My Sports Card Story + My Current PC

I realized I’ve talked a lot about flipping cards, but I want to make sure I don’t stray too far from my core.

And that is that I love sports cards.

Becoming a Sports Fan

I started when I was 12, about the same time that I became a hard-core sports fan. I wasn’t a big fan when I was younger, despite my dad always having games on.

I grew up in L.A., as did my dad, who talked about watching Jerry West, Wilt Chamberlain, Magic, Kareem, and others.

And one day it clicked, and I became a die-hard fan. I immediately latched onto the Lakers, which was about the time Kobe & Shaq started winning championships (nothing like winning to draw in a young fan!).

To this day, I think watching Kobe score 60 in his last game is my most memorable sports moment, even more than championships. You’ll probably think that’s strange.

Getting Started With Cards

I honestly don’t remember what got me into cards. My dad had a few cards from when he was a kid, and my older brothers were long done with collecting by the time I cared about sports.

Maybe it was just walking home past the card shop enough times that I just strolled in one day. After that, I jumped in with both feet.

I spent every penny I earned I earned on sports. I remember saving up for a plush binder built for collectors. I remember pulling a redemption for an autographed Magic Johnson poster (which I traded away for something I don’t remember 🤦‍♂️).

I remember paying $150 for 200 packs of basketball cards from ‘89 - ‘99 (took me months to pay back my parents). Taking over the counter and ripping all those packs was easily one of the best days of my life. It’s where I got the bulk of my Kobes, Jordans, and Shaqs.

(The best card I pulled was a Skybox Premium Competitive Advantage Jordan die-cut. I sold it pre-COVID for $250. Goes for about $900 now)

I remember saving up for a box of Upper Deck SPx Premium, which cost $110 at the time. I walked to middle school with all that cash in my pocket…which made me extremely nervous!

I pulled a Trajan Langdon rookie auto and freaked out! It was the first auto I ever pulled, and I remember setting it on top of the microwave until my dad’s friend could come look at it. He was thoroughly unimpressed, but to a 13-year-old, it was my first truly exciting pull.

Back then, I knew nothing about flipping cards. I checked Beckett religiously, but that was mostly so I could trade with my friends for even-valued cards. I didn’t even buy singles—only packs to rip.

Then one day…I just stopped. I was 14 or so, and I started wanting money for other things. I packed up all my cards and into the attic they went!

Rekindling the Joy of Card Collecting

Fast forward 20 years (give or take), and the sports card market exploded. Podcasts started popping up. YouTube videos showed up in my feed.

It was also about this time that my parents cleaned out the attic and brought me all my sports cards. Opening that storage box yanked me right back into those early days! I’ve rarely had so much fun as I did when going through my childhood cards.

I started learning everything I could. How to value, grade, organize, flip…all of it. I sent in several cards to get graded. I spent a ton of money on crappy boxes and overpriced cards in those early days, but that’s how I learned!

So yes, I do like flipping cards (and teaching others how to do it), but at my core, I’m a collector first. In fact, when I buy a card to flip, I still enjoy having it in my hands and looking at it.

That’s why I’ve never been a fan of the PSA Vault or sending my cards into COMC. It might be less efficient to do stuff myself, but I love those little pieces of cardboard!

What Do I Collect?

I have thousands of baseball, football, and basketball cards, but basketball will always be #1 for me.

My favorite cards are ones with special significance to Lakers fans. For example, the LeBron Prizm card doing the Kobe tribute dunk, or the 2008-09 Topp Kobe card where he’s being guarded by LeBron.

Here’s part of my display in the office:

(Yes, that’s Barad-dur on the right. If you know what that is, we’d likely be friends.)

My current PC (personal collection) is collecting autos from the Top-75 players in NBA history. I have 24 right now, with my favorites (obviously) being Magic, Kareem, West, and Anthony Davis:

And honestly, I can’t imagine giving up this hobby again. I’m probably a lifer at this point.

Thanks for reading. If you want to share your story, I’d love to read it.

Buy/Sell Targets

This doesn’t constitute investment advice, more just a window into my overall strategy as well as for entertainment purposes. All pricing and screenshots are taken from Card Ladder—the only pricing & inventory tool I use.

✔ Vladimir Guerrero ⚾ - His pricing is a bit…unpredictable, but you can play that to your advantage. Be patient and try to buy at a low price (keep an eye on auctions or make several offers on BIN cards). As the most notable name on one of the best teams in baseball, there’s a world where he hits a few home runs in the playoffs, and you can offload him for 30% profit.

✔ Bryce Harper ⚾ - With a bit of a down season by his standards, he only needs a moment or two in the playoffs to jump up. I also like the pricing history on his 2012 Topps Update PSA 10. If you can get into this card for under $70, there’s a significant history of it jumping to around $115. That would be a nice flip in the next 2 months.

✔ Derrick Henry 🏈 - I’ve decided the rules don’t apply to him 😂. He’s in the best system for running backs (except maybe Philadelphia), and some of his cards are down 40% since the beginning of last season when he started strong. Why can’t he come out on fire again and replicate the spike from last year?

❌ Shohei Ohtani ⚾ - I loved him as a buy for a long time, but I think we may be getting to a mini-peak here. 1) I think the pricing is already factoring in him winning the MVP. 2) The Dodgers are good, but odds are against them winning the World Series. 3) His lead in the MVP race is slimming. He’ll probably still win, but it’s slightly riskier now than before. 4) Some of his cards seem to be meandering at current prices for a minute, which can be a pre-drop indicator. Long-term, he’s bulletproof. But I think there’s a short-term window to sell now and even pick him back up again in 2 months.

Quick Hits

News From Around the Hobby

+ August is the Hottest Month - “According to Card Ladder…sales within the hobby exceeded $421 million in August.” The craziest thing? During COVID, that number was around $200 million—the hobby’s healthier than ever. Here’s the chart:

+ PSA Instant Offers - “PSA has expanded one of its newest marketplace features to include cash offers for cards as soon as grades are revealed….[They] will now allow customers to accept offers within a 24-hour window after grades for each order are revealed.” PSA has made big moves recently (SGC purchase, offers for PSA vault cards, repack program)…I’m bullish on everything they’re doing, and they can actually compete with some eBay and Fanatics features because everyone is already sending them their cards! Interesting times ahead.

+ 1/1 Error - One of Kershaw’s recent 1/1s has a surprising caption: “the real stumper is the ‘American League’ caption under the Dodgers logo.” So, now it’s even more of a 1/1?

+ Someone Go After the Skenes - “Thieves steal $20,000 worth of sports memorabilia from west suburban Chicago store.” I mean, we all know where the 1/1 Skenes is, and it’s worth 7 figures. I want this to be a full-on, movie-style crime heist!

Football Card Price Guide: How Much Are Yours Worth?

Whether you’re just trying to get a feel for what your old collection is worth or you’re looking to jump back in, you’ll need to learn how to accurately pull comps for your cards! [Keep Reading…]

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The content in this newsletter is for entertainment purposes only and is not intended to be actual financial or investment advice.