#20: Vintage baseball boom, late night entertainment, and breaking with Tacko
š Hello, Iām Brett from the Stacking Slabs Podcast and welcome you each Hey week to my newsletter the Weekly Rip. The goal of this newsletter is to elevate the people who make the Hobby better.
Howās it going?Ā
Change isnāt always the easiest, but can reap massive benefits.Ā
Iām no expert, but Iāve found that the most successful way to enact change is to form habits and stay committed to them. Iāve been able to form habits over the past couple years to protect both my mental and physical health and can tell you that I am better for it.Ā
Also, change happens organically and for no reason sometimes. We donāt know why we decided to make a change, but once we are in the new groove we are thrilled about it.
Iāve got a story about that kind of change that has positively impacted by operating inside and outside of the Hobby this year. It has to do with Tom Brady. The GOAT...as a Peyton Manning apologist believe me, that pains me to type, but I am better for it.
I was a hater for so long.Ā
Heās in the perfect system.Ā
Heās got the greatest coach of all-time.
Have you seen their defense?
He gets so damn lucky!
He could never do this outside of New Engā¦
That was the moment for me that Iāll never forget. It had been a couple weeks so I was over the Colts losing to the Bills and was focused on being a fan of football again. I was locked in the Green Bay Packers v. Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The battle of the current MVP and GOAT. It couldnāt get much bigger than this.
I watched Tom Brady throw 3 TDs and 3 INTs and survive that game...on the road...in January...in Lambeau.Ā
That was the moment for me. After the game I looked over at my wife and told her that I was done. I was sick and tired of being sick and tired of Tom Brady. I was done being a hater. I was now an appreciator.Ā
That decision was the best one that I ever made. It allowed me to enjoy the shit out of the Super Bowl. It has allowed me to get excited about looking at the Tom Brady market every day. Itās allowed me to connect with friends from all over the world who love Tom Brady like I love Peyton Manning.
This week Card Ladder reported an absolutely absurd amount of record sales in the vintage baseball card market from auctions that went down at Memory Lane.
1952 Topps Mantle PSA 8 went for $1.61 M
1933 Goudey Babe Ruth Green PSA 9 for $1.27 M
1933 Goudey #53 Babe Ruth PSA 9 (Pop 1) for $4.2 M
1933 Goudey #133 Action Babe Ruth PSA 7 for $161,582
I donāt collect vintage baseball nor do I pay much attention to it. Itās easy to get wrapped up and start asking questions about these sales and who would buy these cards at those prices.Ā
Just like me with Brady I think it's more enjoyable to appreciate them and be fans of the sales.Ā
News like this makes our Hobby better.Ā
The more we can zoom out and appreciate the greater expansion we will see.
On with the damn newsletterā¦
šLate Night with Hoj and ChroniclesĀ
Iāll never get tired of plugging content from the Card Ladder team because itās really good.
If you havenāt been paying attention they have been killing it with the guests that they have been adding to their Friday evening / Saturday morning stream the Crossover. They started with the monster appearance from Ken Goldin and followed it up with a conversation from Jess Craig, Director of Business Development at PWCC.
These conversations are awesome because itās promoting transparency of the people and the companies that they support. There are good and thoughtful questions delivered by Chris and Josh and I believe content like this makes our Hobby better.
Itās very easy to cast negative judgement towards some of the biggest companies in the Hobby for internal and external moves they make, but you have to give credit to individuals who join a passionate audience while likely a couple cocktails deep.
I appreciate the work that is being done on the Crossover and everyone who is using their platform to share information.Ā
šJoe Cool is Heating UpĀ
If you are a listener of the Stacking Slabs Podcast you heard me talk about the 1981 Topps Joe Montana PSA 10 Rookie Card this week. The punchline of the conversation is that this card has a Pop of 108, has increased in value $28k over the last year, and checks the box for being āhobby significantā any way you cut it.Ā
The shocker for me...you donāt hear anyone talking about this card or vintage football in general. I can safely bet there has been 1000x more pieces of content created around Justin Herbert, Joe Burrow, and Tua Tagovailoa over the past 12 months compared to the legendary Joe Montana.Ā
What does that mean or say about the football card segment of the Hobby?
On the surface, itās not a big surprise. Our escape is consumed by speculation, prospecting, and trying to do whatever we can to find that next big thing. After looking at the data and scratching my head for a minute all I could think about was the person who bought this card in 2015 for $3,103.
The entire landscape of the Hobby was different then, but imagining the elements of the purchase and what was going on in that personās head is not too difficult to picture.
It might have gone something like this:Ā
Heās the best QB Iāve ever seen and was my hero growing up
Thereās only 100 (likely less at the time) copies of this card in a PSA 10
Iām in this for the long game and this card is bound to go up over time
Itās not just Joe Montana. There are names like Favre, Aikman, Elway, Marino, and Young that shaped so many collectorās childhoods. Those were the namesĀ on the top of the sports news headlines every week and those were the players in the video games we played with as kids.Ā
The feeling that I had after I started to deeply understand this Joe Montana card was a jolt of energy around our market. It was confidence that an iconic player like Joe Montanaās card with a population of 109 should be north of $40k because there are so many collectors that felt his moments of success growing up.
Iāve been deeply and borderline obsessed with football cards ever since I got back to the Hobby. Honestly, I still canāt believe more people arenāt interested in them.Ā
Itās a special game that makes me feel something deep inside every time I get the privilege of watching these goliaths hit the field. I donāt take football for granted.
As with so many things in the Hobby, if you feel it then you should go for it. The less Iāve worried about what my fellow collector is interested in, the more fun that Iāve been having with football cards.Ā
So many collectors feel this way about MJ, LeBron, and Kobe Bryant. These are iconic figures not only in basketball, but sports.Ā
With all of the attention on these legends Iāll try to find opportunities to pick up some damn football cards that maybe less people are looking for, but represent monumental moments for me.Ā
āļøShow Innovation in Boston
I want to send a congratulations to Chris Costa hosting the Causeway Card Show last weekend in Boston. Iāve received nothing but wonderful feedback from this show the past couple of days. From the setting, to the music, service, and deals this appeared to be a card show for the year 2021.Ā
Today, I dropped an episode of SSP with Kevin Randall aka @dacaptain37 who was a dealer at the show. He had nothing, but excellent things to say about his experience at the show which is awesome. One of my favorite parts of the chat was Kevin saying that Tacko Fall was there doing breaks and all of the cards looked like minis in his hand.Ā
We need to support people like Chris who are creating experiences in sports cards that are built for 2021 and beyond. These types of things are what attract new members in the Hobby and generate growth for everyoneās sports cards.Ā
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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
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