Sports Cards Live

Are today's sports card prices sustainable, or are collectors setting themselves up to relive the painful correction that followed the 2021 boom?

Adam from Splendid Sports joins Jeremy Lee and David Chase to talk about changing your mind in the hobby. Months ago, Adam publicly said he was backing away from buying as prices became increasingly difficult to justify. Since then, he's jumped back in.

So what changed?

We discuss price exhaustion, the fear of buying at the top, whether collectors eventually become comfortable with higher prices when they persist long enough, and the lingering "PTSD" some collectors still carry from watching cards they bought during the last boom collapse in value.

Then Joshua Adams joins the show and it's finally time for the moment we've been teasing all night.

David Chase reveals his ultimate grail: ???

Not just another big pickup. Not simply another card on the want list. This is the card David ranked above everything else in the hobby, including a T206 Honus Wagner, and one he genuinely believed he would never own.

David gets emotional explaining how years of buying, selling and consolidating ultimately put him in a position to acquire it without putting new cash into the hobby, why owning it makes him strangely uncomfortable, and what the card represents beyond its monetary value.

We also dig into just how scarce the ??? really is, compare its availability with other major cards from the set, and examine David's PSA ? against a much higher-graded example.

Which raises another question: when one copy has better centering, registration and overall eye appeal, how much should the number on the holder really matter?

Check out The Hobby Spectrum at thehobbyspectrum.com and discover more about who you are as a collector.

Visit AuctionWire.ai and use promo code SCL for 45% off a one-year membership.

Check out Card Ladder for comprehensive sports card sales data, and use the Sports Cards Live promo code when you sign up.

And check out Pops & Comps: A Sports Card Collector's Guide to Navigating the Modern Hobby, available on Amazon.

Subscribe to Sports Cards Live on YouTube, and follow the show wherever you listen to podcasts.

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Why can a retired superstar be called "undervalued" for years...and then suddenly explode?

Guest co-host Adam from Splendid Sports joins Jeremy Lee and David Chase to examine what's happening with players like Shaquille O'Neal, Peyton Manning, Allen Iverson and Barry Bonds, whose cards have recently moved dramatically after years of hobby observers wondering why they weren't worth more.

What finally flips the switch?

Is new money entering the hobby without the old biases about big men, pitchers and certain positions? Are collectors simply getting priced out of Michael Jordan, Tom Brady, Kobe Bryant and other top-tier names and moving down the ladder? Can social media attention actually reprice an established player's market? Or is this simply what happens when a hot market begins searching for value?

Then comes the obvious question: Who's next?

Tim Duncan? Hakeem Olajuwon? Roger Clemens? Greg Maddux? Randy Johnson? Jerry Rice? Magic Johnson? Larry Bird? Wayne Gretzky? Barry Sanders? Tony Gwynn?

We also discuss why the era in which an athlete played can dramatically affect their hobby popularity, why the incredible cards produced during the late 1990s give certain players an advantage, and whether pitchers and defensive players could finally overcome some of the hobby's longest-standing biases.

But the conversation eventually leads somewhere bigger.

Are GOATs really the glue holding the hobby together? Or is the hobby actually built on everything beneath that level: hometown heroes, favorite players, childhood memories, nostalgia, personal connections and the cards that remind us of meaningful moments in our lives?

Because sometimes all it takes is one moment to create a collector.

Check out The Hobby Spectrum at thehobbyspectrum.com and discover more about who you are as a collector.

Visit AuctionWire.ai and use promo code SCL for 45% off a one-year membership.

Check out Card Ladder for comprehensive sports card sales data, and use the Sports Cards Live promo code when you sign up.

And check out Pops & Comps: A Sports Card Collector's Guide to Navigating the Modern Hobby, available on Amazon.

Subscribe to Sports Cards Live on YouTube, and follow the show wherever you listen to podcasts.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We kick things off with another completely serious update from SPA Grading, which is now actively soliciting your trimmed, altered, counterfeit, restored and otherwise "improved" cards. And in the interest of complete transparency, SPA has decided to set expectations appropriately low right from the beginning.

Then our guest co-host Adam from Splendid Sports joins Jeremy Lee and David Chase and brings out one of the hobby's most iconic cards: his 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle.

Adam tells the story of how he acquired the card, including selling another major card and dipping into his 401(k) to make the purchase happen. Was moving money out of a traditional retirement investment and into one of the hobby's ultimate blue-chip cards a crazy decision, or a calculated one?

That leads into a broader conversation about grails, financial risk, completing collecting goals, and the difference between your most valuable card, your favorite card and your most sentimental card.

Adam also explains the family connection behind his Mickey Mantle collection, why his 1955 Bowman and 1956 Topps Mantles may mean even more to him than his 1952 Topps, and why he believes Mantle's true 1951 Bowman rookie remains undervalued relative to the legendary 1952 Topps.

Check out The Hobby Spectrum at thehobbyspectrum.com and discover more about who you are as a collector.

Visit AuctionWire.ai and use promo code SCL for 45% off a one-year membership.

Check out Card Ladder for comprehensive sports card sales data, and use the Sports Cards Live promo code when you sign up.

And check out Pops & Comps: A Sports Card Collector's Guide to Navigating the Modern Hobby, available on Amazon.

Subscribe to Sports Cards Live on YouTube, and follow the show wherever you listen to podcasts.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Special podcast episode of The Hangover from the Sports Card Clubhouse platform.

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What would it actually take for another grading company to seriously challenge PSA?

Grai Miller, David Chase, Joshua Adams and I close out the show by digging into one of the hobby’s biggest competitive questions.

Is a recognizable name enough? Does it have to be a trusted hobby brand? Could a company like Fanatics enter the space and immediately become a legitimate player? Or would the real threat to PSA have to come from something completely different?

We look back at why Beckett was once able to become a major competitor so quickly, why so many grading companies have failed to seriously threaten PSA since, and whether the next major disruption will even resemble the grading model we know today.

Technology, consistency, population reports, set registries, grading guarantees and the power of the PSA brand all enter the conversation.

And because apparently no serious discussion about grading can happen anymore without it, SPA Grading returns with more details about its revolutionary approach to the hobby, its highly questionable population reports and the continued miracle that is Hart’s Hog Care Sports Card Formula.

We also wrap up Graig Miller’s debut as the first Sports Cards Live guest co-host.

Subscribe to Sports Cards Live on YouTube and wherever you listen to podcasts.

Discover where you fit in the hobby at thehobbyspectrum.com.

Search auctions across the hobby at AuctionWire.ai and use promo code SCL for 45% off your first year.

Check out Pops & Comps on Amazon.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Some collectibles can be replaced. Others take a piece of their story with them when they're gone.

We continue our conversation about hobby regrets with an incredible Jesse Owens Olympic story that raises a much bigger question: what actually makes something irreplaceable? Is it rarity, value, provenance, the story attached to it, or simply the memories you made while owning it?

That leads us into whether owning a card once can sometimes be enough, why certain cards immediately go back onto the want list while others don't, and how sharing our collections may change the experience of ownership itself.

Then David Chase reveals that he's in the middle of a massive collection consolidation. More than 60 cards are on the way out as he works toward something much bigger, but he's not ready to tell us what it is yet.

And finally, we turn back to grading. We complain about PSA constantly, yet the hobby continues to reward it. So what would another grading company actually have to do to become a legitimate threat?

Subscribe to Sports Cards Live on YouTube and wherever you listen to podcasts.

Discover where you fit in the hobby at thehobbyspectrum.com.

Search auctions across the hobby at AuctionWire.ai and use promo code SCL for 45% off your first year.

Check out Pops & Comps on Amazon.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What made you start collecting in the first place, and is it still the same reason you collect today?

Joshua Adams joins Graig Miller and David Chase as we wrap up our conversation with Phil Kronakis and then turn the focus inward.

We go back to our earliest memories as collectors, the cards and sets that first grabbed our attention, and how our motivations have evolved over decades in the hobby. From completing sets and chasing favorite players to nostalgia, vintage, rookie cards and finally being able to own some of the things that seemed completely out of reach when we were kids.

Then Greg asks a dangerous question: what’s the hobby decision you still regret?

That opens up some stories about cards we sold too early, cards we passed on, money we wish we had spent differently and decisions that look very different with the benefit of hindsight.

Are the mistakes simply part of the collecting journey? And would the wins mean as much without a few painful losses along the way?

Subscribe to Sports Cards Live on YouTube and wherever you listen to podcasts.

Discover where you fit in the hobby at thehobbyspectrum.com.

Search auctions across the hobby at AuctionWire.ai and use promo code SCL for 45% off your first year.

Check out Pops & Comps on Amazon.

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When did sports become so intertwined with gambling, and what did that do to the sports card hobby?

Phil Chronakis remains with us as Greaig Miller of Midlife Cards joins the panel as the first-ever Sports Cards Live guest co-host.

We dig into a major shift that happened years before the COVID hobby boom and ask whether the legalization and normalization of sports betting helped create the environment that transformed sports cards as well.

That leads us straight into one of the hobby’s most contentious questions: is opening wax gambling?

Collecting, breaking, ripping, chasing, compulsive spending and the psychology behind all of it come into the discussion, with some very different perspectives around the table. We also hear from Collectors MD about what they are seeing firsthand from collectors struggling with these behaviours.

Finally, we look ahead. Does a hobby with this much money flowing through it eventually face greater scrutiny? And if some form of regulation is coming, is the better answer government intervention or a hobby that learns how to govern itself?

Subscribe to Sports Cards Live on YouTube and wherever you listen to podcasts.

Discover where you fit in the hobby at thehobbyspectrum.com.

Search auctions across the hobby at AuctionWire.ai and use promo code SCL for 45% off your first year.

Check out Pops & Comps on Amazon.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Phil Chronakis of Sealed Wax Nation joins us for a conversation about collecting sealed wax, the nostalgia attached to unopened boxes and packs, and why some collectors have absolutely no desire to find out what’s inside.

But Phil’s relationship with the hobby goes well beyond collecting. We get into the story behind Sealed Wax Nation, his Keep It Sealed American Tour, and his mission to use sports cards to support children’s hospitals and youth organizations across the country.

From there, the conversation expands into scarcity, nostalgia and the psychology that makes collecting so powerful. We also tackle affordability and access to the hobby before putting one of the hobby’s most frequently used words under the microscope: monopoly.

Is having enormous market share enough? What about exclusive licenses? And what does competition actually mean from the consumer’s perspective?

A wide-ranging conversation about collecting, giving back, business and the forces shaping the modern hobby.

Subscribe to Sports Cards Live on YouTube and wherever you listen to podcasts.

Discover where you fit in the hobby at thehobbyspectrum.com.

Search auctions across the hobby at AuctionWire.ai and use promo code SCL for 45% off your first year.

Check out Pops & Comps on Amazon.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Card show season is heating up, and this episode starts with a look at what’s happening on the show floor on both sides of the border.

Carter Yelle joins us ahead of year two of the Saskatchewan Sports Card & Collector Experience to talk about building on a successful first year, creating a show people actually want to return to, and what collectors can expect when the hobby descends on Saskatoon.

Then David Chase joins me as we compare notes from two very different card shows, talk about what we’re seeing from buyers and sellers right now, and share a few of our pickups. I also show off a major Wayne Gretzky card that I never expected to come home with me.

And finally, SPA Grading is back with its first major update.

All that and plenty more from another Saturday night on Sports Cards Live.

Subscribe to Sports Cards Live on YouTube and wherever you listen to podcasts.

Check out the Hobby Spectrum and discover where you fit in the hobby at thehobbyspectrum.com.

Search auctions across the hobby at AuctionWire.ai and use promo code SCL for 45% off your first year.

And check out Pops & Comps on Amazon.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices