14, he's a big on card
20:45
autograph vintage auto guy. And I said, I, I think I want
20:50
this. Am I, am I crazy?
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I I think, but I don't. And he goes no man.
20:56
And then even Petty, I asked petty and petty is kind of an
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anti auto on card guy. And he said, heck, if he goes,
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you have a nice five SPSA 5, Brooks Robinson 57 tops.
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Because man, if you could trade that thing across straight up, I
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think that's a move. And I was started thinking
21:18
around like I bet on the in the books.
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I bet if you look on comps, my PSA 5 is probably worth more
21:29
than this auto card. My PSA 5, it's like a eight $900
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card and mine is mine is not. It's really nice.
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And and I'm like, I wonder if he sold it.
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So then I texted MO and I said, MO, I'm trying to figure out how
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I can buy that Brooks Robinson off you.
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And he says, well, and 'cause we're buddies, you know, and
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like, you know, I, I promote him and, you know, we're, we're
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pals. And so I'm like, I'm trying to
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go, I wonder if there's a friend discount and he goes, what do
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you want to pay for it? And I said, well, what would you
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think about trading me for my PSA 5?
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And he goes, I think I'd do that.
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And I went, really. And he said, yeah.
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And again on, on the books, like I think, I think if he has my
22:23
5:00 at the West Coast card show, I think he'll sell it
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before the show ends. Sure, 'cause it's gorgeous.
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And, and he's had this other card for at least a couple of
22:34
months. And so we tentatively, in
22:37
principle, I mean, nothing's done.
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We I said, well, I'll bring it, you know, to the West Coast Card
22:44
Show and, you know, maybe we can make that happen.
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He goes, yeah, no problem, bring it.
22:50
So, I mean, again, no deal is done until it's done.
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And a lot of people would see my 5 and go, you're insane.
23:00
Like Brooks Robinson's. There's thousands of Brooks
23:03
Robinson autographs and they're right.
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And there aren't thousands of PSA fives that look as nice as
23:11
mine, but there's just, I don't know.
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I, I like Brooks Robinson. I have this emotional attachment
23:17
to the card in general and knowing that this one he touched
23:21
and signed and he did so, you know, somewhat earlier in his
23:26
life in and it's, it's such a, a great auto in a great location.
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I'm just like, I think that it's worth more to me than it is to
23:36
most people on planet Earth. And so I think, I think, I mean,
23:41
wait for the update, we'll see now when this airs on YouTube.
23:45
This will air on YouTube on February 12th and I will be at
23:51
the West Coast Card Show on February 13th.
23:55
So it's right on the eve of when I potentially will be seeing MO
24:00
and we'll see what happens. Yeah.
24:05
So I don't know. I just, I think it's an
24:07
interesting concept because we do get caught up in comps.
24:10
We do get caught up on, Is everyone going to think?
24:14
I mean, because I think I'm giving up more than I'd be
24:16
getting. I think that a lot of people
24:19
probably would think that I'm crazy to do this.
24:22
Now there's some people go, I don't think you're crazy, but
24:25
there are a lot of people who do would think I'm crazy.
24:27
If you, if you looked at the prices, if you looked at the 2
24:30
cards, you'd go, dude, you got, what are you doing?
24:32
But there's also this thing where I don't care, like, I
24:37
don't care. I, I don't care about the value.
24:41
I don't care about if you think I'm crazy.
24:45
I think that that card I can't stop thinking about.
24:49
And I think that I need to find a way to make this happen.
24:53
So we'll see how it plays out. Maybe next week I will give an
24:58
update with Mike or actually it'll probably be in my video
25:01
that will come out from the West Coast Card show.
25:03
I will if whether it happens or not, I will certainly bring it
25:07
up. But this also brings up a follow
25:10
up question that I have that you already touched on, which I love
25:14
when you go to shows. So like I'm going to the West
25:17
Coast Card show. I've got two months from now I'm
25:22
going to be at Strongsville. And so part of me is like, do I
25:29
bring all my money to the West Coast card show knowing that if
25:35
something happens and I get it, that I won't, I won't have much
25:41
for Strongsville. And and so a when you I have
25:46
three questions, I'm going to make this as complicated as I
25:49
can, but they're all kind of tied together.
25:50
Number one. Yeah.
25:52
Number one question is when you when you have a big card show
25:58
coming up, does it prevent you from buying something
26:04
beforehand? OK.
26:06
Does it stunt? Would you go to the West Coast
26:08
card show with your full wad of money or would you hold money
26:12
back? So that's question one.
26:14
Question 2 is do you typically show up with cards or do you
26:18
just show up with money or Venmo or, you know, PayPal or
26:23
whatever? But do you do you usually show
26:26
up with cards? Because the new thing with young
26:28
guys is they all have their little roller bags and they all,
26:31
but they bring their whole collection and, and if the right
26:34
card is there, they'll trade half of what's in that case for
26:39
this other card. But I feel like a lot of vintage
26:42
people now there are some exceptions and, and I don't want
26:45
to name names because some of these people are carrying big
26:49
cards and but people on the no, but no main players in the
26:54
community, but some peripheral people that people would
26:56
recognize their names, bring their collections to shows and
27:01
for exactly that purpose. So is that something that you
27:04
do? And then my third question, just
27:07
to make things extra complicated to see how good your memory is.
27:11
When you go to a show and you're looking through cases, do you
27:14
usually have like a couple of cards in mind and you look at
27:17
the case and you go, all right, does he have the red cob?
27:19
Does he have the red cob? Nope.
27:20
Next case, does he have the red cob?
27:22
Oh, does he have the the portrait Walter Johnson?
27:24
Or do you just look at a case and you just see what speaks to
27:30
you? Do you go with a specific card
27:34
in mind and a specific target in mind, or do you just wait until
27:39
the card finds you? So those all those three things,
27:43
what do you think? OK.
27:44
So the first question was should you go to the West Coast card
27:49
show with your sort of wad of cash that you maybe otherwise
27:52
would have been saving for Strongsville?
27:55
My take is yes, you should bring whatever you were planning on
28:01
whatever you have available for a show like that.
28:03
I would say yes, like you should not be.
28:07
My my opinion is we as collectors should go for cards
28:14
that are in front of us when we have the opportunity to get
28:17
them. And what?
28:20
I'm going to interrupt and but I I, I love what you're saying and
28:23
I don't disagree with what you're saying.
28:25
I'm curious of what you're saying.
28:26
So you just said last March you bought the Smokey Joe Wood,
28:30
which was a big card and you went heavy for that card.
28:34
If it was this March, same show this March, you know that you're
28:40
in, in weeks, days going to go to Strongsville.
28:44
Would you have still bought the Smokey Joe Wood if it was this
28:48
March instead of last March when you knew you weren't going to
28:50
Strongsville? Yes, because again, because
28:54
that's like that was a that's just a very high up on my a gold
28:59
card, like an all time dream, like I called it a dream card in
29:03
the video that I did after that, because that is just one that's
29:06
a card that I would not I like that was that I would just say
29:12
that like yeah, that card would not have like decimated the
29:18
budget. That like let's say that if I
29:20
was going to plan planning on going to Strongsville last year
29:23
with the budget I'm planning to go to this year, that card would
29:26
not have like decimated my my budget, my plan budget.
29:29
So it it it. But even if it did, I would have
29:32
still I the operate like my, my take is just like, yes, if the
29:37
card is in front of you and you have the opportunity to get it,
29:40
you should go for it. And if you and if it means you
29:44
have to rob from Peter to pay Paul and, and, and like take out
29:49
money from Strongsville. And it goes back to what we've
29:52
talked about a lot with Strongsville, and it'll be my
29:53
first time going this year, is that there's so much other stuff
29:57
about going to that show that doesn't really have a lot to do
30:00
with buying cards. So, you know, you would like, I
30:04
think, you know, could go to Strongsville with a budget of,
30:07
you know, $500 or whatever and it wouldn't or even less to
30:11
spend on cards. And the that show is about the
30:14
experience and that show it's that's what it seems like.
30:17
So OK, so so again, so my take on that one is.
30:22
By when the opportunity presents itself.
30:25
You, you, you strike while the iron is hot.
30:28
OK, the second question, see now I'm I'm forgetting.
30:31
Do you bring cards with? You OK?
30:34
So that's a good question. That is something that I have
30:36
started to do more recently and it's certainly something I'm
30:40
going to do at Strongsville. I mean, part of the reason why
30:44
at Strongsville is because there is also a trade night, which
30:46
it's possible that by the time the trade night comes around, I
30:49
may not have those cards. But I have started to do that
30:53
more when I go to a show if I don't have a pre planned deal,
30:57
you know, like the local shows here, I do deals with my my my
31:03
hit list Co host Matt from Providence often.
31:06
And usually we we agree to those deals beforehand.
31:10
I did the thing before a show a couple weeks ago, the same thing
31:14
that that Darren returned to collecting had done where he
31:18
kind of like went through his old collection was like, yeah, I
31:20
love this. Like, yeah, this one's just OK.
31:22
Like that's just great. I love this one's just OK.
31:25
And if there were and there were cards that I could live without,
31:27
I picked those out and I did a deal with Matt.
31:30
I sold a bunch of them. There was a it was a partial
31:32
trade. I got my 86 fleer Larry Bird
31:34
from from Matt in that trade. And the rest of that money is
31:37
going towards Strongsville or just like the budget, like the
31:42
current, whatever the, you know, the current card budget is.
31:45
And then yeah, when I went to OK, so the big, the big gold
31:50
card for me right now, the one that I would sort of, you know,
31:55
blow my budget or sell a bunch of cards for to get my hands on
32:01
is the 54 Wilson Frank's, Ted Williams.
32:04
That card has just absolutely exploded in value.
32:08
There is one copy of that card on eBay right now.
32:11
And the, the person who is who has it listed as asking for
32:15
triple comps. They were, they had it at double
32:18
comps until recently. The card had been on on there
32:21
for free for months and then they reposted it a couple weeks
32:25
ago at triple comps. So, so that's so like when, So
32:31
when I went to, I went to a show in White Plains, NY a few weeks
32:34
ago and that will lead actually into my answer for the third
32:37
question. But, and I brought enough
32:41
Capital card capital with me to that show that if somebody
32:46
happened to have a, a very low grade example of that card and
32:51
it fit what I wanted, that I would have had enough ammunition
32:54
in terms of cards to either trade or sell to other, to
32:58
another dealer there that I probably would have been able to
33:02
get that card. So it's a, it was kind of a, but
33:04
I didn't end up using any, I didn't end up selling any of
33:07
those cards. There was like 5 cards and I
33:09
ended up bringing them home. Those, those cards will probably
33:12
come with me to Strongsville. So, so that leads into the your
33:16
third. So, so my answer to that is yes.
33:20
And I, I have started to do that more.
33:21
I don't, I will not bring my whole like roller case of like
33:25
my whole collection, that kind of stuff.
33:27
I will identify the cards that I feel comfortable with selling
33:30
with moving on from and bring them to a show to sell to, to
33:34
potentially sell them or trade them for something that I really
33:37
want. And then the third thing was
33:38
about do I, do I have like a plan when I go in?
33:42
If I'm looking at I'm like scanning the dealer cases, it's
33:45
like, you know, I'm looking for something specific and if I
33:47
don't see it, I move on or do I kind of let things speak to me?
33:50
And the answer is kind of I kind of do both, I guess, which is
33:54
that like, yes, I have a list in my mind of what I'm working on
33:59
at a given time and the cards that I want at a given time to
34:02
finish various runs. I have been for months.
34:06
I have had the 48 before the 49 leaf Joe Di Maggio has been like
34:11
the last card for the leaf, the leaf run that I'm trying to do.
34:16
It's basically all of the playing days, non short print,
34:21
Hall of Farmers and the other the the it's for the run that
34:25
I'm working on. Di Maggio is the last one.
34:28
The the the only other card that I don't have in that run is
34:31
Jackie, which I know is a card very high on your list that is a
34:35
someday. And I I if there's an
34:38
interesting thing with that card that I was hoping maybe we could
34:40
get to. But so that that's a card that
34:45
like I've been looking for that there's cars and my diamond
34:47
stars are on. I'm looking for the Greenberg is
34:49
the last big one that I still need.
34:51
And there's always, you know, I'm always looking for like
34:53
oddball Yastrzemski stuff, oddball Ted Williams stuff like
34:56
there's other cards I want. There's like random pre war sets
34:59
like cards I I want specifically but table four of those things
35:02
and see if they if see if they have those things or not.
35:06
But like an example from the White Plains show is that Howard
35:09
Chasser had the stacks of 33 delongs at his table and there
35:15
wasn't a specific card in the 33 de long set that I was like
35:18
really looking for. And I went through the stacks.
35:21
And our friend Dan, Dan's vintage baseball PC was right
35:24
next to me too. And he went through the stacks
35:26
and picked out a card that he wanted.
35:27
And there were two cards that I wanted and they were not on any
35:30
list that I had. And I bought them from Howard.
35:33
There's a Lefty Grove and a Goose Gosselin.
35:35
The cards are absolutely gorgeous.
35:36
I love them. But I didn't go into the show
35:38
expecting I was going to buy those.
35:41
And I only, I did only buy those after I had gone around the
35:45
whole show multiple times looking for some of those cards
35:49
on my list that I didn't that weren't there.
35:52
And then I because that's that's one of my.
35:55
Concerns is that if, if you if you buy something, that's if, if
36:01
you, if you wait to see what speaks to you and then it speaks
36:05
to you and then you buy it and then you can't buy the thing
36:12
that you really wanted. So like the last two years at
36:16
the National, I, I literally felt like I needed to go scan
36:21
the entire room and look in every case for about the
36:24
specific two or three cards before I was willing to buy
36:28
something outside of those two or three cards.
36:31
And it almost feels like pressure.
36:33
I'm like, well, I got, you know, I got to, I got to hustle
36:36
through everywhere. So 'cause then it takes the
36:39
handcuffs off like because you have a priority, you want to
36:44
serve the priority first because what you don't want is to get
36:48
this other riffraff what you like too.
36:51
But but it and then now you can't get the priority.
36:54
And that kind of happened to me last year, Strongsville last
36:59
year, Strongsville I the card I was most looking for was a
37:03
Walter Johnson portrait. And I went through the whole
37:06
show five times and, and there were some decent ones in there,
37:10
but they just weren't the one. And then I went, well, that's
37:13
not going to happen. So let's go to the Christy
37:15
Mathewson portrait. And it, I ended up finding when
37:18
I bought it. And then I, I, I, I, I saw Sandy
37:22
Koufax and a rookie and I was like, that's a really nice one.
37:25
I bought that. And then at trade night, there
37:29
was a Walter Johnson portrait that was exactly what I was
37:32
looking for. And I'm like, how why did this
37:33
happen? Why did this just happen?
37:35
Now? What do I do?
37:37
And so then I had Tony buy it. And then later I convinced him
37:41
to sell it to me is what I did. So yeah.
37:44
But but I mean, that's that's something that happens.
37:50
And that's something that I, I don't want to really have like a
37:53
list, but that's what happens. And I don't know, like, so I
38:01
guess I get, I mean, you answered my question and make
38:04
all of them, all three of them. It makes a lot of everything you
38:07
said makes sense to me. I think I'm going to maybe
38:10
consider bringing stuff to shows more often because like, you
38:14
know, if, if, if I'm thinking hopefully there's a 1 1/2 Jackie
38:21
Robinson leaf, which I would not even have enough for that.
38:25
But then I show up and there's one that's a 2 1/2, which makes
38:29
the price go up 3 grand or 4 grand.
38:31
And but then that's completely unaffordable.
38:34
Well, not if I have these other things with me.
38:39
And, and again, it would hurt because some of the things that
38:42
I would need that would move the needle on value are, are things
38:47
that I want. That's why I bought them, you
38:49
know, but you only have so much. And so you have to figure out
38:54
how to utilize the the capital and the resources that you have,
38:57
right? Yeah.
39:00
All right. Well, we're 39 minutes in.
39:02
We usually go 40 to 45. So we're kind of, you know,
39:09
getting to the tail end. Is, is there anything that we
39:12
haven't covered? Well, it should have covered.
39:16
It's. It's a well.
39:17
I'll try to make this quick or we can try to make this quick,
39:20
but it is it is it's a segue from what literally we were just
39:24
talking about. Sure.
39:25
Did you did you see the PSA one leaf Jackie that just sold on
39:33
eBay through PSA auction? So this so we'll, I'll set this
39:37
up for folks like this is the nicest PSA one of any card you
39:46
will ever see. It was like absolutely pristine
39:53
from the pictures, the scans that were on eBay on the listing
39:57
and this, this card was auctioned through E through PSA
40:02
on eBay and I, I, so there's a obviously there's a whole
40:08
discussion around how is that card A1I?
40:12
And it's, it's a new label. It's not an old label and you
40:15
so, so you just pulled it up. So if for folks listening.
40:19
This card, it's a it's, it's a very new label.
40:22
It was probably graded in the last three to six.
40:26
Months probably, right? And it is absolutely stunning
40:31
card. I would love to see what the I
40:34
would love to see that card up close to determine how it
40:37
actually got a one. I can tell you how it got a one
40:40
OK. How?
40:41
How? So if you look right.
40:44
Here there is a staple mark there.
40:49
Is a staple. Mark, right, even with his chin
40:53
just on the white and then up above behind his neck.
40:57
And the only reason I know it's a staple mark is because there's
41:00
a mad scientist that knows everything about holes on cards.
41:05
And his name is Chilson Kamamuki.
41:08
And, and he sent me and a couple other people this picture of
41:14
this card and was this like, this is going to break an all
41:18
time record for APSA one. And everyone was like, how is it
41:23
a one? And he said it's got the someone
41:26
said, oh, it's got a double pinhole.
41:28
He said, no, that's a staple. And so I am familiar with this
41:33
card. And as we record this, this
41:34
closed last night. Yeah, so I interjected because I
41:39
had the answer for that. But where else were you headed
41:42
with this? Well, I was just so if you can
41:43
go back. And show the like the cause of
41:46
the the number that it finished at was like was a 20, so 2727
41:51
thousand 600. I think it was essentially in
41:55
line with like APSA 6 like a 5 1/2 or a six somewhere in there,
42:01
which I think is fair considering the I appeal of the
42:05
card. So I guess that like, I don't
42:08
really. Know what I I'm trying?
42:10
To formulate a question out of this exactly, it's basically
42:12
like what it has. It's getting very.
42:17
Challenging. We're talking about comps and
42:19
we're talking about all these things.
42:21
How do we, how do like for people like you and me that
42:27
maybe someday want to own this card?
42:29
Is this comp going to be used to completely price us out?
42:35
Or are there you know, is, is everybody that every dealer that
42:39
has APSA 1 of this card going to try to sell it for twenty
42:44
$27,000 now? Or are we, you know, just just
42:48
because that's what they're going to try to use to get more
42:50
money or like are we, do you think that we're getting better
42:55
with that, that those sort of I appeal as like a for comps is
43:01
getting better or is it getting worse or I don't know what?
43:05
I'm just trying to figure out what the sale means for people
43:08
like us that like to buy cards that are the are low grade high.
43:13
I appeal vintage cards. Here's what I think.
43:16
I think this is proof that grades have never mattered less
43:23
than they matter right now. I think that when grading was
43:27
first introduced, there was this big acceptance curve.
43:30
It took a long time for a lot of people to get on board with it.
43:33
And then everyone got on board with it blindly and they said,
43:37
Oh no, but I can't be making a mistake or they can't be made a
43:41
mistake. If I don't see why it's not a
43:44
seven. If it's a 7, it's a 7.
43:46
They're always right. And it was like this lock step
43:51
on that. And there might have been a
43:52
slight premium for like centering and stuff.
43:56
But as time has gone and, and I lived through that period, I
44:00
mean, I was collecting before grading and as grading was
44:05
introduced and, and for for a decade, I, I went from no
44:12
grading all the way to a decade in and overtime after that first
44:17
full acceptance, the. The amount that.
44:22
Grading mattered. It kind of started to erode a
44:25
little and a little more and a little bit more.
44:28
And between the inconsistencies that we see and that are
44:34
featured in front of us all the time, between the, the clear use
44:41
of assisted technologies to be determining sizes of cards and
44:47
centering done cards and, and the standards, not just we know
44:51
they're changing, but literally on the website they're changing.
44:54
And because of the eye appeal movement and the centering
44:57
movement and the color movement and the registration movement,
45:01
because of all of these things that have been happening over
45:04
the last five years, I think that the, the number has never
45:11
meant less. And I think that this is full
45:15
proof of that, that it's never meant less.
45:19
And I think that I think. That where I mean where we.
45:24
Started with this whole thing was on comps and I was basically
45:28
saying I think the comps would say I'd be get ripped off on
45:30
this trade, but I think the. Comps have never.
45:35
Have never meant less. Now, that's not to say they
45:38
don't matter at all. Of course they matter some.
45:41
Of course they give us a ballpark, but instead of giving
45:45
us a bullseye every time they give us, oh, it's somewhere on
45:49
the wall instead of exactly right here.
45:52
So I think this is good news for collectors.
46:00
I think it is bad news for people who have been buying low
46:07
number high. I appeal cards because I think
46:13
that that is going to continue to kind of erode.
46:18
But I'll tell you this, I started doing some digging for
46:22
my upcoming episode of cards under 50 bucks.
46:26
It's sold on eBay and man, there were some cards in three and
46:31
four holders that look like sevens and eights that are
46:34
selling for three and four prices.
46:36
So it it's just like it was a slow acceptance to adopt
46:43
grading. It it is, it is there we are in
46:46
an erosion of how important the grade is, but it still matters
46:51
to a lot of people, especially the young people who are all
46:55
about the 10s. Even if the 10 as white on the
46:57
corner, it's still a 10. And so it's it's a battle that
47:02
is going to be a long one. But this was a major victory in
47:06
the battle of overcoming the number.
47:09
That's what I think. I love.
47:10
I love it. I love I.
47:12
Love I Yeah. Long, Long live the Long live
47:15
the staple holes. Well, buddy, this was a.
47:19
Blast. I appreciate you coming on.
47:23
You are a fantastic fill in for that other guy.
47:26
I wouldn't even call you a filling full blown replacement.
47:30
All right, all right. We'll see you everybody.
47:31
Next week, no, Greg, thank you for having me on.
47:34
I was happy to happy to fill in really appreciate it.
47:38
This is a blast. It's always great to always
47:40
great to chat with you and and talk cards and likewise
47:43
appreciate it likewise and again.
47:46
Jake wax back wisdom check him out on YouTube great guy, great
47:49
channel and I could not recommend his his episodes with
47:55
Matt from Providence more. I love them very much so I check
47:59
him out. All right, see you bud later.