The Hobby Handbook

Alex and Trent are back with Alex still on top of the SCN Challenge. There's an update on Trent's trade that brought him a Ken Griffey Jr. 1/1 Printing Plate Auto, and it isn't good. What side of the Topps replacement would you prefer?

We wrap up with the seven-figure heist from a FedEx truck full of PSA slabs. How can you protect yourself and what you should be on the lookout for when at card shows.

0:00 - SCN Challenge Update + Alex is still on top, but Trent is slipping

7:45 - Breaking down Alex’s moves and whether Trent should make any moves

12:50 - Alex got one of his Jackie Robinson cards back from Arena Club, and it’s tripled since he pulled it.

17:40 - It is so much easier to make money when you have money, and how being prepared going into a card show can help

21:15 - Trent’s trade for the Ken Griffey Jr. Printing Plate Auto 1/1 is going to turn out to be a bad buy

28:05 - Replacing damaged cards can work out, and sometimes it doesn’t - would you rather have a Barry Bonds All-Kings or Bonds On-Card Auto /10 & Ohtani 50/50 Gold /50

40:00 - PSA/FedEx Theft Story and the latest details 

42:25 - Be very, very careful buying cards at a card show right now after this theft. If it is too good to be true, it is. 

48:30 - People in the hobby can’t do branded boxes/bags/mailers because you need to be inconspicuous when shipping. 

52:25 - Alex would rather have a true blue /150 than a Bowman Logofractor /35

55:25 - What is Alex’s plan if there is a strike in baseball?

1:02:55 - There are so many grading companies popping up, but if there is a big card, there is no reason to send it to someone who doesn’t have a corporate booth at the national. 

1:08:10 - Grading is dead for now to Alex and Trent. 

1:14:40 - Trent has started buying some Pokémon cards.

Follow Sports Cards Nonsense:

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@sportscardsnonsense

Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/sports_cards_nonsense/

Twitter: https://x.com/SCN_Pod

Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/groups/sportscardsnonsense

Newsletter: https://collectibleslife.beehiiv.com/subscribe

SCN Challenge: https://scnchallenge.com/

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/SportsCardsNonsense?utm_source=linktree_profile_share<sid=5764ed98-4893-4eae-bf91-0bd89949ed99

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

We open up the Hobby Handbook this week with an update on the SCN Challenge, as we have a new leader: Alex! Trent remains in second, and Brendan will eventually be third. Alex and Trent both had big weekends at shows. Discussing why the market doesn't always respond rationally to new products. Looking at why rarity doesn't equal value in cards. Plus, the guys wrap up with their World Series predictions.

0:00 - SCN Challenge Update + Alex takes the top spot

9:20 - Trent’s big trade at a show this weekend for a big Ken Griffey Jr. auto

15:00 - Alex also went to a show and bought a box full of Ken Griffey Jr. singles

28:15 - Building relationships with people helps facilitate deals

34:30 - The market doesn’t always react rationally 

36:55 - The most important thing a new collector can do is to watch people open boxes and get a good sense of what is cool or desirable.

42:00 - Is it a junk wax era? Not so much, but we could call it a junk parallel era. 

56:55 - Rare doesn’t equal valuable, but cool cards always carry a premium

1:05:55 - World Series predictions

Follow Sports Cards Nonsense:

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

Caden Favors is in the Guardians system and also a big card collector. He joins Alex and Trent to discuss his baseball journey and his card-collecting journey. Then we get into how Topps Cosmic Baseball isn't an EQL Drop, making it hard for collectors to get their hands on it. Both Trent and Alex completely whiffed on the drop. So what can be done to improve this process? Alex and Trent try to dive into solutions.

0:00- Intro 

3:30 - Caden Favors Intro

7:30 - The step up from AA to MLB

10:30 - No 1st Bowman - what’s the process for getting one?

14:10 - Caden is still chasing his first 1/1

15:20 - Who is Caden collecting? Ralphy Velasquez and Braylon Doughty.

21:45 - Lightning Round Questions

24:15 - Is Grading Dead? It seems like collectors are looking for cool cards again than worrying about the grade.

36:45 - Cosmic Baseball instantly doubled on eBay after release and wasn’t an EQL release.

41:05 - Crazy that Cosmic Baseball wasn’t an EQL

46:40 - The market sets the price, and the market is willing to buy Cosmic Baseball at $900 a box. Topps is below market; they just need to do a better job getting boxes into collectors' hands.

49:15 - SCN Challenge Update: Trent is lapping the field

58:00 - Alex is dealing with the issues of not having someone helping with shipping

Follow Sports Cards Nonsense:

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

Alex and Trent are back with another Hobby Handbook episode, and Trent has been listing cards like a madman on eBay the last few weeks. Alex and Trent go through some recent pickups. Trent is back on top of The SCN Challenge with Brendan right behind him. Plus, we go through MLB Postseason Buy or Sell!

0:00 - Intro + Update on Alex’s massive card lot he bought

4:00 - Trent has been listing like a madman on eBay thanks to Heystack. 

9:45 - Some recent pickups for the MLB postseason 

12:25 - Trent is leading the SCN Challenge 

22:45 - Bowman Football release day - neither Alex nor Trent are that excited for Bowman 

25:45 - Topps Cosmic Chrome baseball is coming out, and that is exciting for both

36:15 - Trent’s Postseason buy list for the AL Postseason. 

49:10 - Favorite picks for AL: Camineiro and Rice

49:45 - Trent and Alex’s NL Picks

1:06:00 - Can Ohtani even see a postseason bump without a World Series win?

Follow Sports Cards Nonsense:

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

Alex and Trent are back, as Trent is leading the SCN Challenge after Week 2. Alex had to make his first waiver move in the SCN Challenge. Plus, we have an update on a new trend of fake cards and what one consignor is doing about it. Wrapping up with the mailbag: how long is too long to hold a card?

0:00 - Trent is now leading the SCN Challenge

4:30 - Will Alex’s move go through, and should he take a big loss?

12:15 - Alex is waiting on a shipment from Fanatics Collect, and it might be a while.

18:40 - DCSports87 puts out a statement on the fake cards that have been submitted to them.

30:00 - The chase for Fernando Mendoza Heritage red ink autos

33:55 - Mailbag!

43:30 - Strategies to recharge the batteries and not get overworked in the hobby.

50:45 - How long is too long to hold a card?

Follow Sports Cards Nonsense:

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

Alex and Trent are back, but what is with the slow breaks around Bowman Chrome? Alex bought a 100,000-card collection over the weekend and has spent most of the week sorting it out. What do you do with 100,000 cards? How many are worth re-selling? Plus, we get the latest on the Fanatics Collect Emanate debacle, and with grading taking forever and being so expensive, are raw cards cool again?

0:00 - Are we in a market lull, or are prices just too high?

9:00 - Alex bought a 100,000-card collection

16:50 - There’s a ton of Bowman in this collection that Alex picked up. 

27:00 - Dealing with eBay listings, Alex is a self-described diva. 

29:45 - How do you feel about eBay's authenticity guarantee? 

40:00 - Alex and Trent have been buying singles on WhatNot and Fanatics Collect and have found surprisingly good results

45:20 - The Fanatics Collect Emanate debacle

54:30 - Are raw cards cool again, or are people just over paying high prices for grading?

59:40 - Alex’s rule for grading cards right now

Follow Sports Cards Nonsense:

https://www.tiktok.com/@sportscardsnonsense

https://www.instagram.com/sports_cards_nonsense/

https://x.com/SCN_Pod

https://www.facebook.com/groups/sportscardsnonsense

https://collectibleslife.beehiiv.com/subscribe

https://scnchallenge.com/

https://linktr.ee/SportsCardsNonsense?utm_source=linktree_profile_share<sid=5764ed98-4893-4eae-bf91-0bd89949ed99

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

With football season here, Drake from Jet Breakers steps in for Trent this week as he and Alex preview the upcoming season, look ahead to Topps Football products, and discuss what exactly football fans should be chasing in the new products. Plus, Drake grades Alex and Trent's teams in the SCN Challenge!

0:00 - Drake is filling in for Trent this week. 

4:45 - Drake got into football cards because of his love of fantasy football. 

8:00 - Paul Skenes and Jacob Misiorowski broke the mold in baseball; can the quarterback-focused market be broken in football?

15:20 - What happens if Fernando Mendoza doesn’t play in 2026? 

20:00 - What products would you like to see come to the football side of the hobby?

24:30 - Drake looks at Alex’s SCN Challenge team and grades his

40:00 - Looking ahead to the football season and awards and how to use that in the market

59:00 - What do you think of Bowman football?

1:08:00 - Where does the football market go from here?

1:17:30 - The best answer for “What should I collect?”

Follow Sports Cards Nonsense:

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

A packed show with Alex and Trent. Trent's wife is getting into cards during his "funemployment." Alex is a maniac who placed 500 bids on eBay over the last 24 hours. Diving into why pitchers just don't retain their hobby relevance as long as hitters. Plus, Sapphire products hold up after the initial hype. Wrapping up with a rising market and why yesterday's price isn't always today's price when comps keep going up.

0:00 - Trent is still funemployed for another week, and his wife is now getting into cards.

4:45 - Alex has spent a lot of time sourcing cards this week. He placed over 500 bids on cards this week. 

10:00 - A debate about Sapphire and how it holds up

12:30 - Sapphire Update: Basketball comes out at an outrageous price.

16:00 - Bowman Chrome releases next week!

28:45 - Trent doesn’t chase Bowman for the prospects; he chases the fun inserts and SSPs

30:30 - SGC is now unusable as a grading service after the latest service update. 

36:55 - Topps brought Instant Rips to Topps Chrome Black

46:00 - Debut Patch Autos should all be redemptions 

53:50 - Kade Anderson called up, and his pricing isn’t up; it is so hard for pitchers to hold value long-term. Plus, looking at Paul Skenes’s season. 

58:30 - Going through all the pitcher phenoms that fizzled out after a few years. 

1:02:00 - When someone has an award locked up, it’s already too late to buy in on the hype, but it does make a good selling opportunity. 

1:10:10 - When markets are heating up, if you’re not willing to overpay the last comp, you won’t win.

Follow Sports Cards Nonsense:

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

A busy show on the Hobby Handbook as Trent and Alex open up, discussing their pickups of the week and why people are sleeping on platforms that aren't eBay. Carl Abrams joins to discuss the GPK x MLB market. Plus, we look at Flagship Football and why everyone is wrong about it and why the Fernando Mendoza All Kings being redemptions is actually good.

0:00 - Pickups of the Week

8:00 - Why buying singles on platforms like Fanatics Collect is great because some people don’t look outside of monster cards

9:45 - Topps is sending out multiple redemptions to the same people and mistakes do happen

17:30 - Introducing Carl Abrams

19:30 - The growth of the GPK market

29:00 - Topps continues to find a balance with inserts/case hits

33:00 - Looking at the GPK market and the differences between each series

41:50 - GPK thoughts

45:15 - Trent is a football guy now?

49:50 - People are missing the point of Flagship Football

53:20 - Fernando Mendoza has redemptions for All Kings

54:40 - The one card you could remove from hobby history

1:06:20 - Pop Counts Don’t Matter As Much As People Think

Follow Sports Cards Nonsense:

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

Trent is back, teaming up with Alex, and he made some big pickups while he was out. Alex and Trent debate a Mega Box vs. Logofractor box. Why you should buy cards of PC players from lesser sets. Plus, Alex visited one of the worst-run card shops in the country and lived to tell the tale. We wrap up with some thoughts on best practices for being a vendor at a card show.

0:00 - Trent is back and made some big pickups

5:00 - Topps Chrome Mega Box vs. Logofractor

13:10 - Topps Chrome is an investment-level set, but if you just want an auto from someone, look at other lower-end sets

17:10 - Alex reacts to one of the worst shops he’s been to

36:25 - Alt having the bounty auction for the Cooper Flagg Rookie Debut Patch Auto

1:00:00 - Card show etiquette for vendors buying cards

Follow Sports Cards Nonsense:

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