Sports Cards Live

Are you buying the card, or are you buying its price history? Jeremy, Chris McGill, David Chase, Joe Poirot and Joshua Adams bring their discussion about the next generation of collectors to its conclusion by asking whether newcomers really need to inherit the collecting preferences previous generations created. Chris remembers a time when sellers couldn't find buyers for a Michael Jordan PMG Red at $10,000. Today, that same card is worth many multiples of that amount. So why couldn't the next generation of collectors do the same thing? Instead of spending enormous amounts chasing the cards previous generations already turned into grails, perhaps new collectors can discover overlooked cards, sets and players, build their own collecting culture and eventually create an entirely new hierarchy. Jeremy boils his advice down to something simple: forge your own path. The panel discusses independent thinking, research, critical analysis and why finding overlooked value doesn't simply mean declaring that an unpopular card should suddenly be valuable. Scarcity, aesthetics, distribution, history, player significance and relative value still matter. They also discuss hobby cycles and why quieter markets may actually encourage collectors to become more creative, explore new areas and discover cards that get ignored when established grails are rapidly appreciating. Then the conversation takes an interesting turn into comps themselves. What happens when a collector is willing to pay MORE for a card if the transaction becomes a publicly recorded comp? Conversely, if you buy a card privately for considerably less than its perceived market value, what incentive do you have to report that sale and potentially establish a lower comp for something you now own? Jeremy and Chris discuss the incentives surrounding private-sale reporting, while the panel considers how collectors can estimate value when a rare card simply doesn't have a recent comparable sale. Plus, Jeremy discovers Frank Robinson in real time and, within minutes of hearing more about his career, is already making offers on cards. Four decades into the hobby and there are still new lanes to discover. Subscribe to Sports Cards Live on YouTube and wherever you listen to podcasts. Take the Hobby Spectrum Assessment and discover where you fit in the hobby at thehobbyspectrum.com. Search auctions across the hobby with AuctionWire.ai. Research the market with Card Ladder. Use promo code SCL. And check out Pops & Comps, available now on Amazon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why is one Steph Curry rookie worth $60,000 while another rare rookie-year Curry card can be bought for a tiny fraction of that? Jeremy, Chris McGill, David Chase, Joe Poirot and Joshua Adams continue their discussion about how collectors find value in a hobby where the established grails have become increasingly expensive. Chris puts a real-world example on the screen. Steph Curry's 2009 Topps Chrome rookie, numbered to 999, has become one of his iconic cards and commands an enormous premium in a PSA 10. Meanwhile, Chris finds a 2009 Certified Fabric of the Game Curry, numbered to just 99 and containing memorabilia, available for dramatically less money. So what exactly are collectors paying for? The card itself? Scarcity? Eye appeal? History? Brand recognition? Or decades of hobby consensus telling us which cards we're supposed to want? That leads into a larger conversation about how hobby grails are created, how influential collectors and content creators can shape demand, and whether social media simply reflects collecting trends or actually helps manufacture them. The panel also debates changing perceptions around players including Shaquille O'Neal, Nolan Ryan, Jackie Robinson and Steph Curry. Can established hobby hierarchies change? Can overlooked players suddenly become hobby royalty? And when prices explode after decades of relative stability, is that organic discovery or something collectors should approach with caution? Jeremy explains why he likes having multiple collecting lanes, from serious five-figure purchases where financial value matters to inexpensive cards he can buy simply because he loves them. When one lane gets too expensive, there is always somewhere else in the hobby to explore. And that may be the biggest lesson for new collectors: don't automatically buy what everyone else has already decided is important. Learn the hobby. Do your research. Think critically. Then find value where value makes sense to you. Subscribe to Sports Cards Live on YouTube and wherever you listen to podcasts. Take the Hobby Spectrum Assessment and discover where you fit in the hobby at thehobbyspectrum.com. Search auctions across the hobby with AuctionWire.ai. Research the market with Card Ladder. Use promo code SCL. And check out Pops & Comps, available now on Amazon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Should the next generation of collectors want the same cards we do? Chris McGill brings a fascinating question to the panel: when new collectors enter the hobby, should they buy into the hierarchy of cards, players and grails that previous generations have established, or should they use their fresh perspective to discover entirely new collecting lanes? Jeremy, David Chase, Joe Poirot and Joshua Adams dig into what that means in a hobby where many of the cards longtime collectors grew up chasing have become extraordinarily expensive. Are newcomers really best served spending huge amounts of money chasing the same Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Mickey Mantle and other established grails everyone already knows? Or are there overlooked players, sets, inserts, eras and cards sitting right in front of us simply because the existing hobby establishment hasn't decided they matter yet? The panel discusses herd mentality, questioning conventional hobby wisdom, the importance of understanding why certain cards became iconic and the difference between teaching someone WHAT to collect and teaching them HOW to think about collecting. Jeremy argues that your approach may ultimately depend on where you fall on the Hobby Spectrum. Someone primarily interested in making money may be better served understanding and participating in established markets, while a collector has considerably more freedom to explore, experiment and build something completely unique. The conversation also explores whether the collecting experience many longtime hobbyists enjoyed growing up can even be recreated today. Packs are different. Prices are different. Information is everywhere. Market data is instantaneous. And newcomers arrive in a hobby with far more infrastructure, money and established narratives than previous generations ever encountered. So maybe the goal isn't to recreate the old hobby. Maybe it's helping the next generation find its own. Subscribe to Sports Cards Live on YouTube and wherever you listen to podcasts. Take the Hobby Spectrum Assessment and discover where you fit in the hobby at thehobbyspectrum.com. Search auctions across the hobby with AuctionWire.ai. Research the market with Card Ladder. Use promo code SCL. And check out Pops & Comps, available now on Amazon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How certain can anyone really be that an autograph is authentic? Steve Grad joins Jeremy and David Chase for a fascinating deep dive into autograph authentication, beginning with one of the most controversial signed cards currently in the hobby: the 1952 Bowman Mickey Mantle that PSA has authenticated and Steve believes was NOT signed by Mickey Mantle. Steve explains why he believes the signature is secretarial or clubhouse signed, walks through the exemplars and signing tendencies he uses to reach that conclusion, and discusses what it's like to publicly disagree with another major authenticator when hundreds of thousands of dollars may be at stake. But how certain is an autograph authenticator? Steve explains when instinct enters the equation, when an authenticator should simply "punt" on an autograph, and even recalls reversing one of his own authentication decisions after going back and doing more research. The conversation then turns to another potentially enormous issue: signed 1952 Topps Jackie Robinson cards. Of the nine known examples discussed on the show, Steve says he has seen five that he believes are not authentic. They also discuss increasingly sophisticated forgery techniques, autopens, aging ink, whether autograph grades should have expiration dates and why an autograph sitting inside a slab can still change dramatically over time. Then things get considerably more entertaining. Years ago, David bought a collection of celebrity autographs on eBay, each accompanied by a letter of authenticity. He sends them to Steve for his verdict live on the show. Michael Jackson. Aerosmith. The Sopranos. The Goonies. Michael J. Fox and more. The verdict isn't pretty. Meanwhile, Jeremy puts his own three vintage hockey autographs in front of Steve, including Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and Steve Yzerman, with dramatically different results. Finally, Steve explains why education remains a collector's greatest protection. Learn the signature. Learn the signing habits. Learn the known secretarial and clubhouse versions. And never assume that simply because an autograph is already inside a slab, the question has been settled. Subscribe to Sports Cards Live on YouTube and wherever you listen to podcasts. Take the Hobby Spectrum Assessment and discover where you fit in the hobby at thehobbyspectrum.com. Search auctions across the hobby with AuctionWire.ai. Research the market with Card Ladder. Use promo code SCL. And check out Pops & Comps, available now on Amazon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sports card grading will never be the same. Jeremy officially unveils SPA Grading, the hobby's first full-service card wellness experience, where every card deserves a little self-care. From soaking away decades of unwanted memories to massaging out creases and wrinkles, manicuring those troublesome edges and applying a little makeup where necessary, SPA takes your card through the entire process before sending it to an entirely independent and conveniently uninformed grading department. And don't forget the final touch: a genuine SPA eye appeal sticker. From soak to sticker. Leighton Sheldon and David Chase react to the revolutionary new service, its nine-second grading process, potential upcharges, crossovers, international expansion plans and what happens when demand inevitably overwhelms capacity. Before the SPA opens its doors, Leighton also shares his latest Kobe Bryant pickup and explains why rare memorabilia sometimes requires throwing the comps aside and trusting your own instincts. Then Steve Grad joins the show. The longtime autograph authentication expert and Pawn Stars regular talks about his years running PSA/DNA, the early evolution of third-party autograph authentication and the massive surge in vintage non-sports collecting. Steve discusses the explosion in 1977 Star Wars cards, the emergence of "rookie card" terminology in the non-sports world and watching cards he once owned reach extraordinary prices. Then the conversation turns to a fascinating problem: secretarial autographs. From Luka Doncic to Shaquille O'Neal and Ewan McGregor, how can an autograph that wasn't actually signed by the celebrity or athlete make its way into the hobby? And what happens when the questionable autograph was inserted directly into a pack? Plus, Steve shares stories from Pawn Stars, including what happens when someone really doesn't like being told their autograph isn't authentic. Subscribe to Sports Cards Live on YouTube and wherever you listen to podcasts. Take the Hobby Spectrum Assessment and discover where you fit in the hobby at thehobbyspectrum.com. Search auctions across the hobby with AuctionWire.ai. Research the market with Card Ladder. Use promo code SCL. And check out Pops & Comps, available now on Amazon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The hobby is changing. The question is whether everyone in it is willing to change with it. Jeremy is joined by David Chase and Leighton Sheldon for a wide-ranging conversation about the evolution of the sports card hobby, beginning with news that Mark Wahlberg is getting further involved in the card business. Is celebrity involvement good for the hobby? Does it even matter? And should collectors care who's entering the space as long as they're doing honest business? That leads into a bigger discussion about Fanatics, product allocation and the future of the traditional local card shop. What happens when longtime shops no longer fit the vision manufacturers have for the modern hobby? Is there something worth preserving about the dusty old-school LCS, or is adapting simply part of doing business? Leighton also weighs in on the vintage card show circuit, including why the Philly Show may be one of the best places in the country to actually buy vintage, how it compares with Strongsville and the National, and what separates each show. Plus, Mikey Singer joins Jeremy to preview the upcoming Sport Card Expo in Calgary, the continued expansion of the Expo across Canada, the growth of the Toronto show and what collectors can expect when the Expo arrives in Jeremy's backyard. A conversation about change, nostalgia, business and finding your own way to enjoy the hobby, regardless of what happens around you. Subscribe to Sports Cards Live on YouTube and wherever you listen to podcasts. Take the Hobby Spectrum Assessment and find out where you fit in the hobby at thehobbyspectrum.com. Discover cards across the hobby's auction platforms with AuctionWire.ai. Track the market and research your cards with Card Ladder. Use promo code SCL. And check out Pops & Comps, available now on Amazon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What is a sports card actually worth? Jeremy Lee, David Chase, Chris HOJ and the very wordy Josh Adams finish the night by digging deeper into one of the hobby's most deceptively complicated questions: how do we determine value when buying and selling cards? The conversation begins with more insight into Card Ladder and the effort to maintain the integrity of sales data. Chris explains why the goal isn't simply to fix individual questionable sales, but to identify the underlying systems that allowed a problem to occur and improve those systems for the future. From there, the discussion turns to something every collector encounters: the difference between a reported comp and the actual economics of a transaction. A marketplace may report the final price paid for a card, but that number doesn't necessarily reflect what the seller received after commissions and fees. It also doesn't capture everything the buyer may have spent on sales tax, shipping, financing or other transaction costs. Jeremy shares how financing part of a major card purchase pushed his actual cost basis well beyond the publicly reported sale price. So which number represents the card's true value? Jeremy revisits a question he and Chris discussed years ago: why should the buyer have all the power in determining value? For highly liquid cards, recent comps may provide an obvious answer. But with truly scarce cards, shouldn't the owner's willingness to part with the card matter just as much as what a buyer is willing to pay? And as David points out, value can also depend on how long a seller is willing to wait for the right buyer to arrive. The panel also returns to vintage non-sports and the possibility that rising prices could eventually send a large supply of previously raw cards into PSA. How dramatically could populations change once cheaper grading tiers become available, and how long will collectors have to wait before the true supply becomes visible? Then, as tends to happen four hours into Sports Cards Live, things get a little less serious. Is chess a sport? What about poker, darts, billiards, professional wrestling, auto racing and competitive eating? Does something have to involve physical exertion to qualify as a sport, and is being an athlete necessarily the same thing as participating in a sport? Plus, Josh Adams names the 1990s card he'd most like to see consigned to 90s Auctions, and the panel puts the finishing touches on a four-hour-and-15-minute edition of Sports Cards Live. Subscribe to Sports Cards Live on YouTube and wherever you listen to podcasts. Take the Hobby Spectrum Assessment and learn more at thehobbyspectrum.com. Discover cards across multiple auction platforms with AuctionWire at auctionwire.ai and use promo code SCL for 60 days free. Check out Card Ladder for sports card sales history, market data and research. And pick up Jeremy Lee's book, Pops and Comps: Truths, Insights, and Psychology Behind the Numbers That Drive the Sports Card Market, available on Amazon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How much should you actually trust the comps you're using to buy and sell sports cards? Jeremy Lee, David Chase, Joe Poirot, Chris HOJ and Josh Adams dive deep into one of the most important issues in today's data-driven hobby: understanding what the numbers actually mean before allowing them to influence your decisions. The conversation begins with a viewer claiming there are too many fake sales appearing on Card Ladder. Chris explains how Card Ladder handles potentially unpaid, staged or otherwise questionable transactions, why sales initially appear as they happen, how marketplaces subsequently provide information about unpaid items, and what collectors should actually take from the green verification check marks appearing beside certain sales. But even a verified sale doesn't answer every question. Was it truly an arm's-length transaction? Was the card an unusually strong or weak example for the grade? Was there something about the seller, provenance or bidding that made the result unusual? That leads into a detailed discussion about Card Ladder Value and one of its most misunderstood characteristics. How can a lower-grade card have a higher estimated value than a higher-grade example? Chris explains the methodology behind CL Value, why each card and grade is treated independently, how the applicable market index is used to adjust an older sale, and why Card Ladder deliberately avoids creating a black-box algorithm that simply assumes a higher grade must always be worth more. Eye appeal makes the problem even more complicated, particularly with vintage cards where two examples carrying the exact same numerical grade can command dramatically different prices. David calls attention to the hobby's “dummy tax,” the price collectors and dealers can pay when they use data without understanding it. Jeremy also raises the opposite danger: knowledgeable buyers or sellers potentially weaponizing a valuation tool against someone who doesn't understand how the number was generated. Throughout the discussion, Chris returns to one central principle: don't outsource your judgment. A comp, an estimated value, a green check mark, an asking price and a current auction are all pieces of information, but none should replace your own research and understanding of the card. Plus, the group discusses stale comps, half grades, confidence levels, market manipulation around The National, why older sales may become more trustworthy with time, and whether there could ever be a truly “perfect” sports card valuation tool. Subscribe to Sports Cards Live on YouTube and wherever you listen to podcasts. Take the Hobby Spectrum Assessment and learn more at thehobbyspectrum.com. Discover cards across multiple auction platforms with AuctionWire at auctionwire.ai and use promo code SCL for 60 days free. Check out Card Ladder for sports card sales history, market data and research. And pick up Jeremy Lee's book, Pops and Comps: Truths, Insights, and Psychology Behind the Numbers That Drive the Sports Card Market, available on Amazon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How big is the Shohei Ohtani effect on the sports card hobby? Jeremy Lee, David Chase, Joe Poirot, Chris HOJ and Josh Adams dig into a phenomenon that may extend far beyond Ohtani's own cards. Chris reveals that the monthly dollar volume being spent on Ohtani is now on par with or even exceeding Michael Jordan, traditionally the biggest name in the Card Ladder database. But what happens to all that money after an Ohtani card sells? The panel explores how enormous gains on Ohtani cards can inject fresh capital back into the hobby as sellers redeploy their profits into other players, sports and eras. Ohtani's pursuit of baseball immortality can also lead collectors backward through history to Babe Ruth, Barry Bonds and other all-time greats, creating a potential ripple effect throughout the market. Then comes a provocative question: if manufacturers can put an Ohtani Logoman autograph into a new product and potentially create a seven-figure card almost on demand, should collectors be concerned? David questions what scarcity means when manufacturers can continue producing new one-of-ones, patches and premium Ohtani cards year after year, while Jeremy asks whether some of the traditional rules used to analyze the sports card market still apply. The conversation returns to the possibility of an MLB work stoppage. Could a lockout reduce demand while simultaneously increasing supply and become a catalyst for a market correction? Would modern baseball take the biggest hit, or could the absence of daily baseball storylines also reduce interest in vintage legends who benefit indirectly from today's stars and their accomplishments? Vintage non-sports isn't necessarily safe either. David explains why the recent explosion in prices could eventually unleash a wave of previously ungraded cards once lower-cost grading tiers become available, potentially changing population reports dramatically. Finally, the panel tackles two monster basketball cards: the LeBron James and Kobe Bryant Exquisite Dual Logoman autograph versus Cooper Flagg's Debut Patch Autograph. Which sells for more, and what does the fact that we're even comparing them tell us about today's sports card market? Plus, can we ever truly know whether a massive public sale represents an arm's-length transaction, and how much verification should the hobby expect before treating it as a legitimate comp? Subscribe to Sports Cards Live on YouTube and wherever you listen to podcasts. Take the Hobby Spectrum Assessment and learn more at thehobbyspectrum.com. Discover cards across multiple auction platforms with AuctionWire at auctionwire.ai and use promo code SCL for 60 days free. Check out Card Ladder for sports card sales history, market data and research. And pick up Jeremy Lee's book, Pops and Comps: Truths, Insights, and Psychology Behind the Numbers That Drive the Sports Card Market, available on Amazon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If the sports card market eventually turns, will every card get hit equally? Jeremy Lee is joined by David Chase, Joe Poirot, Chris HOJ and Josh Adams for a wide-ranging hobby roundtable about what the next market cycle could actually look like and whether collectors are better prepared for it this time. The panel debates whether the hobby has really gotten smarter since the last major downturn or whether there is simply more money in the market today. If collectors suddenly need liquidity, do they sell their best and most valuable cards first because one transaction can raise the necessary cash, or do they protect those cards and work from the bottom of their collections instead? That leads to one of the biggest questions of the episode: high supply versus scarcity. Could cards with enormous populations face significantly more downside if sellers flood the market, while scarce cards, low-numbered issues, one-of-ones and important vintage cards prove more resilient because demand only has to compete for a limited number of available copies? The conversation also turns to the return of football, basketball and hockey. After an unusually hot summer for retired players, vintage cards and 1990s issues, what happens when current athletes begin generating daily headlines again? Does hobby attention shift back toward active players, and could that create buying opportunities elsewhere? The group also discusses whether there is even such a thing as a hobby offseason anymore. Collectors are connected to auctions, marketplaces and their watchlists 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Does it still matter what night an auction ends, or has technology permanently changed collector behavior? Plus, David wonders whether the traditional November and December buying opportunity will return this year, Chris looks at historical fourth-quarter market performance, the panel considers how a potential baseball work stoppage could affect modern baseball cards, and Joe explains why rising prices have him returning to one of the simplest collecting principles of all: finding cards with great aesthetics and character. Subscribe to Sports Cards Live on YouTube and wherever you listen to podcasts. Take the Hobby Spectrum Assessment and learn more at thehobbyspectrum.com. Discover cards across multiple auction platforms with AuctionWire at auctionwire.ai and use promo code SCL for 60 days free. Check out Card Ladder for sports card sales history, market data and research. And pick up Jeremy Lee's book, Pops and Comps: Truths, Insights, and Psychology Behind the Numbers That Drive the Sports Card Market, available on Amazon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What does the explosion of card shows tell us about the health and future of the hobby? Steve Menzie, owner and operator of the Sport Card Expo and co-operator of the legendary Strongsville Sports Collectors Convention, joins Jeremy Lee and David Chase for an inside look at the card show business and just how dramatically it has changed over the past decade. Card shows aren't simply places to buy and sell anymore. They've become social gatherings, entertainment experiences and an important place where online hobby relationships become real-world friendships. Steve discusses the growth he's witnessed, the influx of younger collectors and families, and why fans who may initially come for autographs or other attractions are increasingly becoming card collectors themselves. They also tackle the massive growth of TCG at shows and whether sports cards and TCG should be separated, the challenge of curating the right mix of dealers and inventory, and why buying has become as important as selling for many vendors. Then David puts Steve on the spot with ideas borrowed from Comic Cons and other major fan events. Why can't card shows offer better food, easier access to water, more places to sit, carpeted floors and a smoother entry experience? Steve explains which improvements promoters can actually control, which ones venues make surprisingly difficult, and where he believes card shows still need to level up. Security is becoming another major concern. With increasingly valuable cards and large amounts of cash changing hands, Steve discusses theft, counterfeit currency, parking-lot safety, increased police presence and mandatory collector insurance for dealers at his shows. Plus, we get an update on the future of Strongsville, why maintaining its vintage identity matters so much, and the search for the right long-term home for one of the hobby's most beloved vintage shows. And we find out what happens when a longtime card-show promoter becomes a collector himself, as Steve shares the vintage baseball cards that have pulled him deeper into the hobby. Subscribe to Sports Cards Live on YouTube and wherever you listen to podcasts. Take the Hobby Spectrum Assessment and learn more at thehobbyspectrum.com. Discover cards across multiple auction platforms with AuctionWire at auctionwire.ai and use promo code SCL for 60 days free. Check out Card Ladder for sports card sales history, market data and research. And pick up Jeremy Lee's book, Pops and Comps: Truths, Insights, and Psychology Behind the Numbers That Drive the Sports Card Market, available on Amazon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The sports card market is running hot, cards are hitting prices many collectors never imagined, and suddenly a new question is creeping into the conversation: should we be getting nervous? Jeremy Lee and David Chase discuss the psychology of collecting and investing during a rapidly rising market. When a card you love is suddenly worth many times what you paid for it, when does the money become more meaningful than the card? Do you take profits, build up cash reserves and prepare for the next downturn, or hold onto the cards you bought because you genuinely wanted to own them in the first place? They also examine the difference between healthy appreciation and outright market madness, whether increased supply from collectors taking profits could contribute to the next correction, and why selling a card at today's inflated price only to buy another card at today's inflated price may not accomplish much at all. What happens when your favorite collecting lane simply becomes too expensive? Jeremy and David discuss moving between collecting lanes, buying what you actually love, the difference between collecting and investing, and why adaptability may be one of the most important traits a collector can have. The conversation eventually turns to an even bigger question: are we simply experiencing another hobby bubble, or have sports cards and collectibles reached a new level of cultural relevance that could permanently expand the market? Plus, David reports directly from the massive Front Row Card Show in Pasadena, where 770 tables, strong attendance, active buying and positive dealer sentiment offered a real-time look at the current strength of the hobby. Subscribe to Sports Cards Live on YouTube and wherever you listen to podcasts. Take the Hobby Spectrum Assessment and learn more at thehobbyspectrum.com. Discover cards across multiple auction platforms with AuctionWire at auctionwire.ai and use promo code SCL for 60 days free. Check out Card Ladder for sports card sales history, market data and research. And pick up Jeremy Lee's book, Pops and Comps: Truths, Insights, and Psychology Behind the Numbers That Drive the Sports Card Market, available on Amazon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Did the sports card hobby actually learn anything from the boom and bust of 2021? Joe Poirot, Chris McGill, Joshua Adams and David Chase join me as we wrap up our discussion about buying, selling and personal responsibility in the hobby. We also get into coordinated buying, market manipulation and how difficult it can be to distinguish organic demand from a market being pushed in a particular direction. Then we turn to the current market. A nearly $4 million bid for the Cooper Flagg debut patch leads to a bigger question: have collectors really become more cautious about prospecting, or have we simply replaced the speculative stars of the last boom with a new generation of names? We also discuss the growing movement toward established GOATs, whether that shift could make the hobby more stable, and why younger collectors may be approaching cards very differently than previous generations. Subscribe to Sports Cards Live on YouTube and follow the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen. Check out The Hobby Spectrum at thehobbyspectrum.com. Discover cards across the hobby with AuctionWire at auctionwire.ai. Use promo code SCL for 60 days free. Research card values and market history with Card Ladder. Use promo code SCL. And check out my book, Pops and Comps: Truths, Insights, and Psychology Behind the Numbers that Drive the Sports Card Market, available on Amazon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Everybody can't sell. Every card that gets sold needs someone willing to buy it on the other side. Joe Poirot joins Chris McGill, Joshua Adams and David Chase as we examine one of the contradictions of a hot sports card market. We constantly hear that now is the time to sell, but what does that advice imply for the collector buying the card? We get into buy-and-sell advice, accountability, speculation, the "hot potato" problem and whether telling collectors to sell certain cards can sometimes feel predatory. We also discuss something completely different: the ritual of acquiring a great card. From the excitement of the mail day to actually holding, displaying and revisiting our cards, are collectors who immediately send everything to a vault missing an important part of the collecting experience? Subscribe to Sports Cards Live on YouTube and follow the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen. Check out The Hobby Spectrum at thehobbyspectrum.com. Discover cards across the hobby with AuctionWire at auctionwire.ai. Use promo code SCL for 60 days free. Research card values and market history with Card Ladder. Use promo code SCL. And check out my book, Pops and Comps: Truths, Insights, and Psychology Behind the Numbers that Drive the Sports Card Market, available on Amazon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How do you stop regretting the cards you sold too early, the cards you didn't buy and the money you left on the table? Chris McGill, Joshua Adams and David Chase join me as we continue our conversation about the psychology of collecting in a rising market. We discuss why process matters more than results, how to evaluate decisions based on what you knew at the time, and why comparing your entire hobby experience to everyone else's highlight reel can suck the enjoyment out of collecting. We also get into what it actually means to make your collection "better," how our collecting goals evolve over time, and an interesting question: is discovering and chasing a grail sometimes more enjoyable than finally owning it? Subscribe to Sports Cards Live on YouTube and follow the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen. Check out The Hobby Spectrum at thehobbyspectrum.com. Discover cards across the hobby with AuctionWire at auctionwire.ai. Use promo code SCL for 60 days free. Research card values and market history with Card Ladder. Use promo code SCL. And check out my book, Pops and Comps: Truths, Insights, and Psychology Behind the Numbers that Drive the Sports Card Market, available on Amazon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The sports card market just keeps climbing. Record prices, massive auctions and seemingly endless demand. So how long can this possibly continue? Leighton Sheldon, Chris McGill and Joshua Adams join me to discuss what's driving the current bull market, whether a pullback is inevitable, and Leighton's suggestion that we may be living through a new "junk slab era." Then Chris introduces what he calls "Everybody Else Is Winning," the strange psychological paradox of a bull market. Our own cards can be increasing dramatically in value, yet instead of enjoying it, we find ourselves looking at the cards we sold too soon, the ones we didn't buy and the collectors who seemingly made better decisions than we did. We get into FOMO, regret, comparison, loss aversion, the endowment effect and why making money in the hobby doesn't necessarily make collecting more enjoyable. Subscribe to Sports Cards Live on YouTube and follow the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen. Check out The Hobby Spectrum at thehobbyspectrum.com. Discover cards across the hobby with AuctionWire at auctionwire.ai. Use promo code SCL for 60 days free. Research card values and market history with Card Ladder. Use promo code SCL. And check out my book, Pops and Comps: Truths, Insights, and Psychology Behind the Numbers that Drive the Sports Card Market, available on Amazon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mack Cheli introduces Grail Guard, his new white-glove transportation service designed to move valuable cards door to door without putting them into the traditional shipping system. We get into how the service works, security, coverage and why he believes the hobby needs another option for moving its most valuable cards. Then Leighton Sheldon joins us with a provocative question: does the hobby care too much about PSA's opinion? We discuss what it would actually take for another grading company to compete, whether collectors themselves are standing in the way of change, and the relationship between grading accuracy and market value. Plus, Leighton shares some incredible vintage baseball cards from a newly acquired collection, including Christy Mathewson, Hank Aaron, Lou Gehrig and more. Subscribe to Sports Cards Live on YouTube and follow the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen. Check out The Hobby Spectrum at thehobbyspectrum.com. Discover cards across the hobby with AuctionWire at auctionwire.ai. Use promo code SCL for 60 days free. Research card values and market history with Card Ladder. Use promo code SCL. And check out my book, Pops and Comps: Truths, Insights, and Psychology Behind the Numbers that Drive the Sports Card Market, available on Amazon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is eye appeal taking over the sports card hobby? Mack Cheli of Big Mack's Card Box joins me to talk about his collecting journey, why he learned to prioritize the card over the grade, and how the growing eye appeal movement is changing the way collectors buy vintage cards. We also dig into the expanding world of fourth-party grading and eye appeal designations, including the changing meaning of MBA's gold sticker, what these different designations actually tell collectors, and whether they're creating clarity or more confusion. Plus, Mack takes us through some incredible cards from his personal collection, including vintage legends, signed Hall of Fame rookies, an exceptionally well-centered 1984 Star Michael Jordan and more. Subscribe to Sports Cards Live on YouTube and follow the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen. Check out The Hobby Spectrum at thehobbyspectrum.com. Discover cards across the hobby with AuctionWire at auctionwire.ai. Use promo code SCL for 60 days free. Research card values and market history with Card Ladder. Use promo code SCL. And check out my book, Pops and Comps: Truths, Insights, and Psychology Behind the Numbers that Drive the Sports Card Market, available on Amazon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How do you decide where your collection ends when there are seemingly endless things you could collect? Jeremy Lee, David Chase, Joe Poirot and Joshua Adams wrap up Sports Cards Live with a conversation about the collecting rabbit hole and whether having boundaries actually makes the hobby more enjoyable. Sports cards are only the beginning. Mickey Mouse, Superman, Batman, The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Muhammad Ali, Marilyn Monroe, historical figures, musicians, movie stars and fictional characters can all become entirely new collecting lanes. At some point, does having so many possibilities become mentally exhausting? The guys discuss nostalgia, personal connections and what actually compels us to add something to our collections. Does there need to be a deep emotional connection, or can appreciating the cultural and historical significance of a person or character be enough? Jeremy then shares a perfect example of buying purely because you love the card: a beautiful 1933 John Player & Sons Don Quixote card he had never seen before. He knew virtually nothing about the card, didn't check the comps and still threw in a bid. Why? Because he loved it. Sometimes the worst-case scenario is simply that you paid $100 for a card you love. The conversation also turns to whether hockey cards still have significant room to grow. Despite the explosion occurring across many parts of the hobby, cards like the Wayne Gretzky rookie in many grades haven't experienced the same dramatic movement. Rather than calling hockey "undervalued," Jeremy explains why he prefers another word: potential. Could greater interest in hockey, particularly in the United States, eventually bring substantially more demand into hockey cards? And could hockey simply be another collecting category whose moment hasn't arrived yet? Check out The Hobby Spectrum:thehobbyspectrum.com Discover cards across the hobby with Auction Wire:auctionwire.aiUse code SCL for 30 days free. Research your cards with Card Ladder:Use promo code SCL Pick up a copy of Pops and Comps: Truths, Insights, and Psychology Behind the Numbers That Drive the Sports Card Market by Jeremy Lee on Amazon. Subscribe to Sports Cards Live on YouTube and wherever you listen to podcasts, and follow Jeremy on Instagram @jlee_sportscardslive. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Have you ever seen a card, known almost nothing about it, and wanted to buy it anyway? Joshua Adams joins Jeremy Lee, David Chase and Joe Poirot for a conversation about one of the most enjoyable parts of collecting: discovering something completely new. Jeremy explains how an Isaiah Thomas Superfractor he had never seen before got him thinking about buying cards before knowing the checklist, the population, the comps or even much about the set itself. Joe admits he's frequently bought first and figured out exactly what he purchased later, while David explains why his move into non-sports cards has him doing the same thing with cards of The Beatles, Elvis Presley, Muhammad Ali, Marilyn Monroe and others. Sometimes the card is cool enough that you simply want it. The guys also debate whether you need to actually be a fan of an athlete to collect their cards. Can you appreciate a great card of a player you have no emotional connection to? Do you need to justify what you collect at all? Then they dig into the extraordinary number of seven-figure card sales happening right now. Four million-dollar cards sold through Heritage in a single night, including a T206 Honus Wagner, a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle and a Michael Jordan buyback autograph. Add the $1.28 million Macklin Celebrini sale and several other recent results, and August alone has produced an incredible run of million-dollar transactions. Is this simply a hot market, or are we watching the upper end of the hobby enter an entirely different era? Finally, the conversation comes back to discovery and why stumbling into an entirely new collecting lane, whether it's Mickey Mouse, memorabilia cards, vintage non-sports or something you've walked past for years without noticing, can be one of the best parts of the hobby. Check out The Hobby Spectrum:thehobbyspectrum.com Discover cards across the hobby with Auction Wire:auctionwire.aiUse code SCL for 30 days free. Research your cards with Card Ladder:Use promo code SCL Pick up a copy of Pops and Comps: Truths, Insights, and Psychology Behind the Numbers That Drive the Sports Card Market by Jeremy Lee on Amazon. Subscribe to Sports Cards Live on YouTube and wherever you listen to podcasts, and follow Jeremy on Instagram @jlee_sportscardslive. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What goes through your mind when you're bidding more than $1 million on a hockey card? Jason Koonce joins Jeremy Lee and David Chase after revealing that he was the underbidder on the Macklin Celebrini Gold Outburst 1/1 that sold for approximately $1.28 million. Jason explains why he was willing to spend seven figures on a player only two years into his NHL career, where he originally wanted to be on the card, how a bidding war pushed him far beyond that number, and the moment he finally decided to stop. It leads to a fascinating discussion about collecting versus investing, taking calculated risks on young athletes and whether there's additional enjoyment in owning a major card of a player whose entire career is still ahead of him. Would Jason have been watching every Celebrini game if he'd won it? Absolutely. Joe Poirot then joins the conversation as the guys debate the risk and reward of collecting active players versus waiting until their careers are established. Is there value in having some skin in the game and experiencing the ride, even when you know the investment could go badly? Finally, Jeremy introduces another question: Do you trust yourself more than you trust the market? Using his recent Barry Sanders Exquisite nameplate patch purchase as an example, Jeremy explains why sometimes decades of collecting experience tell you that a card is worth more than the market currently says it is. Are you willing to ignore the last comp, trust your own judgment and pay what you believe a card is worth? Check out The Hobby Spectrum:thehobbyspectrum.com Discover cards across the hobby with Auction Wire:auctionwire.aiUse code SCL for 30 days free. Research your cards with Card Ladder:Use promo code SCL Pick up a copy of Pops and Comps: Truths, Insights, and Psychology Behind the Numbers That Drive the Sports Card Market by Jeremy Lee on Amazon. Subscribe to Sports Cards Live on YouTube and wherever you listen to podcasts, and follow Jeremy on Instagram @jlee_sportscardslive. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When does sharing your passion for a card become "pumping" it? Jeremy Lee and David Chase tackle one of the hobby's favorite accusations: that anyone publicly talking about cards they love must be pumping them. Is there a meaningful difference between genuinely sharing your enthusiasm and deliberately creating hype because you're planning to sell? They discuss how collectors influence and inspire one another, why discovering new collecting lanes is part of the fun, and why being accused of pumping isn't going to stop them from talking about cards they're excited about. The conversation then turns to MBA and eye appeal. Should MBA disclose cards that were submitted but didn't receive a sticker? Does charging based on card value create a potential conflict of interest? Is MBA primarily a tool for flippers, or does it provide real value to collectors looking for exceptional examples within a grade? Jeremy also explains why he would rather trust his own eye than pay a premium for someone else's eye appeal assessment. Finally, what exactly is a "money grab," and why has making money become such a dirty phrase in the hobby? They dig into flipping, dealers, auction houses and the distinction between buying a card to collect versus buying it with the intention of selling it. Check out The Hobby Spectrum:thehobbyspectrum.com Discover cards across the hobby with Auction Wire:auctionwire.aiUse code SCL for 30 days free. Research your cards with Card Ladder:Use promo code SCL Pick up a copy of Pops and Comps: Truths, Insights, and Psychology Behind the Numbers That Drive the Sports Card Market by Jeremy Lee on Amazon. Subscribe to Sports Cards Live on YouTube and wherever you listen to podcasts, and follow Jeremy on Instagram @jlee_sportscardslive. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The non-sports card market has gone absolutely nuclear. Jeremy Lee and David Chase dig into the explosion in vintage Mickey Mouse, Disney, Marvel and other non-sports cards, including the stunning rise of the 1931 Wills Mickey Mouse card and just how quickly collectors are being priced out of cards that were attainable only weeks ago. Is this simply hype and FOMO spreading into another corner of the hobby, or are collectors beginning to recognize something much bigger? Jeremy and David discuss the enormous cultural reach of characters like Mickey Mouse, Superman and Spider-Man, and an intriguing question about long-term collectibility: fictional characters can continually be reinvented for new generations, while legendary athletes like Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays and Babe Ruth cannot. They also look at whether rising sports-card prices are actually helping drive collectors toward non-sports, what happens when population reports eventually increase, why comps are changing so quickly, and whether the current frenzy is sustainable or due for a pullback. And perhaps most importantly, this isn't only a non-sports boom. Prices are moving aggressively across the hobby. Check out The Hobby Spectrum:thehobbyspectrum.com Discover cards across the hobby with Auction Wire:auctionwire.aiUse code SCL for 30 days free. Research your cards with Card Ladder:Use promo code SCL Pick up a copy of Pops and Comps: Truths, Insights, and Psychology Behind the Numbers That Drive the Sports Card Market by Jeremy Lee on Amazon. Subscribe to Sports Cards Live on YouTube and wherever you listen to podcasts, and follow Jeremy on Instagram @jlee_sportscardslive. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joe Poirot puts Jeremy on the spot. As a longtime hockey collector, how does he put the astonishing $1.281 million Macklin Celebrini 1/1 Young Guns sale into context? The answer has less to do with one hockey card and much more to do with what seems to be happening across the entire trading card world. Something feels different in 2026. The hobby has been growing for years, but Jeremy makes the case that we may have recently entered a new trajectory. Celebrities and athletes are increasingly involved. Fanatics continues pushing trading cards further into the mainstream. Card shows are booming. Enormous amounts of money are entering the space. And just hours before the show, Jeremy encounters two kids running a lemonade stand who already know exactly what they're going to do with the money: Buy a hobby box. So how big is this thing actually becoming? Chris McGill brings some real numbers into the conversation, while the panel debates whether Fanatics and the rest of the industry have actually "10X'd" the hobby, whether the old baseball "innings" analogy ever made sense in the first place, and why cycles may be a much better way of understanding where trading cards are headed. Then we start looking at the money. The publicly tracked secondary market represents hundreds of millions of dollars in transactions every month, but what happens when you add everything that isn't captured there? Local card shops. Card shows. Grading fees. Breaking. Live selling. Private transactions. Retail wax. Supplies. Other marketplaces and all of the businesses operating around the cards themselves. Could the true trading card economy be dramatically larger than most collectors realize? David Chase brings some caution to the optimism, Joshua Adams explains why he deliberately tunes much of the business side out and simply enjoys collecting, and Joe challenges Jeremy's idea of the hobby, industry and other segments all existing inside one larger trading card ecosystem. It's a wide-ranging conversation about where cards are right now, how we got here and whether this latest wave of growth really is different from the ones we've experienced before. Check out The Hobby Spectrum at thehobbyspectrum.com and take the assessment to discover where you fit in the hobby. Try AuctionWire at auctionwire.ai and use promo code SCL to receive two free months. Check out Card Ladder and use promo code SCL. Buy Pops and Comps: Truths, Insights, and Psychology Behind the Numbers That Drive the Sports Card Market, available now on Amazon. And, as always, subscribe to Sports Cards Live on YouTube, turn on notifications, and if you enjoy the podcast, follow, rate and review Sports Cards Live on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why do we actually collect cards? Chris McGill brings a deceptively simple question to the Sports Cards Live panel: At what point in the collecting process do you feel most fulfilled? Is it the research and discovery of something you never knew existed? Is it the chase and the hunt for a card that might take years to find? Is it finally owning the card? Is it curating, displaying and expressing your collection? Or is there actually something satisfying about selling a card and moving on? Jeremy, Joe Poirot, Joshua Adams and Chris all give very different answers, and the conversation turns into a fascinating look at the psychology behind why we collect. What is the difference between fulfillment and fun? Why can finally owning a long-sought-after card sometimes feel less exciting than pursuing it? Why can simply knowing that a card belongs to you provide a sense of satisfaction even when you rarely physically look at it? And how much of our collection is really an expression of our own hobby identity? Then David Chase joins the panel and adds another dimension to the conversation: sometimes you finally acquire the card, set or collecting lane you have been pursuing and realize you don't actually love it anymore. That leads us into curation, changing our minds as collectors, falling out of love with cards, the occasional relief of selling, sharing collections on social media and the community that develops when collectors discover and chase cards together. There may not be one correct answer, but there is a good chance you'll find yourself answering the question while listening. Check out The Hobby Spectrum at thehobbyspectrum.com and take the assessment to discover where you fit in the hobby. Try AuctionWire at auctionwire.ai and use promo code SCL to receive two free months. Check out Card Ladder and use promo code SCL. Buy Pops and Comps: Truths, Insights, and Psychology Behind the Numbers That Drive the Sports Card Market, available now on Amazon. And, as always, subscribe to Sports Cards Live on YouTube, turn on notifications, and if you enjoy the podcast, follow, rate and review Sports Cards Live on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A hockey card just sold for $1.281 million, and the Sports Cards Live panel has some very different opinions about it. Chris McGill and Joshua Adams join Jeremy and Clark Kim just after the Macklin Celebrini Gold Outburst 1/1 Young Guns becomes one of the most expensive hockey cards ever sold. Chris sees a potentially defining trophy card of a young superstar whose collector now gets to follow his career while owning one of his very best cards. Josh has a slightly different reaction: “This is so stupid.” And that is where the fun begins. We compare Celebrini's sale with the biggest cards of Wayne Gretzky, Connor McDavid, Sidney Crosby, Alexander Ovechkin and other established hockey legends. Then we pose a fascinating question: for roughly the same $1.3 million, would you rather own the Celebrini 1/1 or the heavily restored T206 Honus Wagner that recently sold for almost exactly the same amount? But the conversation quickly becomes about something much larger than one hockey card. There appears to be a different level of wealth entering the hobby. Whatnot has raised hundreds of millions of dollars at a massive valuation. CardVault by Tom Brady is planning major expansion with a high-profile group of investors. And individual collectors with extraordinary financial resources can potentially pay prices that would have seemed impossible only a few years ago. So does Macklin Celebrini actually need to become Sidney Crosby for today's price to make sense? Does Cooper Flagg need to become LeBron James? Does Victor Wembanyama need to become one of the greatest players ever? Or has the hobby grown enough, and attracted enough new money, that the old rules for valuing cards and players are beginning to change? We get into speculation versus proven greatness, the experience of owning the ultimate card of a young superstar, generational prospects, cultural relevance, Wemby and Cooper Flagg, and whether today's collectors will ultimately care as much about the legends of previous generations as they do about the athletes they actually grew up watching. Check out The Hobby Spectrum at thehobbyspectrum.com and take the assessment to discover where you fit in the hobby. Try AuctionWire at auctionwire.ai and use promo code SCL to receive two free months. Check out Card Ladder and use promo code SCL. Buy Pops and Comps: Truths, Insights, and Psychology Behind the Numbers That Drive the Sports Card Market, available now on Amazon. And, as always, subscribe to Sports Cards Live on YouTube, turn on notifications, and if you enjoy the podcast, follow, rate and review Sports Cards Live on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Macklin Celebrini just made hockey card history. We watch the final moments of the Gold Outburst 1/1 Young Guns auction live as the card sells for an astonishing $1.281 million with buyer's premium, immediately putting it among the most expensive hockey cards ever sold. But the heart of this episode is grading. Clark Kim of the Cards To The Moon podcast joins Jeremy for a deep conversation about the current state of the grading industry and a basic question that is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore: is the way we grade millions upon millions of cards actually sustainable? PSA has an enormous backlog, lower-priced submission tiers have been restricted, grading costs have risen, and millions of cards continue to flow through the system. So what happens when PSA eventually catches up? Could that supply affect the market? And with PSA dramatically increasing its grading capacity, what happens after the backlog is gone and all of that capacity needs to be filled? Clark also proposes a completely different approach involving technology and pre-grading, leading to a broader discussion about whether there is a better way to determine which cards are actually worth submitting. Then there is the strange economics of modern grading itself. Why can a raw card sometimes sell for more than a PSA 9? Why are collectors willing to pay enormous premiums for a PSA 10 when the physical difference between a 9 and a 10 can be virtually impossible to see? And are collectors simply grading far too many cards? We also get into undergraded vintage cards, buying the card instead of the number on the holder, the opportunities created by inconsistent grading, and why Jeremy would much rather find a gorgeous card trapped inside a low-grade slab than gamble on submitting it himself. Plus, what exactly does “vintage” mean anymore, and where should the vintage era actually end? Check out The Hobby Spectrum at thehobbyspectrum.com and take the assessment to discover where you fit in the hobby. Try AuctionWire at auctionwire.ai and use promo code SCL to receive two free months. Check out Card Ladder and use promo code SCL. Buy Pops and Comps: Truths, Insights, and Psychology Behind the Numbers That Drive the Sports Card Market, available now on Amazon. And, as always, subscribe to Sports Cards Live on YouTube, turn on notifications, and if you enjoy the podcast, follow, rate and review Sports Cards Live on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The hobby doesn't stand still for long, and in this episode we watch one of the biggest hockey card auctions ever unfold live as the Macklin Celebrini Gold Outburst 1/1 Young Guns pushes past $1 million with buyer's premium. What does a sale like this mean for modern hockey cards? How does a 20-year-old superstar-in-the-making command this kind of money before his career has really even begun? And does the history and brand equity behind Young Guns make this one of the true defining cards of the ultra-modern hockey era? Jeremy and Joe also discuss some other hobby stories making noise, including the unusual situation involving Alt and the Cooper Flagg 1/1, raising an interesting question: how would you feel if an auction platform started taking bids on a card you owned without actually having the card? Then Clark Kim of the Cards To The Moon podcast joins the show. Clark shares his hobby and content-creation origin story, how Cards To The Moon grew into a six-year podcast, and why a longtime modern collector suddenly found himself falling down the vintage rabbit hole. His first major vintage pickup? A beautifully centered 1949 Bowman Jackie Robinson from The National. That leads to a much bigger conversation about modern versus vintage, organic versus manufactured scarcity, the history embedded in old cardboard, and why collectors who once walked straight past vintage tables can suddenly find themselves unable to leave them. Check out The Hobby Spectrum at thehobbyspectrum.com and take the assessment to discover where you fit in the hobby. Try AuctionWire at auctionwire.ai and use promo code SCL to receive two free months. Check out Card Ladder and use promo code SCL. Buy Pops and Comps: Truths, Insights, and Psychology Behind the Numbers That Drive the Sports Card Market, available now on Amazon. And, as always, subscribe to Sports Cards Live on YouTube, turn on notifications, and if you enjoy the podcast, follow, rate and review Sports Cards Live on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joe Poirot is back from his very first National, and after a couple of weeks to process the experience, he joins Jeremy Lee to break down what surprised him, what overwhelmed him, how the show changed his collecting eye and, of course, what he brought home. We take a look at Joe's National pickups, including everything from modern game-used pieces to beautiful pre-war cardboard, culminating in a pair of major vintage additions that might officially put the old “Beater Joe” nickname to rest. That leads us into a bigger conversation about vintage, eye appeal, buying the card instead of the grade, and an interesting question: with so much money pouring into other areas of the hobby, have collectors actually lost sight of just how important Babe Ruth is? And then Mother Nature decides to become part of Sports Cards Live. A massive Calgary thunderstorm knocks Jeremy completely offline in the middle of the livestream, leaving Joe unexpectedly in charge of the show while Jeremy tries to get his internet, modem and computer back from the dead. Another night of cards, collecting and completely unscripted Sports Cards Live. Check out The Hobby Spectrum at thehobbyspectrum.com and take the assessment to discover where you fit in the hobby. Try AuctionWire at auctionwire.ai and use promo code SCL to receive two free months. Check out Card Ladder and use promo code SCL. Buy Pops and Comps: Truths, Insights, and Psychology Behind the Numbers That Drive the Sports Card Market, available now on Amazon. And, as always, subscribe to Sports Cards Live on YouTube, turn on notifications, and if you enjoy the podcast, follow, rate and review Sports Cards Live on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How do you REALLY know an autograph is authentic? In the sixth and final part of our marathon Sports Cards Live conversation, we tackle one of the most uncomfortable questions in collecting: How much faith should we place in autograph authentication? The discussion centers around the 1952 Bowman Mickey Mantle owned by "Uncle Barry," a card he has owned for roughly 70 years and believes was personally signed by Mantle. PSA authenticated the autograph and has stood behind that opinion, but longtime autograph expert and former PSA authenticator Steve Grad recently presented a detailed case questioning whether the signature is actually Mantle's. So who's right? We discuss why autograph authentication may ultimately always be an opinion, how much confidence collectors should place in third-party authentication, and whether a signature can ever truly be considered 100% authentic unless somebody actually witnessed it being signed. David Chase then proposes a fascinating alternative: What if AI could analyze enormous databases of known exemplars and assign an autograph a confidence rating instead of simply declaring it authentic or not authentic? Would you rather know that an autograph has an 87% probability of being authentic than receive a binary opinion from a human authenticator? We also discuss witnessed autographs, the possibility of sophisticated forgeries already existing in slabs, altered and counterfeit cards, and a larger reality collectors may need to accept: no system involving human judgment is going to have a zero percent error rate. Earlier, we continue our spirited discussion about market manipulation, personal responsibility and buyer beware. If an influencer talks about a card and you rush out to buy it, how much responsibility belongs to the influencer and how much belongs to you? We also revisit manufactured rarity, the difference between total population and the actual "float" available to collectors, whether the word "grail" has lost its original meaning, and why greater affordability might actually be healthier for the hobby over the long term. Finally, we close our post-National marathon by looking ahead to what Jeff Hart calls the beginning of a new hobby year and reflecting on why, regardless of prices, markets, grading companies or slabs, we're still collectors first. As one viewer perfectly put it: "Collect because you love the cards. Let the value be the consequence, not the purpose." Featuring Jeremy Lee, Joe Poirot, David Chase, Jeff Hart, Chris McGill and Joshua Adams.

How long can the current sports card market keep going up, and what could finally bring it back down? In Part 5 of our Sports Cards Live conversation, we look ahead at the next six months and ask whether the hobby's current momentum is sustainable, whether a correction is inevitable, and what could potentially trigger it. Could an MLB work stoppage ripple through the hobby? Could a broader recession force collectors to sell? What happens when the biggest buyers finally reach the limits of their budgets? And could a major grading scandal create an entirely different kind of disruption? Chris McGill breaks down the hobby's "capital ecosystem" and explains why he's watching where new money is coming from, who's spending it, and what happens when that capital stops expanding and begins rotating instead. Then, during the show, breaking news: the controversial restored and reconstructed T206 Honus Wagner closes at Love of the Game for approximately $1.336 million including buyer's premium. Was that a strong result for a dramatically restored Wagner, or an underwhelming one given the attention surrounding the card? From there, the conversation gets heated. Gary Vaynerchuk's recent comments about vintage fictional and non-sports cards bring us into a much larger debate about influence, pumping and market manipulation. If someone with a massive audience talks publicly about a card they believe is undervalued and demand suddenly explodes, is that unhealthy? Josh Adams argues that artificially accelerated price increases can eventually hurt the collectors buying at the top and drive people out of the hobby when prices inevitably fall. Jeremy pushes back. What if the card really WAS overlooked? What if increased exposure simply introduces thousands of collectors to something they didn't previously know existed? And what if those new collectors genuinely fall in love with it? Is that pumping, or is it price discovery? We also discuss collectors owning dozens of copies of the same card, when collecting becomes investing, why some collectors actually WANT prices to come down, and whether there's such a thing as a "natural" increase in a card's value anymore. Featuring Jeremy Lee, Joe Poirot, David Chase, Jeff Hart, Chris McGill and Joshua Adams.

What does "rare" actually mean in the sports card hobby anymore? A Michael Jordan Molten Metal Fusion Titanium numbered to just 40 copies reportedly sells privately for nearly $1 million, sparking a fascinating debate. To an ultra-modern collector accustomed to cards numbered to 10, 5 or even one-of-ones, is /40 really rare? To a 90s collector, /40 can be extraordinarily rare. And to a vintage collector, rarity may have an entirely different meaning. Chris McGill of Card Ladder brings the question to the Sports Cards Live panel and we go deep. We discuss manufactured scarcity versus organic rarity, print runs versus actual surviving populations, how often a card actually becomes available, and the enormous difference between a card being technically rare and being truly scarce. We also explore the importance of substitutes. There may only be 40 copies of one particular Michael Jordan card, but how many other desirable Jordan cards exist from that same season? Compare that to vintage icons where collectors may have far fewer alternatives. Then we add condition and eye appeal to the equation. Can an otherwise common card become effectively rare simply because exceptionally attractive copies almost never surface? Joe Poirot explains why owning a one-of-one has changed his entire perspective on rarity, while Jeff Hart, David Chase, Joshua Adams and Jeremy Lee bring their own collecting philosophies into the debate. Then we make it personal: What is the one card you simply wouldn't sell? From a Roberto Clemente rookie purchased as a teenager to an in-person Luka Doncic autograph tied to a special memory, a playing-era autographed Bill Russell rookie and Jeremy's Superman, Babe Ruth and Joe DiMaggio cards, everyone has a different reason why certain pieces become irreplaceable. Plus, we discuss the psychology of "not-for-sale" prices, Michael Jordan cards reaching astonishing new levels, whether collectors should actually WANT card prices to fall, and why sometimes loving the card matters more than loving the money. Featuring Jeremy Lee, Joe Poirot, David Chase, Jeff Hart, Chris McGill and Joshua Adams.

Why does a card sit relatively unnoticed for years and then suddenly explode? And more importantly, can you spot it before everybody else does? In Part 3 of our Sports Cards Live conversation, Jeff Hart joins Jeremy Lee and David Chase to explore the idea of a card having its "moment." Sometimes it's an influencer bringing attention to something overlooked. Sometimes it's a record sale. Sometimes collectors get priced out of one card and start looking for the next logical alternative. And sometimes a sleeping giant simply reaches the critical mass required for the hobby to finally notice it. We get into the cards and categories we believe could still be hiding in plain sight. Jeremy explains why he recently bought the 1977 Star Wars Princess Leia, why he believes vintage Exquisite football featuring all-time greats like Peyton Manning and Barry Sanders may be dramatically underappreciated compared to basketball, and how getting priced out of one card can lead collectors toward the next opportunity. David takes the same approach to Larry Doby, Satchel Paige, Sandy Koufax and Roberto Clemente, and explains why he believes Diego Maradona may be lagging behind the other giants of soccer collecting. We also discuss the rise of 1935 Mickey Mouse and 1940 Superman, Jackie Robinson and the growing importance of eye appeal, the role of social media and influential collectors, and whether it's actually possible to identify these hobby movements before the masses arrive. Then Chris McGill and Josh Adams join the panel and we return to the National pricing debate from a different perspective. Are collectors complaining about high prices actually a healthy sign? Why do collectors hold tighter when markets are rising? And when a truly rare card finally becomes available, does the last comp even matter? Ultimately, it leads to a very simple question: Do you like the cards more than you like the money? Featuring Jeremy Lee, David Chase, Jeff Hart, Chris McGill and Joshua Adams.

What happens when you discover a vintage card you believe has been overlooked, buy it, and then one of the biggest voices in collectibles suddenly calls out the exact same thing? In Part 2 of our post-National Sports Cards Live conversation, Jeremy Lee, Joe Poirot and David Chase are joined by Leighton Sheldon of Just Collect and Auction Wire for a deeper look at pricing, buying and negotiating at the 2026 National. Leighton gives us the dealer's perspective on the "overpriced National" debate and explains what he saw from both sides of the table. We dig into the difference between commodity cards and genuinely scarce cards, when comps matter, when they don't tell the whole story, paying premiums for exceptional eye appeal, and why building rapport can make a real difference when trying to get a deal done. Then things take an unexpected turn. Jeremy reveals the 1935 Mickey Mouse card he had identified months earlier as a new personal grail, along with an extremely scarce O-Pee-Chee variation he discovered through Auction Wire. David had also started buying cards from the set at the National. Then, almost immediately afterward, a video surfaced of Gary Vaynerchuk specifically calling out 1935 Mickey Mouse and 1940 Superman as vintage fictional cards he believes have significant potential. Within days, available examples began disappearing and asking prices jumped dramatically. Coincidence? The Gary Vee effect? Or an overlooked segment of vintage collecting finally starting to get attention? We also get the incredible story behind Leighton's 1948 Leaf Hal Newhouser deal with David, discuss why relationships still matter in the hobby, and look at how tools like Auction Wire are changing the way collectors discover cards they might otherwise never find. Featuring Jeremy Lee, Joe Poirot, David Chase and Leighton Sheldon.

Was the 2026 National really overpriced, or were collectors simply experiencing the realities of a rising sports card market? In Part 1 of our post-National Sports Cards Live conversation, Jeremy Lee is joined by Joe Poirot and David Chase to break down what they actually saw on the show floor. Were dealers asking too much? Were there still deals to be found? And how much does your approach to a dealer affect the price you're ultimately able to negotiate? We get into comps, "not for sale" pricing, why dealers may be reluctant to sell at the last recorded sale, and the lost art of actually talking to people before asking, "What's your best price?" We also discuss the enormous demand for grading at the National, PSA and Beckett being overwhelmed, whether collectors should simply wait to submit their cards, and the growing fascination with MBA stickers and fourth-party card assessment. Plus, some National stories, the aftermath of a marathon week in Chicago, and plenty of interaction with the Sports Cards Live community. Featuring Jeremy Lee, Joe Poirot and David Chase.

Steve Taft has been collecting, dealing, researching, and studying sports cards since the 1960s, making him one of the hobby's true veterans and one of the foremost experts on Star basketball cards. In this wide-ranging conversation, Jeremy and Steve explore the evolution of the hobby from the early card shows of the 1970s through the modern grading era. They discuss how collecting has changed, whether investing has overtaken collecting, the rise of third-party grading, and why condition standards evolved the way they did. Steve also shares the remarkable story behind the original production transparency used to create the iconic 1984-85 Star Michael Jordan #101 card. A newly formed LLC is attempting to sell the one-of-one piece of hobby history with a reported **$25 million asking price**, raising fascinating questions about provenance, rarity, and value. The conversation then dives deep into the history of Star basketball cards, the Type 1 versus Type 2 controversy, counterfeit detection, PSA's decades-long decision not to grade Star cards, Nat Turner's role in changing that policy, and Steve's own work consulting with grading companies and NBA attorneys. They also tackle one of the hobby's longest-running debates: Is the 1984-85 Star Michael Jordan #101 truly Jordan's rookie card? Whether you're a longtime collector, a vintage enthusiast, or simply fascinated by hobby history, this episode offers a rare perspective from someone who has spent decades at the center of one of the hobby's most enduring debates. Sports cards is a lifestyle. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joe Hollywood joins Sports Cards Live for a recorded conversation about his rise in the hobby, his role in the new sports memorabilia documentary Sign, Sealed and Delivered, and the journey from childhood collector to one of the biggest live-selling personalities in sports cards. Jeremy and Joe talk about Joe's early appearance in Woody Allen's Radio Days, trading Garbage Pail Kids with Seth Green, building a breaking business from the basement, creating community on Whatnot, dealing with trolls, the entertainment side of breaking, responsible buying, and whether breaking is helping or hurting the hobby. They also get into the behind-the-scenes reality of running a massive live-stream operation, why passion still matters, and what people misunderstand most about Joe Hollywood. Sports cards is a lifestyle. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Who ultimately determines the value of a sports card—the grading company or the collectors themselves? In the concluding segment of this conversation, Jeremy, MattyC, David Chase, and Joshua Adams continue exploring the evolving role of eye appeal, grading, and collector opinion in today's hobby. Topics include: • Why Jeremy chooses not to submit cards for grading • The philosophy behind buying eye appeal instead of chasing grades • Using Eye Appeal Inc. to compare cards before making a purchase • Community-driven card evaluation versus traditional grading • Whether grading standards have changed over time • Future features planned for Eye Appeal Inc. • Questions from the live audience about submissions, raw cards, scans, stickers, and IQ+ The episode wraps up with final thoughts before everyone heads to The National, along with updates on upcoming Sports Cards Live programming, Fanatics Collect giveaways, The Hangover, and Enter the Inferno. Whether you agree or disagree with the panel's perspective, this discussion challenges collectors to think critically about how they evaluate cards—and why.

Does the number on the slab really tell the whole story? The Sports Cards Live panel continues its discussion with MattyC of Eye Appeal Inc., David Chase, and Joshua Adams as we explore one of the hobby's most fascinating questions: How much should eye appeal matter? Topics include: • Why collectors often disagree with technical grades • Should eye appeal ever become part of the grading standard? • Why many collectors intentionally pursue low-grade cards with exceptional presentation • The philosophy behind IQ+ and collector-driven evaluation • How transparency differs from traditional grading models • Why beautiful PSA 1s and PSA 2s are commanding record-breaking prices We also examine remarkable sales of iconic vintage cards whose visual appeal dramatically exceeded what their technical grades suggested, raising important questions about how collectors value condition today. If you've ever looked at two cards with the same grade and thought, "These don't belong in the same holder," this conversation is for you.

MattyC returns to Sports Cards Live for his first appearance in nearly a year to discuss the evolution of Eye Appeal Inc. and why collector opinion deserves a seat at the table alongside third-party grading. We discuss: • The vision behind Eye Appeal Inc. • Why eye appeal is about more than a single grader's opinion • The power of community-driven card evaluation • How IQ+ scores and collector reviews are changing the conversation • Why transparency matters in card grading • Building a platform that's free, open, and centered around collectors Matty also shares stories from his Hollywood career, including writing Paid in Full, Rambo: Last Blood, creating the Netflix series Absentia, and his upcoming feature film set in the sports card hobby. Joining the conversation are David Chase and Joshua Adams as we explore how collectors evaluate cards differently and why those different perspectives make the hobby stronger.

The conversation with Mike Gio from Sports Cards Nonsense continues as we shift from fake patches to one of the hobby's hottest debates: Are sports card prices getting ahead of themselves? We discuss: • Who should be responsible for stopping fake patch fraud • Why manufacturers should create permanent image databases for memorabilia cards • The role grading companies can (and can't) play in patch authentication • How collectors can better protect themselves • Whether today's market resembles previous hobby booms • Taking profits versus holding long term • Selling duplicates without sacrificing your core collection • Why nobody should make collecting decisions based solely on someone else's opinions Mike also shares why he's become increasingly cautious despite the hobby's incredible momentum heading into The National, while Joe Poirot offers his perspective on navigating a rapidly rising market. Whether you're buying, selling, or simply watching the hobby evolve, this conversation offers valuable perspective on where things stand today.

The fake patch epidemic has become one of the hobby's biggest concerns. Mike Gio from Sports Cards Nonsense joins Sports Cards Live to discuss how widespread the problem has become, why it's receiving so much attention right now, and what can be done to protect collectors. We explore: • How fake patch cards are created and sold • Why even experienced collectors can be fooled • The role of eBay, grading companies, auction houses, and manufacturers • Whether legal action could help curb the problem • Why authenticated slabs don't always guarantee an authentic patch • Jeremy shares several fake patch cards from his own collection, including one discovered only days after it had been sold We also touch on National week excitement, grading submissions at the show, the growing visibility of alternative grading companies, and what collectors should expect heading into the hobby's biggest event. This is an important conversation for anyone who buys, sells, or collects memorabilia cards.

The countdown is over. National week is finally here. Joe Poirot and Leighton Sheldon join me as we discuss our plans for the hobby's biggest event, what collectors should bring to the show, and what we're expecting once the doors open in Chicago. We also revisit one of the biggest auction results of the year after Leighton came astonishingly close to predicting the final sale price of the iconic signed Jackie Robinson rookie card. Then we dive into one of collecting's toughest psychological challenges: forced consolidation. What happens when a grail card suddenly becomes available? Do you sell ten... fifteen... even hundreds of cards from your collection to make it happen? We explore the emotional side of trading up, why it's often harder than collectors admit, and how each of us approaches those difficult decisions. Whether you're heading to The National or simply thinking about the future of your collection, this is a conversation every collector can relate to.

The Wagner discussion reaches its conclusion with one final twist: how should Honus Wagner's first name actually be pronounced? We examine historical audio, debate the evolution of names and language, and have some fun exploring one of the hobby's oldest pronunciation debates. Along the way, the panel reflects on who might ultimately buy the Franken-Wagner, what its long-term legacy could be, and why transparency remains the central theme of the entire conversation. We also wrap up Hobby Palooza, preview The National, and thank everyone who joined one of the most memorable Sports Cards Live discussions in recent memory.

The Franken-Wagner discussion continues with one of the hobby's biggest questions: should restoration remain hidden, or should it be openly disclosed and accepted? We examine whether transparent restoration could actually discourage deception, why this unique Wagner is unlike any other restored card, and how CGC arrived at its "Authentic Restored" designation. Along the way, we debate whether restored cards deserve a second life, whether this Wagner is better viewed as art than a traditional sports card, and whether this auction could influence the future of card conservation. This episode goes beyond one card and explores what honesty, provenance, and transparency could look like in the sports card hobby moving forward.

The Franken-Wagner conversation continues as we dive even deeper into one of the hobby's most fascinating and polarizing collectibles. Al Crisafulli explains how Keith Olbermann came to own the card, why it disappeared from public view for decades, and how its provenance was ultimately confirmed. We also explore the card's reconstruction, the role of transparency, and whether this project was intended as deception—or as a public demonstration of what expert paper conservation could achieve. From there, the discussion turns philosophical. Could this card become a watershed moment for restoration in the hobby? Will collectors eventually view reconstructed cards differently? And what happens if this unique Wagner commands an extraordinary price at auction? Whether you see it as restoration, reconstruction, art, or hobby history, this conversation explores questions that collectors may be debating for years to come.

Cage joins the show live from Fanatics Fest to share his biggest takeaways from one of the hobby's premier events before Al Crisafulli of Love of the Game Auctions joins us for an in-depth discussion about the hobby's most talked-about card. We examine the restored "Franken-Wagner" from every angle, discussing restoration versus alteration, transparency, provenance, donor cards, and whether a reconstructed T206 Wagner should still be considered an authentic piece of hobby history. Al also shares fascinating comparisons to the restoration of iconic automobiles and other historic collectibles, providing important context for one of the hobby's most polarizing debates. Whether you love it, hate it, or simply haven't made up your mind, this conversation is one every collector should hear.

Fanatics Fest dominates the conversation as we explore why the event has become one of the hobby's biggest success stories, while also asking important questions about content creation, transparency, and influencer relationships. Are creators being compensated to promote the event? Does it matter if travel or media access is provided? We discuss where the line should be drawn, why disclosure matters, and how Fanatics Fest and The National are serving two very different audiences. Plus, Josh Adams joins the conversation as excitement builds for another National Sports Collectors Convention, and we look ahead to one of the biggest stretches on the hobby calendar.

This week on Sports Cards Live, we kick off Hobby Palooza with a look at one of the busiest weekends the hobby has seen in years. We discuss the growing buzz around the restored "Franken-Wagner," why it has become the hobby's biggest conversation, what we're hearing from Fanatics Fest, and how West Coast Card Show is faring while competing with multiple major events. We also dive into the exploding premium being paid for elite eye appeal, highlighted by the record-setting Worldwide Gum Babe Ruth sale, and what it could signal for the vintage market. Plus, rumors from the show floor, thoughts on the National just around the corner, and plenty more hobby conversation.

The conversation comes full circle. In the final chapter of this Sports Cards Live discussion, Jeremy Lee, David Chase, Joe Poirot, and Josh Adams reflect on the broader implications of the reconstructed T206 Honus Wagner and what it may mean for the future of sports card collecting. The panel discusses whether restoration will become more accepted, how collectors should think about exceptions, where personal collecting philosophies differ from hobby standards, and why context matters when evaluating altered or restored cards. The episode also includes a fun conversation about LeBron James, player legacies, and whether changing teams affects a superstar's long-term collectibility. In this episode: Has the hobby reached a tipping point on restoration? Can collectors make exceptions for iconic cards? Personal collecting rules vs. hobby standards Does intent matter when a card is altered? Could the FrankenWagner change collecting forever? LeBron James, team loyalty, and hobby legacy Final thoughts from the panel Looking ahead to The National Thank you for listening to Sports Cards Live. If you enjoyed this episode, please help us grow the hobby by supporting the show:

Has the hobby crossed a line, or opened the door to something entirely new? The debate over the reconstructed T206 Honus Wagner continues as Jeremy Lee, David Chase, Josh Adams, and Joe Poirot explore the bigger implications of the now-famous "FrankenWagner." Could this become the template for future restorations? Did CGC make the right call? What should the card actually be called? And perhaps the biggest question of all: if you had the money, would you buy it? The conversation expands well beyond one card and examines what this means for grading companies, restoration standards, collector confidence, and the future of vintage sports cards. In this episode: Did CGC make the right decision? Is the FrankenWagner changing the hobby? What should the label actually say? Would you buy this card over an authentic Wagner? Could this become the new standard for restoration? The cheapest path to owning a T206 Wagner? Where should grading companies draw the line? The panel debates the future of restoration Whether you're fascinated by restoration, passionate about vintage cards, or simply curious where the hobby is headed, this is a discussion you won't want to miss. Please support the show!