Sports Cards Live

Everybody can't sell. Every card that gets sold needs someone willing to buy it on the other side.

Joe Poirot joins Chris McGill, Joshua Adams and David Chase as we examine one of the contradictions of a hot sports card market. We constantly hear that now is the time to sell, but what does that advice imply for the collector buying the card? We get into buy-and-sell advice, accountability, speculation, the "hot potato" problem and whether telling collectors to sell certain cards can sometimes feel predatory.

We also discuss something completely different: the ritual of acquiring a great card. From the excitement of the mail day to actually holding, displaying and revisiting our cards, are collectors who immediately send everything to a vault missing an important part of the collecting experience?

Subscribe to Sports Cards Live on YouTube and follow the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen.

Check out The Hobby Spectrum at thehobbyspectrum.com.

Discover cards across the hobby with AuctionWire at auctionwire.ai. Use promo code SCL for 60 days free.

Research card values and market history with Card Ladder. Use promo code SCL.

And check out my book, Pops and Comps: Truths, Insights, and Psychology Behind the Numbers that Drive the Sports Card Market, available on Amazon.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How do you stop regretting the cards you sold too early, the cards you didn't buy and the money you left on the table?

Chris McGill, Joshua Adams and David Chase join me as we continue our conversation about the psychology of collecting in a rising market. We discuss why process matters more than results, how to evaluate decisions based on what you knew at the time, and why comparing your entire hobby experience to everyone else's highlight reel can suck the enjoyment out of collecting.

We also get into what it actually means to make your collection "better," how our collecting goals evolve over time, and an interesting question: is discovering and chasing a grail sometimes more enjoyable than finally owning it?

Subscribe to Sports Cards Live on YouTube and follow the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen.

Check out The Hobby Spectrum at thehobbyspectrum.com.

Discover cards across the hobby with AuctionWire at auctionwire.ai. Use promo code SCL for 60 days free.

Research card values and market history with Card Ladder. Use promo code SCL.

And check out my book, Pops and Comps: Truths, Insights, and Psychology Behind the Numbers that Drive the Sports Card Market, available on Amazon.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The sports card market just keeps climbing. Record prices, massive auctions and seemingly endless demand. So how long can this possibly continue?

Leighton Sheldon, Chris McGill and Joshua Adams join me to discuss what's driving the current bull market, whether a pullback is inevitable, and Leighton's suggestion that we may be living through a new "junk slab era."

Then Chris introduces what he calls "Everybody Else Is Winning," the strange psychological paradox of a bull market. Our own cards can be increasing dramatically in value, yet instead of enjoying it, we find ourselves looking at the cards we sold too soon, the ones we didn't buy and the collectors who seemingly made better decisions than we did.

We get into FOMO, regret, comparison, loss aversion, the endowment effect and why making money in the hobby doesn't necessarily make collecting more enjoyable.

Subscribe to Sports Cards Live on YouTube and follow the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen.

Check out The Hobby Spectrum at thehobbyspectrum.com.

Discover cards across the hobby with AuctionWire at auctionwire.ai. Use promo code SCL for 60 days free.

Research card values and market history with Card Ladder. Use promo code SCL.

And check out my book, Pops and Comps: Truths, Insights, and Psychology Behind the Numbers that Drive the Sports Card Market, available on Amazon.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mack Cheli introduces Grail Guard, his new white-glove transportation service designed to move valuable cards door to door without putting them into the traditional shipping system. We get into how the service works, security, coverage and why he believes the hobby needs another option for moving its most valuable cards.

Then Leighton Sheldon joins us with a provocative question: does the hobby care too much about PSA's opinion? We discuss what it would actually take for another grading company to compete, whether collectors themselves are standing in the way of change, and the relationship between grading accuracy and market value.

Plus, Leighton shares some incredible vintage baseball cards from a newly acquired collection, including Christy Mathewson, Hank Aaron, Lou Gehrig and more.

Subscribe to Sports Cards Live on YouTube and follow the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen.

Check out The Hobby Spectrum at thehobbyspectrum.com.

Discover cards across the hobby with AuctionWire at auctionwire.ai. Use promo code SCL for 60 days free.

Research card values and market history with Card Ladder. Use promo code SCL.

And check out my book, Pops and Comps: Truths, Insights, and Psychology Behind the Numbers that Drive the Sports Card Market, available on Amazon.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is eye appeal taking over the sports card hobby?

Mack Cheli of Big Mack’s Card Box joins me to talk about his collecting journey, why he learned to prioritize the card over the grade, and how the growing eye appeal movement is changing the way collectors buy vintage cards.

We also dig into the expanding world of fourth-party grading and eye appeal designations, including the changing meaning of MBA’s gold sticker, what these different designations actually tell collectors, and whether they’re creating clarity or more confusion.

Plus, Mack takes us through some incredible cards from his personal collection, including vintage legends, signed Hall of Fame rookies, an exceptionally well-centered 1984 Star Michael Jordan and more.

Subscribe to Sports Cards Live on YouTube and follow the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen.

Check out The Hobby Spectrum at thehobbyspectrum.com.

Discover cards across the hobby with AuctionWire at auctionwire.ai. Use promo code SCL for 60 days free.

Research card values and market history with Card Ladder. Use promo code SCL.

And check out my book, Pops and Comps: Truths, Insights, and Psychology Behind the Numbers that Drive the Sports Card Market, available on Amazon.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices