I agree 100% with Chris' take - baseball is harder simply because of the prospect/minor league element. I also believe that the baseball market (similar to the hockey market) is more stable because it's harder to understand, thus raising the bar of entry that keeps casual fans out, and diehard baseball fans in. So, while I believe Chris nailed it, I also agree with Scott in that most basketball collectors also collect football (because it's similar and easier) and vice versa, whereas most hockey collectors stay with hockey, and most baseball collectors stay with baseball. The baseball market wasn't hit as hard as the basketball/football market post-Covid, because a lot of the casual fans that exited the hobby came in and inflated the football/basketball market, but didn't crossover to the baseball market as much.

I don't know why people don't value pitchers' cards. There's one great pitcher for every like 25 great hitters, yet their values are not even close.

Great episode guys !!!

It can be very confusing for sure. I like insert rookie cards but not sure why they don't sell well

I'm no longer buying any new stuff. Too many gimmicks, rising prices, and cost of living forces me to sell off some stuff. Maybe later in year I'll get a few more cheap PC cards. I don't feel they're offering value in flagship at all anymore. They should've made less product and gotten rid of Stars of MLB cards also. 22 Update was the last great non Chrome decent release. Glad I have a bunch of that stashed away. 23 Chrome was good also with the solid rookie checklist but they also printed too much of it.

I’m new back into cards after a long time out. What I see is simply a ROI issue. So many cards have been identified as worthless, (literally trash). The wax is so expensive, people hunting for 1-2 cards. Depending on when/if you ever even hit that 1-2 card, you are upside down. The lower end market which keeps all economies going is basically gone from what I see. Because someone, somewhere, at sometime said only a few cards are worth having. All others belong in the landfill.

I'm 42. Collecting nonstop since the 80s. I'm baseball only. I don't collect autos, patches, numbered, or parallels. I have over 400 different complete sets starting in the 1930s.

I think it makes sense that the value of materials isn’t correlated with the number of games played. Especially in modern, where they are not even using the materials from actual games.

You guys really needed T Pott here for this one as he is the main multi sport collector. Myself, collecting basketball and baseball (and newer to baseball 2020) I love the high end stuff and limited print run stuff. It was a main reason I got way into baseball. My money went so much farther for the stuff I wanted and I thought was cool.

Another terrific episode, keep up the excellent work my friends.

I'm a copywriter for marketing. Have been for over 15 years. You wouldn't think an error like that would slip through the cracks, but it does happen. Especially if Topps/Fanatics farms out their work to an outside agency. That said, I would put it on them, not the copywriter/agency. Topps/Fanatics needs to provide the necessary information and catch it before it goes out. If they handle everything in house, there's really no excuse. They should know their product. At the end of the day, we always get blamed for other people's mistakes. Not the copywriter's fault it wasn't caught by any of the multiple people who should have reviewed the material before sending it.

If there is no image variation, then this is just another parallel. Rather than the card being a gold, or blue, or green, it going to be, nothing. It's the same image presented differently. All I can say is. . . "meh." I don't want them to get rid of image variations. I like variety.

Great job on the video. This video is a microcosm of the sports card market. Different opinions and perferences is exactly what the sports card needs to grow. My opinion; individuals chasing different cards brings more breath to (stock market term) the market. Basically more cards have value. Football and Basketball as you stated is a narrow market vs baseball. Im fine with some valuing 1sts higher than RC and vice versa.

Here's a question for you. Why would/should a signed jersey swatch card exceed the value of an actual autographed game-used jersey?

Chris knocked a home run with his final comment. I never thought about it like that but if bowman made a RPA 1st they would be insane but like he said they don’t exist. Basketball and football get lucky to have the RPA being the RC. When I got back into the hobby years ago it was really confusing and I made a ton of bad investments but learned really quick. Only thing I could add that wasn’t brought up but it very important is the non licensed stuff hold ls hardly no value and it’s important to only collect non licensed cards for PC only reasons. No resale in that stuff. Great topic. Love the show

With so many different products I think it comes down to purity. What is the most pure and true rookie card.

What ever happened to just buy the cards you like? I remember getting back in the hobby in 2018 Bellinger was the man. And I waa happy buying Base cards. Now thats the last thing anyone looks for. I definitely don't. I love the rare cards and rainbow collecting even my 8th year PC player which is a common in beckett pricing terms.

Well done 🎉

I don’t mean too be a downer, this is just my feeling -a imho..As some1 that just recently started purchasing again , retail, too wax, too breaks .. there’s too much product.. you get it home rip it .. and it’s junk .. you buy a 300 -500 wax . You don’t hit a favorite team /player .. your left thinking wth did I just do .. if your a kid and parents are just able too go retail.. they just threw there money out in the street .. thru the eyes of a parent it’s just not a fun hobby when what they bought is in no comparison too what my kid just saw on KZfaq of the big Rollers break .. I don’t have an answer too fix the problem. I know Topps / Fanatics is a business . And business must make money .. idk

Phil where’d you get that undercover FBI agent hat?

Awesome content as always. I like the fact that Fanatics is trying new things. Not every idea will be a great one, but they have a difficult line to wak between maintaining tradition and innovation and creativity at the same time.

Bowman 1st is reliable. Pro cards with the RC logo have way too many to draw the same demand. Every show I go to I have a booth trying to educate me about a random RC card and why it’s valuable. Hard to trust or find a person to eventually unload it to at a profit. Bowman 1st is the most reliable investment.

Good question, Scottie about the overlapping of sports. Being a collector in my 40s, I am mainly baseball 1980-2014 with a couple of Ultra modern players sprinkled in (I do also like a good handful of 50s - 70s vintage players too), but I do have football/basketball players from yesteryear that I like (Sweetness, Barry, Favre, Peyton, MJ,....) that I do like to collect also at times. Having said this, I like Phil's quick response of demographics. Even though I see a lot of younger kids at my LCS, some do focus on baseball, but most want football, then basketball, and lastly, baseball. At least that is the way I see it where I am at. Truthfully though, I just want people to keep collecting in whatever category they fit into. At the end of the day, I will still be the guy trying to snag those rarer 90s auto, SPs or an old school Finest refractor, etc. Anyway, good job as always! Happy collecting!

Bowman chrome auto price out a lot of collectors- so of use poor collector’s t getting priced out of the hobby-

Great content per usual, keep it up! From a value perspective, 1st Bowman will always be King because there's only one unlike rookie cards where you can literally find hundreds of cards for one player with the RC designation. From a collector perspective, I do prefer a Topps Chrome/Finest/Cosmic Rookie true color auto or non-auto or even a SP image variation high grade to put some uniqueness into my PC. I know collecting isn't about the dollar but I still think it's important criteria for most collectors because you want your collection to be desired in the market or even have a sense of feeling you can liquidate them if something more important in life hits you.

Is the value/importance of the 1st Bowman a result of collectors “loving” those cards, or more a result of people coming into the hobby being told by people already in the hobby what matters and then wanting to be part of the herd? I think it’s a tough question to answer. Personally, I am much more of a traditional RC fan. Not crazy about the 1st Bowman for reasons you guys have mentioned-photoshopping, players look like kids, has a minor league feel to it, etc. But I have to admit that I have been influenced at times by other collectors saying the 1st Bowman is what matters. I also get it that a 1st Bowman makes life as a collector easier-don’t need to wade through a myriad of RC options. Regardless, do collectors really “love” the 1st Bowman?🤷🏻

I feel every release has its strong suits like black/gold, red real one auto, gold auto, bowman first red, etc. I don’t see it any different then these guys pulling a downtown or RPA/logoman

Cards are so confusing because collectors are very basic. If I was explaining cards to someone new to the hobby, I'd use the dpz pareto principle that 20% of cards are highly desired and 80% are impossible to move.

Remember when the only thing that mattered was pulling a card with the name of your favorite player? Yea, those were the days.

Out of curiosity why is the topps update 2011 Trout base his most expensive rookie. Why isn't his finest worth more? aren't finest rookies in general more than regular plain paper topps? thanks

Awesome talk here again 💪🏼💯 I like the sps an ssps myself I think the whole photo is a great idea but the simplicity of making them stand out is going back to having the SPs flipped in the packs like they did for years in prior releases that they got away from for what reason i dunno but I agree with my man Phillip -;mmmk -Ton 😆 I don't plan on buying the newer Printer frisbees theyre making today either pretty soon fans will get there own sp coalated next to the gatorade squirting Boy! Smh lol😊😂🤣

High end products in baseball dont work since there isnt anything really different even thou Fans/Topps could try a minor league patch auto for guys in different levels of the minors.

Great fodder

👍😎