Ep.315 w/ Evan Parker of Mantel "Almost 1 year in"

Transcript

is the people Weekly News and interviews It's Your Number One Source sports card

Nation the hobby is the [Music] people Sports

Nation what is up everybody Welcome to episode number

35 that sounds crazy to me when you think about just one episode a week but

you do this six years you get into the 300s that's where we're at happy as

always to be coming out of your speakers wherever they may be in the car on the

back deck if you're in the warmer climates uh in the office wherever

doesn't matter you can be spending time some other way but yet here you are and I want to say from the bottom of my

heart thank you great guest today he's been on the show before he's back Evan

Parker CEO of mantle the online collecting uh community and they've got

some big news and they're going to talk about it here uh on this week's episode

but uh we're going to talk about some other hobby stuff the national it's not just going to be all mantle but we're

going to talk a little bit about mantle if you haven't checked that Community out uh for sure you want to do that so

uh but uh enough of me let's take a quick 30 second break and then we'll be

on back with Evan Parker iron sports cards is your number one source for all

your PSA and other grading submissions their Elite status improves turnaround times heck they even provide the card

Savers their chat rooms provide updates on all your submissions they also offer wax options and single cards to cover

all the bases check them out on Facebook at irons sportscards group or on the web at irons sportscards.com or even give

them a call at 1877 wi PSA Rob's got you

covered real excited to have my next guest back on the sports card shop guest

line uh we've had him on before I got to meet him uh a few months back uh in

person at the national in Cleveland and uh he's the CEO of mantle Mr Evan Parker

and you're approaching uh almost a year in to to that Venture so we're

definitely going to you got some new stuff uh uh just out stuff coming uh on

Horizon we're definitely going to talk about that let's I mentioned the national uh Evan let's kind of start

there um you know I asked you before we record I wasn't sure how many you've been to it was it was your third one um

I think it was my fifth or sixth uh that covid cancellation kind of screwed up my count um but uh somewhere in in that

first time that I've been to Cleveland for for any reason let alone a national

kind of your thoughts you know now that we're you know four months out uh from it or or around that you know kind of

your thoughts uh on the event uh and how it was yeah well and first of all John I

appreciate you having me back on I think that I believe that you were the first podcast that I was on when mantle

originally launched so you believed in US gave us gave us uh exposure before anybody else really was so I I I really

appreciate that and it's always fun to to catch up um I I actually really enjoyed Cleveland um you know I think

once you got into the facility it was really easy to go to walk around I mean you know I know Rosemont is is really

cool and it's big and and everything but the the different floors and different spaces that people have to go and and

kind of find things I always find that that makes it a little bit difficult to to navigate whereas Cleveland was just like a giant open box and it was pretty

easy to go find things and work your way around it was a pain to get in you know the the one lane from each direction to

the parking lot like getting out of that parking lot was probably worse than getting out of a Browns game parking lot

uh just down the street and then the Wi-Fi didn't work and for us considering we have a you know a social media app

Wi-Fi is helpful and important so that was that was a bummer it was really hard to use but I I love the national I think

it's such a fun experience you get to see cards that you'd never see before remember B you would never see anywhere

else and then the the best part and I know you feel Sim similarly is you get to see all these people that you've you

follow on social media you're connected to in different ways and this is like the one time one or two times a year

that we're all in the same place and so from that aspect it kind of feels like a reunion or or or something like that

it's it's always just a lot of fun yeah I call it this the Super Bowl the hobby yeah uh you know I i' love for you know

I know not everyone gets to experience it or gets to go to it everyone's in different maybe locals Financial levels

and all that so I try to be sensitive to that but it's something I'm what I try to do uh every year I think I've went to

the the last five and the crazy thing for as long as I've been in the hobby uh

which is now 40 years I've only been to five of them but that's really the event has become an event on itself you know

um a lot of people would tell me even when you know 20 30 ah it's just it's a bigger card show and that that's great

too but it it didn't have the Allure at least to me then and it's become you

know what it is today was not what it was you know 20 years ago 30 years ago

and that's and that you could say that about a lot of things but now it's kind of become sort of whether you're an

entrepreneur a dealer collector um you know you're you're launching a new

Venture it's a great place to be to kind of cover all those Bas and you you made

even the best point of all right it's that week we circle on our calendar where we know we're going to see our

hobby friend friends and people we've have relationships again in some cases

again and in some cases for the first time like for for this National it was the first time getting to meet you in

person when we do the next national it'll be again and there's something to

be said about that right it's you know I've heard people call it like a hobby family reunion in a in a sense that's

that's a good description uh as well yeah I I totally agree and I think that

if if you work in the industry you kind of have to go it's just it's it's like any other almost like a trade show

versus a card show you just feel like you you've got to go you've gota you take meetings you you interact with people you have to be there I think if

you're just a collector and and you go to card shows all the time it's not easy to get to necessarily for everybody it

can be expensive you know Cleveland there's there was no direct flights from where I am in California so it's not

that that that simple there aren't always great hotels around you know so you're driving in you got to rent a car or whatever it can be expensive and it

can be a pain so I don't think people can always go every year but certainly I would I if you're a collector you kind

of just like earmark it and just say once I'm gonna get to it one time at least and go experience it because

there's just nothing like it I go to card shows all the time I know that that you do too and even the best

non-national card shows pale in comparison because you're just not going to see the auction houses you know what

golden inheritage bring out and you're seeing something that you know this year was a babe you know the called shot

Jersey is there you see the the t206 Wagner you see you know 52 tops Mickey

manels are like you know walking there's one at every Booth it feels like in some and so to have that experience It's just

tough to get it anywhere else and I think that the biggest sellers the biggest brands in the hobby all show up

for the national they bring their best stuff they make sure that they make a splash and it's just a lot of fun to be there and see it you know I feel like

Fanatics Fest did something really similar fewer cards they were a lot more kind of the experiment experiential side

of things but the big the big events it's a lot of fun to go yeah no doubt and and with you with Mano it's you know

you want to get the the word out there what better place rightt uh than than the national uh you're not going to have

that many people from The Hobby in the same room at the same time for you know

five days if you will and it's a great opportunity no matter what you do you're you know you're launching a new website

you're you're introducing a new product you're looking for a card to complete a set or you're a dealer and you're

looking to uh have a good show and and move some inventory and generate some

funds to buy new inventory whatever whatever you're in the hobby for that's

the perfect Arena uh to do it in um you know it's going to be in Chicago for the

next uh few years here I know that's generally everyone else's it's General

consensus like the favorite uh venue and City uh the have it in I like Chicago

I've been there you know uh the last I think three of them and I've been to I've been to Chicago for other reasons

it's a it's a great it's a great City uh you know I don't want to say the problem the only difference for me is not really

drivable so now we're looking at like you said a flight which will be an added

expense rather than than driving and and that sort of thing but you know if that's the if that's the worst thing you

got to deal with so so be it right we I wish they came to California I mean I know we we're going to have the West

Coast card show the kind of the Rebrand of the Burbank card show um and and that's the biggest one out here the

front row card show is um you know is pretty prevalent they've got a bunch of different venues that they they operate

at there's an LA card show there's there's a lot out here but nothing kind of the size and the scope of the

national and and Chicago is pretty much the furthest west that that I think it's going to go and I'm a fairness guy Evan

I think the West Coast whether that's California or Seattle let's say or

Arizona let I think there should be a national there I think it's fair right uh you know yeah would it be probably an

added expense for me but I'm a I'm a fairness guy I've never been to California so if there is one that give

me a reason to go there yeah for the first time and so I Believe In fairness

you know it's it's nice when it's in Cleveland Atlantic City because it's drivable uh for me but I think to you

know hey how about for someone else like let's try to make it drivable uh for

them so I I would sign up for that I'm not opposed uh to it I I think you know

they should try to move it where no matter what you know what uh time zone you're in per se that there might be it

should be driveable at some point uh for everybody you know I know that's it

might be logistically impossible but they should try to do that as as much as

and they've had it there before it's not un president it's been in in Anaheim and

it's been in other you know it's been in other locations that it hasn't been in recent years Baltimore Atlanta had one

before so um I know there's there's Logistics and and other things that have

to be in place but I I mean it'd be nice to see it you know uh in different

places I know there's some people would say John I want into Chicago every year it's kind of smack dab in the middle of

of of the map I get that but you know I you know if you live in Chicago that's

great but if you don't it's it's you know uh I get it it's kind of the central location so it's trying to be

fair to everyone but I like to see it move around to to you know East Coast

Midwest West Coast Southwest you know Texas is is a huge epicenter theob you

know especially in Dallas with all those companies so I'd like to see you know

maybe not every year but try to see it in different in different locals so you know maybe people who can't get to

another local will be able to get to a different one and so everyone like you said can experience that at least once

if not not more yeah I mean this might not be a good I almost think there's there's two paths either it moves every

year somewhere totally different or you just keep it in the same place and everybody just plans and they just know they're going to go so it like it's more

confusing to me to have to remember are we going to Atlantic City are we going to Cleveland are we going to you know to

Chicago um so either like it's Chicago and it's we're just doing Rosemont forever or let's move it around like the

Super Bowl and every year it's totally somewhere different you you make you mix it up different feeli different types of

people can come because there's a lot of people who I know if it were in Dallas or in Vegas or LA or wherever it' be a

different crew coming for the first time maybe some different brands there you'd see different items just because of of

you know the different feel like Cleveland had a Cleveland feel you know you'd see I saw a lot more Jim Tomy stuff in Cleveland than I saw in Chicago

the year before where you see a bunch of Jordan stuff and so uh it's it's cool to to mix it up and move it around yeah and

I agree so I I mean I'm I'm for the lad I rather see it be somewhere uh every

year different you know in a rotation you not you know I mean it's got to come back Chicago's kind of the consensus

favorite spot if you will for for the majority so I get that uh but I'd love

to see it go to including the West Coast even though it would be more of expense you just it's part you know it comes

with the territory and you just you start saving up a little earlier that's all when you when you know where it's

going to be and and what it entails and and that sort of thing and then I think more people uh can experience it time to

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hotline let's go you are listening to the sports card Nation

Podcast while it was your third National you know it was it you were there

obviously as a collector but also getting the word out about mantle kind

of uh you know you're kind of a two-prong question here February will be a year uh since you

launch uh the site uh in the community you know uh are do you like where you're

at here a few months out from from that year anniversary and you know I know uh

you weren't set up at the national just like I wasn't set up at the national but you can still Network and do all that

were you were you pleased with how the national went from a mantle perspective

yeah absolutely you know so we launched February 13th of of you know this year

here um into your question if we're we're pleased where we are I'm like the

the the quintessential sort of uh CR personal critic about the stuff that I

work on and the stuff that we work on like you know we we've done a lot of stuff I'm incredibly proud of we've got

a really cool Community with people who are coming in every day and hanging out with us every day and we've built some cool features and we've gotten some good

Buzz around it and I've met an amazing amount of people through through this business but I know that there's a lot

on the uh you know in our plans that we don't have out yet that this isn't perfect

when I go on on on the app when I go on the website I mostly see the issues I mostly see the things that aren't

working the way that we want them to work or the features that I know oh it' be really cool if we had this or had that so you know I'm I the thing that I

love when I like forget about the fact that I'm building this is when I can just get in there and talk about the

hobby with other collectors and so you'll see you know we have a leaderboard in terms of you know from

engage engagement I I I comment a lot I post a lot and that's partially because

I want to you know keep the party going and engage with people and make sure that people you know feel like that somebody's paying attention and

listening to them partly because I'm always wanting to test things and make sure that we're getting the right feedback but a lot of it's because I

spend all day working on this thing and the joy in it is when I get to go in and see something cool that somebody posts

or ask somebody who knows something that I don't know to give me some advice or their opinion or you know to tell

somebody what I'm doing and what and and how I I I you know collect and so um I

you know that part is what I love and that's exceeded expectations but I know we've got a lot of work to do um and and

your your question about the national this year relative to the year before you know when I when we were in uh

Rosemont it was before we had launched nobody knew who we were we we weren't we didn't announce anything it was just me

and I was going to walk I got to walk around and meet a lot of people and I got to check out as many booths as

humanly possible and just for a couple of days mostly be a collector and this year in Cleveland even though we didn't

have a booth we were working we were you know I was wearing mantle branded stuff I was going up to talking to collectors

if if you were already a member get give me feedback on what you like and don't like if you weren't a member you know hey what can we get you to do to join

what do you what would you be looking for and business meetings and all that kind of stuff I don't think I bought

anything I certainly saw fewer tables than I did the year before and I I I

can't say I had less fun it was just just a very different experience one felt like Evan The Collector and the other was you know Evan the the you know

the business guy and and Evan The Collector is the reason why I'm doing this that's the like that's the the itch

I want to scratch more than anything so I'm hoping that his mantle continues to grow I'll be able to find maybe in

Rosemont this year I'll be able to find uh a little bit more time to hit a few tables and see what people have yeah one

thing I love too Evan you touched on that you're a collector right so you're you're in charge of this and there's

something to be said let let me let me put this way I'm more appreciative of a

hobby entity when it's someone in the hobby that's in that's pulling the strings or in charge of it because they

have their finger on the pulse they they get it you know we've seen examples and I I don't have to mention names here but

where people from outside the hobby have kind of been brought in in in position of power leadership position and then

things didn't always go so well and I think in defense of that person I think they sort of started at a

disadvantage point because they not only do they had to learn whatever entity

they were working for or hired by they're trying to learn the hobby at the same time and that's double that's

double uh degree of difficulty I think it's not I'm not saying it's easy but I

think it becomes easier when you're ready familiar with the landscape yeah and the terrain and in that case you

know you check those those boxes would would you kind of agree with that yeah I

would you know the only absolutely easier when you are a collector and and

if you're going to do this all day and you don't collect it's probably not that fun of a job it's it's like the the

reason why I like doing what I do is because this is the stuff that I'm interested in anyways and if I'm going

to be spending the amount of time that I spend working and the amount of time that I spend interacting with other

collectors if if it wasn't interesting to me and it was just you know I could working at you know at a bank at the DMV

at a what you know at a bakery it doesn't matter this is just a job like this is something I care about so it's

definitely a lot more fun but what I've learned in the last year of doing this is despite the fact that I I'm a

lifelong collector despite the fact that I've got you know cards from when I was a kid all the way up through cards that I've been buying for the last few years

I collect the way that I collect and I've met a lot of people who collect in really different ways and so I've had to learn you know I I'll be the first to

say I don't I don't I'm not a hockey guy I've had to learn a lot a lot more about you know upper deck and and hockey cards

than I than I was ever paying attention to before I'm not a set collector that's that's something that I've had to learn

about I don't flip I I join breaks but I've never been a breaker and I don't join a ton of breaks so there's all

these things about the hobby it's it's it's such like a vast universe and the thing I love about it is that everybody

I interact with collects in a different way they like different things they're in it for their own reasons and and I

learn something from them and I appreciate kind of the the things that they appreciate but it's been a huge education for me because if I was just

doing this the way that I like to do it it would be just buying things for for your PC or or ripping you know the

occasional wax just you know for for kind of the the fun and the hunt and that that would be the entirety of what

mantle is and that would exclude a lot of people who' say what about me I'm a set guy what about me I like vintage or

I like non sports or I like this or I like that and and so I'm drinking from the fire hose because I I realize

despite the fact that I am very familiar with going to a card show or a card shop I'm very familiar with opening packs I'm

very familiar with with the card world I I only still know a fraction of it despite this being something that I've

been been passionate about since before mantle was a kernel of an idea yeah and

that's a a great point right we're all learning like I've been doing this a long time I'm an old guy uh and uh I

learn every day and if I don't learn something in the hobby every day I just wasn't paying attention that day is what

that's what that's all about and and the new cycle now Evan you know as someone that's been in this a long time it the

hobby moves a lot faster new cycle wise today than even 10 years ago let alone

20 or or 30 years ago and so when with new Innovations new technology advancing

yeah um you know things are are are happening fast and so um you have to

learn you have to learn or you're going to you're going to fall a little bit behind so when someone says Ah I didn't

learn anything I said either you didn't try or you you just weren't uh you know

doing any hobby stuff at that moment and there's nothing wrong with that there's there's weekends Evan where I'll I've

talked about this on the podcast like I just need to decompress so like hey this weekend I'm just I'm not doing any card

related stuff I've kind of done my recording it's all it's all set I'm G to like just kind of take a break and then

come back and jump back on the horse and nothing wrong with that but if you're active you're going to learn because

there's just just too much going on not to you know just by osmosis you're going to figure some stuff out totally and

it's the fun part right like you know I think that's that's what I love about it is just all the different things that I can learn and get exposed to that I

wouldn't necessarily other otherwise know um I I think collectors are are

pretty Curious by Nature I mean if you're going to spend the time to research and find things and you know

you have to like the the sports to begin with and you have or or whatever you collect you know Disney or Pokemon or

whatever you have to have have interest in something and then you have to want to go and learn about it so you can figure out what you should buy or how

you should buy it how to get something graded or where to go you know there's so much that you have to to know how to do to be an educated collector and so I

think most collectors that I've interacted with are pretty not only knowledgeable but really curious and

looking to learn more and you don't want to be left behind you don't want you know as you said things are happening things are moving there's more product

being put out today even though there are fewer comp compies probably making product I think there's probably more product than there's ever been there

more companies in the space than there ever been and new new new entrance and new podcasts new video New Media outlets

and so and you think about social media the amount of stuff that we can consume at any given time around the hobby is is

immense and it's hard not to pay attention not hard not to learn if you if you have your eyes open if you're on

X if you're on Instagram if you're on mantle you're going to see things a hundred times a day that you wouldn't

have been exposed to even a couple years years ago yeah no doubt like you said that's the fun part right if you're not

when the hobby is supposed to be an outlet it's supposed to be fun kind of take our mind off maybe some of the

mundane things or or not so great Parts like so if you're not having fun you

know kind of reassess you know what direction you're in and and that's why I always tell you know people sometimes

I'll get messages hey this is bothering me or it's kind of rubb me the wrong way or this is like you know you can change

how you collect you can right you know I've done it I've done it I've know people have done it um you know so

there's more than one way to collect and there's really I always say there's no wrong way to hobby as long as you're not

doing anything illegal and uh or or or hurting anybody else you know so you can

always pivot and and and change and and do different things I've done that in

recent years kind of adding uh ticket collecting to to something I haven't

done before now I I dabble in it uh obviously have more cards than tickets but I've I've started to add some of

those to to the PC you know in the in the almost year here with mantle has it

changed how you collect as a collector Evan like has has being involved with

with the the site and the community sort of influenced how you how your hobby I

guess is short way yeah I think so I'm I'm certainly exposed to a lot more and and categories I didn't know much about

before and so if I see something on the platform from somebody who is really knowledgeable and interesting then it

may get me excited about something that I didn't know about before so like art cards for instance is something that I

didn't really pay attention to up until mantle started and I've had the the ability through the platform to meet a a

bunch of different artists whether it be you know piggy banks or card Carver or

or uh Zack nigget who's who's got a really cool brand that that um that he just launched in that space there's just

a lot of guys doing really interesting things in in in the Art Space uh you know I've got a card being made now by a

guy Kev cards that that I met on mantle and he's he's making something custom for me that I that I'm excited about so

that's something that I didn't didn't know a thing about before um certainly the the local card shops by me don't

have art cards and I I you know wasn't exposed to it in the same way um you know but I think the things that I truly

feel like you know that IPC it's it's a lot of Dodgers it's a lot of anything La kind of related or or with the

connection to my life um and that stuff hasn't changed the stuff that I you know when I'm like saving up to go get a PC

card it's the same card that I wanted before maybe I finally am able to get it now but it's it's the exact same way

that I was collecting um beforehand because that's just the you know that's what I love it's why I'm interested in it um and every time I can add like

check something off the PC list and say I finally got this card like that's it's something that if I could tell myself

from a year ago before mantel launched or five years ago from before mantle was an idea it'd be a card that I would have

said if I ever have a chance to get that if I can afford it if I can get it whatever like sign me up all right great

having Evan back on the show and uh we're not done with Evan he's going to return uh next week for part two of this

conversation we're going to get more into the new things at mantel and in the

meantime uh definitely check uh mantle m a n t l out no matter what you collect

if you're probably listening to the show you probably collect sports cards or or Associated memorabilia but regardless of

whatever you collect uh that's a community platform you should check out so come back next week uh for part two

of our conversation we're going to hear from our hobby is the people announcer and then some closing thoughts to wrap

up this week's episode time for our hobby is the people

announcer of the week

this is Mike this baseball card life and remember the hobby is the people if

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this how do we change the world one random act of kindness at a

time remember the hobby is the people hi I'm Isaac Alber a longtime

Card Collector and the co-founder of the penny severer my wife and I started the

penny severer with a simple premise in mind to offer collectors top quality supplies at fair prices we offer a full

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Ep.315 w/ Evan Parker of Mantel "Almost 1 year in"

Evan Parker

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