The Rated Rabbi Sports Card Podcast: Cards Against Time

What say you, brave Odysseus? Can our hero resist the Siren Song of 2025 Topps Chrome Football? Plus, gamification comes to vintage sports cards.

The excellent collector Tony (⁨@TJ_Is_Online⁩) joins me in Dave's Cave to talk about a couple of his favorite cards, share his recent experience with a major consignment to Love of the Game Auctions, and to share a killer mail day which now connects my collection to his.

Remembering Cubs' second baseman Ken Hubbs, quiet musings at the graveside of an elder, and my first Bruce Springsteen concert. All these contribute to an episode about the impossible perfection of a life cut short versus one remembered by length of days.

A Little League coach taught me more than how to pitch. He showed me an approach. A philosophy. A balanced, measured, controlled, and repeatable way of being. I have an aversion to orthodoxies and manifestos, but find myself drawn to reflective ways of living that teach us about ourselves. With this episode, I introduce you to mine. I call it Cards Against Time: A Practice.

Trust me. I’m a collector, like you. But once in a while, an opportunity shows up that feels different. I wasn’t going to say anything. Honestly, I’d rather not. I'm a friendly collector. I’m a rabbi, for crying out loud. But there’s another side to me that looks at this hobby from a different angle. And the fewer people who see this side of me and the fewer people who see this opportunity to invest, the better the opportunity remains for me and those who seize it.

Redeeming the mistake of the 1980-81 Bird/Magin rookie card in a trade. And a hobbyist's untimely passing shines a light on collecting cards in the face of our inevitable mortality. To support Pastor Steve Miller's family, please visit: https://gofund.me/9660483e4.

I once spent $2,019 on an iconic card that I came to detest.

It's not about the cards. It's about time and our relationship to time.

What makes for a memorable series finale? For me, it's closure, surprise, and embodies the Irish wisdom, "Leave the table a little hungry; leave the bed a little sleepy, and leave the bar a little thirsty." In this final episode of the Rated Rabbi Sports Card Podcast, we take one last, loving look at the year 1984 and the original inspiration for this show: my 1984, 80-card, PSA-graded Master Set tribute to the 1984 All-Star Game. Has this been a show about Eighties nostalgia? Sports? Pop Culture? Cards? Collecting? Spirituality and seeking meaning? It's been a little bit of everything. On this final episode, we celebrate one more Debra Winger Mail Day and Goose Gossage strikes out Rickey Henderson to seal a 3-1 National League win. We conclude with my answer to the question: What would you today tell the you from 1984?

I have deep gratitude for my guests: Dr. Shark, @1956ToppsGuy, The RaSal,  @Iowa_Dave_Sportscards , and Adam K. Many thanks to John Newman and @SportsCardNationPodcast, Danny Black and @hobbynewsdaily , and Jeremy Lee and @SportsCardsLive  for graciously welcoming me as a guest on their shows. And most of all, I feel deep appreciation for all of you who have come along for a ride as viewers and listeners of the show.

Music is not in the notes but in the silence in between, and a similar thing can be said about our collections: They are not in the cards, but in the silence in between. I'm back from vacation, and from the silence I've got thoughts on how our collections transcend time as well as how our collections include both the presence of our cards and the absence of those we desire. I also share my own 10-point criteria for establishing a card as being PC-worthy. Plus, we enter the top of the 9th inning of the All-Star Game at Candlestick with Goose Gossage on to close it out and I share a few thoughts (and one incredible card I picked up) from the recent National in Cleveland. I promise you, this isn't a National recap and you won't hear any grievances from me. Come along for the ride - this one goes a few places.