Dr. James Beckett: Sports Card Insights

My thoughts a week after the most successful and largest sports card show in history - congrats to the Broggi and Berkus families?

This is excerpted from their YouTube channel - thanks to Ray Fonio, Victor Roman, and Mike Steveline - still one more day to vote - go to https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf1ht7E5Y6pkSyB36Y8SlTsf6JKhxx5Iy-eQTmQWL8Vwst03Q/viewform

Ray Fonio, Mike Steveline, and Victor Roman join me for a discussion of my ballot this year - it's easy, please vote by 8/4/23 by going to https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf1ht7E5Y6pkSyB36Y8SlTsf6JKhxx5Iy-eQTmQWL8Vwst03Q/viewform

Trimming cards deceptively is a problem - not sure how big a problem but it needs to be stopped or at least consistently recognized by all the grading companies. 

One of the early pioneers at a precocious age, Mark wore many hats in his hobby career, but best known in the autograph and memorabilia business, buying, selling, and authenticating, most recently with Heritage Auctions. Beth worked closely with Mark for ten years.

Another eight listener questions accumulated on a variety of subjects - send yours to doctorjamesbeckett@gmail.com and thanks!

John Newman always asks his own personal brand of questions on his show and that frequently evokes a certain different response from me.

Last chance on sharing thoughts on maximizing and optimizing your experience this year in Chicago at the National - see you there!

Self-regulation is better than government regulation - let's eliminate the bad guys by not doing business with them.

A small portion of the Hobby Hotline live show dedicated to the upcoming National in Chicago which I hope is the biggest ever.

Brian's background in graphic design and production provided some additional insights into this highly collectible but tricky and challenging 98-card set.

John and I talked on Zoom for an hour - here's 12 minutes on different topics - seemed like most of it was about podcasts and perhaps mine in particular - Thanks John! 

The final part of my catch up with Nick and Mike hearing about the latest in their sports card hobby journey as a father and son working together.  Thanks Mike and Nick!

I go way back with Jimbo's dad as you know from my recent Father/Son podcast with them - this episode is just mainly Jimbo and I talking hobby.

The final segment of our time on Zoom together including some of how her thinks graders operate - I can only speak for BGS during the time I was in charge.

Mark is trying to get every Boston Red Sox card - as such, going for vintage inserts, has been a worthy quest for him - we talk about how the hobby's definition of inserts has in a sense changed.

The last round of my responses to Torsten's insightful questions and comments largely about hobby-related issues raised in previous episodes of this podcast - thanks Torsten!

The second part of my conversation with Rick Probstein, about crossing over his 30 PSA 10 Jordan RC's to try for a BGS 10.  He also laments whether, in his opinion, BVG is repairable?

The second part of my interview with Greg - it is still important to know the implicit grade of the card even if (and perhaps especially if) the card is raw. 

Rich and I zoomed with Mark Hoyle - test issues can be a huge challenge to the consummate team collector - these are the cards where if you see them at the National on Wednesday, you probably should not wait and come back later.

Major eBay consignor Rick Probstein sat down with me over Zoom to talk about Beckett Grading, specifically BGS 10's and BVG vintage issues.

Generational transfer is heart-warming - three generations of Jaspersen's with the latest iteration culminating with their popular card shop and thriving breaking business. 

The father-son team at JSA autograph authentications have been working together for 16 years - Jimbo grew up in the business and obviously has his father's DNA - and his ancestors who were autograph aficionados as well.

My dad passed away peacefully yesterday at the age of 97 after a very full life - we are sad, especially my mom, but we know he is in Heaven now - I would not be here if not for him and certainly not into sports card collecting - we cannot choose our parents - but we are to honor our parents and my dad was certainly worthy of honor.

Greg is one of the largest consignors on eBay especially for raw vintage cards.  We talked about the growth of his business, and all the things we both used to do when our businesses were more manageable.