Stacking Slabs

Why do some cards stick with you while others fade? It is not the chrome. It is not the serial number. It is not even the grade. It is the story. In this flagship episode, I break down one core thesis. The card is the object. The story is the asset. We talk about: Why narrative shapes attention, memory, and belief How peak moments and ending moments drive remembered value Why provenance carries a...

Signal vs Substance. What really holds this hobby together? In this episode of Card Ladder Confidential, Brett is joined by Kristina and Josh from Card Ladder to talk about what’s driving collecting right now and what actually lasts. They unpack the West Coast Card Show and why a sports-only format changed the energy in the room. They talk about why the Card Ladder booth has become a landing spot...

Ryan Bannister has been in cards for more than three decades. He opened RBICru7 in 2012 with borrowed money, a small space, and a willingness to grind seven days a week. Fourteen years later, he owns the building his shop sits in and has built one of the most respected brands in the hobby.  In this episode of Passion to Profession, Ryan shares: Why character is a business advantage The sacrifices...

In this episode of The WNBA Card Podcast, Katelyn is joined by Joy (@herasportscards) to break down the second half of the Rittenhouse era from 2010 to 2018. This was a collector’s market. Most years had print runs of 500 cards. One year had only 225 rookie base cards. On-card autos. Limited supply. Minimal hype. Joy shares her journey back into the hobby, how community shaped her collecting, and...

This week on Booked to Last, Adam Gellman and Ryan from RBICru7 unpack one of the biggest moments in wrestling card history. Randy Orton walked into RBICru7 for Rip Night and stayed for over two hours. He signed for every fan. He answered every question. He took selfies. He even studied Ryan’s personal collection and talked comps. What does it mean when your GOAT shows up at your shop and delivers...

The Football Card Podcast is back for the Season 3 finale and this one hits every layer of the hobby. Brett and Pack unpack the $26,400  Josh Rosen Green Kaboom sale and why the reaction misses the point. They break down why football cards are up 33 percent over the last two years according to Card Ladder and what is really driving that growth. They debate Caleb Williams versus Jackson Dart at 48K...

AI is moving fast. Most hobby businesses are not. In Episode 6 of Built for the Hobby, Brett sits down with Scott Lock, CEO and Co-Founder of InfernoRed  Technology, to talk about what AI means for hobby operators in 2026. This is not hype. This is practical. Scott breaks down: Why most businesses are underusing AI Where small hobby shops can remove friction today How automation can protect your m...

A $16.5M headline sale grabs attention. It sparks conversations. It shifts emotion. It makes you question what your cards mean now. In this flagship episode, Brett breaks down a hard truth most collectors ignore. The hobby is not one market. It is many micro-markets operating at the same time. Different financial tiers. Different buyer pools. Different motivations. Using the recent PSA 10 Pikachu...

You don’t plan to consign. Then a card pops up that you can’t ignore. In this episode of The Staging Area presented by dcsports87, Brett and Tory talk through the real decisions collectors make when opportunity hits. What moves from the PC pile to the sell pile. Why “being responsible” sometimes means shipping a big box to consignment. They unpack: The Super Bowl eBay Live activation in San Franci...

Anthony Loparo did not set out to build a multi-service card business. He started where many of you did. In his dad’s convenience store. Ripping packs. Falling in love with the process. In this episode, Anthony walks through the real path behind Top Notch Sports Club: Opening cards on YouTube in 2007 when payments came through the mail Grinding two years on Excel spreadsheets, copying and pasting...

In this episode of the WNBA Card Podcast, Katelyn sits down with Garrett of WNBACards.com to unpack one of the most important chapters in WNBA collecting history: the Rittenhouse era from 2005–2010  This was the low print run era. Five thousand boxes became five hundred. On-card autos were everywhere. And some of the most important rookie cards in the hobby were born. We break down: Why the 2008 C...

Booked to Last welcomes its first official guest. Stephanie Garcia of Mama Breaks joins Adam and Ryan for a real conversation about wrestling, collecting, and building community through breaking. Stephanie shares how her love for WWE started with Chyna and Thursday Night SmackDown. How she transitioned from teacher to full-time breaker. And why passion matters when you’re ripping wrestling product...

The $16.5M Pikachu Illustrator sale shook the hobby. So John and Brett  asked a serious question: Could a football card ever reach that number? And if it could… what card would it be? In this episode, they break down: What made the Pikachu sale possible Why football cards operate under a different ceiling The importance of myth, scarcity, and global reach Why the 2012 Tom Brady Black Finite keeps...

Are you collecting to impress or to connect? In this episode, I sit down with Michael, known as @glenrice_90scards, to talk about what it really means to collect 90s cards in 2026. We cover: Growing up in Chicago during the Bulls era Discovering Glen Rice in the 1989 NCAA Tournament Living through the rise of serial-numbered cards in real time The stress and relief of landing a 1997 Metal Universe...

The hobby talks about buying. It talks about selling. It celebrates flips, upgrades, and big auction results. It rarely talks about holding. In this flagship episode of Stacking Slabs, Brett explores the power of keeping the right cards in a market that rewards motion. He breaks down why holding is underserved in a culture built on velocity and why conviction matters more than constant movement. D...

In this episode, Brett examines a product that rarely gets treated like a true origin story. 2016 Donruss Optic was the first Optic. The first Gold Vinyl 1/1 in the brand. The first time Donruss moved to chrome stock. Yet it does not carry the same cultural weight as 2012 Prizm or 2013 Select. After spending time with his own Andrew Luck Gold Vinyl 1/1 run, Brett started asking a bigger question....

What does it look like when a lifelong collector turns obsession into a career? In this episode of Passion to Profession, sponsored by eBay, I sit down with Dave Amerman, Head of Revenue at Goldin. We cover: The Logan Paul Illustrator sale and what this moment means for the hobby  How Goldin scaled from $25M a year to nearly $500M What changed inside the hobby after the pandemic boom Why understan...

We’re on the road to WrestleMania. Elimination Chamber is set. Bron Breakker is injured. And wrestling card singles are moving in a way we haven’t seen in a long time. Adam and Ryan break down: What Bron Breakker’s injury means for his long-term market Why Oba Femi might be the next major riser The real impact of WrestleMania season on singles demand A wild $4,100 John Cena Baby Milo 1/1 sale Why...

On this episode of The Football Card Podcast, Pack Nicholson and Brett McGrath break down one of the most fascinating football card weeks of the year. They start with Ricky Williams. The hype. The trade. The suspension. The comeback. And the uncomfortable truth that his top card sales still lag behind other running backs from his era despite 12,000+ scrimmage yards and 74 touchdowns. From there, t...

What is really happening in the '90s category right now? Josh Adams from 90s Auctions joins me to break it down. We talk about healthy growth, why some grails spike and then cool off, and what collectors misunderstand when they look at big comps in isolation. We unpack the recent 1998 Metal Universe Peyton Manning PMG sale and why the PSA 8 brought $24K while BGS copies trailed far behind. Is it a...

Scarcity in sports cards is not a print run problem. It is an ownership problem. In this flagship episode, I break down why some cards feel impossible to find while others never stop circulating. The difference is not how many exist. The difference is who owns them and whether they sell. Using real examples from modern, 90s, and vintage cards, Brett walks through how ownership concentration, churn...

January set a record. $445M in online sales across the hobby. Tory from dcsports87 felt it firsthand with $14M in sales in one month and no slowdown in sight. This episode lives at the intersection of data, demand, and decision making. We break down what record volume looks like inside one of the largest eBay sellers in the world, why first public sales still shape collector behavior, and how a Ti...

Trust is not a marketing tactic. It is the foundation. In this episode of Passion to Profession, I sit down with Sharon of BlackJadedWolf to talk about what it takes to build a hobby business that lasts. We get into what she’s seeing in the market right now. Repacks. Comps that don’t tell the full story. Where liquidity is real and where it is fragile. Sharon shares how she thinks about responsibi...

This episode moves the WNBA Card Podcast into the early 2000s, when Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi reshaped how fans connected to the league and how collectors thought about WNBA cards. It was a time defined by team-first collecting, limited media coverage, and cards that reflected presence and performance rather than profit. Katelyn is joined by Elodie (@egintz5), a collector from France whose Sue Bi...

Royal Rumble season is the moment when wrestling and collecting collide. Storylines sharpen. Careers tilt. And the card market reacts in real time. What happens in the ring doesn’t stay there. It shows up in sales, demand, and how collectors rethink their positions. In this episode, Adam and Ryan break down the 2026 Royal Rumble through a collector’s lens. They talk about why Liv Morgan’s win matt...