Dr. James Beckett: Sports Card Insights

Giannis' performance throughout the NBA playoffs and culminating in his break-through performance in the final game 6 have moved him up another layer of greatness within the basketball card hobby.

Joe Orlando, CEO of PSA's parent Collectors Universe, resigned last week after 22 years with the company.  This is my take on that decision and its implications.  

The first time for this format of "topical" dueling questions with football expert David Lee - our first questions overlapped!

Bernard co-moderates a Facebook sports card group and I enjoyed their live session - here are a few excerpts.  Thanks Bernard!

For this month's appearance on Hobby Hotline, I was joined by nine of the other co-hosts for a special edition in honor of the annual HobbyPalooza, which our show kicked off.

Several interesting "what if's" about the upcoming National in Chicago are posed to my fellow co-hosts at Hobby Hotline, Jeremy Lee and Jeff Defness45.

A brief recap of the past four weeks of daily audio episodes in case you missed some or are just a little curious.  Thanks for listening!

I was on a distinguished panel for the Virtual Expo along with moderator Jeremy Lee and Karvin Cheung and Chris McGill discussing the sustainability of the sports card hobby.

The most recent five questions coming in from listeners - send your questions to doctorjamesbeckett@gmail.com  and I hope to address your concern quickly and thanks!

Jay and I go another round of friendly questions about the "hobby" we both love.  In fact is it still a hobby?

Brad made a list so he can be fully prepared for a fabulous National this year in Chicago - I compared his list to mine for your listening benefit.

David unpacks his seven-hour virtual course covering what it takes to be successful in this complicated hobby.

Rich and I discuss the long, storied history of combo (combination) cards featuring two or more players linked together by some connection.

Kyle's Dallas shows have been the biggest over the past twelve months - we hear Kyle's philosophies and why his show have emerged as the standard in this area and beyond.

Would the grading companies consider having a formal grading seminar where they taught their customers how to grade like they do?

What if prices in the hobby stayed the same for an extended period of time?  How would various sports card hobby entities be affected?

Rich has some question about some of the past difficult management dilemmas over the years and how they relate to today's leaders in this en fuego market.

One of the local dealer tables I frequent has been the Palmers - so I wanted them to share how they do it - it works for me, but obviously it is also working for them as they do a great friendly business - I am a repeat customer.

Jay and I, both former professors, go back and forth with (practical rather than scholarly) questions and answers.

Brett and I traded extemporaneous questions (and answers) about the sports card hobby for 15 minutes - every DQ is unrehearsed and different! 

Mike and I went back and forth with our provocative questions with an emphasis on vintage baseball, which we both love.

Collectors Holdings LP, fresh from the acquisition of Collector's Universe and PSA, has now acquired Goldin Auctions, with the stated intention of keeping the entities separate and letting Ken do what he does best.

Blackstone ($650 billion  strong) has acquired a controlling interest in CCG at a reported valuation of more than $500 million - CCG until last year was not in the sports cards space, now through CSG Grading they are!

July 1 marked the beginning of a new era in college athlete's potential financial opportunities - how will this impact the sports collectibles world?  Stay tuned, more changes will be coming.

David shares his origin story including his time at Beckett and onward with his free-lance career helping others inside and outside the sports card hobby.