The Shallow End

You watch them on the field. You track their cards across eBay and MySlabs. And you daydream about adding them to your collection – for better or worse. They're the players who cause FOMO: the fear of missing out.

Some of us in the sports-card hobby spend more time on eBay than we do with our families. But it's important to remember that eBay doesn't exist to give us a place to hang out. It exists to separate us from our money.

Lots of us have done it. We don't want a card, but we buy it. Why? To get our card fix? For the rush? To keep our PC's from getting stale? Whatever the reason, it's a crucial issue within the sports-card hobby: the decision to buy when we shouldn't be buying. In this episode, Mike (@thegolfcardcollector) and Dave (@Iowa_Dave_Sportscards) put themselves under the microscope to begin exploration of this important hobby question.

Dave (@Iowa_Dave_Sportscards on IG) sent cards off to grade. Now his card funds are tied up for the next 40-60 business days. Which means that for the next couple of months the collecting part of his collection is kind of … stuck. In this episode, we talk about what it means to be standing still in the sports-card space.

This is an episode by baseball nerds, for baseball nerds. David Brown, Iowa Dave's friend and former colleague, recently cast his first-ever ballot for the Baseball Hall of Fame. They talk player-by-player through David's ballot, his research process, and how much personal views played into his decision making. At the end, they play a sports-cards trivia game to help bring David up to speed within the modern sports-card hobby.

Bob Hosta (@bobhostacollection on IG) wasn't satisfied with his collection, so he created a system to help him upgrade into a PC that he today describes as being so much better that he sometimes forgets they're his cards. This is the story of a collector who created a new ecosystem for himself because the old one wasn't as rewarding as it should have been. Thanks for listening.

The Shallow End is hosted by Dave Schwartz (@Iowa_Dave_Sportscards on IG).

Would you trade 24 cards for one? Most of us in the hobby would – and have. In this episode, Dave talks about some recent moves he needed to make in order to pick up a new card.

Like any year, 2023 has seen highs and lows. Successes, failures, triumphs, challenges -- all can be used as lessons to make 2024 an even better year in the hobby.

This is an episode about process, about asking ourselves questions that will keep us focused. In this episode, Dave shares the six questions he tries to ask himself before each card acquisition.

Somewhere between prospecting and trying to get in on a Hall of Famer before they retire lies "The Lull." It's the forgettable part of a player's career, and if you're collecting on a budget, it might the opportunity we need to get the cards we want.