Interview With Greg_Jeterfan (A French Collector With An Impressive Derek Jeter Card Collection); Come Visit The Podcast Crew At Sport Card Expo!

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. Hey guys, welcome back to another Friday edition of Cards to the Moon. My name is Clark from 5cardguys.com. You can also find me on social media at 5cardguys, all one word, on Instagram, YouTube and on Facebook. I'll include all the links in the show notes below. And it's another solo intro from me today, but I do have a special guest interview who comes from across the Atlantic Ocean, so stay tuned for that interview. I'll play it in just a minute, but I just want to give you guys a heads up about a marathon podcast episode coming out this coming Tuesday with my co-hosts Will and Roy. And one of the things we talked about is the fact that we'll be setting up at the upcoming Sport Card Expo in Toronto from April 30th to May 3rd. So if you're in the greater Toronto area, please come and visit us. But here's the thing, as of this recording, we still don't know where our booths are exactly. But as soon as we do, we'll let you guys know on social media, again, at 5cardguys.com. And if you're a listener of the pod, we'd love to have you on the podcast. Will, actually in our podcast episode we just recorded, had a great idea, which is that if you want to be part of one of our popular segments, let us know and we'll record you for the pod. So for example, if you listened to one of our episodes a couple weeks back, we had our Just A Thought segment that always cracks us up because it's an opportunity to share any crazy or wacky or even innovative ideas that we might have to improve the hobby. And one of them was sports card speed dating. Long story, but you can listen to that episode to get the details. I'll include the link for that episode in the show notes as well. Or you could be part of our Pick One segment that we do every week where we think of two cards and we ask each other which one we'd rather have or invest in. So if you got two that you want to ask us, we'd love to have that discussion. Or perhaps you want to participate in one of our quiz show segments that we'd love to do. I'll make sure to have some hobby trivia questions prepared just for you. And of course, we'll have some giveaways for those who want to come on the pod and we'll have some giveaways for the kids as well with some free cards just for them. Okay, again, the Sport Card Expo starts April 30 and runs to May 3. Hope to see you there. Now without further ado, enjoy the interview I had earlier this month with Greg underscore Jeterfan on Instagram and he's from France and yes, as his name suggests, he collects Derek Jeter cards and he's also got a Toronto connection which I found out about during the interview. Alright, enjoy the interview and we'll see you on Tuesday. Hey guys, I'm excited about having our next guest on today's pod because he's a serious collector of primarily one player and that player is Derek Jeter and if you read his Instagram bio at Greg underscore Jeterfan, he's been collecting Derek Jeter since 2001 and he also mentions in his bio that he stole his wife's office to turn it into a hobby room. I thought that was pretty funny. But what makes his story particularly unique is that he isn't from New York City or even close to the Big Apple. He lives across the Atlantic in France. So I got questions but without further ado, Greg, welcome to the pod as well as Tobias, his friend who will be helping translate for us during this interview. Welcome both of you. Yeah, thank you, Clark. Nice to meet you and I'm very happy to be here. Thank you for having us. Yes, we're very happy to be here. Amazing. I'm excited. I'm excited. Alright, Greg, I first always like to ask about your hobby journey. How long have you been collecting sports cards and how did you get into it, especially outside of North America? Actually, there were not a lot of cards in France, but everyone knew Michael Jordan and but then there were the first upper deck sticker cards and stickers and they exchanged like in the schoolyards and it started like this and in 2001, the grandmother of Greg, she offered him a journey to Canada and he went to the Skydome of the Blue Jays. And it's actually there where he bought his first packs, if I understand right, Greg. This is how the journey began. Wow. Okay. So this interview was meant to be because I'm based out of Toronto, Canada. And of course, I see all my games at the Skydome, now called the Rogers Center, but I'm glad Canada had a part of your hobby journey in some way. Do you remember what you got out of that first pack when you opened it back then? Actually, the first pack he bought was the team set of the Blue Jays, which he kept. If I understand right, it's sealed, no? You still have it sealed? It was just in a white box and you open it and then you had like the upper deck team set from back then, but his real first card pack, he bought and opened back in France after. Oh, okay. Interesting. And I wanted to ask you about that. Did you, in France, have any friends who also collected baseball cards? And where would you be able to go buy these cards? Here in North America, US or Canada, we had a lot of card shops around, so that was easy to buy. But I'm wondering if it was similar in France or if it was a lot harder to find baseball cards? Today, of course, there are many more collectors here, but back in the days, in 2001, Greg actually felt like the only one, like the only baseball collector, because the internet just started and it was not so easy to get the cards like it is today. But he met one guy who was a hobby collector from Slapshot magazine, who was publishing the magazine, and he got some cards for Greg when he traveled to the United States. And then Greg subscribed himself to some forums, like now these days you have like the Broward Card Forum, but back in the days it was like BTC or then ordered these cards from Sports Card Central, for example, like the Hobby Boxes. So like in Caen and in Rennes, it's two like cities in Normandy, Brittany, there were two shops back in the days that didn't only sell stamps, but also some card packs. And it's where his grandmothers are from, so he was offered or was able to buy his first cards like in these two shops, which was pretty amazing back in those days. I'm sure, yeah, I think we take a lot of it for granted here in this side of the ocean that we had so many cards readily available. But yeah, that's an amazing story. And you're right. I think we first kind of had a conversation over Instagram, because my family, we went on vacation to France in last summer, last May, it was mostly south of France, but we stopped at Paris, of course, for four days. And of course, I found out there was a card show. And I think we were probably in the same card show at that time. And then I think I mentioned that there was a lot of F1, there's a lot of soccer, of course. And then you messaged me, I don't know if you remember saying, oh, you wish you hadn't known that I was there, because I was a very much a baseball card collector, we could have at least had a conversation. But now I've seen it, like the card show, the card show community, and sports card community in general, and in France, in Paris, in particular, seems to be growing a lot. Is that the case? Do you find that these days, you have a lot more people to collect with, to trade with? Yeah, it's true, Greg says that with COVID, with lockdown and everything, everything exploded. There were new collectors entering the market, there were old collectors coming back that were maybe collecting when they were younger. And so of course, the community grew. And I know it too, as I'm a basketball card collector. So we saw it in all of the sports. But Greg said that before he was able to make much more trades with the forums and stuff with other people, but the mentality maybe changed. Today, it's more about selling, it's less about trading, because it gets much more difficult now to find an agreement and to satisfy all of the parties. So the mentality changed, but the hobby in general grew a lot, yes. I agree. Yeah, a lot more buying and selling. And well, a lot of trades happen at trade nights at these big card shows. So I'll be at the National. I don't know if you're coming to the National to Chicago this summer. But I'm looking forward to trade nights in particular, because I still love to trade. That's part of the fun, being part of the hobby, right? So are you going to Chicago? I'm just curious. Will you be at the National this summer in Chicago? Chicago National, it's a show that is maybe 15, 20 times bigger than the local card show in Paris. And it's always something special. And it's also there where Greg, his dream came true, his collecting dream, to meet his idol Derek Jeter in person, to have the time to talk to him, to exchange. And this was, I think, a unique moment that very few collectors will be able to do. And of course, he would like to go back because he also appreciates the trade nights and just the feeling of being with other collectors and exchanging. But maybe this year he won't be able to come, but who knows, maybe in the near future. Yeah, absolutely. And well, next time you are, it'd be great to meet in person. I love meeting a lot of our past guests we meet online initially, but then at these card shows, whether it's a Fanatics Fest in New York City or, of course, the National in Chicago, it's always great to actually meet in person. So love to have the opportunity with you one day. And that being said, I know for us in Toronto, it's only an hour and a half flight. For you guys, a lot longer. So I understand the difficulty in coming across to the National. But you mentioned you met Derek Jeter, and I'm sure that was a once in a lifetime kind of experience for you. Before we get into that experience, how did you specifically get into collecting mostly Derek Jeter cards? I'm really curious about that. Actually, a lot of hobby anecdotes are linked directly to Greg's family, either his grandparents, his mother, or in this case, his sister. Because back in the days, there was a big, like, let's say, flea market in Rennes. And there was a manga shop that closed its doors, they finished business. And so they were selling the rest of their cards, or packs in the streets. And his sister brought him a pack of 99, 2000. It's only 99, I think. In baseball, it's only one year, 99 finest. And he opened the pack and he put Derek Jeter Sterling. And from this moment on, he just loved the card and he knew Derek Jeter, he saw images of him. And from this on, his collection started off Derek Jeter, yes. Oh, amazing. It's just a lot of happenstance. And I mean, that's a great player to collect, the captain, of course. Even as a Toronto Blue Jays fan, I have to give respect to Derek Jeter, our archenemy as a New York Yankee, but still a great player, of course. I'm wondering, since that time, when you've pulled it out of Tops Finest, how many Jeter cards do you have right now? Have you lost count? Or do you know a rough estimate of how many Derek Jeter cards you have in your collection? Actually, Greg is using the Beckett listing of the checklist and trading card database because sometimes you have several cards that are not listed, either one or the other. And he's also, with the Tops Finest cards, he's collecting with peel and without. So unpeeled version and the peeled version. So he has actually like 2,100 different cards, but there will be some more because if we don't count the doubles, so yes, but 2,100 different cards could seem, compared to other big collectors, maybe not a lot, but you have to see that it was very complicated for us to get cards from overseas because either shipping was very expensive. Before there were like the mailboxes, like ship my cards or stuff where you can accumulate as many cards as you want and get them shipped once. And before you had to get every shipment done, you know, you buy on eBay or somewhere, you get a chip, you pay your taxes on it, you know, which can get very expensive. It's much more difficult over here to get this number of cards, but luckily it gets better and you can accumulate cards and get them shipped together. No, that's very impressive. And you know, I'm, because I grew up in Canada, the secondary language here is in French, so I understand a petit peu de Francais. And when you said 2,100, I'm like, well, did I hear that correctly, 2,100? So that's very impressive. And like you were saying, I actually did a video recently because I just came back from Japan and Korea, a lot of the same challenges, right? Trying to find cards overseas and then you look at the comps on eBay and it's cheaper in North America. But I was explaining if I lived in Japan, Korea, France, it's sometimes it's worth paying a little bit of the premium if you could get it in person in the card store, then trying to get it shipped to you. And like you were just explaining all the taxes and the shipping fees does quickly add up. So I can certainly understand your predicament, but no, that's amazing. And you're kind of alluding, or not alluding, you're mentioning that you met Derek Jeter himself. What was that experience like? And what did you say to him when you met him? Yes. So the first thing, Greg just said that we still keep this feeling as we had as a child, we were younger buying those cards. And as we can also find even simple base cards here in France, we're happy to pick it up and pay the price for it instead of getting all shipped from all over the world. So it's also a local thing, and it's important that we can also find cards here and physically open packs. There are two parts, actually. The first part was when the MLB London series took place and Derek Jeter came to London. This was in June of the same year, and it was his first time as a TV host, I think, to represent London, like the MLB outside of America. And he was there with our friends who were living in London, and they were waiting for him like three hours first in the stadium. But you know, he's always so busy. He goes there, left, right. And then after the game, they still waited. And then he said, now you go to him. And then there was one while he was screaming, Mr. Jeter, could you please sign this card? And he reacted directly because everyone was calling him, hey, Derek, or something with his first name, but not Mr. Jeter. So this woman, she took all the attention of him. Then he came and actually he signed this famous 99 finest earning card that Craig found in the pack that he got offered from his sister. He signed it in London for Craig. And this was the beginning, actually. This was the first part. So Craig traveled to the ceremony of the Hall of Fame in the Yankee Stadium with his mom. And he also met a friend, one of our friends, Nick, who's also a collector. And Nick actually said, I will try to help you to meet Derek Jeter. If I can do something for you, because he has some contacts, he will contact, he will try to help him. And so several weeks before the National, Craig got contacted by Arena Club and Blika Trading to announce that there would be a press conference of Derek Jeter and that he could also participate and ask a question. So Craig's working as a firefighter in Paris, and he already thought about it, buying a plane ticket and just going there in the morning and staying three days and coming back. So he already imagined his trip. And this was the first contact he had. And so I arrived the first night in Chicago. Craig arrived the evening before the show in Chicago, and he was texting to Chaz from Arena Club when he would get his tickets, his permission. So she said, just be here next morning, like at nine o'clock. And then he arrived and he already recognized some hobby influencers that he knew then, but maybe they didn't know him. And yeah, he also saw Kiki from Big Brothers. They have a big store here in Germany. And yeah, he saw a big door and he was just waiting. And then at one point, Brian, he's the CEO from Arena Club, I think. And yes, they were coming out and Craig was able to have a look through his door and he saw Derek Cheetah in the room and then Chaz told him, hey, come on, Craig, it's your turn. Wow, OK. And he was already completely, it was crazy. He went into the room and there was only Derek Cheetah and he was able to talk to him like, I don't know, ten minutes exchange, even give him a present he brought from France. And so you can imagine that this was a pretty, one of the craziest moments. So he was actually, he was talking to him like 20 minutes and everything was filmed. But at this point, he was so into it, he didn't realize. And the most funny thing is when Derek Cheetah addressed himself directly to the camera and addressed to Craig's wife, hey, Emily, I'm sorry for all that you have to go through because of me. Your husband always pays for the hobby room. And he addressed himself directly to his wife. And this was like the craziest moment, actually. So funny. So funny. Well, what an experience. And I'm sure that, you know, I've only had similar, like very few similar experiences where you meet like an idol or when you meet someone as famous as Derek Cheetah. And were you able to speak to him comfortably or do you remember the whole exchange? And did you talk about cards at all? Because it's kind of cool to know that Derek Cheetah, with his involvement with Arena Club, is also into cards, just like the rest of us who are collectors. Did you get a chance to talk about cards with him at all during those 20 minutes? Actually, as Craig didn't know how much time he was going to have, so they didn't really talk that much about cards. It was more that Derek Cheetah was interested in what he's doing, what kind of job he's doing. He was asking questions about his family and stuff like this. And so later on, Derek Cheetah did some videos about the cards with some influencers. But as Craig could see, maybe Derek was not that relaxed as with him because, you know, Craig didn't ask anything. He was just there to appreciate the moment. And he thought that Derek also felt this, you know, that he was also really relaxed and really nice and cool to him. And so they were talking about the experience they had in London with the London series. And so it was a relaxed conversation without any pressure. That's the best kind of experience, for sure. And best kind of meet up. So I'm glad you had that experience with Mr. Cheetah. That's also what I learned. If I want to get his attention, say Mr. Cheetah, not Derek Cheetah. So I've learned that from you. And I just really got a couple more questions, but just kind of pulling back a little bit, you know, and being in France, baseball is not the primary sport, kind of similar to Canada. Hockey is the number one sport here. But I'm more of a baseball fan. And of course, we have the hometown Blue Jays. But and I know you collect basketball cards. I know you collect other cards. But how did you really fall essentially in love with the sport of baseball with Derek Cheetah? Is it is it hard to stay on top of the sport of baseball in France? And yeah, how did you get into just liking baseball and baseball card culture, generally speaking? In France, in the 90s, there were not a lot of people playing baseball in France. And the community was very small, like 15,000 people or something like this compared to the soccer, just a very small part. But baseball was always present in TV television series like of movies from America. And this is also that transported its culture to to Europe or France. And so once Greg was able to play baseball in school and so he subscribed to the club of Rennes, which had which was like the French city of Rochester. I think they were like, OK, the Red Wings, Red Wings. Yes. And so, yeah, it was always fascinating, like the smell, the ball, the texture of the ball, all those little things like the uniform, you know, and there was also like the film The Rookie coming out in 2001 and Greg was 15 years old and he was able to go to the cinema to watch it. It was even in France, in French, like the language. And he also got a card signed from Jim Morris, like at the time. And so a lot of things coming together, you know, that are relevant that Greg is here at this point where he is now, you know, so that, yeah, no, amazing. And I love hearing stories like that, because baseball and sports in general transcends culture, transcends languages. And now we're seeing the same thing with sports cards. Doesn't matter where you're from, we collect the same. And it's amazing that we can have this shared mutual interest in cardboard, essentially. So this is why I love doing podcasts with our guests to connect in this special way. And before I ask you my last question, I have a Derek Jeter story and it's not as personal as yours, but I don't think I shared this on the pod before. But when I got married 11 years ago now, what I gave as a gift to my groomsmen was a Derek Jeter rookie card. So a 1993 Topps. And I'm like, you know, I'm into baseball. They know that I'm into baseball cards even back then. And I always check in once in a while with my groomsmen. I'm like, you still have the card, right? And they still do. So they haven't sold the 1993 Topps Derek Jeter card. So there's that Jeter connection I have. And, you know, one of the things I like to ask my guests at the very end is if you have a card and, you know, since we're talking about Derek Jeter, do you have a Derek Jeter card that you own that you would never sell, right? So do you have one that's your favorite, absolute favorite? And yeah, you'll never sell. And I'm curious to hear the story why for you that would be the case. Yeah, it's an easy question. And of course, it's the finest sterling card from 1999 that he got signed in person in London. And even people were saying, why didn't you remove the P before I get it signed? No, but he said, you want to keep the P on. It's very special. And he even has a picture from a video when Derek Jeter signed the card. So this is you cannot even sell this. No, you shouldn't sell this. So this is, of course, because the story that is linked to this card is so much more than just a card. And so it's linked to Greg, to Derek Jeter and to all his collection journey because it was his first card. So, of course, this card will never quit his collection. Amazing. Greg, really appreciate your time. And Tobias, thank you so much for translating. I thought this went well. I didn't know how it was going to go before the interview, but it was an amazing experience and I'm glad we're able to connect this way. Funny story for our listeners. I think Greg mentioned that suggested meeting or connecting in May of May 15. And I'm like, OK, that's a lot of time. Maybe he needs to prepare for a month or two for this interview. I'm like, it's not going to be that difficult. And then I got a message this morning because there's a seven hour time difference. And of course, I didn't send the link to connect yet because I thought it was in May due to his original message. And then he actually meant today, which is as a recording is April 14 here in Toronto, April 15, soon in France. And I thought what you said was hilarious that in that the weather in France has been so nice lately. So it seemed like May. Meanwhile, here it's cold. So it doesn't seem like spring until maybe next month. So we don't lose track of our months as easily. But again, thank you so much, Greg and Tobias again. Thank you. You're welcome. It's a pleasure. Hey, thanks for listening to Cards to the Moon. We'd really appreciate you subscribing to our podcast wherever you listen to your podcast. And you can also connect with each of us on Instagram at 5cardguys or you can follow Hyung at Integrity Sports Cards or John at TradeU at Recess. You can also check us out at 5cardguys.com. Thanks again and hope to connect soon.