Card Mensches E32 Hobby Traditions & Superstitions

SPEAKER 1: Hey, everyone. John Newman here. Thank you for downloading this episode of Card Mensches myself and Danny Black of Hobby News Daily would like to remind you this is a live show every other Friday at 9 p.m. Eastern. It can be found on most of our social medias. Danny's at Sports Ball and Hobby News Daily.

SPEAKER 1: I am Sports Car Nation Podcast and it can be found on our YouTube channels, at Hobby News Daily, Sports Carnation Podcast at Sports Bult and at card matches. So with that being said, we hope to see you very soon on a Friday night in our very active chat room. Now, let's start the show.

SPEAKER 2: Experience quality consistency and the quickest turnaround times in the grading industry, we are proud to partner with SGC grading. Check them out at www dot go SGC.com.

SPEAKER 3: Hey, I'm Danny.

SPEAKER 4: Black and I'm John Newman.

SPEAKER 3: Welcome to card matches.

SPEAKER 3: I'm Danny Black and you're John Newman. They just welcome to card matches. Episode 32. We are talking, hobby, superstitions and traditions, which is a topic that I think is, was a fantastic idea. Whoever thought of it.

SPEAKER 3: I think it was a group effort.

SPEAKER 4: All right. Not too bad, you know, superstitions is, you know, maybe too strong a word but like routines or you do a certain thing the same way all the time when it comes to hobby stuff. So, well, man and Robin, of the car. I like that. I like that dynamic.

SPEAKER 3: Well, what's up Dylan? So, well, this came from the fact that, series one came out and how many people, how many people make series one opening, you know, on, on release day or very soon thereafter is part of their hobby schedule or hobby tradition. That's where the conversation.

SPEAKER 4: Yeah, this guy does right here. You do. Who has two thumbs and does that.

SPEAKER 3: This guy, this guy, yes, we, we, we are streaming on multiple channels, two channels.

SPEAKER 4: We're like two chains. No, we're on like 12 channels at NBC.

SPEAKER 3: NBC NBC was a tough deal.

SPEAKER 3: Orlando is three channels. We won't give up the real number. Hello, Steven.

SPEAKER 3: So just for the people in the room.

SPEAKER 3: Can you guys have any traditions that you wanna share? Does anybody actually open?

SPEAKER 3: Did they open series one?

SPEAKER 3: Ruben is John over his.

SPEAKER 4: Sickness because he lost his life. It's not, I'm, I'm feeling a lot better. I got a little, little cold, still hanging on. But, I'm not complaining it Tuesday and Wednesday. I miss school.

SPEAKER 4: I'm a guy that doesn't call out of work and, I was in bad shape so I wasn't, I thought I had COVID. Quite frankly I took a couple of tests, negative no fever. Just a, a real, my wife thinks it was a, a quick flu. So, but, as Elton John says, I'm still standing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER 3: From the beastie boys to Elton John. And one answer.

SPEAKER 4: You never know. You just don't know. There was one answer.

SPEAKER 3: Has anybody opened up? Series one? Let me, let me rephrase it because it's still early enough. I did a break today. I'Ll admit just to kind of get a feel for the cards. Well, I guess not get a feel for the cards but watch other people feel the cards.

SPEAKER 3: But you actually opened the box.

SPEAKER 4: I did our friend Nick Brauer a an collect is he's we had to meet up any way he had to pick up his you know, he, his customers sub through me through SGC. He's kind of the middle store man. So we, you know, we as tradition, speaking of tradition, we meet sort of halfway cause he's about 50 55 minutes. So we meet halfway after he closes the store and I give him his graded cards for his customers.

SPEAKER 4: Well, I knew he had the new flagship and I'm like, hey let me, let me snag a box and, and, and that's a tradition. So I opened my first pack in 1979 guys. But the first time I opened, actually a full, a full box of cards was 1980. Tops. And so since 1980 I've always opened at least in the bare minimum one box of Tops Flagship. Even in the years where I kind of wasn't doing a ton of hobby stuff.

SPEAKER 4: I had three or four years where I sort of went dormant. I still sort of bought up box, ripped it open and just kept the cards in the box sort of thing when that did too much. So, it's the 44th year in a row that I guess you could say I opened a, at least one full box of cops. It's kind of cool and I, I'Ll be honest with you, this was one of my better boxes of those 44 years, at least to what that I can remember.

SPEAKER 4: You know, some of those years there were no, as we all know. Right. Parallels and colored cards. So, this was probably one of my better value in terms of if you're into that sort of thing. One of my better value, you know, returns on, on, you know what I had into the box. If you will. You're being very cryptic. Well, I got, you want me to show cards? All right. You don't have to ask me twice.

SPEAKER 3: I'm just saying you, you know, almost you don't hit on cards often, you know, while you're pulling that, doctor say right here, buy a box of series one, but I do buy a complete top set most years. Steve. I think that's, that counts.

SPEAKER 4: Yeah. All right. I'Ll save the better one for a second. I, I'Ll show two cards. Obviously, I'm not gonna show all the cards and make this, I'm gonna post a video of, of the opening of the box itself. So, you know what? I like Danny, I like that. I like that. Acetate and not lie. Yeah, I like acetate and I can't lie.

SPEAKER 4: That's the clear, the clear parallels. These are numbered to 10. This is four out of a 10. It's Jake Fraley of the Cincinnati Reds.

SPEAKER 4: Not the greatest player but not bad either. It could be worse. So that was pretty cool. These are obviously a tough pool even the, even the nods if you will of the clear cuts, bring, bring some coin just because of how low printed they are. And I'm gonna post the video me opening this box here in the next couple of days. I haven't posted it yet.

SPEAKER 4: So there's one autograph for memorabilia card per box. And so there's only 20 packs in the box this year. So I got into the 17th, 18th pack and I might haven't hit the, the memory that I'm like, oh, maybe they're gonna maybe I'm just gonna get the clear cut and they're gonna count that as the, the memo that, you know, even though it's not really, maybe that's the, the trade off.

SPEAKER 4: So the 19th pack out of the 20th, I pulled this and if you watch the video and I initially do not know what it's numbered to II, I go back and, and retrace my step, but it's Mason win. I know it's the, the glare and the, it's a Mason Wind, the, 89 retro parallel auto. It's the red version.

SPEAKER 4: And he, for those that don't know, Mason win, he's the number 43 prospect on the top 100 major league baseball prospect list. Pretty good player for the Saint Louis Cardinals. And when I first got it, I, I kind of flipped it over real quick and it's hard to see, but it's numbered.

SPEAKER 4: You probably won't even see it there, but then it's numbered to 25. So this is six out of 20 or four out of 25. Take your word. And so, yeah, and this kind, you know, even my reaction during, yeah, I like, I don't really get overexcited when I open up. But like, anyway, I'm not one of those, boom. Let's go. I'm not one of those guys.

SPEAKER 4: So you're not gonna like, I'm a, I'm not a breaker and it's a good thing because that'd be a bad one. They'd be like, hey, Mason went on I 25. Congrats, Jimmy and Des Moines, Iowa. You know, that would be it. You know, I wouldn't be going crazy. You don't want to see me in a half shirt.

SPEAKER 4: There's a lot of good reasons.

SPEAKER 4: I'm not a breaker. So if you watch this video that's not out yet.

SPEAKER 4: You know, it's a pretty nonchalant reaction for what this car is actually is and when I looked it up kinda on ebay, these things are going for for pretty good coin. So, you know, congratulations. Not a bad box. And, and then there was a bunch of a De La Cruz, there was a good box. So overall J Jasson Dominguez rookies.

SPEAKER 4: You know, I'm trying to think I did not get an OI or SOTO Yankees card. So, isn't that a short print parallel that people are, people are saying that they have not pulled them and that t is pulling a fast one. I don't know, I didn't get one to eat any of those.

SPEAKER 3: I haven't seen one yet but II I, I've only heard about it. I've been a little bit tied up, but I'm trying to catch up on the flag show.

SPEAKER 3: I like the look of it this year.

SPEAKER 4: I will tell you that. I'm glad you said that Danny. So, you know, when the, when tops releases the spec heat and I like the design then, right the neon lights, but the pictures do not do the card justice.

SPEAKER 4: When you see them in person, they are, every card has a metallic and foil sort of sheen to them. They're really, they did a good job, you know, we can bag on top sometimes for this or that and deservedly so and sometimes self inflicted on their part, the design is here.

SPEAKER 4: They, they, they got, they got it right. I really, I really dig it. You know, with fire, as the kids say, I don't even think they say that.

SPEAKER 3: I think it's gonna end up being like the 75 set. We just gonna look dated in a decade maybe, but very cool right now. Yeah.

SPEAKER 4: You know what it reminded me of and I'm not saying like ex looks exactly like it, it just not and not the card stock, just the, the front design of it. It just brought me a little bit back to that 86 tops year of opening of opening that. So, sort of 86 tops, obviously, 86 tops didn't have any of that. The foil features and, and that sort of thing.

SPEAKER 4: But, it was, I was, I was pleasantly surprised seeing it in person or opening in person for the first time and I can be pretty critical. I, you know, I think people know me, you know. No, I, I kind of call it like I see it. I, I was impressed with the design, the backs. I don't know if I have any base cards around here but the bats, the bats are nice too. They're nice. They're glossy and they're white.

SPEAKER 3: Yep. And so they do have this first card parallel. I don't believe they.

SPEAKER 4: Look, I got, hey, do we want to spend 20 minutes of the show? And I can go look if I got any first cards. Is that exciting?

SPEAKER 3: You can do that. You can do that afterwards. It'll be a separate private showing.

SPEAKER 3: I, I believe they were just stamped as a short print for guys. I don't believe they're numbered. Am I correct on that?

SPEAKER 4: No, I don't think they're numbered. They just had the first card logo or wording around the, the team logo.

SPEAKER 4: So how many of those like, you know, they made 41 of ones on some of the other. How many first cards are there? Like 10 of each player? I'm just kidding.

SPEAKER 3: Well, I, I will say that I did a break so I haven't gotten the cards yet, but I, but I noticed that the 89 inserts that this card look so much visually better than the 89 that you know that this, that I just thought it, I think it's a sharp looking set. So that, that's one of one of for each of us. So it seems to be a hobby traditions to get the flagship.

SPEAKER 4: Some people probably don't like this. It doesn't bother me as, it, as much as it bothers some other people, there are a lot of horizontal cards in this set. So if you're, you're a fan of just the up and down traditional vertical shot, there's probably 35 there's probably 35 40% of the cards are vertical cards.

SPEAKER 4: So I know certain people don't like that. They're, they're not gonna like that because this is heavy, a good, heavier than what, what I think they traditionally do as far as horizontal shot cards.

SPEAKER 3: Well, Dylan says he wants more portraits and not everything to be an action shot.

SPEAKER 4: So I, I, I, you know, here's the thing I have to, you know, is, is I'd ask Dylan, you know, is it, is he want that more or less reserved for Stadium Club?

SPEAKER 4: So he doesn't want to flagship to kind of steal from what we love about Stadium Club because I get that, if he, if he says, yes, I get that, I won't argue with that because I saw a lot of action shots in this and I said, man, this, this has a sort of a Stadium Club feel without the, the gloss and the, the boss scene.

SPEAKER 4: But I kinda like it. I, I don't dislike it as much as Dylan does, but I wonder if that's where the place he's coming from and if it is well to each his own right opinions are not wrong. Just facts can be.

SPEAKER 4: So I get it. You know what?

SPEAKER 3: Everybody's got one.

SPEAKER 4: Yeah, not everybody. There's a medical case.

SPEAKER 3: Dylan says in response, no, I just love portrait shots like 58 tops.

SPEAKER 4: Yeah, I get it. I get it and he ain't the only one I, I'Ll stick up for Dylan. I stick up for him anyway because I like him.

SPEAKER 4: But, I get that, I don't love horizontal shots and maybe, maybe there is too many in this particular, you know, first series release, but they're in there, you know, and, and there's a lot of like outfielders going back to the wall and, and stealing an extra base hit or a home run or climbing the wall, which is kind of cool, you know.

SPEAKER 4: But I get it. I sort of look at it as like they're taking a page out their Stadium Club blueprint and they're putting it into the flagship. Is that good? Bad? You like, I guess beauty's in the eye of the beholder.

SPEAKER 4: I love Stadium Club. So I guess it doesn't bother too much, you know, I guess I could complain more that sometimes flagship can be too boring sometimes. So, you know, I guess it depends on the day.

SPEAKER 3: Well, it depends, you know, you can be sure any day.

SPEAKER 3: I was the answer.

SPEAKER 3: All right. So that's one we share and that's, that's, that's kind of how this whole conversation kicked off. Dylan says you can't wait till 2024 heritage. I know a lot of people who.

SPEAKER 4: Feel Rich Klein. Rich Klein. He's not, I don't think he's here but he just, he loves Dylan for that comment.

SPEAKER 3: Orlando says that he likes the design but too many horizontal cards.

SPEAKER 4: Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. II, I think there is too many. It doesn't, it doesn't, I'm not, it doesn't ruin it for me.

SPEAKER 4: But yeah, there's a lot of them, you know, if you're a set guy and you, you know, so you're trying to put the cards like, you know, you gotta keep flipping them and, and I will tell you this if you haven't opened it yet and you, you, again, you watch the video, anything that has like numbered or whatever is gonna be reversed, you'll know like you have something because it's, it's in the middle of the pack, in the opposite way.

SPEAKER 4: It's a dead, it's sort of a dead giveaway that you have something. Yeah.

SPEAKER 3: Now, unfortunately what something is, is tops and I don't always agree in definition.

SPEAKER 3: But, just by side loaders, you'll be fine.

SPEAKER 4: They make, they make those to get them.

SPEAKER 3: They're, they're big in Japan.

SPEAKER 3: That's true. I'm not making that up too. Well, as soon as Japan moves there, we'll tell them, the Stadium Club is amazing. Indeed. A lot of people. I think so many people talk about Stadium Club. R it's very, very funny. I love, I.

SPEAKER 4: Love, I, here's the crazy thing. I love.

SPEAKER 4: Stadium Club is my favorite cops release. But yet I don't open up a box of it every year. I tried to but II, I can't say I have that streak like I do with the flagship. Don't ask me why I, I just, did you even have.

SPEAKER 3: Singles of Stadium Club?

SPEAKER 4: Yeah. Yeah. Like that. Cor if you've seen the 2023 Stadium Club, Corbin Care, I posted it on my social media. That's just an incredible cards card which adds to the flavor if you ask me. But even if it wasn't his rookie, that's a great shot of the pitcher that balls on its way to him. So you, it's not even to the catcher yet. You see Corbin Carroll's locked in on it. You see the catcher's face locked in at the umpire.

SPEAKER 4: It's, it's a, just a great shot. And that's really what Stadium Club is known for and, and then you get the, the foil and then bossing the glossiness. And, you know, the only thing missing from Stadium Club is a little more acetate and then that'd be all that. You never have enough acetate then.

SPEAKER 3: All right. Well, let's, we're, we're 20 minutes in and we haven't started our list yet, so we might as well start the show.

SPEAKER 4: All right. All right.

SPEAKER 3: So, I'Ll, I'Ll, I'Ll go first just to throw it out here.

SPEAKER 3: Ok. I like to, I, meeting somebody in the hobby for a business meeting or a friend who I know is a collector. I like to bring a pack of cards and break a pack of cards with people. When I meet them, over a meal. So, that's one of my little traditions.

SPEAKER 3: It's fun. Everybody likes opening a pack of cards. It's a great way to break the ice or break bread with people. So that's something that I, that's one of my dorky little.

SPEAKER 4: Is it, is it just people in the hobby or do you do that? Just in general?

SPEAKER 3: I probably do it a lot more than just hobby people, but not everybody is pack worthy.

SPEAKER 4: And please tell me, please tell me you didn't buy a bunch of like, triple play. Remember, triple play on clothes out. And that's the packs you bring? Oh, that would be, that would be a quick business meeting. I'd be like, check, please.

SPEAKER 3: The quality of the pack does sometimes go up and down depending on what the meeting is.

SPEAKER 4: But, but don't be like, it's like cigars. Sometimes you have Cubans and sometimes you just have, you just have like, you know, the ones rolled on the corner.

SPEAKER 3: No, I think it's a fun way to, to hang out with people. I think it's a fun way to meet them and break, break.

SPEAKER 3: So that's, that's something that it's a little tradition I have. So that's my, my first one. All right.

SPEAKER 4: One of the things I used to do, I don't believe I do it anymore. Actually I know I don't do it anymore, but for many years and don't ask me why I don't have like a re, you know, how you do things. And so, hey, why do you do that? I don't know, I just do it.

SPEAKER 4: I used to open my packs clockwise. So most boxes obviously have four rows, right. You got top left, top, right, bottom, right, bottom left. So I'd always start top left, go to the top, right, bottom, right, bottom left, back up to top left and just go like that. Now, I'm probably, sometimes I'Ll just take them all out of the box and stack them up and just rip them open.

SPEAKER 4: But back in the day, I used to open them up, what we would call clockwise, no reason other than maybe a little O CD in there.

SPEAKER 4: You know, I don't know. II I don't have, you know, maybe is there a pattern on collation is, you know, I don't, I don't even remember because I, I really haven't done it. This was more of a back in the day thing for me. So, not anymore.

SPEAKER 4: Did anyone else do that like I can, I can't be the only one that opened the pack, any counterclockwise pack openers out there.

SPEAKER 3: Is this like toilet paper upside down or, or, you know, it's.

SPEAKER 4: Really, it's the baseball pack equivalent, the toilet paper over the top or under the bottom.

SPEAKER 3: And Ruben. Yes. If you buy me breakfast you, I'Ll get you a pack of 87 tops.

SPEAKER 4: There you go.

SPEAKER 3: I, I have a rule if I go to a local card shop for the first time, I think it's appropriate to buy a pack of cards. I think it's almost good, good, like a nice way.

SPEAKER 3: To, to visit a store for the first time, I think it's good etiquette.

SPEAKER 4: Yeah, I'Ll, I'Ll say this. I'Ll, I'Ll try to buy something. I try not to, like, go to a store, kind of go in there and then walk out without making some sort of purchase. I'm not gonna say I've never done it because I know that. Not true crew, but I tried it and plus that's no fun. Right. If you go to the store in the first place, you wanna pick something up.

SPEAKER 4: Right. Whether it be a box, a P A card out of a bargain box. So I'Ll, I'Ll, I'Ll agree with you but not limited to a pack. I've just, I tried to buy something, I try to give them something out of my wallet, whether it's five bucks or 100 bucks, you know what I mean? So I try to make a, a sale for, for the, you know, showing up the shop.

SPEAKER 3: Absolutely. But definitely was that what you have on your list?

SPEAKER 4: That's one of them. You know, this, when I, I, I've gone away from this and it hurts to say I'm a little, you know, cause it took me three weeks to set it up. But some of, you know, I still set up at shows and so my show inventory, it took me three weeks to, to do it.

SPEAKER 4: It all my stuff was in alphabetical order and it's still sort of is, but not the way it was. I've, I've kind of veered off that.

SPEAKER 4: A little two things, a little, probably a little O CD in there and it was just really doing that. It was easy to find cards if you say, hey, what do you got for Bryce Harper? John, I can go to the HS and pull out Bryce Harper's in like two minutes and hand you a stack of Bryce Harper's.

SPEAKER 4: It, it just made things quicker. What, what became difficult. And my son used to help me at, at show. He stopped helping me athos because of this because when it was time to pack up, I'd also have to pack up in alphabetical order. And I was the last guy out of the building and my son's like, dad just throw the stuff in the box.

SPEAKER 4: Let's go, man. Let's get out of here. And I'm like, no dude, we've got to pack this up in alphabetical order like it was. And he stopped, I'm not, you know, he stopped coming to the shows and helping me because we were just there too long.

SPEAKER 4: I don't do it. I, I wanna say it's not in alphabetical order but not to the stringency that it used to be. I, I pack up a lot quicker and I have it more in kind of showcase order rather than just it's not in true alphabetical order.

SPEAKER 3: Here. You got an idea for your next show. Says you have a showcase just for cards that were top left from the.

SPEAKER 4: Left X right. Can you imagine? I say someone, hey, you know, it's a $25 card. Hey, John, will you take 20 bucks? No, that came from the top left back. I can't do it.

SPEAKER 3: Yeah, this one came from the bottom. Right. I can, I got, I.

SPEAKER 4: Got, I can do a little bit. I can do a little bit better than that one for you.

SPEAKER 3: That's fine.

SPEAKER 3: Ok, every year and you made fun of me last year and the player I picked was not, was not successful, but I like to pick one Oriole and one Non Oriel and I buy a Bowman first and, and it's my fun. I don't buy a lot of modern last year. My Non Oriel was Kyle Lewis.

SPEAKER 3: I, I had high hopes for that knee. I, I really thought we were on to. Something didn't work out for Kyle and I last year. So this year I will have another Oriole and Non Oriel to pick, I don't know who it's gonna be yet, but, I will buy the Bowman first, for two guys and, that, that's a tradition, something I try to do every year.

SPEAKER 4: You don't know who the Oreo is gonna be.

SPEAKER 3: I, I, I'm not 100% finalized yet. Pitchers and catchers just reported. So, yeah. Yeah. But III I, I'm high on Jordan Westberg having a breakout year this year. He could, he's somebody who could be under the radar.

SPEAKER 4: Yeah, I hope so. I pulled a couple out of that box. I, I just.

SPEAKER 3: Yeah, we'll see. He has a chance to start at third.

SPEAKER 3: All right over to you, Mr Newman.

SPEAKER 4: All right. A lot of them, you know, because I don't open as much product as, as I once did. A lot of my stuff is sh like dealer stuff and show stuff. So even when I set up at a show, just, I'm sure most dealers are. This isn't probably odd. It's just, the way I do it, like, obviously I put tablecloths out first, put my showcases out.

SPEAKER 4: I have like the same method if you watch me set up at the show, it would be like watching the same movie over and over again. I just, you know, it's like someone who puts their left sock on all before the right sock. Every time I kind of do the show equivalent of that, I have a sort of a staging the way I set up, at a show.

SPEAKER 4: So, I have a friend of mine that, I do a lot of shows with, without me saying anything. He goes, you know, dude, I've been watching you and it's like clockwork the way you, you do it. And, I just, I, I just do it that way and I think I've always have and I may change it but when I change it, whatever way I change, do I stay with it until I change it?

SPEAKER 4: Again, it's not where I just do it randomly each time. So that's, that's another one. II, I asked our collectors all O CD because I think we are some, I think they, yeah, I think there's a little bit, I think there's a little bit of that.

SPEAKER 3: Warren says I think they are to some degree. Yeah. And you know, that's a good thing. We, we, we like our stuff organized, we like to be able to find it.

SPEAKER 3: Ruben is in on Paul Skeens. For, yeah, I mean, I, I, one part, part of the fun for me is, is maybe slipping a little bit under the budget radar also.

SPEAKER 3: S Skins Skins is I might need to trade John's his win.

SPEAKER 3: You like you like that? Your win.

SPEAKER 3: Warren was a win. I know that's why I thought it was witty. Warren says he's hoping that Shane Bieber and Tristan Mackenzie make huge comebacks.

SPEAKER 4: You know what I love, I love Tristan Mackenzie at Brad.

SPEAKER 4: So that's a tradition if I can, I used to not buy like p Yeah.

SPEAKER 3: Yeah. Well, what you gonna do it's after nine 30.

SPEAKER 4: You know, I used to not like tell people don't, you know, don't buy pictures or don't invest, you know, the ipad, I, we don't invest in picture and then I did that with Hunter Green and interest in, M and, you know, they both, they both had spot where they look good and I think they, I'm still home now.

SPEAKER 4: Hope I'm not, I'm not, I, I love both of those guys. I think they, they too many tools and they throw, you know, if they can stay healthy. I know it's the old cliche, right? And if they, but I think they're, I think they're legit pitchers if they can stay on the bump and pitching rather than on, on the disabled list. So, I mean, I.

SPEAKER 3: Was gonna make fun of you that I remember that I bought Kyle Lewis last year.

SPEAKER 4: So I remembered having that conversation with you. Like what are you doing, man?

SPEAKER 3: I I told you I felt like I was gonna take a chance. I felt good about it. See, I'm not, I'm I don't give into peer pressure right away. I should have, I should have listened to you.

SPEAKER 3: Warren says I've been looking for my desert shield will clark for three damn days. I had to move into another box by accident. I have to stop Jim Martinis from working on cars.

SPEAKER 4: No, you don't. You just have to remember where you put the car.

SPEAKER 3: This is the car was here. Let's hope so because nobody bought that card last year.

SPEAKER 4: No, it's, it's not. Where, where is he? Is he still in c like, where is he.

SPEAKER 3: Was Arizona last year? But I think he's a free agent. He's probably on a mile somewhere.

SPEAKER 4: It's not where in the world, it's not where in the world is Kyle in San Diego. It's like where in the world is Kyle?

SPEAKER 3: If anybody knows where Kyle Lewis is, please let, let, please report this to the nearest authority.

SPEAKER 3: All right. I have one general superstition or tradition. I guess it's more of a tradition that I, that I, that I think you kind of know about.

SPEAKER 3: But I don't say specifically every year at the National, I try to pick a new PC project something for the year because in the, in the hobby you're not always gonna find the cards that you want or they're not always the cards you can afford when you're working on something, you know, a project. But if you got several card.

SPEAKER 4: Like James, James Winn's left C there.

SPEAKER 3: Yeah.

SPEAKER 3: Where's Kyle Lewis? He's on suicide Watch. Just kidding.

SPEAKER 4: I hope, I hope, rather than that, I hope he's like a, a stunt dub on Suicide Squad.

SPEAKER 3: I hope, I hope he's getting healthy and having a breakout year because I got a purple auto anyway.

SPEAKER 3: So I, I try to start a new PC project every year. Or I pick a group of players that I think are good buys for the year and I go after it. It's, it's a fun thing for me to do.

SPEAKER 3: But I, I do make that a goal to have it in place for the National, I've done. I, well, the KFA base set was definitely one I was working on, there were some singles last year that I wanted to attack this year. I've got the expanded kofax run, I'm working on. So, you know, who knows?

SPEAKER 3: A client of mine gave me a great idea to work on family runs. Maybe I'Ll do the Ripkin Family run and did the do Ripkin KKR senior runs.

SPEAKER 4: That's a good, that's kind of cool. Has the Baltimore flavor to it. I get it.

SPEAKER 4: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I've never done that. Even, even Jackie Robinson, you know, I don't have every Jackie Robinson card as much as he's my idol. I don't, I'm not gonna sit there and lie. I don't have them all.

SPEAKER 4: I got the leaf, which was the, my ground. I have some, I have three or four or five of the other ones. So I have some, if I ever want to do it. You know what I mean? I have three or four more to fill in as far as like your, that's a, that's.

SPEAKER 3: A lot more of a commitment than, than, than, Cal Senior. Let's be honest.

SPEAKER 4: Yeah, it's a little more cost, you know, costly if you will. So cost prohibitive. Which is probably why I haven't done it fully like that.

SPEAKER 4: You know, one thing I don't have is a Jackie Auto love to that someday. Get A Jackie Auto.

SPEAKER 4: You know, but, not yet. Not yet anyway. I don't own one yet.

SPEAKER 3: So, do you have another?

SPEAKER 4: Yeah, I don't think, I don't think, I think that this probably, most people would probably agree and probably do this too. So I don't, I store my cards by the holders there in. So in other words, all my graded cards are together and all my non graded cards are all in semi rigid.

SPEAKER 4: And then all my soft sleeve cards are together. So, do you, they're not really mixed necessarily, especially the graded card you won't find like a graded card and then semi rigid and then another graded card.

SPEAKER 4: I can't, it's like, you know, when you're, you're a kid and you eat and you're like, you didn't want your corn to get into the mashed potatoes and you kept them separate. I do that with what protector or, or what, you know, do you.

SPEAKER 3: Change the protector or move the card?

SPEAKER 4: Well, at one point, my stuff was obviously like most people on top loaders and then I converted to all my stuff that's not slabbed or in like mag tighs or in semi rigid. So, you know, in my like, like team boxes and stuff, those would be soft sleeves and then $5 cards. So like $40 cards would be dey rids and then $50 cards and up will be mag kites.

SPEAKER 4: And then obviously graded cards are graded, they're in slabs. And so that's, that's kind of the, the method to my man is, but I typically don't intermingle them. It's like, it's like tribes, you know, so nothing gets, nothing should infiltrate. One of the other ones like, what are you doing here? You're in the wrong box.

SPEAKER 4: R Ruben says that if you're this over the top of your collection, you'd like to see your classroom organization that I'm, I'm a pretty, I'm gonna be listen, I'm a, I not more so the older I get when I was younger, not as much. I, I it's kind of a skill. I mean, even behind me I don't know if it's, I have a glass board that's right here.

SPEAKER 4: That's for the content creation and, like sports car as my next three months kind of all mapped out. Like, guess, hobby, quick hits topics, episodes, that sort of thing. So I can kind of see what I got coming up. And so I'm, I'm, I'm organized to, probably to a flaw almost. I guess it's a good, it's, it's, it's, it's a good trick to have I, you know, to other people.

SPEAKER 4: And I might say, man, you're, you're way, you're, you're way too old, analytical, you're, you're like, you're taking it way too serious or, I don't know, way too serious and that I'm a pretty jokey kind of guy, but you're like, you're like getting really, you know, I don't know what, what the word is, but you're thinking about it way too much, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER 3: So, do you put all the kids that wear Nikes in the top left of the room?

SPEAKER 4: I couldn't do that if I tried.

SPEAKER 3: So James says he likes that. You were serious about it.

SPEAKER 4: Well, you are as a, like I, I just, I don't know, I just, I always try to find stuff quick, right?

SPEAKER 4: You know, with my eyesight, the older I get like, I, I do have glasses, I don't wear them all the time and I probably should wear them more than I actually to do, I try to, to be organized where it's easier to find, you know, and so I do stuff sort of like that and, it just saves me time.

SPEAKER 4: I'm a time guy that, you know, every day I have less time left on the, on the planet. So I'm trying to, I try to save as much of it as I can. Deep thoughts with John Newman. I'm tired.

SPEAKER 3: You're making this emotional.

SPEAKER 3: So James James is a very deep system. All the football with the football, the baseball, with.

SPEAKER 4: The baseball and same here. Same here.

SPEAKER 4: What do you do though? I'Ll, I'Ll ask this question to James and anyone else that does the same thing. What do you do with like Michael Jordan baseball cards and Michael Jordan basket? It's all, it's all what they're wearing on the card. So the Mike, the Michael Jordan upper deck baseball cards will be with the baseball cards and the.

SPEAKER 4: Ok. Yeah, I get that. I, I don't, I'Ll put, listen, Michael Jordan is known as a basketball player predominantly. So Michael Jordan cards are just in with my basketball.

SPEAKER 3: Jordan's probably his own section. Let's be honest.

SPEAKER 4: Yeah. But even Bo Jackson by Bo Jackson are all together, baseball, football.

SPEAKER 3: Greatest two sport athlete ever. Bo Jackson, Deion Sanders, Jim Thorpe Babe Didrikson.

SPEAKER 4: But you, you, you've heard my Deion Sanders story. I'm not gonna things a little bit long. Yeah.

SPEAKER 3: No, I've heard that.

SPEAKER 4: But the elevator Dion story.

SPEAKER 3: I don't know. I think, those four are on my Mount Rushmore of a multi sport players. That might be my PC this year. I might go.

SPEAKER 4: After the Bulls that a bad I, that's not a bad idea.

SPEAKER 3: Yeah, the multi sport players, I'm not going after Danny Ainge though. His blue Jays card.

SPEAKER 4: But you, you know, there's more too, man, there's more, we forget Chuck Connors. I gotta mention Chuck Connors. Brooklyn Dodger, Boston Celtic Rifleman. And, and, you know, we just lost Carl weathers from, from predominantly rock fame. A lot of people don't realize he played in the NFL for a couple of seasons. He has cards. Not a lot, but he has, he has some cards.

SPEAKER 4: And there's a lot of guys Fred Dwyer. I know him. I'm leaving Alex car, you know, I'm, yeah, I'm leaving people out. So, you know, that's a good, that's a good, kind of a way to collect. Not a bad, bad old side project. If someone was to do that, that's what makes it all be fun. Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER 3: I know. I'm a dork but it really does. And now I'm really psyched for the two, for the two sport. I think I'm going after those four. I think I talked myself into it.

SPEAKER 4: Anybody, any chicken backs, any chicken backs of those folks.

SPEAKER 3: Well, it, it is a rare version. I think there's a chance on the 33 sport kings.

SPEAKER 4: Jim Thorpe, you get a chicken back.

SPEAKER 3: I got a shot at the chicken back. Jim Thorpe, you're saying there's a chance.

SPEAKER 3: I, I would be excited for that. I don't. Babe. Diedrich cards have to be a fortune.

SPEAKER 4: I just want PS A to make a chicken back collection flip.

SPEAKER 3: Oh, that would, I could, I would retire. That would, that would, that, I don't know that my collecting world could get me better.

SPEAKER 4: There are some people right now, Danny that, like one of these two goofballs talking about right now.

SPEAKER 3: But, yeah, you know, there, there's, some rare cards that have a rooster stamp that, that are affectionately known as chicken backs. And, I collect them.

SPEAKER 4: I have pops next year. Heck with like a, a whopper frac there. They're gonna come out with, like, they're gonna come out with a chicken back version modern day.

SPEAKER 3: Right. They did the chicken head. We can do a check back.

SPEAKER 4: Yeah. Who knows what's next? Who knows what's next?

SPEAKER 3: So, did you see Dave De Busher? Another one for the list?

SPEAKER 4: Yeah, he's a big one. Yeah, he's a big one. And then you have other ones that aren't like two sports, but they were into acting and they played a professional sport where they got into politics and became like a Bill Bradley. Right. Yeah. So you got a lot of angles you can and, with stuff like that. It's the chicken fracture.

SPEAKER 4: Yeah.

SPEAKER 4: The KFC fracture don't degrade, don't degrade my chicken.

SPEAKER 4: You know, that's what they're gonna do.

SPEAKER 4: Be just a, oh, what about a Popeye's fracture?

SPEAKER 4: Love that fracture. At Popeye's.

SPEAKER 3: I'd like to clarify that. He was singing that song hours before we went on air.

SPEAKER 3: This has nothing to do with this conversation.

SPEAKER 3: All right. What other traditions?

SPEAKER 4: How about, how about a chick fil? A but an acetate version. So it'll be a chick fil, a acetate chick.

SPEAKER 3: Fil of Acetate.

SPEAKER 3: You leave me speechless. II, I talk very well all week and then you say something like that and I have no, no way to respond.

SPEAKER 4: It's after the rails, it's after rails.

SPEAKER 3: It is off the Did I tell you I had a crazy client this week? Great story.

SPEAKER 3: Very nice gentlemen. Very nice. Family must have been 100,000 cards, Greg Jeffries. Now, luckily it was mostly vintage but a lot of comments, a lot of comments, but you were making me think of the multi sport players. He was pulling out multi sport people and he was, and he pulled out a lot of actors. I gotta call him. He was working on an actors list.

SPEAKER 4: I gotta answer Wire's question. I haven't tried the blackberry crowd. It sounds great. Now, I gotta like I have to check if it's here and it's not, I don't hire you. I don't, I haven't, I didn't even know they made that. I love blackberry. Like this could, this could be troublesome.

SPEAKER 4: Well, that's, that's big news for you. This could be like your next card matches could be Danny Black and the artist formerly known as John Newman, but acts more like Harry Carey like, hey, Danny.

SPEAKER 3: Also known as 30 minutes after the show.

SPEAKER 3: I wanna share one of our new sponsors real Quick. Stadium Insurance Guys. If you haven't heard of them, they are fantastic. They're a new company that is absolutely changing the way people are insuring their collections. You can add stuff right from your cell phone. Definitely check it out at Stadium Insurance.Com. So I would like to thank them for support.

SPEAKER 4: And I gotta tell you and this is about, I'm going from Blackberry Crown and Perry Carey Impressions to get series here. But if you, it ship or receive cards of significance, you really need collectibles, insurance.

SPEAKER 4: You know, I know I've done shows on it. Hobby quick kids, right? To insure your cards. Even with like U SPS postage, they could, they a lot of times will try to fight it or claim it's not worth that. Collectibles.

SPEAKER 4: Insurance is, is a lot different than your standard post office insurance. And, so if you're someone who receives or ships a lot of cards, it's something that you definitely should think about if you're not doing it already. So there you go.

SPEAKER 3: There you go.

SPEAKER 3: Ruben John hasn't gotten to the Blackberry Crown yet.

SPEAKER 4: I don't own it yet. I don't know it yet, but now you get, I'm off for the next 10 days from, from school break. So I think I got a mission.

SPEAKER 3: Here's one for you. This is a good question for both of us with our last names. Have we ever considered collecting players with the same last name as you for a project?

SPEAKER 4: We listen there, there's Jeff Newman in baseball. Johnny Newman was a, a basketball player for sure.

SPEAKER 4: So I, when I had my store, when I had my store, one of my really good customers because this was in the nineties took like a 1975 Jeff Newman card.

SPEAKER 4: And they cut out, they cut out John from another card and they put that over the Jeff and I just taped it. It was just a, a crude rendition and they made it, they made it a John Newman card. I, I think I have it in the box. I kept it, it's like I got it in like 93 from a customer and I, I kept it for sentimental reasons.

SPEAKER 4: So someone made like a Jeff Newman into a John Newman card and, you know, I had Newman pissed off and, and, you know, back in my store days, that was when Johnny Newman was an active player. And so customers who pull, you know, he, he was, he was not a bad player, but as far as car values goes, he was just, you know, AAA, regular common if you will.

SPEAKER 4: So, and a lot of times when someone pulled a Johnny Newman, if they opened the packs in the store and they're like, here you go. Here's a car to yourself. I'm like, yeah, I can see the resemblance. It's almost, it's uncanny and.

SPEAKER 3: Just like Jack Jack Black is a sex.

SPEAKER 4: So somewhere I have a stack of Johnny Newman cards just from people like here you go. God, I just, I got another card to you. Great.

SPEAKER 3: Thank you.

SPEAKER 3: All right, we're on the home stretch here, Johnny.

SPEAKER 4: So I, the only other one I can think of the kind of round off my list is and I didn't, I only did it for like four or five years. I didn't, it wasn't, I would try to open a case of Bowman or a half case of Bowman every year before Bowman, like exploded to levels where, you know, they're putting Tom Brady in it. It was $800 a box when Bowman was sort of affordable, which was more into prospect. The, the Bowman or Bowman draft.

SPEAKER 4: I would try to buy a half case or a, or a case and, and open it, not like sit on it or keep Ruben's doing some research, in our research department and, eight Newman's in baseball reference. None, none. None of them are actually me, but I did give up a home run to a Jason Varitek. That's close. That's as close to baseball reference as I'Ll ever as.

SPEAKER 3: You know, on baseball reference, you can sponsor a page. You need to sponsor either Greg Jeffrey's page or Jason Varitek's.

SPEAKER 4: Page or Jackie Robinson. I sponsored Jackie Robinson's page.

SPEAKER 4: Yeah.

SPEAKER 4: I sponsored Jackie Robinson for the baseball Hall Of Fame. I sponsored Jackie Robinson. I think that's all that is true. Yeah, that's true.

SPEAKER 3: Yeah. Now you make me feel bad when I make fun of you. I'm over it.

SPEAKER 3: All right. I'm out of traditions and superstitions. I don't have a ton of them.

SPEAKER 4: I don't even, you know, superstition is a weird word. Maybe here's one for you. Superstition is like, hey, I don't, when I go out out of the field, I don't touch the foul lines or the chalk.

SPEAKER 3: I, I don't like opening a pack of cards without a Penny slips with me.

SPEAKER 4: Yeah. Yeah, I get that. But then I think most people probably would, would agree.

SPEAKER 3: I think, I think only, only certain collectors, I think most people just open a pack of cards.

SPEAKER 4: I, I don't know. This is probably what most people are too. If you, if you, if I'm open in a product where the cards are not always the same way. It's like a Rubik's cube, you get three of them this way, then they change, I'Ll put them all the same way.

SPEAKER 4: I do that with, with, with money too. So, like you get money, I get, I get them all facing the same way. So that's a, I'm sure that's a little O CD in there as well. You don't do that with.

SPEAKER 3: The one insert. Do you?

SPEAKER 4: What do you mean the one in if it's.

SPEAKER 3: Only one card turned like in the flagship?

SPEAKER 4: I flip it over, man, they all got to be straight it out, straight it out right away.

SPEAKER 4: Yeah, I even make my filler card on the glossy side.

SPEAKER 4: Also, not hobby related. But if you, at, when I'm sleeping at night, I flip my pillow over to the colder side, cooler than the.

SPEAKER 3: Other side of the pillow.

SPEAKER 4: Yeah. Right. It's wago for it.

SPEAKER 3: All right. My friends, I think, yeah.

SPEAKER 4: Hey, we kept, we kept it at a reasonable time. We didn't go into, overtime, you know.

SPEAKER 3: So, yep, I'm opening a box. Penny sleeves and a 550 count box is present Ruben proper way to do it.

SPEAKER 4: I will say that I always have Penny sleeves like nearby when right here. But I don't always have the box necessarily. I'Ll stack them up on my desk and then get a box and, and then transfer them.

SPEAKER 3: So, but you gotta have the Penny slips there.

SPEAKER 4: You do. I mean, like you know when I hit that win, even though I didn't realize the significant card, it actually wound up being I knew it was halfway decent. You put that in the, you know, you, you don't, if it falls off the table or the desk or whatever, you, you don't want to ding the corner. So also when I, oh, I forgot one more, when I'm, when I'm trimming my cards, I, I trim every third one.

SPEAKER 3: You only trim the top left.

SPEAKER 4: Yeah.

SPEAKER 4: Off the top left, please.

SPEAKER 3: Also something else that you know, just advice and this happened to somebody I know this week if you send in cars for grading and this is totally off topic.

SPEAKER 3: Make sure you don't click to encapsulate if they're not authentic.

SPEAKER 3: Yes. And, and it's a disappointing look to come back to have the card, say that it's evidence of Yeah, trimming or stuff like that on a slab that you end.

SPEAKER 4: Up having to break out. I've, I've, I've either I've either checked that box or not unchecked it where, where it's happened. Yeah.

SPEAKER 4: Yeah.

SPEAKER 3: So I happened to a friend of mine and very unhappy that they came back in the slab like that. So I just wanted to pass that along.

SPEAKER 4: Oh, I got another one. I got one. These are coming to me one or a quick one.

SPEAKER 4: If I send cards out for grading my cards, whether it be PS A or SGC and the grades pop. I look, I know before I ever get them back. I am not surprised. I need to know before I even unbox them when they're, when they're here. I know ahead of time. I'm not, I can't wait for the surprise.

SPEAKER 3: I don't want a surprise. I paid money. I want the answer. I'm like you. As soon as I.

SPEAKER 4: Will tell you this though, I will tell, I think I told you this off the air. So I bulk up, you know, a lot of people know I bulk up for stc 90% of the people that bulks up through me. And it's a good, it's a good high number of people and 90% of that high number of people tell me and it, it saves me a lot of work and trouble.

SPEAKER 4: So I'm not complaining, but 90% do not want me to tell them what their cards got. They want me to, they want to find out when I actually give it to hand them their cards. That surprises me that it's, that blows me away. That is, I am, I'm not making that number up. That's like people like, you know, I caught the fish.

SPEAKER 4: It was this big, that number is pretty close to. I mean, I didn't like, I'm not charting it but I have that not like very few people out of my, out, my bulk suburbs have me tell them what their grades are, it's, you might, the number might even be higher than 90%. So, that's, that's one.

SPEAKER 4: Yeah, it is crazy because I wanna know, like, that's the whole point when I, yeah, so when I bulk up through my, my guy Rob for PS A and I, I'Ll, he'll tell me he was like, hey, do you want to know? And I'm like, yeah, let me have it hit me.

SPEAKER 3: So, Steven says, I don't care if it's a nine or 10. As long as.

SPEAKER 4: I love that line, I might steal that. I'Ll give him credit, I'Ll give you credit, Dr Mayer. But I, I love that like, yeah.

SPEAKER 3: All right, John any other last minute.

SPEAKER 4: Well, we talked about grading. We gotta, we gotta talk about our, you know, play the, play, the the, our sponsor.

SPEAKER 3: We, we played it in the opening and I'Ll play it on the outro.

SPEAKER 4: All right, I have missed that. It's too much blackberry crowd.

SPEAKER 3: That's what you take away from this episode. One hour, one hour of entertaining conversation and you're taking away that there's a new Blackberry Crown.

SPEAKER 4: But I listen, I love blackberry. I love Crown. Like, you know, this is like Acetate, it's the, it's the Acetate Stadium Club Of Drinks to use the card analogy if you will.

SPEAKER 3: I'm so I'm so happy that we found this drink for you.

SPEAKER 4: I haven't found it yet. Don't put the car in front of the card.

SPEAKER 3: This is episode 32 before episode 33. I just want to share. I don't, I don't know if I said it but, I have 22 boys. They are getting bar mitzvahed, next weekend. So I'm just sharing, on card benches that I, I just could not be more proud of them.

SPEAKER 3: And congratulations and I love them and for all their hard work and I know they're gonna do great up there and, look, looking forward to that. So, the next time I see you guys, I will have, two Bar Mitzvah Sons, to go along with Mazo today, man.

SPEAKER 4: That's awesome. That's awesome stuff. It's funny if you didn't say it, I was gonna, so, there you go.

SPEAKER 3: Well, thank you. And, and as always in this hobby, you know, sorry, sorry that you don't live closer.

SPEAKER 3: And I'm sorry that a lot of people don't live closer.

SPEAKER 3: But, you know, all the bad with the wash cream to you.

SPEAKER 4: That's a really bad joke. And it won't be the last one I say when I was younger I kind of wanted to open a bar slash restaurant. And II, I really told you if I ever did it, just call in the name in the bar Mitzvah.

SPEAKER 4: I, I think it's funny, I just, II, I wasn't like, I never opened a bar or restaurant but that, I, that's how my mind worked when I thought about it that probably led you the, the, the the long dark hole to card benches one day.

SPEAKER 4: So this is the close, the next best thing right here. All right.

SPEAKER 3: Say goodnight John.

SPEAKER 4: Good night, Jan.