Remembering Top Podcast Moments For 300th Episode! Plus Are More Wealthy Buyers Good For The Hobby? And Discussing Veefriends X Stephen Curry Collaboration

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 Cards to the Moon. My name is Clark from 5cardguys.com, and you can also find me at 5cardguys on Instagram, YouTube, and on Facebook. Co-hosting with me as usual is Hyung, who is at Cho Hyung on all your socials. John couldn't make it today, and it's too bad because this happens to be episode 300, and loyal podcast listeners know John's been an integral part of this podcast, so we definitely hope he'll be back on soon. But anyway, a little pat on the back for ourselves for reaching this milestone. And we'll definitely commemorate the moment in a segment right after Hobby Headlines, but as we usually do, let's get right into it. Off the top, I just saw that VFriends, which is Gary Vaynerchuk's attempt at being the next Pokemon with his unique characters, they're collabing with Stephen Curry, out of all people, to be part of their Super Stickers manga series collection, which is coming out in July. And if you don't know, they just released the Topps Chrome VFriends set, which I believe has been a pretty big success. I was just at Fanatics Fest, as you guys know, and I visited their booth. I met up with Gary V, which was a highlight, and yeah, their booth was buzzing. You know, hobby boxes of Topps Chrome VFriends, it went for a couple hundred bucks at retail, which I was lucky to get one box of online. Now they're going for about $600 on eBay, right? So it's a 3x flip there if you did that. And some of the rare cards, the rare parallels from that set are selling for thousands of dollars, right? So fresh off that launch, we have the Super Stickers manga set with Steph Curry featured on several of the sticker cards. Special thoughts on this crossover, and do you think we see more of this kind of, you know, crossover between different sets, different sports, different, yeah, just categories from other sets? What do you think? So I'm very new to this side of things, and I still want to know that, like, in your opinion, what is the high level potential of, I guess, VFriends? Like seeing the last few reels with, or episodes with even Gary Vee and stuff like that, I would like to know, like, because I'm not educated enough, I guess, to make an opinion, because my opinion would suck, because I have no basis of what, I guess, VFriends is. So what do you think is the high level of VFriends? Like collectability? The high level of V, yes. I mean, if you're going to do an easy comp, like I just mentioned, this is straight from Gary Vee's mouth, right? He wants it to be like the next Pokemon. So there is a TCG version of VFriends, which is comparable to the Pokemon TCG game. But with the Top's Chrome VFriends cards, that also gives that collectability aspect of it, where card collectors can get really into it, and I think this is just an extension of that with the Super Stickers, you know, the collectability of stickers or cards, and especially tying that into an athlete like Steph Curry, right? So you're trying to get the sports fan side of things. But you could also say, you know, the high level or the high goal of VFriends could also be being like the next Disney in terms of, you know, their merch and their products that they offer is so varied, right? And VFriends is already doing that. They have sweaters, shirts, hats, on top of the cards, on top of the TCG games. So just like Disney, there's different avenues to make money, right? So I think that's the goal from a purely financial perspective. Right. And in terms of, I guess, this collab with Steph Curry, so there's like autographs, what would it be? Like, it would be VFriends themed, like Steph Curry autos, or what would it be? Yeah, good question. I have to double check if there is actual autographs, but VFriends, if you know Pokemon, there's a bunch of characters, right? You got Charizard, you got your Blastoise and whatnot. And same thing with VFriends. You got your very, very, very, very lucky Black Cat, you got Kind Warrior, like different and, you know, Gary is known to really promote different EQ qualities, right? Like kindness and empathy. And it's tied with different, there's empathy element, for example. So he's trying to bring that out into the world as well. But you'll see the Steph Curry version of Kind Warrior. So it's kind of like with his characters and in the image of Steph Curry. So that's kind of the collab. And I believe this sticker set will have Gary V will also be in it. And I think it will feature his first sticker card as well. I think it's pretty intriguing, because like, I think community becomes so important. And like the built of community, I think Gary V obviously has that aspect, or at least that, you know, tool set in his tool belt to create some type of community. So for me, again, like this is so new that it's like, I see like a lot of products that I guess, and we see it in our hobby or in sports in general. So I think it kind of like trends similarly, where, you know, the collab with Topps Chrome to collab with Steph Curry brings this initial hype, obviously, because the brands are super strong. Topps Chrome brand is super, super strong right now. Anything Topps Chrome is hot, right? And that goes back to, I think what really stems it is the sports card market is, especially in the baseball, basketball side, now that fanatics kind of shifted over. But, you know, you're having new records of Otani cards, new records of Aaron Judge cards. And I think that's kind of making the brand Topps Chrome super strong. So in terms of Gary's strategy, I think it's well executed, because he's obviously getting enough attention to and use the collabs with the strong brands in his networks that allows him to create this community. And I think that's going to be and just like the Pokemon community, same thing. It's a community, then that's what generates the marketplace. So for me, it's going to follow the same trend where, like you said, these flippers are buying anything they can flip, and they're buying it for 200 bucks, because there's a certain hype within a community, for instance, and they're looking for it. So you have almost this, I wouldn't say artificial market, but it follows the same pattern with any market, like hyped up product, whether it's real estate, whether it's sports cards, and it tanks and corrects, right? So I think, like I said, it's great, because you have more people just entering the hobby, regardless, you have marketing on full force, because that's Gary's expertise. He's has enormous amounts of credibility within his networks. He knows a lot of people that, you know, the typical hobbyist doesn't know. So for me, I think it's great. But would I ever buy a VeeFriends? I don't think so. But I would be intrigued to rip it for some reason. Like I'd be down 100%. If I had a box for 200 bucks right now, I would probably buy a bunch. Not because of the value, but like I would be interested in that experience. Would you say it's kind of how you feel about Pokemon? Because I know you've ripped a few Pokemon boxes with Roy. But it's for that kind of similar reason. You're just kind of interested in just ripping and seeing what comes out of it. But you're not hardcore about it, right? I'm not hardcore, but I'm not closed minded either. But like I said, like, would you want to invest your time and energy in something that, you know, you don't have interest in or that you love, right? So it's that kind of thing. But maybe in the future, it's something that I'm like, wow, I truly like now I have passion for this or whatever it is, right? But I think, yeah, I think he's executing flawlessly. And he's a business guy. So it's gonna do well in the long run. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I might be biased because I'm a fan of Gary Vee. But you mentioned something that he's a business guy, he's a marketing guy. But he's also a hobby guy. You know, like he grew up flipping baseball cards. So he has that kind of expertise as well. You know, and so that comes into play for sure. And I think that comes into how he's looking at executing a lot of these different strategic moves to promote VeeFriends. So I like it. Whether it catches on, that's obviously the market's going to decide. But I think what he's good at is spotting the trends. And kind of jumping on board. And then if it takes off, amazing. And I think in terms of the general idea of collabs like this, it's kind of like oldest time, right? You've seen the Pokemon slash Super Mario cards that are just like, what, 11, 12, 13,000 now for PSA 10s. You got your Nintendo crowd. And you got your Pokemon crowd. And I think there's so much potential, especially I talk about this in sports. But let's just say the future of technology and NFT is there. And utility. Now we're talking, Gary. Like this is where next level stuff can happen, especially within his network, right? Ruben's doing that within sports. So, you know, from a cultural standpoint, there's a lot of things that Gary, I think, can negotiate. And almost have a lot more value in these parallels. So out of five would be a red parallel. So you get the card and then a crazy experience tied to it. That might be something that, like, I truly believe that's the future of collecting. Where, you know, it's more than value in terms of future potential value. Yes, there is that. But there is a aspect of how the digital side of things can merge with the physical. But at the same time, it becomes an experience where it's utilized. It's utility, right? So and I know he's big on that, too. So I'm looking forward to that side of things, because I have no clue how this hobby is going to look even in a year, two years. Technology is increasing so much that we're just... That's a great... Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, for sure. And that's a great point you bring up. And I'll close this segment with this because you reminded me of it. The VFRIENDS started as an NFT project. People forget that sometimes, but it is still an ongoing NFT project. We all know that NFTs have died down considerably, but it's not completely dead. But to that point, if you do have a VFRIENDS NFT, there's Series 1 and Series 2. I happen to have both. But if you're a Series 1 VFRIENDS NFT holder, you get first dibs at the Super Stickers manga set at $60 a box, right? If you have a Series 2, you get second dibs at $75 a box. And if you don't have an NFT, you're just a collector, you want to go online, it's $99 a box. So you get a discount for being an NFT holder, and you get a higher limit. You could buy more if you wanted to. So there's that utility we're talking about. Amazing, yeah. And that's the stuff I'm talking about, is that's what I think the future of collecting becomes, is when you have a leader like Gary that understands the framework that allows you to now say, okay, I'm going to take this to the next level where nobody has seen before. And in that aspect, I'm all in. And I've always been all in on guys like Gary V, just because they're not talk. They walk the walk, they actually do things, take the risks when everybody's literally crapping on them. And then they're able to still execute, right? So for me, in terms of that, that's what I'm all about, regardless. And yeah, I'm a fan in terms of just watching from this side of things. Will I be a collector in the next couple of weeks? Probably not. But like I said, I'm not close minded. I'd like to see where all this goes before I kind of commit to it. Yeah. And like, couldn't you see this being done by Fanatics or Topps? Like, hey, it's like, we're gonna have a thousand NFTs, Topps NFTs. People might roll their eyes, but guess what? If you get a Topps NFT for a thousand bucks, any new release, you get first dibs. And you know, like, wouldn't you be interested in getting that NFT just to get first dibs on product? Yes. And that would be the basic framework of NFTs. That basic concept would be a basic framework. And then that's what we build off of, right? And that's where I'm waiting for as a sports fan and a collector. I think that's the best of both worlds. And I think that's exactly what's eventually going to come to play a lot more than what we see today. So many ideas. We'll save it for another episode. But so many ideas which we could do with, you know, utilizing digital technology for the benefit of fans and collectors. So I agree with you 100%. All right, let's move on to hobby headlines. So on Friday's episode, that was kind of our Fanatics Fest recap with in-person interviews I had with Brent Ware, aka Deep Value Investor, and Paul Hickey of the Sports Card Strategy Show, which I've done several joint podcasts with. So if you missed it, check out episode 299. But today I want to talk about something that I thought. after seeing a couple of things transpire at fanatics fest this year and a few things I heard around the show, okay, and What I'm talking about is some big-time cards being bought by not necessarily wealthy collectors But just wealthy individuals who seem to be slowly dabbling in the hobby, right? They're just like what's this hobby? You know, that's growing. What's this about? and the one most people in the hobby probably heard of already is that the owner of Washington commanders the NFL team he bought The one of one Jaden Daniels black finite prism rookie card from Roth cards Live at the show for half a million dollars And if you didn't see that go see on IG Michael Rubin kind of put a call out to Anyone that had a really good Jaden Daniels card and Roth cards happen to have this one of one Black finite prism and they made a deal on the spot and the commander's owner bought it for half a million bucks We also have what Tom Brady did. He bought the LeBron James tops chrome gold refractor rookie card From the third place finisher of fanatics games We talked about fanatics games before and I don't know if you know first place for the inaugural fanatics games was Tom Brady Of course, he's the goat even in fanatics games Second place was I can't remember Justin something. He was a I think it was a UFC guy So I'm not as familiar with UFC and then third was a fan this sixth grade, Philadelphia teacher And he won the third place, which was a LeBron James tops chrome gold and he admits that he wasn't really a collector So when he got that offer from Tom's Tom Brady to buy the card for two hundred fifty thousand dollars, he took it Brady now owns. Yeah, he now owns the LeBron James tops chrome gold refractor rookie on top of that I've heard rumblings of other high net worth individuals getting into the hobby looking for nice high-end cards And of course we previously talked about on this pod Corporations themselves getting into the game like Dick's sporting goods Which now owns the one-of-one Paul Skeen's MLB debut patch, which I happen to see up really close at fanatics That's cool, yeah So my question is, you know as we see more of these kind of transactions, do you think it's good for the hobby? you know, it's certainly bringing a lot of attention to the hobby, but some can argue and and have argued that it seems to be Bumping up prices on some of the sports card sets and products that have these big chase cards Because you know now there will definitely be a buyer for them at these extremely high valuations So that's just one argument against but what do you think? I think I think you could make our you could always make arguments for any any point So one I think perspective where you sit on the Point of the perspective is all that matters So for me, it's like I'm not gonna look at the negatives of this because I can't control what other people do That's the way I see it So I'm gonna extract the best-case scenarios because it's how I want to see it Right. So for me, I think of things like okay, does this? Necessarily help my cause so for instance Collectability I like To like, you know high-end cards rare cards You know So does other you know high net worth celebrities would that work to my advantage yes or no So for me, it's like it's a no-brainer in terms of yeah the more You know high net worth individuals and they it seems like they're doing it because Trust me if you have money You wouldn't be wasting your time on something. You're not passionate about period These high net worth Individuals have zero benefit to be involved in this hobby if they didn't enjoy it Because they could do anything Why would they choose something that brings them stress that brings them, you know all these so just Let's let's look at their perspective of why they're buying because we're on the other side looking at Oh these guys just you know doing this doing that like they have money. They're ruining the hobby it's like that's we're sitting from that like seeing from that perspective, but That's not true Because these guys like Tom Brady, like I said if he didn't have a passion for sports cards He could be doing whatever he wanted I'm telling you he could do whatever he wanted and that's that's the realities of it is when you look at Like everybody and their intentions of why they're doing it You can't control that like at all, but what I can extract from that is well Can I make my position better? Does this make my experience within the hobby better and it has I'm telling you It's like think if we didn't have none of this we would have nothing to talk about We wouldn't show up every week to talk about things But we're we've 300 episodes deep Because there's so much stuff going around that we have a lot to talk about You see what I'm saying? So for me, it's like I look at that as a whole and I'm like, how could I say? That's so bad Right, and that's why for me. I'm enjoying the process. Is it different than 2019 when I'm like, oh, I wish I could buy Otani for pennies on the of course Of course, we're all looking back and saying oh the hobby was great when you know You made these deals and you know Come on. Yeah, like we can tell the story over and over again and live in the 90s or 2000s It's like the evolution and the journey is what I'm enjoying the most about the hobby so for me Yes, all in it's like hey bring more more of your you know Rich friends to buy more sports cards because it betters your position at the end of the day, right? Will prices go up? Probably but be the smart one and buy low and sell high then and I guarantee you won't complain if you Flip a box for 400 bucks and you make more money on a flip than your day job, right? So at the end of the day See it see it like that Totally true. I agree It reminds me of you know, how cactus Jack was a huge thing last year so I was able to get a box of cactus Jack, which I flipped for 1100 me this year amazing. How quickly how quick was that? like less than 20 minutes from picking it up to going to Dave and Adams, right and It's so true because a friend of mine that came, you know That was certainly a highlight for him being able to flip And now it's like it opens, uh You know the hobby up to him even more seeing what's available and what's you know out there but you know I want to go back to how the hobby used to be and the the fallacy in that argument is that you know the ones Who wish it was like? The old days where it was more affordable where I could get a show. Hey Otani for a couple hundred bucks If everything wasn't happening the way it was right now with all the attention and spotlight into the hobby You would not get the max returns out of that, you know, it'll be close maybe you're me Maybe five hundred dollars a thousand because though tiny is so great, but it would not be a six-figure card I'm so, you know, certainly not a six-figure card, right and it's only a six-figure card because of the spotlight attention The rich buyers that are willing to pay that amount, you know and the hobby growing and I think that's key to the hobby If it grows it's not just gonna be for one segment Yeah, sure the high-end segment will also grow but I'm sure there'll be a lot of other different cards within your budget that you can collect on Your and enjoy the hobby the same way and I think that's the greatest thing about this hobby People who are saying they're priced out. There are so many good deals out there And it's not it's it's it's only a good deal because no one's paying attention Right, so it's only not like, you know, I mean, it's it it's a good deal because If you realize it's a good deal and things are underpriced this is what I think is A healthy way to look at the hobby if you're priced out because and and I I promise you you ask any hobbyist that is Successful in terms of like let's just say making smart buys and flipping for a profit that's the thrill is Right, you know you're like hey and that's kind of why I do these Aaron judge things because it's like On the pick ones is because that's the thrill of it. It's like man. I bought this Aaron judge I was super underpriced and then you know, you realize you were right after let's just say five months whatever it may be that becomes part of the hobby whether we like it or not because it's the thrill of the joy of finding the good deals finding the bargains from the you know, the singles that The raw cards from the shows like those are those are the things that I think the true hobbyist or I wouldn't say true hobbyist anybody who's who's part of the hobby now Regardless if you consider yourself as a hobbyist because I could say I'm a hobbyist because I love the nerd geeking out on SSPs and the print runs and you know the collectability and what's available, but at the same time, I'm not gonna turn down a profit Right because that allows me to make smarter purchases, right? So Yeah in saying all this I think that's the that's the key thing to remember Yeah, so if you yeah and you know just to add to that if you like the hobby especially if you like the flip game and you like the process of Looking for cards that are good deals It might be an extra couple steps now before you could get that higher-end card that you that you're hoping to get But if you enjoy the process then then what's what's the big deal with you know? Trying to flip a couple more cards to get to that higher level, right? Like your buy-in would be the same thing really because if you're flipping a card for profit And then you're able to purchase a card With that profit you're not necessarily paying all that money to get into the card You could exactly right exactly. So like my case in point, you know, I brought a certain amount of Cash to fanatics fest this past week and You know after I flipped the cactus Jack guess what? I have doubled the cash flow going into the national next month easy, you know to look for a nice nicer card at a higher value and and then you know I hope to find a good deal where I could trade and maybe add some cash on top and then for the next one You know you're hoping to upgrade that and it's just like a fun process for me and and I think I think if you enjoy that then then Seeing the hobby grow should be even more exciting for you because you have more opportunities to find good deals that way 100% and you are not an evil person for thinking that way You know what? I mean? It's like if that's what you enjoy more power to you, right? And I I think I and there's a whole spectrum. That's the beauty of this this whole hobby If you're new to this hobby if you're old is there are so many things that you can do to enjoy yourself for the hobby Don't let One perspective ruin it for you. Like I said, there's pieces of crap all over the hobby, too There's there's bad things better What you can't control that there's bad people in the world. You can't control that. You don't let that rule you I think there's a lot of positive going around in the hobby and I think it's we're hoping that the leaders like Michael Rubin like Gary V They look out for the best interests of the longevity of the hobby and I think it's building Voices and leaders that you know take this hobby to where it could potentially go. I think that's what I believe in The hobby I have no other choice, right? It's like if I if I'm enjoying this process, you know, I gotta have that kind of mindset towards it. Yeah Yep I'm aligned with you and You know The only only people I might feel really bad about what the changes in the hobby these days are our set collectors if you're a collector you might be priced out because depending on the set that you have and You know if you're collecting sets and you're you're like a card or two away Maybe depending on that card or two, you might not be able to finish that set but like, you know, your values are small There you go, let's see that's the positive side now you're said that you already have Positive it's always a positive So think of those set collectings back in like the 90s like or even like 86 flair for instance you know that you know, the Jordan was in you know a Screwdown case and you had every other base card, right? So you had that whole set but the whole value was Jordan really right at the time. So it's the same thing It's like you wouldn't be complaining now if you had that 86 flair set very set collectors I Love it Yeah, you know what? I'm excited Well, you know whenever we record our 400th episode just to see where the hobbies at it's gonna be crazy, right? So I'm excited to see what the hobby looks like then. Okay, let's go on to our next segment I teased at the beginning of the show and we're gonna call it top three To mark our 300th episode I thought we only be fitting, you know to come up with Top three memorable moments on this podcast cars to the moon and it could overlap because we might have similar top moments Okay, but I can start things off Yeah, you guys start things up because I I need to start thinking of Yeah, and while I talk maybe you're like, oh, yeah, I remember that moment and there's something you go off us. So What are the top three moments for me? I'll say is the first podcast interview that we had on this pod. And if you remember it's Chris Costa and and it's he was our very first guest on the pod I think at the end of season one and It's crazy. We were talking about how far the hobby has come, right? and when we started the pod and where we are now and when we started the pod and we interviewed Chris you know he was just launching Card Vault and look at it now we don't have to say much everyone knows it's Card Vault by Tom Brady you know I just saw him on stage at Fanatics Fest as a moderator for one panel which featured Emma Roberts, Logan Paul and Tom Brady of course so it's it's kind of cool to see that right to see like how far Chris has come from within the hobby and just being on the pod early on so that's kind of one for me yeah I'll kind of expand on that and that's why for me I believe in it so much because you know these guys are guys that I stuck when I would came back into the hobby we're just hobbyists like nobody nobody really knew about the sports card market pre-COVID and I'm talking to Chris Costa about you know whether he should sell his Tati Sapphire auto because the prices were going bonkers at the time and you know to see him evolve and to build what he's built along the journey it's mind-blowing for me to see that like I I get to experience that firsthand whereas like a casual listener might just see Chris Costa as he is now but it's like man this guy came like he's a true hobbyist he's a baseball guy one he played college of baseball that's how we started talking is because we both played college baseball we started talking about baseball and then we we talked about sports cards and then I got him on the show and then you know at the time he was just you know doing his things yeah I think just starting card vault where you know Tom Brady wasn't even in the picture and to for him to evolve it to where it is now it's like that's that's what I like I'm I guess mind-blown at same time it's so realistic for me at least in my experience so I I really appreciate like that that would be a top episode being able to you know interview someone that's built you know something massive but we've gotten to you know speak with him before it all happened so I think that I agree that would be one of those episodes that I I would say it's it's a top in our books yeah for sure I don't know if you have one to fill out the rest of the top three anything you want to add um you know what like to be honest Clark I have one of the most brutal memories like I think I think I blame it on a line drive I got hit in the head where I had like amnesia but like I can't I can't and maybe that's the beauty of like this podcast I don't see it as oh you know every week it's like we're just doing it it's I think collectively for me those are the highlights not an episode in particular is like for instance the interviews as a whole like being able to right you know get guests our guests all the way from just a generic hobbyist to you know you interviewed Gary V you've interviewed you know all these big names for me like that is an amazing highlight because we we always had the intention of we shoot the shit you know on this thing called the internet and that's all we're doing right and to see that I think that that would be my highlight is to be interview in interviewing the the bigger guests that right you're the kind of like wow this is pretty crazy of where we've gotten to in these 300 episodes right agreed agreed and you kind of took my number one obviously Gary Vaynerchuk yeah that's expand on that but probably one of our biggest guests and to your point it's just more of a reflection of where we've come from on as a podcast to where we are now and what we're able to do consistently so yeah I don't have to say much more than that but that was definitely on my top three and and top two to jog your memory we were just at fanatics fest last year for the inaugural and I just came back from the second event but it also plays into the idea of how we're able to go to these big events now to cover the to cover them and to have content about it on our podcast to talk about it and be there in person to fly out to different cities and you know I'll be at the national next month and I think I might have done that as just a regular collector but but as a content creator as a podcaster and just being able to do that with you know sometimes with media passes and just having more access I think it just kind of is cool to see how much the podcast has grown from that standpoint as well hundred percent and I think creating content is something that I guess a lot of people are afraid to do but in reality all we're doing is showing up and not trying to create content and I think that for all the content create creators out there that's so important to remember it's like why are you in this space and if you become passionate about what you're doing in terms of a hobbyist or whatever you do I believe that the content that you create becomes as authentic as you possibly can and to me that because I create content outside of the sports card world specifically baseball and other so for me that is the separator is when you use your own personal experiences and passion and understanding and you're starting to use your creative ways to you know make content so for instance even going to fanatics fest these are all things that you have a choice whether to do it or not and then as you go there you just enjoy it as a true fan and you're like how do I capture this moment that brings value to someone potentially that isn't there right or how do I capture value if I give perspective on you know a big business move that fanatics made like those are things that we don't intentionally try to make it just happens because we're just part of the community and I think that's a number one thing for me especially in these 300 episodes is literally showing up every week right and when you do that it doesn't necessarily become a chore to make content you start enjoying the process you start enjoying the hobby even more because like I said I don't think I would have any interest in Pokemon or V friends you know prior to this episode or like you know in previous episodes I would have never but these are things that open my mind to as we discuss it every week you know what I mean so sure yeah I mean that to me that that becomes an important pillar just in general of how we do 300 episodes because most people can't even fathom it's like I if you told me when we started we're gonna do a hundred episodes to have like oh that's so tiring it's like I have I have to do this I have to do that it's like I wouldn't want to right but here we are it's and it's not necessarily a chore it's it's a passion that you know you have I have John has will Roy DC all these guys that come on our podcast same thing they have a passion for it and that's why they're around and to me you can't beat that you know agreed agreed and you know really just to wrap up this segment because I I don't have much more to add but you kind of mentioned some of our podcast friends that we've met along the way that we've got to know better because of the podcast you know will and Roy of course being our secondary co-host now we brought them on board especially with the boom of Pokemon and non sports cards and that's been a great addition and I know people like hearing them on the pod and and you know you kind of mentioned it earlier just all of our guests a quick shout out to all of our guests that have come on the pod and and especially our multiple guests like Daryl and Brent Brian Cajun cardboard Denny cards of course they've all been multiple guests of ours and when you see them in person like at bigger events like fanatics fest or the sport card Expo or even the national it's it's kind of cool just to kind of you know it doesn't feel like meeting strangers it's we already know them right and I think the cards to the moon pockets really help bridge that gap and getting to know more people in the hobby so definitely that's been cool and yeah you know we're always attaining to higher goals even on this podcast and for sure and I know we have a couple of things up our sleeve that we hope to do the latter half of this year it's crazy that we're in pretty much in July at this point but that's another thing right 300 episodes in but five years later you know it's five years a lot has happened within five years of our own personal lives too and the fact that we're doing this consistently just kind of speaks to what you're saying about how we just enjoy this process of yes creating content but talking about what we love anyways right so it becomes less of a chore in that way and you know and you don't want to make it that either so it's if it's something you love and it's it's it's it becomes a chore you're not enjoying it so stop doing it like reverse that cycle where it's like enjoy the hobby again and then you'd make make the content based off that yep and lastly of course we'd be remiss if we didn't mention all our listeners fans subscribers you know we started with just doing it because we loved it and literally only five to ten people heard it for the first 50 episodes or so and then you know just because it's been shared and you know people have started to come and even ask us questions and DMS we appreciate all of those and and that kind of continues to encourage and motivate us to produce more shows because we know you guys value it and that's that's what we try to do bring value at the end of the day all right thank you guys we won't finish the show off that I know this would be a good place to finish off the show but we got to finish off with our regular weekly segment we call pick one and another thing that's that could have been in top three classic yeah from the beginning from the beginning and people seem to enjoy I enjoy it just to see what's what you guys are gonna bring up but I have a feeling I know what you're gonna bring up this week young you understand things off I'm gonna keep on bringing it up until until Aaron judge stops doing Aaron judge things and I'm telling you this guy is next level we're talking man like I don't I I really believe that you know he's gonna be one of the best hitters of all time like when it's all said and done so like I said I think his some of his cards are obviously I wouldn't say overpriced but compared to Otani pricing you know it's it's it's a fraction and I know that it's a different marketplace but I believe that there are good buys out there still even if you're priced out so I'm gonna keep on looking at good buys and saying you know which one would I pick these two cards I think is pretty cheap for what they are based on previous sales of other I guess comp cards like Mike Trout or you know any big names like that so I'm gonna go to back to the flagship tops of Aaron judge 2017 so card number 287 so golds golds go for in terms of numbered it's to it's the year so 2017 would be the year right so a gold BGS 9 just recently sold for 400 bucks and this was a BGS 9 that was 295 sub grades and two nines so I think in general like 400 bucks for a numbered flagship of Aaron judge especially when I seen like trout tops gold cards number two 2011 a PSA 9 go for 510 K at one point you know it did to me there's weather trout was overpriced or Aaron judges underpriced that's what we're talking about here right so I think 400 bucks is ridiculously low and previously I think literally yesterday a rock hard sold for 200 350 bucks which I think still is a great deal for a tops cold Aaron judge so I'm gonna pair that up a BGS 9 sold for 500 bucks I'm gonna go to another set that's not popular and but it is a chrome card and it's Bowman's best so 2017 Bowman's best a blue refractor numbered to 150 PSA 10 okay of Aaron judge so this has a rookie logo and everything so this is 2017 Bowman's best blue refractor PSA 10 sold for 500 bucks so that's a PSA 10 a number to 150 blue a PSA 10 sold for 500 bucks to me I think that's a great buy I think both are great buys because you have the flagship tops number 287 which is in my opinion paper parallels are really really underpriced for compared to chrome so what are you going with are you going with the Bowman's blue PSA 10 or a BGS 9 flagship tops gold number two 2017 both under 500 bucks yeah that's that's crazy I like this one because it's I'm sure it'll it'll be for a lot of collectors that have a budget for these kind of cards for under a thousand bucks right so but if I had to choose It's a tough blue is like I know it's shining right in your eyes. I know you're a thought process right now You're like man. That's a good deal PSA number 250 You know, I just get both for a day. Yeah, I Will say something so The reason why I like this card so much the gold tops gold specifically a PSA 10 recently sold for 2500 So there's not a lot of comps, which I think it's still not bad But just to give the context it's pot 42, which is super low like 40 for the PSA 10 for the PSA 10 So a BGS 9 is not a bad terrible card, especially with those sub grades given a PSA 10 is selling for 2,500 which Whether or not you think that's overpriced or underpriced $400 for a BGS 9 is ridiculously low I'm gonna go for the tops gold Why yeah, I I mean if I'm thinking more of You know, we were talking earlier like if we're gonna flip and then try to get a bigger card Yeah, I just think the tops gold is just gonna be more liquid right, it's gonna be easier to flip and still numbered yet to 2017, but I think Because it is flagship to that that has a bit of a premium as well like I think that could continue to go up in price and You know if you don't like the BGS 9 you can always crack it out try to Right PSA 10 is I like the blue refractor, but Bowman's best, you know, it's not as popular So you got to buy a specific you got to look for a specific buyer for that and it is already a PSA 10 So I think the value is gonna hover around there and maybe incrementally increase as Aaron judge does Aaron judge things But I think there's more volatility in the top school card and a couple more plays that you can do with it Yeah, very interesting. Yeah, I I struggle with this because the hobbyist than me is definitely in on the top school because even the Grading if it's pot 42 and it's numbered to 2017. I mean super hard gems. So Over the long run, you know people are gonna look at that card and be like wow This is this is a good buy or this this is Valuable but with that said I know The the flashiness That other people the new people in this hobby They love PSA 10 on how strong still the brand of PSA is that's we're talking right now the most popular brand in sports card is probably tops chrome and PSA like in terms of desired cards in baseball, right and Yeah, yeah, I I just I just feel like that blue refractor if I were to buy it for 500 one I wouldn't get lowballed when the time is right people might overpay You know in in a certain time period It gives me options to get out of that card and potentially use that profit into something like an auto or something, right? So it would be a building block card for me where I don't see it long term I think I think they're both great for collectors if you're if you want to collect Aaron judge, you can't go wrong with either, but I think in this case I'm going with the PSA 10 blue as Just because it's it I think I could make a quick flip I wouldn't consider that a long-term hold for my collection Yeah, it makes sense to me. I think we're we're both in agreement with it being more of a quick turn flip I think we may differ from We might differ from how quickly we can actually flip that blue. So that's I think that was the main difference But yeah, yeah good one All right Mine is I know you're high on this player because you just sent a link in our chat group the other day So I'm gonna go with James wood All right, two James wood cards and let's share that screen. The first one is this one right here the 2022 Bowman chrome James would refractor his first prospect auto number to 499. It's a PSA 10 Going for a thousand bucks now and the second one is The 2022 same same card in terms of the the photo Bowman chrome, but it's from the first sapphire edition Also on card auto PSA 10. It's not numbered, but we know it's short printed, right? So really good PSA 10s both PSA 10s the refractor first prospect is 499 But the Bowman sapphire, which is you know, there's a lot of fans of sapphire blue background Also a thousand bucks exactly so what are you going for this is really good man, I and I would say I would say Based on my knowledge. I'm gonna say that sapphire is lower print run than 499 just out of the bat. So I think it probably falls in the 299 range I could be totally wrong, but that's where I see. I think that the sapphires What I've noticed about staff. Well one my personal biased opinion about SAP Bowman sapphire. I hate it because I Think tops chrome sapphire was such a great product and they hurt tops chrome sapphire With Bowman sapphire, I think Bowman had a strong enough line where they didn't need to go sapphire and They should have stayed tops chrome because that was the whole point of why tops chrome sapphire was amazing in 2016 2017 2018 when you know, they were just launched as exclusive sets So for me, I have this bias where I wish they didn't have it and a true refractor in my opinion Has More legs than a regular Bowman sapphire. I don't know because it's so new. I don't know the legs but of Bowman sapphire Specifically, but I know the legs that a refractor PSA 10 based on historical sales. It's one of the desired parallels and They go for a premium. So for me if the pop count was like way off Off Then that might be a deciding factor But to me, it's the refractor auto regardless because I think on the high end. I think 1,000 bucks is a pretty good deal regardless because I've seen On the high end we're talking. Let's just say Aaron judge You know You had a refractor first Bowman of Aaron judge a few years ago and you Exited at like 5k or whatever. It was I don't know what the exact amount but that was a BGS 9-5 So on a high end a PSA 10, what would a Aaron judge type card go for right on that high end? Even now it's ridiculous. Both cards would be ridiculous. But my point is I Have historical data that proves that refractor autos are gonna be so lacuna Soto You know even tatties at one point. I they're 10k cards Right, that's history Given that you know the player performs at a peak level and to me I see the same thing where I Like the refractor auto a lot more than the Bowman Sapphire me personally I appeal Could be subjective but I'm still going with the refractor auto Okay. Wow Yeah Yeah, you're right because I'm looking at Ohtani Sapphire was tops chrome, right? That that's a pretty iconic and that's an iconic auto card That's that it's a different image talks from Sapphire Ohtani auto Like a gem like you can't find that anywhere or at least it's it's a very high. That's different. Very different, right? Yeah, I guess the purist in me and this is how I'll decide it's gonna be the refractor auto number to $4.99 I don't know Sapphire just seems like Has a stigma to me water down a little bit. Yeah, right just another extra set that there it's a money grab You know and it's the exact same design and pictures and they just made it out of us, you know Sapphire Background, right? So I've always had the stigma against it So I think that plays a factor into it, but I thought it was a good one because we know the Sapphire Sets are pretty short printed and if you're going to and we made this reference in a previous podcast, right if no one's gonna rip Sapphire because you just don't get your money's worth you got to hit one of the big guys and The checklist get bigger and bigger each year And if you want to buy a Sapphire rookie auto of your player just buy this single, you know Just buy the signal don't rip right? So that's kind of because it's so hard to hit Like a James Wood or one of these top prospect autos from those Sapphire sets so I think I think maybe some people might choose a Sapphire for that reason because they like the look of it and Because it's hard to hit and it's a thousand bucks. It seems like a reasonable price. But yeah for me, I'm going with the refractor as well and with that said you never know if That changes II Bowman Sapphire might be a steal right now and there might be a massive Hype around it one one day, right? So there's always that that plays and not saying that the refractor will always outsell it could change next year We never know that's the whole point of the market, but just based on history. That's that that's that's my choice to the refractor Yep, well said, you know when we do our 400th episode that could very well be the case We'll be talking about Bowman Sapphire who knew? We will we'll save this clip for our future dead wrong segment that we've that we do every once in a while But yeah, once again, thank you to all our listeners subscribers, especially on this 300th episode. You guys made it possible and We're gonna continue to go on and I can't wait for the 400th 500th Episode as well. So thank you again if you Enjoyed this episode and you still haven't rated us. We appreciate your five stars and a positive comment But we'll have a brand new show for you guys next week. Talk to you then. Bye 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 five card guys Or you can follow young at integrity sports cards or John at trade you at recess You can also check us out at five card guys calm Thanks again, and hope to connect soon