Dr. James Beckett: Sports Card Insights

Every sport has a farm system of sorts.  Minor League hockey coexists along with college hockey and junior hockey as a showcase for young hockey talent.  UD's hockey coverage via AHL includes this chance to get them while they are young.

Recap and reconsideration of the past 25 episodes over the last five weeks, including before and after the successful National in Atlantic City.

I guested on Herman and Kin's live YouTube evening show for almost an hour but this is a small portion - go check their show out each week.

Herman and I have been co-hosts on Hobby Hotline together so I gave him advance notice to come up with some good questions for me - thanks Herman!

Brian and I got on a roll - turns out we had more than one episode's worth of dueling questions - thanks Brian!

Each dueling questions episode is different depending on the backgrounds of those involved - thanks Brian for your great questions.

Brad Bethune, Rich Klein, and Victor Roman were co-hosts with me on this recent edition of Hobby Hotline - watch the whole show - it is live twice a week for an hour - this is just an excerpt.  

Braves fan Herman Bryant shared his hobby origin story - his two faves are Dale Murphy and Freddie Freeman.  Hope to see you Herman at next year's National in  Chicago!

Four different products from three different sports - all four hobby boxes around the $200/box price on the secondary market - enjoyed opening them and picking (my) winner - thanks Panini!

Brian and I had a wide-ranging discussion of his hobby background and his entrepreneurial bent - we had some similarities and some differences - but specifically we are both enjoying what we are doing.

I surprised myself by actually preferring the box with fewer cards even though I loved the design of SP Authentic - I am becoming exclusively a player collector with a large number of players that I follow (in all sports).

Torsten keeps sending me interesting data analytic questions and comments drawing on other fields of interest - you might learn something!

Another interesting group of eight sports card hobby questions from listeners and viewers - send yours to doctorjamesbeckett@gmail.com  and thanks!

The management of the National Sports Collectors Convention going forward will no longer be spearheaded by the Berkus and Broggi families, who have carried the ball so well for the past 15 years - thanks!

I explain how this came about and who was the lucky one - lots of fun opening this iconic hobby turning point baseball card box - thanks Geoff and Rob!

I was there but Rich was not able to go at the last minute due to his wife's COVID (now fully recovered) so this was our discussion of how it went from both of our perspectives.

Bill Russell has passed at 88 - dynastic winner who changed his hobby ways late in life and we are all beneficiaries of that - even though his playing career mostly fell in the era without annual basketball card sets.

When I spent the afternoon at Burbank, we kept the cameras and recorders rolling covering a variety of sports card hobby subjects - this segment was derived from a longer Instagram Live, which you should see on Rob's channel.

When I spent the afternoon at Burbank, we kept the cameras and recorders rolling covering a variety of sports card hobby subjects - this segment was derived from a separate non-live Instagram episode, which you should see on Rob's channel.

When I spent the afternoon at Burbank, we kept the cameras and recorders rolling covering a variety of sports card hobby subjects - this segment was derived from a longer Instagram Live, which you should see on Rob's channel.

I got many responses and comments on past episode #761 - lots of strident opinions - appreciate the candor - let's be constructive to improve our sports card hobby 

One of my consultant friends sent me the top ten reasons leaders fail - to be honest I did not get a perfect score - a cautionary note to other leaders in our great sports card hobby.

Rob saved the tour of the warehouse (a short block away) for last - one of the Seven Wonders of the Collecting World - the numbers are impressive but the organization even moreso - well done Rob!

I spent the whole afternoon at Burbank Sportscards, never a dull moment with Rob and all the customers and staff - the place was hopping on a Friday afternoon - I'll be back!

I visited Burbank Sportscards - I had been meaning to for twenty years - since my last personal visit had been to their previous smaller location - super impressive - a must stop-in if you are Southern California - thanks for the hospitality Rob!