Hobby Quick Hits Ep.193 The Cat Scan Episode

Transcript

hobby quick

hits delivering that breaking hobby

news directly to your

[Music]

ear you want to know those hot drops

from the car shop we've got you covered

with your

host John

[Music]

Newman Hello everybody welcome to

another Edition of hobby quick hits

today's topic a little controversial uh

and uh well let me tell you what it is

and then we'll we'll talk about it it's

cat the cat scanning some of you may

have heard about Breakers and other

people in the hobby using a cat scan

machine to determine what is in a sealed

product before it's even open uh they're

able to do this without damaging the

product so it can either be sold uh as

is if nothing they deem worthy of uh in

there or you know uh been reports that

some breakers have done some uh

unscrupulous things with the info they

gather from those scans and at first you

know I haven't talked really about this

uh at all yet uh even on sports card

nation and I because I I'm typically

don't buy those high-end products that

these scans are being taken of and I'm

like it really doesn't affect me but

you've heard me say uh in more than one

occasion right what happens in Hobby

really affects the Hobby in general so I

had a few people honestly uh messaged me

and said you know John why haven't you

weighed in on the cat scanning

controversy and um you know I was trying

to really avoid it as much as I can but

I'm not going to beat a dead horse or

spend a a million hours on it but I'm

going to talk about it on today's

episode obviously it's wrong uh you

don't need me to tell you that but I'm

going to kind of give you know my

opinion uh kind of let you know with

more specifics than here in the intro

what's actually going on and talk about

some solutions right where's always you

know I always try to it's easy to

complain right but it's not as easy to

come up with uh a solution

to a problem or ailment and so I'll I'll

talk about maybe some viable solutions

that the hobby can do to avoid this or

curtail this type of illegal activity

okay now a quick word from our great

sponsor followed by the new product

release schedule then we'll go around

the hobby verse to tell you all the

latest hobby happenings and news then

we'll tackle today's topic of discussion

hi this is Pat Hughes Cubs and announcer

coming to you from the sports card shop

in beautiful New Buffalo Michigan the

goer family has built an incredible

place here for collectors to buy sell

and trade cards and memorabilia be sure

to stop by and let them show you around

the sportscard shop.com connecting

Sports athletes The Hobby and collectors

around the world hi this is Alan pinket

and I'm I'm here to tell you the goer

family has done it again they've just

opened up the sport card shop in

downtown Val perzo Indiana and it is

awesome if you're a collector you need

to check this place out tell them Allen

sent you and get a free gift on your

first visit all right let's go over what

is coming out for new releases on the

product front for the next couple weeks

let's start with December 4th 2024

Bowman draft baseball who knows what

that's going to cost but uh none of my

business uh also on the same day 2025

pieces of the past

1776 the Freedom Fighters Edition also

2024 Upper Deck Marvel masterpieces 92

Platinum let's move to December 6th

quite a bit on this date uh these will

all be December 6th 2025 Leaf metal

Sports Heroes regular and solo Edition

2024 onx rips baseball collection 2024

Panini certified football 2024 Panini 3

count

WWE 2024 Pro Set pure football also on

the six 2024 Topps Chrome Major League

Soccer hobby uh 2024 tops chome Major

League Soccer Mania and Yu-Gi-Oh

crossover Breakers let's move to the

11th 2024 Leaf Maryland Monroe icons

collection 2024 Panini black football

staying on the 11th 2023 24 Panini

National Treasures basketball 2024

Panini prism colia draft football 2024

Topps definitive baseball get out your

checkbooks uh staying on the 11th 11th

is still a big day 2024 tops yifa Club

competition soccer Hobby and blasters

2024 25 Upper Deck artifacts hockey 2024

Upper Deck Fleer Ultra matriarchs of

Marvel uh going to the 13th decision

2024 trading cards 2024 Leaf Collective

multisport and solo Edition 2024 Leaf

Elvis Presley icons collection 2024

Panini National Treasures WWE

2324 Panini 1 and one basketball 2024

Panini prism baseball

2024 Topps Paddock pass Formula 1 racing

Hobby and blasters staying on the 13th

yugi-oh speed duel battle city finals

and tops 2024 Topps Major League Soccer

Chrome soccer blasters let's go to the

16th and wrap it up there uh 2024 Panini

mosaic football foot no huddle and

2024 Panini prism football Hobby and

that wraps up uh the next couple weeks

as I always say Choose Your Weapon happy

ripping good

luck Let's Go Round The Hobby verse and

catch up on this week's hobby

news and find

out all right let's start with a

exclusive signing

Paige Beckers signed to Panini to a

multi-year autograph deal and if you

know uh Panini already has a deal with

uh University of Connecticut the

university uh to produce cards but this

will be uh for for Paige Beckers to uh

have an autograph uh deal uh with panini

so uh she's going to uh get paid there

and and uh probably doing uh very

well all right let's uh speaking of

money and it's money spent sh otani's

last home run of the regular season of

2024 his

54th uh went for

$158,000 uh at Golden so uh they're uh

you know not the not the ball that made

him a 5050 guy but part of that whole

year and so it brings uh

158k all right let's talk about some bad

[Music]

stuff bad news for Becket continuing

their CEO Greg

Lindberg uh pled guilty to $2 billion

worth of insurance fraud money

laundering and a few other charges uh

he's potentially could uh be sent Ed uh

between 5 and 15 years uh of prison time

but no no

sentencing uh yet but uh you know we

we'll see how that all shakes out but uh

this is a company to me guys uh I almost

think they need to sell uh to somebody

else and and kind of clean the Slate try

to rebuild that U that the brand as much

as as much as they can can net Turner

PSA or collector's uh

owner one of them is now on the board of

directors at GameStop and in case you

don't know uh I think most people do

GameStop is now accepting PSA

submissions at uh a majority of their

locations so this kind of goes lock step

in with that Nat Turner will now serve

on the Board of Directors for GameStop

uh there's been some bumps in the road

there uh with issues uh you can kind of

search that and you'll see what I'm

talking about so

hopefully that uh that kind of stuff

gets uh uh ironed out if if you will and

let's say let's end on a a positive note

here and uh I know this young man he he

was on a special show I did a few years

ago when he was 10 years old but

12-year-old Blake Grace and his

20-year-old brother Austin

GCE uh did something really nice I'm

going to effort to see if I can get one

or both of them on the show and we'll

talk about this amongst other things in

the hobby but they had a 19 stick NHL

hockey stick collection most of those

sticks were were signed and um they uh

donated them to uh auction to Heritage

and all the funds are going to go to the

assist the officer Foundation to uh help

uh fallen officers and their families

and uh you know so kudos to uh

12-year-old uh Blake rice uh who has his

own kind of program and and content

called the Blake down and his

20-year-old brother Austin love to see

stuff like that you know and as I often

say right we have enough negative

stories in the hobby but you know these

these kind of things outweigh them and I

I wanted to highlight that so hopefully

maybe we can get uh Blake and and Austin

on a future uh sports car Nation uh

episode and now our Feature

[Music]

Presentation all right folks I'm not

going to lie to you I really debated

tackling this topic and I actually kind

of avoided it uh for some time and it

was three or four DMS and emails I got

saying John can you weigh in on on this

that really kind of talked me off the

ledge so so here we are uh I'm talked

off the ledge we're going to tackle this

now let me say that uh cat scanning of

wax and boxes doesn't affect me directly

because I don't open that kind of stuff

I don't buy in to those kind of breaks

and so that was one of the reasons I

sort of steered clear and a lot of this

is speculation no one's admitted to it

other than I'll talk about that in a

minute um so you you know we can't point

a finger and say someone for sure is

doing this but I believe what happening

um and so what's going on and this story

broke if my memory serves me

correct mid July end of July August uh

that certain potentially Breakers uh

have been cat

scanning you know prestigious boxes

stuff like Flawless National Treasures

Exquisite boxes of of that elk uh while

they're sealed and the cat scanner

allows you the the user to see

the hits that are in those type of of

products without opening it doesn't

damage the Box doesn't damage any shrink

wrap on it and then the owner of said

box knows kind of what is or isn't in

that box to do what he or she wants to

do with it and you know again uh things

that have come out is hey now a breaker

knows there's hey and I'm just making

you know big time cards up hey there's a

Steph Curry you know uh logo man in this

101 uh and now they have a choice right

they can open it themselves and and get

the card they could even if they really

want to look even more legit and and

make money on top of that they can have

a friend buy into the break as let in

this case using the same card buy into

and buy the Warriors right they know the

person it's all kind of set up up from

Jump Street and whatever deal they have

you know we you you win the card we'll

sell it uh I'll give you so much and

I'll profit uh the percentage after that

uh you know real shady there's also a

rumor I heard and and I know which one

it is for because it's all speculation

I'm not going to mention their name but

there's a large wax seller that has been

rumored to be doing this

and you might say well how who's got a

cat scanner how is this happening right

um I mean if you know somebody in the

medical field you can arrange a deal

after hours hey buddy I'm coming over uh

you know at 5:30 with like six boxes you

know and I'm sure they're paying for the

the use or or the person the the cats

the certified CAT scan person is putting

money in their pocket you know uh before

they leave for the day and that's how

this is happening you can buy so you say

well what's a cat scan machine cost uh

they can range it you know obviously

they're different sizes from full body

ones but uh they range anywhere from

eight new this is 80k to

$350,000 but you know I did I did kind

of a preliminary search just to see what

was out there and I found a small used

functioning one for

$99,000 uh out there uh that can be

bought I didn't buy it so maybe you know

for 9k heck folks some of these boxes go

for more than 9k right Transcendence and

and different things like that the the

Mercury uh which can be scan scanned so

for

$9,000 a breaker or someone a someone

owning an LCS

could buy it right and have it in the

back have it at home wherever they

conceal it and do these unscrupulous

things and I for sure believe if if it

works it's it's happening right this is

you know we've seen the you know

trajectory of of unscrupulous things

right people making counterfeit cards uh

dealers and stores weighing packs

dealers and stores you know people going

into retail and and weighing packs or

feeling the packs looking for thick

cards right anywhere you know a a a

shortcut or something illegal can can be

done to get the big hits out without

having to open or buy a whole bunch of

the product right people going to look

for that and it's sad but that's that's

you know it's again it's not relegated

to just the Hobby in any kind of Market

stock market any you know

jewelry uh fashion there's going to be

unscrupulous activity we're just talking

about the hobby here and it's it's sad

that U you know people will go to any

extreme lens right long as it's not

exorbitant like it's got to make sense

profit wise you know no one's going to

buy a

350,000 cat scan machine

uh to you know necessarily scan you know

a $10,000 box but you might buy a $9,000

Use CAT scan machine to do it and and

keep doing it right so you know or and

then you don't even have to buy I'm not

going to lie to you my wife works my

wife's a nurse she works in a medical

office now I don't have this type of wax

anyway but if I did and I was

unscrupulous uh um I'm 0 for two there I

don't and I'm not unscrupulous but I

could probably go to my wife's off where

she works you know she my wife knows the

the CAT scan

technician and I'm sure I don't want to

say I'm sure but I'm sure some if push

came to show I could have a deal where I

could CAT scan some boxes if I had them

you know for the right

price make it worth the technicians

worthwhile they're not really doing

anything illegal It's Not a Human Being

going in the machine after hours and and

no medical records just a inanimate box

of sports cards right so I'm sure some

of these Breakers have people they know

in in in the local medical field and

they're making these deals to get these

boxes scanned right so you find out a

box you know a box isn't that great

right that one's definitely going for

sale that one's defin going to be uh

offered for breaks right and then they

find a box that has a big hit in it

right and they can go again like I said

already they can go two ways here right

they could just you know eat the cost of

that box and rip it open and P get that

card out of there and then do whatever

they want on the secondary Market or

they can hey let's listen what's cooler

you know this is going to be great we're

going to get we're going to get Pub uh

when this hit gets pulled and and

notoriety right and uh might make some

of the hobby news Publications and

online sites and social media and we're

going to get you know some shine out of

this so they know whatever team that

that big card is related to you know

they'll tell a buddy you buy you know

we'll say you're buying this team we're

going to sell this card you're going to

get 10% uh for doing nothing you know so

if this card sells for

$400,000 we're going to give you you

know

$40,000 for just the Optics of this and

we're going to PO we're going to pocket

$360,000 and it looks legit if you

didn't know any better right and that

person's going to be in the live stream

and they're going to be

excited and U they're going to list it

for sale and this deals all kind of uh

the the you know it's rigged it's uh

Jerry rigged so uh you know and and I

believe that's probably happening if the

these cat scan machines do what they're

reportedly doing uh there's a now listen

you think I'm it's not possible

Connecticut companies doing this right

out in the open

$75 per box uh a kinectic to get a

company I'm not going to mention their

name you can Google it not no free

advertising especially when to me it's

it's not above board but for 75 bucks

you bring it to them and they'll scan it

and you can see what's in that box

without opening it and um they got

public ads it's not even in in the back

rooms it's it's now out there and now

common place and so you know that's

where we are uh this is the latest

shootter drop right it'll be something

else uh as

Technologies uh get better you know

what's the what's the Sol you know we

talk about I always talk about hey it's

easy to talk about problems what are the

solutions bring some solutions and this

one's tricky right let's start with some

solutions again any solutions is going

to cost money on the manufacturer side

right if top slash Fanatics Panini and

other companies want to prevent this

from occurring they could you know they

could put certain materials in the

product whether that be lead or other

and again I'm not a a scientist here but

I'm sure there are other products that

can block these CT scans so that you

can't see what's in the packs or what's

in the box or what's in the case and um

you know but that's going to ca that's

going to be cost

intensive to Tops to Panini and others

right and where where do those costs

gets passed on to you know the you the

consumer right us the consumer I do buy

wax here and there not again along these

lines but I do and um so that's who's

going to take it on the chin if if the

manufactor ever decided to do kind of

anti you know anti-at scanning uh

materials in these future boxes you know

what else could they do uh you know

let's be real if a if a breaker or

company gets

caught doing it and it's you know it's

it's happening for sure those companies

need to ban that company for Life uh

from ever purchasing product directly

from them uh yes that's harsh but that's

that's the stiff penalty you need to

sort of deter this and you know I'd love

to see one of those manufacturers come

out even preemptively and says we know

about this cat scanning

controversy if your company is direct

with tops and you engage in this kind of

activity you no longer will be direct

with tops I I you know could there be a

work a loophole there could it could

someone else you know buy it for them

and they still get it from Top sure but

i' I'd like to see tops take a stance uh

on this but I'm sure they're just hoping

the story uh kind of goes away I don't

think it's going to um you know what can

we do as consumers of the hobby well I'm

kind of already doing it because I don't

live in that space of buying you know

those kind of

wax uh level products so or or into

break so this again that's why I said I

was kind of trying to avoid this but uh

tackling it today uh so I I don't I this

really won't affect me uh directly so

you could you could avoid these products

um so don't buy right buy an item when

it first comes out uh literally the day

of release right before maybe some of

this can be scanned and even then it's

it's hard to to know if it hasn't been

scanned already but I think the sooner

you buy into something it it it leaves

less time for a breaker or wholesaler or

wax dealer to get that uh scanned right

and the old adage right use trusted

Sellers and Breakers if you're someone

that buys in the brakes buy use someone

who's reputable who you do not believe

would ever do something like this same

thing on the selling side whatever

whatever place you get your wax from you

know there's a million of not a million

of them but there's there's you know

four to six big ones if you trust them

then I guess you have to keep TR

trusting them

until they give you a reason not to

although I will tell you I have heard

through the grapevine that one of these

big whack sellers is reportedly guilty

of doing this again it's hearsay it's

speculation uh that's why I'm not going

to mention um um you know you can you

can again scour the internets invented

by Al Gore and maybe figure that out or

find out the rumor uh yourself

so that's where we are um I'm I'm not

going to beat this topic uh to death I

tried to avoid it but you know I got a

couple I got called to kind of weigh in

on it and uh you know it gets me I'm

disappointed uh but listen I've been in

the hobby uh 40 years and uh nothing

surprises anymore and I what's the next

thing right I don't know I don't know

but uh uh you know just be careful if

you live in that space of of high-end

wax high-end cases high-end product be

careful where you're getting your stuff

from and do your due diligence and I

hope no one out there uh you know takes

this one on the chin but uh if it's true

and I believe it to be someone is taking

it on the chin hopefully that's not you

all right thank you for listening to

another episode of hobby quick hits want

to give out our social media starting

with our website which is

www.sp sportscard podcast.com

Facebook you can follow us at

www.face.com

sportscard Nation Podcast SL Twitter we

are at sports card nat1 so it's sports

card n a

ti1

Instagram at sportscard Nation Podcast

or you can email the show hobby quick

hits

atgmailcom again thanks for listening

we'll see you next week

Hobby Quick Hits Ep.193 The Cat Scan Episode

Listen On

Featured Episodes

Recent Episodes

New to Sports Card Nation Podcast?

Ep.280 w/ Marc Mader "Rise of Ticket collecting"

Card Mensches E35 Hobby Mount Rushmores w/ Dr.James Beckett

Ep.273 w/ Steven Lane "Greatest Mantle Collection"

Ep.133 w/Sam Shuford from Women of the Hobby

Hobby Quick Hits Ep.70 The Market Crashing?

Ep.115 w/Rob Gough & the Record-Breaking Mantle

Ep.134 w/Jeromy Murray of Beckett

Hobby Quick Hits Ep.76 Live from the NSCC Main Stage w/Brody the Kid