All right, Happy Saturday morning, Good morning, hobby friends. Welcome to
Hobby Hotline. This is episode three seven of Hobby Hotline. I'm your host,
Logan Ward, and with me today is Horatio Ruez. Horatio is on
This is on my left. How's it going, Horatio doing well? Doing
well? Logan, great to do this with the first time we're on air
together. So looking forward to it. Cool man and the man who needs
no introduction, mister stale Gum himself, Chris Harris. What's going on?
Buddy up? Everybody? A couple of weeks for the national starting to get
excited. I don't know about you guys, but I always liked Cleveland as
a national place. But it's not everybody's cup of tea. I get it.
It's not Rose Mott, but uh, looking forward to it. Are
you the you guys going to Cleveland? I'll be there. Unfortunately I won't.
Uh. Yeah, wife is expecting soon and so I'm gonna miss out.
Unfortunately. Well, I mean twins, that's gonna be Uh, it's
gonna be fun. Yeah, I have I have a younger brother and sister.
They're twins, so I can kind of relate. I was uh,
I was much older at the time when they were born, and I was
like a babysitter for them. So I'm kind of like maybe their their uncle
or whatever to them. It's kind of a little bit weird, but still,
you know, I can relate. Yeah, I know that twin bond
is a special one. So I'm looking forward to it. I wish I
could be there Cleveland, but I'm gonna be. I'm gonna be keeping up
with you guys and seeing all the things you guys are are doing out there.
Yeah, it's gonna be it's gonna be fun. I'm excited. Uh.
I'm like Chris. I like the i X Center in Cleveland. It's
it's big, it's expansive. Uh, it's very open. I like.
I like that. If you want to do anything else, I mean,
you've got to go damn into the bunker downstairs. They've got, you know,
whatever they're gonna have. They're gonna have the trade night stuff down there
like that. So they did take away the ferris Wheel, though I don't
know if that's good or not. I love the Ferris Wheel. I can't
believe they've got more tables though, that that's true. There, they'll they'll
have more tables, So there you go. So it's more for us collectors
to enjoy as long as they kept the frog bar. Oh wow, we've
got looking at the chat real quick. We've got Gordon paying from Hawaii.
Welcome man. That's that's super cool. And it's got to be super early
in Hawaii, so that's that's incredible. Oh look, we've got Mark Coyle,
Hey Mark, and uh, we've got Able in Vegas. Good morning,
So good morning everybody. We're glad that you guys are here. Real
quick, we've got uh. This week, we had one of the birthday
of h I guess it was Drew's birthday, wasn't it Drew Herndon's birthday?
And we want to we definitely want to wish uh wish him a happy birthday.
And I've got something I want to show real quick. So, uh,
happy birthday, Drew. He kind of reminds that guy on the Wendy's
commercial kind of reminds me of Drew. So happy birthday, Drew. I
hope you're getting some residual income from the Wendy's commercial. Happy birthday. So
we got a lot to talk about today. The very first thing that I
want to talk about is. I'd like to bring somebody on. It's gonna
be Eric Hecker, and let's go ahead and bring him on real quick.
I'm gonna add him to the stage. Hey, Eric, how are you
doing, buddy? Hey, guys, good good, everybody doing all right?
So Eric he he does the Rack of the Day, which for those
I think most of everybody knows what a RAQ is in the hobby now it's
a random act of kindness. Eric does a Rack of the day and he
also does ripping for the Cure. So Eric, won't you start out and
talk about what what Rack of the Day is and what you're doing, what
your plans are for the National, those kind of things. Yeah, and
you know, we're in our fourth year of Rack of the Day. We
haven't missed the day since January one, twenty twenty one, of recognizing good
folks in the hobby doing good things and supplying them with you know, a
small, you know, small gesture of appreciation. But we we really just
want to inspire folks to continue doing those good things. And it carries over
into the National, which just we my third year going to the National this
year, and it's a bit of a unique year. So what what I
do is and logan I think you received one last years. I have these
silver packs that I walk around. It's my sole purpose of being there,
and I hand these packs out and at minimum there are three cards in each
pack. There are going to be numbered hatch cards, auto cards, and
then there's other hits that are included to which could be graded cards, and
then there's redemptions for memorabilia and other things that I will keep secret. You
have to find me at the National this year to kind of figure that out.
But it's just a great way to build community, talk to people,
get to know them a little bit more, you know, from a hobby
perspective, but also from a human inside. And you know, it's really
great because you know, you see trades happen right away, you see other
racks happening right away with these things, and you know it's it's it's just
a fun time. And I mentioned this year it's a bit of a unique
year because I'm only going to be there Saturday Day and Sundayday this year for
the National And the goal is two hundred and fifty packs. That year we
did one hundred and fifty. This year, the goal is to fifty and
how I've got it allocated is I've actually partnered with five other folks that are
going to the National for a full week and just excited to come and hang
out with everybody. Well, two hundred and fifty random acts of kindness,
that's a that's a lofty go. You're definitely going to need some help with
that, for sure, it is. And you know, I originally was
going to do two hundred, one hundred and fifty for the folks that are
helping me, and then fifty for myself for the weekend. But you know
what I do is I just put a call out to folks of I need
cards, you know, because I got to build these packs. And you
know, at no point did I ever say that I wanted them donated.
I'm always willing to pay for things, you know, because I mean,
that's part of this hobby is there's transactions that happen, and I want to
help folks out in that way if I can. But a lot of people
stepped up and just donated stuff for me this year, so it really was
able to expand, and I wanted to push myself because of the generosity of
others, you know, just kind of keep keep that flywheel going forward.
Yeah, we hear a lot of you know, negativity in the hobby,
and it's really good to see, you know, something positive happening in the
hobby. Uh. I know, personally, when the pandemic started, we
started seeing a lot more you know, i'd say, like hobby greed,
things like that going on. It was just to me, it was terrible.
You know. I used to think, honestly, and this may not
be a popular opinion, but I used to think that hot wheel collectors were
not the best collectors in the world, you know, and then the pandemic
happened, and I started seeing all these bad things in the hobby, and
then I changed my mind. I thought, well, golly, sports car
collectors or they're not They're not some of the best collectors anymore either. But
then, you know, I saw you, and I see others doing random
acts of kindness out there, and it really makes me feel good. And
you know, I and I'm certainly not trying to boast what I do,
but I do send out things to people and things like that because I try
to pass it on you people pass it to me, and I think that's
part of it, is to pass it on to others and do things like
that. Yeah, it was certainly. And I mean the negativity you speak
of is where the they was born of so and that way. So definitely
agree with you on that. You got something who race you No, I
was just gonna say, you know, I think, Eric, you're going
to be giving out basically a thousand cards, right, and uh, most
people go to the National to pick up some stuff and to add to the
collections, and you're there to do the exact opposite. You know, you're
there to give away stuff. So I just I just think that's that's fascinated.
I was staying Logan. I don't know how you do it. I
don't know how you have the energy for it, you know, I don't
know how you you know, it's awesome how you get the resources and the
people to rally around you, and uh, it really is just just a
good thing, man. I think, you know, it's something that the
hobby can definitely rally around and and and and you know, appreciate what you're
doing, especially at the National. You know, that's such a big stage,
such a good place for people to see what you're doing and and kind
of you know, enjoy the spirit of collecting together, right, the enjoy
the spirit of giving together and collecting together. I think that's that's a that's
amazing. So I wish I could be there, man, But I know
you, I know I've I've sent you well wishes. I know you're gonna
do awesome over there, and you always get great feedback. So thank you,
and thank you for being a part of the crew that helped build these
packs too by sending me some things my pleasure. Yeah, absolutely, so,
Eric, is there still time for people to send you things? Are
you still building packs? I mean, where are you in that process?
Yeah? So's it's kind of a quick turnaround right now. So my hard
deadline to have cards be included in these packs is is July thirteenth, so
a week from today. Reason being is, like I said, I have
to ship thirty packs to five different people before I leave for a vacation the
following week. So quick turnaround and everything. But I'm pretty set at this
point too with everything that I need, you know, So I hate turning
things down, but I don't need anything at this point, but always happy
to accept and still include different things for either these national racks or anything moving
forward as well. That's good. I'm glad to see a lot of people
have stepped up and help. That makes me. That makes me feel good.
I like that. Yeah, so it's been fun. So along with
the reck of the day, you also do something else called ripping for the
Cure. So would you like to kind of expand on that let people know
exactly what that is? Yeah, yeah, absolutely, So Ripping for the
Cure again was born out of out of the pandemic. My full time job
is actually as a fundraiser for the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation. I am the
executive director for a chapter here in Pittsburgh. And you know, at that
point when the pandemic hit, we weren't entirely sure how we were going to
fundraise and where the money was going to come in for research because these diseases
there's no cure. And I had just gotten back into the hobby at that
point and threw it out there do a group of breakers that I was I
was getting to know and said would love to raise five thousand dollars in twenty
twenty, and they accepted the challenge. In that first year we raised fifteen
thousand dollars and so now we're five years in and we just completed it in
May this past year, and we've now cumulatively raised over one hundred thousand dollars
for the Crones and Klitis Foundation. And then this is all done through donations
and it leads leads to a what deemed the Megabreak, and this year I
had one hundred and thirty seven items between signed memborabilia pieces and cards that were
the hits, and folks can get in various different ways through donations for as
little as five dollars, and it's just it's a really fun and exciting thing.
It got me so excited this year that I'm actually considering doing a second
one later in the year, for not just the Crones and Klitus Foundation,
but for other various charities as well. I think this hobby has the potential
to really make a difference in other people's lives, and you know, that's
that's what I'm here to do, and I hope others will be willing to
jump on board and you know, make this something a lot larger than than
anyone ever anticipated. Well, I know personally that crones and colidis are it's
it's a very horrible disease. Like I was telling you, guys in the
green room. My very first wife on our honeymoon, Uh, she developed
colidis and we dealt with that for quite some time. And uh, trust
me, it's a pain, it's painful, it's it's horrific. I'm glad
to see the work that you guys are doing. You're definitely making a difference.
I know that there's been a lot of strides made in crones and colidis,
but there's still a lot of work to do for that. Yep,
there is, there is, and we're we're making our mark on it.
Yeah, and I and I definitely appreciate that. That's that's a great,
great thing. So Horatio or Chris, you got any questions for Eric?
No, I'm just glad that you know, Eric, you're on the you
know you're on and and you know, any any chance that uh, you
know, we can spread down I'm sorry. Yeah, No, we're technical
difficulties this morning, but that's okay, that happens. No, just good
to have you on, Eric, and you know, looking forward to having
you on the rest of the show. And you know, again, anytime
that you know, any platform to share what you're doing, just even for
people to just say hi to you. You know, and to to meet
up with you at the National gump be there is a good So, Eric,
are you going to have a T shirt on it says, hey,
are you going to have any kind of way for people to identify you or
are they just going to have to know you by sight? How's that going
to work at the National? Yeah? So I do. I do have
shirts that I wear has the hashtag reck of the Day on it. But
really the thing is is people don't need to come up to me. I
actually approach people. There's no method or madness behind this. You know.
I do kind of have a list of folks that I personally want to meet,
but I don't I don't particularly say that I'm targeting families or kids.
It's really people, you know. And I try to do it off of
the main showroom floor because it's busy out there and I don't want to hold
people up, you know, from doing their things. So it might be
out in the hallway, it might be on the outer edges of the showroom
and things like that. But again, it's just a it's a great time
to talk to folks and just again get to know who they are and what
their hobby goals are and different things like that. Yeah, I agree with
that. There's a lot of interesting people in the hobby. There's a lot
of great collections out there, you know. I see I see so many
people collecting so many different things that I never thought about collecting in my life,
because you know, I'm just a I'm pretty much a racing and NASCAR
guy. I do dabble in some other stuff. But the reason I do
dabble on some of this other stuff is because I see these people collect this
and going, Wow, that's h that's pretty neat. I do. Maybe
I'll to try collecting some of that. So, yeah, I'm with you.
Yeah, good stuff. All right, So let's let's move on,
I guess to some topics. The very first thing I want to talk about
is the Walmart market place. Uh that came out this this week. People
were talking about the Walmart marketplace, Horasio. I'm want to start with you,
do we really need another marketplace? I mean, do we not have
enough already? Do you think we need more? What do you think?
I think I don't think we need a new one necessarily, but I welcome
it if they do it right. I'm looking at at Walmart's what they're doing
in their terms of service. I know they're doing a zero percent referral fee
for like the first ninety days, So the way I interpret that is you're
selling there for free basically, you know, no no fees for those first
ninety days. But then it seems like Walmart charges a standard fifteen percent,
which is higher than even what eBay does, So I don't know how that's
going to work on in the long term. They do have for other items,
like other categories, they have like staggered referral fees, so like if
you sell an item for ten dollars or less, they charge you five percent.
If you sell an item for less than twenty five dollars, it's like
ten percent, and if it's more than that, then it's the fifteen percent.
And I think that's that's interesting. I think they have an opportunity there
to really rival eBay, because I think eBay's main complaint are the high fees,
and so if Walmart can find a way to cut those fees, not
this year, not two or three years from now, if they can kind
of chip into that market share, they can definitely be onto something. So
there's potential there. I'm not eager to sell on on on Walmart right now,
but it's interesting to see how it will develop. Chris, I want
to get back to the question that you asked before Logan. Does the hobby
need another marketplace? Well, apparently somebody in Bentonville, Arkansas, I think
so so here it is well collectors actually use it though, I mean,
eBay is just so entrenched right now. They have all those network effects locked
in. Network effects meaning everyone uses it because everybody else uses it. It
would be nice if there was another competitor to that. I know, Amazon
tried to make a big play into this marketplace maybe six or seven years ago,
and even they couldn't crack it. So and and the thing is what
makes Walmart's marketplace different or better than any any other marketplace, I still don't
know. I mean it seems to me that, you know, someone in
Bentonville, Arkansas is trying to get in on this sportscard gravy train while it's
still running. And I don't know, maybe this gravy train's kind of pulling
into the terminal. So that's what I think HEREK You got any thoughts on
that? I would yeah, I mean I would, I would agree with
what both christ and Ratio said. You know, but I my question is,
don't really need another one as well? You know, am I going
to use it? No? But but I'm also not you know, this
mega cel. But I did a little digging into this when I first saw
it, and I don't know if it's true or not. But was this
not announounced almost five days until the the PR was released? So I mean,
is this something that people were really going to use? I mean that
don't know if we need one, but if they can do it properly and
you know, run the business as they need it, you know, to
be successful, then more power to them. Well you know, you know,
Walmart is a big behemoth. Uh do you think that you know,
they and of course Amazon is as well. Do you think that you guys
think that you know, Walmart might have any cloud on maybe you know,
getting you know, eBay to lower their fees. You know, you think
some healthy competition might help, you know, in lowering fees and things like
that. I mean, what do you guys think? I mean maybe,
again, it all depends on if collectors actually use this. Yeah. Yeah,
I mean there's been and there's been you know, marketplaces that are community
driven, right, like a hobby driven, like my slabs district right,
a lot of sellers on district so, and they offer really low fees,
you know, the you know three four percent, which is low compared to
the ebays right now, right. The problem is that you just don't get
as many eyeballs on those marketplaces. I mean, eBay is unchallenged when it
comes to that. And I think that if there's a company that can challenge
it would be one of these Amazons Walmarts if they do it right. But
they just don't have the cachet. They don't have the brand appeal right as
a hobby, Like we we as a hobby, we stick to what we
know and kind of what we feel comfortable with. And so I don't know
that to me, when I think of Walmart, I think of you know,
bulky, bulky, lots of you know, twenty pack of paper towels.
I don't think of selling my sports cards there. So they have this
image to kind of get over. But yeah, like I'm always for competition.
I think the more competition you have, the better it makes these other
places. I don't think we're better off as a as a hobby. As
a community with just one place to go to. And I think most people
would agree with that that could be wrong. I agree with you on that,
you know, Walmart. You know, when when I think of Walmart,
You're right, I think of going there and getting like I said,
paper towels, right, I think about going there and getting getting me some
a one steak sauce. I don't think about sports cards, and I don't
think about them as being a higher type brand. You know, that's you
know that you know their focus is you know, going to be sports cars.
Their focus really is selling commodities, and you know, I guess,
I guess in a way, you know, sports cars are commodities. But
I just I just don't think. I just don't think Walmart is. I
don't. I don't see a lot of people using it. I mean,
I know I won't be using it. I have. You know, it's
hard enough for me to go to comm See and I stick with you a
pretty much, you know, and I love comm See. I just don't
think about going there on a daily basis. And like I said, you
know, Amazon really really tried, I would say, about seven or eight
years ago and couldn't crack this market. So if Amazon can't do it?
What makes us makes Walmart think they can do it? I mean, I'm
glad that they're trying, but I'm not sure collectors are going to want to
abandon an eBay for this. Yeah. No, I definitely won't be abandoned
an eBay for my buying. You know, I'm not a seller. You
know, I don't sell, so that's just not my thing. But you
know, I guess Eric must have dropped off for a sec. But I'm
not a seller, so you know, in a way, this really doesn't
affect me at all. And I probably, I said, I probably will
not be using it at all. You know. I hate to say that
Walmart, but that's just kind of the way that it is. And I
think that I may be speaking for the majority of the hobby because it's just
I think it's just a reputation that Walmart has people going go Walmart. I
mean, so, am I gonna buy slabs from you know, some kind
of FBN grading company, you know, fly by Night grading company? I
mean, is that what they're gonna have? I I don't know, we'll
see. Maybe they'll have some really nice stuff. It remains to be seen.
But I just don't plan on going there. Yeah. Agree. So
one more thing about this, do you think, of course, you know
it's Walmart's a huge corporation. You think this is motivated by I'm sure it's
motivated by profit, and maybe I don't know, just it's it's motivated by
profit. Maybe you know, like you said, Chris trying to get in
on the sports card, gravy train. And every time I think about gravy
train, I think about that commercial they used to have for the Gravy Trained
dog food where the dog is chasing a little chuck wagon. So that's what
I'm thinking about. Well, you said gravy train, But uh, I
think I think for sure you know that that's all they're just. I don't
know that they care about the hobby. I think I definitely know that they
care about making a profit. So, uh, we'll see where this exious,
I guess. All right, let's catch up on a few comments real
quick here. Let me go back and look and see some of these.
And Bob Boozle, he says, sorry Walmart. He loves Amazon. You
know I love Amazon too, man. I can if I need supplies or
something like that for for my cards, I can usually have that stuff a
lot of times. The very next day it's it's amazing how quick I can
get this stuff and I don't have to go anywhere to do anything with it.
Let's see here, right, But all right, so I guess let's
go ahead and let's let's move on to another topic real quick. Let me
check all my things here, all right. So this week a bunch of
pictures popped up on social media. There's a p s A vending machine in
Las Vegas, and here's a picture of it. Now, from what I
understand from our own Chris Carlin, this is not owned by PSA. This
is a third party entity that owns this machine from what we're what we've been
told. But it does have a lot of PSA branding. It doesn't have
any third party entity branding on it whatsoever. So I just thought that to
be very odd. If I was PSA, I would have something pretty big
to say about that that part of it. So as far as vending machines,
then this is in a casino. I think this is in what is
the casino. It's in the Plaza casino in Las Vegas. And I'm sure
there probably will will be more if this thing is you know, successful,
So I guess we'll see. So, Chris, you see this machine in
Las Vegas? You walk up, Are you plopping fifty dollars in for a
Pokemon card or seventy five dollars from what I understand for a sports card?
For answer that, how does one get a PSA vending machine? Do you
got to like vending machines? R us to get who thought this was a
good idea to make a vending machine that spits out grade at cards? Anyway?
I think it's apropos that this isn't a casino, because what's the what's
the first rule of Las Vegas? The house always wins? That is so
true. They don't have the big, opulent buildings for nothing. You plunk
seventy five dollars into a slot machine, you're probably only going to get about
seventy one of it back. Same thing with these grading machines you pluck,
you plunk seventy five bucks in, you're probably not going to get a seventy
five dollars card. I mean, I suppose they probably seated one card that
might be I don't know, a Jordan rookie that's in an off grade.
That might might be worth more than seventy five dollars. But uh, I
think this is a pretty ingenious way for some whoever it is that put this
here to clear out some of their inventory. You know, over the last
two three four years, especially during the pandemic, there were a lot of
people submitting cards. I mean so much so that PSA actually had to tell
people to stop submitting their cards in order to get to catch up on that.
And a lot of cards came back months even years after they were submitted,
and by the time the submitter received their cards back, those players weren't
nearly as collectible and as valuable as they were when they were submitted. What
are you going to do with those slabs? Put them in a vending machine.
That's one way of getting rid of them. And I think this kind
of a appeals to people, you know, who go to Las Vegas and
throw their coins into a slot machine. You know, you never know if
you're going to get the big hit. So that's what I have to say.
I think these machines, I don't think collectors like us are going to
be putting money into these things now. I think it's mostly non collectors that
are there for the thrill of maybe getting something good. I could be wrong,
though, Yeah. I saw some videos on YouTube where some people were
plucking fifty dollars down to get some Pokemon cards and then they were going back
out and getting comps on them, you know, immediately, and they were
like anywhere from twenty five to thirty dollars cards. They were coming out to
fifty bucks, that's and they were PSA tens, but you know they of
course they were very low ball PSA tens, PSA tens or dime a dozen
nowadays. So Horatio, what do you think about a slot machine? Are
you going to pluck some some bucks down in that thing or swipe your credit
card or whatever? So I can't because even if I wanted to, I've
I've been on the the reddit forums and apparently this thing has been sold out
for a week. So it's it's been a it's been a big hit for
for where it's at. But I mean, this story is is kind of
it's it's wild. There there's been a video multiple a couple of videos from
a YouTuber Rattle Pokemon, talking about the relationship between p s A and and
the company that that that is operating that machine. I think it's uh Canon
Cannon Sports or can Cannon block something. But in any case, the people
operating that that vending machine, they're they're known and I'm not gonna get into
details here. They're they're known scammers from the past. And uh, you
know, I like, like the serious scammers. Uh. And so now
it's interesting that they got permission or that they partnered with p s A to
then be able to sell their their repacks. And they are the guys involved
here have been doing repacks for years and the repacks we were awful to the
point where these guys were repacking trim cards and the FBI got involved in.
I should also mention the guys that Sports Card Radio had a huge show on
that yesterday the and and they they hit it right on, like they have
two major problems right Uh. The first one is why would you sully your
brand uh with those guys, you know, Uh, why would you as
a as PSA, this giant you know company has a pretty good reputation in
the hobby. You know, they kind of influenced the hobby in so many
ways. You're trying to distance yourself from them, but at the same time,
like you've given them a lot of power on these vending machines, Like
it's PSA everywhere, everything's branded, you know, ps A, p s
A. And on top of that, like, how do you know what
products they're putting in that vending machine? Like I know it's PSA ten slabs,
right, but like, how do you know given their history that those
aren't trim cards in there? How do you know that they're offering uh,
you know, a halfway d loss? If I could say that, right,
like are they putting one dollar cards in there that are PSA tens or
at least are they putting in like thirty dollars cards that are PSA tens?
Right? The whole partnership baffles me. And then the second thing is I
would if I was PA, I would just scrap it. I know that
they have plans of having a vending machine at the National, but that was
more of a promotion. So like nobody's actually paying money to get the products
inside the manding machine, which is totally fine, right, Like I remember
doing that in Atlantic City. Zero Cool had some vending machines with stranger things
and things like that, and it was cool. But this idea of you
know, partnering with these particular people I think is weird. I think PSA
should distance themselves from them, and I think that this controversy ultimately will help
them out so that this stuff doesn't expand because people will buy it, by
the way, like they're it's already sold out, and people actually don't care
about losing money, especially in a place like Vegas. So it's they've got
to decide like, are we going to you know, partner with them and
kind of just for money's sake, or are we going to say, you
know what, this isn't exactly right, this isn't what we want for our
brand. Let's make a new turns. Yeah, I totally, I totally
agree with you on that the PSA's branding is all over that there's no branding
whatsoever for this third party company. You know, if I was PSA,
I would take issue with that. You know, of course, you know
you see me, I'm wearing the PSA hat, so you know, I
am, I guess doing some advertising for PSA here subliminally, but you know
I would. I would have them take all that off. I mean,
it's predominant on there, and of course you know, I get it.
PSA is the number one third party authenticator in the world. I can see
where that would be the ones that you would want to put in your machine
if you're going to have a vending machine. But if I were PSA,
I would have all that stuff taken down and you have it much smaller or
you know, I don't even know if they would approve it or not.
I like I said, I don't know what their legal stance is on this,
but if it was me b PSA, I would have them definitely take
that off that machine for sure. So looking at this machine, do you
guys think this sends the wrong message to collectors horatio? You think that it's
like, Okay, I'm not gonna collect you know, it's it's like it's
gam well in a way, it is gambling, you know. You know
I'm a I'm a collector. Am I gonna take a gamble on this?
No? I mean, what do you think I think looking at just looking
at the machine, I think it's deceiving, right, Like you have no
idea what's in the machine? Like you have no idea what you could potentially
hit the charge are that they have on the side of the the thing with
the PSA ten that certain number has been deactivated apparently, like you can't so
we know that that is not in there, right, you can't get that
Charis Ard. They have a Michael Jordan PSA ten card. We know that
that's not going to be in there either, Like it just doesn't make sense.
There's only one bending machine, right, we know that in order to
make up the cost of putting in a clear Rookie Jordan, you know in
there PSA ten you're gonna need more or that you know you're gonna know tons
of people spending fifty and seventy five dollars to get your return, So that
car is not in there, So the marketing is deceiving. I don't think
it's meant for season collectors, right, and I think it's made some traction
with Pokemon collectors. Everyone's excited to get their PSA tens and whatever, So
it's more more or less there to kind of just be a bit of a
fad to be a souvenir. Hey, I went to Vegas, I picked
up these slabs. I don't think it should be taken seriously by by collectors
and let's just call it what it is. And again that's why that's why
I'm kind of questioning PSA's what's the deal here, Like, how does this
help your brand? How does this help your company? Because we know that
it's just it's just a slot machine, and what are you actually giving away?
It's not clear. There's no there's no win here for PSA. So
as a collector, I kind of look at it as like a silly thing,
and I look at it as something that could potentially harm the hobby down
the road. You know, when people are putting in fifty bucks, tventy
five bucks and getting ten fifteen dollars cards in return, especially when you're dealing
with people that don't have a good track record. Chris, how do we
know what's actually in the machine? We don't. You know, you mentioned
that they have a Jordan Rookie on the side of the of the of the
machine. Is there like an odd sheet of like you know, your odds
of pulling the Jordan are like one in every two hundred, your odds of
pulling a Wander Franco Rookie card or one in two or something like that.
Obviously they're not going to have that, but that that might be nice to
know. It's a little bit of transparency as to what you could win.
And I use win because that's kind of what this is. It is a
gamble. I have another thought, but I I'm sure it'll come back to
me. But but yeah, I mean, how do you know what's actually
what cards are in this machine that you could potentially get. I don't know.
It's a really bad version. It's a different version, I should say,
of really bad repacks, repacts that don't show the odds, repacs that
don't tell you what's what's potentially in there. We don't know. Nobody knows
and and uh and that's the thing, like, but we do know that
it's not whatever it is that they're putting on the side of the machine,
right. Are people just buying these things just for the novelty though? You
know, I bought this slab at a machine in Vegas? Will be Is
that one of the reasons why people are buying this stuff. It's it's very
possible, you know, because you know, I'm sure the casual person walking
by sees this, they may know a little bit about PSA and they go,
PSA, maybe I can hit something really really good because I know one
of the videos that I saw that was one of the very first things.
The guy said. I think he as a collector. He goes, oh,
I'm hoping I can hit something really big. It's like he's like putting
his hands together. Oooh. You know. So that's so that's what people
are thinking, you know, that they're going to hit the big time.
And you know, in a way, I guess that's kind of what's going
on with breaks and things like that right now. You know, people buying
the brakes, they hope they hit that big five figure card out of that
break. You know. I don't know, it's it doesn't have it much
appeal to me at all. Like I said, I think it's just for
casual people walking by. They go, huh, they just swapped their card
and plug down fifty seventy five bucks and they get something that's worth you know,
thirty bucks, you know in there someone like that. I just don't
see where that's a win for the hobby at all in my opinion. Just
remember rule number one of Vegas. The house always wins. Yep, the
household wins. So real quick shout out to Rex and sports card shops.
I know we're on the big screens there, so shout out Rex. Rex
says that this I think this is a quote from PSA says we are working
with a vendor in real time to adapt the look and feel of these machines
to feature less prominent PSA branding, which they should because that's when everybody looks
at this. I mean, I know when I first my very first glance
at this picture, when I saw when I saw the picture of the machine,
it's like PSA has a vending machine, really, you know, And
then you come to find out, no, it's not PSA. But that's
what you're going to think when you see that. So what do you guys?
You guys have me more thoughts on that. By looking at that,
you would think that that it's PSA's machine, but it's it's not. So
if if you actually had I mean, listen, people could people throw all
their money every day, right and and in the hobby, you know,
they join breaks, they do repacks, they do all this stuff. If
you actually have a list of the things that you can win and you actually
put and you have and you can actually win something, you know good,
like you can hit the jackpot, you know, that's fine. I mean,
I guess, but there's so many questions around it, and and my
question is less prominent PSA branding, like who proved that machine? Like did
PSA not know what it was gonna look like beforehand? And so that now
now they're getting the blowback and now they're gonna be like, hey, whoa,
whoa, who'll take our names off of that? Right? Like,
it already seems like they're kind of backtracking and they shouldn't maybe just come out
and say, you know what, we made a mistake. We're not gonna
we're not gonna follow through with this partnership or whatever. So those are my
final thoughts on that. I mean, it could be a legitimate thing where
you're still throwing all your money, but at least like you have a chance
to actually win something. But this does not even appear to be the case
like that, This just seems to be not that at all. You know,
not that I'm I'm cool with this machine at all, but I would
be I would feel a little bit more better about it, you know,
like what you're saying, Horatio, if they would have something on there saying,
you know, even that even on the LCD display, here are the
things that you can hit, and here are the odds of how you you
know what what you know how you can hit these things. You know,
if I knew that information going in, I might be a little bit more
apt to maybe think about it. But you know, with it just being
blind, not knowing what's in it, not knowing any odds, why would
you want to put any money into that? I just would not put any
money into it at all. Yeah, all right, so let's let's catch
up on a few comments real quick. Let's see here we are very handsome
on the big screen at the local Walmart. Thanks Mike. Let's see here,
pay seventy dollars per sport and get thirty dollars card for a dealer to
offer you sixty percent of comps. Yeah, that's a that's definitely a lose
lose situation right there. Better than a slot machine. Yeah, maybe a
little bit, and the kids win too, like the lotto. Yeah,
I don't see any of the proceeds of this machine going to to help.
No, don't go to senior citizens four dollars prescriptions like they do in Pennsylvane.
Dang it, education like kids here in Delaware. So so here's a
question. Would would you think differently if this machine was at cars HQ or
a hobby shop versus a casino, the same rules apply for me. I
got to know what I have a chance of winning, if I'm even going
to even consider it. Because it's blind, you have no idea what you're
going to get. You know, they have pictures of things on there.
You can put a picture of an honest wagoner in there. It doesn't matter
what pictures you put out there. That doesn't mean that's just all subliminal.
People go, oh, maybe I can get this Jordan card. Oh my
gosh, but that's it doesn't say that anyway, So no, no,
no thanks, I'm I'm out, so you can forget about that. See
how this is how Georgia and cart vending machines have been a thing for a
while. I remember the supermarket that I went to when I lived in New
Jersey. Right at the exit there is a vending machine that sold packs.
But at least you knew you were getting a pack of something. This you
don't know, so a bit of a difference. Now, if this machine
were at a hobby store, would there be much of a difference. I
don't think there would be much of a difference, would there not? For
me? I mean, it's really no different than than buying a repack.
That's very true. You I know, my local hobby shop they have have
these little boxes of cards that they sell for like two dollars. You know,
it's like maybe a fifty hundred count you know, by clan box of
cards. I mean, it's in a way, I guess it's maybe kind
of the same thing, but at least you can see what you're going to
be getting on the front and back. So who knows. So okay,
so let's let's move on, guys. The Olympics are coming and it's gonna
be here in a few weeks. I know. Okay, okay, hold
on, hold on, just hold on. The Olympics are almost here.
Does anybody out there collect Olympic cards? I have a few. There's a
there's some Olympians that I really love, especially some of the ones from my
childhood. Horatio, does the Olympics interest you at all? Do you collect
any Olympians or do you have a favorite Olympian? I don't. I don't
purposely, you know, I don't go out and collect Olympics. I do
have some Olympic cards, but I will say Bob Beamon, he used to
hold the world record for the long jump for twenty some years before Mike Pole
broke it. He came and visited my school, my elementary school. I
was maybe like in fourth grade, and he gave out some of his some
cars, some trading cards, some USA Olympic cards, and those were some
of the first cards I ever collected, and that actually kind of spurred my
my love for cards a little bit. Was a Bob Beamon USA Olympic card.
I don't even know what it looks like. So I have fun memories
of that of him visiting the school and I was like, wow, the
guy he won a gold medal. It was like it was a big deal
to me. One one of them that I have, i've year ago.
I bought a lot of these German cards Reemsville, and so I have a
Jesse Owens nineteen thirty six card of his. I had a whole bunch of
Jesse Owens cards. I sold off a bunch because it just made sense to
and then I have a karch KARII and if anybody's into volleyball, he's I
have his rookie card from a nineteen eighty eight foot locker set that was given
to me by a reader because I connected him with a Chase card that he
was looking for for a long time, and so as a talking of appreciations,
I got to give you something. He sent me a karch Karai rookie
card. Who if anybody doesn't know who that is, he's considered the greatest
volleyball player in the world of all time. So he's he's won gold medals
at the Olympics and indoor volleyball and at beach volleyball. So that's the extent
of my Olympics. I followed it. I'm looking forward to it, and
I will always remember Bob Beaman visiting my school. Well for me, I'll
say this real quick. I always liked Mark Spitz when I was a kid.
I think he was also one of the most the original village people right
there, but uh, he was my guy back when I was a kid.
I like Mark Spitz. So I have Mark Spitz, I've got I've
got several other Olympians, uh that I collect. I've got some Jesse Owen's
cards things like that. So you know, I do like the Olympics.
I will watch the Olympics and it'll probably spur me on to buy a card
or two. I love the Olympics. I mean, I don't know what
it is, but if it if it's the Olympics, I will watch sports
that I would normally not watch just because it's the Olympics. It's like I
will watch gymnastics because it's in the Olympics. I would not ordinarily watch gymnastics
if it's not. Uh, you know, all of these exotic sports that
you only get to see once every four years. Even now with all the
all these cable those channels and streaming channels, I mean, you would think
that there would be one channel where I can watch you know, modern pentathlon
anytime I want, or trap shooting anytime I want. But no, I
mean, these are the sports that you only get to see once every four
years. I love it. But the thing is, when it comes to
cards, you only get card sets once every four years. So it's kind
of if you're a card collector, kind of hard to collect because there's not
really a whole much at least mainstream cards out there. I mean, there's
there are a lot of Olympic pin collectors out there. That's a big thing
pin collecting. I remember, I think it was the twenty twelve national it
was in now I wasn't in Baltimore. But anyway, it was about a
dozen or so years ago at the National when it was in Rosemont, and
they basically turned over what's now the Breaker Pavilion part of that hall, and
for one or two years they had Olympic collectors there exclusively and really wasn't that
much of a success. But I which is why it's probably hasn't been back.
But I was amazed at a lot of just the pins that those folks
had. And but as far as my collecting of the Olympics, I really
don't collect much as far as the Olympics goes. Now, well, like
you, Chris, I enjoy watching the Olympics. There's, like you said,
there's sports that I get to see only every four years because it's not
even covered on a mainstream channel or a streaming channel or any kind of channel
whatsoever. So I do enjoy that. I enjoy rooting for USA. US
say, I want to see the United States do well, so I'm always
always up for that. So it's it's a fun time for me and I.
Plus right now we've got the Tour de France going on and the Olympics
going to be in Paris, that France has got a lot of things going
on right now. So looking at some of these comments, I like,
Bob Boozle is hot dog eating and Olympic sport yet, well, Joey Chess,
Now I believe it will be in Los Angeles. It'll be a demonstration
sport. Oh well, that would be amazing, still be amazing though it's
a sport. There was one question about why Leonel Messi isn't in the Olympics.
Well, because he's playing in Copa America. You would know. Yeah.
And the thing is, at least in the men's competition, soccer is
an under twenty three tournament, but you're allowed like I think two or three
overage players, and I don't think they wanted a Messy to play in two
tournaments in the same year, so that'd be a lot more important one.
And I think he already has an Olympic gold medal so for when he was
and under twenty three. So oh wow, Okay, see I did not
I did not know that. I think, let me look that up.
Okay, Chris has the technology, so we're starting to get get close towards
the end. You got anything else you want to say, Horatio, No,
just I think that the as far as the Olympics go, it takes
a few years. So like for rookie card collectors of goats, So like
I know, like Michael Phelps cards, rookie cards have value. Uh someone
mentioned Simone Biles, she's a goat. I think her rookie card. So
it really takes you know, you'll see an athlete kind of breakout in a
certain games, and then over time you might see them do more things.
But this is where they create their legends. This is where collectors really can
kind of capitalize on someone that that's really like a generational talent. And you
know what I mean by generation, I mean like Michael Phelps kind of talent
who after Mark Spitz, the only comparable guy was, uh Mark Michael Phelps.
So there's some value there. But I don't think sets and you know,
and and Olympic cards like that don't generally hold their value unless you're talking
about again the ghosts. Yeah, I would agree with that, but you
know, I collect them just for fun, you know, because I know,
I know they're not going to have much value, but for me,
you know, it brings back a memory of watching them you compete when when
they're gold medal or when do whatever it is that they did in the Olympics.
So you know, I do like that aspect of it as well.
So so real quick, one more thing I want to talk about before we
go is you know I mentioned it while ago is the Tour de France.
I know there's probably not a lot of people that really are into the Tour
de France. I don't know if you're watching any of you guys out there
watching it or not. I am watching it. Unfortunately most of it's on
peac now, which I don't like that aspect of it because now I have
to subscribe to another, yet another streaming service to watch something that I really
like. Do you guys have any inkling of you know, you care at
all about the Tour de France. You watch any of it? Have you
you follow anything about it? I'm gonna say one thing, yes I have.
I've been a big fan of Twitter France for for a few years now.
Do do yourself a favor if you have time, watch the Netflix series
Unchained, where they profile last year's Tour de France and you really see how
these guys suffered. Mark Cavendish, he has his own uh uh documentary on
Netflix, and it's fascinating, Uh, the suffering, the pain that these
guys go through, how competitive they are, how cut through the sport is
in the same way that you know, these other document sports documentaries have kind
of shown you that behind the scenes. It really paints a vivid picture of
the Tour de France. This this Netflix series, I highly recommend it if
you're just a sports fan and you kind of understand why the Tour de France
is considered one of the great sporting events of the world. Yeah, you're
right about the suffering and things that go on. You you know, I'm
a cyclist, so we say that it always hurts. You're you're you're just
you're gonna go faster, but it's always still gonna hurt no matter no matter
what you do. I mean, you just you're just gonna go faster,
but you're always gonna suffer no matter what, because especially this time of year.
But but one of the reasons I wanted to bring this up was that
just a few days ago, in stage five, Mark Cavendish beat the all
time record held by Eddie Murks of most stage wins and the Tour de France,
and he now has thirty five stage wins and uh, I've got a
card right here. I'll show you guys real quick of Mark Cavendish. But
he he now owns the record outright. He was tied. I didn't think
it would get broken. I was surprised to see Cavendish come back this year
and I was elated to see him get get a stage win. So now
now he owns the record outright. Because your cards looking these are my cards?
Yeah? Nice? Nice, Yeah, I collect I do collect cyclist.
I've got Eddie, I collect Eddie Murks, I collect Mark Cavendish,
Peter Sagan, Lance Armstrong. I've actually ridden bikes with Lance Armstrong. I'm
not trying to boast, but it was fun. It was just it wasn't
a competition. It was just riding bikes. But I know Lance has been
through a lot, but he's gotten a lot of negative press. But you
know, I've met him. He's a nice guy, very you know.
I think actually he signed at the National few years ago and I got to
meet him there as well. But I do enjoy the Tour de France.
I don't know any of you guys, like I said, out there,
are collecting Tour de France cards. But it's fun, believe it or not
that Eddie Murks cards, especially his rookie card from nineteen sixty six, they
hold some value, so you know, it's something you might want to look
into. All right. So we're getting like close to the end. We're
like about thirty seconds from being an hour into this show. So you guys
want to give out any social information about where that people can find you,
what you're doing right now, anything like that. I'll start with you,
Horatio, No, you know I was. I'll be. I'll be kind
of a low key for a couple of weeks. Hopefully I get to come
back on Hobby Hotline at the end of August. You know, I hope
everyone has a great time at the at the National, and I'll be I'll
be looking forward to following along you know what goes on over there, Chris,
I know we're we're going to be doing our annual stage show at the
National Hobby Hotline Live. I think it might be Saturday of the National.
I don't know if its time has been announced, but I'll be there for
all five days. I hope to run into a couple of you. Anyway.
You can follow me at still num Baseball, Cardpedia, Hobby News Daily,
and keep on rocket in the free world, folks. Cool man,
so real quick for Eric, Eric hid who he had to leave. He
was having some severe internet connections connectivity issues. So you can follow Eric.
I think he's es Hecker on Twitter. I'm not sure where else he's at,
but I do know since I do follow him on Twitter, that's where
he's at. And also hashtag ripping for the cure. So if you want
to give any money towards the crones and coliitis, that would be really really
nice. You can find me at the National this year. I'll be there.
Stop stop me, let's talk, man. I love to talk about
the hobby. It's my favorite thing in the world. It's it's I've been
doing it since I was a little kid. So stop me. I've got
stickers for NASCAR Radio. I'm on NASCAR Radio with val Mars and uh we
just we just look forward to the National. I look and we all look
forward to seeing all of you there. So I here's something in the background.
I don't know what that was. Kid. Oh hey kids. So
also, Horatio, good luck with the birth of your twins. We'll be
thinking about you. And we'll definitely be praying for you guys, and I
know you're gonna have fun. I appreciate that logan, Thank you very much.
All Right, So next week we'll have three new hosts on Hobby Hotline,
so check it out. We will be on their same bat time,
same bat channel. Right now, I'm looking for my outro, so from
everybody here at Hobby Hotline, we will see you folks next week