Latest / Cards & Categories / Ep. 20 : Latest Signings With Grey Albright From Razzball

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Ep. 20 : Latest Signings With Grey Albright From Razzball · Cards & Categories

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All right, welcome everybody to episode twenty of Cards and Categories. This is
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my cool art here from ras ball, and I am joined by a guest
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this week, the mustachioed man of mystery, the Fancy Master Lithario. I
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think I got those right. It is Gray Albright from ras Ball. Welcome
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Gray, Hey, Hey, what's going on? Man? It's good to
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be on and I'm ready to talk about my obsession with Reggie Jackson. Thank
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you, thank you for having me. I've been honestly, I've been wanting
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to talk about my Reggie Jackson baseball card collection for like the last twenty seven
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years. It's built up. So I was like, no, this is
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this is honestly, this is serious, and this is very serious. Is
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very serious to me, And I said to Mike, this is a little
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behind the scenes action. I said to Mike, Hey, I'd like to
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come on and talk about my Reggie Jackson or collection because I don't actually have
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anyone who collects baseball cards and like my real life, so I have no
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one to talk about this with. So I'd like to talk about it with
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like you guys on the Cards and Categories podcasts. And you were like,
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uh, yeah, cool. So I went and did an outline, and
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it looks like we don't really have anything to talk about with baseball cards this
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week. I'm like, what, Yeah, you found you found the one
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bowl. Like we've been just like there's been like release after release in all
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sorts of fiascos and like all sorts of crazy stuff that's been going on.
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And this has been one of the slowest weeks in terms of news of baseball
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cards that I've seen in a long time. So it's been funny that you
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were really pumped up for that and like, yeah, things just kind of
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took a nose dive there. Can we Hey? I got a question though,
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Hey, can we still talk about my baseball card? Because I understand
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see I get it that there's no like actual baseball card news going on in
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the real world about like new cards, but I'd like to talk about my
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old cards. Yeah, can we do that? For sure? We can
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certainly do that, And you know, there's no better way to do that
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than this traditionally audio forum. So I mean part of it is like I
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mean getting into the cards and with Reggie Jackson, Like when's the last time
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you bought a Reggie Jackson card? Because obviously there's not no new ones.
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Yeah, except for I mean, they do print lots of cards with Hall
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of Famers and things like that, and so Reggie's obviously been a part of
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those sets, but not quite as soft after as the original cards from the
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seventies and eighties. So when is the last time you bought a Reggie Jackson
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card or just a pack of cards in general? I used to say it
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was like around the time of like I discovered girls and marijuana. That's what
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I used to say, And that was an accurate representation of my baseball card
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collecting for a good like thirty years. But if I said that now,
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I would be lying just a little bit, because I have bought recently.
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Not really, I don't know how recent it is. It's probably going back
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like two years now. But two years ago I saw the Mookie Bets had
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a card where it was like the album cover of the Dog Pound, like
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Snoop Dogg's album cover with Mookie Bets. Do you know what I've seen this?
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Yes, I will have to track it down, but I don't know
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the exact exact So okay, so it's like it's a tops car. It
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was like a special edition, Mookie Bets Snoop Dogg Car. I don't even
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it was like Project seventy. I think it was called yes. Yeah.
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So anyway, so I'm like, I'm really into hip hop still am,
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but I've been into hip hop since probably early nineties. And Snoop Dogg was
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you know, he dropped I think he dropped the I want to say that
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album came out in like ninety two, I don't know, maybe it was
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later, maybe it was like ninety four. Anyway, that hit my sweet
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spot of loving hip hop and loving baseball. And I saw that and actually
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my old podcast host, my old Raspball podcast host, Jeff now with Baseball
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America, he texted me at the time, I don't think he was I
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don't think he was doing the Raspball podcast still at that point, but he
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but we we talk obviously, and so he texted me and he was like,
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hey, man, I know you're gonna be really into this. He
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was right, I was really into. I was like, oh, so
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that was I don't know what was it like twenty twenty one, Maybe it
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was Project seventy. Was twenty twenty one? Was it? Okay? Cool?
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Yeah? So it was Project Yeah. So Project seventy. I was
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like, totally I'm typing right now. I don't know if people can hear
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it. Sorry, But also Project seventy came out with a Reggie Jackson card.
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So that was my long way of saying, you asked me was the
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last time I bought a Reggie Jackson card. I actually bought the Reggie Jackson
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Project seventy card also Snoop Dogg. Also I had Snoop Dogg inclinations. I
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don't know the right were there, but uh, it had like mister mister
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October with spray paint and a subway and it was also the artist supposedly the
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artist was a Snoop Dogg. I don't know how accurate that is, but
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I don't know if it was like inspired by Snoop Dogg or if he actually
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designed it. But that was my awesome So those I bought those two cards
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in twenty twenty one, and I haven't, I haven't. I didn't buy
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any cards before that for like thirty years, for a long time, a
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very long time. So okay, so let's uh we'll go back to my,
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uh, my Reggie Jackson obsession. It was like I thought he was
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my I thought he was my dad. Years sad thing I've ever said.
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So I thought he was my daddy. I used to watch on TV and
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be like, hey, Mom, is that dad. She would be like,
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yeah, yeah, that's your father. Okay, well that adds even
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more layers to this little therapy session we've got going on. But like,
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yeah, your mother was confirmat vice cards, ID cards I bring to the
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dinner table, I'd be like, Dad, like go out tonight. That's
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a lot. Okay, I'm not a complete psycho, all right, I'm
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not. This was in Buffalo sixty six. But but honestly, though I
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uh I was. I was brought up in Jersey and at the time I
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was born, around the time of Regie's three homer big three homer world serious
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things. So for some reason, like honestly, I'm not saying I had
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like h like I didn't. I didn't pop out of my my mom's womb
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and watch baseball and be like Reggie my daddy when it was something, but
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something something in there, something happened where at like at a very young age,
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I loved Reggie Jackson for some reason. It was like I still remember
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where I was when it was like the nineteen eighty. It was nineteen eighty
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season. We went. I think it was my first Yankees game and it
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was a Reggie and then I remember I don't think he did any I think
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probably struck out four times. I don't know exactly. I was like,
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I couldn't tell you. I mean, let's not let's be honest, I
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can't. I can't recall when I'm like three years old, but I can
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hardly remember games that I see like the next morning. So yeah, but
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anyway, there was like something there that like it sparked me to like Reggie,
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and I then like then because so then he got he went to the
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Angels, as you know most people know or who were obsessed with Reggie Jackson.
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And so then I started liking the Angels as a kid, which was
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very weird in New Jersey gal thing. It was not normal for a New
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Jersey kid to go to like go to go to grammar school with like California
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Angels had on. Yes, especially in the pre trap, You're like,
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wait are you Like who do you think you are? Like? Why are
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you wearing that? I'd be like, unless your name is Bobby Gritch,
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don't talk to me. I just you know, I was just obsessed with
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Reggie. So and then he went to the A's and for his final year
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he was with the Obviously he was with the A's early on. Then he
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went to the Orioles, and then the Yankees, and then the Angels and
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then back to the A's. So then I went to the A's, and
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from the A's I started liking jose Canseeko and Mark McGuire and then and then
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Reggie sort of retired and he was like, I'm gonna go back to being
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like a Yankee and spirit with like the Hall of Fame and everything, and
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so I then faded slightly back into being a Yankees fan, but that sort
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of dissolved pretty quickly because then I was at that point I started getting into
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fantasy, and I no longer really cared about a team. But anyway,
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so this isn't really a convolude. So anyway, so I Reggie. But
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as Reggie moved from team to team, I followed, like I followed the
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like the team loyalty and everything that Reggie did. I basically just I shadowed
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that. I shadowed that. Like actually, like if I was writing this
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down in a lined notebook, you would think I was a psychopath. Yeah,
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I mean anyway that like, I think fandom works more so that way,
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that like instead of following kind of like the actual team, who was
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just like you know, cycling through players and it's just a jersey or uniform
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at the end of the day. That like, I did the same thing,
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but it was actually on the basketball side with Sean Kemp. I grew
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up with an unhealthy obsession with Sean Kemp and then became like a Cavs fan
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for a little bit when he moved to Cleveland and followed his career around.
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But it is kind of weird how players can just make an impression on you
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and you just throw all sorts of any sort of rationality out when it comes
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to following these players or jumping around with teams and just collecting all sorts of
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weird stuff. And actually I got some good news. Well I I thought
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Reggie was my dad, But I have good news for you. You have
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a two percent chance of actually Sean Kemp being your actual father. There's there's
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at least there's there's a percentage here where it's not unlikely because he fathered so
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many kids. It's like those dog DNA tests it's like you are two percent
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Shawn Kemp. Yeah, it's like no, it's like the people in like
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Southeast Asia are like everyone's like every third per since like a Genghis coin.
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I just turned him into it, you a Genghis Khan ancestor. That's like
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Sean Kemp in the UH in the US anyway, So I was following Reggie
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UH team wise, and as I was doing that, I was also collecting
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baseball cards. So you know, obviously I wasn't alive for when he was
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a rookie. But I went back and I got his rookie card as like
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you know, like a big like a big boy birthday, like you know,
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like I turned like ten or something. My my mom maybe got me
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that rookie card because it was like, you know, she knew I thought
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he was my father. So it was like, you know, it was
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it was just all it was all like a part of like you know,
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the unspoken rule of getting getting Gray the rookie card. Now, I was
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probably begging for it for years because it wasn't I wasn't a cheap card at
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that Even at that point, I want to say, it was like my
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crown jewel as a ten year old and it was really I know, she
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didn't like it wasn't a mint card and you know, and in retrospect that
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kind of ended up hurting me. But you know, as a ten year
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old, what do I know? And I think it probably was like a
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couple hundred dollars even at that point. So yeah, so it was like,
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yeah, so like all these kids are like like a little Jimmy over
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there got a Hutch Trick Star bicycle and I got a two hundred dollars baseball
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card. So anyway, so I so at that point, once I had
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the Crown jewel, I started to whittle away at every other card like he
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ever appeared on What's a What's your Favorite? You think you know I will,
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okay, I'll get to that. But I was so I was like,
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so I got every card, and it was like, I remember there
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was ones that were really difficult. And I used to go to baseball card
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shows and I would like, you know, I'd go through the bins and
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you know there was some like because when I say I got every card,
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I mean I got like OPG cards like I have. Yeah, so I
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have like Canadian Reggie Jackson cards. I have like uh, you know,
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like special additions in like uh you know cards that came in like watch McCall
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it, uh, like giveaway cards, like cards that like cards that they
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gave away with like gloves like these were not it's not easy to find because
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Reggie was a popular player, so he appeared on a lot of stuff exactly,
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so it became like not only cards, but then like he opened a
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uh a car a car a car shop I think it was, and he
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had his own car wax. So then I got bottles of his car wax,
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and then I got his candy bar. It was ended up being reissued,
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but I have I had an original Reggie bar from the side. Yeah,
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I had, I had so oh I actually this is kind of funny.
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So he was in Naked Gun as everyone knows, and so I got
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a call sheet. I don't know if you know what a call sheet is,
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but it's okay. So for people don't know, it's like a list
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of like for people have to be on the set and what time and who's
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gonna be there there and who's needed on each day and uh. And movie
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productions give these to like the ad the assistant director, so they can then
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organize like the next day. So everyone looks at the call sheet and it's
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like, oh, you you need to be on the set, or you
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don't need to be on the set. So anyway, I got a naked
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Gun call sheet because Reggie's name was on it. That's awesome, that's really
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cool. Yeah. Actually, what's funny is my my second life as a
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screenwriter. I did work with the Zucker brothers. Uh that in Hollywood.
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This is not that long ago, and uh well as long ago now,
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but not not as long ago as I'm talking with this call sheet. And
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I told them that I had this call sheet and they were like, Wow,
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you're really crazy. Yeah, totally crazy. It's amazing that they really
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just like pegged you for it. They were also it was also, this
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is a side note, but in their office because O. J. Simpson
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was in the Naked Gun movies, as people know, and so they have
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on the wall, I believe who is David's sucker. One of the one
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of the brothers had on the wall a framed photo of the the Ford the
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white Ford Bronco chase from the air, like from a helicopter shot and it
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was signed by OJ and he had that's it's pretty funny. Yeah, it
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was pretty funny. So anyway, So I so I got like everything every
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piece of paraphernalia that Reggie Jackson was ever on, like magazines, Like I
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was an eight year old like saying to like my mom, like, I
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need to buy this Playboy magazine because there's an interview with Reggie Jackson, like
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you can't get played. I was like, yeah, I have to have
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it. Reggie's getting interviewed. I'm like, She's like, okay, but
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it's a little weird. Your eight year old with a Playboy and all you
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wanted for is to read about Reggie Jackson. You're just like so innocent.
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You don't even know what you're doing. You know, I do literally not
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the clue. So anyway, going back to your h what was my favorite
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favorite card? So I so I collected. Now I'm making it sound like
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I was a Reggie Jackson lunatic, which I was, which is an accurate
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statement, but it's I'm not fully saying. How like the scope of my
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card collection was other players like I bought. I ended up going and buying,
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like you know, like every bit of money I ever came into as
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a kid went directly into baseball cards, so I focused on everything Reggie,
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but I also had like, you know, like night Like I remember,
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I bought the nineteen seventy five tops set, which was because I really liked
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I really liked the nineteen seventy five set with the two colors, even though
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yes, yeah, probably now it's probably considered a little bit ugly, but
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I don't know, maybe it's not. I don't know. I know I
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think that the best that's the of the seventies because of the color and like
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it's really trippy when you get like the colors kind of mismatched or not lined
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up with the ink and you can get that three D effect that I think
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that's probably one of the most revered sets from the seventies because like some of
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them are bland, but you want like the full color, the full fun
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Oh cool. I mean yeah, see, I didn't even realize that at
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the time, but I loved the nineteen seventy five sets, so I would
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probably say the Reggie nineteen seventy five set was one of my Reggie nineteen seventy
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five card was one of my favorites, but I also liked I also really
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liked the nineteen eighty seven tops wood grain. I don't know if that's considered
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a good set, but I really like far as, Like that might have
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been Reggie's last card. I don't know it was. It was around there
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that hiss like he retired obviously, but at seven. I don't know if
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he had an eighty eight card. But anyway, the eighty seven eighty seven
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wood grain, I really like that set. The top set too, but
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I loved you know, it's like corny, but I really liked the sports
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flick cars that you know, the ones that like they you turn them and
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they like change the image. I really like that. I don't know why
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I love them. I love finding those in collections. Yeah, I so
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God, But I really I have a lot of cards. I have a
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ton. Yeah, really would like to sell or Like she's like, why
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don't you because my card set, my my card collection is so vast.
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At this point, she's like, you might need to like rent a U
20:53
haul and drive it across country because she's funny, it's becus and I'm in
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LA. I was like, yeah, uh and and that's a good I'm
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like, yeah, that's a good idea, mom. But I don't really
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have any place for it myself. In my own house, I don't have
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room for all these So I'm impressed that you still have your collection there at
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your parents' house. That like, usually it's like almost a rite of passage
21:18
and collecting that once you've like find the space to be able to have your
21:22
collection given back to you, that it happens pretty quickly. I know.
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That's what happened with me that once I got my house, my parents were
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like, here you go, here's all these cards. We are not storing
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them anymore. Yeah, yeah, no, I know. That's yeah,
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And that's been like for the last like five years. That's been a constant
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thing because I just has it been five years and I got a house probably
21:45
in the last five years. But yeah, ever since I got a house,
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you're you're You're not wrong. My mom has been like, hey,
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man, you kind of need these cars. The problem is, like if
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I lived in New York, I would have them already. Absolutely, It's
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not so easy for me to transport them. And I also in the back
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of my mind, I'm like, where the hell am I putting all these
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cards? I got no room for them. I have so many cards,
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man, I from like nineteen well, I said nineteen seventy five, I
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had that set. But I also like, I don't think I have every
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single card from nineteen seventy five through nineteen ninety, say, but I do
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have a lot. I wouldn't say I have every single card from seventy five
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to ninety, but I do have a lot of them. I have a
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lot of cards. Like I probably have really like worthwhile cards too, but
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I absolutely would I don't know. Yeah, I like I liked just all
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the Hank Aaron's in there would almost I mean, those are great cards to
22:56
pull out, and the Nolan Ryan's if you've got some of those in good
22:57
shape that those are should Henderson cal rip I mean, maybe a Brett Rookie
23:03
too. Brett Rookie is pretty big. Probably, yeah, I probably have
23:07
a Prett Rookie. Yeah, I probably. I probably have a lot of
23:10
cards that are really worth something that I probably should get the collection sell at
23:15
to be honest, because I'm like, I I mean, I might hold
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on to a couple of Reggie cards, but honestly, I don't think I
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would. I wouldn't have the same joy like with the baseball cards that I
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had then, you know, like I I like it. Like, don't
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get me wrong, Like I love I still have this like certain place in
23:37
my heart for baseball cards because you know, I grew up like for fifteen
23:41
years, well not that long, probably ten years, but for ten years
23:45
I was collecting every every card, and you know, obviously I still love
23:51
baseball. But you know, once, you know, like I said earlier,
23:56
once I discovered girls in marijuana, I totally just stopped clac cards.
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Yeah, once I hit like I want to say, junior year of high
24:04
school, I was like, yeah, I'm kind of dombe with this.
24:07
Yeah, honestly, that's probably about when it kicked in for me too,
24:10
like getting into high school just because you're like, yeah, you're trying to
24:11
throw money at different things than baseball cards. So it just because but I
24:18
was also like, oh, I have a car. Oh I have a
24:19
car. Now, I gotta I gotta worry about my gas and like yeah,
24:26
but and also I don't know, like because you're younger than me,
24:30
but I don't know how you Probably you might be aware of it though,
24:33
just because you're into baseball cards. How like there is that like error of
24:37
like the oversaturation too, So everyone like I feel like there's a lot of
24:42
people my age got super jaded. That was like they made so many cards
24:48
in like ninety one or something, and the cards were so awful, no
24:52
one and they're worth nothing or they were worth nothing at the time, and
24:57
but they're trying, and then like it ruined. They ruined the hobby for
25:02
a bunch of years for people I think my age. And now from what
25:07
I see, I think people my age are getting back into baseball cards.
25:11
I personally haven't, but I I could see the allure because it is I
25:15
mean, like I said, I bought the Mookie Bets Snoop Dogg and the
25:18
Reggie Snoop Yeah, because it is cool. I don't know, I still
25:22
love it, but I just I don't have the bandwidth quite like I used
25:26
to. Yeah, And I mean I think that's kind of also a good
25:30
inflection point of like getting back into cards, just because I think once you
25:36
start developing like that taste, Like I've noticed that with myself over the past
25:41
year or so getting back into collecting more cards and stuff. Is that when
25:44
I first got back into it, I was a little bit more like a
25:47
kid during the pandemic and just like love ripping tons of cards and looking at
25:52
all of them, but now it's a lot more honed in and you know,
25:56
especially I consider them almost more like art pieces are something. You know,
26:00
they're just really great to look at, and like I'm looking at my
26:03
desk right now and just have a bunch up of like my favorite cards and
26:07
that, like, I think that will happen here as we kind of go
26:11
forward in the hobby. That like, I think if we're getting into another
26:15
run of like oversaturation, just with Brew and I are always going through the
26:21
number of sets that are being released and the print runs being absurd, and
26:25
especially nowadays, there's the concern with the consolidation of the overall industry as Fanatics
26:30
owns all baseball card production that's any worthwhile between Panini and Tops and so you've
26:37
already seen with the latest Tops Chrome releases that they're only being like some of
26:44
the best cards are being pulled by breakers, which is really suspicious. And
26:48
so it's gonna be I think, a really big point to see where everything
26:55
goes because it is a little bit of those finance private what he bros Are
27:00
getting their their paws into this industry and trying to milk it for all it's
27:03
worth. And I hope that comes out okay on the other side. But
27:07
I think once you find that kind of niche the way, you know,
27:11
finding one player to collect or finding a type of card to collect, that's
27:15
the way to go instead of trying to just get through the deluge of the
27:21
volume that's coming out nowadays. Right, Yeah, no, completely, you
27:26
know, everything goes in cycles. It's not that you know, it's not
27:30
it's a cliche for a reason. I mean, because it's true, but
27:33
it's it's interesting too. I think for me, like on the outside a
27:37
little bit looking in on baseball cards, like I do find myself like looking
27:44
for like, you know, like one sort of brand, and it seems
27:49
like you mentioned fanatics, but it seems like to me at least, that
27:53
there's so many different types of cards and it's hard to know. It's like
28:00
I, like I mentioned, you know multiple times now that I got those
28:03
Project seventy ones, which I thought was really cool, and they are like
28:07
to me, they are like artwork. But I will say that like I
28:11
see sometimes like so many different varieties of cards that it's like I feel bad
28:18
for the kid who is like me as a you know, as a kid
28:22
who's trying to collect all you know of one player, and it's like I
28:27
have to buy You would have to buy so many different cards each year for
28:32
one player, where when I was a kid, it was a doable thing
28:36
to buy every Reggie card, even though it's like that way is madness and
28:41
I was a little bit. I had shades of madness, absolutely, but
28:47
it also wasn't like a completely inconceivable task to try and get every Reggie card
28:52
when there was maybe three cards per years. Yeah, I mean it's like,
29:00
Okay, you get tops for like the seventies, and then there's OPDG
29:04
and you mentioned Panini. I think they actually had a couple of cards back
29:07
in the day, and then there is like then once the eighties hit,
29:11
you had Flair and Donris and then later on you had sports Flix, but
29:15
you didn't really have that many different types of cards. Now I see,
29:18
like it again, this is from the outside looking in, because I don't
29:22
know if there's accurate, but I see like all these different varieties and I'm
29:26
like, oh my god, Like how would I know what to collect?
29:30
Yeah, And I think that is what really makes it hard to find a
29:34
spot to collect, which is yeah, Jeremy and I have kind of tried
29:38
to find sets to emphasize for new people to open over the past you know,
29:44
few months, and I especially look like Adley Richmond has almost like one
29:49
hundred and twenty to one hundred and fifty just like different cards, and that's
29:55
not see that's crazy. Yeah. See, that's what I'm talking about.
29:59
Like if I were like if I were Mark Cuban and I was like,
30:02
you know what, I've made a billions, I don't care anymore. I'm
30:06
gonna spend all my time collecting baseball cards. I would collect every Adelaide Rushman.
30:11
But for the normal, average everyday person, that's like asking a lot
30:17
per year. Actually, they want to be like a collector of one player.
30:22
Like that's really that's I mean that I feel like turns people off in
30:26
general, because it's like it gets overwhelming. You know. It's like when
30:33
it's like one thing when like a like when you were well, I don't
30:37
know how young you are, but like when I was a kid, if
30:40
I wanted to like collect like later on collecting like music and buying like a
30:45
CD, it's like you could buy like four different versions of a person's thing,
30:51
and that was a lot but then when they started doing remixes and whole
30:56
albums of remixes, and it's like, oh, man, like I can't
30:59
I can't do with the remixes. That's too much. But now now it's
31:04
all digital, so it's like, yeah, what's it doesn't matter anymore.
31:07
It's all, yeah, you're just downloading something, so who cares. But
31:14
with the cards, like that's a you know, a analogue, a fungible,
31:21
a tangible item. That's uh, it's hard to you know, collect
31:25
all that. I don't I don't know. I don't know how I would,
31:30
you know, I don't know how I would do it. At this
31:30
point, I feel bad for the kids who have to try and navigate that
31:37
world of like, oh, I want to buy every Ronald Acuna junior card.
31:42
It's like, good luck, kid, that's gonna you're you're gonna it's
31:45
gonna cut into your college solution. Yeah, and good luck trying to doing
31:49
it before the heat death of the universe right after the globem with Yeah.
31:56
Yeah, well that's a that's a separate issue, right, yeah, But
32:02
I mean I think that's I those are a lot of like the concerns that
32:07
we try to cover here. On this pod, and so like, I
32:08
think that's a great kind of point to make out overall, just because especially
32:14
Jeremy and I, we get lost sometimes in being a part of the hobby
32:19
currently and all the news and stuff going on. But like, yeah,
32:22
that is what I think. There's a totally untapped market of just like,
32:25
hey, if tops in fanantics just calmed it down a little bit and we
32:30
were able to focus on spreading baseball car collections to new people and new markets
32:37
and finding new niches, I think it would be a better strategy overall than
32:44
what I'm worried about right now is they're caught a little bit in the like
32:45
hype cycle of you know, people ripping stuff on YouTube and a lot of
32:51
just like gambling like activities that it's really tough to navigate where to start because
32:59
you don't want of feel like you're getting ripped off for a sidetracked or doing
33:04
something that's not worthwhile. And so that is I think a little bit of
33:07
like where the industry could end up going overall. And it's really concerning because
33:14
I mean, I just like baseball cards. You know, It's like I'm
33:17
not trying to do anything too complicated and make like, you know, tons
33:22
of money doing this. It's just like a hobby of like trying to have
33:25
a tangible item and look at these stats on these cards and enjoy myself a
33:30
little bit. You know. Yeah, no completely. I remember like when
33:34
I was a kid. I'm probably dating myself now, but there used to
33:37
be actual baseball cards stores and I would go there for hours hours. I
33:44
mean, I would live in some of these stores. It was like,
33:47
I mean, this is a little bit too revealing about what a nerd I
33:51
am. But I would either go to the library and read, or I
33:54
would go to the baseball card store. It was like either or I was
34:00
at the library. I was probably reading about Reggie Jackson. Man. We
34:05
did have very similar child, so it's that's what I was doing a lot
34:07
too doors. I know. Yeah, my mom would be like, I
34:15
got to work until sex. You want me to drop you off at the
34:17
baseball cards door the library. I'd be like, I don't know, I
34:21
don't really have monies. I guess the library and then if I had a
34:23
little bit of pocket change, but like a baseball card store, I'll just
34:29
do a little browsing. Yep, just rip a package. But anyways,
34:32
Uh, yeah, you want to get into some real baseball talk. Yeah,
34:37
yeah, let's talk some real baseball Sure, yeah, what do you
34:39
got? So I think we can start with some of the new signings that
34:45
have happened this past week. We haven't potted in two weeks, so we
34:47
took Thanksgiving off and some signings have happened here in the course of those two
34:52
weeks. So really the biggest one is Sonny Gray signing with the Cardinals for
35:00
or a three year deal and solidifying that Cardinals rotation that looks like John Miszailak
35:07
has added his three pictures after also adding Lance Lynn and uh, oh,
35:12
I already forgot it's Kyle Gibson, that's right, because yeah, Kyle Gibson
35:15
is uh maybe one of the most forgettable guys who like has had like a
35:19
ten year career in the in the recent history. That this is gonna be
35:24
an interesting rotation for the Cardinals. And I would have to think that there's
35:29
maybe another acquisition or trade coming. But Gray, what do you think of
35:32
Sonny Gray going to the Cardinals? And I mean, if you want to
35:36
talk about Gibson and Lynn too, feel free wow say the uh, I'll
35:42
say this for the Cardinals staff. They got some real eaters. I'm not
35:46
just talking about lance Lynn. I'm knowing about innings eaters. They have guys
35:52
that are absolutely gonna eat some innings, which is honestly not a bad thing.
35:58
I know a lot. I know it's not exciting the signings really from
36:02
a real baseball standpoint, I know, I wouldn't say, like Sonny Gray
36:07
finished what top three, top two in the cy Young so it's not like
36:12
he's a slouch. But I don't think people were really that moved by like
36:16
I'm saying. People I'm saying like Cardinals fans, I think, uh,
36:21
you know, I like Sonny Gray a lot, especially from a fantasy standpoint.
36:25
I think he's probably one of the more underrated starters. Like he usually
36:30
gives you one hundred and eighty innings, a solid whip, got good control,
36:37
keeps the ball down, has a nice ratios including e ray last year
36:44
he had a really tough luck with wins. But other than that, I
36:49
mean, like I said, I mean finished top three cy Young, so
36:52
his year wasn't that bad. I you know, I like Sonny Gray a
36:57
lot. I think I don't think people really appreciate him for for fantasy.
37:02
Uh, in general, I think there's probably I think maybe because the k's
37:07
aren't really overwhelming that you know, maybe that's why he gets lost a little
37:12
bit. But I don't know. I like, honestly from a real baseball
37:16
standpoint, I like the Sonny Gray, LANCELN and Kyle Gibson, even like
37:22
they're not exciting, like they're not gonna really blow you away with like,
37:29
you know, there's stuff a Lynn and Gibson a lease, but like I
37:32
said originally, with the innings eating actually important, I think, you know,
37:37
from a real baseball standpoint, So I don't I don't hate it.
37:42
I'm not a Cardinals fan, so you know, I might be looking at
37:45
this with you know, somewhat rosy glasses versus like Cardinals fans who who I
37:53
guess they see red. Yeah, that they they They don't seem that enthused
38:00
by these signings from what I've seen, at least, I don't know.
38:04
Maybe you know when it's like sometimes when you see like fans getting angry about
38:09
a signing or not particularly enthused or whatever, you're usually you're seeing that on
38:15
social media where everyone is angry anyway, so it's it's hard to note real
38:22
real Cardinals fans what they're thinking. But if I were a real Cardinals fan,
38:27
I would say this and be like, yeah, Sonny Gray's great,
38:30
Lance Lnn and Kyle Gibson aren't great, But every team has a four and
38:35
a five that aren't that great. At least we have a four and a
38:39
five that can eat some innings. So I mean, I kind of like
38:44
it from a real baseball standpoint, Sonny Gray is really the only he's the
38:49
only difference maker in fantasy. I think Lance Lane is fine for some strikeouts
38:54
potentially, but he did such damage to like eras last year. I would
39:01
you know you've got a stronger constitution to me if you're going in on lanceln
39:06
again. And Kyle Gibson's like whatever. I mean, he's he's a back
39:10
end starter in a fifteen team league or NL only, and that's only when
39:21
you really need to play them you hopefully are able, you know, Like
39:25
I would draft Kyle Gibson like a fifty around draft and hold I draft him
39:32
as like my eighth or ninth starter and hopefully not have to use them.
39:37
That would be like Kyle Gibson. But yeah, I mean I don't,
39:40
I don't hate these moves, to be honest, from the Cardinals standpoint,
39:44
Yeah, no, I'm in lockstep with you that I think that either you
39:47
know, this poortend is a bigger move for the Cardinals of like, I
39:52
think they're pretty close in the Yamavodo running that it's a great fit for them,
39:58
and there's a good chance that they could also find a trade partner.
40:01
You know, they've got a lot of depth to move in some minor leaguers
40:05
that you know, if they find a team that doesn't want to contend for
40:09
next year and has a starter, they could go out and pick up another
40:13
one. But you can't complain with where they're at right now. And this
40:16
is a pro pro Sonny Gray podcast that usually it's Jeremy beating the drum for
40:22
him, but I've gotten on board too, and I can't imagine a much
40:24
better landing spot than Saint Louis for Gray because he's familiar with the NL Central.
40:30
It's just like a good it's a great pitcher spark that I think it's
40:36
really underrated for that that as some of these new parks have come out and
40:39
are a little more neutral or maybe even hitter friendly, it's made Saint Louis
40:44
even more and more picture friendly, and you have to think that they're not
40:47
going to be quite as bad on defense, so Sunny Gray is going to
40:51
be He's currently going like in the one hundred and thirties in ADP on NFBC,
40:57
and it seems way too low, like he's going behind like Max Scherzer
41:04
and going around like Chris Bassett and Gavin Williams. And I think now that
41:08
he's in Saint Louis, we're going to see that really rise because he's got
41:13
the potential to be a top twenty to twenty five starter for fantasy, right,
41:17
Yeah, no completely, you know. Also, I think anyone who
41:22
just watched the uh the playoffs, you know, and and what it came
41:28
down to, like at the end of the day, like the Diamondbacks didn't
41:30
even they didn't even have three starters. Yeah, by the time it was
41:36
all said and done, and most teams didn't have three starters. So it's
41:40
like, if the Cardinals are serious about in the playoffs, it's not It's
41:45
not a terrible thing to have a guy like a lenn Or Gibson who can
41:49
give you like five to seven innings even you know, if you need them,
41:54
like, and if you don't need them, great, go to you
41:57
go to your better starters. Hopefully you have better starters. But you know,
42:00
it's or you know, or you're just punting that game. But whatever
42:07
the case is. I mean, it's also like it's good to have inning
42:12
a guy who can throw innings in like August and September when you know,
42:15
like everyone is just taxed nowadays. I was actually looking this is a side
42:22
point, but it had something to do with innings James Shields, who was
42:28
on the Hall of Fame ballot. I think at some point we're going to
42:30
talk about the Hall of Fame bollot James Shields. I was looking at his
42:36
stats because he came to the Hall of Fame ballot this year, first year
42:40
on it, and I was looking at stats anyway, only it was only
42:45
like ten years ago. It was fairly normal for a guy to have like
42:49
two hundred and fifty innings. Wasn't like people were like, oh, you
42:54
know, that's like a bygone error of like starters throwing a lot of But
43:00
it's like James Shields in like twenty eleven through two hundred and fifty innings something
43:06
like that. I don't have the numbers in front of me, but it's
43:07
I'm not far off. But yeah, it's like so few of these guys
43:13
really throw innings in today's game that you get a guy like Lance Lynn and
43:17
Kyle Gibson and they can really help out like your bullpen, Like even if
43:22
you're losing the game, Like even if Gibson goes out there and gives up
43:27
five earned in seven innings and loses the game, he can really save a
43:32
bullpen. Yeah, and I think that, I mean, anyway, we
43:37
could see that like really help out the Cardinals here going into twenty twenty four
43:42
because their bullpen was gassed this year that like they were using Jordan Hicks and
43:45
Hellsley and all sorts of guys like Jojo Romero was getting saves for a stretch
43:52
that there was all hands on deck and they were just totally gassed. That
43:55
you know, if these guys can save some of the innings for the Cardinals,
44:00
you could see a boost in value to Brian Helsley going into next year
44:04
because he might not be required to go to inning s quay as often that
44:07
he can focus on the ninth inning, get his k's, get his saves,
44:10
and really be one of those top closers. Again. Yeah, no,
44:15
totally agree. And so the other picture signing we had recently was tint
44:21
to Maida going to the Tigers, and I'm really excited about this that I
44:25
think may AIDA's been a little bit of like a low key, sneaky fantasy
44:30
play for the last few years. That it reminds me a little bit of
44:34
like when rich Hill would come out and only throw like one hundred, one
44:37
hundred and twenty innings, and rich Hill provided better ratios than what Maida has
44:42
been doing, as he's put up a four to three ERA last year,
44:45
but that came with a K nine that was over ten over one hundred and
44:50
four innings, and really what was hurting him last year was a home run
44:54
rate that was about one and a half per nine because the FIP to go
45:00
with that ERA was a four two fips. So it shows that he got
45:06
a little bit unlucky. And I like the landing spot in Detroit a lot
45:09
because of man, there's nothing better than an early season Detroit Tiger's pitcher just
45:15
like throwing balls in the winter, you know, like it's like twenty eight
45:19
degrees in Detroit and just like, overall, you know, you can't do
45:24
anything with that when you're batting because the air is so cold, and I'm
45:29
sure it just hurts like hell to hit the ball. So I like Miata,
45:32
especially for the early season, to be able to pitch in that cold
45:37
weather and just in the al Central. Overall, it's a great kind of
45:39
fit for him over going forward. So Gray, do you what do you
45:44
think about Mayeta and in this landing spot in Detroit. Yeah, I was
45:49
looking at Maeta because currently I'm doing I'm putting together my rankings and projections for
45:54
twenty twenty four. Anyway, I was looking my Aida after he signed with
46:00
the Tigers, and I was surprised at how unlucky he's been, uh for
46:05
like the last oh, I don't know, a couple of years at least,
46:07
like he's he's been. I think over the last two years he has
46:12
like I'm doing the math in my head, but he has like two hundred
46:14
and ten innings of a four point five ish arra but also like a ten
46:22
ish k per nine and a two point five ish walk rate. Like anyone
46:27
who knows anything, a ten k per nine and a two and a half
46:30
walk rate, you should have a lot better rearray more than likely unless people
46:35
are just killing you. So it's it seems like he's been really unlucky,
46:39
so I, you know, and like you mentioned, Detroit's not a terrible
46:44
place for him to be with the weather and all that. The park's good.
46:50
So yeah, I like this signing for my EA. I don't think
46:52
it moves him into like top forty starter range, but I mean I don't
46:59
hate the flyer as like a number four potentially, yeah, I And I
47:05
think what makes him great is that he's really nice to just kind of like
47:08
plug and play for, you know, when he's playing against the Royals in
47:14
the White Sox and even the Twins sometimes that the Ale Central is such a
47:19
garbage division that it's a great streaming spot to you know. Obviously, if
47:23
my AG has got a tougher matchup coming up and is going to Atlanta or
47:27
something like that, you can sit him. But he just makes a really
47:30
great swing fantish fantasy pitcher, right you No, great, all right,
47:35
And we've actually got breaking news in terms of I've never gotten to do this
47:43
yet that I feel like, you know, Sarah's on his podcast. I
47:49
gotta really practice it. But we got Luis Savarino going across town in New
47:54
York. I guess I don't know. I'm not a New Yorker, so
47:58
I don't know how that exactly works, going for the Brox to Queens.
48:00
But we've got Severino signing with the Mets, and I don't know if I'm
48:07
actually quite as interested in this one compared to the others. And just because
48:12
like I had so I don't know about you, but it seemed like even
48:15
though I was doing waiver wires this year writing, there'd be people in my
48:21
chats like asking about Louis Severino and it's like, I don't know, man,
48:23
like is he on your waiver wire? I'm not suggesting him to pick
48:28
up because he just had a real terrible season in New York that I don't
48:34
know if he wasn't healthy or wasn't comfortable or what was going on, but
48:38
really tough season to go into free agency with. And Louis Severino is obviously
48:44
going to go to a better pictures Park in Queen's with the Mets. But
48:50
what is your interest overall with sever Reno? And do you see that maybe
48:54
he could bounce back with the Mets? No? Uh, I you know,
49:04
people expecting good things from the Mets. Uh, You're like, how
49:09
many times are gonna fall for the ben out and the tailpipe man? How
49:13
often are you gonna step on the same rake in the yard? You know
49:16
what I'm saying side Joe Bob is that working man. No, I'll put
49:22
aside the fact that the Mets are cursed and say, I'm not really interested
49:27
in several Reno because of what you already mentioned with like his previous season,
49:31
there's really a lot. There's not a lot to pull from that, like
49:35
positive wise, So I honestly I let someone else take the uh take the
49:40
gambit. You know, it's not worth it, honestly, Like I I
49:44
would prefer to, you know, to look elsewhere than like a guy who
49:50
is like his walks were up, K's were way down, His stuff looked
49:54
bad. He just did not look healthy. I don't know. I mean,
49:59
it's a reclamation project for the Mets. That doesn't need that doesn't mean
50:02
you need to make it one for yourself. You know. Yeah, I
50:06
totally agree that. Like, I mean, I don't think he's gonna be
50:09
too heavily drafted because of a lot of those concerns. So I mean,
50:13
I'll keep an eye on him, but I even with like you're looking at
50:16
somebody who's probably not going to rack up too many cases because he's not going
50:20
to go too deep into games. He's not going to pick up very many
50:23
wins because the Mets probably won't be great next year. But wow, yeah,
50:28
he had a twenty percent over to flypout fly ball ratio this year.
50:32
That is that's crazy. That's that's like Jose Cansako on steroids. Yeah.
50:40
Yeah, it's just none of it was good. Really. I I wonder
50:45
because, I mean the stadium, the stadium helps like you, like you
50:51
mentioned, but like his stuff just like nothing was working at all. No,
50:58
he gave it a ten, right, Yeah, It's just it's just
51:02
not great man like his his fastball, Like while the velocity wasn't bad,
51:09
it wasn't working at all. So I'm assuming that's because of like he wasn't
51:15
locating, So that's I mean, not locating a fastball is better than a
51:20
fastball losing velocity, so that I mean that at least is a positive.
51:23
So I guess there's room here for potential bounce back, but I it wouldn't
51:29
be for me, not worth it, I totally agree. And then the
51:34
other big transaction we had happened just before Thanksgiving. On Thanksgiving Eve, Wednesday
51:39
night, Juhennio Suarez was traded from Seattle to the Diamondbacks to replace Evan Lengoria
51:45
at the hot corner down in Arizona. And I think this is a pretty
51:51
nice upgrade for Suarez that he struggled a little bit last year. But I
51:54
mean, he's not gonna be the fantasy guy who's pushing fifty home runs the
51:59
way he was in Cincinnati, but he can be a dangerous option at the
52:05
at the end of drafts for filling out your CI or providing a little bit
52:08
of bop at the utility spot. And so going from Settle, which is
52:13
just a really, really terrible home run park and offensive park overall too.
52:19
Although Arizona's not great, it will be a nice upgrade and you get some
52:22
games in Coors Fields. So I'm bullish here on what Uhennio Suarez can provide,
52:30
and obviously like it's a little different in fantasy that we don't have to
52:34
worry about his defense holding us back at all. But I like the landing
52:37
spot in Arizona. What about you yeah, I know completely. I'm on
52:42
the same page with you as well. I think, you know, with
52:46
the move Like I was looking, like I mentioned earlier, I'm in the
52:50
process of doing my rankings and projections. They should be getting available on my
52:57
Patreon soon as soon as I complete another set of them or something. But
53:02
anyway, I was just doing the third basement rankings like today actually, and
53:09
I was looking and third base is a mess. So so third base is
53:14
a mess. This isn't this isn't really a spoiler. I think everyone realizes
53:21
that. But third base is a mess. And I was looking at like
53:23
Max Munci or u Henniosurez, and I was like trying to figure out,
53:29
like is there really that much of a difference between the two, And I
53:32
was like, I don't know really if there is, Like Monsey is worse
53:37
for average by a decent amount, and you, Heniosz, is probably maybe
53:45
three to four homers off of what Monsy is normally, but that's like negligible.
53:52
But Munsey is much worse at average, but Monthsy's going at like one
53:57
hundred and twenty picks before you Heno Swarez. Wow. Yeah, And like
54:01
you said, Suarez has got a little bit better park. Now, Dodger
54:06
Stadium is actually a good park for homers. But anyway, the fact that
54:09
Monsey is going one hundred and twenty picks before Suarez, I was like,
54:15
that seems like Swarrez seems like a bargain there. So yeah, I mean,
54:20
I don't think. I don't think either of us are saying, like,
54:22
you know, jo Henio Swarz is gonna be like the answer for anyone's
54:27
fantasy team. Like he's still a twenty seven to thirty homer zero speed to
54:34
twenty five hitter, but months he's a thirty two to thirty five homer hitter
54:39
and barely two hundred average, So yeah, yeah, And I mean I'm
54:45
just looking at ADPs that Suarez is a little bit higher than I would have
54:50
anticipated. He's going like too seventy six right now around players like Josh Bell,
54:54
Will Benson, Jose Siri. But I was thinking, especially in comparison
55:00
to Matt Chapman, who's only actually about like twenty picks ahead of him,
55:05
that it seems like people are really out on Matt Chapman. And I think
55:08
I am too, But I think again, not to interrupt, but I
55:13
think Chapman also doesn't have a team right now, so essentially the free agent
55:16
that plays that might play into people's thoughts of like, well, what if
55:22
he's signed somewhere and he's not the starter exactly, what if he goes to
55:24
Korea. I mean, there's a lot of things like potentially at risk with
55:30
Matt Chapman. But yeah, no, I agree with you. I mean
55:34
when push game to shove neutrally, they're more or less all the same play
55:37
there. Yeah, I think that's what I was getting at, is that
55:40
like Chapman, I think will move up a little bit when he does sign,
55:44
But I think I'm just looking at their steamer projections. They're like spot
55:49
on the same. And so if you're seeing Matt Chapman going off the board
55:53
and you're looking for corner infield or a third baseman, I think that's a
55:58
great signal to be like, all right, man, Chapman just went,
56:00
I can wait a beat and then take Suarez and get the exact same production
56:04
around her too later, you know, see where you see where Max Munsey's
56:07
going though, right, I can punch that in. Let me see Ludacrous.
56:13
He's like month sixty five. Yeah, yeah, yeow yeah, it's
56:16
crazy, like he's going over one hundred and twenty picks before Lenos Houz,
56:22
which, as I just said, doesn't really make any sense. No,
56:25
it doesn't. And there is like a collection of like third basement there.
56:29
It is gross. It is like Noelvie, Marte, Muncy Burger and Kabrian
56:34
Hayes all go together. That it is gonna be I mean, it's gonna
56:37
be really hard to not want to I was saying. I just yeah,
56:42
no, totally, And like I was saying, I was just doing the
56:44
third base ranking, so I'm very familiar with these right now. And Burger
56:50
actually looks more interesting than I thought he would. Hayes looks very interesting,
56:54
Parimeteres looks interesting. Max Munsey does not look interesting on that. Maybe maybe
57:00
I being too harsh, but I mean, I just I can't wrap my
57:06
head around. I mean, he's he's a one one eighty five to two
57:10
oh five header Max Monty that is, and it's like that's a killer man,
57:15
I don't know. Yeah, yeah, so anyway, anyway, we're
57:19
we're we've gotten sidetracked. Yeah, and just the stolen bases too in that
57:22
space too, like that's A big thing I'm learning from going forward for next
57:27
year is trying to make sure that I'm picking up stolen bases better because got
57:30
left in the dust in a few leaks this year. Yeah. Yeah,
57:35
no, I actually I was. Uh. I'm actually in a draft right
57:38
now. I'm drafting with a with a few raspball people. I'm doing a
57:43
uh uh a fifty round draft and hold draft champions League. And I took
57:51
Julio Rodriguez with the second pick overall, and then in the second round at
57:55
pick what is that twenty nine? I picked twenty nine. I took both
58:00
Baschett and then like so at that point I felt like I was good with
58:06
steals. But Bob Baschett didn't run last year. I'm I'm gonna put that
58:12
on the fact that his quad might have been bothering him. And he's young
58:15
enough where he can bounce back, and I think he could still steal upwards
58:20
like fifteen plus bags. Like I'm not I'm not totally out on Bashett's speed
58:23
bouncing back, but anyway, I was a little worried about speed after Julio
58:28
Rodriguez and Bob Baschett, and being worried about speed after them. It's imagine,
58:35
imagine if I would have taken like, you know, I don't know,
58:39
Garrett Cole and Cory Seeker as one player, as one team did in
58:46
my league. I mean, imagine or imagine someone would have taken Juan Soto
58:52
and Bryce Harper and both of them have like some speed, like they're not
58:59
total zeros speed, but they're like twelve to fifteen steals each versus like I'm
59:06
looking at guys getting like Bobby Witt and I'm like, well, he's stealing
59:10
fifty. I can't compete with that. I don't so anyway, Hulu Rodriguez
59:16
and Boba Chett was my first two picks, and then I took three pictures
59:22
I'm doing. I tried something different anyway, enough about okay, yeah,
59:27
to see how that goes. And you hinted at it a little bit ago.
59:30
I think the other big news is that the Hall of Fame ballots come
59:31
out, So I don't it sounds like maybe James Shields as your vote because
59:37
of his ability to throw two hundred fifteen innings, And I think, yeah,
59:43
I think we can lock in Adrian Beltray as a Hall of Famer,
59:45
but anywhere anyone else from the list you think gonna be joining Adrian Adrian Beltray
59:52
when it's all sudden done. Oh my god, James Shields, Oh man,
59:57
you see, I'm a this is this doesn't sound like an old a
1:00:02
real old fody doty when I say this, But I'm a big hole.
1:00:07
Actually, actually this might not sound like an old person. This might sound
1:00:09
like a young person because old people don't want anyone in the Hall of Fame.
1:00:14
But I'm I'm a big hall guy. Okay, I don't mind like
1:00:19
the steroid maybe because at the time I grew up, but I want the
1:00:22
steroids guys, Like it's a it's a museum at the end of the day.
1:00:27
It's like not a you know, it's like you can have like a
1:00:30
big haul and still like tell the story of like why Barry Bonds has you
1:00:37
know, as many homers as he has versus you know, someone in a
1:00:43
dead ball, like the baseball is never the same, Like we see that
1:00:46
now, Like I was thinking, actually today I was thinking that with like
1:00:52
a kunya like imagine, you know, because I was looking back at some
1:00:57
of the like some of the guys who were like stealing bases, like you
1:01:01
know, fifteen twenty years ago, and it's like, how like if Joe
1:01:09
a mayor Maer excuse me, if Joe Mauer had the pitch clock and the
1:01:16
limited pickoff moves, how many more bases would he have stolen? You know,
1:01:22
Like it's so like just because I'm not taking anything away from a Kunya,
1:01:27
Like he did what he did in the error that he is playing,
1:01:30
So that's that's cool with me. It's all cool, But I'm just saying,
1:01:36
you don't take away like you can't look at someone like, you know,
1:01:40
Jose Reyes, whose first year on the ballot, Like you look at
1:01:45
him and it's like he might have stolen a hundred bags some years. Like
1:01:49
it's like, you know, like it's like these guys all played and they're
1:01:53
not even retired that long. It is five years to get on the ballot,
1:01:58
but they're they're they play fairly recently. And a guy like Bobby or
1:02:02
Bray, you he might have hit thirty homers and stole fifty bags ten years
1:02:07
in a row. He might have. I don't know, but it's impossible
1:02:10
to say because you know, just baseball is different every year, and let
1:02:15
alone every error, where like decades go by and Baseball just changes completely,
1:02:22
you know, like I remember in the eighties, like I remember years like
1:02:28
where you know Gorman Thomas, I think it was eighty three. He hit
1:02:34
like, I want to say, thirty nine homers and led the league,
1:02:37
and it was like that was thirty nine homers was a lot. Then Now
1:02:42
he would have came in like sixth or seventh in the league, so you
1:02:45
know, it's or And if he did it in two thousand and one,
1:02:50
he wouldn't even been in the top thirty. So it's like, you know,
1:02:53
baseball is just different from error to error and year to year. So
1:02:58
I'm a big haul guy. And because I feel like, you know,
1:03:01
just just you know, give the guys who are good during their eras they're
1:03:07
you know, just desserts or whatever. So I'm fine with Beltray. I
1:03:14
would put Beltray in. I this is just going off of the list.
1:03:16
I haven't done like the research into each one, so I could be a
1:03:22
little bit crazy here, but I would say put in Bobby or bray You.
1:03:25
I would put in Beltray, I would put Beltran and Carlos Beltran,
1:03:30
I'd put him in. I would put in Andrew Jones, Joe Mauer,
1:03:39
Andy pettitt Manny Ramirez, Alex Rodriguez, Gary Sheffield. The fact that Gary
1:03:45
Sheffield's on the tenth year of the ballot. I mean, he was one
1:03:50
of the most feared hitters when he played, Like it's ludicrous that he is
1:03:53
still on the ballot. He should have been voted in in the first year.
1:03:58
I'm sorry, Gary Shield. The fact that Gary Sheffield's still on the
1:04:01
ballot after being on the ballot for ten years, it shows you that the
1:04:09
process of voting really needs a change. Like it's it's obnoxious how long Gary
1:04:13
Sheffield has been on the ballot, I you know, putting aside everything with
1:04:16
like, oh, I get the fact that he the Balco thing. So
1:04:20
if you want to ding the guy, like one year, so he's not
1:04:25
a first ballot guy, fine ten years. Like have people watched clips of
1:04:31
Gary Sheffield Like he was unstoppable for years at a time, Like he was
1:04:39
like you did not want to face, Like Gary Sheffield was basically like the
1:04:44
Dick Allen of his generation or or right now, like I'm thinking of like
1:04:47
ord On Alvarez, where like you just can't get him out sometimes, like
1:04:51
you just like if you watch Jordan Alvarez at bat, even facing lefties and
1:04:57
you're like, you can't get him out. That's how Gary Sheffield was for
1:05:00
full, like for probably ten years. So I'd put Gary Sheffield in for
1:05:05
sure. Chase ut Lee, Yeah, Billy Wagner, I guess, but
1:05:14
yeah, I mean I just oh, Francisco Rodriguez, I supposedly, Oh,
1:05:17
Jimmy Rollins. I mean, there's a lot of Hall of Famers on
1:05:20
this ballot. So I was gonna say, you're up to thirteen already of
1:05:25
your ten votes. I guess you can only you can only choose ten,
1:05:28
I guess if you're an actual voter. But I don't even think you said
1:05:31
Helton yet, Like you didn't even I think Helton's got to get in this
1:05:34
year, too, don't you. Oh yeah, yeah Todd Helton. Yeah,
1:05:38
Like I said, I'm just like I'm scanning it with my eyes.
1:05:41
Yeah, Todd Helton. He is a Hall of Famer as well. Absolutely,
1:05:45
I think, you know, like honestly, I mean some of these
1:05:50
guys, like I think, like a David Wright, like I think he
1:05:55
had a he had a nice career and it was unfortunate injury, but he
1:05:59
is not a Hall of Famer like that, like just like like like respect
1:06:03
respect to David Wright. I I appreciate that someone voted for him, because
1:06:09
it's you know, it's a nice gesture, but that is just a that's
1:06:14
a Mets writer making a gesture church David Wright. I mean it's fine.
1:06:18
I don't I don't really have a real problem with you know, people giving
1:06:21
like a token vote just to say, hey, man, I covered your
1:06:26
career and I thought you were good. You know, that's fine whatever.
1:06:29
I don't think David Wright's an actual Hall of Famer though, I don't really.
1:06:32
I don't think Jose Reyis is, Brandon Phillips wasn't a Hall of Famer.
1:06:38
Victor Martinez was not a Hall of Famer. They were good players,
1:06:42
though, I mean absolutely, Ose Batista was a he was a solid player.
1:06:45
I don't think he's a no. Adrian Gonzalez another solid player, not
1:06:50
a Hall of Famer. But yeah, I I also, I know a
1:06:54
lot of there's a lot of white Sox fans who think Burley is a Hall
1:06:57
of Famer. I don't personally think famer. I don't even know. I
1:07:01
know that's that's a little bit of a controversial opinion. Amongst white Sox people.
1:07:06
Yeah, they're just grasping at straws at this point, like just trying
1:07:11
to find something that's any good. But I will say I do. I'm
1:07:15
going to stand for Bartolo for the Hall of Fame because I mean, technically
1:07:19
he only retired in like what like August when he submitted the final paperwork.
1:07:24
So it's kind of funny he's on the ballot that the was pitching and like
1:07:29
then as while Arsa is like does not, Bartel Cologne does not want to
1:07:33
spend any time with his fourteen kids. He's like Sean camp He's like,
1:07:40
I fother him. I don't want to spend any time with them. Yeah,
1:07:44
he even even went to the desert of Katar to be able to avoid
1:07:46
it. Like that's next level. But yeah, I would be all behind
1:07:54
Bartolo Coloonne going in, and especially if he wore the socks hat like that
1:08:00
would be amazing. He Yeah, I mean I wouldn't wrong with it either.
1:08:04
To be totally honest, I don't. I don't really care. I
1:08:08
would prefer more people like some people are like, you know, they look
1:08:13
at the Harold Baines thing and they're like, like, he's not really Hall
1:08:15
of Famer. It's like, probably not, but I don't. I mean,
1:08:19
that's fine. It's not like you can't look up his stats and judge
1:08:25
for yourself if you're at the Hall of Fame. Like not everyone in the
1:08:29
Hall of Fame is Babe Ruth and Clemente and Jackie Robinson and Ted Williams.
1:08:34
Like there's levels to the Hall of Fame already, Like you know, I
1:08:39
didn't really, I don't think a lot of people, you know, I'm
1:08:42
not like the I don't think like closers are necessarily the greatest thing, but
1:08:47
we have that role. The fact that Marion Rivera was unanonymous, I think
1:08:53
takes away any credence that unanimous means anything. I mean, that's it's ludicrous
1:08:58
that he was unanimous. I mean he's totally great, Like, don't get
1:09:00
me wrong, he was great, but I mean there's a reason why he
1:09:03
was the closer and not a starter. I mean, he's like you,
1:09:08
so in that respect, it's like you can't compare him to Nolan Ryan,
1:09:12
Like it's like they're not comparable in any way. But that doesn't mean there's
1:09:16
not a place for him in the Hall of Fame. I'm I'm not saying
1:09:20
marianno Vera shouldn't be in the Hall of Fame. I'm just saying, you
1:09:24
know, like Nolan Ryan, pound for pound, was a better picture.
1:09:28
But that's fine. There's a place. There's a place for both of them.
1:09:30
That's what I'm saying. Like, if you put bartol Clone in,
1:09:33
it's like, fine, that's fine. You can you can tell you can
1:09:39
sit there and be like, yes, he was. He was a solid
1:09:42
pitcher for twenty years, He had twenty five kids, and he had one
1:09:47
great home run in San Diego. That's all that is good. And also,
1:09:54
you know he's not Nolan Ryan, which is fine. I mean,
1:09:56
there's there's levels I think that I think people get law and the fact that
1:10:00
like you know, it's like, oh, Adrian Beltray, Like, oh,
1:10:03
he's a first ballot unanimous, Like he better be unanimous, right,
1:10:10
It's like whatever, as long as he's in, it doesn't really matter.
1:10:14
Should he be first ballot, Absolutely, Adrian Belchray is a first ballot Hall
1:10:17
of Famer. If he's not and he gets in next year, in six
1:10:23
years, you look at Beltray's plaque, no one's gonna be like, hey,
1:10:27
was he a first Like No one cares when they're at the museum.
1:10:30
No one cares if the guy was in first ballot or not first ballot,
1:10:33
no one, No one really cares. No, just all of us nerds
1:10:38
that are following this great game of baseball that like I think also because it's
1:10:42
in the dead of winter, that like all this stuff comes out, it's
1:10:45
just something else to argue about. Cause yeah, there's just so much Oh
1:10:50
absolutely, no, totally no, I no, I get it. I
1:10:55
understand why people are like, if this happened in July, no one won't
1:10:59
even paid time. So they're like, yeah, okay, exactly, but
1:11:02
you know, actually, so he does not even retired, let it alone
1:11:09
on the ballot. But what do you uh, I just thought of So
1:11:13
what what what you about? Uh the Gram? Do you think Jacob de
1:11:15
Gram is a Hall of Famer? I think it's gonna be tough right now.
1:11:18
No, But like if he comes back and puts in a couple of
1:11:21
good years, I think he could make it that it's gonna be a little
1:11:26
bit of like the peak argument that you had for Kopax. And obviously he
1:11:30
doesn't have quite the accolades in terms of championships and things like that. But
1:11:34
it's a little bit of a TBD. But if he did, like wasn't
1:11:39
able to come back and had to retire tomorrow with his current career, I'm
1:11:44
a no right now, what about you? Uh, yeah, I'd probably
1:11:49
say no as of right now. I would have I would have put Johan
1:11:55
Santana in it. Yes, I think I think Johann had a better career
1:12:00
than the Gram, but they were similar in that in that peak conversation you're
1:12:06
talking about, where you know, a guy isn't good necessarily for twenty years,
1:12:11
but he's dominant for like five to seven years. Yeah, I mean,
1:12:15
I don't know, Like I've been saying, I wouldn't like, I
1:12:17
wouldn't get mad if the Graham made it. You know, it's fine if
1:12:21
people want to put him in. Would I vote for him personally? Probably
1:12:27
not. I probably I probably would have. I would have voted for Johan.
1:12:31
I think I don't think i'd vote for de Gram though. Yeah,
1:12:34
it's a it is a travesty that Johann fell often. I mean, the
1:12:38
big one that I'm still upset about falling off is Kenny Lofton. Like it's
1:12:43
a shame that Kenny Lofton only got one go around and then fell off the
1:12:45
bellot that he totally deserves to be in when you kind of yeah, well
1:12:49
that's the ridiculous. Yeah, absolutely, I mean he should forget the fact
1:12:55
that he fell off the belt. He should be actually be in the Hall
1:12:57
of Fame exactly. Yeah, I mean, yeah, no, some of
1:13:00
these are just like, some of these are just so ludicrous that you,
1:13:05
like, if anyone else saw this, like and they didn't know any better,
1:13:10
they'd be like, why don't you why doesn't Baseball change the process to
1:13:14
vote for the Hall of Fame because this obviously doesn't work. Any right minded
1:13:19
person would see, like the process and be like, wait a minute.
1:13:23
So Ted Simmons fell off after the first year and then twenty years later he
1:13:29
made it into Hall of Fame? What like, Yeah, I don't know,
1:13:32
I don't know. Why would that be. Why would a guy like
1:13:35
Ted Simmons fall off the ballot and then make the Hall of Fame. It
1:13:39
doesn't make any sense. He fell off like after one ballot too. I'm
1:13:45
not saying he fell off after ten years. Ted Simmons fell off after like
1:13:48
one ballot. He had like under five percent, and then he made it
1:13:53
into the Hall of Fame, which I think is pretty debatable on its own,
1:13:57
but like you said it, Kennedy laugh. It's like anyone anyone looks
1:14:01
at Kenny Lofton's stats and sees that he fell off after one ballot and then
1:14:08
thinks that the Hall of Fame voting works. It's like it doesn't work.
1:14:11
That doesn't work at all, doesn't That is so bad that Kenny Lofton,
1:14:16
Like that's why even even like the whole you can only vote for ten?
1:14:21
Why he cares, Like why would you make a false perimeter of like,
1:14:29
oh you have to only you can only vote for ten. It's like that's
1:14:32
like what I said. I said actually this off season, I think I
1:14:39
said something on Twitter. Maybe I don't know. I said somewhere that was
1:14:43
like maybe it was Blue Sky. I don't know. Anyway, I said
1:14:45
something like to the fact of like Dusty Baker should be in the Hall of
1:14:51
Fame because he retired, you know, like he should be like he shouldn't
1:14:56
have to wait, like there shouldn't be like, oh, you well,
1:14:59
you have to wait until like you know, in three years. It's like
1:15:01
no, like I don't wish, you know, a dusty Baker ill health.
1:15:06
But it's like he's an older guy. Why is he wait? Like
1:15:09
it doesn't make any sense, like like that's the whole thing with like and
1:15:13
I even feel the same way about like players, like if Mike Trout,
1:15:17
like uh, you know, or Justin Verlander, let's say, because he's
1:15:21
obvious, no bad, no doubt, or like if Justin Verlander retired tomorrow,
1:15:27
he should be all gave the whole fame, Like why wait five years?
1:15:30
Who killers? Like what what is the whole? Like what are you
1:15:33
waiting for? Like are we like why? Like it doesn't it doesn't really
1:15:39
make any sense if you stop the thing about it. The only reason we
1:15:42
do it is because we've always done it. But in reality, there's no
1:15:45
reason to wait five years, Like there's no obvious like, oh we wait
1:15:50
five years because that's when an angel gets its wings, Like what it doesn't
1:15:57
make any sense. Yeah, they ripen up enough, they're ready to be
1:16:00
Yeah, wait, hold on, we're counting gray hairs. Let's see yeah,
1:16:05
fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, Oh you kind of need twenty
1:16:11
gray hairs. I'm sorry, man, we'll see you next year. Yeah,
1:16:15
we're like prodding him like that avocado sitting on your your kitchen town and
1:16:18
you're like, oh, maybe I know. It's like when they yeah,
1:16:23
like when they tell me at the at the grocery store, I'm like,
1:16:26
hey, I got this green banana, but I don't like green bananas.
1:16:29
How do you how do you ripen it? And they're like, oh,
1:16:31
put in a brown paper bag and a rip in StAst That's what we have
1:16:34
to do with the players retire Now it's in cruise, you're retired, getting
1:16:39
a brown paper back. We'll send that. We'll send those suggestions on so
1:16:45
uh yeah, and we'll also have to have you back on when James Shields
1:16:48
makes the Hall of Fame and we can all celebrate together. So I know
1:16:54
we're running up close on time here, Gray. So I will let you
1:16:58
say where you can be found. You know, people want to connect with
1:17:00
you on socials or reach out to you at Rasball. Where can they find
1:17:03
you? I don't know they can find me. I guess they can find
1:17:09
me in the comments on Rasball, in my post. Only in my post
1:17:14
though I don't get other people's posts. Now, yeah, you can find
1:17:17
me there. I don't know. I guess you can follow You can follow
1:17:20
me at rasball on Twitter, but I don't really like Twitter anymore, to
1:17:25
be honest, it's an assessed pool of Nazis and terrible people. So yeah,
1:17:33
that's a good way to end this show. Uplifted, a good uplifting
1:17:39
message. Yeah, I don't know. Just find me on rasball I guess
1:17:44
just yet. Type in rasball to whatever you've got. Yeah, exactly,
1:17:49
but yeah, great. Thanks for joining and stubbing in for Jeremy this week.
1:17:53
It was really great having you on the pod and hearing about rich Jackson,
1:17:57
and yeah, hopefully you can have you on again in the future.
1:18:01
Thanks. Thanks for having man man. I'll talk to you all right.
1:18:04
Take care Gray, and we will be back with a little bit more information
1:18:09
on socials and other stuff stick around. Thanks again for listening to this episode
1:18:33
of Cards and Categories. You can find us on socials at cards Categories on
1:18:39
Twitter slash x. We should have a blue Sky account here pretty soon too,
1:18:43
so look out for that. You can also email the pod at Cardscategories
1:18:46
at gmail dot com. We look forward to any emails to generate some discussion
1:18:51
here. For the off season, we are planning to run all off season
1:18:55
here throughout the winter. We just took that one Thanksgiving break and Jeremy should
1:18:59
be back next week. We also have cards, categories, swag, and
1:19:02
merchandise in the link in the show notes, so check out that if you're
1:19:06
looking for some gifts for the upcoming holiday season, and we'll be back next
1:19:13
week with more off season coverage on latest cards and categories. News you can
1:19:18
rate, review, subscribe to the pod wherever you listen to pods. We
1:19:23
appreciate all feedback, all reviews, and all emails. See you and have
1:19:28
a great week.