Hobby Quick Hits Ep.148 Reviewing the Topps Conference w/ Rex Gotcher of Sports Card Shop

Transcript

all right we don't always we don't always have guests on hobby quick hits but this week's episode we're making uh

an exception we have a good friend of mine and a great sponsor of the show Mr

Rex sculpture from the sports card shop and uh he uh he attended the recent uh

tops conference in Phoenix Arizona and I know we've you know are all content's

kind of blowing up with some of the things that that came out of of the conference but I figured why not talk to

someone who was there rather than just speculate in an innuendo so so Rex was

gracious enough to join us and kind of tackle some of the things that we're hearing uh kind of came out of you know

that uh conference so Rex uh uh welcome thanks John always a pleasure

uh how many days what was this event uh three days basically the uh you know

the reception night was Sunday night uh you know and there was kind of a cocktail party or something like that if

you will and uh and then the full day Monday uh and then into Monday night uh and we did a little entertainment thing

at Topgolf uh courtesy of tops and then uh Tuesday uh up until about uh three

three Thirty in the afternoon yeah um this was your first one uh you know

and I don't know if you agree with this you'll tell me if you do or you don't like it feels like this is the really

some of the biggest where Fanatics is really kind of you know

you know imposing some of what they're going to do in other words their fingerprints are really starting to uh

be on the tops acquisition with uh uh with uh some of the news uh we're we're

here and uh I mean did you did you feel that way or or did it not not so much for someone who was there uh absolutely

I mean uh not only just kind of you know some of the things that they're doing from a marketing standpoint already but

to hear about you know the plans to aggressively Market in the future and

then you know kind of understanding the different people from different industries that they brought aboard

um certainly not uh you know the old boys network of sports cars so uh it's

the landscape has changed dramatically in terms of who's running the show uh you get a pretty diverse group of of

people at the top of the food chain if you will uh running Fanatics and tops uh

certainly still a fair amount of people um you know at the the top level from

tops you know none of that has really changed um that I'm aware of uh but they've

integrated some different folks into the mix that I think are going to add a a whole different perspective than what

we've seen in trading cards in the past yeah let's start off with something that's not new uh was it was announced

pretty much uh previously but I think they got maybe a little bit more into specifics right with sort of uh kind of

phasing out uh Distributors right uh we're tops Fanatics may be more of a

direct uh to consumer or or you know heavy directed consumer

um what what can you you know say on that front from uh you know being there

um so uh David liner uh the was the guy that spoke most about that

um he he essentially said and you know he's he said on podcast you know previously that they're struggling to

figure out you know where the value ad is for Distributors I mean that's one thing

um secondly he he talked about what they've already done um since they took over tops tops had

about 250 direct accounts meaning that uh hobby shops would buy directly from

tops as opposed to distributor um and they they're up over 500 now and

they're still adding more in addition they've started a uh and it's really just getting off the ground they started

a similar program for Breakers where you can buy direct from tops they only have

a handful is my understanding now but there are a bunch in the pipeline that they're trying to vet and get through

and get on boarded yeah and you know we've seen uh I mean

one of the crazy reasons we've seen wax kind of explode uh you know during that

pandemic was you know sort of that distribution right uh you know we've

heard some horror stories where you know Distributors would initially put out

some of the products they had purchased it holds some back uh when the buzz got

real hot you know then put the rest out but obviously at a higher price uh many

said well we had to buy it at a higher price it wasn't you know not necessarily being uh truthful about it when it comes

to a dollar sign so uh you know this is what it's funny when the acquisition

first went down Rex I said this is what uh Fanatics is sort of known for they're

direct to Consumer model uh so I early on but even before I said man if I'm a

distributor right now I'm definitely very very uh nervous and we see this is

kind of the direction that most thought I don't want to make it sound like I was the only one that predicted that I think

a lot of people kind of saw the writing on the wall and and that's what's uh uh

going on they mentioned uh the other thing I want to make sort of piggybacking off that uh they mentioned

Dynamic uh pricing with some of their their product releases for those that

maybe don't know what that entails or how that works uh you know what what was

your take and how they rolled that out or or described that uh so first of all

on the just on the backup for a second on the district on the distribution thing

um I think if you look at you know what they're doing here here's a couple interesting things GTS is one of the the

Distributors that they cut baseball from um you know and they made an actual

announcement about that last year a magazine exchange was another one um GTS was at this conference so not

sure what they're doing there maybe they're trying to get back in because they're they're still using a couple of

Distributors I they didn't say for how long but they are still there

um my sense is is that they kind of have to now because they are the they are the

means of distribution a primary means of distribution for a ton of product especially that goes out to The Breakers

because as I said there's not a lot of Breakers that are direct accounts right now so I think they're still leaning on

them there and if you look at on the pricing side when you think about Dynamic pricing

um I don't know that the Distributors called it that but it's something

similar to what Distributors have been doing in other words um you know David I don't have a clear

picture after you know and there were many questions answered the questions that were answered or excuse me asked

about Dynamic pricing that I don't know I ever got a clear answer for so my my

sense of it is um you know a shop or a breaker can buy

a product at the initial launch at a particular price and then they want to

be able to replenish um that merchandise for shops and or

Breakers that sell out of it quickly which is not something they've been able to do to any great degree and I think

that's where Dynamic pricing would come in um in other words so your initial price

will be one thing and you're you're second buying price may be something else and you know that's not a lot

different than what Distributors have been doing I mean it's it's somewhat different but not completely if that's

the plan um take a look at uh some recent examples top series one jumbos now yeah

tops really doesn't have um and if they do they don't publish it

widely or enforce it you know MSRP or map pricing map pricing and minimum

advertised pricing for a period of time they don't they don't really use that or give that

guidance they did say they're working on it but right now the market sort of sets it and I think a lot of people look at

retail pricing they kind of look at the big three uh on what they come out at but then they also look at what tops

comes out at uh with it on their website so series one jumbos for example came

out on tops at 149 at most of the retailers and shops they were anywhere

from 149 to 179. um that last that pricing lasted for

about a day on the retail Market um when people discovered that the odds

for jumbos were were pretty pretty darn good and the price shot up you know over 220. I think they're hovering right now

between you know 220 to 250 bucks now so if you were wanting to buy back in

series one jumbos right now and tops was able to replenish it you're going to pay a little bit more than what you did

initially at wholesale I that's my take on what I believe Dynamic pricing is

yeah and and I get that I get that right you know if it's if it's an in-demand product and you want more after your

initial purchase I mean you almost have to expect a little bit of an increase and like you said Rex I mean we saw that

uh you know in in years past with distribution uh Distributors doing that

you mentioned uh GTS being there did they uh did they have any sort of role

or they were just an attendee like you and and uh second the second part of that question you think maybe top uh

Fanatics has sort of maybe uh rethought maybe what they're initially said maybe

they're going to let GTS back in you think that's uh I mean that's all speculation unless they said it I mean

you think there's something going on there where maybe they reconsidered their initial decision

I I have no insight to that whatsoever I've we've never had a GTS account uh in

fact they refused they refused to open one for us uh for some uh crazy reason

so I don't have any there's no love lost between me and GTS but yeah I I don't have any insight into that whatsoever I

just saw a group of a group of them uh at a table with their GTS distribution shirts on there I don't know who they

were but they were there um yeah and I I don't know if they were just networking maybe trying to get back

in somehow I just I don't know but they are there yeah no no problem I figured I'd ask uh

you know and I appreciate you you know being honest and and saying hey I don't

know what's going on but they were there um uh you know they they mentioned this

was one uh probably one of the the bigger things that come out there that uh you know they they listed 12 products

and and is rumored to be even more that will be uh discontinued you know like

clearly authentic uh fire Gallery uh you can you know I'm not gonna rattle them

all off people probably either seen the list or can can uh go see the list um

you know I I you know I wasn't there but when I heard that I thought that was sort of a long time come like that

should have probably been done I can tell you you know with Gallery here in the center of New York area it's all you

know it's on the shelves collecting dust and then sometimes they even put it in the clearance section at Walmart and it

still collects dust and so you know I think there's you know you're going to have your Mainstays

um and then you got to like determine what products should continue on I know they're fans of those products that are

probably disappointed when they hear that sort of news but I think it's good on Fanatics to really look at some of

that stuff and and make those you know I know it's not an easy decision I know it's not going to make everybody happy

but you know they're they are running the business and and so stuff that maybe not good sellers traditionally form

you've got to make those kind of calls um you know again as someone who was

there uh you know were people surprised by that well you

know and did they mention any kind of replacement uh that they did they

preview any kind of new products that might step in uh it and and for those

products that you're discontinuing um not really any specifics about you know hey where doing away with this and

we're going to bring this in instead but one of the things that's key to remember is that they stress that these these

products are taking a break and could be reintroduced you know as a as a set or

uh you know I think you might see some of this maybe as an insert you know occasionally into other products perhaps

so I I don't know that we're we're ever going to see all of these products you know gone away for good but if you think

about some of these products let's think about opening day for example that's one of them that's taking a break you know

that has essentially been you know series one cards with a different label

you know an opening day label on them at a cheaper price point and it was kind of geared towards kids

um but they have other products that are geared towards kids and it really if you think about it the way that they're treating series one now is their most

important launch um and it's you know relatively affordable I mean you know you can get packs for you know four bucks or so and

that's a decent price for a hobby pack of series one I mean do you really need

to be any cheaper than that for kids plus you have hangers and blasters and and uh value packs in the retail stores

so I I think that serves that market just fine and I have no problem with that decision at all

um I I do I can tell you that um so they're going to move also away

from the light configurations uh and I I don't know if that's in every product

uh and if that's immediate but uh I like that as well I've always thought that light was an unfortunate name for you

know a hobby box because it almost it's almost a negative if you will I mean it's great when you're talking

about beer you know because less calories or so forth but you know do you really want less calories in your hobby

box or less you know what I mean you really we know what it is because it's cheaper but we have to call it that I

guess yeah so I don't mind that at all um yeah there are other things though

that they're going to expand now we're talking them outside of baseball now yeah there are a couple of product lines

that you're gonna see enhance one is in basketball overtime Elite uh we saw a

big presentation about overtime Elite and that was eye-opening to me because uh it's not a league that I was you know

I I'd heard of it but I've never watched it or followed it yeah uh but you know the numbers uh for

overtime Elite in terms of the the fan base you know on social media and even

live at the games is pretty astronomical um and you know a lot of this is driven

by The Tick Tock generation which is also a an interesting insight into what's happening in the card world if

you kind of kind of kind of go on Tick Tock you can see what's going on which we're not active on Tick Tock now but I

believe we're gonna have to be anyway long story short is you're going to expand that product line

uh to add a couple additional skus there they also had uh athletes unlimited

which is a um I don't know if you're familiar with that but is a women's league a couple different sports of

volleyball um softball lacrosse I believe basketball as well uh

it's a very interesting League that is run completely differently than other

leagues that you see in other words there are no coaches yeah um and the rules and the scoring uh

are also going back to this word again Dynamic a lot different and uh probably

probably too much to elaborate on here but if you are interested in an up and coming you know women's uh professional

sports uh check out athletes unlimited because we did get a presentation from them there and uh I think you'll see

some stuff coming from them uh in addition so those are Beyond baseball but I know that that stuff's coming

yeah and listen to like uh you know everyone knows right they're going to be getting that that basketball and

football license here uh in the next few years and so you're gonna see uh you

know that top slash Fanatics logo uh and you can see some products that you

remember kind of being uh brought back uh from the dead just with the licensing

uh changing hand and as you just pointed out they're going to be doing uh other you know we know kind of what they're

definitely going to do and then they're going to do some stuff uh we we don't always know and and you mentioned with

uh those particular uh lines right and you know just one last thing with that

with the discontinued like I'm an acetate guy I love acetate cards so they're clearly authentic uh product I

like but it was just I think it was done badly right you get one card uh you know

encased in in a one touch it's an autograph and you know you watch enough

of those uh openings box breaks um sometimes the the player level is not

great and so you get some lesser name players what I you know I know they just that was one of the discontinued items

if it does get brought back whatever day if they do decide to do that what I'd like to see them do Rex with a product

like that because I think it's a beautiful card right is all right make the one autograph card encased in the

one touch but make a second pack in that box with like three or four not

autographed cards acetate because I think people really like the aesthetic of the card and make it its own sort of

set not not autographed as well so you get you get the one autograph per box

and you get three other base acetates if you will and you can make parallels with

them uh as well as with numbered cards and that sort of thing so I'd like to

see clearly authentically brought back but in that sort of form rather than

here's one card it's boom or bus right yeah okay Mike Trout or you know nick

senzo uh you know right I think too John I mean I I think that Pro that that

acetate look or the clear um the clearly look if you will is uh a

perfect candidate to be used as a hit uh in other sets as well so I I that might

be something that we see uh sooner rather than later yeah I mean that would be cool imagine

you open like you just said you open a pack of of a product that's not an acetate product right and you sort of

fan in your your cards out after and you see that oh I got a clear card right and

you know you got you got something so I love acetate cards I've I remember them

in the early 90s when kind of classic uh first went there in Pacific uh back in

the day and I've oh they always hold the a soft Place uh in in my heart uh so I I

you know and I know we're gonna get them uh in different forms and whatnot uh they also mentioned uh you know that

their biggest release in in tops history is coming they sort of teased that without giving a lot of details I mean

it's all speculation what do you think you know what was the buzz with that or even maybe other people giving you know

given their opinion what do you think they're what they might be alluding to and I I wish I knew uh so this was Mike

Mann that said it um and I'm paraphrasing here but my recollection is what he said was uh he was talking about

product and talking about product Innovation and how Daya Thompson Fanatics is dedicated to you know

innovating products um and you know Michael Rubin had said that as well recently uh that they were

going to do so much more Innovation you know in the next 12 months um but he he said uh we will have in the

next month the biggest product announcement in the history of car of

trading cards uh you know Bar None and they said and I can't tell you what it is but I'm telling you it's the biggest

so that of course got everybody talking and uh you know a lot of speculation

about will they buy one of the other existing comp companies upper deck or

Panini is that part of it um I don't know I mean I suppose that could be part of it

but he was really more zeroed in on a particular product so I I didn't take it to mean that this was a this was a an

acquisition um announcement so I I really don't know exactly one thing that is happening

um tops is putting out a another basketball set McDonald's uh All-Star

I forget is it McDonald's All-American I think is what McDonald's All-American yep which they used to do racks back uh

back in the day so they're bringing it they're bringing it back but go ahead so yeah in that set they announced uh when

we were there that bronnie James LeBron James son will be in that set and have

autographs so the next leap was that

um you know tops is going to somehow either take over the LeBron you know contract from

upper deck or maybe buy upper deck and they will now have LeBron autographs because

uh there's some uh some talk out there about how after he retires he won't be

part of the retired players union so there wouldn't necessarily be trading

cards of his uh outside of Upper Deck um so we all know that he's expressed an

interest to play with his son so whoever drafts brawny is going to end up getting LeBron in free agency so there's

speculation about that happening since brawny is already with tops now uh and

autographs that maybe LeBron will somehow in the future be part of that too so that's one of the things that's

being tossed around so many other things I I struggle to understand you know what

it could be you know unless it's I mean there's there's no other major sports League that they haven't tackled so

uh it has to be something involving a particular player I think yeah yeah that would be that would be

huge uh news you know uh uh if they can uh uh you know obtain uh Lebron James

and exclusivity uh there and then you know listen well we could we could do a

whole show on how good Rodney James actually is but with that name right he's gonna he carries clout you know

those autographs are going to be uh in demand and and not cheap to obtain if

you don't actually pull one out of a pack uh you open and so there's gonna be Buzz even just on the you know Sun level

uh with brownie James and then if you add if you had dad in there

it obviously multiplies uh exponentially so it definitely is an interesting uh

storyline as you just uh pointed out to sort of follow and see where the trail

winds up uh uh leading Tuesday they talked about you know some other things uh you know with new inserts and

parallels and new thing things they're going to do to you know they're already announced they're going to have sort of

their own uh live channel uh you know you mentioned to me too that they've pointed out it's not just going to be

about breaking it's going to be other content uh you know it's coming out that uh you know game use stuff is going to

have a provenance that it's going to actually be from a an event or uh

something on the field rather than hey throw this jersey out okay take it back off and let's cut that up and say you

wore it there's going to be more uh you know uh actual in play stuff uh with

game use products I think that's that sort of hurt the hobby is that going away from that we've seen other

companies sort of get known for that if if you will um you know kind of you know just on

those those few things oh another insert or parallel or Redemption where if you

pull that card that player follows you uh on social media social media which is

kind of different right it's social media is huge so I mean we'll just use kind of like you know imagine you get

like the show hey or the Mike Trout or you know the Jacob degrom or you know

and then they they're following you right I don't know how much interaction goes past just the follow itself but you

know speak to some of those maybe some of those things I mentioned kind of uh your thoughts on that or or you know

even more insight into them yeah sure so the the followback uh hit if you will

um is in Big League Baseball uh and that's coming this year so I I

don't have a release date for that yet but Big League Baseball which again is a product that is geared to kids

um this will be one of the big hits uh that you can get in Big League uh Big

League Of course as we know is very affordable and it is geared geared towards kids uh this will boost the

popularity of that set I believe because I listen I know my kids they're

teenagers now and we certainly have a ton of kids in the shop they're active on social media and for them to have a

shohei or Tani or a Mike Trout follow them on Instagram or Tick Tock or

whatever platform they're on uh that's huge to them so that's that's a big hit in my opinion and part of this is driven

by their tops and Fanatics desire to and I don't I don't I want I don't want I

want to make sure everybody understands what I'm saying here um to eliminate redemptions completely

so their stated goal is that they want to eliminate all redemptions eventually

because they in again Mike mahan's words it is a terrible collector experience so he you

know they're they're all about the collector experience they talked about um the importance of that one-on-one

interaction in a hobby shop with a collector and a and a hobby shop worker or owner and how

important those relationships are and how that's the best um you know collect your experience that

you could possibly hope for I would also say that that extends to card shows and certain dealers and so forth too uh I

think that one-on-one is critical um to the health of the hobby long term so wherever that happens that shows at

Shops at trade nights Etc uh I don't think you'll ever fully be able to replace that with a um a live

selling platform or uh you know a breaking or something like that although those are extremely important and a big

part of the business the 101 interaction is is important uh so that that is a um

is an extension of you know that fan interaction the other thing they talked

about and this is also on the marketing side is they're going to relentlessly Market this stuff so they want and they are

engaging the athletes much more in the products so the relics that you're gonna

some of the different relics you're going to see uh that you mentioned uh game used uh will be important moments

in a player's career so first hit first home run they're going to take you know

the first they're going to take first base chop it up and you know put it in cards you know pictures first strikeout

they're going to take the ball they're going to chop it up and put in cards so these will be game used very specific

game used relics that will replace a lot of the stuff we've seen now in

autographs um you know that have to be redemptions so autographs are not going away but

they are going to utilize these things more so in the effort to eliminate uh

redemptions but all all that stuff I think is pretty neat um and uh and and you know especially

for collectors if you like relics you gotta like you know game used specific game use as opposed to this is not

associated with any blah blah blah blah blah right yeah yeah yeah those are those are bad those are

fighting words too this um and bad words uh to others yeah and again a lot of

good news uh coming from this conference right we you know as podcasters as content creators we like to sort of

nitpick or maybe focus on some of the bad stuff that happens and and we got to

talk about that stuff but I think In fairness too we get when when there's good things that are coming out we've

got to highlight those too uh we'll kind of finish up with uh you know last but not least as I always say you know that

some Tom Brady stuff uh came out uh from the conference that there's going to be

a Tom Brady uh baseball card he was for those that don't know he was drafted uh

by the Montreal Expos uh back in the day obviously we know uh he went played

football probably made a good call uh there uh based on the resume now which

is uh apparently complete what is a retirement announcement uh just speak to

what they said pertaining to Tom Brady what product what we're going to see with with Tom Brady baseball uh cards so

I I believe that is part of a a set or a subset I'm not clear on you know whether

it's going to be an entire Set uh you know how it will be released if it's you know online only I don't have any of

those details but uh it's it's going to be called something along the lines of draft picks that never work uh and this

I believe will be Bowman draft picks that never were so Tom Brady I think

John Elway was mentioned and there are others too you know there are other tops cards out there that yeah

um you know there's a Russell Wilson tops card out there baseball card you know course uh you know there's plenty

of of you know Michael Jordan baseball cards out there yeah because he actually did play in the miners for a while yeah

uh I I don't remember if there's Tebow cards or not I don't yeah

so he was in that and um so be players I think along those lines I don't know I

don't have a complete or comprehensive list but it'll be that the other the other neat thing that I think they're doing is and I pardon me because I can't

remember exactly what it's called but it's um it's it's going to be a retired

players and this will be in Bowman uh first Bowman cards uh and these will be

uh very rare from my understanding first Bowman's of players that never were in

Bowman so Babe Ruth Ty Cobb uh you know guys like that uh even maybe up to and

including like a Ricky Henderson or yeah I think Ricky was ever in a Bowman right

um griffy had a Bowman right Griffey had it first yeah yeah griffey89 Henderson I

think Henderson's in a in a moment but yeah but there are guys like you if you

and you know Bowman was brought back in 1989. so the guys that fell you know

from 88 to you know 50 you know uh in the 50s uh you didn't get to be on a

Bowman card right so they never had first Bowmans or first of all homes or something so and then I and I believe uh

for those who are still living um there would be first Bowman Chrome Autos where they can get that for those

players so that was all you know pretty interesting stuff from a product standpoint uh there's also the one

that's being bandied about a lot I know on social media now are the Frozen factors

um so I and I won't dig too deep into that I mean people have different opinions on what they think of that but

um that will be out there as well um I you know aside from the from the uh

the products of John I I thought some of the most interesting stuff was the marketing

um yeah you know the marketing that they did for series one which of course is an extremely important release for them uh

was pretty huge I mean they're treating this the box if you will they want to make the Box

of series one and the and the player on series one as important and talked about

in the sports world as the cover of you know Madden so that they specifically

referenced that and you know there's probably no reason why it shouldn't be or it couldn't be uh if it's marketed

properly so if you follow tops you know you saw the j-rod show and that's still ongoing you know on social media there's

still a lot going on with that beyond that they had a a group of players uh

when that when that product launched uh hit their social media channels and um

you know with a with a campaign of you know hey did you get my card you know in series one so I haven't seen any of

those that's probably because I'm not following the right players but I am interested to take a look at those that's something that we don't really

see a lot I think you're going to see a lot more player engagement uh in the marketing of the cars because they have

a vested interest to do so now because of the deal Fanatics man yeah like I said on on the podcast Rex

the players I actually have a seat at the table now like you just said they have a vested interest and anytime you

have a vested interest in something you obviously wanted to succeed rather than uh not and so I think you're going to

see like you pointed out I think you're going to see more interactiveness beyond the player level uh with products and uh

you know I don't care what anyone thinks right that's that's that's nothing but a good thing right you know you know years

in the past right you know the the players didn't even necessarily pose for

a lot of the shots were just inaction shots they they weren't really involved uh and sometimes the first time they

even seen a card was when someone handed it to them to get signed you know like

oh that's kind of cool I haven't seen this so now we're there they're a little more involved they take a personal

interest and I think that because of Fanatics relationships with players you know we we you mentioned how they sort

of want to phase out uh redemptions at least as much as they can now with those

players vested interest right it might be uh you know it might be easier to to

avoid Redemption when you have those relationships uh with the players hey this is a company you own part of right

we need these a hundred cards these thousand cards signed ASAP and then get

them back to us please that's that's yeah or they can even go to you know the

the where the player plays and maybe even you know on an off day or something and say listen

your side needs as quick as you can we won't bug you after that and uh so we can see less uh redemptions we all know

the headache uh that Redemption not only do you have to wait sometimes that weight is is very very long and

sometimes you don't even in the end you you just get something instead would

replace right

yeah I wanna listen I know you you know you're in the store sports card shop uh New Buffalo

Michigan little plug uh for you there you're getting ready to to sort of open the doors and uh let folks in to to

enjoy the hobby purchase some stuff I appreciate you sharing your your time in

Arizona some of the information you know uh I figured let's go right to uh rather

than just me talk about it who wasn't there I'll have you on and sure here you

know some of the the great information that that came out of that so I appreciate it as always yeah

thank you just a couple of quick last thoughts go ahead couple things I want to make sure that get out to people as

far if you're in the industry in the sports garden industry uh this tops industry conference is a great value uh

and a and a great use of your time uh on many levels So Not only was it informative and uh also you know allows

you access to the execs of tops and Fanatics uh to speak to them face to

face which is a great opportunity if you're in the business uh but it's all it was also a lot of fun you know we got

to meet Corbin Carroll um you know we got some card signed from him and and also Joey Votto Card Sign

from him uh plus a little kind of a Swag Box um yeah so yeah great value and then the

last thing I would say is um David leiner was very clear about

um you know they're going they're developing standards and practices for everybody that's involved in the hobby from Breakers and and hobby shops so

they're going to be holding um those players to a specific standard and along those lines one thing that I

heard about you know kind of after the conference a new hire that was brought on that was actually there is a former

um FBI agent that was involved in fraud cases for the FBI and he's been brought

on by Fanatics and tops to ensure that there are no Shenanigans going on uh

kind of inside of tops and David was very clear he said you know before any of this starts getting bantied about let

me be very clear to you guys we don't know where the hits are we don't know where they're going we don't know which

boxes they're in we don't know which you know Distributors getting them we don't know which shop is getting them you know

he was very clear about that so so not only have they you know committed it I know there's so much speculation out

there about you know this breaker's getting this uh they were very clear that that's not happening and now they brought somebody

on to make sure that there's no possibility of that occurring inside

their facility so uh good on them for that yeah so the top says tops frenetics has

their own Internal Affairs now but it's good it's good that they're

they're being proactive and and [Music]

all right Rex uh well I appreciate it man I'm gonna let you you know unlock the doors and uh have at it but again I

appreciate you you know everything you've done for all our shows here uh

and uh spending some time uh with us today as well thank you anytime John we appreciate it thank you all right take

care have a great day you too okay

Hobby Quick Hits Ep.148 Reviewing the Topps Conference w/ Rex Gotcher of Sports Card Shop

Rex Gotcher

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