Stacking Slabs

What keeps you collecting when your team tests your loyalty? Katelyn talks with Josh (@luvdadubs) about his connection to the Chicago Sky and the cards that preserve it. Josh shares how Candace Parker led him deeper into WNBA collecting, why he buys multiple copies of the same card, and what makes Rittenhouse releases worth chasing. He also explains why in-person autographs mean more to him than t...

Shane Walls spent almost 16 years at GameStop before taking a year away from work and turning his life as a collector into a career at Indy Card Exchange. Today, Shane serves as the shop’s lead buyer. He reviews 30 to 50 collection requests each week and helps decide which cards belong in the cases, at shows, online, and in the shop’s kids section. Shane joins Brett to explain why a recent comp is...

CardVault by Tom Brady has grown from three stores to 17, with a stated goal of more than 100. The investor list draws attention. The operating plan matters more. In this episode, Brett examines how CardVault is placing the hobby where sports fans gather, what its expansion means for shops and collectors, and why capital works best after a business has built proof. He also shares lessons from Step...

More money is entering wrestling cards. That does not mean every card is rising. Adam Gellman and Ryan Bannister welcome Chad Weldon from Sports Card Junction to explain what he sees from behind the counter. New collectors are entering from other card categories. They understand high-end cards, rare parallels, and chase-driven products. Their spending is changing how wrestling cards get valued. Th...

2026 Topps Football Is Back: Which Cards Will Still Matter? Topps flagship football returns with an NFL license for the first time in more than a decade. Pack and Brett discuss the role paper cards can play in football collecting, the first pack-issued cards of Fernando Mendoza, Jeremiyah Love and Carnell Tate, and the excitement of seeing players in their new uniforms. They also question the spee...

What does The National show us that sales data cannot? Brett sits down with Chris McGill and Josh Johnson to examine the forces shaping today’s card market. They discuss the 2013 Tom Brady Prizm Black Finite 1/1 approaching $1 million, the rising prices across football cards, and why seeing a card sell multiple times can change how collectors view it. The conversation then turns to what happens aw...

The hobby grows when more collectors find a reason to care and a reason to stay. In this episode, Brett explains why categories such as wrestling, WNBA, Disney, Pokémon, and fictional characters matter. He also draws a line between building a collecting community and selling the claim that a market is about to explode. Brett breaks down how to evaluate category growth, why price alone proves littl...

What makes someone choose a team and keep choosing it when the wins are not there? Katelyn sits down with Ike (@istockgrizz) to talk about his connection to the Los Angeles Sparks and the cards that bring him closer to the team. They discuss the Sparks game-day experience, the gap between player accomplishments and card prices, and why Ike buys cards he would feel comfortable holding for life. Ike...

Stephanie Garcia started Mama Breaks while teaching from home and looking for a way to reconnect with cards. Her first goal was to reach 1,000 Instagram followers and host one break. Four years later, she leads a 12-person, multimillion-dollar business. Stephanie shares why she left teaching, how she earned trust with collectors, when she knew it was time to hire, and why the experience around a b...

Supporting collectors gets harder as a business grows. The answer is not to care less. It is to turn that care into a process others can repeat. Brett examines how operators can add capacity without making collectors feel processed. He also sits down with Michael Osacky of Baseball in the Attic at The National. Michael shares what he has learned the years in business, earning trust through indepen...

John Cena’s WrestleMania Patch Auto 1/1 is heading to Goldin’s Summer 100 auction. The opening bid alone will set a public sales record for a Cena card. The final price will tell us how much demand exists beyond wrestling card collectors. Adam and Ryan discuss the card, the bidders who might pursue it, and what the sale means for the wrestling card market. They also break down 2026 Topps WWE Unive...

A reported private sale valued Josh Allen’s 2018 National Treasures Platinum NFL Shield autograph rookie card at $1.7 million. The reaction focused on what Allen has not done. He has not won a Super Bowl. Pack and Brett explain why championships alone cannot determine collectibility. They discuss the power of player connection, recognizable card features, career narratives, and the people willing...

Technology has made it easier to build a product. It has not made it easier to know what deserves to be built. Brett sits down with Josh Johnson, CTO of Card Ladder, at The National to discuss how Card Ladder grew from a problem its team faced as collectors. Josh shares why he spent three months preparing the app for The National, how Card Ladder earned trust through seven years of work, and why t...

The cards are unpacked. The pickup posts have slowed down. That does not mean The National is over. In this episode, Brett looks at the return that does not fit inside a card case: clarity about your collection, evidence that tests your beliefs, relationships worth continuing, opportunities worth testing and a clearer understanding of where your attention belongs. He shares what Wrestling Card Tak...

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Dave Thimesch wanted a 1987 Topps Mark McGwire card. That card started an obsession. At 13, Dave opened a card shop. He returned to the hobby during the Stephen Strasburg rise in 2009, moved from opening products to running group breaks, and built DT Sportscards into a PSA submission business handling thousands of cards. Dave joins Brett to discuss why ripping products created debt, how rising pro...

Most people do not have an idea problem. They have a permission problem. In this episode of Hobby Jobs, Brett explains why operators need to build before the market gives them certainty. He shares a 30-day conviction sprint for testing an unresolved problem, examines how Gabe built his college football card expertise into a career with CardCollector2, and spotlights the content creator role at Lay...

Wrestling Card Takeover filled a room with nearly 400 collectors at The National. The shirts disappeared. The room hit capacity. Deals took shape. One-of-ones surfaced. Collectors traveled from across the country and as far as Germany to take part. Adam, Ryan, and Brett look back on the week that showed how much the wrestling card community has grown. They discuss:  The demand for Oba Femi cards ...

Pack and Brett return from The National to process what they saw across the show floor. Cards priced between $100 and $500 moved at a fast rate. Dealers struggled to keep cases stocked. Seeing cards such as the 2017 Patrick Mahomes Prizm Black Finite and Peyton Manning Gem Masters in person changed how they viewed them. They also close out Linebacker Summer with Luke Kuechly, one of the best defen...

Most collectors know BCW through penny sleeves, top loaders, magnetic holders, and storage boxes. Behind those products sits a company with more than 100 employees serving collectors, shops, breakers, and dealers. Noah Dock joined BCW as CFO after working in finance, private equity, and his family’s pawn business. He did not earn the role because he knew more about cards than everyone else. He ear...

After my first 24 hours at The National, I returned to my hotel with more energy than I had when the day began. It wasn’t because of a card, a sale, or a booth. It came from the conversations. In this episode, I explore how conversations give collectors context that sales data cannot provide. They test our thinking, strengthen our conviction, build trust, and remind us that people exist on both si...

Passion gets you into sports cards. It does not build a product people trust. Brett sits down with Card Ladder co-founder Chris McGill at The National to discuss the work behind one of the hobby’s most used tools. Chris explains why seeing collectors rely on Card Ladder creates pressure, why customer service takes up much of the team’s time, and why standards matter when money is involved. They al...

Gabe did not follow a career path into sports cards. He created one. His interest in college football led him to Bowman University, player research, value boxes, and content built around a part of the hobby few people were covering. Consistency helped Gabe become a trusted voice in college football cards. It also started a relationship with Ryan Johnson of Card Collector 2. That relationship grew...

What happens when a collector starts looking at cards as a source of funding for a business? Brett examines the tension between the collector who wants to keep the card and the operator who sees what selling it can fund. He shares four questions every founder should answer before turning a collection into capital. Recorded at The National in the Card Ladder booth, Brett also sits down with Steve S...

Adam is joined by Brett for a collector-focused conversation during the biggest week of the year. They discuss why Fanatics Fest increased their confidence in wrestling cards, what the Wrestling Card Takeover represents for the community, and how Topps is putting WWE beside its other sports at The National. The conversation also covers the rookie cycle surrounding Oba Femi, collecting Roman Reigns...