Ep.237 w/ Dr.James Beckett "Heading towards the NSCC"

SPEAKER 1: Here's a gentleman who's a fierce advocate and ambassador for this great Hobby.

SPEAKER 1: He has his finger on the post of the Hobby.

SPEAKER 1: However, his voice is nowhere as smooth as mine buddy don't try.

SPEAKER 1: Here is John Newman.

SPEAKER 2: What is up everybody? Welcome to episode 2 37.

SPEAKER 2: Glad to be back. As always, we are getting closer to the National. We're into the, basically a month out. Hope to meet and see many of you there. I hope everyone's as pumped as I am and the gentleman on the show today is pumped like most of us to be going to the National. He's been to every everyone. I don't know how many people can say that, but Doctor James Beckett is today's guest.

SPEAKER 2: He's been to every National that has occurred. And so we're gonna talk about that, but we're gonna talk about content creation. A little bit of a pop po, right? We're gonna kind of talk about various subjects. So always great to catch up with with Doctor Jim and happy to have him on. So without further ado, let's get this show started.

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SPEAKER 2: I'm always excited to have this next gentleman on the show. Not his first time. Hopefully not his last time. I always introduce him as the man who, who needs no introduction, but I will give him one just the same you know, a Hobby icon as I always call him. He does his own podcast, Sports Card Insights.

SPEAKER 2: Doctor James Beckett. Welcome back. Thanks John.

SPEAKER 6: Always a pleasure.

SPEAKER 2: Unfortunately, you know, we, you know, you, you, you talked about it on your show. You know, you lost your Dad. I, I think the timing kind of, it's never a good time, obviously. And then you got Father's Day.

SPEAKER 2: And you did a, a tribute episode on Sports Card Insights. I felt like, you know, he's been on the show, I've heard you talk about him at other times and, and while I've never met him, I, I almost felt like through you in the way you described them.

SPEAKER 2: I almost felt like I, I had met him and, and knew him and you did a a great tribute obviously last week to him that really, you know, even driving in my car and listening to you really, really hit me and, and, you know, I know that's probably not as easy as it may sound coming through the, the radio in, in, in my car.

SPEAKER 2: But, I know he's just, you know, a, a great Dad as you, as you said, and he learned a lot from him. I mean, just if you want to say, you know, some things and, and maybe, you know, even putting that episode together how, how difficult or maybe not difficult was that to do?

SPEAKER 6: Well, the only antidote to getting old and dying is dying young. So my Dad was 97.5 and we, we knew he wasn't gonna live forever. We did have a goal. He made it one week past his 75th wedding anniversary with my mom who's also, you know, having difficulty.

SPEAKER 6: And in one more week, he would have made it to Fathers Day where the first Father's Day, obviously, I'll ever have that a lot of first this year for missing my Dad. So it'll sink in as those things happen. But, you know, John, any good qualities that I have, I got them from my Dad or my mom or both.

SPEAKER 6: And, and the few bad qualities that I have, also perhaps, did not come from my Dad or my mom, but, must have picked up a few bad habit along the way. But, I had a great mom and Dad. You can't choose your parents. And I, I really had great parents.

SPEAKER 6: And, and just, and they had a great marriage, which was a great example, not just to me, but all the people that saw them in action and my Dad did a lot of mentoring and not just his own kids, but you know, it just really was a nice man, nice man. Somebody you know, a role model and, and my first hero.

SPEAKER 2: Yeah, no doubt serve this country as well. Wanna wanna recognize that as well. Entrepreneur as you mentioned on, on your programs as well.

SPEAKER 2: So you probably got that gene if you will from them when you were building, going back to, to your, you know, be at media days and you were building that up, how much, you know, obviously there's like you said, you had a lot of teammates and, and people that were responsible along with yourself. But how, even with your Dad, like how, how involved was, was he during those days maybe with the company?

SPEAKER 2: Did you, did you lean on him at, at times when you maybe had a, a tough decision or a decision that you were or, or was it just sort of stuff you've already learned from growing up and being raised by him or kind of.

SPEAKER 6: I mean, basically he had his own company. So, yeah.

SPEAKER 6: And but you know, we, we talked about business stuff over the years. I mean, it was just when it was time. It was time and, and he would be a ready source of info. But, you know, just as a young man, you want as much as you can do it yourself.

SPEAKER 6: My Dad wanted me to be self reliant. But he was, he was always ready and of course, my, my young youngest sister worked for me pretty early on and just a great job. So I had some extra Beckett DNA in the company.

SPEAKER 6: Pretty much almost from the start.

SPEAKER 2: Did I, I know you, you know, you got, you, you said you've got cards from your Dad and then, you didn't realize that maybe at the time you got some of your uncle's, cards as well. Being you became such AAA prominent figure in the Hobby. Did your Dad collect even later on in life or, or, or not necessarily?

SPEAKER 6: No. I mean, that's the reason I got the cards because my Dad and his younger brother, who was just a year younger, a little more than a year younger, they just collected when they were in their preteens and teens and they were just in my grandmother's attic and, and I was the main collector at that point.

SPEAKER 6: And, at Christmas we visited, she just brought him down and said, here you, we, we want you to have these and she'd saved them. Now. They were all, they were, they, they were not even 20 years old at the time. I mean, they were, you know, play balls were, you know, this was in the late fifties, they were from the early forties, the ones he had.

SPEAKER 6: So, you know, that, that, that was fortuitous. That was a great blessing. And so I took really good care of him, but it helped me to see that there are old cards that even their primitive printing and, and not as, not as, you know, the, not as Fancy as the cards that they were making then with tops.

SPEAKER 6: They're still really cool and the Babe Ruth cards and things like that. It was really, was fundamental to my understanding that this was a Hobby you could have for life. But my Dad really just vicariously enjoyed it through me. My brother collected for a little while, but then, you know, he had other stuff too.

SPEAKER 6: So this was, my, in fact, my, my parents are really good about helping each kid of the five because I'm the oldest of five. My brother and my three sisters, they each kind of find their own path and come back if you needed help, but you find their own path.

SPEAKER 6: It's, we still are close family but it isn't because, although like I said, my sister worked, with me and for me, for many, many years and was, was, wonderful, but they just wanted us to each reach our full potential and my brother had a different path than I did actually was in business with my Dad for a long time as well because he was the one that was in business with my Dad. I was kind of independent.

SPEAKER 2: Yeah. And, and again, I, it's great here and, you know, you share in that and, and some people aren't as good at that, maybe a, as you are. And like I said, I felt like, you know, I knew him while I, I, I've never met him and you know, he's like you said, he sounds like a great man. And you, you learned a lot and you're still, you're probably still learning and, and so some sort of way.

SPEAKER 2: So I appreciate you sharing that episode with everybody, including myself, let's get into some con content. You, you some months back, you went to Monday, Wednesday Friday format rather than every day. Some people, you know, a little disappointed that we can't get doctor Jim every day.

SPEAKER 2: You know, looking back now that, that you, you've done that. Are you, you know, how, what, how do you rate that decision? Is it, is it easier? Is it, is it how you kind of expected it to go going from, you know, five days a week to three?

SPEAKER 6: Well, the obvious answer is it's easier and my wife is happy.

SPEAKER 6: But more importantly, John, I think if I had not done that. And it was really last Thanksgiving and I didn't have any premonition or prophetic thought that something might happen to my Dad or my mom.

SPEAKER 6: But I'm really glad because if I, if I would have been doing five times a week, it would have been really difficult the last 2.5 months, my Dad fell, broke his hip and it was, he was in the hospital for a long time and then he had, you know, some rehab stuff and just, and really lost a lot of weight. It was pretty, pretty rough. And so I, I really, I would have really, I struggled as it was.

SPEAKER 6: But again, I got great, great contributors and people had pitched in. So it came together but three was way better than five when I'm, you know, going over there a lot and just, and there, there were just stuff, stuff happens, stuff happens.

SPEAKER 2: Yeah. And, I mean, do you ever, did you ever get there? It's like, hey, I really kind of, I know I'm doing three days a week but I kind of wanna get this one out there. Do you ever, do you ever have those temptations or? You, are you pretty disciplined?

SPEAKER 6: You mean do an extra one or? Yeah.

SPEAKER 6: Yeah, I've done an extra one a couple of times. It came up and I thought, well, I've already got Monday, Wednesday Friday. But something happened on a Monday night. I'm gonna drop something Tuesday morning and just stick it in there. But they, because it, it just so, even though I'm trying to be timeless sometimes things really need to be dealt with sooner. And so, yeah.

SPEAKER 2: Yeah. No doubt.

SPEAKER 6: I don't wanna skip one because I think I wanna, you know, fulfill my promise that I'm gonna give less than 15 minutes whenever I do it. And that right now is Monday, Wednesday Friday.

SPEAKER 2: Yeah.

SPEAKER 2: And I will say that what you pack in 12 or 15 minutes, I'm envious because I can't do that sometimes. Going, it's 45 minutes.

SPEAKER 6: I feel bad because I don't, I truly try to edit it to where I'm not cutting any meat. But, you know, people ramble sometimes I don't know who.

SPEAKER 2: Would do that.

SPEAKER 6: I do too.

SPEAKER 6: But with the, with audio podcast. Yeah. So you can kind of think, well, I can take out that paragraph that really, that was interesting. But it, it's, it's not, it's not, it's relevant but it's not required and, and I think people, I want them to appreciate that. You know, it's gonna be less than 15 minutes. I'm not. If all of a sudden it showed up an hour long episode you would freak out.

SPEAKER 6: Including me.

SPEAKER 2: Yeah, I hear, I hear you, you know, speaking of content, like we've seen, you know, no matter where the Hobby is, in recent times with what's not slowing down for sure. Is, is new content we're seeing new, new podcast get launched, whether it be audio only video only or, or both seems like every day, someone I may know personally is, is doing a podcast.

SPEAKER 2: I've been asked even for vice in, in some of those, those cases. Do you think there is, can we get to an over saturation point of too much content or will the people who consume content be the judge of that and the, and the consumers of that? What's your thoughts on, on? Is there a tipping point?

SPEAKER 6: If there was a tipping point, we've tipped.

SPEAKER 6: But I said John, it's like restaurants. Does the world need another restaurant? Yes. If it's a great restaurant or if it adds something different, but if it's across the corner from another restaurant, I i it it needs to be distinctive and so people have a distinctive voice.

SPEAKER 6: You know, i it's, it's a free world and it's survival of the fittest. So, so I I'm glad people are trying it, but most pod, the average podcast lasts seven episodes. And so you and I are anomalies. We're the exceptions because you actually have something to say and I actually have something to say and some people only have seven things to say and when they say them, they exit stage left and that's OK.

SPEAKER 2: Yeah, it's, it's tough, it's tough, right? You know, when you do, we do this one which is obviously a, an interview show. Hobby. Quick hits, which I've had people on, but generally it's just me and a topic.

SPEAKER 2: And, and sometimes it could be different, go find topics or when you do so many, you're like, did I already talk about this already? Like, am I doing a repeat and, and sometimes, you know, that that's AAA factor, a, a as well. But, you know, I think for me, you know, and, and, and you, we've been in a Hobby a long time.

SPEAKER 2: So, I guess the advantage if we have one, in your case, intelligence, in my case, just experiences, you know, from almost 40 years of being in the Hobby and in my case, just, just wearing different hats, you know, collector owning the store doing shows, you know, and just kind of that, you know, doing almost kind of the circuit, of the Hobby.

SPEAKER 2: I think that's where my content really kind of, is driven, driven from if I didn't have all those experiences and those years under my belt, like you said, it would be even, even, it, sometimes it's difficult now but even the degree of difficulty, would go up.

SPEAKER 2: Obviously you've been in the Hobby longer, than I have. You've done a lot of more stuff on different levels. Is it, is he ever have any trouble, like, coming up with a topic or not? Not necessarily.

SPEAKER 6: No, my wife can. He's asked me, are you gonna run out? I said, I, I'm not gonna run out of interesting guests. I'm not gonna run out of, interesting cards. I'm not gonna run out of interesting sets.

SPEAKER 6: So, and, and the topics, the thematic stuff that those things pop up and, you know, and they're gonna deal with that. But like I said, I'm mainly trying to be timeless and even with the timeless topics, it's just not, it's, it, you know, I'm closing in on 1000 and I, there's another 1000. I couldn't, I'm not pro thing to do that.

SPEAKER 6: But, but there's, and then I got Rich Klein. He, he would never run out and some of my other guests where I do, I will say this, what I've realized now is where I duplicate. And I just, I can't help. It is when I do, which I've done a lot of listener question episodes. Now, some of those, they're asking for answers to questions that I know I did an episode on.

SPEAKER 6: But it's kind of my pet peeve. I have a good, really good friend. That's a really good podcaster. And he will, he's got a couple of 100 episodes and when somebody, when there's a question that comes up or he's talking with somebody, he said I dealt with that in episode 113 and then, you know, the next, you know, five minutes later it's, I dealt with that in episode 39 and he gives the title of it and all that stuff.

SPEAKER 6: And I thought, you know, I, I don't wanna be that guy. So I get a question and the listener questions, I just answer it and I try to answer it in a different way and not, not be robotic in my answer and treat the nuance of their question. And so otherwise it'd be boring for me too.

SPEAKER 2: Now, the gentleman you speak of, is he looking that up and then, or does he know off the top of his head? Like his episode? I, I, well, he's.

SPEAKER 6: He's actually scripting them. You know, we, he and I compared notes, we started about the same time. He's very professional, very, it's not in the industry, but it's just, I have a lot of friends that do podcasting and, and you know, so he, he, we've talked about it. I've learned from him.

SPEAKER 6: He's learned from me, but that's, but he scripts him when I started, I thought, you know, I'm gonna script it and I'm gonna re read the script and he, he's, he's actually a professor also. And so he's used to kind of giving a speech and I just thought that's not what I wanna do, but he's, he's he has higher production values. I don't want that. I want it to be.

SPEAKER 6: I, that's why I appreciate you. It's just a couple of guys talking.

SPEAKER 2: Yeah. And it's honestly just to not to pat myself on it. It's the biggest compliment I, I think that this show gets is I get feedback from people that say John. I love like, I feel like I'm eavesdropping on a conversation, whether it be at a bar or a restaurant.

SPEAKER 2: I feel like I'm the third person I might not be able to speak and you might not be able to hear me. But I feel like it's, it's on that sort of level. And even when I do these and I've said this before, so I apologize for, for those who have heard it.

SPEAKER 2: I don't write a lot of questions down my questions. Literally, I might write a few just so I don't miss anything and don't forget. But most of my questions in the conversation come from the conversation itself, from the answer another question is, is born from.

SPEAKER 2: And I think, you know, that's a, that's a lot of the feedback I get is it? They feel like it's not scripted. I've had people say I know you don't, you don't script your questions, I could tell by the way you ask them and I appreciate that, about that.

SPEAKER 2: So, you know, I, I've always sort of done it, that way and, and, you know, it just seems to, people seem to, to appreciate it and, I think it's, it's even for the, even for the guest and for, for me, I think it's being a little off the cuff is more enjoyable in, in both of those cases, I may tell someone, hey, these are kind of, some of the things, areas I want to go into but I don't really say the questions or anything like that.

SPEAKER 2: I just kind of tell them sort of topic based and I just think for, for this show it, it seems to, seems to work the best. You know, each.

SPEAKER 6: One of the reasons I think you've had a lot of fun with this is because you have different formats and different shows. But my buddy, you know, he's a professor and so he is scripting, even the punctuation, John.

SPEAKER 6: So, I mean, he's, and he's, he's got a good voice and he delivers it and it's, it's great, but it doesn't sound like he's reading, but he probably even is a teleprompter. So he, he's, he's very good.

SPEAKER 6: He's very good, but he doesn't have guests either. So he has no filler words or no start and stop of, of having a thought and then changing it in the middle, which I do and you do and almost every, but he does, but he, he's following his script.

SPEAKER 6: See, and I admire that he spent a lot of time on it. So he, he, he'll do a draft and then he'll clean up the draft and he kind of reads it. That wouldn't be fun for me. That wouldn't be fun.

SPEAKER 2: Well, you can't say he's not prepared. Right. He's attention to de, attention to detail, which is a, a great trait. It's a, it's a great trait and, to each their own. Right. Just like we say, Hobby, Hobby your way. Right. Podcast, podcast your way. A as well. When we were on Hobby hotline we talked a little bit about, the ongoing situation, at, at Beckett. I don't wanna be, you know, I don't wanna overkill it.

SPEAKER 2: Just we, but we haven't really talked about this show. I'll just kinda ask you, you know, in your opinion, you know, I, I know you, you, you're, you know, you like Kevin Isaacson, you know him, very, very well. You, you, you have a lot of faith in him.

SPEAKER 2: But, that being said, do you think this is sort of, I mean, if this, for some reason, you know, playing an armchair from a distance, what, you know, if this doesn't work out? I mean, is this the, is this kind of the last chance or, or, or, or not necessarily?

SPEAKER 6: Well, my, my hope is that the Beckett brand is an enduring brand. There's ups and downs in every brand. But, I, I just, I want it to be trending up and I will say this, I've spent more time with the leadership, the new leadership in the last couple of months than I've spent with the company leadership any year for the last 15 years. So, and it's been fun.

SPEAKER 6: I mean, I'm, I'm, they're bringing some things up to me. I'm bringing some things up to them and I don't think decisions have been finalized, but I think they're really trying to come out of this with a, with a strong presentation with, with a vision that, that people can say. Yeah, that's, that, that's, I can get on board with that. That's internally and.

SPEAKER 2: External and, and I, I, I'll be honest with you from, from, you know, a, a selfish point of view. I'm glad they're listening to you and I'm glad there's more of that dialogue.

SPEAKER 2: You know, what, whether you'll say it or not, I'll, I'll say it for you.

SPEAKER 2: You know, Doctor Jim, you, you know, that brand exists, that is your name on it because of you. If it'd be different, if you left a Hobby and sort of, you know, rode off into the wild, wild west.

SPEAKER 2: But you've stayed in the Hobby, you stayed active, you got your fingers still very much on, on the p, so it's not like there, you know, they're not listening or they're listening to someone who left for 20 years.

SPEAKER 2: But did it, you know, you know, that you're still, you're still active, you still know what, what, what people want consumers because you're, you're one yourself, you go to shows, you, you talk to people, you have them on your show, you see them in person.

SPEAKER 2: So it's, it's nice to hear that, you know, the current I'll say regime and maybe not the right word, but is at least attentive to some of your feedback where, like you said before, maybe, maybe not as much.

SPEAKER 6: You know, as you, you know, I always get a kick out of doing these interviews with you because when you say things, it makes me think in a certain way that's different. And one of the things that's different, I'm realizing now that these these other content creators out there did take 20 years off or 15 years off.

SPEAKER 6: I mean, they, they quit in 2003 and they came back with COVID and all of a sudden they've got a AAA megaphone, a microphone and they're, they're instant experts. Well, why can't I be an instant expert too? I didn't even leave.

SPEAKER 6: So even if I had left, I, I still would be I, I would hope they would, they would hear not just about the, but, but see now I've, I'm trying to have some continuity with the good old days, the distant old days, the more recent past and then what's going on now and what's maybe going on in the future. So I, I want to be helpful in that way, but they get to make the call, I'm just an advisor or a consultant.

SPEAKER 2: But one, but, you know, I know you, you kind of downplayed the, you, you know, your role there or your, your expertise, right.

SPEAKER 2: But, someone that has done a lot, seen a lot still doing a lot and, and seeing a lot so to, to have that resource and not take advantage would be, to me if I may be so, you know, shortcoming on that part if they weren't to, you know, heck, I've asked you stuff would, would, you know, would, try to pick your brain.

SPEAKER 2: So, the fact that, you know, if they wouldn't, I'm glad you, you're saying they're, they're doing maybe a little bit more of that but to not do it, I think is, would be more on them than, you know, than an indictment on.

SPEAKER 6: I get it. I mean, there's, there's two different philosophies, you know, if they're trying to, you know, create, you know, a path forward. Some people don't think that path forward has anything to do with the past.

SPEAKER 6: And so I, I don't agree with that but there's, there's some people that come in, they say, you know, they've earned the right to do it the way they think. And, you know, I, if I am publicly against it that that's gonna make somebody look bad.

SPEAKER 6: So I don't, I don't want to embarrass anybody but I'm, I'm trying to quietly influence and, if they ask my opinion I, I'm gonna give it.

SPEAKER 2: Yeah. And I, and I definitely appreciate that about you.

SPEAKER 7: You are listening to the Sports Card Nation podcast.

SPEAKER 7: We'll be right back after this break. Hobby News Daily is your home page of the Hobby, providing original writing, exclusive gem, rate data, a daily morning minute podcast and some of the best content creators in the Hobby. Remember? Hobby news, daily dot com and at Hobby News Daily on social happy Collecting.

SPEAKER 8: Hi. This is Pat Hughes Cubs announcer. Coming to you from the sports card shop in beautiful New Buffalo Michigan. The Gocher family has built an incredible place here for collectors to buy, sell and trade cards and memorabilia. Be sure to stop by and let them show you around the sports card shop dot com, connecting sports athletes, the Hobby and collectors around the world.

SPEAKER 2: So we, batch, we've seen sort of the Hobby, kind of reset, kind of slow down a little bit.

SPEAKER 2: Kind of cool off a little bit. I always say, you know, people ask me all the time. Is that bad, John? Should I be worried? And it's such a loaded question. I can't, you know, there's not one answer. Everyone has a different, opinion, I think, for me who likes to buy cards. Right.

SPEAKER 2: Stuff's gotten somewhat more affordable. I think that's a, a good thing. I'm also a dealer, I set up at shows, you know, I'm not even complaining about it. You wanna sell, you know, you gotta, you gotta be competitive.

SPEAKER 2: You might have to lower your prices, put new price tags on stuff that, you know, I, I, you could look at that one or two ways, you know, some people get a little more about it, or I should say some dealers get a little more grumpy about it than, than others. But I, I just, it is what it is and I just kind of adapt and, and, and, and hopefully thrive and, and survive.

SPEAKER 2: But other people like to, you know, make predictions and, you know, the sky is falling or this is, you know, this is not good, you're, you know, you've, you've seen ups and downs through the years. What, what, what do you say to that question? And, and current in the current market and condition? Well, I don't think the.

SPEAKER 6: Sky is falling but I will say this, you know, we I was using the restaurant analogy. The world doesn't need another restaurant unless it's really an interesting restaurant. Well, that's what's happening with cards. Cards are like restaurants, there's different segments of the industry.

SPEAKER 6: Some of them are like really expensive Fancy restaurants and some are like mid priced, you know, really good restaurants and some of them are fast food and when you have economic conditions change any of those. If it, I'm just using three segments of fast food and, you know, kind of regular priced and then ultra expensive stuff. The ultra expensive to me that's, you know, that's, that's kind of gambling.

SPEAKER 6: You're paying an awful lot of money hoping that it's gonna keep going up and you're already dealing with prices in some cases that are equal to a car or a house or a, you know, things like that. And so the mid price stuff, you know, it's, it's, it's chucking along. I don't know that it's way up or way down.

SPEAKER 6: If it is down, it's down because it went up, you know, in some of some of that stuff and in the lower price stuff, I don't even know that that's affected. It's, it's no longer, it's, it's just not discussed. But when I see my selling on Ebay and Com C it's not affected that much but it's, it's, it's not as expensive cards.

SPEAKER 6: But if, if I were buying $100,000 cards, I, I'd lose some sleep and I don't want to lose sleep. I don't begrudged those who do it, but they just need to know that, you know, it, it could go down $100,000 it could go $90,000 down. Now, it could double also on the upside. But I don't, that's not the kind of investments I like to make. So, I, I'm, I'm, I have cards that are expensive and I'm holding on to them.

SPEAKER 6: It, it, it sort of doesn't matter what my basis is. I, it, I, I have it and if I sold it right now I'd get X, which is a lot more than what I paid for, obviously. So, see, I don't see it as one thing, John, I see it as like restaurants and, and it could be economic conditions where the, the bad restaurants have trouble or the good restaurants or the fast food ones.

SPEAKER 6: It's, it's just the competition in the category and the problem with some of these goat and glamour cards, they're creating new, you know, the logo man stuff. There's another group of them this year and so last year's, and, and there's always the chase for the current thing.

SPEAKER 6: So the universe is expanding of these very, very expensive restaurants and there need to be enough dollars to service them all or they are gonna be too many nice restaurants. That doesn't mean all restaurants are doing bad. It might mean that very expensive Italian restaurants, you know, there, there, there's too many of those.

SPEAKER 2: Yeah, I agree. And I, you know, I think it's, it's well said, I, in, in, you know, and, and I'm not, we're not gonna go down that rabbit hole. But, you know, that brings up the whole topic of artificial scarcity and, and that sort of thing. It's one of the reasons, I've really, I've always been into vintage but greatly the last few years I've really, really went that direction even, even more so, than, than ever, ever before.

SPEAKER 2: This is one question I actually wrote down, like I said, I don't write a, a lot down. But do you think people are more, when it comes to the Hobby? Do you think people are more concerned what the cards are worth today, or when you were doing, price guides or is it the.

SPEAKER 6: Same in the absence of any information? I'm thinking it's the same and it's the same also, philosophy, sort of that. A lot of people don't admit it. You know, these people who are getting a magazine and I, I know we had great articles and art and all that stuff but these people who are getting a subscription to the magazine and pouring over it to see what went up and went down.

SPEAKER 6: But then they want to say, well, I'm not in it for the money or I don't, I don't care about the pricing. You know, everybody should care. But if you take it too far and think I'm gonna put all my investments in this.

SPEAKER 6: That's, I think that's not prudent. So, I, I think it's very similar to what it was, it, it seems like more because the, the expensive cards now are way more expensive than they would have been way more. It just so much more it's, it's crazy.

SPEAKER 2: Yeah, that, that's true. And, and I chuckled, you know, I smiled because, you know, everyone else said, oh, you know, I don't collect because of the value or the monetary value. But then when they pull something good, the first question they ask, hey, what's this word?

SPEAKER 2: So I always say anyone that says they don't care what something's worth. They're not being 100%. They name may not, they not, they may not be collecting to resell ever. And I, I get all that but anyone, you know, everyone wants to know, hey, did, what's this worth?

SPEAKER 2: So whenever I hear someone says, I honestly don't care. I always say, man, you're, you're, you're either the unicorn or you're not, you're not being truthful because I, I think, you know, it's, it's one of the first things you think if you, if you pull something that you think is of of significance.

SPEAKER 6: Well, there's a, there's a dealer that sets up with pretty much all the Dallas shows and he has more multiple tables and all he has is game used and autographed cards, certified, autographs, certified game used and everything is $5 for one.

SPEAKER 6: I think you would get 100. It's down to 2 50 so $2.50 and it's, it's thousands of game used patches and things and autographs. Now they're not the superstar players, but the amazing thing. So he does great business. But if he buys a collection and he pulls out the Tom Brady's or the, you know, you know, stuff, Michael.

SPEAKER 6: Well, Michael Jordan doesn't really have, it wouldn't be in that league, but just, and even Tom Brady would, but if he bought a collection and had a real star player, he's gonna pay that, he's gonna charge so much more for that. He's gonna, he's gonna get it slabbed or put it under glass in his showcase.

SPEAKER 6: But he has these monster boxes, tons of monster boxes of, of, of this stuff. And so when, if the regular guy, $2.50 but the other guy in the same set is thousands of dollars, that's, you know, you would think that's something's got to give because they're equally scarce in, in the way they were produced.

SPEAKER 2: Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER 2: No, no doubt. I gotta ask you too. You, you, you know, I, I'm looking at some great cards behind you. I'm a little jealous. But, you know, do you, do you still have, like, you know, people talk about Hobby goals, like, my goal this year is to do that. I know you've talked about sort of downsizing a little bit.

SPEAKER 2: But even, even past that, do you have, like, do you have, like, cards? Like, I always approach and we're gonna talk a little bit about the National Air kind of finish on a, on a high note.

SPEAKER 2: I always kind of go into the National Doctor Gim with the goal of acquiring one or two cards for my PC, which is Hall Of Fame graded, rookie cards. Do you have any like, do you, do you have cards that are still on your target list or do you have goals on, on that sort of level?

SPEAKER 2: You know what I mean? Or have you really checked a lot of those boxes?

SPEAKER 6: No, I, well, let me say both ways. Number one, I'm not interested in buying those kind of cards. And number two, I'm not interested in selling those kind of cards.

SPEAKER 6: So I've completely excised that from my National experience because if I was doing that too, I wouldn't have a, I, I would take away from time of, of connecting with people I haven't seen for a long time as well as, you know, working in the dollar boxes and the dollar boxes are self preservation that I get to sit in a chair for some hours to just, and, and chew the fat with somebody and look through cards and, I'm not, I'm not wearing out shoe leather.

SPEAKER 6: And, you know, like I said, I've had people just sit down and, you know, and look at cards and, and visit and then, but if I, if I were going around looking at all the showcases which I used to do, but more in the price guide thing, that would be a different kind of exhaustion, John.

SPEAKER 6: So I just draw the line and say that's, that's not, I don't wanna buy them and I'm not gonna sell them. And if I look really close to, I'm thinking, I got that card maybe.

SPEAKER 6: And so the question is, would I rather have the money or the card? And right now the cards I have, I'd rather have the money except for my 1% a month, which I'm, I'm actually following through on that. I'm actually following through on that. So, and the National is not, this is my wife might listen to this. So I'm gonna say this in a careful way. Sometimes there's subtraction by addition.

SPEAKER 6: In other words, if I buy stuff at the National and it winds up stuff that I, when I take it home and I don't really need that. That is stuff that sweetens up my Ebay lots and so that I have happy customers that do repeat business because the additional cards that I put in the lots are, are good.

SPEAKER 2: I got a question based on. So someone buys something off Ebay or CC from you do when they get the package when they get their cards. Well com CCC ships it for you. So that, that kind of adds, but Ebay where you have to ship the card, will the person who receives that package know that they, I just bought a card off. Doctor James Beckett. I hope not.

SPEAKER 6: I hope not. I want him to just buy the cards because it seems like a good deal. And then I wanted to be happy when they open the package and say this was as described and, and this is a, a plus seller or a five star seller or whatever. I, I'm not I get too many questions as it is.

SPEAKER 6: I have trouble keeping track and so I don't need Ebay and Com C to be, you know, asking me questions about specific cards or why something was priced a certain way. It's just, it is what it is and, and people have been pretty good about that. There's some people that do know, but, you know, I'm trying to.

SPEAKER 2: Keep it simple so you can correct me if I'm wrong when you walk in the floor to National and like stopping in front of a dealer's table. It's more to, to, to talk to that, that person because you know them then, hey, I'm looking for this card type of it.

SPEAKER 6: It is absolutely not about looking for any card. If I saw something that was real, I, I just haven't bought anything in a long time. Now, again, rich remembers the days when, you know, which would be more than 15 years ago where that's all I did.

SPEAKER 6: And it, it wasn't looking for me as much as type cards, interesting cards that would, broaden our, our, our various catalogs and almanacs and it was in all the sports and that was a lot of fun, but now I don't have that. So I'm not I need to be more of a seller than a buyer. And I'm not ready to sell those kind of cards.

SPEAKER 6: So I'm not even thinking about that when I get after 50 months, John of 1% a month and I'm down to the last half, then maybe I'll start thinking about that. And then I'm, I'm a little bit of an analytical researcher guy. So before I would sell you know, even a duplicate Roberto Clemente card, I would, I would think, OK. Does this need to be graded?

SPEAKER 6: You know, what, what, what are the comps or what, what would I want to put on this? And it might be like we said, I, I don't just go straight by the cops, but I would look at the comps and then I would make my decision and I'm not ready to start doing that because that takes a long time to me to be doing card by card.

SPEAKER 6: And so a lot of my comp C work is, is bulk if, if that's understandable and my Ebay stuff is definitely bulk. I I need to get rid of some of the bulk, but some of that bulk is not worth even one of Roberto Clemente duplicate cards from the sixties, even not much less the fifties. I'm fine with that.

SPEAKER 2: I got you. I got you. That, that's discipline. I don't think I, even if I wanted to do it, I don't think I.

SPEAKER 6: Could still, there's a number of people in the Hobby that I've known and I'm still good friends with them and their goal is to have all the cards.

SPEAKER 6: And I had a fork in the road in 1979 78. Probably. Where am I gonna try to get all the cards in the world or am I gonna do price guides? And when I did price guides that, that really fit my skill set and I had some great contributors and it really came together.

SPEAKER 6: I had a great run, but that took me out of the buying and selling market because I was a very active buyer and seller in the, in the seventies. That's where I built my collection. I basically got all the sets in the seventies, not from the seventies, but in the seventies, I got all the and the play balls and all that stuff. So, and 52 tops and all that.

SPEAKER 6: So I had everything and so for whatever reason I thought, well, II, I, I think the opportunity for doing a price guide is, is really exciting to me and it's going to take my full attention and, and the conflict of interest of me buying the same stuff. I'm, I'm you know, trying to be objective of what they're really selling for, that's, that's, that's a problem I'm gonna avoid.

SPEAKER 2: And so, yeah, and, and kudos on you, right. Maybe someone in the same position wouldn't have taken that sort of integrity, you know, stance of integrity. They would just say I'll just do it quieter, but I'm, I'm, I'm still gonna do it. So, you know, and, and discipline. Right, it takes a lot of discipline, which I know I probably, couldn't pull up.

SPEAKER 2: But what we're talking about the National, you've been to everyone. We're gonna see you here, in, in 30 something days, at this National. What, what are some of your favorite? Obviously I'm wearing my sh and here's the crazy part. I grabbed the show out of my close.

SPEAKER 2: I didn't do this on purpose but I'm wearing the singles club shirt, today, but more by happenstance than anything else. I, as you said on your show and you said it even today, you know, that's one of your favorite things. But what other types of things, you know? Do you enjoy? I, I know you, you know, meeting old friends, new friends, and just kind of speak to what the National means to you.

SPEAKER 6: Well, there's probably three things I do or what, four if you count the, the dinners. I mean, I try to have kind of thematic dinners at the first couple of nights. I do kind of dinners with old friends of that. Represent one, you know, the kind of the old timers in the industry and the Hobby hotline dinner will be a lot of fun.

SPEAKER 6: And so I got that going and in the, in the daytime and when I'm not looking at cards I'm gonna be wandering around and I'm doing two things when I'm connecting with, you know, with people. I might meet some new friends too. But it's, you know, there's some people that I really like that. I only see once a year.

SPEAKER 6: I wanna do that and occasionally I'll bump into somebody and say, you know what, I really need to have you on my podcast. And so I, but I, I'm realizing now that's not the time to do the podcast. I'm gonna whip out my microphone even though I have it with me, I'm thinking, let's just schedule it for Zoom next month or whenever it's, it's not important.

SPEAKER 6: And so I'll do that. So I'm either connecting with him and catching up or, you know, kind of saying, hey, let's do a podcast next month and then the others just, you know, kind of sitting around and still sing and, you know, talking to people or just, or just working the boxes.

SPEAKER 6: And those are some of my people too, John, you know, you know, I've had a lot of fun sitting there.

SPEAKER 6: And if it's by myself that's ok. But a lot of times somebody come up and, and, they're curious about what I'm, I'm, I'm pulling out and I've got things that I pull and it's very non overlapping with what Rich Klein pulls. So that's why he's one of my, buddies to be a wingman or, I don't know if I'm his wingman or vice versa. But, but, we put, we pull different stuff.

SPEAKER 2: Yeah. And I've been one of those that, I grabbed the seat next to you and we, we had a, a nice chat.

SPEAKER 2: I had to get up. You, you outlasted me, you, you won that. Do you get people maybe sitting next to you and like, try to pick your brain about, hey, who's, who do you, who are you buying or who should I be buying?

SPEAKER 6: They might pick my brain. But it, it shouldn't be about that because again, it's like you would tell them, I can't tell you how to collect, you know, but they can't do it the way I do it if they say I to do it the way you do it. I say, well, OK, first do a bunch of price guides for a few decades.

SPEAKER 6: So, you know, the long tail and you understand the principles of supply and demand and the scarcity in the industry that you will, you, you have to be able to like, like rich says, like we both when you see something that looks like you haven't seen it for a while or or you, or you haven't seen it. It's either, it could be a color variation.

SPEAKER 6: Hey, that doesn't look right. Or it's just, or it's a, you know, a, an SSP or something. You think that's not the pose I'm used to rich is terrific at that. And I'm, I'm, I'm good too. But, you, you can't do that. You, you can't just, all of a sudden say I'm gonna do that because you can't, you can't look up dollar box cards one at a time.

SPEAKER 6: You have to, you have to just either say I'm gonna take it or I'm not gonna take it. And if you take it, you might have made a mistake, it might be worth less than a dollar. Now, most of them are worth and that, you know, a plug for the singles club, they're not trying to put cards in there for a quarter that they're selling for a dollar.

SPEAKER 6: They're trying to put cards in there that are at least a dollar because that's why they have a, that's their reputation that they're good deals in there. They put in a few cards, they put in their really good deals and they're not the only ones that do it.

SPEAKER 6: But, it would, the word would get out if they, if, if you're looking through a whole big box, like a double shoe and you pull out one card and it took you 15 minutes to spend a dollar, you know, that's just, and the, the now, but the cards were 2 50 you know, so it's not very exciting and so you need to pull more and you to enjoy the flow of seeing what's there.

SPEAKER 6: And, so if I go up to I will, here's a tip. Ok. When I go up to a new person that I don't know, I might do one row of their box. And if I, if I pull nothing out of it, I probably just keep moving and go.

SPEAKER 2: If I, you're dipping, you're dipping your toe and a little sample.

SPEAKER 6: A little, little sample. Ok. But it has some good stuff in there, then I'll, I'll keep going.

SPEAKER 2: Yeah.

SPEAKER 2: Well, it makes sense. Right. And, and you wanna, you wanna, you know, time doesn't grow on trees. You wanna put it where you, you, you know, and you, you're from where I think a lot of people at this point are familiar with the, but I kind.

SPEAKER 6: Of forgot to say this is that in many cases my banter such that I have is with the dealer. It's not necessary. It could be with you. If you're next sitting there, we, we'll be talking about stuff but it could be, I mean, a lot I mainly buy from people that I like and, and after, after all these years, I know a bunch of them.

SPEAKER 6: And so if, if I thought the singles club guys were jerks, which they're not, they're the opposite of jerks. They're, they're, they're, they're good guys and they aim to please. Then I wouldn't want to. I mean, I've got lots of places to give my business, including no business.

SPEAKER 6: I don't need more cards but I love shopping with, I want to go in, in shops or, or booths or tables that where I like the people and the, and the, and the cards are interesting and, and the people are interesting. So I, I've had great conversations with so, because I'm there for a few hours sometimes.

SPEAKER 2: Yeah.

SPEAKER 2: Yeah, no doubt. I, I know, I know the day I said next to you, I was there probably an hour and I was like, I gotta get up.

SPEAKER 6: So, you know, here's the thing, like we're saying you got to get up. But if, if, say you're there for an hour or two, are you more tired for sitting for an hour or two than you are for walking the floor? If there's no carpet for an hour or two?

SPEAKER 6: It's, it's pretty true. So, I'm trying to go, kind of rotate a little bit, you know, stand up every once in a while, you know, go walk around then come back. But some of these booths it's hard to, it's hard to stop because you lose your place.

SPEAKER 6: Yeah. Somebody's gonna scoop you as much as you just think. I, I need to finish this. I'm gonna, I'm gonna do all their football today and if it's really good, maybe I'll come back tomorrow and do some baseball.

SPEAKER 2: Well, no doubt. Well, listen, we're, we're, we're coming to the Nashville and look forward to as always, seeing you in person, you mentioned the hotline dinner. Looking forward to always, always have fun, when we do that and, hopefully, main stage as well. We'll, we'll see how that, plays out. But, Doctor Jim as always, you know, thank you for making some time, especially, you know, under the circumstances as well too.

SPEAKER 6: Well, I've said you're a prolific podcaster and so I enjoy the enthusiasm you bring to it and, and, and you're a bit.

SPEAKER 2: And I, I try some days, I'm, I'm a better men than other days. I, I, I will say that though but Doctor Jim give out you know, where people, I think most people know, but for the, for the two people that don't know about sports and card insights, steer those 22 people in the right.

SPEAKER 6: Direction out of my place, you know, I, I, you know, again, if people write me at Dr James Beckett at gmail dot com, II, I generally, I don't always respond, I read everything but some of the times I'll just respond on the air, you know, instead of giving an answer to one person, I'll just think, yeah, that's a good question for everybody.

SPEAKER 6: I'll accumulate that with my next listener question episodes. Yeah. So it's been great John. I've really enjoyed it and you've made it fun as well.

SPEAKER 2: Well, I appreciate that Sports Card Insights, any major podcast platform, big ones, small platforms.

SPEAKER 2: Monday, Wednesday, Friday, the best 15 minutes.

SPEAKER 2: You'll probably hear in, in the podcast form and I, I know I enjoy it as, as well as thousands of other people. So, keep, keep on keeping on.

SPEAKER 6: It's not necessarily the best 15 minutes. The best 15 minutes is probably somewhere in Jeremy Lee's two hours.

SPEAKER 6: But where is it all?

SPEAKER 2: Yeah. Well, listen, listen, there's, there's two great podcasts right there crossover.

SPEAKER 6: You know, those, those guys, it's just Josh and Chris, I mean, Christina there, there's, there's at least 15 great minutes in there and, and usually a lot more.

SPEAKER 6: But, I, I just don't have the patience to listen to all two hours every day.

SPEAKER 2: Well, in my, you know, we've lowered like this. This sports coordination is generally under an hour now and having quick hit is about 2025 minutes. So I've kind of like figure, I don't wanna say I've figured out the, the secret formula, but I've, I've tinkered with it and I think it's a little more, you know, Timewise, it's definitely more consumable.

SPEAKER 6: So I am a loyal subscriber to you, John.

SPEAKER 2: I keep up the good work. Thank you. Doctor Jim, take care. Ok. See you next time.

SPEAKER 2: Always good. Catching up with Doctor B, look forward to seeing him here in a few weeks at the National and, catching up even more in person. And then, you know, our Hobby hat dinner as we discussed, on the air. So we, you know, it's a quick five days at the, at the National, but a fun five, for sure. So, you were counting down the, the crossing them off the calendar right now.

SPEAKER 2: Are you a.

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SPEAKER 1: That's a wrap for this week. Huge. Thanks to you, the listeners out there because without you, there is no ice.

SPEAKER 1: If you like the show, we truly appreciate positive reviews.

SPEAKER 1: Big ups to our great guests who drive the show and our awesome sponsors who make it all possible.

SPEAKER 1: Spons cod Nation will be back next week.

SPEAKER 1: But don't forget to catch either Hobby quick hits or Card Mensches coming up on Monday.

SPEAKER 1: I'll leave you with this.

SPEAKER 1: How do we change the world?

SPEAKER 1: One random act of kindness at a time.

SPEAKER 1: Remember the Hobby is the people.