Dr. James Beckett: Sports Card Insights

Rich and I riff on words beginning with E that contribute to a memorable podcast: energy, emotion, engagement, efficiency, experience, enthusiasm, etc.

A brief recap of the past four weeks worth of episodes in case you missed some - additional insights or further reflections - thanks!

My German collecting friend Torsten Bauer and I discussed the esoteric parallels between the distribution and inequality of income and card values - Torsten's graphs show how the inequality of both has similarly increased over the past two years of COVID.  Thanks Torsten.

I got a call from a private equity group inquiring about the investibility of our sports card hobby - as I am a pro bono consultant, I was happy to oblige - here is my half of the conversation.

We discuss Kyler Murray, Dak Prescott, Josh Allen, Tom Brady, Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes, Matt Stafford - but NOT in that order!

If "vault" is more broadly defined, there are many vaults in this great hobby - many safe places to keep your precious cards.

Jason and I wanted to talk about regulation and aspect of chance and skill-based gambling, but our conversation meandered based on his Wall Street experience.  Thanks Jason!

Thirteen-year-old Jacob Burris and I had a simulcast where we went back and forth with questions for each other - way to go Jacob!

I drove over to Mike's house and he gave me the grand tour of his baseball card collection and "The Beast."  Thanks Mike, look forward to having you over here soon.

I was a guest on Brenn's Cloud 259 podcast.  Brenn's a collector and has hopes that track cards can really catch on.  These are excerpts from his podcast where he is asking me fresh  questions from his unique perspective.

Most gifts and freebies are to be accepted - but is there a catch? - especially in the sports card hobby?

Pacific's Founder Mike Cramer shared with Rich and me the actual production summary spreadsheets for these three baseball card products - very interesting!

Brad Bethune and Jeff Dinson were my co-hosts on Hobby Hotline this month and one of the questions was about the hopefully positive impact of kid's getting COVID vaccinations.

Actually a continuation of the basketball-related questions that Kyle and I started last week - check out Kyle's Wax Museum podcast for all things basketball.

Will track and field cards ever be mainstream?  That's how Brenn and I started and we took off from there with what it would take for that to happen in this new dynamic collecting environment.

John sent me some questions ahead plus he had a few spontaneous questions as well for us to discuss - enjoyed the interaction with a guy who really loves the baseball card hobby - especially the '70's.

Here's a few players and the process I go through when rifling quickly through a football dollar box - the better the player, the more lenient I am, with what I would take.  Doing this episode helped me realize I should be more conservative with certain players.

Steve and I both had a few more questions left and so we tackled them - your questions for me or others, just send to doctorjamesbeckett@gmail.com  and thanks!

John had a number of eclectic questions for me about collecting in the seventies for his excellent topical podcast - his specialty - distant memories were retrieved.

Blake is 9 1/2 and has his own YouTube channel - I enjoyed his ambitious take on Topps Project 70 and the 51 artists engaged, which is the current focus of his baseball card hobby interest.

Brad (TXCardDude) turned the tables on Rich and me, and asked us both some candid questions that elicited some interesting responses.

A brief recap of the past four weeks of episodes in case you missed or hurried through some of them - if you have a topic that we should cover, please send to doctorjamesbeckett@gmail.com  and thanks.

There were 14 questions (distilled into one) centering around the dilemma of transparency and conflicts of interest in dealing cards while being an influencer and price guide publisher in this current day.

Seven more questions or comments about this podcast and the sports card hobby - send yours to doctorjamesbeckett@gmail.com  and thank you very much.

I had a deeper discussion with four of my friends and former colleagues now at Panini, Tracy Hackler, David Porter, Rob Springs, and Tim Trout.  Friendships in our hobby can be deeper and more enduring.  It's fabulous to work (or hobby) with those you truly enjoy being with.