Dr. James Beckett: Sports Card Insights

Danny and I exchange our hobby questions for answers and they were not all about Pittsburgh and Baltimore - thanks Danny and welcome to the Hobby Hotline team!

The last five weeks of episodes summarized into a sentence or two in most cases.  Let me know what topics or issues you would like to hear more of at doctorjamesbeckett@gmail.com  and thanks for listening.

Rich Klein recommended that I interview Jade, his associate at COMC - an enjoyable time focusing on Jade's sports card origin journey including working in a card shop for ten years before coming to COMC.

I have known Mike for decades - this was a great autograph collection - even Mike was impressed - great to see an authentic baseball memorabilia collection that has not been picked over - the "good" stuff is actually great - see for yourself at tmnauctions.com

This auction contains a massive amount of iconic baseball autographed memorabilia from a non-hobby friend of mine - the catalog looks great - tmnauctions.com - we will see how things turn out as the auction closes November 6th!

One of John's questions was about card doctoring and what my observations and experiences over the years had been - it's a controversial topic - and we agree that goes especially when/if you are trying to defraud another collector.

Danny has recently joined the Hobby Hotline team.  When our HH group had dinner at the National, we decided to guest on each other's channels - thanks Danny! 

John Keating is back with some more sports card hobby questions for me to ponder and address - thanks John for the stimulating discussion!

Logan and I discussed his sports card collecting origin story, hitting the ground running as a serious collector right from the start - we are wondering if we crossed paths in Chicago in 1976?

I won this lot and was overwhelmed - 63 blasters, hangers, and mega's - from baseball, basketball, and football - a learning experience indeed, but not a profitable one financially.

Got a box from Upper Deck of this beautiful product - alas did not open/get a PMG, but got many other aesthetically pleasing cards of athletes I collect from all sports - thanks Upper Deck!

I opened up a hobby box courtesy of Topps and was very pleased with the cards and the experience - when you really like even the base cards of a product, that's a great start.

Bruce Sutter has passed at 69 years of age - Hall of Fame reliever and Cy Young winner - a worthy tribute to another star who has died too young.

Mike had enough good questions for at least two of my 15-minute (or less) shows - consider going to his Golden Age of Cardboard for the whole video interview - thanks Mike!

Mike saved up some tough and fresh questions for me and asked them on his longer YouTube format - this is an excerpt - go to Golden Age of Cardboard for all of Mike's stuff - thanks Mike.

Sports card show hospitality rooms are a distant cousin of today's trade nights - Rich and I talk about the relative strengths and fun of each after-show concept.

The last part of Hobby Hotline last Saturday (check out the show in its entirety including video on YT) dealt with the growth percentages by sport that were published by eBay - and how to interpret them. 

I was joined by Brad Bethune and Victor Roman for last Saturday's Hobby Hotline and the conversation ranged from the recent Industry Summit to the effects of Hurricane Ian on Florida collectors.

Rich and I explain why cards came in series back in the day - was that really simpler for collectors?  Or is today's approach better in these impatient times?

The Industry Summit in Las Vegas had record attendance from local card shop owners and online retailers this year (actually last week) - I gave a short talk of which this is an abridgement. 

Today is my mom's 97th birthday - 1961 was a pivotal year in my collecting and my mom (and dad) had a big part in that - thanks mom - Happy Birthday!

A very complicated and misunderstood set that is worthy of further scrutiny.  I was a serious collector of this set collecting it in the 1970's, and one of the first collectors to do so, so I was eager to discuss with others who also love the set. 

I was responding to a recent episode of Mike's Golden Age of Cardboard where he discusses (with Bluejacket66, thanks Dave!) the iconic Leaf baseball set that, in a sense, broke the color barrier, but was not a commercial success.

Carrying over from yesterday, Jim and I discuss his new venture.  I was especially interested in how there could be some positive father-son opportunities in his content creation.  And oh yes, it's my wife Diane's birthday today!

Jim Telford is starting a podcast and YouTube channel discussing vintage sports cards but also blended in some sense with his other passion for wine as a restaurant and wine bar owner in California.