Dr. James Beckett: Sports Card Insights

I describe my auction winnings, namely a group of seven not-so-new football hobby boxes - I am a card collector, not a box collector - so I opened all the boxes! 

The last four weeks of individual daily episodes summarized along with further commentary (in case something was missed ... by me).

Shwe is a journalism student and podcaster on assignment and we had a discussion about the exciting chase (that has always been) central to the sports card hobby.

Thanks to my co-hosts (John Newman and John Keating) and the live call-ins, another robust Saturday morning hobby discussion -listen to the whole hour either live next week or on your favorite podcast app - thanks! 

Skepi (not his real name) has sent me many insightful questions about sports cards and this hobby - this episode is about the pros and cons of re-packs, for your consideration.

Ryan and I traded sports card hobby questions and answers - I think I represent the past and Ryan represents the future - but Ryan is a vintage guy at a young age and you gotta love that!

John is the co-founder of the mobile (free) card identification app, Center Stage, which is surprisingly fast, due to their clever approach - thanks John!

Another eight different listener questions worth addressing - from eight different thoughtful listeners - send me your sports card questions about the past, present, or future - thanks! 

Most of Ryan's show involved my "show and tell" of a few interesting cards - this is a brief segment more suited to our audio format as our conversation was wide-ranging.  Thanks Ryan!

Rich and I talk about the re-birth of Fleer baseball (current player) cards back in 1981 (not a terrible start all things considered) and how Fleer handled the junk wax era before its eventual demise almost 25 years later.

I met Grayson at the MINT Collective and heard about all the good things happening for the sports card hobby in Australia and his interesting business journey - thanks Grayson

What is the best way to optimize or maximize the sale of a 30-card set that lists for $5?  Rich and I compare strategies and expectations and downsides ... as it depends.

Questions keep coming in - send yours to doctorjamesbeckett@gmail.com  - now trying to answer or comment on eight recent questions or comments in my 15-minute episodes - thanks!

Brutally Honest Kirt challenged my assertion (or presumption) that sports card collecting is the greatest hobby in the world - how's that for hyperbole! 

A couple of topics we thoughtfully considered - both of which can have a huge impact on the high-end sports card hobby/industry - thanks Skepi!

I threw out some ideas about kids and then we ran with it for a while - we both agree that more kids in the sports card hobby is better - kid's crate is a great start, but there could (will?) be more!

Torsten regularly sends me his thoughts, and he has been my guest several times via Zoom from Germany - these are his latest sports card questions and comments relating to past episodes.  Thanks Torsten!

Brad Bethune TXCardDude and Chris Harris StaleGum were my co-hosts for last month's live call-in Hobby Hotline show - the conversation about Team USA cards and their relative respect was worth sharing. 

Kirt had a list of specific constructive criticisms, which I did my best to address both from a current and historical perspective.  He's an excellent example of a sharp IT guy who loves the sports card hobby and has found his niche - thanks Kirt! 

Skepi and I discuss Card Ladder with a special focus on the future, of what it is now and what it could become.  The fact that it started out basketball-centric may be a distant memory in five years - we'll see!  Thanks all! 

Great opportunity for me and others to hear Jeff's story, as he is following after hobby stalwart Tracy Hackler (now road-showing!) - but Jeff has plenty of cred on his own - look forward to working with him - thanks Jeff!

Trying to make sense of production release schedules and delays has become the rule rather than an exception - this segment discusses the rippling frustration and how collectors and dealers are responding.

Kirt had many questions for me, but we started by unpacking his "brutally honest" trade name, after which we dug deep on some serious sports card hobby topics - thanks Kirt!

Joe and I sat down together at the MINT Collective for a one-on-one - which believe it or not we had never done back in the day when we were both CEO's - thanks Joe for the passionate commitment you bring! 

The final part of my wide-ranging conversation with Josh - special thanks to Ray Schulte for helping make it happen, Chris Corbellini of Collectable for the A/V support, and Collectable's CEO Ezra Levine for spearheading the effort to get so many influencers together in Vegas for the MINT Collective.