Ep.271 w/ John Mangini "the Mangini Collection"

SPEAKER 1: What is up? Welcome to episode 271 of the Sports Car Nation podcast battling a little bit of flu like symptoms. But I'm ok doing all right.

SPEAKER 1: Got a John Squared episode today. Two Johns on one show myself and Mr John Mangini Incredible Collection. Just was featured on the card life show. I've, I've known him a little bit and, frankly I should have had him on a lot sooner than today, but better late than never.

SPEAKER 1: And, great ambassador advocate and a, a good guy who cares about the hobby and, gonna pick his brain and, and chop up a little bit of hobby, today with him. So, with that being said, let's get this show underway.

SPEAKER 2: Hobby Hotline is the hobby's only live interactive call in show. Join some of your favorite hobby personalities every Saturday 11 a.m. Eastern 8 a.m. Pacific to discuss the hottest hobby topics. If you miss us live, catch us after the fact on all major podcast platforms. Follow us on socials at Hobby Hotline.

SPEAKER 1: All right. Real excited to have the next gentleman on the sports card shop guest line. First time on that is my bad. Should have had him on much sooner. I apologize to him off the air. I apologize to him on the air. I call him the best dressed man in the hobby. But, most people probably call him. Mr John Manini. Welcome to the show.

SPEAKER 3: Hey, so excited to be on.

SPEAKER 1: All right. Listen, I know it's sort of the, the standard first time on question. But, you know, like, like me, you've been in a hobby a, a long time. You, you know, I guess we could, we could say we're lifers. But, I'm sure many know, but for, for those listening to the show maybe who don't know, kinda where it all began how, and, and when it all began for you, what, what, what got you in the hobby?

SPEAKER 4: Yeah. So, when I was little, I, I was truly a baseball card and baseball fan. As long as I can remember, my mom claims that she started buying me cards when I was two years old and that I was fascinated with them. The first ones I remember buying were, I was five years old.

SPEAKER 4: Still remember opening, that first pack at a, a little, a little store. You know, it was before you had things like sheets in 7-Eleven that you, you would have, an actual family owned little store.

SPEAKER 4: And I remember that and as I grew up, got a little older, I, I used to walk to a flea market through the woods. I grew up in the country and the flea market was open on Sundays and my friends and I would go down there and I could buy the old vintage cards.

SPEAKER 4: And so I was fascinated with that because, when I first started buying cards, I had a babysitter and she brought me over a box of cards and they were a few years before the ones I had and I was just fascinated with them and, and I read a lot of baseball books when I was a little kid.

SPEAKER 4: So I was, I knew all the, the great players. And so when I would go to the flea market, I was seeking out, you know, the, the players that my dad talked about and the ones I read about.

SPEAKER 4: And so I'm buying up, you know, Hank Aaron Willie Mays Clemente, I'm seeking out and my friends are buying Steve Garvey and, and the modern players of that day. And I ended up with a very large vintage collection, you know, before I was even in high school.

SPEAKER 1: Yeah, everyone else listening to that John, it's like my babysitter just spoke on the phone to her boyfriend the whole time. You know, they didn't bring me no cards. They're like you got the right baby, the right babysitter.

SPEAKER 1: But yeah, man, it's, it's, you know, here in like the corner store back when like you said, when we, when we had those and, and for me growing up in New York City, you know, and we still, we, they still have those but, it's not the same, right.

SPEAKER 4: Like, like it used to be, I tell you, we used to scrounge up whatever change we could, we could get and, you know, packs were like 25 cents back then and we would walk that it was even, it was even farther, to the, the store, a little bit farther in our little town and they, they had a news stand and we would go and buy packs like every day in the summer.

SPEAKER 4: I swear we would walk there every day. So I put together like all those sets from when I was a kid because I just had, you know, I bought so many packs.

SPEAKER 1: Are you still, do you still do set? Like I was a set guy years ago and then, as my space sort of got, more limited and, and I had to be more economical. I've gotten away from doing complete sets. Is that something you still, you do you or has, has your mindset changed at all? What was it that.

SPEAKER 4: I think mo for most of us, our mindsets have changed. I used to seek those sets out, you know, have lots of binders still and I have near sets from the early 19 hundreds on.

SPEAKER 4: I still slowly work on them all. You know, I work on the 33 tattoo Orbit, the long, all those sets. E sets. I, I work on so many sets.

SPEAKER 4: But, you know, I think for all of us it has changed. The hobby has changed where we're more individual cards now. And, you know, I think that started to change with the modern cards when they started putting the autograph inserts, the, the memorabilia inserts all the different parallels. And i, it's just impossible to put the whole set together so you can work on the base set.

SPEAKER 4: But those just aren't as fun as they used to be. Right. And so I tend to not even buy a lot of boxes or packs. I just bought a stadium club, box, a hobby box. That's the first box I bought in a very long time. I, I tend to just go for the individual cards that I want out of the sets now mostly.

SPEAKER 1: Yeah. And you, you, you make a great point too, you know, a master set if, you know, air quotes in 1975 was a lot easier and it wasn't easy even then. But it was, it's a lot easier than, like you said, some of these modern day with all the colored para colored parallels, the 10 ones printing plates and, and, and, and things like that.

SPEAKER 4: So, you know, it's, it, it, we, we had a different kind of shit back then. You know, sometimes there were variations or errors and, and you want to get all the, all of those, like in, in the early flare cards, for instance, they had a ton of errors.

SPEAKER 1: And you have like, I think there was more errors, I think there was more errors than regular cards in that maybe.

SPEAKER 4: But I have all those, you know, the reverse negatives that in 1979 you had the Bump Wills error card, which we were all just fascinated with showing him on a Blue Jays as the on the Blue Jays. He's clearly in a Texas Rangers uniform and even in like 1989 like I put that set together.

SPEAKER 4: So the 89 upper deck, I'm sorry. And you know that you have there's a Jose Conseco variation, there's a Gary Sheffield variation, there's two promo cards in there. And so I'm a bit of a complete is, but I can complete that right.

SPEAKER 4: I don't have to chase these one of ones or ones of 25 and you know, there's 100 different of them to, to go chase. It's it might be fun to do that, but it's near impossible and it sure would be expensive, you know, not like the old days.

SPEAKER 1: Yeah, you mentioned stadium club like you chad I don't open a ton of, of the newer stuff anymore. I'm, I'm heavily, slanted vintage but stadium club, I, I think you'll agree with me. Maybe that's why you did buy Box. Like you said, when you, when you typically don't, the photography in that is just amazing. Right?

SPEAKER 5: And phenomenal.

SPEAKER 1: And I just say, I say to, you know, when I see it and I love it obviously and, and, and like you just said, I'm like, they need to do more of that rather than just have stadium clubs sort of be known for that, which isn't, isn't terrible, but they need to, to do maybe more that across the board.

SPEAKER 1: I'm, I'm, I know you probably remember, you know, they went away from my memory even studio with the up close portrait. You got to see these guys really up close a lot of times in, in sort of out of uniform and kind of in a, in a, in a photo studio setting. I'd like to see some of that brought back, you know, obviously Tops does a heritage every year which is and paying homage to sets of the past.

SPEAKER 1: I know studios, not their brand but they can do their own version of it, obviously call it something else. But, you know, I some of that stuff from us growing up, like I know it's dated, but there's something there like the, the, the, you know what I mean, that's why we're still in this hobby, you know, 4050 years, later. Some of your thoughts on, on that.

SPEAKER 4: Well, I, I have to, be honest. Iii, I don't really like the studio, because, you know, I joke around, you know, the Mariano Rivera rookie card, like in street clothes, it looks like a picture he took for his prom that he sent to his girlfriend or something. And I'm always, I always joke around, I'm like, you know, I collect ballplayer. Ii, I don't want to date these guys like that.

SPEAKER 4: I don't, I don't need a a portrait in street clothes for me. I like the action because I'm collecting baseball player. You know what I mean? And that's, that's how I view some of the players that maybe weren't the best people or, you know, things along those lines is that I collect these, I collect the history of the game and they played and I have to view them like that.

SPEAKER 4: Otherwise I wouldn't collect anything, right. It was like I always say about the, the baseball Hall Of Fame. It's not the good guy Hall Of Fame. There might only be 12 people in it if it was like, you know, it's, it's the, it's the Sport Hall Of Fame and what they did in the sport and I just, you view it that way really?

SPEAKER 1: You compart you, you compartmentalize that you know what I mean?

SPEAKER 4: Like I, I'm, I'm collecting the ball player, not the person if that makes sense.

SPEAKER 4: And I have mine.

SPEAKER 1: Yeah, and I get that and, and, and, and my take on that too, John is, I don't want a lot of like that kind of stuff, but every once in a while just something different where you kind of let their hair down, so to speak and you see maybe the other side of, you know, off the field type of stuff.

SPEAKER 1: But like you said, it's not, it's not everyone's, bag and II, I get that. And that's, that was the good thing about having a product. That was all that because if you didn't like it, you didn't have to buy it. It wasn't like that.

SPEAKER 1: It wasn't mixed in with everything else.

SPEAKER 4: And like, hey, I don't really boxes of stuff nobody wants to buy, you know, the Tops Gallery, the hobby has moved to all, it's to the, to the lottery ticket products, right? So, you're, you wanna rip those things where you could pull that seat $50,000 card. And, many people just throw the rest away. They don't, they have, want nothing to do with, with the base, cards.

SPEAKER 4: And unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you look at it, that's, that's kind of what it's moved to for new product. Now. There are some of us purists, that like to put a set together every now and again, like every once in a while there is a set that kind of speaks to me and I'll, I'll work on it and it's fun. It's fun to put it together, like, you know, maybe an archive set or a heritage set.

SPEAKER 4: And I don't complete many of those, but I try to get like all the stars and as many of the inserts as I can, you know, that's, that's fun. Like that one year they had Will Ferrell on the cards at different ballparks and chasing down, all of his cards. You know, I'm not Keith Oberman, I'm not out there paying for every autograph card, but just having the base card was fun.

SPEAKER 4: A fun little chase. So I do that and I do, I did end up with a lot of, a lot of complete sets because I joined the, tops Montgomery Club a number of years ago and I always get back in it just renewed. So they always send me a complete set at the end of the year with the Montgomery Club stamp, which is, which is nice, but I kind of forget I have them because I just kind of throw them away.

SPEAKER 1: Yeah. Yeah, I think it's funny with those Montgomery. I, I was a member for like, four or five years and I stopped, but, you know, they only produce those sets to the amount of memberships and, and memberships is, you know, at least at one time was the limit. I think that's gonna be a set years later, John, that, you know, I think people are sleeping on it now.

SPEAKER 1: But I think years later when people try to do like the run of them and they realize how little of them probably exist compared to comparatively speaking to a lot of other modern day stuff. I think it'll see an appreciation more later on than we're seeing. Even, even today.

SPEAKER 4: You're probably right because you go back and some of the cards that weren't really popular at the time or anybody thought much of are now selling for way more and I are in way more demand years later, people realize that about them and, you know, I, when I'm looking around or shopping for cards or at shows or the National or whatever, I never see anybody selling a Montgomery rookie card ever.

SPEAKER 4: I can't remember ever seeing one. So I don't know if people are keeping them in those boxes and they're not cracking them out. But I honestly have never seen one.

SPEAKER 1: Yeah, it's, yeah, that's what I'm saying. I think a lot of people are keeping those, those factories set sealed, you know, they got the, the cellophane wrapping on them. I don't think a lot of people are, are open to them. So I think, and then I think what, you know, somebody's gonna like, hey, I didn't join the club that year. That's when I stopped joining the club, I gotta get all these other sets.

SPEAKER 1: When I have.

SPEAKER 1: After what, after I stopped? And there's just not a million of them, like a lot of other things. There's a million of them. I think that's when people own those sets. I obviously have four or five, over, over yonder there too. I think that's when those things kind of get their just desserts and just do, right now they're not, but I think there's gonna come a time.

SPEAKER 1: When people realize how non, you know, it's a non overproduced set during the overproduced era.

SPEAKER 5: Yeah, I don't.

SPEAKER 4: Know how many sets exist, John. But like, you know, o tani, you would think that card would be really hot right now. But I suspect the reason that you don't see them is I think it's mostly like real collectors that don't sell their stuff that buy those membership chips.

SPEAKER 4: I suspect because I, I just love getting the, the various sets throughout the year and you'll get an autograph card here. You'll get a special set and there's a lot of rookies. They always put the hottest rookies in there, but I, I never see them sold on the secondary market very rarely.

SPEAKER 4: And so what that tells me is it's probably collectors that don't sell that, get them that, that, that join and get them in their possession and, and they just stay there and you know that that's what you see with a lot of the old, old vintage rare cars from the, you know, the early 19 hundreds, 18 hundreds is when those cards go into a collector's possession, you don't see them again because they're not selling them.

SPEAKER 4: So you have pretty much wait till somebody dies and leaves it to their family to see those things again or until they're in retirement maybe and, and just are done with it and want the money, you know, for their retirement home or something like that cause a lot of them just go into obscurity.

SPEAKER 1: Yeah, it's i it's, I'll use the, you might get this commercial, right? The, the roach motels, right? They go in but they don't come out right when windows cards, like you said, you, you said it perfect. They get it. They, those are required for, in a collection and they're not for resale and, and, they don't ever become available again until the next owner.

SPEAKER 1: Maybe what a, what a, a death or so or it's be, you know, bequeathed to them. It's, it's not available until that person takes possession of it. Maybe they appreciate it less and see a few dollar signs and say, hey, I'm gonna, I'm gonna cash this in, so to speak. So, and it is, it's, it's someone who buys vintage, for personal collection, is someone who buys vintage.

SPEAKER 1: I'm a show dealer as well to, to have a, a show inventory. It, it, it seems like every year John, it's harder to, to really replenish that. You know, I get, I, I have plenty of offers. I get plenty of new stuff, when the, when that box gets open, but it's a lot of vintage. I don't, I don't see as much as I like to. And it's getting tougher and, you.

SPEAKER 4: Know, it makes sense of it and there's only a number of, there's only a few shows where you could go and, and find a lot of vintage.

SPEAKER 1: Yeah, Strongsville, which I've never, I've never been to, as of yet. I know my friend Danny Black, pretty much goes every year. He, every year he tries to, you know, talk me off the ledge, you gotta go. It's not for lack of want.

SPEAKER 1: One of the problems for me is like, you know, I can only do so much travel. I'm a teaching assistant. It's during the regular school year. It's difficult, to take time off and the strong show is very close to the National, at least one of them.

SPEAKER 1: And so it's like, and like this year with the National meeting in Cleveland, it's like, I'll be if I, if you do both of those shows and a lot of people will do it.

SPEAKER 1: But for me coming from New York it is like doing the same trip you know, just a couple of weeks apart. I just can't, I just can't pull it off. So, but one of these days I always joke with my, with Danny, like, hey, come by and pick me up and I'll, I'll go, I just don't want to drive, you know.

SPEAKER 1: Yes, I'm not, I'm not gonna be a cheapskate. But, you know, but I, I gotta get to because everyone that's been to that show, usually raves about it and, you know, it's not like you said, it's nice to go to a show where if you're of the vintage variety and that's what you collect that shows right up in your wheelhouse.

SPEAKER 4: It's so much fun to go to a show and, you know, those, those tables, even at the National, there's just certain tables that just jump out of me. Like, I'm just drawn to like a, like a magnet.

SPEAKER 1: Yeah. Yeah. No doubt. Speaking of Nashville. Well, I want to talk about another thing that just happened recently to you, but we'll segue since you brought it up. How many have you been to at, at this point?

SPEAKER 4: Well, I believe it or not. I just went to my 1st 12 years ago so I've done two years in a row now. So the Atlantic City won two years ago. It was the first one I ever went to. I was always afraid to go John because, you know, it's like going to a casino with $10.

SPEAKER 4: Just so afraid because I, I knew I would see so much that I want to buy and run out of money the first half hour and, you know, but it wasn't like that at all. And the, you know, I, I always heard like, when you go to the National, you can get any cards you want, like, whatever you want. That's not true.

SPEAKER 4: That is not true at all. There were so many cards that I, you know, I look for, because I, I like to collect the really obscure rare stuff that I didn't see at all. But last year at the National I blew a lot of my wad the, the first, the first night, like in the pre opening because I stumbled on a, and Allen and Allen and Ginter, Tim Keefe, you know, and I, I couldn't pass it up. It was a nice, nicely graded one.

SPEAKER 4: Yeah.

SPEAKER 1: And that, and that happened. Well, don't feel bad. Listen, for, as long as I've been in the hobby, I've only been, I don't know, four or five of them myself for, for many years in my younger years. And my younger hobby days, even my store years I had AAA store for, for 67 years, you know, the National, what we know it as today, John.

SPEAKER 1: It was not like that al always. So, you know, years ago, it was just a big giant card show and I was doing plenty of shows, you know, being in New York, I was doing plenty of shows around the area. New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Pennsylvania.

SPEAKER 1: So I'm like, it's just a big giant show. I can't justify the expenses to get there between travel and, and hotel and so I didn't go, you know, people like, hey, you're gonna go and I'm like, it's like, it's cool.

SPEAKER 1: I don't have a problem with anyone going, but it's for me, I just can't justify, you know, the cost ratio, but it's a different, if it's a different event now, it's a whole, you know, I know it's, it's always been the National but it's, it's, it's changed into a completely different event.

SPEAKER 1: Obviously, it's a still a card show with a tremendous amount of cards and a lot, like you said, obscure ones that wi with the, the K and, and, but you got so many other things, right? The hobbies became more of a community now than it was even 2030 years ago. So the event, the, the there's events outside the event, right?

SPEAKER 1: People get together, have dinner, go to, you know, go to a game, have a trade that whatever it is, I'm leaving stuff up. But it's, it's become an event besides the show when, when I think at one, you know, for many years it was just a big, the biggest card show of, of the year now it's, it's still that, but then more more layers have been added on.

SPEAKER 1: So it's something now that I'm gonna try to get to every year. You know, Lord willing and, and depending on where it is and, and financial situation. But you know, that's, it's, it's changed and so my, my perception of it has changed.

SPEAKER 4: I don't think you should, I don't think anybody, I mean, I don't, I don't wanna tell other people what to do, but for me, I don't go there with the idea that, that I'm looking for a specific card and I don't go there.

SPEAKER 4: Like, because that's where I wanna go to buy my cards. It's what you're saying. It's the interaction, the experience, seeing all your collecting friends hanging out, you know, all the other things that go on these, the side parties. That's absolutely the best part of the National. And if I came home with not a single card, it would be just as fun for me.

SPEAKER 1: And that crazy. Now, if you said that 20 years ago that would, that would be ludicrous like I went to a card show and I didn't get anything and I had a blast. Right. That wasn't right. That, that really wasn't possible 20 years ago.

SPEAKER 4: But now it might sound like I'm, you know, I'm crazy. But that's, that's not true. I think anybody that goes there, most people that go there will tell you that because you're not always gonna get the best deals at the National and you're not always gonna find like I just said, the cards that I'm searching for at the National and you know, if you want a 1958 Mickey Mantle, yeah, there's 3000 of them.

SPEAKER 4: But and then, and then you have like the really super expensive cards that they bring either to auction or, you know, get a lot of hype around that, you know, usually don't move quite honestly. Not the auction ones but you know, you'll see some of those crazy ones at the dealers tables like the 1906 Ty Cobb postcard or something that just seemed to stay there all week.

SPEAKER 4: But yeah, it's definitely, it's definitely about the whole experience just being surrounded. But, you know, I opened my, my videos, my YouTube videos with I like to look at some baseball cards, right?

SPEAKER 4: And so the first National I went to in Atlantic City. It was like the third day and I still hadn't seen every table and I was exhausted. It's over, it's overwhelming how many tables. So I, I looked at my friends and I said, if you tell anybody, I said this, I'm gonna deny it, but I am actually tired of looking at baseball cards. I, I'm exhausted.

SPEAKER 1: Yeah, it's, it's great. Well, it's funny, you know, obviously now with technical, you know, our phones count steps. If you wear a smartwatch, it counts steps and you don't realize it. But like last year I did 45 miles of, of steps in, in, in the course of the, you know, the four or five days of the show.

SPEAKER 1: That's, that's crazy. And you don't realize it. I mean, you, you're right, your feet, you're tired, you get back home from the trip and you, you need like another day or two just to, like, recover.

SPEAKER 1: But yeah, it's, it's, it's a, it's, it's, you know, it's like a, it's like a hobby marathon. It's like running a hobby marathon and you need a couple of days. Not that I'm a marathon runner. I think anyone that's watching me now is like John, you don't run marathons and you're exactly right.

SPEAKER 1: I don't run marathons. But, but, and I'm using that analogy because you're right. You, you, you do a lot of walking, you do a lot of talking and you're just sort of, you're spent when you get back home if, whether you drove or even, even if you're flying.

SPEAKER 1: It's just, it gets to, you, you, you know, you do it every year but you need that day or two or more depending on who you are to, like, kind of just like decompress and, and then, you know, re, you know, replenish and, get your energy back.

SPEAKER 6: Time for a quick break. But we'll be right back.

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SPEAKER 4: We, batch that first National is really special. And I could say having gone to Disney World when I was little going to my first National as an adult was more exciting. I was more in awe than going to Disney World as a child. I mean, if you are a collective, there's just nothing like it. Your first one anyway, you know, a then you get used to what's going on and you know, just like with anything.

SPEAKER 1: Yeah, it's funny you say that John and, and, and I went to Disney World and for my first time in 1983 I was 11 years old and I'm gonna be honest, which I remember a little bit, but I, I don't remember a ton, but I can tell you a lot of stuff about each National, right? I think when you know your memory, you know, your memory capacity is, is shorter, your attention span is a little shorter.

SPEAKER 1: And as an adult, obviously that that's a different story. And so I think you appreciate it more you know, as an adult even like I have my son's 23 now now. And I remember my wife saying like, hey, when can, when do you think it time we could go to Disney World with Jordan. I'm like, I don't want, I don't think we should take him when he's too young. You won't even remember it.

SPEAKER 4: It would be, you know, so we waited that it's like they get scared and they're, they're scared to death when those big characters come at them and they're in a stroller and they start screaming and it's like they're not gonna remember this if you just spent $5000 on this vacation and they're not gonna have a single memory and it's August and it's 100 degrees and you're sweating, you know, it, it, to me, Disney World is, is kind of tortures Hime.

SPEAKER 1: Yeah. It's funny and we waited till I think he was like 11 or 12. We waited till he was older and he could, appreciate it a little bit more and, and remember, and if I probably, if I asked him today, I haven't, I haven't talking to him about it, but if I asked him today, hey, what do you remember from going to Disney World?

SPEAKER 1: You know, 12 years ago? Obviously, he'd remember some stuff, but he probably wouldn't remember as much as you as you think.

SPEAKER 1: And, it's just, it's just, you know, human nature, how the, how the mind works and, and, and we, I think we appreciate stuff too when we're older, John and I don't want to be morbid but, you know, when we get older we realize we're on, you know, we're on the other side of, of that hill and I think we, you know, I can speak for myself anyway.

SPEAKER 1: We appreciate, you know, when I go to the National, I say, hey, now how many more of these will I get to go to? You? Just don't know. Right. And, so, so I think you appreciate the moment when you look at it like, like that and, you know, your perspective definitely changes as you get older.

SPEAKER 4: You know. You know, the thing is, is that, youth is wasted on the young because when you get older, you just have so much more knowledge, you're more intelligent, you have more knowledge, you have more experiences and there's kind of a phenomenon in the hobby now where it, it's like the younger people are, are talking down to us old collectors, like you're an old man, stay off my lawn.

SPEAKER 4: You don't know what you're talking about. Times have changed, but, you know, times don't really change. They really don't because, you know, things I think it was Mark Twain who said history doesn't always repeat itself, but it always rhymed.

SPEAKER 4: And we've been through a lot of things, you know, I'm, I'm a stock investor. So I've been through, I've been through two major collapses of the stock market. Right. And I had to trade through that. These, these people, if you're young, you don't know anything but a bull market.

SPEAKER 4: That's all, you know, you could be a complete moron and pick stocks and make money and until you've laid in bed at night and wanting to cry because your portfolio is down so much in a single day, you don't, you're not a trader yet. You haven't been through the trenches and you know, we've been through these things in cards the same way and a couple of years ago, you know, you could buy any card, make money the next day on it.

SPEAKER 4: You didn't have to be smart. All you had to do was take action and when things went bad and you know, all of a sudden it wasn't so easy to flip that card or make that money. You see a lot of channels going away. You see, not so much enthusiasm.

SPEAKER 1: You see all these people coming out and saying there's markets crashing and, you know, hobbies dying over which we both, which we both know is, is so far from the truth, so far from the truth.

SPEAKER 4: The only thing is, is there's less people maybe flipping it less, less.

SPEAKER 1: Like you said, the easy dollar is not there. And those people don't wanna, they don't wanna work, they don't want to put in the work and the due diligence and So, yeah, because it was like, you know, just these huge swings.

SPEAKER 4: It's like investing in that tech stock that goes up $10 every day, you know, that's not normal, you know, and you, nor under normal circumstances, you're gonna buy a stock goes up slowly over time, you know. But nowadays everything was like that. So, so the cards were acting the same way like these high flying tech stocks, like, you know, Bitcoin.

SPEAKER 4: And so you really couldn't go wrong and when they come back, but nobody was used to them possibly going down and staying down for a while and everybody's freaking out because they've never, it's goes back to my analogy with stuff they never lived with through that.

SPEAKER 4: They never went to bed practically wanting to cry from that trading day, you know, it's just a different world. But, you know, I, I always, I was always taught to respect my elders and when I was young and in business and first starting out, I, I wanted, you know, I wanted to have something as I grew older and I I had, I had the good fortune.

SPEAKER 4: I had a lot of older Italian businessmen who kind of mentored me that, you know, and I'm to that point now, when you get to be around my age, you wanna help people, you wanna mentor people and they would mentor me and, you know, I was early twenties. And I soaked up everything they told me. I wanted to listen to everything.

SPEAKER 4: They, they said, I never once said you're wrong, you're old, you're stupid. It's, things have changed. I never said that, you know, I, I don't think that when I listen to Warren Buffett. So II, I don't know, like there's a lot of respect has gone out the window and these, but we live, you know, a very, I'd argue with you.

SPEAKER 1: Accept the media. Yeah. No, you're, you're, you hit the nail right on the head. John, I, I agree with everything you said. It's a different, it's a different era. You know, I, I've heard people call it the participation, trophy era where everybody used to wins and no one, no one loses.

SPEAKER 1: And so when adversity happens, right? They don't know how to deal with it where me and you, we've been through the ups and downs like we don't, I like the downs but we've been there before like it's like it sucks. But, you know, the sun's gonna come out tomorrow or the, you know.

SPEAKER 4: Growing up the way we did, you had to build a, a mental toughness, right? A mental toughness and you know, it's not their fault. I mean that people were giving them trophies for coming in ninth place and they have their own set of problems that you and I didn't have, we didn't have online bullying, we didn't have school shooting, we didn't have a lot of this craziness that goes on today. So I feel for them.

SPEAKER 4: You know, I don't judge them for that. It's not their fault the way they were raised and the world they were raised in, you know, it's tough and, and that's a good point.

SPEAKER 4: You know, somebody once told me a wise man, one of my mentors once told me he's like, you know, you hear the saying when I was your age and he's like that doesn't exist because you were not, I was 16 when I was 16. Like I'm, I was, I wasn't 16 when these kids were 16 and going through what they went through. So there's always gonna be that difference.

SPEAKER 1: Yeah, you can only it's a great point. You can only say that when you're talking to someone of the same, same age or pretty close, pretty close to. It's a, it's a great point.

SPEAKER 1: But you know, it's funny when you're younger.

SPEAKER 1: You know, even me, I'll speak for myself here, John and you know, when you're younger, at least in my case, I think you were better than me because I kind of did think, I don't want to say, I thought I knew it all, but I thought I knew more than I actually did. And it took years later to like that light bulb to come on and say, man, I, you know, was I wrong when I was, was younger.

SPEAKER 4: And now you realize you didn't know Jack back then, you know, but it, but it only experience teaches you that. But there's a saying when I was 16, I couldn't believe how dumb my parents were. When I was 30. I couldn't believe how much they learned.

SPEAKER 1: Yes, it's true. All those sayings, you know, we see, we see them as a kind of wood plaques and we're like, ah, whatever. But there's, there's truth that they exist cause there, there's truth, there's truth in them and it's funny, you know, it's the old adage, right? If I knew that what I know now we, you know, we'd be so much, even, even more, better off. Yeah.

SPEAKER 4: My, my favorite quote is from Nietzsche when he said essentially, that, which doesn't kill you, makes you stronger. And you know, that's basically the way we grew up.

SPEAKER 4: I mean, you just dealt with stuff and like you said, the younger people, I don't know, they, they seem to freak out pretty easily, you know, they, they can't cope with things because they just, they, they had it in their own way really. But they always get a pass. Like let me tell you something, I got beat in school, they don't get beaten.

SPEAKER 4: I mean, if I, if I said the shit that they say online, somebody I would have got my ass kicked. You know, there's no repercussions for being an idiot, anymore on Social Media, you can say whatever you want. But in our day you had to say that to somebody's face.

SPEAKER 1: Now, it's, it's funny you imagine that I just had a conversation with a student of mine because I grew up too with the teachers. I got hit on my wrist, the, the knuckles.

SPEAKER 1: You know, I even had a teacher, but many moons ago, you know, with the pointy stick that you touched to like an or the chalkboard, not super hard, but you know, hit me in the head because I was kind of telling jokes and disrupting the class. You do, you do that now and like you're gonna be escorted out of the building.

SPEAKER 5: That here's the difference.

SPEAKER 4: You do that now you get sued or arrested. When, when I was growing up, my father told me you get beat in school, you're getting it again when you get home. And if you go to, if you go to jail, I ain't bailing you out. So think twice if you're saying.

SPEAKER 1: Yeah, it's a different time and, and going back to where I kind of went off on a tangent.

SPEAKER 4: I got paddled twice total. But the first time I got paddled in school, I was scared to death that my dad was gonna find out. I didn't come running home and tell him there was no way I was gonna do that.

SPEAKER 1: I hit it because you got one panel and that was good enough. I don't wanna, I don't wanna second the, the belt. You know, you know, the difference.

SPEAKER 4: Back then is you were guilty until found innocent.

SPEAKER 3: Yeah.

SPEAKER 1: Yeah. And I was telling one of my students, you know, I went to school in an era where teachers could, could hit you and they could not understand that they were like, shot their jaw, hit the floor.

SPEAKER 5: But now the students.

SPEAKER 3: Hit the teachers.

SPEAKER 1: Yeah. Yeah, sometimes every once in a while. So, but, all right, let's bring it, well, let's bring it back to because you were just on the, the card life. A great episode.

SPEAKER 1: You got to show off some of your, your, your collection, kind of talk about that experience how it all went down, how it, how it happened.

SPEAKER 5: Well, that was.

SPEAKER 4: Just a phenomenal experience. He reached out to me and, and said he was doing, I'm in South Carolina. He said he was doing a South Carolina episode and he was going to a guy who takes old, I'll put it in quotes because I don't like this term. Junk wax cards. He cuts them up and makes, mosaic pictures of famous baseball cards, you know, popular baseball cards.

SPEAKER 1: Tim Carroll. Was it Tim, it was Tim Carroll.

SPEAKER 3: Yeah, that's it.

SPEAKER 4: And and so, and he got a piece hanging in in, in the baseball Hall Of Fame.

SPEAKER 4: So they went there and they were going to shoe shoeless Joe Jackson's house because he's from South Carolina. And so they wanted to come and, and come here and see collection and interview me. So he came in with the camera and man, he was like, he was joking with my wife.

SPEAKER 4: He's like, normally I have to prod people but I, I could barely keep up with him because I was like, come here and see this, come here and see this. Let me, I take out a box. Hey, you got to se see this here set up. I want to talk about this and I went on and on and on. And, it's funny because he, he was filmed for like, two hours and it ended up being, he showed five minutes, you know, of what I did.

SPEAKER 4: It was awesome. They did it great job. It was so much fun to be a part of, but I was, I was just a little disappointed because I showed so much cool stuff that didn't get on there. Like I get, he done a whole half hour, on what I showed.

SPEAKER 1: It's, it's funny stories to go with them and you're, you're a historian of those stories. Yeah. Well, they listen, I'm a, I'm a big fan of, hey, ma it, put it on different episodes, you know, cut chop it up and just air it at, at different.

SPEAKER 1: It's funny. Hearing you say that because, you know, a couple of years ago when this, the, the COVID crescendo hit with, with the hobby, Utica News, contacted me here, I'm in Syracuse and there Utica is about, 20 miles away. They knew about my podcast and they want, they're like, John, can we come over and do some filming, talk to you about what's going on in the hobby?

SPEAKER 1: Show off some of your stuff. And like you just said, they came over, it was probably three hours of, of, of filming and then they ran the segment, it was three, you know, three or four minutes long in, in the newscast. And so here, and you say that I know exactly, what, what you're talking about.

SPEAKER 5: I have such a.

SPEAKER 4: Passion, you know, for the hobby, for the cards, for the sports, for the players and the history. And so, you know, I, and I tried to keep it as brief as possible but I'd tell good story about some rare card and, and some obscure player.

SPEAKER 4: That's really, you know, a great story. I think. So. I, I, that's what I share on my YouTube channel. And, so I, I was a little disappointed but it was still fantastic and they did a great job with it.

SPEAKER 1: Yeah. And, and, and in their defense, you know what I mean? They only have so much time and I would almost rather see though John, I would rather see rather than do that episode where, like, it's three different stories, do three different episodes where, like you're one episode, Tim Carroll's an episode. You know what I mean? That way you get more of each, each person in each, each topic, each story. And even if they.

SPEAKER 4: Only did two, I would have probably got something in, you know, that, that's an extra five minutes which is long on a TV show. And of course they had other things. They opened packs and, all that and Matt Strong, you know, is the host. He's a pitcher.

SPEAKER 4: So he opens packs and, and they have, they do other things as well but it's, they, they do a really great job with that show. Yeah.

SPEAKER 1: You know what it reminds me of and I know you'll remember the show, remember this week in baseball?

SPEAKER 5: Oh, man, I watched it all miss that show so much.

SPEAKER 1: Yeah. It, it reminds me of that. But with, on the hobby side of things it, it sort of has that. It sort of has that sort of feel to it, you know?

SPEAKER 1: And it's funny because they, yeah, go ahead. No, go ahead.

SPEAKER 3: Go ahead.

SPEAKER 1: Well, I was gonna say, and they played the Cart Life at stadiums, before games as well. Which, yeah. So it's because that's what they used to do with this week in baseball too.

SPEAKER 1: So, because I remember, I remember going to a, I don't know if it was a Yankee or Mets game and we were there early enough and they were running this week in baseball on the, on the Jumbotron and I thought it was just on t I would watch it at home. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER 1: And I'm like, oh, they're playing it in the stadium too. This is the school, that's what they do with this, this, the card life. So that, and that's interesting and the way they, and the way they segment it up it just has it, it, it brings me back to this week in baseball.

SPEAKER 1: Just the hobby ver obviously the hobby version, of it. Yeah. Well, listen, you know, you, you get to show some, a small part of your collection. It's obviously, a very large collection you mentioned. Like, you know, you kind of go to the National, not so much with a list but just kind of open-minded.

SPEAKER 1: Is there, do you, do you have like, one card that's on the top of your list that you have yet to acquire? The, would, would that be fair to say, or, or not? Really? Yeah.

SPEAKER 3: I mean, you know, I have, I have several.

SPEAKER 4: I have several and it's like I kick myself because before the boom, these were all so easily attainable and I took them for granted that anytime I wanted to, you know, pay that money I could go get them and now they're 10 times higher and I, you know, they're, they're at amounts I don't wanna pay. Right.

SPEAKER 4: So, I, I think, for many of us collectors we're kicking ourselves, when they were just the same price for a decade or longer and you just always assume you can get those things.

SPEAKER 4: And I think, you know, for people that are just collectors, I think that's one of the reasons that they had a problem when people were treating cards like stocks is because, it, it drove on, on one hand it makes your cards worth more than you already have.

SPEAKER 4: But if you're like me and you're not selling them, what good does that do you? Right. Because on the, on the negative it, it drove card prices up to the point that cards I could get, I can't, I can't get now. So, you know, it was a kind of a catch 22 there. Good and bad.

SPEAKER 1: Yeah. Well, it's funny because I'm a Jackie Robinson guy and for much like what you said John is for many years, I'm like, oh, I'll get the 48 leaf, you know, whenever it'll be there, I even had three opportunities where someone actually offered it to me and I just didn't pull the trigger and it's just like I'll get it next month or next year and it was, I procrastinated on it and exactly, what you said the crescendo happened.

SPEAKER 1: I, I do have it now but it, I would definitely cost me more money than the many times before. When I kind of kicked the can, down, down the road and there's no, there's no one else's fault but my own, I'm not point. That's, that was, you know, m my fault for just kind of assuming that it would always be that way. When, when we all know that's not how.

SPEAKER 4: The thing is, is when it's that way for 15 years, you're not expecting that sudden of a change, you know.

SPEAKER 4: So it is, I mean, it's our, it's our fault, don't get me wrong.

SPEAKER 4: And then what happened during the, you know, during the boom is I had to adjust what I was willing to pay for things because, you know, I was always a bit of a bargain shopper and, and, and find those, rare gems under the radar and stuff and, and so I would, I had to be willing to, to pay a little bit more if I wanted any of these cards. So that, that was interesting, interesting phenomenon.

SPEAKER 1: Yeah, it's, it's crazy and, you know, but now things have settled back down again and, and stuff has some, you know, it's funny stuff now, is definitely stuff that was sort of out of the budget during that crescendo this character to kind of come back in budget too. So, you know.

SPEAKER 1: Yeah, people who complain about the market, like, you can buy, you can buy stuff cheaper now than you could have, you know, a year, year and a half ago. So, I, I look at that as someone who likes to buy cars, I look at that as a positive, I guess as a dealer, you know, it's a different story but that, that's been like that forever. Like, I, it's not a new, this is not new terrain, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER 4: So, yeah, the the thing is, is there are so many new collectors that they are where I was, you know, 30 years ago. And so really the only cards they know are the real big iconic cards that are shown over and over and over on every auction house and every magazine and, and there's just a certain 100 cards or so that are just iconic and those are the cards that everybody wants.

SPEAKER 4: And so I have, you know, I believe I have the most extensive collection in the world. I have every era, every sport you name it. And I have an enormous, you know, it's enormous. So I seek out a lot of the more obscure players, a lot of the more obscure sets and these are people that, you know, new collectors who are more into the cards and, and don't know the history of the games.

SPEAKER 4: Never heard of sets. They don't know exist. And so I those cards are now selling, you know, back to 2014 pricing. Because it's, they're not being chased by the masses like the, you know, the 49 leaf Jackie Robinson or the 56 Mickey Mantle, those kinds of cards, right?

SPEAKER 4: So I still buy tons of cards and spend very little money.

SPEAKER 4: So I am happy about that, but, you know, Jackie Robinson, nobody blew up as much as Jackie Robinson cards and his cards were never, they, they were always a little pricey but they were never like, they, they ended up becoming right like they're selling, they never sold for the same prices as Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb and those guys and now they do.

SPEAKER 4: So that's, that a lot of his cards have gotten totally out of reach if you're, you're looking for, you know, that leaf is really shot up. And, the, 40 what is it? 48 sport thrills. My God. That was, he didn't have to pay very much for that, at all back in the day now, now it's worth a fortune. So times have changed.

SPEAKER 1: Yeah. And listen, I even sold a couple of my Jackie just because of, of the levels they shot up to. I'm like, I don't want like, II, I like this car a lot but I don't love it. Like I can let it go and then buy something I really love, you know, and, and so you have to, those sort of decisions, you know what I mean? Where you're like, hey, I wanna obtain this card.

SPEAKER 1: It would be easier, you know, if I sell this card, obviously, I bought it before, well, before this kind of, inc hit and so it, it kind of makes sense, to do that. That doesn't mean I love Jackie less. It's just, I'd rather have this card over this card. I paid very little for this card, but this is what it's doing now. Like it makes sense to, to do it. And well, you know, that.

SPEAKER 4: That's, that's a struggle. I think that AAA lot of collectors had during the boom. Let's say that you had, I, I don't know, like the, the 52 mantle and you know, at the current time, your finances aren't that good.

SPEAKER 4: You know, maybe you're not making that much but, you know, you showed out several $1000 for that, you know, 10 years or 20 years ago and you, now you're seeing, you know, those things sell for, I don't know, like a four for 80 grand or something and that might be life changing money to you.

SPEAKER 4: So no matter how much you love that card, you know, if you need the money, man, it's hard to pass that up, especially when you don't know, it's gonna stay there. I mean, it probably will, you know, it's always gone up throughout time, but that doesn't mean that, that can't change just like our card stayed the same prices for 15 years, but that changed overnight and, you know, that could, could come down overnight.

SPEAKER 4: Who knows? So, you know, that's if, if you can change your life or put your kids through college, no matter how much you love the cards, you might sell that thing.

SPEAKER 1: Well, I thought I was gonna, I thought I was gonna put my future kids through college with Greg Jeffries, rookies that didn't work, that didn't work out so well, John man, that's what I'm old enough to remember.

SPEAKER 4: Joe Shane.

SPEAKER 1: I remember Joe.

SPEAKER 4: I remember everybody was chasing.

SPEAKER 1: Yeah, no doubt, no doubt. That's crazy, man. But well, listen man, this was, this was a blast. We're gonna as long as you come back, we'll, we'll do this again.

SPEAKER 1: And cover even more ground I look forward to, to seeing you here in about four months, four or five months in, in Cleveland at the pre pre mentioned National but as always John, I always give the guest, give out where people can find your content, what you're doing, any socials, You wanna share, put it out there for the mass.

SPEAKER 4: Sure. I'm I have a Facebook page and Instagram.

SPEAKER 4: I'm not the hugest fan of Instagram, but I'm on there. And my, you know, my favorite is is doing YouTube videos and all of those are under the Mangini collection, Ma Ngin I and you know, I, I just, I do them for fun. My Facebook page. I have just about every big card I have on there and albums. You can look through my entire collection.

SPEAKER 4: I haven't broken out into albums and, on YouTube, I, I just show cards mostly 90 90% of what I do is show cards. Most, mostly I, I like to show cards you haven't seen before. I like to talk about players. You, you may not have heard, heard of before. And, it's really, like I said earlier at my age and where I'm at in life it's more about, educating the hobby.

SPEAKER 4: Especially newer people. You know, if you're looking to learn about vintage baseball cards and stuff like that old players, then, I think you get something out of what I, you know what I share.

SPEAKER 1: Yeah. No doubt. I, I'll make one correction newer people and, and even older people. You know, I've been doing this a long time and I learned something, every day John and I'm sure you even watching your stuff, I still do, even watching your, even watching your stuff. I'm like, I didn't know that. Like, so, so newer people maybe could learn more but older people can learn stuff, stuff.

SPEAKER 4: Well, there, there's no doubt and I learn things every day, from other youtubers and, and reading things in magazines and, wherever I get that information, you know, I'm, I'm still learning something every week.

SPEAKER 4: But it is funny you bring that up because I have collectors and they'll be like, I've been collected for 30 years. I never saw that set before. I never knew that existed before. And I get so many people that are like, oh, I'm on ebay right now as they're commenting, looking for cards, I show ebay actually.

SPEAKER 1: Gave you a commission.

SPEAKER 4: It's just fun. It's just fun because a lot of the cards I bought, I learned that way too. I saw the magazine or I saw somebody show it and I'm like, oh my God, I have to have that. And then I go shopping for it. So, you know, that's part of the great, that's the greatness of the community is us sharing our knowledges experiences, knowledges, our knowledge, experiences.

SPEAKER 4: And you know, because when I was, you know, when we were young, you didn't have that. You had Beckett, which was a price guy, but it didn't really tell you anything about card sets and so forth. Then they came out with a baseball card magazine and I remember the first time I walked into a newsstand and saw that thing, I was like, you gotta be kidding me. They have a magazine for baseball cards. I had to buy it.

SPEAKER 4: And that changed the game because that's when you started to be able to learn stuff. But then the, the other problem was you couldn't find the cards because there was no ebay. You had to go to the occasional flea market.

SPEAKER 4: So they were so hard to find and you couldn't be picky about centering or corners because that might be the only time you ever see that card, even if it's a more common card, they weren't just, you know, there wasn't a smorgasbord. Like right now you can go on ebay or an auction hat. Well, you could go buy whatever you want within minutes probably. You know, but it wasn't like that back then. Couldn't be as picky.

SPEAKER 1: Yeah. The hobby is, I, I always say the hobby is bigger now, but smaller now with Social Media and the internet and, and, and all that stuff and, and the more shows we have now so accessible, everything is more accessible to you. Yeah, you can wake, you can't sleep.

SPEAKER 1: You wake up at three in the morning, you just grab your smartphone and you could buy a card in, in 30 seconds after you, after you wake up. You couldn't do that obviously, back in the day and it's just a different, I will say that. Yeah, go ahead.

SPEAKER 4: I was just gonna say the other thing, the other thing is, you know, we grew up with three TV channels. Right. And, and even now I have 100 and 30 I, there's never anything on to watch and, and there's rarely that you're never gonna, you know, you don't find baseball card shows.

SPEAKER 4: So you watch things like, Pawn Stars or something and hope somebody brings that card. So YouTube gives you 24 hour access to sports card content. I mean it's unbelievably different from the way that we grew up.

SPEAKER 1: Yeah, I will say this. I think you'll agree too John and and we'll wrap up. I I like the convenience we have now but I'm also glad I grew up without it cause I think because of that, I appreciate both aspects. I appreciate the convenience now, but I also know what it was like to not have it and appreciate that. Yeah, as well.

SPEAKER 3: We're far, we're.

SPEAKER 4: Far more distracted today like you're always talking to your family staring at your phone or you know, it gets a little addicting too and you have to be careful. If you have a channel, then you wanna comment and read the comments and, and comment back to people who are commenting.

SPEAKER 4: So you have all this interaction and then you know, because because I'm seen on there and known, you know, from my vintage collection, a lot of I get, I get constant messages asking me if a card is real or asking me about a set or sending me a picture and say, have you ever seen this before?

SPEAKER 4: Well, can you tell me anything about it? And you know, I respond to all those, I, I encourage people to do that. But it, it does, you know, it's very time consuming, no doubt.

SPEAKER 1: Well, listen, you do a great job but like you said, your, your, your, your, your passion is, is evident in, in watching your content. You educate people, you're learning, like you said, as well as, as the rest of us. And, you know, you don't need me to tell you that. But, keep on keeping on and we'll, we'll, we'll, you know, once you come back, we'll, we'll have you back on it.

SPEAKER 1: We'll do, we'll do some more. All right, I appreciate it. All right, Johnny. Take care. You too. All right. Thanks to John Mangini for joining us. He's got an incredible collection and, just on the Card life show as we talked about on, during the interview. But, just, a great, personality, a character in a positive way, right? We talk about ambassadors and advocates. That guy's having fun, right?

SPEAKER 1: That's what the hobby is all about. Got a great collection, to boot and got a good attitude, as well. So, we'll have him back for sure. As long as they'll come back and, appreciate him. Coming out, we're gonna get to our, hobby, the people announcer of the week, some closing thoughts and we'll wrap up the show time for our hobby is the people announcer of the week.

SPEAKER 8: This is Zach Byrne, one of many hobbyists who returned during COVID.

SPEAKER 8: Thanks to John for steering me in the right direction. And remember the hobby is the people.

SPEAKER 6: If you'd like to be the hobby is the people announcer of the week, do a WAV or MP3 file and send it to Sports Card Nation PC at gmail.com.

SPEAKER 9: That's a wrap for this week. Huge. Thanks to you, the listeners out there because without you, there is no ice.

SPEAKER 9: 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. Sports Card Nation will be back next week, but don't forget to catch either hobby quick hits or Cod Mens coming up on Monday.

SPEAKER 9: I'll leave you with this.

SPEAKER 9: How do we change the world?

SPEAKER 9: One random act of kindness at a time.

SPEAKER 9: Remember the hobby is the people.

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