Ep.256 w/ Rated Rabbi David Spinrad "Creating Different Hobby Content"

SPEAKER 1: What is up everyone? Episode 256 got a great guest today. I've gotten to know him as a good guy hobby needs as many good guys as we can get. And women, and, he qualifies, not that he needs my stamp of approval, but he does a great podcast that revolves around the 19 8 four all-Star game, which he attended in San Francisco.

SPEAKER 1: And, he's made, you know, has really deep dive that whole game, including the television broadcast and doing, a video podcast on, on YouTube. We're gonna talk about that, during our, our conversation. But, his name is, David Sp Red, but, he is the rated Rabbi. So he's rab Rabbi David. He is a real Rabbi. I hope there are no fake rabbis out there.

SPEAKER 1: But, he is the real mccoy and a great guy. And, came on, you know, we, we scheduled the, the conversation and, you know, news broke about the attack in Israel and, you know, we still made it happen. It was, tough, you know, and, and including for myself as well, it kind of hits, hits home.

SPEAKER 1: But you know, we gotta keep going and we did and we recorded this conversation. This is the first of the two parts cause we talked a while, like I said, to keep these episodes at a reasonable length. So, today is part one and, and then next week, next Friday will be part two, but enjoyed our co conversation immensely and you know, gotten to know him to the point I can call him, a friend.

SPEAKER 1: And I think you'll enjoy, you know, the conversation and, I think you'll enjoy his podcast as well, which we will, tackle, on, on the po on this podcast. So without further ado, let's, take a quick break and then get started with our conversation with rated Rabbi David Spinrad.

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SPEAKER 1: All right, I am really excited to talk to my next guest, honey, sports card shop guest line here on Sports Card Nation. He is doing podcasting, in a different sort of way. We're gonna definitely, talk about that and, around my age we have similar kind of, likes and, really, really hits home. With me, it's, the, the Raider Rabbi Mr Dave Spinrad. Thank you for, for being on the show today.

SPEAKER 3: Thanks, John. It is, so awesome to be here. You know, I'm just looking forward to this for weeks ever since you first reached out to me.

SPEAKER 3: And I've been a, a long time listener to your show. I really appreciate you. I appreciate your voice and the hobby and you're actually one of the first podcast I discovered when I got back into it a few years ago, I have this really distinct memory actually of being on vacation with family out in California listening to the pod and know exactly where I was.

SPEAKER 3: And I remember you were talking about a dream you had about opening a shop in Cooperstown. And I this this wasn't something I was planning on mentioning, but when we started, I just had a flashback to that memory. I think that would be one of the coolest things ever to have a, a shop in Cooperstown.

SPEAKER 1: Yeah, that was before David Adams opened up. I don't know, what is that.

SPEAKER 1: They ruined it.

SPEAKER 1: They beat me to it. But it's a good idea.

SPEAKER 1: I'm only 70 minutes from Cooperstown Rabbi David. So I try to get there at least 34 on, on a good year, even six times a year depending on events. And, and so I'm lucky, I guess I'm fortunate to be so close and I've been there more times than I can count on, on two hands. It's a, it's a magical place.

SPEAKER 1: And you know, to me it's the perfect place to have a car store. Although there are some more popping up, popping up. I think they heard that podcast like you did.

SPEAKER 1: So let's get there, let's get there before, before Newman does. And so the rest, the rest of history. But still a magical place. And, you know, and for, for hobbyists, for baseball fans, it covers, both of those checks, both of those boxes and, I, I gotta ask, I'm, I'm assuming you have, but I don't know. Have you been to Cooperstown? Yeah.

SPEAKER 3: You know, I was, we were talking before, before I was a Rabbi. I was a, I was a personal trainer and before that I was a bartender and I was actually a bartender in New York City. And, I remember it was just after the baseball season ended, it must have been like November at 95 or nine 86 with a girlfriend and my brother who was visiting and another friend, we went up to Coopers Town, did a day trip.

SPEAKER 3: And the thing I remember John is, I remember that there were grown men in full uniform dressed up like two guys in full Cincinnati Reds uniform. Like, is there a game? It was raining mid November. And my girlfriend said, no dummy, they're just dressed up in Cincinnati Reds at the Hall Of Fame. She couldn't get over it. I personally, I thought it was kind of awesome.

SPEAKER 1: Yeah, it's cosplay, it's cosplay for baseball, right? Instead of the Star Trek convention.

SPEAKER 1: And it's funny they have, you know, a double day field, which is just a couple blocks away from the hall itself. They, they have the Hall Of Fame game there.

SPEAKER 1: They have, high school teams play there and I, I've never been but I know they have like, old time games where, you know, obviously current folks will dress up in the old time baseball games. Yeah. And, and with the old gloves and, like, recreate what baseball looked like in the 18, late 18 hundreds. What's the oldest car like they do with, like, civil war?

SPEAKER 1: Do you old car that GS or anything?

SPEAKER 1: No, the oldest car that I have and I, I got it this year in 2023. And it, it actually kind of, I don't want to say made news, but it kind of came to the forefront recently with the whole Jefferson Burdick.

SPEAKER 1: We gotta talk about that.

SPEAKER 1: That's on my list. Ok. All right. And so this is actually, and I, for those watching a video you can see this, this is an 1890 on Honest Tobacco card and it's an actress that there's no name on it. Attempts to find out like an actual name is almost impossible. Even even with Jefferson catalog in it, there's no, there's no. So I, you know, I apologize.

SPEAKER 1: I mean, obviously I'm, I'm, she's not with us anymore but to her afraid like, I don't know who it is but the, the, the, what's famous about this card? If you will, if you look at the back, you can see where it's been ripped out of a book from, and it's like glue Glue Dam. This is from Jefferson Burdick's own collection. No way.

SPEAKER 1: Yeah. So I think it's amazing and you can't see it. You won't see, you could see this if you had like a loop or a magnifying glass and you had it in hand.

SPEAKER 1: There's two stamps on it. There's one right about here. And again, I'm just kind of approximating, let's say it's from the Metropolitan Museum, exhibit that was by, by Jefferson. I just happened to have it on my desk when you, you, that's the oldest car to have it. And it's a 90. So it's 100 and 33 years old. And, but for me it's more the provenance of, of who owned it.

SPEAKER 1: Me, it went to the Met and then, you know, you know, that sort of thing. So, can I ask you? I'm gonna, yeah, go ahead.

SPEAKER 3: I wanna, I wanna ask you about, going in and cleaning Jefferson Burds Headstone because it's, it was really moving and, you know, from the Jewish tradition, it's a, it's a, it's a Mitzvah. It's a sacred responsibility to do what you did, to honor our dead.

SPEAKER 3: And I just felt like it just, it just transcended, just anything that's normal. Like hobby cards. It was on this, it's on this next level and I just want to say thank you. It was really cool.

SPEAKER 1: Well, I, I appreciate you. Saying that Rabbi Dave I'll give you the cliff notes and, and cause this you're the guest and not me. But, I, I do appreciate you, you saying that and I actually made the assumption.

SPEAKER 1: I just wrote an article for, for sports collectors Digest about it. And, and in the article I said, I kind of made, you know, he was born in 1900 no one knows exactly what year or date, but just 9, 1900 he passed away in March of 1963 and he died in New York City.

SPEAKER 1: And so I just made the wrong assumption that he's buried somewhere in New York City in one of the cemeteries there. And if being from New York, I know there's a lot of cemeteries. So, unless, you know exactly which one and even then to find, a grave in a, in a very large cemetery, unless you, unless they have a map or they have like a number, it can be very difficult.

SPEAKER 1: And unless or less, someone who already knows where it is says you take two lefts here and then a right. And then, you know, that's so I made the assumption, and I'm making the story shorter than it. It is. I made the assumption that he was in New York City.

SPEAKER 1: That's where he died. He never married, he never had children. He was sort of a kind of a loner, if you will and I just figured, you know, he's probably buried, you know, in, in, in New York. And that's, that's un unfortunately. Yeah. And in, and in a way that was sad, in itself too.

SPEAKER 1: And, but you learn, right. Never to assume. And it recently came to my attention that he was, buried where he was born, which is Central Square, New York. I'm in, in Syracuse, New York. Central Square is only 15 miles north of here.

SPEAKER 1: And I said, you know, knowing what he meant to the hobby. Rabbi, David, I said, I want to pay my respects. You know, you, you mentioned that I, I, I feel the same way. I said, I wanna pay my respects. Have a conversation with them, at the graveside, kind of tell them. Thank you.

SPEAKER 1: The hobby is doing well and you're a, you're a, a good reason why and that sort of thing. But now I have to figure out where the headstone is. I can't wander Amos, plus it's a little weird to see a guy walking, you know.

SPEAKER 1: So I, I, so I went on, on the website and, there's this thing called Find the Grave. You can type someone's name, especially if they have a little celebrity or they're, you know, they're, they're, they're known for something. And surprisingly, it came up, I wasn't sure, you know, how, how, how deep that went and said Jefferson Burdock Hillside Memorial, cemetery knew exactly where the cemetery was.

SPEAKER 1: And it said plot, you know, section 44 which is great. But sometimes, you know, like I said, the, the, the, the place, the, the website might tell you section 44. But if the cemetery itself doesn't have a map or, or number, there are sections again, you, that could be anywhere.

SPEAKER 1: So, when I turned in, when I turned in, I went up on a Saturday morning, told my wife, hey, I told her what I was gonna do and she goes all right, you know, that's pretty cool. And so I went, I turned in and running around the street, you turn in on, I saw like a, a wooden sort of overhang and there was a map of, of the cemetery.

SPEAKER 1: So I pulled over looked for 44 and, and they even have, you know, when you see a map that says you are here, they even, they, they even had that. So I knew where I was. I knew where Section 44 was and I, I, it basically, it was two rights from, from where I turned in, pulled over.

SPEAKER 1: And then they even had the stakes in the ground, the metal stakes where it said section 44. And so now I had it sort of narrowed down to, to where he was, turn and, I, I had to do a little bit of walking. Not, not a lot and I, I found him and, he was between his parents and they give you a little the back story. He died in 63.

SPEAKER 1: But he had no family or immediate family. So they buried him between his parents and he didn't have a, a headstone until 1997.

SPEAKER 1: And finally, a, a family friend said we got to get this man a head.

SPEAKER 1: Like, he's such a.

SPEAKER 3: Such a giant in our hobby in our legend, lore and not just lore but like real. And he in like in the greater world, he, he dies really anonymously.

SPEAKER 1: It, it, it is, it's sad when you think about it, but it's true, you know, when you think about so the, the, the headstone didn't get there until 97 and it was just through the, the generosity of a family friend that said enough. So, you know, we're gonna get this man a headstone and it says right on his headstone.

SPEAKER 1: You know, one of the great, you know, Jefferson Birdie, he doesn't have a birth here. It just says March 1960 died March 1963.

SPEAKER 1: And it says one of the greatest car collectors, in history. And when I got there, I found it and it, it was a little tricky to find because over the years, even, even in the 26 years or, or, you know, it didn't appear like anyone did any sort of upkeep to it.

SPEAKER 1: So it had lichen, which is a form of algae. I don't want, I'm not, you know, forestry major, but I know that much. It had algae itself. It had a lot of dirt and grime. The, the letters itself which are carved into the stone had filled with moss was dead.

SPEAKER 1: So, yeah. So, I, it was hard to read. I had a, a AAA thing of wet wipes in my car, like to wipe the steering wheel and that. So, so I went back and grabbed one of them and just to see if I can make it look a little bit better that didn't do too much damage to, to cleaning it up.

SPEAKER 1: So, II, I had my conversation and I got back in the car and I, I went on my way and, and drove the 15 miles home, but on the way home, Rabbi David, it was on my mind and all that Saturday and, and thinking about this gentleman's contributions to the hobby, I'm like, we should be able to read, read that headstone.

SPEAKER 1: And, and so I never, I'm not gonna lie, I've never cleaned the headstone, prior to this, but I also know, you know, if you use the wrong thing, you can, you can do more damage than then good.

SPEAKER 1: And that's the worst thing I wanted, you know. Hey, here's the guy who defaced, you know, Jefferson Burdick's headstone, like, get him, you know, So I'm like, I gotta, I gotta find out what I, what I can and cannot do and use. So I researched it.

SPEAKER 1: You know, D two is the preferred number one product but the number, and that's just, you got a special order. It's not crazy money but it's not cheap. It's somewhere in between. I don't, I don't have that. It's generally, found with, with people who work with stone a lot and that sort of thing.

SPEAKER 1: You can order and I think I will eventually order it for future use. But at the time I didn't have it. But it said the next best thing I found out was that a 1 to 1 mixture of Dawn dish soap and clean, clean vinegar, not vinegar you would use in clean vinegar.

SPEAKER 1: And I knew that I, there's a dollar store near my house. I knew that they sold clean vinegar. I'd seen it there. And so I was all set to go out and buy it. My mother-in-law who lives with me said John, I have the Dawn and the, I used that to clean in, in the house and she pointed me, she had like a spray bottle in the, in the kitchen of against the, the, the mix.

SPEAKER 1: It's already next. She goes, don't bother buying a cleaning vinegar. I made that solution you're talking about. It's all set for, you just bring my bottle back. You know what I mean? She says. So I had that I had a power sprayer that I've only had water in. So there's never been any chemical in like a handheld like pump sprayer.

SPEAKER 1: So I had that a soft pressure brush and some toothpicks to, to clean the lettering out and get the moss out. And I, I decided that I'm like, I gotta go back. It, it was weighing on my mind. I'm like, I gotta go back and do this. And I told my wife I'm like, I'm thinking about doing this tomorrow. It just really bothering me. Like, it's weird but it's really like weighing, it's like a weight. It's, I, I can't explain it.

SPEAKER 1: And she goes, yeah, that's a, that's a beautiful thing. I, you know, I said I'm doing it. I'm getting up, I'm showering, I'm, I'm going up there and if I'm lucky I'll be back for, for the NFL football, you know.

SPEAKER 1: So, so I went, you know, I got up, then my, my stuff loaded my car up with the, you know, the handout sprayer and the chemicals and the toothpick and the brush and I went up there never done this before. And I just like, I, I watched a YouTube video of a, of, of a gentleman kind of doing it.

SPEAKER 1: Wasn't rocket science. I'm like, OK, I, I got that and, I did it and, you know, you saw the before and after picture just the amazing little elbow grease. And then after I got done, you know, you know, cleaning Jefferson Burdick's, headstone, you know, now you got his mom and dad, his, his, his dad to the left and his mom's and, and they were in, they were in similar disrepair if you will.

SPEAKER 1: Like, how can I, how can I, I clean the sons and not leave the parents like that. It's sort of doing a disservice to everybody. And so I'm like, hey, I got time.

SPEAKER 1: Let me, let me take care of all three while I'm here.

SPEAKER 1: And so I was there 70 minutes.

SPEAKER 1: And, you know, it felt I didn't do it, you know, I did it because I just felt like it was the right thing to do. Rabbi David.

SPEAKER 1: And I, I posted it not so much to draw attention to myself. It's like I said, in the article I wrote as well. I want, there's a lot of people in this hobby that honestly don't know who Jefferson Burdick is and if it's a way to sort of draw attention, to the man himself, then, then that's all I can ask for.

SPEAKER 1: And even, even sports collectors daily, I know Rich Miller, he reached out to me, he's been on the show. He's like, John, I saw what you did. Can I use your pictures and run a story?

SPEAKER 1: I said, Rich, but by all means, you can't under one condition, you know, make it more about Jefferson than about me. Like you can, you know, you can mention I did it and I, I get it but it's, it's good.

SPEAKER 1: It's got to be about J and be, and I've gotten and I'll just close with this and, and, and we'll get to asking you some questions but, you know, I got probably 10 to 15 D MS or email now that that said, hey, I didn't know Jefferson Burdick John, but in reading what you did, it made me look into him and the contributions that he made and, and thank you for doing it.

SPEAKER 1: And he, he was very important to Dobby. Now. I know and that's, that's, that's the best part of what I did. And I also got, I probably got 1010 or 15 emails on the other hand of people who knew who he was already and just said thank you for being able to do that.

SPEAKER 1: It's, it's, he's sort of well deserved on his part. But, you know, you didn't have to do that yet. You did. And, and so thank you to, to you. So and you know, it's not far, I'm in the area sometimes. So I'm gonna make it a point to kind of be the steward. I if you will.

SPEAKER 1: Yeah, I think it's super cool.

SPEAKER 3: You know, it makes you think of that saying you hear that saying a person dies two deaths, you know, once when they die and the second time when they're forgotten, so you kind of keep them alive with that. It's super cool.

SPEAKER 1: It's true. And, and if I can educate people, you know, who want to learn about what he meant and, and his contributions through that, then that's a win. That's a win win as far as I'm concerned, thank you for bringing it up.

SPEAKER 1: I, I, we might have to call this, the Rabbi, the rated Rabbi show with.

SPEAKER 1: But no, I, I do. It's been taken John and the best logo. I, let's, before I add, I, we'll talk about that logo. I, it's one of the, it's obviously a play off of the, the rated R, rated rookie from, from donors. But when I saw that and it's on my sticker board over here and, and I got that other one. I don't even want to put that on any.

SPEAKER 1: It's such a, a great, you, you sent me a couple thankfully, one of the best logos I, I'll say, yeah, in, in the hobby or more podcast kind of talk to even when you come up with the name for your pod. Did that come right to you? Was there? Did you have three or four choices? How did you, how did you find?

SPEAKER 1: Yeah, I, I.

SPEAKER 3: Remember, when I was kind of first back into the hobby and sort of finding my way and I'm still very much a student.

SPEAKER 1: We all are, we all are for sure.

SPEAKER 3: I think that's what was part of the, the, the fun, kind of thinking what I wanted for an Instagram, handle. And I knew I didn't want my regular name and I knew I wanted it to be, more of a separated part from my life. I wanted to be just hobby space.

SPEAKER 3: But I also really feel really blessed and fortunate to get to be a Rabbi. I think it's just something that's really cool, very satisfying, very meaningful to me. It's super hard and super satisfying.

SPEAKER 3: And so I want to also, you know, embrace that part of me. And you know, I'm an eighties kid and you know, I, I never, I never knew John, I never knew that the first rated rookies there's a six card. They're only on the back. 1983 Don Russ has six cards only 93 domos rated rookie. I never knew that until maybe a month ago. I think that the the key card would be maybe Mel Hall, the not lost stars.

SPEAKER 1: And then 84 another local guy, he's from Fort Byron, New York.

SPEAKER 3: So so no, but so then I, you know, when the radio rookie, then there was like that 84 is more of a banner that matches 84 Dr and 85 is really when they kind of showed that low and that logo to me just became iconic.

SPEAKER 3: So it's an eighties piece and I love the alliteration. And, you know, also I think the last thing is I, I've learned that like, the less I try, the less I force something, the more it comes. And I just was out for a walk with the dog and I just heard it and I get rated Rabbi.

SPEAKER 3: And then I wrote to a young woman who was a congregant when I was in Atlanta as a Rabbi and she's an artist, really terrific, visual artist. I said, do you think you can take this rated rookie and play with it and turn into raided Rabbi and she's, you know, basically hold my beer 15 minutes later. She, you know, send it back a PNG of it and yeah, and that's that, that's great.

SPEAKER 1: Thank you for asking.

SPEAKER 1: No, it's, and I'm not just saying I said that to you. I, I'll be what that was like. I was, I, I'm like, other than the Rabbi part which I can't legally say I wanted to, I, I wanted the logo like, like it's perfect. It, it just like it, like you said, it's subtle but it, it hits home and it, it, you know, obviously, as a Rabbi, it's not false advertising. It would be if I tried to do it.

SPEAKER 1: But and, and, and, you know, it screams it screams baseball cards. It screams baseball. It, it, like you said, it bridges both your, your worlds in a way together and, and not too over the top either. It's not like egregious. It just, it just, it works. And, you know, he's got my vote for, I like my logo too but I mean, it really, really makes me love that, that logo.

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SPEAKER 5: 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 6: Sports Car Nation has returned.

SPEAKER 1: When, when you, you know, you went to the 1984 All Star game in San Francisco when you started your podcast that you really use that to sort of as your foundation for your show.

SPEAKER 1: Talking about everything taking to that game, not just, not just the players, but even the, the, the anthem and, and commercials and, and everything around the pop culture, surrounding that game. And you do, that's not easy to do. First off right off the bat.

SPEAKER 1: There's a skill to that. Like, even if I, I've done podcasting five years or almost five years and if you said, hey, pick a sporting event that really means a lot to you and then do a series of podcasts around it.

SPEAKER 1: I wouldn't, I wouldn't do justice and, and definitely not the justice, you did with, with a game talk about. Did you know, like, from Jump Street? Like this is, this is what I'm gonna at least start with, like, the.

SPEAKER 3: Great, great thoughts and great questions. So, I'll go back a little bit. So, I, you know, I, I came back into the hobby, like, like so many people, during COVID, not the darkest part of COVID, but like, more like January of, 2021. So, not 2020. But I was like, you know, everyone was, it was just, it was bubbling up.

SPEAKER 3: And, you know, for me, it really became a moment of, I had been, just a, a husband and a father and a Rabbi for so long. There had been no room for me. Like I had just been Dave with my own space in my life for, I don't know, 1718 years, it's been a long time and it just hit me. I had and so I came back to the hobby, for self-care really quite, quite honestly.

SPEAKER 3: And when, you know, when you think about people went back and it's worth digging into it. You know, people said, oh, they had all this time on their hands and they were at home and there's more to it than that. People were traumatized. People were stressed out in a super hard time and, and going back to our cards, made it a little bit easier.

SPEAKER 3: Right. We help. We felt better and it just, it gave us something to do and, and for me, I fell back in love with it on a level that it's just way, I, I thought I liked cars when I was a kid but it's just, it's way different. It's way deeper than it was when I was a kid because I'm an adult.

SPEAKER 3: And I, I started, I started listening to podcast, listen to you.

SPEAKER 3: Who else, Mike baseball collector? Like all the hobby ogs, mostly I'm a podcast guy when I walk the dog and I got so listening podcast, my dog got super skinny j because I kept walking.

SPEAKER 3: You can see you, you're.

SPEAKER 1: You're a personal trainer on like multilevels. Like, hey, I'll, I'll get you in shape and your dog totally.

SPEAKER 3: So I would listen to you guys and coming back in. I mean, I have some discretionary income but I'm, I, and I had a few cards and I, I have, when I was a kid one, I want to show you a little bit later.

SPEAKER 3: But all I had was a, a very, you know, a modest budget and all my old cards from when I was a kid and a lot of them I kind of started selling on ebay. And I built up a, a call my own war chest like a dollar or $5 just very, just deliberately and did. And then also, like people were buying anything in 2122.

SPEAKER 3: You just, like I was putting out, you know, off center 1979 Fran Tarkin in D 99 sold. So I just nickel by Panny just built it up. But I could never, and I saw really early, I could never have a collection like someone who, who's been doing it for 20 years or even five years before the pandemic. It's just where I came in is where I came in.

SPEAKER 3: So I, I thought, well, you know what, I don't need to have the biggest collection, but I wanna have an original collection. I wanna have a collection that like a fingerprint that's gonna reflect me. That can be cool and different and interesting along the way I can have some bigger cards.

SPEAKER 3: But I wanna have a collection that only I can have and it just, it made it, it made it so fun. And so I put together first, I put together an 80 card called it the, the master set. So PS A graded the majority until PS A dropped their prices. I could, I found on ebay mostly auctions.

SPEAKER 3: Then there'd be random ones like Dave Engle Catcher for the Twins one time. All Star doesn't play in the game he makes, it doesn't get in.

SPEAKER 3: So those are a little hard to find, but, you know, you can find an 8584.

SPEAKER 3: Mattingly there are tons of those graded. So I built it out. It was 60 players, 30 from each roster. It was the five announcers.

SPEAKER 3: It is the first pitch. It is the two guys to our first pitch. Carl Hubble and Stu Miller. It's the honorary captains Greenberg, Hank Greenberg to A L and Hubble for the NL I'm like, ok, this is manageable to Greenberg.

SPEAKER 3: This a little, you get a little pricey and then bottom of the first inning, John camera pans and who is sitting there behind kind of between home plate and first base who's sitting there, blazer sweater just flowing beautiful white hair, Joe DiMaggio, right? And all of a sudden this master said got a little bit more pricey. But, but I got it was the last car.

SPEAKER 1: Can I show you the the, can I show you the, you know, it's not an un unknown car. I just, there you go.

SPEAKER 3: I love this card and I loved, I love the pursuit, right? I love the hunting of it. 4849. I listen, Doctor Beckett a lot. Pretty much. This is probably a 49 right? But whatever.

SPEAKER 1: Well, listen, I'm a Jackie guy so I know it's right there. Yeah, I call it. It's the 1948 lead. But there's a big debate as you touched on there, Rabbi David, of whether it's produced in, in 4948 I'm gonna go with, with Doctor Jim who still says it's the 1948 leaf set. Now, he'll tell you, you know, there, there might be a few cards that were maybe produced in 1949 but that's how it's been.

SPEAKER 1: It's always sort of been the 48. Listen, what? 4849 tomato, tomato? You got a Joe DiMaggio.

SPEAKER 1: A Jackie Robinson. You can call whatever you wanna call. 4849. We, those cards are still in our, in our collections and and, and, and so, but yeah, go ahead.

SPEAKER 3: So then, so then I started thinking about how fun it would be to do a podcast and the world already has one, John Newman, the world already has one Mike baseball thing. It's enough.

SPEAKER 3: But you know what I mean? So like for me, I wanted to do something that was, was different, you know, something that was a bit different. And 1984 All Star game July 10th, 1984. I'm 13 years old. My dad takes me my brother and another buddy and I my our seats, I am in dead center field and kick was a football stadium, right?

SPEAKER 3: So it's way up dead center field. I mean, the last, but man, I was in the stadium, walked around a bunch. My dad took us early. My dad was always awesome taking us to games at Candlestick. And he used to work in the city. We lived in Marin up in Nevada, kind of near Sonoma.

SPEAKER 3: He used to work in the city. He would drive all the way home to get us and drive all the way back in all the way across the city to Candlestick. So, just a real special place and a real special time. My life and all those players. I mean, it's, it's Ricky, it's Reggie, it's Schmidt, it's young Samberg and Gwynn in their first all-Star games.

SPEAKER 3: It's, it's it's, it's Gooden then and still today, the youngest to appear in an all-Star game. I mean, can we, can I jump over to one thing since we're not? Yeah. So, so you you guys did a card matches? I think it was a card matches. Favorite eighties recently.

SPEAKER 1: We just did that. It was a really good.

SPEAKER 3: One and, and I know you couldn't do them all, but I had just had to real quick. At least add one for me. 19 eighties. Must have the 85 CS.

SPEAKER 1: Good man.

SPEAKER 1: You know what? We're gonna have to do my day. We're gonna have to do a, a AAA sequel and have the hot, you and you, you, you'll be like the, you'll correct our mistakes like, hey guys, you missed this, you missed this, you missed this, you miss this and you missed this and I'll agree with you because that's, it's funny when we don't script a lot with that show. That's one of the sort of nuances.

SPEAKER 1: We just kind of say, hey, let's, let's talk about this. We don't share our list. That's why a lot of times we have similar, similar cards and, you know, I'm, I'll ask Danny, I'm like, well, how, how do we want to do five cards? Do we wanna do 10? I don't wanna just name the card. I wanna like, talk a little bit about back store. Why did I select this card or? You know?

SPEAKER 1: And so he goes, well, let's do five cards each in the sense that's 10 cards. Although I got a feeling a few of those cards are gonna have to be on it. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER 1: And so, you know, it's funny when you're done with the show, you realize like, hey, and people in the chat room because if we do that live, we're like, hey, you missed this or what about this?

SPEAKER 1: And you're like, yeah, you know, it's one of those things but we can do it, we can do another one and revisit if we do, I promise you this as long as you come on, we'll, we'll have you on and we'll, we'll make that, we'll make that a 15, we'll make that a 15 card, less than, we see, we'll make sure, you know, we, we'll, we'll catch up on some of the ones that didn't make it on the, you know, it's like the Hall Of Fame.

SPEAKER 1: Sometimes not everyone gets in on the first ballot, but they, they do get in. So we'll have to, we'll have to revisit it.

SPEAKER 1: And that's right in your wheelhouse as well. So we, we would be, and, and you can be our, our guest match. We've had, we've had a couple Jeremy Lee, Doctor Doctor Beckett and you really will be Jeremy Lee is too. But you'll be a real match at the men.

SPEAKER 1: It's awesome. So, so I, I'm gonna talk to Danny and we're, we're gonna, we're gonna get that. We'll get that on the, the docket as you say, what you do.

SPEAKER 1: You know, you took an event that's so special to you and not only did the collection but the podcast too and, and the way you did it, you know, there's a million podcasts right now, you know that I know that and then most of them are, are very good and everyone has a different style. But when you have that many of, of anything, right? It's, it's kind of been there sort of done that.

SPEAKER 1: It's hard to do something and have someone say, wow, man, that's like completely something not done before. And I think you really did that with, with your podcast and, and you know, that's not easy to do. You know, you make it seem easier than it, than it is and seamless.

SPEAKER 1: But it's like I said, if someone said John, pick out a sporting event that's near and dear to your heart and do you know, 30 episodes, I, I'd be lucky if I get two or three and, and even the two or three I do, we will probably not be great.

SPEAKER 1: And, you know, the, the fact that you, you do it and, and do it where it's interesting and I've listened to probably a good percentage of it and, and you, yeah, and you, and you touch on a lot of the back story.

SPEAKER 1: I mean, here, here's like the camera pants to Joe D and like I gotta get, he's got now he's in the, you're probably like, hey, stop panning, stop panning. This is costing me money, even the fact that you did it in that fact, right? Somebody would, you know, someone would just take the starting lineups and say, ok, I'm gonna do that and that's it.

SPEAKER 1: But the detail you go into in into the levels you know, from the anthem to commercials to who was caught on camera that, that Taylor Swift wasn't around yet, you know, there'd be seven other ways her, you'd have to get 17 but it's.

SPEAKER 3: It's, it's super fun. I mean, there's just, there's, it turns out 1984 is an incredible year in sports and, and in pop culture. 84 is the Olympics.

SPEAKER 3: 84 when the year starts. Thriller number one album, Huey Lewis in the news are number one when they do the anthem, but then Born in the USA.

SPEAKER 1: Takes over you.

SPEAKER 1: Yes, you, you deep dive this on levels like people wouldn't even know where to begin and you like you, you knew where to begin and, and where to go and, and just amazing that the attention to detail.

SPEAKER 3: You know, it's, thank you. Thank you so much. You know, it is. There's a, there's a way of, of thinking.

SPEAKER 3: It's a, it's a palm thinking and in the, the Jewish the literature tradition, all the, the written text, all the interpretations, not just of the original biblical text, but all the thousands of years of rabbinical interpretation, particularly the Talmud just kind of comes out mid first millennium and it's, it's the, if the, if the Torah and the Bible say the what the Talmud kind of explains how, what it's trying to teach and it's all about free association.

SPEAKER 3: So you could be talking about this over here, which just leads to this other digression over there and then over there and then back to there. So kind of, I, I think I'm sort of wired to think that way, just free associate and trust that I'm going in the right direction, and it's just super fun to, to thin slice something like you're not listening to the podcast to find out who won the 84 All Star game.

SPEAKER 1: Right? It doesn't matter anymore.

SPEAKER 3: It doesn't matter. But, but to, like, for example, one of my favorite, you know, did you ever do an episode that you love and no one else watches it or listen.

SPEAKER 1: It's funny, I'll give you just AAA real clip.

SPEAKER 1: It's not my most downloaded, although it's sort of making sort of a late charge. It's not recent.

SPEAKER 1: It was a couple of years ago, you know, growing up in Brooklyn, my dad lived in, in Ebbets Field and like, you know, I never had my dad out, like, he's not a hot, you know, he, he has cars and he's not active, let's say, and what I'm thinking, you know, you know, a lot of people from that era unfortunately are, are no longer with us and here my dad still is and I'm like, or how, how many opportunities you're gonna have to have someone on the show who can tell you what it was like to meet Jackie Robinson and Duke Schneider and Campanella and, and, and meet them up close and personal and what Ebbets Field was like and what baseball was like in, not just Brooklyn but in, in, in all the boroughs of New York and, and I'm like, I, I have, I know a guy, it's my dad.

SPEAKER 1: I know Antonio totally. Right.

SPEAKER 1: And, you know, at first I was like, I know this is gonna sound weird probably to you. I'm like, it's my dad though. I don't, I don't, you know, people say, oh, you got a dead for the dead on the show, you know?

SPEAKER 1: But I'm like, he, he's the perfect guy for an episode like this. I think he, he's been on the show twice. But the first one was called the Brooklyn Experience with Barry Newman.

SPEAKER 1: And he got, I mean, there was time to be, he got choked up a few times and he brought him back to his childhood and I think he got choked up in, in ways we probably would too if we thought, you know, it really dawned on him like he can never go back o only in his mind, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER 1: Like, and being at the time 82 he's 84 now. He's like, you know, and the Dodgers left and he talked about the impact he talked about, he stayed with the Dodgers.

SPEAKER 1: Yeah, he did, but II I think he didn't follow him in the same way. He did as, as Brooklyn Dodgers. He did, you know, I think the last time he really followed the Dodgers Rabbi David truthfully was the Steve Garve era, Ron Fernando right around the eighties. And I'm not saying he, he didn't watch baseball, but he wasn't his finger wasn't, on the pulse in the same way.

SPEAKER 1: It, it used to be and, but, you know, hearing him tell stories and reminiscing and getting choked up at, at different points. And he ever talked about the day Babe Ruth passed away and how it wasn't a dry eye. He, he, he remembers coming out onto the street and people were crying on the street even though you knew like it was, you know, it was, people knew he was sick and that day would eventually come when it actually does.

SPEAKER 1: And I, and he said, like, it didn't matter whether you were a Yankee fan, a New York Giant fan or Brooklyn Dodgers. This was the, the, the guy, this was the, the Mecca of, of, of, an icon of the sport and it didn't matter whether you were not a Yankee fan when he passed away, it hurt you.

SPEAKER 1: And, you know, those stories you just can't get from anybody you have and I'll, I'll make the story. So that show wasn't necessarily my most downloaded, but it got the most feedback. So I had, and I've talked about this on the show and other pe I, I had people who say, you know, John, I had a, falling out with my father and hearing you and your girl on your podcast.

SPEAKER 1: And even though I think my dad was wrong, I picked up the phone and said, this is stupid. Let's, let's, you know, let's bury the hatchet, so to speak. And I got about three of those emails or D MS and 11 was a, one was a guy that was, a couple of years. He hadn't talked to his dad and it was almost like different.

SPEAKER 1: One was like two years of strange, one was five and one guy that, the one that really sticks out was double digit years. He said it's been over 10 years. He even said I, I, my dad, I like, I think my dad was like, I'm not changing my mind on who I think was right or wrong.

SPEAKER 1: But I'm realizing like, my dad's not in hearing you talk to your dad who's 84. Like someday my dad's not gonna be here is being right, is being right worth more than, than not having some sort of relationship at the end with my dad. He goes listening to you talk to your dad about all that kind of stuff.

SPEAKER 1: It really, it really opened my eyes and I'm, I'm calling him this afternoon. I hadn't called him while he was like, and he then he emailed me back and said, hey, we, we, we talk for a couple of hours on the phone and we're gonna, we're gonna get together and when I did that episode, I, I'll be fully trans.

SPEAKER 1: I had no, that wasn't the goal or the intention I, I just wanted my dad to come on and talk about the Brooklyn Dodgers and Ebbets Field and what the players were like.

SPEAKER 1: And, and that, you know, and I, I showed my dad some of those messages and my dad's a very sensitive man and that he got emotional, like reading that and I think that something he was part of and it's funny even before those messages came in when we were done with recording, he's like, I know I cried like I got choked up a couple of times, but that was just so much fun.

SPEAKER 1: Like, can we do another one? He wanted to do? Like he wanted to do another one? Like right away. So I was like, well, you know, let's not overdo a good thing. Let's see how this comes out every time I'd see him.

SPEAKER 1: You know, a lot of times I'll go to dinner, he goes to my sister's and so I'll go to my sister's and we'll eat dinner and, and, you know, every time I was there, you want to do another show, you know, you got, and I'm like, well, I'll pick a time and so he was on two episodes.

SPEAKER 1: He was on another one when Duke Schneider finally not Duke Schneider. When oh, she escaping? Oh, Gil Hodges, Gil Hodges Hodges finally got in the hall for the Yeah. And I'm like, I this is the reason to bring my dad back and talk about Gill Hodges and why he thought maybe it took so long or should he have been in?

SPEAKER 1: And so we did, like, a Gil Hodges sort of retrospective and, and, but, you know, I didn't wanna, I, I don't wanna do an episode just for the sake of doing it either. You know what I mean? Like, I could have my dad on every week and he'd probably do it.

SPEAKER 1: But, you know, I, I think when you do them for the right reasons they, they have more, of an impact. And so when you ask that question that, that, is, is the two, and not just because it was my dad just because that went from like, a hobby episode to, like, a whole different direction and one frankly, Rabbi David, I had no idea that's what was going to occur.

SPEAKER 1: Like, it was just a complete shock and, and, you know, it's just to think that you do a hobby podcast and maybe have sort of, that kind of impact comes from it. I would have never, you know, I would have never guessed to that level.

SPEAKER 1: So, yeah, that, that, that is, and I find the more I, I kind of bring it up it's starting more people are starting to go back and, and download it and that sort of thing. And, I mean, that's not why I talk about it but, it's just sort of a, a fringe, a fringe benefit, o of it. And, you know, so, I, it's those experiences, right. Not everyone can share those.

SPEAKER 1: There's a lot of those folks are unfortunately, no longer with us and, I think it's important to, you know, and that's something even, you know, God forbid when, when my, my dad's, not here, you know, and hopefully that's later than sooner we can, you know, look back at those episodes and, and, and I'll probably rerun, you know, I'll, I'll pick a team and they, maybe we re re air them and sort of remix them and, you know, go back to them and, and, and, and that sort of thing.

SPEAKER 1: But, again, with what you've done with your podcast and, and connecting all those dots, again, you make it look easy.

SPEAKER 1: But it's, it, it's not, you know, and, and, you know, you said something on your show too that I think is very important. I wanted to, to talk about, you know, again, it's not necessarily, you know, it's nice to have a, an expensive card and I have those and I have dollar cards that I love too.

SPEAKER 1: And that's, that's a message that comes out of your broadcasting that I think is important that, you know, there's sentimental ways to collect and, and I think you, you, you personify that with, the 84 set that the master set you put together, and, and, and everything that you, you know, whatever something you enjoy, it doesn't have to be dollar signs.

SPEAKER 1: It can be like, take you back to a moment in time that you, you love whether, you know, or, you know, for you, it's the 84 All Star game, and a great point with Gwen and, and Sandberg young man superstars.

SPEAKER 3: And they're ball and by the way, they're fully formed in that game.

SPEAKER 1: Yeah. Yeah. And you saw them in their earliest in their first all game. I said there's just so many tentacles, there's just so many tentacles, you know, something that, yeah, I think sometimes you lose when you're at a sporting event or any event, don't even have to be a sporting event, just some sort of significant event.

SPEAKER 1: You, I think sometimes we lose the fact of, of so many undercurrents and things going on here so much going on and, and you did a great job with between and the podcast itself to, to kind of bring that all out and then kind of it, it all comes together like for like the finale, right?

SPEAKER 1: Yeah, it's still not done the story. No, I, I never, you can always add on to it. It's, it's one of those, the story never has the necessary end until you want it to for sure.

SPEAKER 3: I the first one I started doing it I was doing it twice a week, which was, which tons of fun. I love doing it. But I really like, you know, the definition of a hobby. Right. Is an activity done regularly in one's leisure time for pleasure. So, it has to hit, it has to hit the leisure time and pleasure. Right. The last thing I want this to be in my life is, is work.

SPEAKER 3: Right. I really want to be fun. I love to like, lose myself in it. But when I started to feel like I finished an episode and I have to do another one and like, I don't know that I want, I don't know, I it was much, so much fun as it was and it was just, it was too much. And now I'm just doing once a week on Monday as I started that maybe 68 weeks ago.

SPEAKER 3: Maybe, yeah, say six weeks ago.

SPEAKER 3: And I'm, I'm about to get to episode 40 I'm starting at the top of the fourth. So I don't know how long it's gonna go. I'm in the top of the top of the fourth.

SPEAKER 3: I definitely have enough material because the starters are now starting to come out. So every time a new guy comes in, there's just a universe I can do. So someone said, why don't you do? 84 kind of be the perfect number and maybe I'll stop there.

SPEAKER 3: I got a lot of stuff I had, I gotta show you a great card really quick that has to do with the, it's just came today. So, there's an incredible, incredible string coming up 4th and 5th inning.

SPEAKER 3: The A L batting in the top of the 4th and 5th. You're gonna have, Fernando coming out for a second inning and Gooden making his first All Star appearance taking the mound for his first inning. So they're going to consecutively strike out six players in a row. Fernando is going to strike out in the top of the fourth three consecutive Hall Of Famer, future Hall Of Famers.

SPEAKER 3: He gets, who does he get first? He gets winfield, who's hitting 370 at the break? Remember that year two? And then you get, then you get Reggie in his final all-Star game and then you get George Brett Hall Of Famer Hall Of Famer Hall Of Famer and Fernando just breaking off. Screw Alderman.

SPEAKER 1: That's not a guy that strikes out a lot.

SPEAKER 3: No, Brett was the closest to being on him but he, he k two on an extra a called third.

SPEAKER 3: So the card I got in the mail today, 2000 15 tops a stadium club, right?

SPEAKER 3: And for people listening to the pod, it is the picture that inspired the song by Lords Royals. You know this story.

SPEAKER 1: No, I I know the song, I didn't know it was inspired by there never be right.

SPEAKER 3: So the deal is she's from New Zealand. She, she actually breaks. She's huge. By the time she's 18, she writes the song when she's 13 or 14 years old. Hanging out with a friend flipping through an old National Geographic magazine. There's pictures taken of George Brett Spring Train in 1976. She's from New Zealand.

SPEAKER 3: Knows nothing about baseball, knows no idea who this is. He's this young handsome guy surrounded by people holding out baseballs looking up and smiling and she's inspired that the title comes from his Jersey Royals. So like I get to do a dive into that in the next episode. And, you know, it's just me being a nerd in the, in the basement.

SPEAKER 1: By myself and I, and I've heard that song, I assumed she was talking about like a monarchy, whether it be the British or in other countries, Royals, you know, who knew she was talking about George.

SPEAKER 3: There's a break in there, but the title of the song is, comes in that photo.

SPEAKER 1: Yeah, you're gonna break some news. You're gonna be like the Dan rather of have cast in there like that when you thought that, you know, or song was about like monarchy and, and Royals on that level. No, it's, it was short, Brett.

SPEAKER 3: That's true. So it's, it's a lot, it's a lot, a lot of fun for me.

SPEAKER 3: I've been thinking about how I might start bringing on a, a guest or two and how I might do it in a fun and interesting way.

SPEAKER 3: And the thing I've been playing with is an idea called season team Boombox Screen. So we have a guest on he or she would talk about a season and a particular team. So you might do 1988 Mets, right? Not the 86 team, right? It's already reserved 8888 100 games. And then, then the boom box screen is either something from music or a T VA movie or a commercial.

SPEAKER 3: So like 88 Mets and you thin slice like just a couple of stories, a couple of memories from that team and then take something from pop culture like bull Durham is 1988 right? And just might have some fun with that and I thought it might be fun to start having guests and mix it up a little bit. That's as far as I've gotten with the idea, but I'm gonna, I'm gonna hit you up if.

SPEAKER 1: You love it.

SPEAKER 1: Yeah. No, I love it. I love it. I kind of know what direction like I, you know, it's your show. But I, I, you know, one thing I have as I've got a good memory with things that are like from the, you know, different points in your life. That mean a Latin sports for me is, is huge.

SPEAKER 1: Pop culture is another thing, that's, big, big with me. And so, yeah, anytime you, anytime you want and again, it's a show. Right? I just hope no one hears this and, like, steals your thunder here. I'm not good, but I just don't know. Right.

SPEAKER 1: And if we, if they do listen, we know where you got the idea from and we're, we're coming after you. So they would do.

SPEAKER 3: It their way. I do it. Mine, I'll do that right.

SPEAKER 1: That's gonna conclude the part, one of this two part, you know, interview with Rabbi.

SPEAKER 1: David. So, next Friday will be the conclusion. Just had such a great time, talking to him. It's like one of those deals where you feel like you've known someone longer than you actually have. So, we went a little over time and, that way, I'll break it up into two parts.

SPEAKER 1: So, hopefully enjoy this one. And, we hope to, have you join us, for, the second part, next week as well. We're gonna have our, hobbies that people, announcer, next, some closing thoughts and we'll wrap it up. Thank you.

SPEAKER 6: Time for our hobby is the people announcer of the week.

SPEAKER 7: Hey, guys, this is Dylan from YouTube double D vintage baseball cards reminding you that the hobby is the people, if.

SPEAKER 6: You'd like to be the hobby is the people announcer of the week.

SPEAKER 6: Do a WAV, or MP3 file and send it to Sports Card Nation PC at gmail dot com.

SPEAKER 8: That's a wrap for this week. Huge thanks to you, the listeners out there because without you, there is no ice. If you like the show, we truly appreciate positive reviews. Big ups to our great guests who drive the show and our awesome sponsors who make it all possible.

SPEAKER 8: Sports Card Nation will be back next week but don't forget to catch either hobby quick hits or card mentions coming up on Monday. I'll leave you with this. How do we change the world? One? Random act of kindness at a time.

SPEAKER 8: Remember the hobby is the people.

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