Dr. James Beckett: Sports Card Insights

Dustin and I kept going with our sports card hobby questions - many what-if's and hypotheticals from me - and his several questions for me were not too tricky - thanks Dustin!

This Breaking Cardboard show featured young teen and pre-teen collectors (and future of the hobby): Brody the Kid, Jacob Burris, BlakeDown, and Max and Owen Gotcher.  Those conversations stimulated many thoughts I wanted to share - thanks guys! 

It's not second-guessing if decisions have not been made yet.  Based on our combined hobby experiences, Ted and I project the impact of Fanatics on our whole category and we are optimistic.

Dustin and Brad invited me to be on their hour-long live YouTube show - catch the whole thing, but this is just a short excerpt of how it went - they made it fun - thanks guys!

A brief synopsis of the past twenty-five episodes - I get a chance to reflect on what I'd like to add and some of you get a chance to hear a little about an episode you may have missed - thanks.

GemRate has earned a place in the hobby in a short time - by bringing data analytic capabilities to pop reports - thanks Ryan for your free GemRate e-newsletter.

Industry veteran Ted Barker discusses exciting current trends in trading card industry events - not just card shows any more - lots more to offer!

Dustin has been a guest here before and has his own YouTube show - but this was a chance for us to exchange questions with each other about the hobby - thanks Dustin!

Should you open your box of sports card product immediately or wait a while? - or flip it unopened?  This dilemma repeats itself every day in the modern hobby - we discussed this  on Hobby Hotline with Val Marz, Adam Palmer, plus live call-ins and commenters.  

Rich and I break down the enigmatic 1981 Donruss baseball card product, which was rushed to market, and hence not their best product in hindsight, and yet by 1984 Donruss was riding high.