PSA's Shutdown Creates New Problems + A Massive Vintage Find Surfaces + A 20-Year-Old Hobby Veteran

Michael Jordan. Sports cards is a lifestyle. Sports cards and we live now. Jeremy Lee in the building and every guest that you ever needed. Sports cards after hours. Keep the hobby heated. Updates, homie. Talk like you never seen it. Sports cards live. Ain't none could ever beat it Sports cards is a lifestyle Sports cards and we live now. Welcome to another episode of Sports Cards Live with your host, Jeremy Lee Leighton. Let's switch it up a little bit. What's most prevalent on your mind right now in the world of the sports card hobby that we all love and is certainly our lifestyle? Oh, Michael Stone. Hello, Mike. I didn't know that. Michael Stone. I might not remember. Mgfs. I might not remember, but I'll try to. Thanks, Michael Stone, and I hope you're well, buddy. Okay, Leighton, let's hear it. So I emailed you a few topics I'm happy to discuss either. And I text you an image. Happy to discuss that. You let me know. Let's do the image. I'm gonna. I am going to send that to my email and. And save it to my desktop and pull it up. So tell the story as I go through that process right now. Sure. So very recently, our company Just Collect, was contacted by someone through Instagram. And I'd have to say that most of at least the leads that come through Instagram tend to be not that great in terms of the quality of the cards. So this one, I didn't know if it would be any different, and it was very vague. But the subtle difference was, I have some cards from the 1940s. I'm like, okay, I'm interested. I'd like to hear what you have to say. I'm ready with the image, by the way. Okay, great. So we were messaging for a little bit of time, and I honestly was so awkward. I'm like, you think we could take this offline to, like, you know, a phone? It was very strange because I didn't know who I was talking to. Right. It's Instagram. It could be someone who's 11. They could be 88. I don't know. So we started to chat, and this individual was the son of. Of someone whose father, their father bought a collection of cards recently from someone else's family who had passed. And the reason why this gentleman knew a little bit about cards is because he collects non sport cards. And then it turns out his son, which is the person who contacted us on Instagram, collects Pokemon, but there is no Pokemon card. Sadly, sports cards live, so there's no Pokemon cards in this collection. I Hate to break your heart. Wow. Yeah. So I started to get the information, and the quantity was sharing with me. I was like, oh, maybe I'm misunderstanding. There's going to be, like, birds and actresses and all sorts of just weird, funky stuff in this collection. Because no one really has a collection of almost 2,000 cards in the late 1930s and 40s, in sports, certainly, that are fresh. And when he started sending me the images, I'm like, oh, 100% of the stuff's real. And I asked him. I was curious. I said, so, like, what made you reach out to me on Instagram? It's very important to me to understand, like, how people find us so I can maybe do it again. Right. And so he said to me that his mother was doing research after, you know, her husband acquired this collection from this family. They found our company. The father and the mother debated what to do. Meanwhile, the son does what any younger kid does. He started Googling and IG ing and figuring out what's the scoop with who we are. And then he reached out on IG with a very vague message, figuring if we don't get back, we're not the place for him. So it goes to show you should really respond to as many of the messages and inquiries as you can where that's humanly possible for you. So we got the images. I know the stuff's real. And we did a lot of due diligence in terms of the evaluation of the numbers, because this gentleman was talking to some other people as well. So we decided, like we do with all of our other deals, just to put our best foot forward. And you'll see why in a second before Jeremy shows the image. So in this collection, there's a little bit of non sports, which we'll talk about at the end. But what they wanted to start with was almost 2000 sports cards from the late 1930s to 1941. So if you can figure out what sets are from that time period, it's largely play ball cards. Right. I'm gonna show. I gotta show it now that you're talking about what they are. Okay. Right. So the highlight. The highlight of the collection, because Jeremy seems very antsy to be showing his photo. Well, I'm staring at this image. I understand there's a total which is completely insane. It's the largest accumulation of this type of cards from this era that we bought. There are 39 total cards of Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams. So if you take a look at the cards, obviously the black and whites, meaning the play balls from 39 to 40. It might be a little bit tougher to tell, but when you get to the 41s, what happens is because these cards have been out of circulation for decades, if not more than that, the color, albeit the grade is low, the color is phenomenal on the 41 play balls. So this is an absolute highlight of the collection. And in some cases, which is really funky, like on the 1940 high numbers from Play Ball, you know, there might be like nine cheap benders, and I don't know what this means, but there was only one shoeless Joe Jackson. So the shoeless jer Jacksons from 1940 play ball. And this image was really the highlight of the collection. It was the 39 total cards of Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio. And we're real excited that we're able to acquire it from this family. Oh, he's really. I'm really excited. We were, of course, man, I worked my butt off. It was like we had a value, hundreds of cards. And then like, we're negotiating. He's talking to artificial intelligence Gemini and this and that. I said, listen, man, if you want to talk to humans, you can come down to my office, you know, and be happy to talk to you. So there was a lot of back and forth, but I really do appreciate that we had the opportunity to, if you will, evaluate it and be first and then close the deal. Because I explained it, we really wanted it. I paid a little bit more than I wanted to pay, but I thought it was a really important collection. And Jeremy, you're going to love this. I was away till the end. This is not all of it. We bought a tiny bit of non sports, but the. Oh, my God. There's a near complete set of 1940 Superman cards with a number one with an extra number one. But that's what this gentleman collects, is the non sports. So we're going to see what happens in the future. He certainly has my number. And if you're watching, come on down anytime you're ready to sell him. Unbelievable. Yeah. So for anybody listening, the image is on. Is on the screen right now. You can see it on YouTube. But Layton just described most of the cards, and it's Incredible seeing like four 1939 Joe DiMaggios beside two Ted Williams play Ball rookies. And then you got the DiMaggio 40s below. And then you got the 41 color and the 41 Ted Williams, three DiMaggios, three Ted Williams, and then all these cards along the bottom, which I'm not Very familiar with, oh, 41 double plays. The double plays, I mean, they're not the easiest cards to get, but this collection, for whatever reason or another, there was an incredible quantity, as you can see, and in some cases we had like 11 Mel OD. It's, it's pretty wild. Incredible. Well, congrats on the collection. So, so let's transition from this into one of the topics that you emailed me about, which was with, with PSA pausing their lower level tiers. Where are you going? What, what are you going to do with these, Leighton? Are these going to be worth submitting in the tiers that are still open? Are you in a rush to get these slabbed up so you can sell them at the national or the Philly show or the upcoming shows? What are your plans for these? And when you answer that question, talk about, you know, what you think, how you think you're going to be handling the, the pause and how other people are doing it as well. Sure. So I think that was one of the questions I'd email you about because I wanted to ask vintage collectors, you know, I guess I could see why you went with this is if you end up in a situation where you want to grade some cards on the value services of Vintage Collector, you know, what are you going to do these days? And so with this particular collection, on the more expensive cards, we're still going to, you know, send them to PSA and on what I would say is like the, you know, Mel OTS and that type of, you know, player, meaning excellent hall of Famers, but they're going to be in the grade ranges of between 2 and 3 or 2 and 4 largely. We're going to submit them to SGC provided SGC doesn't shut down their bulk service next week. And so, you know, that's, that's our plan for the immediate future. But I did email you and I am curious of the community. So as a vintage collector right now, with PSA shutting it down, are you directly going to, as you see, but it's more so if you see closes down, are you going to take a pause? Are you going to try someone new like cgc? And I am genuinely, to me, genuinely curious because I've never greeted with, excuse me, with cgc, but I don't really have a good reason as to why other than PSA sells for good money and FCC sells for decent money. So those are my thoughts. Yeah, it's a good question. So before I answer, Joe, what were your, when you first saw this image hit the Screen. What went through your mind? I love it. I mean, this is, you know, the treasure hunter, you know, narrative brought to fruition. I. I just want to. You mentioned the color, and I just. There's two cards that particularly stand out to me, and the interesting thing is they're one's right above the other. It's the 41 play ball. Ted Williams with that incredibly vivid orange third down and the third one from the right and then directly. But that orange. That orange. Go back down, Jaylee. That orange and the shadow that that casts. I mean, so this is an example where I don't mind that that card's off center because it's such exceptional color saturation. And I. I just wanted to point that out. I don't have a whole lot more to say. I also liked the. I mean, all the DiMaggios are great, but the one right above it looked particularly purple there and green as well. Yeah, yeah, it's. It's a killer. It's a killer. When I first saw my eye, my eyes just went. They popped out of my head when I received that text message from Leighton earlier today. So, Leighton, your question of what are you doing? Like, what are you doing? Now that they're paused, where are you. What are you doing for your grade? I'm just gonna continue doing what I always do late, and that's buy cards that are already graded, like, you know what I mean? So that's the easy. That's the easy answer for that. But that. That's how I'm gonna play it, because I don't have anything to get graded anyway. I'm not in the same shoes that you are or many other other people, so. But we do have some answers from the crowd. First of all, Yankees fan says these kind of finds make the hobby so much fun. Orlando says that you're broke now. Leighton. R.W. jones is here for lock. That's Chris Locke, who'll be joining us here shortly. Michael Raider says PSA will take their time regardless. Michael Stone says directly going to sgc. That's a four of the game says as well, sgc. So does Orlando say sgc? Skeppy says this photo is a great example of how much quality raw vintage cards are still out there. Laura says sgc. Chris C. Says, hello, everyone. And we all say back to you. Hello. Hello, Chris. Michael Stone has used CGC for vintage. I think they grade half to one point higher. So a little bit of feedback there. Anyone considering to do that? Greg says Leighton officially has the best job on Earth. No doubt no doubt. Yeah. Eye candy overload, says Jim. Absolutely, Jim. Another Jim says, says sgc. And Alex Bridgeforce says Tag. But Tag doesn't grade vintage, so that that answer does not apply when it comes to the vintage, which is what we're talking about right now. But I. Oh, he says, just kidding. Okay, you're right, that, that would not work. Yeah. Listen, it's interesting, Leighton. It's. I don't know. Well, can I ask a question? I mean, Leighton, I mean, one, one option obviously is to keep it raw. How in your experience has that fared? And do you anticipate that the market might be more amenable to raw cards right now? Because they would understand why you wouldn't have just rushed them off to PSA like you normally might have. So I think in the case of the cards you'd submit, Joe, it's a great question. At the value service, I'm absolutely going to take some of these cards, meaning the hall of Famers, maybe even some of the commons, but the hall of Famers that, let's say I would have slabbed on the value bulk level at psa. I'm happy to send them to sgc. Except I looked earlier today at my outstanding SGC orders and without divulging too much, I have several now that are approaching, I believe, over four months on the bulk side. And so I am just looking at, like, as to when I might get these cards back, I would submit. And so at the end of the day, I am going to take that approach that, you know, whether it be a Carl Hubble. Right. Or a Jim Bottomley or like just these random Heidi Minouche, you know, like guys that are not going to be super duper, you know, big dollars that are worth submitting at the, whatever the express level, $80 and above. I'm going to potentially take some of those, Joe, and retail them or put them out for sale at the National. But most definitely on the more expensive ones, I'm still going to slab them, mainly just because I want to make sure that people know what they're getting. You know, nothing's high grade in the collection, as you saw. Some of the color is great, which is fantastic, but that's what I'll do with the, with the, you know, the lower end cards. And to be fair, I'm the lower end hall of Famers, some of them. I mean, I've already started a box I'm anticipating. I'll probably have thousands of cards that whenever PSA reopens that I'll be willing to submit, but they're vintage so it's a little bit different. Meaning I'm not so worried about who wins the NBA finals or you know, what's going to happen in the World cup or things of that nature. So. So you are saving cards for psa, reopening those service levels. Yeah, but the kind of cards I'm saving, for example, right now, I mean, but you are, you are saving some though, you are going to save. Oh, definitely. Like I'm saving, I have some really nice 33 Gowdy baseball that I can't afford to pay $80 a card. Yeah, like a 33 Gaudy Common and a 5 is a good card. Sure. And it's much, it is much less in terms of demand, which obviously means the values less in sgc. And I love the SEC black bordered holders. But the PSA set registry is very strong on 33 gallery on those sixes on 52 tops. And so those are the kinds of cards Jeremy, I'll probably have to just hold on to for a bit. Yeah, makes sense. Absolutely. We are going to switch up the topic here. We're actually going to bring Chris Lock on here in just a couple minutes. So Joe, so you want to jump in with something? I was just curious, I mean I, I do hope I get to. I, you know, see some of these cards on your table at the national and what I'm curious about is do you, on those cards that you're holding, do you tend, tend to bring those along in case somebody asks and says I'd be happy with a raw if you had it and pull it out or do you just seriously like tuck those away and know that like the value proposition for this particular card, it needs to just be at a time when you can get it graded with the appropriate service level and turnaround time. I'm going to leave them at home, but the main reason I'm going to leave them at home is we just have a lot of inventory. If we didn't have a lot of inventory, for example, Joe, I think it's a great question. I would have, I've had other people I've seen do this. There's dealers that'll say, hey, I was about to submit to PSA, here's you know, 16 cards, these are the prices. If not, I'll just send them to psa. And they're not, they're not joking, they're not bluffing. And I think that's also very reasonable. We won't bring it just because there's a lot of Stuff that we have anyway. And, you know, I just want to underscore, I find that incredibly sexy. Like a new find that hasn't had time to be graded yet. And, you know, whether or not it's like top shelf condition wise, you can usually find a few examples that have something exceptional about them. And that's one of my strategies in vintage is like some quality that is above and beyond what you normally see for the issue. Well, Joe, it sounds like you'll be able to talk yourself into buying some of these 41 play balls from us. So step on down to our booth and come see us in Auction wire at the national or maybe the 39 DiMaggio, but those are going to PSA. Okay. Okay. All right. There was, there was some back and forth in the chat about whether or not, you know, you can, you can, you can buy and sell raw vintage or if it needs to be graded. But Jim here says the raw card revolution might be underway as we speak. Orlando would definitely buy them raw. So there's all sorts of positions. You know, I'll let. We. You guys do collect how you want to collect. You know, we can argue about it, but how it works for you and the people like, like Layton who are buying raw cards and are submitting them for grading will do what's best for, for their business and their customers. And I think that makes the most sense. Joe, really quick last point, especially from a trusted dealer who accessed it directly from a sort of find, if you will. I love the, the possibility of buying raw cards of, of these natures. All right, good. Okay, we are going to bring on Chris lock, who's a 20 year old hobby veteran. Leighton, do you want to stick around for a bit? You might have some fun. You're welcome to. I know we had you scheduled for half an hour, but depending on your time, are you willing, are you able to stick around for a few more minutes? Stick around for a few more minutes? Yeah, absolutely. All right, guys, Chris, give me a thumbs up if you're ready to go. We're holding high because you're behind my camera. There he is. All right, guys, we're bringing you on. Please welcome Chris Locke for the first time ever to Sports Cards Live. Chris, welcome. Say hi to Joe and Leighton. How's it going? Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you, Joe. Thanks for having me, Jeremy. You bet. It's. It's good to have you, Chris. So it's funny, guys, I, I feel I've known Chris for a little while. I, I've been on Zoom calls with his father having some, some business calls. And Chris has made the odd appearance when his father Scott has said, hey, Chris, come say hello to Jeremy. We've said hello. And this just happened. I, I think yesterday, the day before that exact thing happened. And, and, and his father Scott goes, hey, maybe, I think, I think Chris. I think what happened is Scott said something like, hey, maybe you should have Chris on your show. I'm like, is he free on Saturday? Are you free this Saturday? Because we had someone drop off. It's like, okay, sort of, sort of a perfect timing thing. So, Chris, it's good to have you on the show. How are you? What's going on? Like, I. Now I'm sitting there looking for my notes from our discussion because. And I found them. But anyway, I just want to say welcome to the show. It's good to have you. And why don't you tell everybody a little bit about your hobby history? What. How did you get started? When did you get started? And we'll go from there. But let's start with your, your origin story, if you don't mind. Oh, of course. I mean, it all started 10 years ago. 10 or 12 years ago. Me and my brother, we were big into Pokemon cards at the time, as most, you know, kids around that age were. And as I started to get older and, you know, and get into more different things in life, sports was something that really, you know, struck my interests. And as someone who, you know, had a. Aspirations for collecting all sorts of things, the first question I asked my dad, you know, do they have these for sports? And of course, as someone who had collected in the 80s, you know, early 90s, he was like, yes, of course there is. And, you know, that led down a large, a pretty big rabbit hole. And in 20, I remember it was 2013, we made a trip to Target and we were busting through some 2013, 2014 NBA hoops, and I had pulled a. Lucky enough to pull a Chris Bosch autograph. And super relevant at the time because we had the finals on the TV and, you know, it sprung from there. And since then we found our local, local hobby store, which was in Sterling, Virginia at the time. And, you know, going from retail to hobby packs, doing it as a father and son, as a family. And over time, it just built up and up and up and come, you know, 2017, 2018, you're ripping cards, you're listing it on ebay, and all of a sudden you're at, you know, six figures worth of sales. And it would be about time to spin up a business at that point. So since then, you know, I've been buying and selling single cards, ripping open packs here and there. Try not to as much. But you, so you, like you said, time to spin up a business because you were buying and selling. And when you're buying and selling and I'm trying, I want, I want the, the, the audience, the chat to kind of, and the listeners to, to understand your angle and, and really, you know, kind of where you would fall on the hobby spectrum. You know, are you more on the purist, nostalgic, precisionist side of things or more on the, you know, down by the builder, the operator, the tycoon and a lot of collectors, we, we dip our toes in both ends of the spectrum. I can be a very nostalgic collector, but I also am an operator buying and selling cards. And it's fun. So when you are buying and selling cards, are you also a collector to the point where you're buying and selling cards, taking those profits and buying cards for your personal collection? Do you have a personal collection? Oh yes, I do. And 100. I try to dip my toes into, you know, all, each and every aspect of when it comes to the hobby, you know, buying and selling cards as a 20 year old kid in college, you know, to be able to make myself some money but to as well, to as well, you know, give in to my addiction, given to my habit of collecting awesome cards and I try to, I try to mix it up. Well, the, the goal right now for myself of course is to kind of, you know, get, get a established business under my feet, to, you know, get myself in, in the game as well as afford, you know, some cards I've been dreaming of for a long time and upgrading the ones I have right now. But I try to hit, you know, all aspects. It's all growth right now, you know, and it has been for the last eight years full time doing this. Yeah. So Joe and Leighton, I wanna, I'm gonna ask Chris to tell us because he's had, he's already been working in the hobby. He's. How old are you, Chris? 20. He's 20 years old, guys. He's 20 years old. He's on his third job in the hobby. So to me that just tells me that he's got experience, he's learned things along the way. Tell the audience in the panel, Chris, a little bit about the jobs you've had, where you worked and what you were doing in each of those roles so they get an idea as to what sort of experience you have here at the young age of 20. Oh yeah, for sure. So at 15, I got my first job in the hobby and that was at Alt. At Alt, I was a, a pricer on the, on the back end. So before they switched to automated pricing, you know, AI pulling from all sorts of things, the stuff that couldn't catch, you know, I was, I was in there having to do it manually and it was super fun, you know, getting in there, seeing the cool stuff that people have hidden away. I had some great opportunities to do some of Alexis Ohanian's Serena collection, which was pretty awesome to do, you know, going through the back end, being able to price, being able to identify the things there their system couldn't pick up at the time, you know. And then my second job came to at D.C. sports 87. That was about a year after my stint at Alt, which they needed full time people. I was a part time kid in high school, so I transitioned into my next job there where I did a lot of the consignment titles, um, for their listings before AI took that job. So for now I find myself working at the local hobby store in the area, Continental Cards, where I'm there part time as well. Awesome. And, and do you aspire to work in the hobby? Are you in school now? What's your, what are your, what is your vision for your future, Chris? Does it int. Does it include working full time in the hobby? Would you like your, your career to be in the hobby or do you expect to go out and be a, I don't know, a lawyer, an accountant, a dentist, a doctor? Like, what are your, what are your career plans right now that you're, you know, and it's funny guy Joe Layton. I mean, we're all much older than you, Chris, and so we know that what you aspire to be when you're 20 can be a lot different. It can end up being a lot different once you get there to, to 30, 40, 50, 60 years old. So. But where do you see yourself, where do you see yourself headed right now? Oh, man. So, yeah, I'm in school right now. I'm over at George Mason University. I'm in my third year. My goal, the ultimate goal is to one day have my own store, have my own hobby shop, which I, I have lots of aspirations for. I have big dreams. Every single business project I've had in my last three years of school have been about, you know, all the things that go into, you know, owning a hobby shop, the costs, the finances, you know, what you need to make it happen. It's all. All been in my mind for the past, you know, three years. And I, I do aspire, you know, after this is done, hopefully in the next year or two to have my own store, ideally with my dad. You know, do it together, build up something pretty cool, pretty innovative and, you know, bring people together. Yeah. Well, that's great. I have more questions. I want to go to Joe and Leighton and just ask you guys, you know, what questions would you have for a guy like this? What would. What. Not only what questions would you have for a guy like this, but Chris Leighton is full time. His. He's a professional baseball card treasure hunter, by the way. Lane, I think I've said that more lately than you have about yourself, but I like it. It means my marketing's working. Yeah, I love the line for you, but to Joanne Layton, what questions would you have for him? Or. But not only that, what advice might you have for him? And maybe we'll start with you, Leighton. Joe, try if you have something in mind. Great. But let's start with you, Leighton, because you are in the business. You've been in the business your whole life. You might be sim. And you have a bricks and mortar store. So Chris, you might have a question for Leighton directly. I want Leighton to ask you a question or give you a piece of advice right now. I want you to think what you can ask him. And Joe, whenever you're ready, just put up your hand like you always so politely do and let me know what you're thinking. But let's start with you, Leighton. Sure. Well, first, I'm glad I stuck around for a few minutes to meet you, Chris. Really phenomenal. You're very well spoken. You handle yourself very well for a 20 year old. Thank you know, young man. So if you ever need to chat or you have some questions for me offline, Easy enough to reach. I wish you and your dad the best of success in starting a store. And I think you already have the right idea. Meaning you're in school, you're in a third year you've been thinking about in a very serious fashion. It sounds like you were trying to think about the costs, how you're going to do business, how you're going to separate yourself from the pack. And you know, honestly, I don't want to offer you advice unsolicited. I don't. I'm not a big believer in that. But if you did have anything in particular you wanted to ask me, you know, here on air, I'd be happy to answer, but it sounds like you're headed, you know, down the right path, and I'm really excited for you to have a goal in mind that you want to achieve. And to be clear, when I was 20, I had a couple other goals. Like, I wanted to play for the Yankees. I wanted to be on the Jets. I had a feeling it wasn't going to work out, but, man, there was not the opportunity. And I don't want to sound like an old, you know, fellow right now, but it's changed a lot. I'm excited for you that it has, because it means that for my son, who is younger than you, my son's 11, but if my son ever does decide to, you know, go into this space, whatever that means, there's me a lot of options for kids like you and. And him. And so I'm excited for you guys and see where you, you know, where you run with it. Oh, thank you. Thank you so much. I mean, the kind words are. Are, you know, very flattering. I appreciate it. You know, a question for you. You know, I personally, I always think of ways in my head to, you know, what. What would make, you know, the hobby better for everyone? And especially in a store, you know, working in a storefront, you know, I try my very best, you know, the eight hours I'm there as an hourly employee, to provide the best experience possible, you know, for the people who come in every day. And I guess my question for you, Leighton, would be, what do you think that is? Like, what. Like, what do you think right now that a hobby store would need to provide, you know, the best experience possible for collectors or anyone who just steps foot through that door? Nice question. It's a great question. And I think I start with having them feel like it's their home away from home and that they're comfortable and it's enjoyable. Meaning, like, they're not a mark. They don't come into their store. As a local mom, you're like, oh, that's $100 bill, right? Or Freddie from down the street comes in, you're like, oh, wow, look at my chops. Is going to sell me stuff. If you treat people like you're going to be there for a long time, they're going to feel that, and it's going to be a lot easier for you to do business. Gotcha. Yeah, no, that's. I think that's great. That's a great answer. Yeah. I really appreciate it. And of course, you know, I'd always be. It would be an honor to be Able to talk with you and, you know, brainstorm ideas and just get advice. I really appreciate it. Chris, are you going to be at the National? Yeah. You'll be there? Well, Leighton is late. When you walk in the main end, you walk in the lobby, you go in the main doors on the right hand side, you just go, oh, actually, I'm gonna do one better here. I'm gonna actually show you in a moment where Leighton's booth actually is. So just bear with me. And I'm gonna do that because, hey, I can do it because we have the live and interactive map from the national right here. You. And this is awesome, by the way. This is by Ludx. This is a really cool. I've never looked at this before, but you walk in here, you know, here's that. Here's that sheltered kind of drop off. You walk in the main lobby over here, and then you head straight up this first aisle, I believe, if I remember correctly, Layton's booth, is it this one right there. It's like right around there. Right. There we go. Just collect 301 and 303. There's where Layton will be set up. The national, guys, that's where you can find Layton to just collect and auction wire as well. This is the upstairs, which is people who don't know, you can see it's really been. It used to be the same amount of tables and half. Half the space. Now they have that whole width of that upstairs room. So that's going to be awesome. But again, you can find Layton right up over here and auction wire 301 and 303. Yeah, 301 and 303 for just collect an auction wire. So. By the way, Chris, just so you know, Leighton's business is called Just collect, in case that wasn't obvious to you. Yeah, late. And I'm glad you stuck around, too, for that. Joe and Leighton, feel free to just. If you. If you got to go, that's fine. Stick around if you want. Well, I want to hear what Joe has to say. But then after that, I was going to run, but I'm really glad I was able to connect and. And to meet Chris. Absolutely. Late. Joe, what do you think? What do you think of Chris? What do you. What? What? Wait, you want to tell them? Oh, I don't got nothing to tell them. I got questions, though. I got a lot of questions. Go ahead, go ahead. One's a fun question and one's a more serious question. So I'll start with the fun question aesthetically and your own personal Taste, Chris, I, I, I get the sense that you're, you know, you like basketball. I can see the antetokounmpo jersey back there. I, I think there might be an ant jersey behind your head. I can't quite see. Is that ant? Yeah, Ben Caro. And we got Vince Carter right in between. Oh, okay. Oh, there you go. Representing Vin Sanity. Okay, my question for you, aesthetically, as, as someone that dabbles in, in the ultra modern myself, do you prefer gold, vinyl or a true black prism? Oh, give me the, give me the true black prism all day. I, I am a sucker for a black prism. Okay. I think by far and away, historically, outside of the gold panini's best parallel gold vinyls, you know, it, it transfers over from, from tops, you know, back from early 2000s. So it has somewhat of a historical significance. And I would, I wouldn't mind one either. But to me, the black prism has always, you know, stuck out to me especially, you know, when I, some of the first hobby boxes that we started opening were 17, 18 prism, and that was the chase. So it is a little sentimental to me as well. Well, well put, well put. My more serious question, and I appreciate that it's, it's a little hobby heuristic to kind of like, which direction do you lean? My more serious question is, so given that you've worked at two pretty significant, you know, organizations, namely Alt and, and dc, I'm curious about your brick or mortar. When you weigh the, the options of something online versus something that is more of a brick and mortar, what goes through your head and, and why does at this moment it seem more compelling to, to open a brick and mortar? I mean, I think the most important part of the hobby is being able to hold things in hand, you know, from person to person, you know, from eye to eye. I think those are the two most important things that there are. You know, you can, obviously you can do both, right? You can do online, you can do brick and mortar, which would be the ideal combo right there. But I think the hobby is all about in person transactions. You know, when you go back, you know, as far as the, you know, 40s, 50s, 60s, like historically, it has always been there, right? You know, the person to person interaction, to be able to feel, you know, a card in your hand like this, I think is what drives people to really love and want to, you know, you know, dip their toes into the beautiful hobby that we love. And, you know, that, that, that to me is what's important. You know, seeing people's smiles Seeing people, you know, have just genuine joy and having, you know, the love of something that they could, you know, either escape to or, you know, it's just a pastime. Right. I think that's the most important part and that's what compels me to kind of lean more towards the physical brick and mortar route rather than online. Awesome. Thank you. Great answer. Yeah, of course. Thank you for the question. Good stuff. Good stuff so far here, Chris. Alex Bridgeforth asks, what do you collect yourself, Chris? Well, I have, I have a nice pile of stuff in, in front of me, if you guys don't mind me sharing. So my main interest in what, you know, I think is as you guys were talking about earlier, game used memorabilia, game used items. I have a few here. I sold my best one, unfortunately, about a week ago today. So I have a picture on my phone. But I love game used patch autos. In basketball, on card game use patch autos. It's something you can't replicate. You know, people panini makes so many different tops now. There's so much manufactured scarcity out there. On card autographs, in game use patches I think are, you know, are forever. They will live. You know, they come off right off the backs of these guys. You know, the hand sign them, it's all there. It's Kyrie's, one of my favorites as well. That's my main lane. That's what I really enjoy. And I, you know, I'm not an ultra modern guy. I don't like kabooms. I don't like downtowns. If you ever catch me with one of those, I probably didn't buy it. It was someone else, it wasn't me. Why, why don't you like those, Chris? Is it the aesthetic? Is it the, the community around them? What don't you like about them? I don't like how people think they're rare. They're just not rare. You know, you go to a show and you see one at every table and it gets, to me, it gets pretty, pretty tiring, right? It's the same 20 players in a set. You know, you go to a show and you see, you know, cards like as I just showed, I feel like those are much, you know, bigger eye catchers. They're. They're nice, they're shiny, they're cool, they're liquid, obviously. But it's just the pop on 20, 24 paper kabooms for football I believe is 60 to 70, 000 right now. And to me, I, you know, I just don't like it. You know, I'd rather have the rare stuff. I'd rather have the cool stuff, at least to me. And that's where I kind of stand and hold on, hold on before, because I want to. I wanna. I wanna. I wanna give you a layup here before you show your next lane. And. And I really want to make sure that we tie this back to the conversation we were having before you even joined about, you know, will younger collectors care about older players? Where do you fall in the world of vintage talk? Tell us, do you like vintage? Do you collect vintage? I have a bit of insight here into Chris. I've talked to him already. So for me, it's a bit, you know, it's rhetorical, but speak to vintage and let us know your thoughts on it, please. I think 1961 FLIR basketball is the most underappreciated set of all time. I know I liked you, Chris. I knew there was a reason I stuck around, man. The amount of. I mean, when you look at the checklist here of hall of Famers, absolute legends. I mean, you could buy a Wimby silver right now for the same price as a Wilt Chamberlain rookie card. Yeah, let's see that Chamberlain again. What does that look like? You got my interest here. It's. It's all right. I mean, it's a four. I can't see. Is it centered it. Oh, sorry, I can't tell. Yeah, it's. It's just hard to see it, but, yeah, but it's okay. It's okay, Chris. Great. Little. Little bit oc, but it's really oc, but you know, that it's. It's some of my favorite stuff. I think it's super underappreciated. And when you look at the modern market today, when Binyamin is a great player, but the fact that you can get, you know, a real one, a piece of history into one of an established. Go to the sport, you know, whether you think he scored 100 points or not. I mean, you can't beat that. To me, you know, same thing with the, you know, 1980 tops, the bird. Bird magic. Dr. J. This is a great card. You can't beat, you know, a flir Jordan can't get enough of those. It's the most iconic card in the hobby. You know, that. That's a little bit, you know, I like all eras, you know, 60s, late 90s. You know, I like the kind of the chrome refractors of the legends. There's Dirk right there. And when you get into the early 2000s. You know, I, I, I like to stay kind of in the lane that I grew up in. You know, I love LeBron, I love Steph. Giannis is one of my favorite players ever. And I try to, I try to collect, you know, those guys who have already cemented themselves as greats of the game, relevant. And you know, they're still playing at a high level today, although they're not retired. But that, that's kind of my thing. I have a few other ones I can, I can show ahead. Show a couple more cards. Show a couple more cards. So this is, I think, my current best. It's hard to see in the lighting, but, you know, a 2003 Tops Chrome LeBron James X Fractor. These were numbered out of 220, I think the most underappreciated parallel of that year of chrome. You see the blacks out of 500 and the golds doing astronomical numbers. The X factors right up in there. Getting into more modern stuff. One of my favorite sets of the 2019 contenders, these Kobe Bryant tribute autographs. Great set. I mean, it, it, he signed these all on card, big, beautiful autographs. And it truly, you know, I think is just a, a beautiful high. All his highlights of his career, you know, in one set, I think is, is just beautiful in 2019, was, you know, close to the time he passed. And I think when that set came out, it was truly a beautiful, you know, kind of just a total, the total of his career in a set of cards, I think is wonderful. And then I guess my last couple, I'll show Giannis 2013 immaculate rookie patch auto number to 10. We'll see where he goes. I hope he gets traded. And then my last one that I have to show is one that me and a couple buddies just picked up recently. It's not so much into my lane, but, you know, he's, he's a local guy in, in these parts in the DMV area, but a Jaden Daniels Gold Prism Rookie PSA9, which is one of the highest graded copy or it is with the highest graded copy. It's a Pop 4, but yeah, no, those, that's kind of my lane. That's kind of what I love, what I enjoy. And yeah, thanks for letting me share those. Yeah, for sure. I want to ask you a question now, Chris. You love patch cards, you love patch autos. Where do you fall on, especially in basketball? Well, not especially, I guess in basketball and many other sports, a lot of patch autos, the patches are not game used. They're their photo shoot or their. They're just miscellaneous unknown. You don't know where they're from. Are you interested in only game use patch cards or are you okay with non game use patch cards? Are you okay with photo shoot? And then it comes down to RPAs, which rookie patch autos are often non game used. So do you collect RPAs? What are your thoughts on the. On the game used versus non game used memorabilia patch cards? Oh man. I think game used patch cards are the best attribute in the hobby. I, I currently don't. Besides the honest, I don't really have too many player worn stuff. To me when I flip that card over game uses what you want to see. And I think anything other than that in, in the grand scheme of things is, is inconsequential. Right. It has no true meaning. Especially you know, in the hobby where people want to be as close to the game as possible. The rookie photo shoot ones, kind of when you look Back to like 2018, 2017, when those were kind of the, the standard on the back proposed 2019, 2020, it changed to not from any specific game or event. Those are interesting. I mean I had my fair share of those through the years, but I feel like as I've kind of, you know, matured in the, in the space, in the hobby game uses, you know, I think what people want and I think that's what companies should be putting out. And I think as basketball collectors we've been spoiled to, you know, have most veterans game used. Rookies and flawless are game used. And I think the flawless RPA should 100% be worth more than the National Treasures RPA. Because when you look now at how many parallels there are, how, you know, how saturated it's really become and you kind of line up the two sets, the amount of cards that they have, the signs are all there for floss to be worth more. But I feel like the hobbies direction still rides the historical aspect of those National Treasures RPAs. But I think, you know, game use is what people want. I think it's what should sell for more. And I would only go for that right now. Yeah, that's what I like. So I just wanted to know if someone who is, well, younger than me feels the same way and how the future generation may be looking at these things because they get caught up in the hype. But will that last? Will that endure or will, you know, will logic prevail? I think is the way I look at it now. You know, there are some, there are some, there's some. There's definitely some nuance there. But yeah, that's, you know, I, I like to hear that you are interested in older players. That gives us all hope for the future. Right, Leighton? Right, Joe? Doesn't that make us feel good about his generation? And Chris, you got some friends in the chat here. I've noticed tonight, like, are your friends kind of feeling the same way about game used, about vintage players, older players? Even when you're mentioning older players, I mean, you only went as far back as 1961 because in basketball you're so limited by the three or four vintage sets that exist. But are you interested in a Bill Russell rookie, A Koozie rookie? Are you interested in a Mike and rookie? Are you interested in the whole 48 Bowman basketball set, the whole 57 tops basketball set? Do those interest you at all? OR Are you 61 where you cut it off and you're 61 forward? Oh, of course. So I've wanted a Bill Russell rookie for the longest time and I just haven't gotten the chance to get one yet. The Mikin is also interesting too. It's another one I've thought about. Not as hard as the Russell, but you've put, you've planted that seed in my brain. Now I know what I'm gonna do at the national this year. Yeah, you know, I have, you know, my friends are great. You know, I think they all kind of share similar interests to me, especially my co workers Bobby and Cal, who I hope are, are watching right now. What's up? What's up? Bobby and Cal? What's up? What's up guys? You know, Bob, Bobby's real big into vintage baseball. You know, he, he, he loves the Orioles. You know, he can. We have some cool vintage stuff in the shop. Some Mantles. I think we have Pete Rose, rookie, you know, that's all stuff up his alley. And Cal, you know, he's also kind of the same, same kind of, you know, mindset as me. We love the 2000s guys for basketball, the 2010s, you know, and I think a couple of my other friends as well, Narav and Rahul and Anoop who might be watching. I mean, we're all big basketball guys. We love LeBron Jordan, we love the Goats. And I, you know, you can't go wrong with those guys. You can't go wrong with Ko Jordan, LeBron, Steph, who, you know, was the big card I sold off was a Steph. You just can't go wrong with these guys. And I'm glad that I have friends around me who kind of share the same, you know, interests. It gives me. Gives me a lot of hope, too, for, you know, the people around my age, you know, and good to hear. You know, it's really good to hear that you've got a good group, too. That's awesome that. That you have a group of guys, your buddies that are into this. So you're lucky for that. Okay, before we continue, Leighton, Joe, guys, thank you for both joining us tonight. Leighton, great to see you. I'm glad you got to meet Chris. So thank you. Yeah, it was nice to meet you guys. Thank you. Good to see you. Joe, I haven't seen you in a bit. And Jeremy, it's always good to see you. I'll see you guys real soon. Thanks, Leighton. We'll talk. We'll see you later, buddy. Thanks to Layton. Joe, thank you as well. If you go for a walk and you want to come back on towards the end, you know, just pop back up and we'll bring you back on, buddy. So thanks for joining, man. Appreciate it. Appreciate it. Good to meet you, Chris. We'll see about later. Jay Lee, take care. Okay, buddy. Have a good night. Thank you. Thank you. Joe. Thanks for tuning in and being a part of the sports cards live community. Don't forget to, like, subscribe and most of all, keep collecting more great content to come. Sports cars is a lifestyle.