Clark's Strategy At The National 2026 Plus Hopes And Expectations At The Mecca Of Sports Card Shows

You're listening to Cards to the Moon, a podcast about trading cards from both a collector and investor perspective. We hope you'll stick around for the ride as we take a deep dive into the state of the hobby, share some hot takes, hopefully some useful advice and fun stories along the way. All right, this is a quick podcast episode and I am recording a day before I head out to the national, so think about it as the Friday episode this week, a day early. I know the national will already have begun, but I want to get something out for you guys before I fly out to Chicago because I think I'm gonna be a little busy walking and talking and hopefully making deals on the showroom Fleer I already got a few people that I want to meet up with at the national and if you're there as well, I'd love to get your thoughts on the POD about this year's show, which is expected to be off the rails. I've already seen some of the footage on IG and it looks pretty crazy. But Yu-Gi-Oh it doesn't come as a surprise though, because the hobby is on fire as we've already talked about in previous POD episodes. To me it has similar vibes to the show at the peak of the COVID era, but more sustainable I would say. At the same time, if you missed our last pod where I talked with DC about preparing for the show, please go check it out because there was a lot of good advice that was covered, especially if you're looking for Shoi Ohtani cards, which might give you sticker shock when you ask for how much they're going for these days. So just want to give you a heads up there. I'll include the link to that POD episode in the show notes as well as a blog post we just put out that might be a useful guide for you from the lessons I've learned personally having attended Fanatics Fest in New York City and the West Coast Card show in LA just a couple weeks ago. So check out those recap episodes as well. But my plan for the national this year, other than creating content for you guys on the pod, is kind of contingent on whether I'm able to sell or trade some of my higher end cards at the show. I'm going to have some cash on me, but the cards I'm hoping to add to my collection is priced well above what I have on me, so like I said, I'll have to be some kind of trade and cash deal. Now if you've been following my content, you know I'm starting to look into vintage cards. I've always wanted the iconic Jackie Robinson 1948 Leaf rookie card, and I'm looking for at least a PSA2 card. But as we speak the prices seem to keep rising and soon enough I'm afraid I'm going to be priced out. So what I might do is make a small pivot and just kind of wait for some of the cards that I really want to hopefully take a dip in the near future. But in the meantime, I'm looking Instead to the 1949 Bowman G Jackie Robinson card, which is his first Bowman card. And as I was doing a little more research on it, there seems to be a debate which of these two, the 1948 Leaf versus the 1949 Bowman, are considered the true rookie card. Now, some research apparently indicates The Leaf Gum Company didn't distribute its set until 1949, which makes it technically equal to the 1949 Bowman. And if you compare prices, the Bowman might actually be the smarter upside play. But you still can't deny the appeal of the 1948 Leaf with its vibrant yellow background. And I think my long term goal is to just get both, but certainly one at a time if not the vintage play. I'm always looking for an Ohtani on card autograph card that's within my budget. Now again, if you heard the episode with DC on it, he admitted to making one mistake regarding a nice Mickey Mantle card when he was walking the showroom Fleer You can check out that IG reel or the YouTube short on our channel. But I want to admit a mistake I also made at the west coast card show, which was that I actually found an Ohtani card that was priced reasonably and it checked off some of the key boxes I was looking for in an Ohtani card, such as an OG autograph, an on card autograph, and at least graded a PSA 8, which to me wasn't bad. But I hesitated, wondering if there was a better card out there. So what did I do? I did another walk around the showroom Fleer and I think you know what I'm about to say. When I got back to the table, it sold five minutes before I returned. That's what the vendor told me. So if there's a card you really like and it's for a good price, you should just go with your conviction and buy it one-of-one I'll be on the Fleer once again looking for a nice Ohtani autograph card within my budget. Now I'll also be looking for cheaper or much more affordable PC cards for myself. You know cool looking cards of Blue Jays players Pokemon as well. Now I will have a plan B if I don't have the extra cash on hand by making a trade or selling one of my higher end cards by hopefully looking for a card at the national with the cash I do have on hand and hopefully it's one of those cards you can't find anywhere else and only at the National. So that's kind of my game plan for the national this year. Now something I also want to do at the national actually, and I did at my first national last year which was also in Chicago, was that I did a one day PSA on site grading for my Bobby Wood Jr. Superfractor which loyal listeners of the POD know I sold to cardsmax at Fanatics Fest just a couple weeks ago. And as we all know psa, they have a huge backlog and hasn't been taking bulk or value tier cards plus the regular and express and on site grading for this year's show has gone up in price quite a bit in my opinion. And I don't have a card like my Superfractor or even my Mike Trout First Bowman Rookie Auto that I cracked and submitted for on site grading at Fanatics Fest a few years ago. But I do have a couple of Pokemon cards that I love to still get slabbed and so I learned CGC was providing that service. So I'm going to try it out, we'll see how it goes and it'll be part of my bigger ongoing series on things I've never tried in the hobby till now. And of course I'm looking forward to trade nights. Like I mentioned in my west coast card show recap, I think I got more deals at Train night in the first 30 minutes than I did on the showroom Fleer where I spent most of my day each day I was there. Now, before I end off this short episode, I do want to mention that I just got my 2026 Topps Chrome baseball Jumbo box shipped to me. By the time it arrived, there was already a $6.5 million bounty for of course that dual gold Logoman autograph Shoi Ohtani card, which was incredible. Now that didn't last long as the top bounty because there was a $10 million bounty offer a couple of days later. I mean, if that didn't tempt me to rip my jumbo box instead of sell it, certainly the $12.5 million bounty did. But the sensible Blue Ice probably still to sell my jumbo box sealed for 2x what I paid for it then I saw the 13 million dollar bounty. Now, who knows if that's a legit offer, but you know, I had to rip. I did record it and I will put that video up shortly on my YouTube channel. Spoiler alert though. I didn't hit the Ohtani dual gold logo, man. But I did get a very small surprise, one that I didn't expect. And you can find that vid up soon on my YouTube page at YouTube.com okay. Lastly, as I said before, the thing I always look forward to is connecting with new hobby friends and reconnecting with old ones. It's become like a reunion of sorts now that I've been back in the hobby for several years now. So if you're at the national and you listen to this pod, please come say hi. I know it's a big venue, but I find that the hobby universe somehow works to always bring us together. All right, that's it for this episode. Would love to hear from you guys. If you're heading to the national and what your plans are now, don't forget to bring water, wear comfortable shoes, have deodorant ready, and let's go after those deals. I'll definitely have a recap episode for you guys next week when we all head back home together after the five crazy days at the National. So I'll talk to you then. Take care, guys. Hey, thanks for listening to Cards to the Moon. We'd really appreciate you subscribing to our podcast wherever you listen to your podcasts. And you can also connect with each of us on Instagram verdguys. Or you can follow Hyung at Integrity sportscards or John at tradeyouces. You can also check us out at fivecartguys. Com. Thanks again and hope to connect soon.