"Reviewing 2025" w/ Tony De Marzio E363

Sports Guard, Nations, Hobbies, the People, Wheely News and Interviews. It's you on Number one Soul, Sports Gardations, Hobby Is the People, Spats. Guarnation, What is up? Everybody? Welcome to episode three sixty three of Sports Coordination, joined by my good friend today as our guest on the show, Tony Demarzio. And we're kind of, you know, this episode being part one, and next week's episode will be part two.

We kind of do the year end round up and kind of go through the gamut of things that happened throughout the Hobby year, if you will, and kind of wigh in, give our thoughts and opinions on you know, what happened, what we think happens because of it, and that that sort of thing. And Tony's a smart guy, and uh, you know, when I had him on, I said, well, what are we gonna talk about? And he he's like, hey, just let's wrap you know, it's November, let's wrap uh, let's wrap this year up and kind of put a bow tie on it. So today is part one of that and then next week, uh, part two. And and you know, we don't we don't beat around the bush.

We're not we don't mince words, and we kind of put some stuff out there. So I hope, uh hope you enjoyed the conversation as much as me and Tony did having it before we get the shows started. I want to thank uh as always our great sponsors that make this show possible, Iron Sports Card Rob Rob. Taking your folk submissions for SGC and p s A Sports Collectors Digest Uh getting the rite for them has been a lot of fun.

And continuing to do so and to highlight some people with my hobby as the People Column, it's been been very blessed to do that hobby hotline. We keep it going. We're on the four Collectors Network now and Upper Deck. They let me preview some products and do some reviews on them and so and give some stuff away to you folks.

So that's always always good. So with that being said, let's get the show started, all right. Always happy to have the next gentleman on the program here on Sportscard Nation. And today we're going to kind of wrap up the years where we're in in November here, coming down the home stretch towards Christmas and the holiday season.

But you know two guys that kind of tell it like it is. I like to think so, and that's exactly what we're gonna do. We'll be all over the board with today's conversation, just kind of talking about different things in the hobby and sort of the again wrapping up the year that was, if you will. But glad to be joined by my good friend Tony Demarzio.

Tony as always welcome. Thanks for having me on, John, And I'm pumped out after that intro. It always gets. Me there you go.

It's like a football, like the coach gives a big speech and you run out there and you know, we'll see what happens. But now here we are, like again coming down the home stretch, like I said, and I mean, there's so many different places we can start off. Kind of let's start off with grading the grading terrain, Tony, and again you know, take this wherever you will. You know, sort of what I do with SGC as a folk suburb, We've no you know, we don't have to rehash everything going on there.

PSA has kind of moved into uh SGC locations as well. Uh some of the subs are down on the SGC side. PSA's got its own dilemmas with different things and whatnot. And you're someone that owns graded cards, has cards graded, you know just where you know, way in here, where do you see you know, uh, grading and what's going on in that space? Yeah, So with grading, I consider we're at a point now where it's pre collectors acquiring SGC and post and I'm comparing how it was before and now, and I think I'm in a dilemma with my son that I think a lot of other hobbyists are having.

He has a stack of cards with me that. We combined and we need to get a graded and we don't have that SGC option anymore for the Ultra Modern and even the Vintage because it just takes two long and so that gives us SG if that gives us c G, CGC Beckett and PSA. And the problem with PSA is that you know, the calls went up that the layser there, so he doesn't want to send the cards because he wants to get the cards, you know, in a couple of weeks like what we were used to. And if you pay for the.

Expedited service, then you know, chances thought you would have it ship door to door graded within a week, so you know, it's tough. And then on top of that, you know, my son and I and many others were worried about, you know, the quality of degrading. You know, we're spending money on these. Cards, especially a sixteen year old, and when you get the cards back and you got to submit them a couple of times to get the grades, you think that they're worth, that they deserve.

It just gets it's a frustrating experience. And then on top of that, we all see that, you know, we get our cards, we buy cards, and there are certain grades, and then you know, you go on TikTok, you go on Instagram other social media, you get an auction catalog and you see all these PSA eight, nines and tens that were greated twenty years ago, thirty years ago, some even ten years ago. You could tell by the SERTs and their inferior cards. And what's really frustrating for some of us is you see these old certificate cards in newer slabs, so you know they went through the reholdering process and you're wondering, like jeezy.

You know, recently there was a fifty two top Shacky Robinson PSA eight sold for I think a million, one hundred and forty thousand dollars. In twenty twenty one or twenty twenty two, another auction house gets it, sells for one hundred and eight thousand dollars, give or take. Then the private seale happens right before the twenty twenty four Cleveland National or right after, and person buys it. It's clearly trimmed on the top and a brand new holder, and the person, I guess followed the claim because now it's then altered slab.

So it's just things like that. And then you know, you see these eights, and you see like a seventy five Reggie Jackson. It was a top so many PSA ten went for like nearly one hundred thousand dollars. It's clearly a seven, you know, but it's in a shiny new holder.

So I guess so, and I'm thinking about this, you know, talking to friends, and we're guessing that maybe you know, PSA is a business. Collectors is a business. PSA is one of their businesses. And I get why things are happening the way they are.

They have to make more and but it's at the expense of us. And when we see these old graded cards and the new graded cards that are you know, held to extremely strict standards, and you're wondering, well, why did this card that was great at ten fifteen years ago in a new holder and it looks like a you know, not as good as my card, And then you wonder, well, maybe it's because there are two hundred and fifty thousand dollars is guarantee. So when you go, when you submit through PSA, you're buying insurance before the card gets created, and answer the card gets created when it gets back to you, that's the up charge if it's on the tail end. But when you.

Select a tier, that's you know, you're buying insurance because they're guaranteeing that if anything happens to the card in the future with a different owner, the card is protected in that case. So all these. People when they're reholding their cards, they're not going to say anything. PSA is not going to say anything at the cards or inferior or trimmed or damaged most of the times, because every household only has a two hundred and fifty thousand dollars cat so and that can go pretty quickly.

With the ultra modern market, you know, somebody's cards or skyrocketing Jada Daniels before the injury, Herbert. You know, even Daniel Jones says, a couple of high cards. So and if you're a box submitter or a dealer, then you got multiple cards. So two hundred and fifty thousand dollars payout.

So we're hurt there. So you know, if I have an expensive card and I don't want to, I'm not going to get the value of my card if it's over two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Not that I have that, but you won't get it. And at the PSA end of it, they don't want to pay two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.

It is a problem. So I wish that they would rework that card guarantee just to be a little bit more friendly to us. And I think that's part of the reason, in my opinion, our grading standards are stricter today than they were yesteryear. Yeah, and because the changes Tony right, that brings in the inconsistency you know, up charges, I know was a big topic this year.

I'm not a fan of them. I don't think people should necessarily be penalized because they sent an expensive card to a company. Matter of fact to me, and I've had this conversation with these guys that you know, run these grading companies that Turner Peter Steinberg before he stepped down, you know, like these companies should be to me, I like flattered that they're being trusted with a card of this significance, you know, But they're gonna tell you, you know, kind of the company lines that there's gonna be more labor intensive, more people looking at the cards, more insurance to cover it, to get to ship it back, and and I get some of that. I just think they can maybe do up charges and not have them be as steep, if you will, and whax someone over head.

But you know, I've made those phone calls Tony, and I might have had this conversation even not recorded with you. I've made those phone call calls as a folk suburb to people have sub with me to let them know, like, hey, you know, I got good and bad news. I guess you know. The good news is this card got this grade.

The bad news is it's gonna cost you eighty five more bucks, one hundred and seventy more bucks, three hundred and fifty more bucks and I'll be you know, in full transparency. Every time I've had to make that call, it's won a lot better than I anticipated. People are like, Okay, that's cool. But I myself, I've been upcharged on one car and I'm not you know, maybe I'm maybe I'm frugal, maybe I'm cheap.

I'm not a fan of that. What I'd like to see, I'll bounce this off of you, Tony. What I love to see is kind of like the JSA model. Right when you get an autograph like sort of like authenticated by JSA, you're gonna charge you based on who it is, So you know, Bob Feller is gonna probably be thirty forty bucks.

I don't have the list in front of me. Mickey Manto's gonna be one hundred and fifty bucks, Louke Garrett's gonna be three hundred bucks. Maybe these up charges can kind of be like, hey, if you're grading you know, a man O fifty one Bowman and it gets over this, it's going to cost you this, uh, you know, and maybe they can sort of have a price ting even when you're entering them in the system, Like just be aware that if it gets if it falls into this tier, and this is gonna cost you this much. If it goes past that tier, now it's gonna cost you even more, a little bit upfront pricing, if you will.

I think that would to me, that would be better, and they would still they would still get more. Or even do like a flat rate, like hey, a fifty one bowman and I'm using that card is sort of the post. Because Jordan ro because we don't have that card. Yeah, it's right behind me invisible, you can't see it, but you know, insert whatever I kind of card you want, right Hey, this card, or even come up with a flat rate, like hey, you're subbing a fifty one bowman mantle.

Instead of it being thirty bucks, it's gonna be one hundred bucks, whether it gets an authentic or it gets a seven, Like, it's one hundred bucks. Every every man that comes through here, we're gonna have to charge one hundred bucks for uh, even if even if it's like turned out to be a fake. That's the risk you have to decide you want to take. So I'd rather see that than sort of the up charges after And I know I've talked about it on my podcast before you know that's my too.

But you know it's funny because when I've made those phone calls Tony, like I said, people have been pretty really really good about it, and uh, you know, probably better than me, uh being on the other end of that phone call. But you know, you're way in there, and then you know there's a lot of people, you know, saying, hey, the end is near for SGC. As someone who loves SUC you know, full disclosure sponsor of this podcast, someone I use, but I use them before they were sponsors. I always say, I don't want to see them go away.

So what you know, where do you where do you see that going? And your take an up charge? So for anything that would make the grading process simpler, more simplified, and uh more cost effective for both the business the greater and us, I just think that right now, with what we're dealing with, it's too It's it's like a it's a strategic game right now. It's like, you know, you want to buy a stock or you want to buy a car, but it's the wrong time of the year to buy a car, because maybe it's the start of the summer. And that's what grading to me feels like. We're in a hot market.

Cards are you know, really near the top. A lot of cards have surpassed or even COVID eyes, and I'm thinking, well, you know, I has you know, I got a you know, bird magic and a bird and magic looky card here and it's it's raw. My son picked it up at a show years ago, and I just never. Thought about grading it.

And I'm talking to him about grading, and I'm Anthony, sure you want to grade this down because if you send it to SGC, who knows how long it's going to take. If you send it to PSA, yeah you might get up charge. But here's the thing, it's probably like a mid grade card. But let's say it created higher.

Well, the market's higher right now, so that upcharge is going to be hired today that it may be a year from now. I know it's definitely higher now that it was a two years ago. So now you have to time in do I really want to get this card? Grade it now? When PSA is going to value it more? And then you get to worry about the comps they're using, because that's a whole different story. You are listening to the sportscard Nation podcast.

We'll be right back after this break. Iron Sports Cards is your number one source for all your PSA and other grading submissions. Their elite status improves turnaround times. Heck, they even provide the card savers.

Their chap rooms provide updates on all your submissions. They also offer wax options and single cards to cover all the bases. Check them out on Facebook at Iron Sports Cards Group or on the web at Iron Sportscards, or even give them a call at one eight seven seven Iron PSA. Rob's got you covered.

We batch. I just want more. I like how grading was? You know, I had a couple. I had one submission in two thousand and four.

The only time I ever graded with TSA two I got back into the hobby is my childhood cards. I just did a ten grade, you know, a ten uh. It was a ten card sub and it was a very easy process that I remember, even though I filled everything out on paper. But I still have access to that PSA account and I'm able to see what I had grade at those ten cards.

Now, it's just you just kind of. Picked different tiers like I got. I was able to get a seventy two Schmidt sign and a seventy three Schmidt OPG sign. The OPG card isn't worth anything near the seventy two Schmidt and I had a like, do I want to send them out? I mean, do I want to get them graded together? Then I got a raise up one value or raise down one value just to get them in the same tier.

Or do I have to do two separate tiers? But then I got to bay shipping twice. It's like, yeah, I'll save on the OPG. I would save on the grading level, but then I got to pay more shipping because I'm paying for shipping twice now instead of just the once. So I put them on the same and I got up charge for the one card, but the other card I didn't get up charge because I was nowhere near the value.

So it's just it's too complicated. And that's what STC was doing right. They had two grading tiers. It was simplified and it just needs to go back to that.

But you know, it's a business collectives wants to go IPO. I think that's you know, it's one of the hobby's worst kept secrets, and they're going to do what any business would do. They have to maximize their revenue. Watch the cost and everything they're doing now is everything I have observed when it comes to a company absorbing another one.

And then after a. Year you start to see the changes going to effect and uh and then what a the cost cutting phase now and they're still trying to maximize revenue. Maybe we'll see change you have to the IPO. I'm not sure, but whenever that is, but that's my guess where it's going.

I think we are. I think sgc's going to go away soon. And honestly, if it doesn't go away and it just stays as name as itself, we're never going to have the SGC customer service like we had before. You know, PSA does some great things with their customer service, so I'm not just saying sgc's customer service was better, but they would respond via email if you ran into a problem.

It will be easier to get in contact with folks. And but you know, again, you're dealing with more folks submitting cards at the same time as you, whether it's TCG or sports, and it's just a mess. But going back to you know, things you hear in the hobby, I don't envision my own opinion might be dead wrong, but I you know, you hear things through the grape vine, like collectors tried to acquire SEC multiple times. There were certain things in the terms that maybe collectors didn't want in the terms or SGC didn't want, and uh, you know, maybe one of those may have been a crossover service.

You know where SGC slabs would cross over. In the PSA. I don't know, but it's not happening. And uh, you know, when you have someone like me, I had a SGC two demag you acquired, I thought it was you know, I wanted in a PSA slab for set registrary because the case if I ever sell it, and I got denied with a minimum grade crossover too.

But guess what, I cracked that same card out, set it in roll and I got my two, so I had to pay for grading twice, but I ended up getting my card graded properly and now it's at the correct grade. So it's not just wish things. It should just make it easier acrossing over from one because they're under the same company out but you should be able to cross over SGC DPS SAY or p S to SGC, and then you have some process. In place just to make things easy.

It is what it is, and we just got to live with it. Yeah, uh, you know, I hope you're wrong with the s GC going away, But at this point I guess nothing. Nothing surprises me, you know, yeah, yeah, you know, And you could be right, Tony, you could be right. I hope you're not.

As much as I love you, I hope you're wrong there because I don't want to actually, but you know, p s A has moved into building. Now, you know, it's a You can look at that two ways, right, They're just they're going to coexist and being in the same building. Uh that you know cuts the overhead down some cost cutting. Or you can look at the other side of that coin, like when SGC is not around, they're already have a building in there because it's them only, right.

So I guess it depends who you talk to and and the opinion, uh you get. I think one thing I will say, and I think you you'll probably agree with this. Whatever. If that's gonna happen, it's probably going to happen in the next few months, you know.

I think that's where we're weded. You know, if you if you look at some of the different things and the different shoes that have dropped. I think it's going to be in the next three to five months, if not sooner that that would happen. If it's gonna happen.

But you know, I heard, I know, we talked off the air, if you will, and I had mentioned to you that, you know, I've heard whispers that Fanatics was trying to buy SGC at the time as well. With Fanatics, you know, was very transparent when they acquired TOPS and the licensing that they wanted to also get into the grading space. I think they you know, the rumor was that they had tried to purchase U s GC more than once. Maybe and maybe that's where the whole collector's thing, uh kind of comes in, and maybe SGC was trying to really hold both of those to tease off and then decided, look, you know, we can't hold them off forever.

Let's just take the best deal, you know. And I when I heard these whispers from when someone told me that this was potentially going on, I had my own head. I just think if Fanatics owning any grading company to me is a conflict of interest when you're grading your own cards that you met, that should should be done like that. So had had a fanatics acquired SGC.

As much as I love SGC, that would have been the end for me. That would have been I would have stopped the sponsorship. I would have stopped sending cards that way, just because I don't morally and ethically I can't support that. So I'm glad that didn't happen.

You know, I guess the the Collectors was the lesser of two evils for me. I just again, at the end of the day, I just I hope it doesn't result in SGC not existing no more. And here's the thing that I would say, the collectors, and it's nothing they don't already know. And I think they're seeing it already with some of these population reports and the generate reports.

Right, if they phased SGC out, Tony, and you know this as well, and probably most people listening notice, well, there's going to be a number two company if it's not SGCU, and some would argue it's not even SGC. Now it's going to open that door for someone else, right, And there are people that say, hey, I don't want to send a PSA, I only send a SGC. So those are the kind of people. If you get rid of SGC, those people are still not going to send the PSA.

They're most likely going to go, whether it's Beckett, CGC or another grading company. And again that's going to open the door. I'm not saying PSA is going to lose their number one footing, but someone's going to be more entrenched at number two than they already are. And and so that's, you know, that's what you're you're doing if you get rid of SGC.

Sure they know that. I'm sure that's not the only consideration comes down to the dollars and cents too. But you know, we'll see what happens. Yeah, we sure will.

Grading is not a topic I like to talk about. I'm sure you know it's it should be fun grading cards. That's the you know, that's the moral of where I'm getting at. That's that's the moral of a story.

And it's not. And but I will say one thing about collectors. The p S A ticket grading service. I'm hearing great things about it.

I went through it myself. I know they're down in Texas now. The head of the ticket grating seems to be a true collector through and through. Maybe it doesn't have to worry about the business side of things, doesn't have to report to a board like NAT does.

But I'm hearing positive things from my ticket collecting friends. And uh and that's good stuff. So at least that's going on. Right, Yeah, I think are fluid man.

Things will change quick. And and you know, even by the time this comes out, who knows what what developed or what news story broke. You know, things happen uh quick. But uh, we're gonna see.

We're gonna see what develops, who's still around and uh and what those numbers bear out and what new you know, plus new technologies. And uh, I don't have a ton of tickets, but I do have some, and uh I've had good luck, you know grading those tickets that I've had great in the p s A. So I actually have another one that's on my list to get subbed in there. So we'll see.

Uh, you know, I got to get that uh done. So uh, well, let's talk about let's pivot to somewhere. You know, I don't want to beat grading to death. Like you said, you're you're not a huge fan of like talking about it in this regard, So let's let's go kind of the next thing on my list Tony, you know, and we're seeing, you know, a lot of big cards sell for auction.

We're seeing a lot of social media and contact creation where people are you know, posting a lot of their purchases. And you know, some people will call it a flex I mean I postcards, you post cards, But you know, some people are really like, you know, I don't necessarily play in that upper upper exelon stacee. I have a lot of nice cards, some of them are behind me on camera. But but but you know, we're talking about real, real big voy cards and some you know, you know people use the word flexing and that sort of thing, and you know, I guess it doesn't bother me to I'll just say this.

I guess when it becomes more about you know, look at me, and not more less about the card and more about the person. And you know, I think in today's day and age, right, we're seeing these news stories where stores are getting robbed and broken into, and in some cases even you know, robbed in opening hours and zip tying a store manager and putting them in the back of the store and then taking what you will, right, we see stuff getting stolen at the national and other shows in broad daylight. Right, I'm always leery and again I'm not even I don't even have some of the cards I'm kind of referring to. I'm always leary about posting that too much, right, And I know, you know a lot of people will be like, oh man, he's just showing off or or you know, and and that sort of thing.

Kind of where do you fall on folks that do this? Again, it's a free country, right, people can post what they will and want. But it's you know, I think I always try to I guess I'll say this for for you know, in defense of myself. Yeah, I'll post my Jackie Robinson rookie. Sometimes it's a one air well I'll post a thirty dollars card and a forty dollars card and a ten dollars card that I like too.

I try to get, you know, sort of run the gamut where it's not all you know, all high three figures, four figures, high four figure that kind of stuff. Kind of where do you fall in on this? You know, with some of these you know, air quotes flexes here. I don't really have that problem because my biggest PC is probably Steve Jeltz and I got Steve Jeltz here in a phantom display case Nano that I picked. Up for fifteen dollars.

And it came with a stand for next year twelve and definitely cost more than the card. And I like to pride myself from being maybe the world's largest Steve Jeltz collector. So I don't have that, No, I don't. I don't think this.

Maybe I think we can you are, yeah, I don't think there's maybe yeah the family member that's just properly. But even then I still think you're you're the guy. But uh, you know, some people want, you know, are able. Some people it's different tiers in the hobby of you know, what people do for a living.

I mean, everything we all have in common is we clib cards. What tends to get different other than you know, where we live, is our occupation. You got a little bit of a. Salary, differences and so on.

So you know, the nice thing about cards is you can have a CEO of a company hanging out with a person who just started at that very thing. But because you share the common passion and that's sports. What's part of sports sports cards, So folks want to advertise their collection. They want to show off in a good way.

You know, they want to share with the community. It's about you know, having friends and friendships and you. Know, meeting new people. And yeah, you know you got to be worried like anything else.

You know, just in the news not too long ago, there was a family not that far and they got robbed and you know, someone got hurt early bad because a person who happened to be hired to help on that property saw some antiques that they thought were valuable. So they came back a couple of days later and they robbed the family and someone. So it's terrible. Then you hear stories about the family man and his wife in California.

I think they got a Babe ruth ballstolee sign ball along. With other things. So you know, it's like it's like what we're told when we go on social media, don't advertise, so to speak. You're going on vacation where you do.

So if you want to show off cards, just you know, be aware you may there may be you know a bad consequence with that too. But in terms of you know, showing off different cards of different you know, tiers of value and popularity, and player. You know, it's nice to be able to show off what we have. And at the end of the day, if you want to display and share with the world which you have, just you know, do it because you love it, you know, don't do it because you think it's like a stick measuring contest, because you know, that's not where That's not what the hobby is about.

It's about community. And uh, you know, not all of us are equal memes. So that's my thought on that. Yeah, that's kind of where we go.

I'm sorry. Uh, I think I think you may touch upon is that I have been invited to a couple of private groups, like Instagram has them, uh, Facebook has them. So there are some private groups where and I recommend that if you're in a group with people who you trust, maybe that's the better place to share, you know, or making your social media page private, you know, than just publishing everything publicly. Yeah, that's a good advice.

And that's sort of where I was going, Tony. I think there's a little bit of like kind of keeping up with the Joneses. Right. Oh, this person posted this, let me, uh you know, let me one up them with this with this card and then it becomes a little it becomes more about like bettering someone than the the enjoyment itself of the card.

And I know everyone enjoys their cards, or at least I hope so, right, or what do we doing it for? But I I feel like there's a little bit of that going on, like we we and it's not just a hobby thing, right. We see that, uh sometimes in the in the sneaker market. Uh, I know we talked, even in the watch market and anything collective in the art world. I think there's a little bit oh like, yeah, that's nice, but check this out.

I got you there. And I think that's where it becomes a little personal and and it goes kind of against that that community grain, uh if you will. And that's that's sort of where you know, where I sort of fall and love chopping it up with my man Tony there. And that was again Part one, next Friday, Part two again kind of the year in review, right, just kind of the year that was.

And you know, we share our personal opinions and beliefs and thoughts and you know, no filter other than we don't swear, right and just kind of give it to you how we perceive it and believe it to be so. I hope you enjoyed it, and if you did, hope you come back next week for the conclusion in part two of our conversation. All right now, we're gonna have our Hobby as the People announce for the week and wrap up this week's episode. Time for all.

Hobby is the People Announcer of the Week. Hey guys, this is Dylan from YouTube Double the Vintage Baseball Cards reminding you that the Hobby is the people. If you'd like to be the Hobby is the People Announcer of the Week to one or m P three file and send it to Sportscard Nation PC at gmail dot com.