Speaker 1: Good morning, sports cards, fans, and welcome back to Hobby Hotline.
It is the final Hobby Hotline of twenty twenty five,
and it's been a great year for Hobby Hotline. It's
been a great year in the hobby and today is
going to be all good news, all good memories. So
if you came for you know, gossip and all that
kind of stuff, you're not going to get it here today.
It's gonna be our end of the year wrap up,
and you know, we're gonna have an opportunity to talk
about all the good things we experienced. And I have
a whole list of stuff from my vantage point, which
is the vintage. But we're joined by very two very
special guests. Chris, good morning, sir, how are you? And Brody?
You and I have not done a Hobby Hotline together,
but I'm happy to have you along. And how are
you this morning, sir?
Speaker 2: I'm good. It's nice to meet you.
Speaker 3: Dan.
Speaker 4: I haven't been on it a couple of months, but
I'm back and I'm ready to go.
Speaker 1: Let's go, all right, well we have let's say good
morning to the chat we have well right now, we
got twenty four but we're gonna get up much higher.
Mad City brew was here before anybody. Good morning everyone.
I hope you're having a great holiday week. Mine has
been great, I know, Chris, maybe not so great because
of some stuff.
Speaker 5: Yeah, that's fun.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and Brody, I hope you had a great holiday
week so far. That's me saying good morning, Good morning
to Stuke, one of our regulars. There's Chris saying good morning, Philly. Joe,
how are you happy holiday to you? Good morning to
Chris from Missouri, Chris, how are you? Foul Ball is here?
Coooter lev is here? Adam's card closet, How are you, Adam?
Larry and Able in Vegas. Good to see Brodie. Absolutely so.
We we're gonna swing it around the horn and try
to talk about some good stuff that happened. Chris. I
know you you know there's a lot of news in
your part of the world, which well we'll leave for
another day. I know some of it was talked about
last week, but just from your vantage point as a collector,
I know your history is as a longtime collector, tell
us about some of the good stuff from twenty twenty five.
Speaker 5: Chris, Yeah, I mean there's a lot. I was just
traveling to Detroit him on last week, and you know,
you can't go through an airport now without seeing vending
machines for sports cards and Pokemon cards, and just how
present the hobby feels everywhere. You know, my kids and
I I've been watching King of Collectibles the last couple
of days and it's just gone so mainstream. The hobby
reminds me very much. I used to like punk bands
when I was growing up because they were, you know,
not a lot of people would listen to them. They
were kind of like, you know, your own little thing,
and and then sometimes they'll blow up, like Blink one
eighty two is a band that really, you know, started
off small and independent and then became this selling out,
selling out colosseums. And it feels like that's what the
hobby is for me. Is it used to be this
my own little, you know, cool little side side maybe
not cool, my little side side thing, and then it's
it's become so big now it's it's just crazy. So yeah,
I think the biggest thing for me for twenty twenty
five is that the industry. When fanatics came on the scenes,
they talked about ten xing it, and we overall like
putting that. But it's definitely bigger, and it's definitely a
lot more in our face than it's ever been before,
which is pretty wild.
Speaker 1: I just noticed I had the Thanksgiving stuff off by
the band.
Speaker 5: Sorry about that, No worries. I was like, I'm thankful
for this year.
Speaker 1: So Brody, tell us about some of your your good
memories from twenty twenty five in your in your Hobby experience.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, there.
Speaker 4: Was a lot of fun stuff this year. But one
specific thing I have started to notice, which has been
a thing going back to when I first started that
we needed more of was hobby shops. And we are
starting to get a lot of more local card shops
and I see them everywhere. I used to have none
that were by me. You know, there was a couple
that were you a half hour, forty five minutes away.
Now there's like five with twenty minutes. Like wow, there's
a lot of new shops opening. It's awesome to see.
It's like you talked about, the industry is booming. It's
really cool.
Speaker 1: Well I'm going to talk about Minton, but here Chris
c And now that is not you, Chris, this is
someone else named Chris cy picked up the fifty three
Boeman color pierie Re is one of my favorite cars
in the hobby, and finished the Cokefax run, the thing
that I did a few so somebody near and dear
to my heart. So my thing with vintage is that
the shows are thriving card shows, and that's not just vintage,
that's actually across the board. Card shows are absolutely thriving.
And I was at Strongsville, which is now three years
in a row, will be in in April, has gotten
bigger and bigger and bigger. Philly is bigger than it's
ever been, like it's exponentially growing, Shriners, this big Burbank
is a big one. Dallas, Brody, you're a Dallas card
show guy.
Speaker 2: Right, No, I've never been there.
Speaker 1: I almost know you. And then of course the National,
which was pretty epic this year. So card shows to
me have become this thing where you just like you
could show up and you can get anything. And it's
not just vintage, it's not just modern, it's not just TCG,
Pokemon whatever. It's it's just like everything is there and
they're around so much like we put we started. I
started setting up at a Brooklyn show that didn't start
in twenty five but really took off, and so that's
like a new thing. So I think card shows are
as healthy as they've ever been. Really.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it feels like the eighties honestly, when there were
every holiday inn and every Hilton had a card show.
Every the Red Lion used to have card shows. It's
not hard to find them anymore, and that's just a
really cool thing and I love. I guess that's one
of my biggest blessings is I get to attend a
lot of shows and that is so much fun when
you get to walk the floor and find things that
you wouldn't find in your normal market when you're at
a show out of town, or able to find your
local team at a discounted price if you're traveling. So
I always think that's kind of fun.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 4: I mean, we got to talk about it for any show,
but I think especially with the National two every year,
it just seems like they had a new, huge room
that's kind of crazy, and it just.
Speaker 5: Feels the whole upstairs now is crazy.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, upstairs too, it's wild.
Speaker 1: So the National this year had that upstairs, which people
were not crazy about because it was packed in and
there was all this extra yeah, yeah, but I think
this year there that actually that out of the room
is supposed to be like spread out again this year,
so I think the Nationals would be bigger in twenty six.
So any next, Chris, any any more twenty twenty five memories?
You want to share with us the positive stuff?
Speaker 5: Well, for me, one of my favorite things at the
National this year is I brought my son for the
first time, so he's he's twelve years old, and you know,
I've been in the hobby my feels like my entire
adult life, and to share it with him was really cool.
And I was lucky enough to have David Adams let
him work their booth for a little while because I
was pretty busy at the National too, and he had
the best time ever and negotiating cards and he just
thought it was the coolest thing ever. So that that
was a real gift when you get to enjoy the
hobby with your family. And I see a lot of collectors,
a lot of collectors who whose kids are not interested
in their mom or dad's collection and it just breaks
their heart. And I'm lucky both my boys have a
real interest in the hobby, so we had a Carl
and Family rip night last night. Even mom opened a
box of Allen and Ginter and my son pulled this
kick ass when McGregor Star Wars autograph. Well but you
can see number five, which is pretty great. So he
was doing laps around the house. It was. It was
awesome to see. So I think when you can, when
you can share the hobby with with family and friends,
it becomes so much more special it just being your
own private thing.
Speaker 1: You know. Well, I'll just bring this up since we
were on it. My kids brought me this book. It's
about Raves Field, the original field in Boston where the
Braves played, and it has a family connection since both
of my kids went to Boston. Two of my kids
went to Boston University and this this field is what's
now part of Boston University. But they bought me this anyway, Brody,
you know, it brings up a point I think Chris
brings up a point is that I think younger people
are getting into the hobby more. And when I go
to you know, I go to the in particular White
Plane Show has just an enormous amount of kids coming around.
And it's not just kids with you know, with the
Zion cases, but it's kids with their parents, kids with
their friends, and it seems like, you know, we've always
wanted to from vanished point of an older person, always
wanted to make sure the hobby was left in good
hands and that the youth were coming in and that
they had the same sort of enthusiasm for it as
we did. So how do you feel about that and
the development of that in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I've seen so many kids.
Speaker 4: That show wasn't at card shops this year when I
started taking twenty seventeen and it really got into it
in twenty eighteen ish, there were.
Speaker 2: Not many kids at those shows. I mean there weren't
even that many people.
Speaker 4: I mean a lot of the diehard collectors were at
stuff like the National stuff, but there were not that
many kids. There weren't that many females. But now you
go to a card show or a card shop and
you see it all. There are so many kids making trades,
selling opening stuff like it's crazy and it's so nice
to see because, like you said, we need to make
sure that the kids can afford stuff, And yeah, I know,
it's weren't a crazy time now where stuff is more expensive,
but they're finding ways to enjoy it.
Speaker 1: Well. If that trend continues, that would be very welcome for,
like I said, older persons like myself who want the
hobby to be left in good hands. Another thing that
I noticed from the vintage standpoint in twenty twenty five
is we had a great year of fines. And what
I mean by that is like the attic finds things
that came out of the woodwork. There was a great
right find of Rose postcards, which are super rare. They
were upstate New York. There was a Kester bread find
that included a Babe Ruth. And then our friend Layton
Sheldon went down to Louisiana and discovered an entire collection
of Red Cross back cards. He did some content on
and we continue to see cards coming from Puerto Rico
and in particular Venezuela. So like the whole concept that
like all the vintage that exists is already out there
is not true because because there's still addicts, there's still
you know, trunks filled with you know, amazing fines and
people keep finding them. That's just a great development in
the hobby from twenty twenty five. And I went back
and I researched it, and I found all these things
and I remember them, but I wanted to make sure
that I that I pointed out like the good stuff
that had come out of the woodwork. And that's another
great aspect of twenty twenty five that that really affected
me positively in twenty twenty five. And I tried to
get one of those Red Cross cards, but uh.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it was tough.
Speaker 1: But what he did was everybody who contacted him privately,
which included me, got a T shirt. So he went
out and he got T shirts made with the Red Cross,
you know, the just collect Red Cross, and then on
the back it has like the the actual back the
artwork from the back. And I was at the Philly
Show and I was able to pick up my double
X of that T shirt. And so he gave us all,
uh he give us all prizes for participation trophies as
it were. The other thing.
Speaker 5: Have you I've noticed, we'll we'll on occasion see people
bring us cards in old books and a lot of
those vintage cards that they bring our our their own
fines that that people used baseball cards as as bookmarks.
Do you find that often.
Speaker 1: Well, what we do find often are cards that were
in albums, uh and have glue residue or maybe even
paper loss on the back. Yes, sometimes it's a big
deal because the card has been in an album for
decades or century and the card ends up being show
you what this Walter Johnson card which on the front,
I'll show you just put myself on the front. It's
absolutely amazing, I mean, centered, sharp everything, but the back
has some paper loss where it was in an album,
so there's still a lot of that. And then the
cards are getting and that's what's happening a lot with
the cards from from Venezuela and some of the other
Central and South American countries is that they were in albums.
All of them were in albums, and they're being soaked out.
Sometimes that's successful. Sometimes it's not so successful. But you
can end up with a card with a beautiful high
I appeal front with you know, a little damage on
the back, and it saves you tons of money because
the great ends up being one or one and a
half instead of what the front looks like, which is yeah, great,
Yeah that does happen. I should mention. Yeah. This was
pointed out that the biggest fine of the years was
the to a six wagoner by Golden, which just showed
up on publicly, you know, this week. So the other
thing I wanted to talk about was market health, Like
the card market is is booming as much as it's
been since I guess twenty one or twenty two or
maybe twenty two was the downswing, but like twenty twenty
one when all that extra cash was out there and
people had nothing to do but go on the internet
and buy baseball cards. Now people have everything to do,
but they're still buying baseball cards or sports cards. Market
health in twenty twenty five strong. What do you feel
about twenty twenty six for that.
Speaker 5: Chris, Well, there's one trend I've noticed. It's been really interesting.
When I worked at Upper Deck on the marketing team,
we wouldn't even try to market to fourteen to twenty
year old males because generally they would enjoy the hobby
for those early years in their life, and then they
would find out about girls, or get too busy with
the school, or cards weren't cool enough for them, and
then they would come back and we would try to
remarket to them in their twenties and thirties in order
to try to bring them back to the fold, and
we would often be successful and then you know, they
would share the hobby with their kids and the cycle
goes on. But I'm not seeing I definitely noticed it
this year more than ever is the amount of Brody's
a fine example, the amount of teenage males that are
proud and fired up about their collectibles and on Instagram
and sharing everything there. And Brody, you can kind of
probably talk about this too, But four years ago, five
years ago, Brody, it was kind of just you at
the National that Ades group. And now it's really boomed.
So I'm curious your thoughts on Oh yeah, for sure.
Speaker 4: I know so many friends that collect now and it's
not even just like they open small stuff, have huge
cards and they talk about it all the time and
are trying to get other people, especially like Chicago teams
around here.
Speaker 2: Definitely a huge thing around me.
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, And many of them do have these crazy cards,
like you see a seventeen year old kid walking around
with a Pelican case and you never know it's in it,
you know, like it's it's it's wild, but it's it's
a really good sign I think for the health of
the hobby. If if if the industry doesn't lose those
kids from fourteen to twenty two, imagine imagine how big
this industry could be.
Speaker 1: Brody, What do you think are like some of the
ways that the hobby could continue to have, like youth
people like you know, fourteen to twenty two and even
late twenties stay in the hobby. Because I know I'm
guilty of it. I left the hobby at least twice
during my earlier years. You know, some of it had
to do with, you know, just life experiences and having
kids and you know, going to college back before I
had kids, and you know, just sort of like you know,
just it's it's a life cycle thing. But what do
you think we can do to keep keep kids in
in the hobby.
Speaker 4: Well, I think a lot of the companies are doing
a good job of it already because I think, you know,
we see some of these like commercials and ads that
tops of fanatics have run that are really centered towards
families and kids that I think they're they're When I
watched them the first time, it just was really cool.
And I think, like we've mentioned, a lot of these
kids have really high end cards and it's starting to
become really cool to have these high end cards.
Speaker 1: Well, money is never going to be uncools you've got
if that's also you've beget a four or five digit
card in your in your box, Yeah, that's.
Speaker 5: Gonna Yeah, it's a good thing to teach some of
these kids that the value of a thinking you're on
top of the world and then you know you've got
to wonder Franco type or something like that. So it's, uh,
it's good to learn about you know, when's the right
time to sell, when's when's the time to invest more.
I think it's all these are all good lessons for
kids to have.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I know. It's it's like I could say, yeah,
I have I still have my Greg Jefferys cards that
we're going to make me a millionaire. But you know,
like you have to learn it yourself. I mean, you
can't listening to me talk about like the seventies and
eighties and all those cards that were going to make
me a millionaire and send you know, send my kids
to college. Like you have to understand it yourself. And
as soon as you get one of those cards that
you know is a four digit card and then the
guy you know breaks his ankle or or you know,
gets released or has an off year or whatever. You know,
like who's the guy and who's the Arizona left handed
hit or Rookie of the year guy who had a
tremendous year and then just dropped off? What's his name?
Somebody in the check can help me?
Speaker 5: Arizona Carroll? Are you?
Speaker 1: Yeah? Corbyn Carroll, who was the hottest thing in the
world like years ago, fall off and so his cards
just tanked. So you know what happens, Carol. There you go,
Corby Carrol. Right, So yeah, market health party. What do
you think about like the twenty twenty six for like
market health issues.
Speaker 4: I think the market is still gonna be great. I
think it really helps with cards too. About with some
of the people that are playing right now. I mean,
Joey O'tani might arguably be the best baseball player ever,
and I think a lot of people will say he is.
People like Paul Skians are insane and there's just a
very high market value for them because people are watching
them pitch and two. On the baseball side, I think
the World Baseball Classics coming up, and we're going to
see all these people from different company for different countries
that people might not see regularly, like my man Moon
to Taco Murakami that's coming to my White Sox.
Speaker 2: I can't wait to see him.
Speaker 5: I hope it's amazing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I still can't believe.
Speaker 4: But yeah, there's a lot of great players, and you know,
if you go back to some other years, there might
not be the same.
Speaker 2: Level of talent in the leagues as well.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 1: The other thing is these are good guys too, you know,
like Aaron Judge. I you know, I live in New York,
so I see this guy all the time. He's just
a good guy. He's a likable person. Same way with
Showy show. Hey, you know, forget about the whole gambling
thing and the and the interpreter and all that stuff,
but like just a decent character, a likable guy. And
a lot of these players are like that. So I
think baseball has done a great job in turning these
really high end players into positive ambassadors for the game.
And that's something that I think. You know, if you
buy a baseball card of a guy who's kind of
an asshole, you're not in love with it. If you
buy a baseball card of a guy who you really like,
as a person, I think that helps the value.
Speaker 5: Yeah, and I also think that, you know, that's one
of the reasons why there's other there's other options for
people to collect now too, which just made our industry
so much bigger. So h someone in chat was mentioning
TCG this year. It's the growth of things like Pokemon,
where you know that the quote I always like is
Pikachu is never gonna have a dui or charge ARD's
never gonna you know, tear a a c L. You know,
so these evergreen entertainment products, whether they be Pokemon or
one piece a huge emerging category. Netflix is about to
launch a second and third season of the live action
show for that, and I expect that's gonna just keep
that property going going crazy. But the other thing is
there's so many things outside of sports too, like stranger things. Cards,
you know, are are really cool now. I showed the
the Star Wars card. Game of Thrones cards are still rocking,
so the friends. You know that, there's there's all these
emerging categories that you know, we used to maybe get
one release of a year, and now there's all these
different releases and it really feels like there's something for everyone.
Now in the hobby and if if you're if you're
frustrated with football and your favorite player getting hurt, like
you have these other properties you could go to and
and they're a lot safer with regard to risk of
performance on the field and things along those lines. So
I think that that has been a huge trend this
year and and something that I think we'll see more
and more of U as years go on is just
more collecting options for where you want to what you
want to collect, and uh, more safety in some of
those entertainment and TCG products.
Speaker 2: No.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's also a really good point because as well
as like w WE and a W wrappling cards, like
six years ago, nobody really cared except you know, the
absolute diehards.
Speaker 2: But now Tops brought it back and it is one of.
Speaker 4: The hottest things besides the four major sports.
Speaker 2: I mean, I.
Speaker 4: Couldn't imagine how it's grown this much, especially I mean
some of these years in twenty seventeen, twenty eighteen, like
the prices were so cheap, you could find so much
of it. It's just as crazy now you can't even
find a blaster of TOPS chrome.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 5: Well, I think back to my younger days, brodian I
would go to hobby shops and my mom would go
to the grocery store and leave me in the hobby shop,
so it was like my babysitter. But I would see
in the eighties all this baseball and then there'd be
a box of football, a box of hockey, and a
box of basketball, and no one would buy those, you know,
like who's playing that? But I realized now that those
were so the baseball was so mass produced, obviously, and
I should have bought Gretzky's rookie year packs. And how
stupid was I? But I think there's still opportunities like
that with some of these emerging properties. And one piece
is one in particular that if you got in on
some of those tournament cards or some of the secret
raars things along those lines early, you're gonna do really well.
But you know, again, all these other properties too, they've
just got a lot of upside because I don't think
there's as many people collecting those as there are baseball basketball,
so I think you have smaller runs and a better
opportunity to have something that will hold value long term.
Speaker 2: It's only we could go back to the trip.
Speaker 1: One of the things that we see in the vintage world,
and that is sort of an analog to what you're
talking about, Chris, is that we're seeing a lot of
people buying nonsports, you know, the old tobacco cards of
Lincoln and Edison and a players like that, and some
of the some of the boxing is picked up. So
it's really yeah, it's not just baseball or basketball or
football anymore. And that's really good. That's really good for
the hobby. I think too is to people, and it's good.
You know, it's also good. I'm a history guy, so
a lot of this stuff I see somebody picks up,
you know, a Jack Johnson card and suddenly they read
the whole story of Jack Johnson and it becomes a
history less. So this little piece of cardboard isn't just
a piece of cardboard with a picture on it. It's
it's a gateway to understand more about like American history
and you know, the world basically. So my notes, I'm
down to the last thing and we're only halfway through,
which is good guys, good guys had good years. And
I want to shout out two different good guys that
I think had great years in twenty twenty five, and
I hope that they continue to do well. One is
Jeremy Dohnson of CIA Auctions and CIA Auctions has had
a terrific year this year, and I met I've met
Jerry several times, but got to hang out with him
for a while at the Philly Show and just sit
down and hear about, you know, what his concept is
for the for the auction house, and I think it's just,
you know, he's just a collector's collector doing an auction
house and it really shows in the way that they
you know, the rules that they have and the way
that they present their cards. So he's he's one guy
that I had a great year. The other guy's another
auction house guy is Al from Love of the Game,
also had a great year this year. He and I
had an opportunity to sit down three different times on
four collectors and go through his auctions. And just one
of those guys who started out as a collector as
a treasure hunter and now has one of the best
auction houses in the entire hobby and is a personal friend.
I've known him for twenty years at this point. And
so those two guys had great twenty twenty fives, and
I just wanted to shout out the good guys having
good years. Chris, you got any good guys who had
good years that you want to talk about?
Speaker 5: I know so many, Like everyone seemed to have a
good year. You know, it was yeah, I I you know,
I'll I'd like to shout out Rob Veris from Burbank
Sports Cards. I think the shop he built in Burbank,
it was. It was an old rite aid, Like whoever
thought that there'd be a flipping trading card shop made
out of a rite aid? But there it is. And
it's beautiful inside and out. And I cannot walk in
that shop without spending more than I'd like to tell
my wife. And it's a special place. So to see
some of the hobby shops leveling up, I think is
really really incredible. RBI Crew seven opened up a great
shop in Missouri. They've always had a shop, but their
new location is beautiful. David Adams, if you have not,
I went to go to their shop in downtown New
York two weeks ago, and of course I'm walking through
the streets of it's right by Times Square, so it's
like three blocks from Times Square, so I'm walking through
Times Square trying to get there, you know, to check
it out. And I don't know if you guys have
ever heard of Santa Kon, but it's where like nine
million people dressed as Santa I'll get together at one
time and everyone's drinking and having a great time. So
I'm weaving my way through Santa's to go to a
hobby shop. I'm like this, this is this is my life.
But uh, but that shop is super impressive. Uh so
I I think one of the the cool things that
happened this year is is hobby shops went from being
these places where it's you know, I've been in hobby
shops where it's kind of like a garage sale, right,
and then these these experiences now have become so pre
such premium retail experiences. Mojo breaks as well. I'm actually
wearing their their shirt today in Santa Clara. They're they're
tripling the size of their their hobby shop. So uh,
they're in the final phase of construction right now. So
I've always I've always worked really closely with hobby shop owners.
I think I've always wanted to be a hobby shop owner.
But it's it's it's a scary scary jump man like
it's it's it's hard work. You see how much they
put into it and how hard it is to get product,
and it is it is a grind. So to see
all these shops have success and grow is really cool
to see.
Speaker 1: Matt City Crew says scout out to Hobby, Hotline, Junk Wax,
Hero and Brody stay strong and enjoyed your Christmas countdown?
Wonderful Any shout outs you got in the twenty twenty
five Hobby Guys who good guys who had good years?
Speaker 4: For Brody, yeah, I think like Chris said, I think
everybody had a good year. But I'll mention a RBI
crew too. Ryan is an awesome person. He's so fun
to talk with. Their new shop, like you said, is awesome.
They're booth at the National is amazing every year. Chris
Keller from Top Shelf Sports Cards and Top Shelf breaks,
he does so much for the community that he's in
and just an awesome shop and love hating out with him.
And also to Tim from Signatures for Soldiers, I mean, yeah,
if there is a definition of a guy that works
his butt off like crazy to do good things, it's
Tim for Signatures for Soldiers. If you haven't seen him,
make sure you go check him out. He does awesome
stuff for the milk.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we did. You know, we did the Hobby Poalooza
this year and it was my first year with hobby Paluza.
I mean I've been on it before in previous years,
but as as one of the producers of it. And
we got to know Tim and we got to hand
him the check for all the money that was raised
during hobby Paluza at the National And yeah, I can't
I can't say like enough great stuff about this guy.
And we you know, we chatted with him. He was
on our finale show. You know, we chatted with him
before the show after the show, just like a guy
who like we were literally he was literally like in
tears talking about some of the guys and the money.
When we handed in the check at the National, he said,
I already know who and where this money is going through.
I know which guys need it because he's kipped up
with what guys behind in his rent. What guy needs,
you know, needs a fix to his his vehicle that
is set up for like you know, his his handicap
or what something he's got in mind. So that he
could use that money literally the same day, and so
it was just like it just you know, good, I'm
glad you brought this up, Brody, because this is like
good stuff happening to good guys, Like this is like
the prime example, because this guy is a good guy
all the way down. And to be able to have
you know, content with him and contact with him, and
be able to hand this guy at check and say, listen,
like we only did this just you know, having fun online,
you're doing this and making a difference in people's lives.
And he talked about how, you know, a signature for
Soul just started out is kind of a small little thing,
and the amount of money he's raised is so far
beyond any of his expectations that he was able to say,
like he really feels like he's made a difference in
people's lives and he has. And to me, that's exactly
what the hobbyship it should be people coming together to
do something for other people. And if you can do
that once in your life or once in a year,
then you know you've you've done a great thing. And
that's that's turned little pieces of cardboard into magic. And
to me, Tim is like the perfect example. Thank you
party for bringing that up.
Speaker 5: So my wife has a rule if if something comes
in this house, a new collectible comes in, something's got
to go out, which you know, I think that's fair.
I think, you know, for the sanctity of my marriage,
I think that that's a fair thing. But for those
of you at watching, you may have a similar situation,
and sometimes you may feel like, oh my gosh, am
I becoming a hoarder if you have too much stuff
laying around. There's not a lot of charities in the
hobby that you can donate cards or collectibles too, and
you can get a really nice tax deduction now that
it's the end of year on some of those items.
But Tim at six six for Soldiers is a great
resource if you're ever looking to lighten the load a
little bit and uh and donate some items. I know
he loves, uh love seeing that. So there's Bertie. Do
you know any other out there? There used to be
like cards for kids and a couple of other charities,
but I haven't heard of any others lately operating.
Speaker 4: Yeah, there's not many else that I can think of
off the top of my head.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, like you said, though, I.
Speaker 5: Mean those out there, you know you got if you
if you're looking to do something good and fight yourself,
it's it's in clean up the house a little bit.
You can you can cross a couple of things off
your list by donating to him out there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so my my kids were my kids were all
grown up, and they were all home for for for uh,
for Christmas. And my daughter, who's lives in New York
but she has her own place, but you know, she
has been home in a while, came into my card room.
It's like, really, you have all this stuff, And it
was pretty funny because, uh, yeah, I admit it. I'm
a hoarder. And so my wife actually admitted it during
uh during the Christmas opening up the presence she was
keeping bags and boxes and stuff and said, yeah, you know,
I'm a hoarder. So we've both we both confessed to
it this week. But yeah, no, I feel like if
you can, if you can give a gift out of
out of your extra cards and make it turn into
something like that. Yeah one beyond. So I'm out of stuff.
We're forty minutes in and I'm I'm out of ideas.
Good Good twenty five stories.
Speaker 5: Well, I got a couple O god ones real quick.
Speaker 1: Oh go ahead, great twenty twenty five story John Newman
Hobby Hotline four collectors. We uh, we got together at
the National and we talked to John and this was
John and THEO and THEO just you know, got our
approval and then we talked to Mike more Inhan because
you know, bench Clear Media is where Hobby Hotline had
been and brought it over starting in September, and uh,
numbers have been great, shows have been great. Uh, you know,
the participation has been terrific. The chad has been amazing.
So I feel like John Newman and Hobby Hotline had
a great year in twenty twenty five. So let me
shout out John hopefully.
Speaker 5: Yeah. What John is obviously one of the good guys
in the hobby for sure. And you know, it's the
online can be such a toxic place, you know, whether
it be x or Instagram or or Facebook or wherever.
There's there's a few people that are bright lights out
there that you know that just make you feel good
about the industry where and John is definitely one of
those guys.
Speaker 1: So, Chris, you do have a question from the chat
it's will you be at the Chicago Sports Spectacular in March?
Speaker 5: Yep?
Speaker 1: Is that in your own capacity or as as.
Speaker 5: P s, I'll be at that one. I I haven't
been at Chicago Sports Spectacular in a little bit, so,
but I try to. I'm usually at two different events
a month. So my son was was asking me the
two weeks ago when I was going to New York
because Dad, you're you're gone a lot, and I go,
I know, I know, but I'm going to training, card,
shore shows and hobby shops, so it's it's kind of
hard not to going. He goes, Yeah, that's a pretty
cool gig. So yeah, it's fun when you can do
what you love.
Speaker 1: Stuk gas plants for twenty twenty six, Bro, do you
want to take this one? Your plans for twenty twenty six?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean I'm gonna be doing a lot of
the same. I'm gonna be doing the Daily Rip and
all that stuff. Probably uploading more stuff on you use
a big goal of mine. And I keep on the
lookout too. I mean I used to do Hobby Life Show.
You could see it back there. I think there might
be some thoughts on restarting that or something new So
keep an eye on my social.
Speaker 1: We my twenty twenty six will include Strongsville again. Already
have my hotel reserved in the main hotel, the one
has become our frat house. And then National of course
already have the room. The National rooms were a little
more difficult this year than last year. And then I guess,
you know, white plants in January, Philly in March, you
know Philly again in September. You know, a lot of
four collect stuff to do. Oh speaking of which, if
we have sixty five people in the chat on Sunday night,
tomorrow night at nine o'clock, I am doing a look
back on twenty twenty five, just like this with four
other YouTube guys. It's gonna be Mike Morninghan, It's gonna
be Orlando who was in the chat here. It's gonna
be Aaron from a Value Vintage Cards and Jason from
Everyday Cards, and we're going to talk about some of
our experiences in twenty twenty five and and like you know,
with a with a sort of towards the YouTube part
of the hobby, whereas this is more of a sort
of hobby wide kind of thing.
Speaker 5: And so what's the deal with what's the deal with
hotel rooms at the National this year? Where are They're
more difficult?
Speaker 1: So I know people tried to reserve back in like
July and August, and we did that last year. We
actually reserved in August last year, and they were not
taking any reservations when they opened up reservations for all
those hotels right along that block there, all the ones
that were then you know, walking distance that they had
to open up through the National, like you couldn't just
you couldn't go directly to the hotel, so when you
went through the National, all of the reservations were gone,
like really quickly. So I'm like a mile off site
now next year, which you know last year was literally
right across the street, which was extremely convenient for an
old guy like me. Yeah, so the point one miles
ones are all booked is basically the reality of it. So,
I mean, we'll continue hord but came better hurting the
horn again, better organized.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 1: You know, one of the things that I did in
twenty twenty six, twenty twenty five, and I kind of
the shout out to to Chris Hoge Chris McGill from
you know, one of your friends is I put all
of my cards into card Ladder, and you know, it's
a lot of cars. Not all my graded cards. I
didn't put it, couldn't put any of the I didn't
put any of the ungraded because that's tens of thousands
of cards, but put all my graded cards in, and
it gave me an idea and a pretty good idea
of what I have and when I when I should
probably move. And I think it was one of my
better organizational things. So organization wise, Yeah, I like to
take you months. Yeah, I put you know, put it
on my phone. Yeah, yeah, pull all the cards down
off the display, bit by bit by bit, and then
I went in all the boxes, managed to managed to
get them all in the same within the within like
you know, I think I got it in August and
finished it in November, so yeah, months.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it was an incredible tool.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I was. I was pricing a card with like
a Pop four recently with a friend of mine, and
I used VCP and I told him it was a
Pop one and there hadn't been any sales since like
twenty eighteen, and then I checked card Ladder and card
latter had a sale from this year and had the
right pop count. So I feel like my my one
year subscription to t VCP is due pretty soon and
I might not renew it. I don't like when there's
data missing in a situation like that. So yeah, this
is a good question. How did you add them by years?
Trust me, it was just like all the Kofax, then
all the Spawn, then all the Maes, then all the mantle.
It was just like bit by bit by bit. Just
it wasn't organized by year or player or by sport
or anything like that. That's not very Hordor of you exactly. Oh,
I think I didn't know this. Do you guys know
anything about this? MLB Network is starting a baseball card show? Chris,
do you know anything about this?
Speaker 5: No, I hadn't heard about that. I knew they, I
mean all the all the network, all the leagues have
been doing programming about cards now for the last couple
of years. But that's that's great to see. I know
the NHL Network does an unwrapped segment with Upper Deck.
I've seen MLB Network doing a variety of things, but
it's it's great to see an actual show, and I
could see it becoming something that's, you know, frequent you know,
there's there's enough content out there. It feels like there's
stories every day in this industry.
Speaker 2: I agree they had been doing some episodes. I don't
think it.
Speaker 4: Was like very consistent, but they had been doing something
called Cardon and I watched that a couple of times.
It was pretty It was cool, and I think especially
when you do these shows that are kind of targeted
towards kids and you get some of the players on
there and former players talking about it, I think it
could be really popular.
Speaker 2: Well.
Speaker 5: I think this is also the year too, where we've
really really seen baseball players take much more interest in
collecting cards than ever before, especially with the rookie debut
patches autographs. I forget who it was that added their
phone number to the back of their their rookie debut
patch this year, but it goes to show you that
and and now you know people collectors are like, oh, well,
don't just take five hundred dollars for it. Work some
trade and make a moment, you know. So it's uh,
it's really interesting to see are you bidding on a
player when you're on eBay? Now, like you never know
who you're bidding on, and everyone has everyone who uses
eBay quite a bit, you know, has that story of Oh,
I send it, sold this card to so and so's
dad or so and so's mom. I think that's always
kind of fun.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the guy, the guys who collect their own cards.
I always love that because I can only imagine if
you're a player. I mean when I was when I
was growing up as a kid in playing in the
little league and you know basketball leagues. You know, I
was like, if I had a card, I feel like
it would be like getting a line in Baseball Baseball Encyclopedia,
which isn't really a thing anymore, but you know, anybody
who even had one at bat would get their whole
little thing. That's that's baseball reference. Yeah. So I the
guys who collect their own cards, I really I really
admire that. Oh boy, don't talk about that lockout. I
don't think it's gonna be a lot. We'll see.
Speaker 5: So I will say, though, the one thing I've seen
in my career that was earth shattering for manufacturers was
is lockouts. It they say that card manufacturers are about
as nimble as an oil tanker, that it's hard for
them to they commit to all these production numbers and
have their recipes done and do deals with all these
athletes that they can't turn away from if if something
goes goes wrong. And literally the interest in collectibles for
a sport that is in a lockout, especially now with
all the other options that that collectors have, we haven't
seen something like that. So yeah, I think that if
there is a lockout for any sport. You know, they've
been talking about w NBA too, which would be awful
to see with all the positives that that category has seen.
It's it's awful. It will decimate that category for a
good two years. But it's also an opportunity to buy
cheap too, So I guess you got to kind of
figure it out. But it's never fun.
Speaker 1: Well, that's the good thing about collecting vintage is that
all the strikes have already happened. That's right, all this
stuff has already happened. Yeah, we got about about ten minutes.
If anybody in the chat has questioned, because the chat
questions have been very good so far. Yeah, hearts vintage exactly.
Speaker 5: One thing Dan I'm fired up for is uh And
something for collectors out there to think about is doing
some type of sports vacation with your family. We went
out to Japan last year to see the Cubs and
Dodgers play, which was amazing, and I'm a Padres fan.
So this year there the Padres are playing the Diamondbacks
in Mexico City, so we're talking about going out there,
and uh, it's just really cool to see a sport
in a different, different setting or different country. Uh So,
if you ever have the opportunity, definitely look at maybe
taking a sports vacation with with your family.
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame is definitely one that I did with
my with my family when my kids were smaller, like
going back thirteen years, I guess twelve.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I'm going to I'm going to Cooperstown this year
for the first time with my son and his baseball team. Brody,
I think you did that right.
Speaker 2: No, because that was the year of COVIDSI.
Speaker 5: Oh miss because of COVID.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 5: Oh that sucks, I know, stupid COVID.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Well, I would recommend it for a weekend, maybe not
like Hall of Fame Induction weekend, which tends to be
completely insane, but even like during any weekend in the
good weather. You know, that street where the Hall of
Fame is has all these stores and just it's it's
a it's a good exp and it's it's a pain
in the neck to get to, but once you get there,
it's it's pretty much like baseball Heaven. Somebody did ask
a question back here, how many Nationals have you been to?
What about Chris? How many Nationals you've been to?
Speaker 5: I think it's it's in the twenties, but not William
is one and uh yeah it was it was a
medical situation.
Speaker 2: So yeah, Bertie, you've been to eight. I think, really good.
Speaker 1: You I've been to three.
Speaker 2: Well, it's easy when they do it at Chicago so much.
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, that makes it easy for you. Yeah, that's
an interesting question. What's the best advice you'd give someone
thinking about getting into Vintage for the first time?
Speaker 1: Oh oh, Ryan, Ryan is not one of those people
needing that advice, because Ryan is you know, just Ryan
is one of those guys that knows more about baseball
history than maybe anybody I've ever met. He's one of
those guys rights for Saber and he's got a terrific collection.
We hung out quite a bit at the Shriners this year. Anyway,
best advice pick a player learn about him? Read about him.
And then if you if you if you like what
you hear and like what you read, then you know,
go pick up some of his cards. Only buy the
cards that you like. I felt that when I started
doing runs that I was buying cards that I didn't like,
so I don't do runs anymore. I'll collect five or
six cards of each player and then and then that
will open doors that will open window doors or windows,
whatever you want to call it, and you'll learn about
different players and learn about their history and who they
who they played with. And you know, I bought this
card from from the Philly Show in September. It's the
nineteen oh four Giants and all Horner photos and it
doesn't have Christy Matthewson in it, but it's got a
bunch of really interesting players who aren't Hall of famers.
So I have Luther Taylor and Mike Donolan and Roger
Bresnahan and Bill Dollon and all these guys that this
car opened up history to me. And I did a
whole show about all the different guys in the show
and all the different guys in the card. And it's
like you you can learn just by buying one team
car and so that's kind of my advice. I guess
it's long winded, but the reality is just you know,
let it, let it flow, let learn about players and
who you like and and uh and take it from
there and walk through the doors that are open.
Speaker 5: I think vintage dealers too, buying far Dan would wouldn't
you agree, are always like, very open and welcoming.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 5: You know they're not trying to make a fast bock
off people generally.
Speaker 1: Uh not as a complete not on.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: I I gravitate pretty good. Yeah, I've been to so
many shows in the last five years. I've gotten to
know on a first name basis the best dealers in
the vintage world. And I know which guys to go to.
I know which guys to avoid. There are guys to avoid, honestly,
Yeah that you know. Their prices are way too high,
their attitudes suck, and they you know, really aren't in
it for like the love of it. I like the
guys who used to be collectors, yeah, like and then
moved from collecting to to dealing, but they still have
their collections so like they'll they'll say, well, I upgraded
my card so this is now available.
Speaker 5: Yeah, one of the funniest things. I I asked the
dealer this year, I go, so, what do you collect?
And he goes everything I can't sell. So it's it
is that that different mindset, right like that. I I agree.
I like the ones that have the passion for it
and were collectors themselves prior.
Speaker 1: Oh boy, uh yeah, I THEO. THEO is the Philly
Show because the another good guy who had a good year.
Theo uh is one of the best guys in the
hobby and he he invited me in January, actually almost
just about a year ago. I just got a phone
call out of the blue. I'm sitting at my desk
and he is inviting me to join four collectors. And
it's one of the best things that ever happened to
me in the hobby. Uh, and just has been a
phenomenal year. I officially started on February first, and it's
just been you know, these getting to know these guys better,
hanging out with them at Strongsville and at the National
doing things together like you know, like the trade nights,
the Vintage Trade Night, and and of course the signals
for Soldiers that we talked about before the Hobby Palooza.
You know, all those things are great, and and THEO
got a job in the hobby working for CIA c
I A Auctions, And when he called me up to
tell me about this before it was public, I was
it was it was like I felt like, you know,
it's like when one of your kids graduates from college.
You know, yeah, you know, you get a friend who
you know who has something great happened for them in
the hobby and and then you know, to have to
hang out with him in Philly at the CIA booth.
It was one of the things where you know, it
was like it's all sort of come to fruition and
all sort of you know, every all of the good
things that he did for other people came back to
him this year. And so shout out to my to
my friend THEO and of course the one of the
two founders of four Collectors along with John who is
another great guy, and just you know, good for them.
Twenty twenty five for good years for them. So that's
that makes me feel good. Absolutely. Okay, So a couple
of minutes left. I'm sorry, Brodie, I just interrupted you.
Speaker 2: What do you got I do have a question for
the chat and for you as well. Yesterday on the
daily rip. We did pull this each Hero rip card.
Speaker 4: I want to know everybody's opinion if I should rip
this or if I should keep it. You know, it's tempting,
as you know, but every time I've done one of those,
it's gone bad. But at the same time, I think,
if I don't rip it, that'll be the one time
there's like a one of one show.
Speaker 2: I up autograph or ten grand and then.
Speaker 5: You don't have to you know, I tell people this.
I get asked that question to watch I rip it
or not? Just keep it for a little bit. You
don't have to make a decision like immediately.
Speaker 1: So yeah, my own my selfish advice is to do
it here right on the show. So if you pulled
something amazing.
Speaker 5: Yeah there you go.
Speaker 1: Well go ahead.
Speaker 2: Maybe we'll think about it. And if next time I'm
on the show, if I'm going to rip it, we'll
do a lot.
Speaker 1: I love it.
Speaker 2: I love it.
Speaker 5: Can I share something unique that I found? Dan So?
I worked for Upper Deck for twenty four years and
I love interesting little items like I have this watch
they made back in nineteen ninety and just oddball stuff
from the early days. I just got this from a
former employee, and I was like, what it is an
upper Deck Authenticated Zippo lighter. And I was like, oh
my god, this is crazy because I worked for the
company and they would never in a million years allow
allow me to do in marketing to do lighters. But
this was in right at the beginning of upper Deck
Authenticated launch, and they thought people smoking cigars would you know,
like you know, be their clientele. Uh so, I I
love hobby history like that. So that was a great
pickup too long ago.
Speaker 1: I think it's cool and it looks fantastic, but I
questioned the wisdom of having fire around trading cards.
Speaker 5: Yeah, right, next, Like what so that's that's what makes
it even more unique, I think. So I dig that stuff.
Speaker 1: It's like, you know, having a sprinkler system or in
your office around. I do not have a sprinkler system
in my office anyway. So that's a deal. Brody. If
you are on hobby Hotline next month, you are, so
you get to do what Chris said, which is delivered it,
enjoy the card for a little while, and then if
you do decide to rip it, you can do it
live on Hobby Hotline. I hope. I'm the host but
I probably won't be, just by the odds of it.
And then uh, and then we'll get that, we'll get
that great content if.
Speaker 5: You have it, if it's awful, then we we'll all
be there to support you.
Speaker 1: There we go you. Uh, you have an experienced hobby
guy telling you what to do, and I think he's
been right on all those all those points. So uh, gentlemen,
it has been a pleasure. Brodie. We never met before,
we never spoke before, but I feel like we're fast
friends and I'm thankful for that. If I see you
at the National I will surely shake your hand and
uh and reminisce on our end of the year uh
hobby hotline, which I think has been a lot of fun. Chris.
This is our second time together, and I'm happy that
this one was a little a little less rocky than
the first one.
Speaker 5: Yeah great, yeah, yeah out of last and uh and
random esports, Uh number one is is right time to
go watch some football and have a great end of
the holiday Weekend's.
Speaker 1: All right, guys, thank you so much for And the
chat was great. We got up into the high sixties
chat wise, which is always wonderful. Chat was great today. Sorry,
didn't get all your comments in, but got plenty of
the good ones and there were some we're real hobby
hobby heroes in the in the hobby in the chat today.
So we're gonna take it easy and we will see
you back here in twenty twenty six.
Speaker 3: Thank you for listening to this episode of Hobby Hotline.
I just want to remind everyone we are a live
show every Saturday morning, eleven am eastern eight am Pacific
on the four Collectors channel on YouTube. That's the number four,
the word Collectors channel on YouTube. We hope to see
many of you live on a future Saturday. We have
a great interactive chat room and we always provide a
link for anyone that wants to come on the show
and chop it up with us. So that's a reminder.
Every Saturday, eleven am eastern eight am Pacific, only four
Collectors channel on YouTube. Hope to see you on the show.