#3: Being a damn fan and cheering the on The Hobby
👋 Hello, I’m Brett from the Stacking Slabs Podcast and welcome you each week to my newsletter the Weekly Rip. The goal of this newsletter is to elevate the people who make the Hobby better.
What’s up Hobby friend?
I hope you have had a successful week in real life.
Kicking ass in your professional life, being a great parent, and amazing spouse.
We all have responsibilities and they make us better people.
When I want to turn my mind off from the whacky world that is my life trying to build a brand new B2B marketing company from scratch I need an escape.
My escape, much like yours is sports cards baby.
I had an incredible moment happen to me as I began to create the newsletter this week.
I turned over my phone and I saw a ton of notifications, but saw one specifically from my brother.
It said, “Great to have Mack back with the Colts!”
I immediately checked Schefter’s Twitter account to confirm that the Indianapolis Colts were bringing Marlon Mack back for 1 year at $2M.
This wasn’t going to be a story that was going to take over the NFL Free Agency headlines, but it meant something to me.
Because I am a big fan of Marlon Mack.
It killed me to see him go down for the year with an Achilles injury in Week 1 last season. It was his contract year and I figured I’d never see him wear Colts blue again. That is why I chose a clip above of Week 1 from the 2019 season to show his potential.
You are probably thinking, “what does this have to do with cards?”
It has everything to do with cards.
I bought all of the Marlon Mack rookies over the course of several months last season because I had an appreciation from him as a player.
Of course, I thought if he plays the way I think he is capable of then the cards might gain value, but that wasn’t the primary reason that I bought them.
I built a Mack PC because I am a Mack fan.
I think operating with a fanatic mindset is important to possess maximum happiness in the Hobby.
Being a fan pairs well with the Collector’s mindset.
This is an escape.
We shouldn’t be on tilt with sports cards.
We shouldn’t be watching games like we are gambling on them.
We shouldn’t be nervous around our cards.
We should be fans and appreciate the cardboard.
They are much more than commodities. They are the perfect distraction from our busy lives and the glue to many relationships that we’ve developed
On with the program
🤠The Hobby went to the D and all came back with Durant
I love watching these Dallas shows from my phone. There are so many passionate people who I interact with in the Hobby everyday documenting the chaos.
These shows keep growing.
I SEENT IT
I’ve got an amazing network at these shows who feed me great information that I then use in the Weekly Rip and on the SSP.
If you are reading this you know who you are and I extend a tremendous amount of gratitude for keeping me in the loop.
The story of the last show were the GOATs. Vendors couldn’t keep Jordan, Kobe, or LeBron in their showcases.
It didn’t matter the product these cards were flying.
It wasn’t hard for me to uncover the theme of this show. I started to string together pieces of feedback from my DMs and look on my IG feed.
You might as well have called Dallas The Official Kevin Durant Coming Out Party in The Hobby.
I know he’s had some bangers sold in the Goldin Auctions, but this seemed to be the first time the masses were coming together to place bets on KD.
There were accounts in my feed like @cardporn that were reposting KD sales.
Everyone is entitled to do whatever they want, but one trend that I could do without are these cash and slab photos.
It plays into that madness that it’s about the money.
I used the phrase place bets on KD in a very pointed fashion.
Kevin Durant has been one of the best players in the league his entire career.
He’s one of the greatest scorers of all-time.
His cards are going parabolic right now. Why?
Easy:
The Hobby’s expansion has lead to tons of new participants that lead with profit over passion
This group is placing bets that The Nets are going to at least make it to the Ship
Let’s check out his Topps Paper RC PSA 10 on Card Ladder:
The historical growth of this card is incredible. There has been movement over the past couple weeks to confirm the Dallas sentiment.
This card has grown +7.59% and increased $150 over the last two weeks (Thanks Card Ladder). It feels like it is just getting started.
People are starting to place bets on Kyrie and even Harden, too.
I’m not here to be a hater. Honestly, I’m here to celebrate it at some level because it’s pure entertainment for me.
I think things get twisted when you start buying cards because you are anticipating certain outcomes in sports so you can profit.
Should the Nets make it to the Finals? Sure.
Is that how I want to spend my money? Probably not.
Dallas has become an extremely influential show and I find it fascinating that somewhat polarizing star is the headline from the show.
The next Dallas show is in May. Right around NBA Playoff time and the NFL will be right around the corner.
Baseball will be in full effect, too (no disrespect to my baseball readers - it’s just not what I collect).
It will be interesting to see what the story is in a couple months.
I can make a guess.
I’ll be wrong because it will end up being something no one is even talking about now.
It always is.
👨Being a “Hobby Hipster” and Wearing it on Your Sleeve
There is a certain counter culture that is brewing in the Hobby and I really like it.
I’m not talking about the Egg people. No disrespect to this contingent.
An underground movement in our Hobby can’t possibly take place on a mainstream platform that just received $100 M in funding.
I’ve got some many thoughts as a marketer about Clubhouse, but that is a story for an entirely different newsletter not about sports cards.
I’m referring to Team Turn Left. They need a symbol to represent their brand.
I’d be honored if it incorporated elements of the SSP logo because this type of operating is what I am all about.
It’s people who are being rewarded for collecting oddball stuff because they are a head of the curve.
Here are some examples:
2020 Topps Now Formula 1 Lewis Hamilton # 3
2005 Topps Chrome Jay-Z Refractor /999 #217
1997 Cardinal WWF Stone Cold Steve Austin #1 (Happy Belated 3:16 Day!)
There is always going to be someone who is the first to these cards. Typically, it’s someone who buys the card because they are passionate about the person on the cardboard.
The best is when these Cardboard Hipsters are rewarded for their pursuit with ridiculous gains.
The best collectors in the Hobby are those who curate their collection in a way that is completely different than everyone else.
I was pumped to have one of my favorite oddball collectors, @yamwax on SSP this week.
He’s the king of the oddball stuff. I learn a ton from him. He even graced me with his Hipster ‘stache on the program.
Don’t be scared to buy cards just because no one else is buying them
That was me when I entered back into the Hobby.
Not anymore.
Defying mainstream and being a part of the counterculture movement is rip with opportunity.
✨Protect Your PC from It’s Shine
I don’t want to speak on your behalf and hate to make assumptions, but I’d probably make a bet that you have some shiny cards in your PC.
You know the types of cards that when you move around and the light hits them they just speak to you?
I’ve got a lot of shiny cards. They look cool as shit. They feel significant. They have some power behind them.
The most popular shiny cards in the Hobby are the OG the Topps Chrome Refractors and it’s predecessor the Panini Silver Prizm.
People go nuts for these cards. Some people view them as a piece of currency or a starter card when jumping into a new player PC.
I can attest to this. If I’m collecting a player I like to have whatever version of shine encompasses their rookie card.
These days it’s hard to go back and be able to afford some of the Topps Chrome Refractor stuff because of the supply and demand.
Prices on these cards have gone parabolic over the last couple years.
Just take a look at the Topps Chrome Allen Iverson Refractor PSA 10
This card has gone up +8491.55% since Card Ladder has been tracking this card.
Only 36 of these cards exist.
People like me love Allen Iverson.
People like me love shiny cards.
You don’t have to take a lot of practice shots trying to draw conclusions for what this means for this card's future. 📈
I didn’t want to create a section of the newsletter to talk about how great shiny cards are or how expensive they have gotten.
We all know that already.
I do want to provide some information that I think is important to let wash over us shiny card fanatics.
We should probably stop with the Refractor v. Silver comps.
Yes, they both are great cards and both have the shine that we love, but there are a few key factors that make their place in the Hobby a bit different:
There’s a massive gap between the supply of these products that started to pick up in 2017
The rise of grading will increase the supply of every new Prizm product from this point moving forward
Because of the lack of supply of key Refractors these items become true collectibles and their value will continue to increase
Topps Chrome:
Panini Prizm:
The purpose of this is to not disregard Prizm Silver’s place in the Hobby.
The point is to make sure that you are being cautious and storing them expecting some of the same long term gains as it’s forefather.
⌛Playing the waiting game
I want to close this edition of the Weekly Rip sharing some perspective that I hope helps you.
There are an incredible amount of fun things that occur on a weekly basis that make us fall even more in love with the Hobby every day.
A big one for me (and I’ll assume for most of you) is buying cards and enjoying the hell out of mail days.
When I first jumped back in the Hobby I wasn’t satisfied unless I was receiving multiple mail days each week.
There was something about getting that package in the mail, ripping it open, and sharing it with all of you that made me feel good.
The next thing I knew the cards that I got so excited to open had lost their luster and I was ready to get out of them even if it meant losing money.
Not good!
I put this post out earlier this week.
Being disciplined in this Hobby is very difficult. There are a ton of things coming our way and hundreds of distractions.
New products. New notifications. New discounts. New everything.
My biggest piece of advice for this week is to find the inner strength to understand what you truly desire in this Hobby.
Write down your goals and list your grails.
It might seem unthinkable to obtain them, but this thing is a continual process.
Once you start operating in specific collections and set rules for yourself then magic will happen.
I learn from some of the greats and I am having more fun then every.
Be responsible. You owe it to yourself.
This is supposed to be fun and an amazing escape.
Treat it as such and treat yourself with intention.
I ask you two things in closing:
Do whatever you can to use your skills to give back to the Hobby - we need it more than ever
Please share this newsletter with whoever you think can benefit
Happy collecting,
Brett (@stackingslabs)