Q & A Time Again! Hobby Quick Hits E207

Robby Quick Hits delivering that breaking hobby news he loads you want to know those hot Josh card shaftshaff, We've got your covered. Her host John new Name, Hello, everybody, Welcome to episode two o seven of Hobby Quick Hits. Thought about doing a national one, but I'm sure there's plenty of national talk going on, so had some questions, uh kind of building up for another Q and A episode. So rather than another national episode, I'm going to do a Q and A episode, And there is a national question in there, but I'm not going to do a full fla U national question national episode.

So h Q and A and uh, you know, I always enjoy those, keep those questions coming. When I get enough uh you know, interesting ones, I will uh you know, complete an episode. If you don't wish for your name to be used, that's that's fine, uh as well sometimes that's actually the case. So with that being said, uh, let's get to it.

Okay, Now, a quick word from our great sponsor, followed by the new product release schedule. Then we'll go around the hobby verse to tell you all the latest hobby happenings and news. Then we'll tackle today's topic of discussion. Hi, this is Pat Hughes, Cubs announcer, coming to you from the Sports Card Shop in beautiful New Buffalo, Michigan.

The Gocher family has built an incredible place here for collectors to buy, sell, and trade cards and memorabilia. Be sure to stop by and let them show you around the Sportscardshop dot Com, connecting sports athletes, the hobby and collectors around the world. Hi, this is Alan Pinkett and I'm here to tell you the Gocher family has done it again. They've just opened up the Sport Card Shop in downtown Valparaiso, Indiana, and it is awesome.

If you're a collector, you need to check this place out. Tell them Alan sent you and get a free gift on your first visits. Let's check out. This week's hobby Wax release is Take It Away Max.

Hey guys, it's Max and the Sports Card Shop bringing these weekly releases for these upcoming few weeks. Here, I'm starting off on the twenty third. We have twenty twenty five Penn Illuminance Football, twenty twenty five Top Scrum, Baseball, Blast, The Breakers, Delight, the Hobby, and the Jumbo twenty twenty four to twenty five tops UEFA Club Competition's Reverend Soccer, and then twenty fifth we have twenty twenty five Panin Dominus Elite Football, twenty twenty four to twenty five Panine Noir Basketball, twenty twenty four to twenty five Paninium City in Soccer, and twenty twenty four twenty five Tops Grown Manchester United Soccer Deluxe Edition. In twenty ninth we have twenty twenty five twenty twenty four Pulse Limit Baseball and twenty twenty five TriStar Hidden Treasures Autographed Baseball Photo Edition.

On the thirtieth both of those. Also on the thirtieth we have twenty twenty five TOPS Garbage Pail Kids Worst of the Garbage Pail Kids fortieth anniversary. In twenty twenty five, twenty six Upper Deck MVP Hockey, and then some to be determined releases. Also in July are twenty twenty five pence for Football, the Hobby Blaster, twenty twenty four to twenty five Pennie Select Basketball Hobby Mega and the Select Football Hobby Mega, twenty twenty four to twenty five TOPS Chrome Basketball Sapphire, twenty twenty five Tops Marvel Chrome Sapphire, twenty twenty five tops Ull see Chrome Sapphire, and on August first, we have twenty twenty five leaf Metal Baseball Hobby and Jumbo and twenty twenty four to twenty five Pennin Mose Basketball Fastbreak.

Thank you guys for tuning in the Podcassenger the rest of the show. Let's go round the hobby verse and catch up on this week's hobby news and. Find out all right, that's the price is right, loser sound effect and bad day for the hobby right, and this is not new to the hobby, but the pack and the largeness of this story, uh is what is the news right out? Coming out of Indiana A raid on the property of Brent Lemieux, a well known autograph seller uh mister man Cave, amongst other businesses. Uh.

During the raid, he typed out basically a con a very long confession onto an autograph forum message board, basically admitting what he did uh and UH you know which was forge autographs by hand. He used auto pen. He acquired holograms from p s A JSA, Uh, not from them directly, but counterfeit ones to make autographs look authentic. Uh.

He was involved with other people who were in on the scam in forgery ring. The FBI again rated his properties and uh with semi trucks and took stuff away, and again he mentioned people. He mentioned companies that he reproduced their coas and said that he sold more than the all total three hundred to five hundred million dollars worth of fake autographs and you know, did not was not remorseful whatsoever. Uh.

You know, mentioned that he thought about stopping, but the money, the lore that that financial windfall was too strong to get out the file. I don't know how. Soon after he wrote his confession slash manifesto, he committed suicide by a gunshot. Uh so at forty five years old.

I believe he had kids and a wife and did not want to face the music on what he did, especially after admitting it to it publicly. So sort of took the easy way, coward's way out. But let's talk about you know. I read a quote from Steve grad On paraphrasing saying, this will be when all said and done, this will be the biggest autograph forgery scandal ever to rock the hobby, even bigger than Operation Bullpen.

There's tons of Wayne Gretzky auto penn pucks in the market that are not really signed. He mentioned certain players that he did a lot of, Patrick Mahomes being one of them, Tom Brady being another one of them, again utilizing auto pen. He even had some real ones and he would mix in there so, you know, just to sort of make it even more believable. You know, he had pictures with athletes and so it's you know, just for this this coming just before the National.

If you attend the National, you know there are dealers there that all they do deal with is autographed items, you know, whether it be bats, index cards, balls, equipments, canceled checks, programs, tickets, And it just puts a black eye on the hobby. Not that everyone is bad and doing the same thing, but it also throws, you know, a shot a dark cloud over the like, you know, what I have in my inventory? Is it real? What percentage is it? Now? Have I ever bought something thinking it's real? Now it's not. I'm going to the National to buy an autograph item. Now, I don't know, should I? I don't.

I'm so uneasy. Right, just really throws a lot of things up in the air. You know, I don't set up at the National. But if I was an autograph dealer at the National, someone like Les Wolf, maybe we need to talk to him.

You know, what does this mean? How does this affect what you do? If you're running obviously a legitimate business. You know, it's like breaking, right, you get like a few bad breakers, but the whole breaking industry is sort of looked as shady. Well, it's kind of the same concept here, although there are a lot of great autograph dealers and memorabilia sellers that do everything above board, no shadiness. But when something like this rocks the hobby, it just puts that dark cloud over the whole hobby and that whole space of autograph memorabilia.

So I think I'm going to reach out to Less and see if I can maybe interview him on site at the National and talk about this very thing. Speaking of National, have some news. We're usually blessed to do a couple main stage performances. That is not changing this year.

Hobby Hotline, the show with multiple co hosts that I'm part of. We'll be taking the National main stage on Thursday to thirty first at noon to one o'clock and from one o'clock to two pm Sports Carnation Live. We'll be taking the stage and I'll be joined by Tony DiMarzio and Tony Lebreck Southern Collector and tj is Online for if you know their screen names, Heavy Vintage Talk and for an hour there. So from twelve to two you got Hobby Hotline and then Sports Cardination Live.

That's Thursday, August thirty. First Cops Premier League. We'll be making its debut this summer. They got that license last year from Pannini.

They're producing their first cards this summer, first Overseas first, and then it'll make its way over here. If you have any money left after the National and you're looking for an M one oh one Dash four ultra rare Herbolzheimer Babe Ruth back Rookie card, Heritage Auctions might be the place to go. I wonder if this card will actually be previewed at the National. Will be interesting to see.

Expected to fetch at least two million dollars and upwards past that. Just a very rare card, single digits of graded copies, and this one is graded A seven, so a very high grade ultra rare Babe Ruth Rookie card will bring easily seven figures. So again, if you have some money left in your pocket after the national you might want to look at heritage auctions there. Speaking of money in your pocket, you're probably if you do a lot of shipping of cards, you're probably gonna have a little bit less in your pocket.

As the postal rates continue to rise six point three percent for anything priority on average, and a seven point one increase on even ground advantage shipping, and even like your your eBay standard envelope is going up by twenty five cents, So rates across the board for postal service service, it's gonna cost you more the ship cards. And you know this is nothing new, as it just continues to rise, and they're just trying to get some stability as they are generally in debt and and you know, operating at a loss, they're trying to eliminate that. And I'm gonna cast your ordership obviously, you know where I'm gonna go here. Any kind of discount service you use pirate ship rollo eBay shipping through their site where you get a little discount, all that will help you to offset some of those rising shipping costs.

So there's the news and all right, we got seven questions on the docket today. Two of them are actually questions I've got I got from multiple people, and five are from specific people, so these are no particular order. So Jen asked John, what is the safest way to store cards? I guess you mean in general. Well, I guess it's a personal preference.

I used to be a toploader guy, and I've switched to semi rigids. I like semi rigids. They take up less space, they still protect a card, they don't yellow in the same fashion that top loaders do. And you know the other thing I like about semi rigids that's how we send in our cards for gradings, so they're kind of already in a grading submission holder should that card need to get sent away for grading.

But that's not the only reason I like them. Other people do it a different way. You know, top loaders are more popular than semi rigids, even though for me it's the other way around. Some other people, you know, do different systems.

Like anything twenty dollars an under will be in a you know, toploader or semi rigid. Anything under like five bucks might be just a soft sleeve. Anything over twenty bucks might be in a mag I you know, and so again it depends on personal preference. Most of these supplies, you know, if you get them from a reputable source, are going to you know, do the job that they're supposed to do.

So it's kind of the beauties in the eye of the beholder with this question. But you know, I've turned into a a semi rigid guy from a top voader guy. But I'm only speaking for myself, So I hope that, hope that helped maybe just you know, whatever system works for you, Hey, I'm anything over this value, I'm going to put in this kind of holder, anything under this you know, whatever system works for you and that you're happy with, and you can always pivot, you know. I remember when I first went to semi rigids.

It took me a couple of days to get everything out of top loaders and into semi ridge, but we did it. So that I hope, again, hope that clarifies it a little bit for you. Jerry messaged me pretty direct and said, John, how much money do you make from content creation? Well, I'm not going to tell you. You know, you're not gonna like my answer, Jerry, I do make money from content creation.

I'm not going to tell you exactly how much. I will tell you that it's not why I do content creation. It's never been, and actually when I started doing content creation, it wasn't. I wasn't making any money initially so and I still kept producing episodes.

So it's kind of come with the expansion of the show and as momentum has built. Again. I'm not going to give you an exact figure. I will just say it's it's I'm not crying poverty, and you know, I'm not quitting my teaching assistant job, but I will say it's it's it's closed that gap if you will.

And you know, when people talk about going full time in the hobby, whether that's as a dealer and a content creator or just one or the other, you know, I'm a dealer and a content creator. Could I go full time in the hobby just on those two you know hats that I wear? The answer is actually yes, but I don't want to. I love what I do as a teaching assistant. I love the group of kids I work with, I love the staff I work with, and you know, full disclosure, some really kick ass benefits via the Teachers' Union so you know, whether I can go full time, it doesn't matter.

I wouldn't do it irregardless. So hopefully that shed's a little light. I know you were probably looking for a dollar amount. I kind of sort of gave you that answer without officially giving you a number.

All right, not fun. That next question here can be an email from Sam. How many sporting events have you been to? I'm guess seeing maybe that means all the time. He didn't get specific.

Maybe this question is coming from me posting, h you know, some pictures from the Syracuse Mets. I'm a media credential holder for the Syracuse Mets, so I try to get to some games it's two miles from my house and and cover them and post some pictures. And you know, a lot of big names come through Syracuse, your Roman Anthonyes, Tristan Cassas, the Mets, you know, Young Nucleus Baby, Francisco Alvarez, Vianos and and others, and so it's fun to watch those guys. If you count even those kind of games minor league games all time, I would probably say a thousand or close to it.

If you're talking just major league games of all sports, you know, would probably be seventy five into to the Hunters. I love attending live sports. Live sports I've never attended. I've never been to an NHL game.

I've been to an AHL game, believe it or not. Been to plenty of NFL football games, plenty of Major League Baseball games. I've been to a couple of NBA exhibitions at the what it was the Carrier Dome here in Syracuse, but growing up in New York City, I definitely was at Yankee Shay and City Field a lot. So you know, I love sporting events.

I always will and try to get to as many as I can. I got a couple coming up. I'll be going to the White Sox game, you know, during the National and Wednesday they're playing the Phillies. And I got a Boston trip scheduled with my wife a couple of weeks after the National concludes.

Never been to Boston and going to see a Red Sox Orioles game at Fenway Park, uh so, obviously never being the Boston, never been to Fenway Park. So any trip I make, whether it be on my myself, like to the National, or with my spouse on vacation, if there's a sport invent in town. I tried to catch it, especially if it's a place I never been to. Uh South Uh dm me and asked me, you know, and he's a one of my bolk sub guys for my SGC bolk suburb.

And he messaged me and like, you know, asked about sc sgc's future question mark. Uh, you know, I'll answer it this way, so and you know I did at the Future of SGC episode a couple of weeks ago on Hobby Quick Hits. Uh, you know, check that out. I hope it's bright.

Hope they're not going away. I of STC has nothing to do with them being a sponsor of the programming. I loved them before that, so I hope. I hope they're in it there around for the long haul.

But you know, we can wish in one hand and do something in the other, as they say, so, only time will fully tell. Here's one of those questions I get from more than one person, and I got a few more again, and basically it says, hey, John, I followed you on social media, didn't follow back? How come or will you? And I try to follow people back as I notice people following me. I know I miss people sometimes I always say that I've answered this question before. The best way to get a followed back or a reciprocal i'll follow back is not only the follow, which I do truly appreciate, but if you like a post or comment on a post, I tend to notice those and then notice I'm not like following that person, and so then I go ahead and click follow.

So that's really the best way if I don't naturally follow you back. All right, Lynn messaged me and said, can you give me a couple of players that make, in your opinion, are the best investments. And I know some people don't like the I word. Lynn has no problem with it.

Apparently I don't either, And again, these are my opinion, you know, almost like a stock market commercial. Right, These are the opinions of me and me alone, right, unless others may share that. I'm a big Bobby Wick guy. I know, and sometimes you know, with Otani and Paul Skins and others, and sometimes he doesn't get enough credit, and you know, I know he's not cheap, but I like him.

In baseball, you got Jackson Holliday starting to play well. His cards took a dip on last year's struggle so it might be early to get back in on him. You know, you've heard me talk about be careful of pictures. I love what Paul Skens does, but you know there's always the risk there of injury, and that could happen to a position player, right too, guy too.

Right, But with a pitcher just you know, throwing that hard, just more susceptible to injuries where they may never be the same. And you know they're not the only ones. I mean, show Hey is just an incredible player. His stuff is not cheap.

But if he keeps up this trajectory, he's still got a lot of years of baseball in him. And if you believe he's getting back on the mound and going to be dominant there too, he still might be a bye even at the levels he's already at. I always try to pick up his stuff. That's baseball.

I don't really speculate too much in hockey, but you know, Connor Bredard hasn't lit it up. If you believe in him turning out to be what a lot of people hope and believe he can be, he might be someone to look at her. A lot of great young hockey players besides kind of the Dore too. So if hockeys, you think you got a lot of options in baseball too, and I mentioned a few, but there's even more than that.

Football. I think we're seeing an upticking receiver. Receivers getting love, not just quarterbacks, and a lot of guys like that. Rock Bowers is kind of changing the game from the tight end position, playing it like a wide receiver.

Marvin Harrison Junior, a lot of people think he had a bad year, Go look, go look at the numbers on what was a slow start. I like him. His dad played here at Syracuse. Again, a lot of young talent in the NFL.

I think this is a make or break year for Caleb Williams in Chicago. He's got the weapons, he's got a new built up front offensive line that might give him more time to get the ball out and not take sack. So if you're a believer in Caleb Williams, I think this could be the year. And his stuff's you know, being overshadowed by Jaden Daniels.

His stuff has come down. So there are a lot of guys like that that maybe off a down year, but things are now in place where they can rebound and play well. That's maybe when to maybe you know, buy a few cards of that guy or more so, there's some I don't do a ton with basketball folks, so I'm not gonna comment to that. I will just say that, you know, Shay Gilgess, Alexander just won his first NBA championship.

That's a young team, young and hungry. He's probably arguably one of the best players in the NBA, and they're sort of set up for probably a three, four, maybe even five year run of potentially another ring or two in there. So you know, you got to look at SGA stuff as well. When be stuff came down off the injury, the blood not the injury, but the blood cut diagnosis.

But he's going to be fine and back on the court and probably dominating again. So you know, always I always try to buy on an injury, especially when it's not a career anyone or career altering one. So he's another guy that kind of keep an eye on. And we could do a whole show on this and I might now let I answer the question and took a few minutes doing it.

Last one and this is one I also get from multiple folks. You know, one under the radar or one not obvious national tip you know other and I guess that means other than the standards right where the odor and takes shower, pop in a breath mint here and there so you don't get that dragon, breath wear comfortable shoes, right, those are all the low hanging fruit ones. I think when people ask me that they're looking for one that not along those lines that we've beaten to death, right, and this one's not you know, uncommon or probably ann right. Cash is king, and that's for any show, but especially the National right.

As a dealer myself, I don't set up at the National, but I set up at shows. Right. If someone offers me, you know, cash, that's going to trump like a credit card or PayPal offer. For for many reasons, cash has always been, you know, king.

So if you if it's a two hundred dollars card and you offer one eighty cash, you know someone a dealer is more likely to take the one eighty cash over one ninety or even slightly more via a credit card or PayPal transaction. And let's talk about a couple of those reasons truth be told, right, one might be and you know those trans actions can be tracked and trace for sales tax and you know or you know there's fees and surcharges on those kind of payments depending on how they're made. I know when I take credit cards at my shows, it's a three or three three, and I think it's three percent search chart. So if someone runs a one hundred dollars credit card transaction with me, it costs three bucks, so I get ninety seven.

And what I typically do is I pass that cost on. I hate to do it when I passed the cost on to the consumer, so I you know, in that case, I will tell them, hey, I gotta I can take a credit card, but you got to pay that three percent search art, so instead of one hundred dollars, that transaction one oh three. Most people are very comfortable with that or kind of abuse to that sort of terrain. I've never had anyone really give me too much grief about it.

But so you know, cash is king if you have cash, and you know, I know something. I don't like to carry a lot of cash, but if you're looking for a significant card, it could potentially having cash can save you a significant amount of money.