Sports Cards Live

In this solo episode, I slow things down and explore an idea I’ve been thinking about for a long time: the hobby either chooses you, or you choose it.

How you enter the sports card hobby shapes how you experience it, how you relate to other collectors, and why certain tensions keep resurfacing year after year. Some of us come to cards organically, through curiosity, nostalgia, and connection. Others arrive intentionally, through opportunity, markets, and money. Neither path is right or wrong, but they lead to very different perspectives.

In this episode, I talk about why those differences matter, where gatekeeping comes from, how the modern hobby ecosystem evolved, and why refusing to let people change over time creates unnecessary friction. I also share my own entry point into the hobby, how my mindset has evolved, and why coexistence matters more than consensus.

This isn’t about telling anyone how to collect. It’s about understanding why we collect the way we do, and how the hobby can be big enough to hold more than one story.

If you agree, disagree, or land somewhere in between, I’d love to hear from you.

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Sports Cards Live returns to its regular live format soon.
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This is another solo episode recorded while I’m away from the live show. No Saturday night Sports Cards Live this week. No panel. No chat. Just me, the microphone, and a collecting idea that’s been on my mind for a long time.

In this episode, I step back and talk about how I think about value, meaning, and enjoyment in the hobby, and how those ideas have changed for me over the years. It’s a personal reflection on collecting philosophy, not a rulebook, and not an attempt to tell anyone else how they should collect.

This conversation touches on how collectors respond to scarcity, checklists, pricing, and external signals, and why different approaches resonate with different people. It’s less about specific cards and more about how we decide what deserves a place in our collection in the first place.

If you’ve ever felt torn between what the hobby tells you is important and what you actually enjoy owning, this episode is for you.

If you have thoughts on this topic or want to share how you approach collecting, you can email me at [email protected]. I read those messages and appreciate thoughtful disagreement.

If you haven’t yet, visit hobbyspectrum.com to take the Hobby Spectrum assessment and explore how collectors approach the hobby in very different ways. Depending on when you’re listening, early access may already be open.

As always, thank you to all the sponsors and partners of Sports Cards Live, and thank you for listening. I’ll have more solo episodes coming while I’m away, and then we’ll be back to the live format soon.
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With no Saturday night live Sports Cards Live this week, I wanted to make sure the podcast feed didn’t go quiet.

This is a solo episode recorded while I’m away, just me, the microphone, and a topic that deserves more space than a fast-moving live panel can always give it.

The conversation is sparked by a thoughtful email I received from a longtime listener following a recent Sports Cards Live episode that touched on card cleaning, restoration, and the use of products like Kurt’s Card Care. The email pushed back on how the topic was discussed, questioned where the line between alteration and restoration should be drawn, and challenged the idea that restoration is inherently problematic.

Rather than summarize or paraphrase, I read the listener’s email verbatim, share my full response verbatim, and then step back to talk through the bigger issue facing the hobby.

This episode isn’t about shaming anyone, canceling anyone, or telling people what they can or can’t do with their own cards. It’s about transparency, disclosure, and buyer trust. It’s about whether restoring a card changes its visible history, and whether the next owner has a right to know what work has been done.

There’s no chat. No guests. No panel heat. Just a focused discussion about where lines get drawn in the sports card hobby, why those lines matter to some collectors more than others, and why this debate refuses to go away.

You don’t have to agree with me. In fact, if you don’t, that’s kind of the point.

If you have thoughts on restoration, disclosure, or where you think the line should be drawn, I want to hear them.
Email me at [email protected]. Thoughtful disagreement is always welcome.

If you believe restoration without disclosure is acceptable, make the case. If you think I’m wrong, explain why. If you want to come on the show and talk it through, reach out.

If you haven’t yet, visit hobbyspectrum.com to request access to the Hobby Spectrum assessment. Depending on when you’re listening, early access may already be open. Take the assessment, opt into the directory, and explore how different collectors approach the hobby in very different ways.

As always, thank you to all the sponsors and partners of Sports Cards Live, and thank you for listening. I’ll have a few more solo episodes coming your way while I’m off, and then we’ll be back to the live format soon.

Thanks for being part of the conversation.
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In Part 5, we get into the real reason cards hit so hard for so many of us. Not just value, not just the chase, but the actual emotional and even physical reaction collectors can have to certain cards.

We talk about what creates that feeling, what separates cards from other collectibles, and how the hobby’s structure, history, and shared “language” shape the way we collect. The chat brings strong perspectives on nostalgia, enjoyment, and what keeps the collecting flame going over decades.

We also touch briefly on a current topic that popped up on social media, then close with updates on POPs & COMPs, the Hobby Spectrum survey improvements, and what’s coming next.

If you’re watching this episode in parts, this is the one that gets surprisingly personal about why we collect at all.

POPs & COMPs update: The book has been uploaded to Amazon KDP and is currently in the review queue (up to 72 hours). Once it clears, we’ll be ordering a proof copy to verify everything before it goes live.

The Hobby Spectrum: If you haven’t joined yet, get on the waitlist for an early access code. We’re temporarily holding new codes while a handful of survey question revisions are being deployed, including a couple with more sophisticated logic.

If you’ve already taken the assessment, you can retake it every 30 days. If you feel like your approach is evolving or you want a cleaner result after the updates, take it again when you’re eligible.

What’s coming next: More functionality is on the way, including improved search and filtering and the ability to add who you collect so others can find you and connect on the platform of your choice.

Podcast listeners: Even when there’s no live show, episodes will continue to hit Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and everywhere you listen.

Thanks for watching and for bringing the chat energy every week. See you next time.
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Part 4 shifts from “what annoys us” to the deeper stuff: what becomes iconic, what makes us anxious, and what actually fires us up as collectors.

Chris McGill lays out what might be the biggest collector question of the next decade: you can’t reliably predict which cards will transcend their peers, but you can study how it happens. His take is that a card needs to hit the “main stage” of the hobby consciousness. People need to see it, compare it, and give it time for lineage and tradition to develop. He uses Nikola Jokic as an example, contrasting staple products with one season “one offs” like Clear Vision. Then he goes even further: what if the next wave is driven by collectors chasing obscurities and “forgotten artifacts” because everyone keeps posting the same cards?

Josh Adams agrees prediction is brutal and adds a personal angle from the 1990s. Sometimes your collecting tastes are shaped by what your local shop actually had, and those experiences stick.

From the chat and the panel:


unpriced cards at shows are still a top annoyance


whether the rookie card logo belongs on inserts


why some collectors accept rookie year cards as meaningful even if they are not base rookies


sticker autos vs on card autos, and how scarcity of options can force exceptions


redemptions, and how Upper Deck says they have cut them down significantly

Then Chris tosses a great question: what is your biggest source of hobby anxiety? Shipping cards, traveling with cards, auctions, and that final 10 seconds of bidding all come up. The chat adds more: postal delays, collection value swings, and fear that the hobby gets mistreated by people who do not love it.

We also get a quick prospect moment: Josh asks about Oliver Moore, and Jason explains how inclusion can depend on debut timing and autograph deals.

Finally, Chris flips the script to the opposite of anxiety: what actually gets your hobby juices flowing? For Jason it’s new product concepts and the rush to get them to market. For Josh it’s the hunt and finally landing the card you’ve been chasing. For Jeremy it’s discovery, aesthetics, and going down rabbit holes on platforms like COMC, plus the real physical “butterflies” reaction a card can create.

This is one of those segments that explains why we do this in the first place.
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