The Rated Rabbi Sports Card Podcast: Cards Against Time

It's not often you get to meet the world's greatest anything. But this episode is one of those times. We sit down with Tom, aka The Tim Reaper, possessor of the world's greatest Tim Lincecum collection. We talk Timmy, Giants fandom, passion, focus, sacrifice, the journey to collecting greatness, and our original connection through a top three card in my collection and the only one near the top I could never replace again: my 2011 Finest Tim Lincecum Superfractor, acquired from The Reaper in July of 2022. This one is for the hobby nerds - join us.

Last year, with card prices soaring and not enjoying the feelings of chasing and noticing the presence of absence, I turned my attention to vintage non-sports cards and to building a 100-card collection I called "American Icons." But before I could build the list and collect the cards, I first had to clarify the meanings of icon and iconic, two overused and underscrutinized words. In this episode, I share my five criteria (story, symbol, recognition, memory, and mythology), show a handful of iconic non-sports figures, and share the person and card I consider to be the single most iconic of the 20th century.

Ataraxia is a Greek philosophical term for a state of deep tranquility, freedom from worry, and deep calm. I made Ataraxia my priority as a laid out my personal collection on a table. Guided by it and by a five-tier hierarchy for decision making, I decided what to keep and what to let go.

In remembrance of 25 years since September 11th and in lieu of a typical episode, I present the words I will share with the congregation this evening as Rosh Hashanah and the Jewish High Holy Days begin.

I'm back after a short hiatus for 1978 Topps football pack opening and to kick off a fun new project based on the pack.

Neither Dr. King's "I have a dream" nor Lionel Richie's "I had a dream, I had an awesome dream." But this dream. My dream: The Family Feud, Richard Dawson, and naming a baseball player's coolest accessory. Thick gold chains with dangling crosses, Mimsbandz, toothpicks, my Did Not Buy Card of the Week, and more. NOTE: I'm joking about the mail day.

On inscrutable bumper sticker absolutism, eye appeal stickers, and the hobby's move from overpaying for the opinion of a grader to overpaying for the opinion of the grader who grades the grader. It's been a bonanza for sellers preying on newer collectors who know to "buy the card, not the grade," but it's driving stickered cards way above what some of them are actually worth.

Recorded on the Saturday of the 2026 National, we welcome back to Dave's Cave Studios Matthew (@1956ToppsGuy) for an insightful conversation not about feelings of withdrawal from not attending this year's National, but about his intentional semi-withdrawal from the hobby and his gradual, thoughtful reentry to collecting. Our conversation explores an emotional journey that put him at odds with the current hobby and speaks to feelings many collectors have at times, including me.

A ritual doesn't promise new stories, but rather promises another chance to place ourselves inside of a familiar one. The National Sports Card Convention is a wonderful ritual, but it's not one I need to feel fulfilled as a collector at this time.

We collect ourselves, making our collections self-portraits. Episode 18 of The Rated Rabbi: Cards Against Time is “A 1/1 Life,” a deeply personal story about a chapter in my life that was so overwhelming that all I could do was take my oar out of the water and float downstream. It also a story about CC Sabathia who, in 2008, took Milwaukee, the Brewers, and me on a magical ride of pure escapism. Finally, it’s about this 2025 Topps Dynasty Sabathia 1/1 that now represents that time and those memories in my personal collection.