0:03

Welcome everyone to the SI Media podcast.

0:05

I'm your host, Jimmy Trainer, Thanks so much for

0:07

listening. We have Darren Revel

0:10

on the podcast this week to talk about the big,

0:12

big explosion in the trading card

0:15

world and the breaks

0:17

with the boxes and I'm a novice. He

0:19

explains it. If you're not familiar

0:22

with what's going on, why cards just valued

0:25

so highly, how you go about getting

0:27

the card sold. Darren

0:29

explains it all, does a really good job with it. Um.

0:32

We also got into a little bit about Twitter

0:34

possibly offering a pay

0:36

service, and we talked about the Super

0:39

Bowl streaker who claims he

0:41

met fifty thousand and one three seventy five, which

0:43

we know is not true. So we

0:45

had all that coming up with Darren Vel.

0:48

If you missed it last week, Kevin Clark from

0:50

The Ringer was on. I've gotten tremendous feedback on that podcast.

0:53

If you're someone who's into the process of writing how

0:55

he comes up with the ideas for NFL stories,

0:57

transitioning from writing to podcasting, you

1:00

should really give that a listen. And then two weeks

1:02

ago we had Aaron Andrews and Kyle

1:04

Brandon together for a round table

1:07

and three weeks ago, Roman Reigns from the w

1:09

w bson So give those a listen if you missed any

1:11

of those, and subscribe

1:13

to the podcast if you are not already

1:15

a subscriber. All right, a lot of baseball

1:18

card, basketball cards, baseball cards everything.

1:20

Trading card talk with Dani Rovel

1:23

here from the Action Network right now on the

1:25

SIME Media podcast. All

1:28

right, joining me now, senior executive

1:31

producer for the Action Network and

1:33

of course a superstar on Twitter, Darren

1:35

Rovel, Darren, how are you, Jimmy,

1:37

how are you? I'm good? Thank

1:39

you, thank you for doing this. I

1:41

know the the trading card crazes

1:44

out of control, and I noticed that it has

1:46

taken over your Twitter accounts. I wanted to ask you

1:48

some questions about it as someone who collected

1:50

cards in high school and knows nothing about it now,

1:53

by the way, taking over my Twitter account

1:55

because we at the

1:57

Action Network see it as coverage

1:59

of gamling, which is so interesting,

2:01

right, That's what That's what That's

2:04

the part I want to try to

2:06

be before Yeah, before we get to the card stuff,

2:09

just a couple of things non card related,

2:12

since you do work

2:14

for the Action Network and gambling is a big

2:16

big part of your life. The

2:18

Super Bowl streaker who

2:21

so I guess the story goes now that he had

2:24

his friends place various

2:27

bets to get up to that fifty thousand total,

2:29

which I still don't believe. I don't

2:31

either. So basically, when the

2:34

original story came out, it

2:36

was through an Instagram post that

2:38

the streaker had met with someone

2:41

previously or someone saw him at a restaurant

2:43

and he had told him he had bet, and

2:45

then the streak happened. It turned out

2:47

to be the guy, same guy as the photo,

2:50

and then that apparently he

2:52

would have made three hundred seventy

2:55

five thousand or whatever on a fifty tho

2:57

dollar bet. Uh,

2:59

So I immediately shot that down

3:01

without having to call anyone. I mean, usually

3:04

the max bets on these things are five

3:06

dollars. Anything that could be affected and is

3:09

not on the field of play, I

3:11

mean, they do not take a lot of money. So

3:13

first of all, high,

3:16

it's high would be high.

3:18

But because of the coin flip and some other

3:20

things, and because the legal

3:23

sports, the illegal sports books, the

3:25

off shore books have actually upped their limits

3:27

on these things because now

3:29

legal books have the coin flip and

3:31

others, So it gives you a reason to go

3:33

to them, So I think it's changed a

3:35

little bit. That being said, you

3:38

could not possibly get

3:40

down this money. Literally,

3:42

if it was a bunch of friends at

3:45

five, they'd have to place the bet

3:47

at the exact same time, because

3:50

if any sports book got

3:52

this type of action on a streaker,

3:55

they would just pull pull it off because

3:58

it just would be strange. You don't get

4:00

on something that's plus seven fifty, you

4:02

don't get a bet like that. So I don't

4:05

believe it. But but listen, Bovada

4:07

to their credit, right, they want to take credit,

4:10

so they so they are really vague

4:12

about how they worded right they

4:14

said. They say, oh, you know it's it's

4:17

this clearly we're not gonna pay him this, and that

4:19

they don't mention that the bet size

4:22

is wrong because they want to get

4:24

all the tmzs and everyone else

4:26

to say Bovada. So they

4:30

actually played it right. But for me, I don't believe

4:32

it for a second. I don't believe there was even a bet

4:34

that got down. Yeah, I mean I would like, first

4:37

of all, the only you only need to ask Bovada one

4:39

question, what's the max bet on

4:41

that wager of will there be a streaker,

4:44

and then let's even let's say okay, you said, let's

4:46

let's say it the thousand, and he needs

4:48

fifty thousands

4:50

at the same time, Jimmy,

4:52

right, Like, don't think that these guys

4:55

don't have sophisticated systems, and especially

4:57

on Super Bowl props, I mean in

5:00

they pull it off the board. And I know

5:02

in a grand scheme of things, it's not important in

5:04

any way, shape or form. I mean the

5:06

you know, real life going on. But man,

5:08

the coverage of this irritates the hell out of me.

5:12

It's not real. You can't bet fifty dollars

5:14

on a prop bet like that. Well,

5:17

that's also one of the reasons why, like

5:19

I went to the Action Network, Like I'm at ESPN

5:21

and I'm like, oh my god, you know, there's

5:24

there's so much coverage of gambling, and

5:26

I'd like to bring some journalism to it.

5:28

I mean, you know, uh,

5:30

although I think it's very funny how

5:33

even large bets or weird

5:35

parlays that certainly I overly cover

5:37

because it gets a lot of hits. Okay, um

5:40

uh, but people

5:43

are like the sports books

5:45

just telling you that, and I'm like, no, I actually

5:47

do ask for the tickets. Uh.

5:50

And by the way, these legal sports

5:52

books are making up that someone won,

5:55

like you think they would do that while

5:57

they're getting regulated by the states. Like,

6:00

so it's it's it's uh, you know, I do

6:02

my best. Um.

6:05

I apologize to everyone listening to

6:07

this who's not from New York because I know people get annoyed

6:09

when I get New York heavy. But I mean the fact

6:11

that New York State does not have sports gambling is

6:13

one of the biggest jokes

6:16

I've ever seen. It makes sense, right,

6:18

like when Jersey has it and Jersey

6:20

is printing money right

6:22

basically basically a billion

6:25

dollars in December, six billion in

6:27

two thousand and twenty. Uh.

6:29

At first it was like, well, Cuomo

6:32

doesn't want it because it actually

6:34

although these casinos got grandfathered

6:37

in, uh that you'd actually

6:40

be you have to write something into the

6:42

constitution and make it mobile. Then it comes

6:44

out, no, you don't. You just have to put the servers at the casino.

6:46

So it's like the technical thing went out the window

6:49

right away. And then you have like these

6:51

geo comply people, which they're

6:54

the ones who are monitoring kind of when

6:56

people are checking in there, like x

6:58

percent is at the five mile

7:00

radius border between New York and New Jersey.

7:03

So you're like, Okay, here's the

7:05

evidence that they are literally taking

7:08

money from us. There's a Korean supermarket

7:10

in Fort Lee where people just park

7:13

after they come off the George Washington Bridge

7:15

and then they drive back. I mean, the

7:17

evidence is more than anecdotal. Do

7:20

you think is there an e t

7:22

A on New York getting it? Is their hope

7:25

it happens in the

7:27

process. Yeah, so

7:29

Cuomo mentioned it right Like before,

7:31

he wasn't even mentioning it or having any talks.

7:34

Now you hear because they're getting

7:36

the stimulus money and because the

7:38

original I think they're now sixteen

7:41

seventeen billion in the hole. Um,

7:43

you know, now he's mentioned it, so

7:46

things can happen relatively quickly

7:48

here. Uh, there are a couple

7:50

of skins which you know you can award

7:52

to to mobile gaming

7:55

companies. It could certainly happen in

7:59

once to change some narratives

8:02

and get some good publicity. Just legalize

8:04

it today and well and then he and then he does the then

8:06

he goes to the lottery system, which

8:08

is like the reason New Jersey is thriving

8:10

is because I have twenty three choices on mobile,

8:13

not because I have one um

8:15

and so that's also an issue. Yeah.

8:18

And then the last thing before we get to the car that I mentioned

8:20

Twitter at the top I saw

8:23

I guess last week. Is it official

8:25

or they just throwing the idea out of having

8:27

a subscripture. They're

8:30

they're they're floating it. But as you know, I've

8:32

been a proponent of the freemium

8:34

model for a long time. You know, like

8:37

the fact that you know, I'm

8:39

spending so much time on like tweet deck

8:41

and then it doesn't work on mobile. And you

8:43

know, five years ago I offered, Hey, I'll

8:45

spend a hundred dollars a month just help me get

8:47

better here. A hundred a month

8:49

is a bit extreme. Not for me,

8:52

No, not for you, Definitely not for you. Do

8:55

you think I'm saying most people, most people,

8:57

for a couple of good tools, would spend a dollar a

8:59

month. Oh absolutely, and so and

9:01

in a dollar a month when you when

9:03

you and I did this on medium, I figured

9:05

it out. When you figure out what people

9:08

would spend and it was just based on a Twitter

9:10

poll. You know, it's about five billion a

9:12

year that they could that they could make in kind

9:14

of just great products. What about companies. Here's

9:16

what I would pay for on Twitter, I would pay

9:19

for a service

9:22

where if

9:24

you are an anonymous

9:26

person, I don't know, maybe

9:29

you don't have a photo, maybe your user name is

9:31

you know, you

9:33

know I love cheese. Yeah, yeah, God loves cheese.

9:37

That you don't see any of those tweets or

9:39

responses. But like that, that's not a bit,

9:41

that's not a bite. That's what I would pay for it.

9:44

Get rid of the riff raft. All right,

9:46

let me get into this trading card boom

9:48

that's going on. Um uh

9:51

now, I'm I'm gonna ask you some very dumb questions

9:53

here because I know what's going

9:56

on, but I'm not paying attention

9:58

to it. So I so so I'm getting all these

10:00

d m s from people being like, all these

10:02

questions that you're about to ask me, I've

10:05

heard them, they're valid. Just

10:07

because you're not. More and more people are coming

10:09

into it. So I'm not gonna shoot it down

10:12

because I'm I'm ready to go because we

10:14

now have this podcast on YouTube and this will be a

10:16

horrible audio experience, but we're

10:18

on YouTube, so if you're watching, I was gonna just say

10:20

like, how much can I get for this? Right

10:22

now? Holding up right? So so sant graffhy jr.

10:26

Ken your card number one. Arguably

10:29

it's the most printed card of all time, is

10:32

it? Okay? I didn't know that. Yeah, because

10:35

Upper Deck comes out with the holograms. Uh,

10:37

there's rumors that that that was

10:39

turning into cash. So the people that Upper Deck just printed

10:42

sheets of those things they used to so

10:44

why but why were then were they so valuable back in

10:46

the day when they came out Because

10:49

we didn't have eBay to show that everyone had one.

10:51

It was all limited addition, right,

10:54

And all we knew is when we went to card

10:56

shows, a lot of people had them, but we thought that's

10:58

because they you know, we didn't know. We

11:00

were in the black hole anyway. If you have

11:03

that in a p S. A ten, it's

11:06

you know, hundreds and hundreds

11:08

of dollars. Okay that That was

11:10

one of my questions because I know, yes, a one

11:12

it's worth nothing. So like people have been showing

11:15

me cards and saying how much is this card worth? And

11:17

I say, well, if it's battered,

11:20

you know, then it might not be worth something.

11:22

I will tell you something right now. I'm gonna go get something

11:25

because this is this is worth the conversation.

11:27

Alright, I have this

11:31

is a podcast, but it's fine, Darren

11:33

got up to a podcasts

11:36

a podcast. But wait, I just want to ask you a quick question before

11:38

you show me anything. I just want to I just want to get some baseline

11:40

stuff. Here did

11:42

something now I knew? Okay, So

11:45

and what is your as? Great? He's holding up the king. This is just

11:47

in a PS. This is a Krifi Jr in a p

11:49

S A eight. Okay, So here's my question.

11:51

This was one of my questions. What's the

11:53

difference in price on a PS

11:56

ten and a p S eight On

11:58

that one? I would have to look it up. So the way

12:00

you look things up is you go to eBay

12:03

consummated prices, go to eBay

12:05

completed sales. Back in the day we look in

12:07

Beckett and Beckett would detray. Now

12:10

now a Tiger Woods

12:13

s I for kids in an EID out

12:15

of ten A card was

12:18

nine in December.

12:20

Today it's sold for two dollars.

12:24

So like you're you

12:26

are actually getting dynamic sales. But you have

12:28

to look at eBay completed sales. Me

12:31

I want to I want to rewind though I want to rewind

12:33

to the very beginning. Is there something

12:36

was there, something specific that

12:38

caused this current boom to happen?

12:41

I know me personally, I

12:43

started to notice it was getting crazy.

12:46

I don't mean that in a bed way big from

12:49

following former MLB picture, former Yankee

12:51

Phil Hughes, who's big in this he is

12:54

for a long time. That's when I thought

12:56

he was doing like this one off thing, and I was like,

12:58

why is he someone to card to to get it? And

13:01

then more and more people started to do it even

13:04

happened, Tell me why. Now, it's

13:06

very COVID specific. So

13:09

when when we went into COVID,

13:12

Okay, it was associated with the

13:14

Michael Jordan documentary on ESPN. But

13:17

but but when we went into COVID,

13:19

people started cleaning their houses.

13:22

Parents started cleaning their houses. So

13:25

there were fines, people were finding

13:28

things. That's one. Two,

13:31

it's Groundhog Day every single day.

13:34

Every day. You have to get

13:36

the dopamine and the adrenaline going.

13:38

You want to go back to your

13:41

past. You want to go back to a time

13:43

when you were happy. So we

13:45

are being overly nostalgic,

13:48

right, That's why it's not only cards,

13:50

but people including me, have gone into collecting

13:53

graded video games because

13:55

I smile when I see Mike

13:57

Tyson's punch Out. Um

14:00

wait wait, wait wait, So when you say

14:02

no, I just want to be clear. So when you say collecting video

14:05

games, you mean like the actual Nintendo

14:07

cartridge. I'm collecting

14:10

the box, the cartridge, the

14:12

manual, and it goes into a

14:14

plexiglass case and it's graded just like

14:16

cards. So I have the number one

14:19

sealed NBA jam in the world. It

14:21

was never opened. Uh, it

14:23

has a it's a nine point eight out of ten

14:25

and it is an A plus plus seal, which

14:28

is the quality of the seal. I

14:31

thought I'd come away from this conversation like maybe

14:33

being inspired to go through my stuff, but this just

14:35

all sounds like a huge pain. And they asked to me, I don't

14:37

know, maybe it's just me, but who whoever

14:40

had a video game that they thought was going to be collectible?

14:42

We were blowing into the cartridges. Yeah,

14:45

now I regret throwing out so much crap. All

14:47

you'd rather you'd rather have played

14:49

Mike Tyson's Punch Out fifty times that Mike

14:52

Tyson's punch Out sealed, though, is when

14:55

you say even that that's what are they grading,

14:57

whether the cartridge is damaged or the

15:00

the like, what is great at on a video

15:02

game? So it's you

15:05

have a nice little package. The

15:08

company is called WATA Games. It

15:11

grades it, so Mike Tyson

15:13

is eight eight oh out of ten. And

15:15

on the back it then tells you what

15:18

it got for the cartridge, what it got

15:20

for the manual, what it got for

15:22

the box. Um.

15:24

And you know, it stands up on your desk and

15:27

people think it's pretty cool. Okay. So, because

15:29

I'm old, let me ask you this is the

15:32

old stuff worth anything or is it new

15:35

stuff that because I know now about the old stuff

15:37

is worth plenty. In fact, you know, even

15:39

in p s A one, that's

15:42

the night Ricky Henderson, I would

15:45

get that grated if I were you, so thank

15:47

you in a ten in a ten

15:50

Ricky Henderson tops rookie. So for

15:52

a hundred and eighty thousand this week.

15:55

Okay, So I want to see your card

15:57

again, Jimmy, let me see your card again. Go

15:59

up. Does it have any creases in it?

16:02

I can't see. I don't think so okay,

16:04

now it is typically off

16:06

centered. You see how the there's a on

16:08

the top there's more white than on

16:10

the bottom. I think you could get

16:13

that's a pet. That's probably a p s A six.

16:16

So then you go to eBay and you look

16:18

up. You can't give me a seven on that. If

16:22

you get a p s A six, Ricky Anderson,

16:25

I'll get it for you. But now here's the other problem.

16:28

You gotta get it to p s A and

16:30

it's gonna cost you a lot of

16:32

money. So that's so that's a p s

16:34

A six is two is

16:36

listed right now at around two. Okay,

16:39

but I want to go back. You're going way too fast.

16:42

You said I should get that graded. What would be

16:44

my process for getting that graded? You

16:46

go to p s A card dot com. You

16:49

know you can't go to a store and in person place

16:52

right now. P s A the number one greater

16:55

has a UM backlog

16:58

of about six and a half million cards.

17:02

If you do the rush service, which is

17:04

fifty dollars, you could probably

17:06

get it back in two to three weeks. Okay.

17:09

So I didn't have to post it on eBay.

17:11

And that's the process. Okay. So the so

17:14

go to the p s A website, send them

17:17

sign up, go for the rush process,

17:19

send them fifty bucks. I mailed them

17:21

the card. Yes, you

17:23

do, and then people are sending

17:26

fifty a hundred, five hundred a

17:28

million dollars worth of cards to them. And

17:30

then they

17:34

how do you get your grade? Do they email you? Do? They

17:36

tell you when you get the grade before they

17:38

send it back the day they grade it, they tell

17:40

you what it graded at, and then they send you

17:43

the card back. Yes. Then you put the

17:45

card on eBay, Yes, and you and

17:47

you can say it was verified

17:49

as a P so it tells

17:51

on on the case it don't you know what

17:54

it's graded. And and this is really

17:56

as eBay was coming up.

17:58

It was difficult because there was nothing that

18:01

went from the card show where it's like trust

18:03

me, this is a good card to the mass

18:05

selling and trust me, no one's trusting

18:07

anyone. So eBay kind of helped

18:09

along the grading, which then

18:11

standardized the whole business. Alright, couple

18:14

of questions on this, um,

18:17

wait, hold on, there's huge variance between

18:19

a one and a ten. Right, So like someone

18:21

says, I have a Michael Jordan Rookie, okay, in

18:23

a one right now, it's four thousand

18:26

dollars. In a ten right now, it's

18:28

six d fifty okay,

18:31

but let me okay. So if that

18:33

person has it as a ten, they

18:35

put it on eBay for six, and

18:38

someone like, right

18:40

now, they can put it on eBay for five

18:42

d it will get the market has said

18:44

it's worth about six. Okay,

18:46

but a couple of so a couple of more questions. Do

18:51

people buy cards that

18:54

are not graded? Um,

18:58

they like, would you like? Let like, would you

19:01

I showed you this rickey Henderson, would you would

19:04

whatever? Would a situation never cover you? Like? You know, Jimmy,

19:06

that looks like a PS six. You know, I'll buy it from

19:08

you for a hundred bucks. Dealers

19:10

do that. So dealers will off

19:12

and say, hey, I could get my card into

19:15

p S A faster because I have a bulk. But

19:17

here's what's this is what you have to consider.

19:20

If you put that on, if you do the whole process,

19:23

and a month later you get your two hundred fifty

19:25

bucks because you went through it, you went to

19:27

eBay, you did the holding dinner, two or

19:29

fifty bucks. I'll tell you right now, a

19:31

dealer would say, Jimmy, that's probably a p

19:33

S A six. I'll give you fifty now, So

19:37

you're gonna take for the you're gonna take it off

19:39

for the raw. You're gonna take a loss for the

19:41

speed of the sale and not getting it

19:43

would by the way, some people find six

19:46

Michael Jordan eight six leers and they're like, listen,

19:48

this is newfound money. I had no idea I

19:50

had this. I don't want to go through the hassle.

19:53

Uh Like, I don't want to

19:55

do the eBay thing. If you're gonna get me

19:57

thirty thousand dollars cash, fifty dollars

19:59

cash, just me the cash, I'm gonna forget

20:01

about it. I'm not gonna think about because

20:03

there is something to be said with what

20:06

what happened? What happens if you know things

20:08

fall quickly, right. So

20:11

so there's a lot of people who are taking money off the table,

20:13

but you can't really sell raw on eBay,

20:15

um any anything of real value.

20:18

Tell me a little bit about this p s a

20:21

company or like, is it is there a building?

20:23

Is there an office way they do this? Is it all over the

20:25

country? Is at one place that sounds like

20:27

it's in California? They just got sold

20:30

to METS owner Stevie

20:32

Cohen and a couple other

20:35

people, including Nat Turner, who's an

20:37

entrepreneur and a huge collector,

20:39

probably p s A's best customer for eight

20:41

hundred fifty million dollars company.

20:45

Uh. They grade coins, they

20:47

grade cards. Um.

20:50

When you send it to them, you're

20:52

sending it to a FedEx uh

20:55

warehouse and they have their

20:57

own area in this fed X warehouse

20:59

with their own security guards and

21:02

it just comes through writing out. The

21:04

customer service is horrendous. They

21:06

grade tickets too. And I'm a huge ticket

21:08

collector and I've been waiting for

21:10

four months on my tickets. So

21:12

you sent them concerts. What concerts

21:15

are? Ball games? Ball games? All right? So

21:17

you send them tickets from let's say a World

21:19

Series game, and you're waiting four months to get

21:21

it back from them, even though I paid for the rush

21:23

service. And now

21:27

so this is the problem. The backlog

21:29

is maybe one to two years on the economy.

21:32

So there's an economy service, right,

21:34

like ten bucks of card. And that's

21:36

like when you just don't care when you're getting it back

21:39

right now, I'm told that's that's

21:41

a year and a half to wait for your car. You

21:43

can't get any special treatment since you're down rebolt.

21:45

No, actually, I actually it's one of these things where I actually

21:47

can all right now. Tell me. At at at

21:49

the trade shows, they used to grade

21:52

on the spot and there were these huge

21:54

lines and people holding stack of cards

21:57

and that once that line started, Uh,

22:00

at these trade shows, it would just go around like

22:02

security guards because people would

22:04

get a p S A eight and would want a p

22:06

S A nine or ten. And people

22:09

would actually go ape in front

22:11

of you know them, trying trying

22:14

to convince that, oh my god, I just lost that thousand

22:16

dollars from your grading. Yeah. I mean, listen, I'm

22:18

not I'm not a business person in any way, shape

22:20

or form. But it seems like if you put like a store on the mall

22:22

where if someone could grade your cards, they would

22:25

be doing some big business. But so that's the only

22:27

thing they do on site grading at the big

22:29

shows, and obviously they're having't big been

22:31

big shows, but it but it for

22:34

for for me, you know, I can't have my

22:36

tickets out. Once they slab the

22:38

ticket and call it authentic,

22:40

it allows me to it. It's just

22:43

it's just the ticket becomes a card

22:45

essentially, So so I do it for just

22:47

the slabbing process. Let

22:49

me ask you a stupid question, are you are you paranoid at

22:51

all that maybe you're not going to get some of your stuff back that you

22:53

send out. No, I am

22:55

parent, I am parents. You know. So the

22:58

last group of tickets I sent was worth about

23:00

thirty to fifty and I am paranoid.

23:02

I need to make

23:04

sure that it gets there and they have it. Once

23:07

they have it, it's in. I'm fine with

23:09

the FedEx and all that. Yes, um,

23:12

FedEx only offers

23:15

insurance on collectibles, which must change.

23:18

All right, now, tell me about this whole business with the

23:20

brakes. So

23:23

there's very right. So so basically,

23:25

uh, boxes of cards have been

23:27

hard to get, and that's because that's

23:30

because of bots. Right, people have

23:32

bots that take them up and buy them. People

23:35

wait at Target in Walmart where that

23:38

used to be like an area where like kids

23:40

could get them. No longer. People

23:42

find out from a manager that they're coming in

23:44

at X time and the line of the Targets

23:47

and Walmarts and they just know. But is

23:49

this for like any kind of trading

23:51

cards or they're like mostly

23:53

NBA, mostly NBA, Panini

23:55

cards, Mosai a prism.

23:58

NBA is kind of taken over as the hot

24:00

card, which is hilarious because what's

24:02

So funny about the eighty six Flear card

24:05

is that you know, we

24:07

had a choice in six to buy eighty

24:10

six baseball or eighty six Flear basketball,

24:12

right, they were both fifty cents. I

24:15

did not, but I was a huge Jordan fan.

24:17

I was. I was a huge

24:20

NBA fan, but the

24:22

NBA cards were seen as illegitimate. It was all

24:24

baseball. We left those cards.

24:26

I didn't open one pack of eight c So

24:28

it's hilarious that those boxes

24:31

that people return for six dollars

24:34

are going for two five thousand.

24:36

Now is anything? Oh,

24:39

that card's going nuts right now, Jimmy,

24:43

that cards going nuts? What

24:45

should do that that card is

24:47

going nuts? Deck?

24:53

Jordan's taking batting practice in

24:55

the old Chicago Sea one just so

24:57

for thirty seven hundred p s A ten

25:01

But so you so, But

25:04

you have to make a lot of money on this for it to

25:06

be like if you're gonna keep something out cards for

25:08

fifty dollars of pop to get great jem

25:11

Minten, right now, yes,

25:14

you do. You do have to send out now.

25:16

The other thing is, uh, you

25:19

can buy so I bought

25:21

if if you identify some

25:23

sort of system or something that's interesting,

25:25

like a card. That's interesting, So I

25:28

I My my big find of COVID

25:30

was the Rock card Bumblebee

25:35

Tuna card? Did you know that was out? Like? Did

25:37

you go on a mission? Never knew

25:39

it existed? Started with a search

25:41

of does the Rock have any sports

25:43

cards? He was cut from the CFL.

25:46

They never made CFL cards, so it was

25:48

just this Miami card that came on

25:50

a sheet, twenty thousand of them, and I'm thinking

25:52

to myself how many could be left because it

25:54

was six years before he was anything and wrestling

25:57

as you know. So uh,

25:59

and I bought a nine for seven hundred

26:01

eighty bucks and uh I got rid

26:03

of it. How much did you spend for it? Seven

26:06

d eighty which is still like that's not

26:08

like a throwaway amount of money something

26:11

that's like, you know, for

26:13

for a p S A nine. And uh,

26:16

it's up on eBay right now. I put it up last

26:18

night and we're up to eleven

26:21

thousand right now. It's gonna be eight

26:23

and it's up to it will sell for about

26:26

thirty thousand. Really,

26:29

and you paid seven eighty for it? How did you acquire

26:31

it on eBay? Just brought it on eBay? Graded

26:34

I bought I've bought all that was So was

26:36

the person who sold that to you for seven dollars

26:38

a schmuck or no, that's what it

26:40

was worth at the time. So you mean from

26:42

the time when did you buy this card then NY

26:45

nine? Okay, So from June to

26:47

now February, the value of the card

26:49

went from seven eight to eleven thousand or

26:52

whatever you said. Would you say, no, no, no no, the value

26:55

went from so so a p s at

26:57

ten on June twenty nine I could

26:59

have bought for eleven hundred bucks and one

27:02

sold privately for seventy one

27:04

thousand last night. So

27:08

went from but you paid seven eight for yours,

27:10

correct, and now it's seventy No,

27:13

the nine will sell ford.

27:16

So it went from the car because there's only

27:18

a hundred of them, Jimmy, so if you want

27:20

them. So what

27:23

I'm saying is the person who sold it to you must want to

27:25

jump in front of a moving Sure, they've done some

27:27

other things. I mean, you know there's guys

27:29

who cashed out on this rock card at twelve

27:31

thousand at some point, Like for

27:34

me, it's like should I continue to ride

27:36

the wave? Is it going to continue to go up? Or do

27:38

I take my profits. Someone said to me last

27:40

night after I was putting in the Rock card, You're gonna

27:42

regret it when it hits a hundred, And I'm like, okay,

27:45

why don't you buy it then? Right? Like when

27:48

anyone, any time, anyone says it's

27:50

only gonna go up, that's a horrible phrase

27:52

to use. So what

27:56

was Mike? I had a question? Um,

27:59

so is the value? You gotta hear this p s

28:01

A as population reports. Okay, So,

28:03

so once they grade something, they tell they

28:06

put it into the system what they graded, so

28:08

that we know on the Rock card there's

28:11

only thirty ten or twenty

28:13

tens and thirty nine. People

28:16

base their judgment on how they

28:18

want to invest in a card based on what

28:20

the population is, right,

28:23

So like if there's ten thousand Luca

28:25

donte, you know a lot of these new

28:27

cards get tens all the time. Obviously

28:30

it's coming fresh out of a pack. That's

28:32

why I don't invest in modern right.

28:35

So, but the value of all this stuff is

28:37

really just determined by what people anybay will

28:39

pay for it. Yes, okay, so

28:42

I'm glad you mentioned the Luca don check and the

28:44

current stuff. I want to because I know you gotta

28:46

go, and I want to just wrap it up with the with the what's

28:49

it called unboxing, what it's called breaks?

28:53

Um, so

28:56

so fascinated not just by the break,

28:58

but now how this has become a media thing

29:00

that people have YouTube channels with the brakes

29:02

and all that. It's gambling.

29:04

It's gambling in front of your eyes. That's

29:06

what they're showing you. They're showing you. Like.

29:09

So, for example, there's a set

29:11

called National Treasures. I believe

29:13

a National Treasures box has twenty cards

29:15

in it. Um you can

29:18

buy a team based

29:20

on what player you want to get. Zion

29:23

is the most popular, so you could buy

29:25

the Pelicans for five thousand dollars.

29:28

If if in the twenty cards

29:31

there is not a Pelicans player, you

29:34

get zero. So

29:38

basically, someone will buy this box,

29:40

get on YouTube, whatever, Instagram, on a

29:42

lot, a lot whatever it is, and

29:44

start opening the box and people will watch this

29:47

person open the box rooting for

29:49

this guy or girl to get a

29:51

Zion Williamson card and

29:53

then they scream and go oh,

29:55

oh my god. And then he

29:57

gets the Zion Williamson card and then has to send

30:00

it to p s A, get it graded and

30:02

then put it on anyway, that's the well, well,

30:04

well he could either he could either

30:06

get it graded or he could send it to he'd

30:08

likely sending into the person who will then get

30:10

it graded. Now there are the person

30:13

who won, right like, because sometimes they

30:15

they're having you buy into the break. So

30:18

it's either this guy's breaking for himself

30:20

or you can buy into the break. That

30:23

well you again, you

30:26

buy the Pelicans or you But there's

30:28

a company called Vintage Breaks. Okay,

30:30

and uh, they'll allow you for a

30:32

hundred bucks, you could get into a six

30:36

or two h bucks you can get set

30:38

break. So they randomize

30:41

the order. You pay two hund bucks for one slot,

30:43

one card. They randomize the order seven

30:45

times, right one seven okay,

30:48

whoever gets card number fifty seven just got

30:50

the Jordans, and

30:52

the other people are all shut out completely. No there

30:55

you get the Elijah on the Barkley, no,

30:58

the Isaiah, but shut out on the Jordan. But

31:00

they're shut out in Jordan. But the guy who spent

31:02

two hundred dollars. And usually

31:04

what they do is they guarantee what the Jordan is,

31:06

so normally will grade the Jordan ahead of time.

31:08

So one time I saw a guy

31:11

spent two hundred dollars for a slot. He

31:13

got the Jordan's It was a P S A eight

31:15

Jordan's and on the spot they offered

31:17

him forty dollars. Who's they

31:20

vintage breaks? The company Breaking company

31:22

says, we will buy this card for you right

31:25

from you, right now, for forty which

31:27

is a you know, damn. And then and the other people who

31:29

spent the two hundreds to get in a slot, they

31:32

get their card and there's about eight

31:34

to ten people who still make their

31:36

money. Do you do this, Barkley? Huh?

31:38

Do you do this? Like? Do you buy into breaks?

31:41

No? But I've I've I've done some breaks

31:43

like I've I've I've opened for you.

31:46

See, I wouldn't want to do it with other people. Yeah,

31:49

I I it's it's exciting. But this

31:52

is why I'm tasked to cover

31:54

this and all the other things, because it is

31:56

so connected to gambling

31:59

and there's a lot of money involved. Do you

32:01

see this now? Do you see this getting bigger

32:03

and bigger or do you think you know, let's say,

32:05

maybe September rolls around and most of the country's

32:08

vaccinated and it doesn't die down a

32:10

little bit. What do you that so that that's the question

32:12

for any investor of any business.

32:14

Are we going to start to see these ghost kitchens

32:17

where people are just ordering from these ghosts

32:19

kitchens and wings and have our lives

32:22

been changed from a year and a half of doing

32:24

this, Or when we go back, are

32:26

we going to totally rebel and go to

32:28

bars and go out to dinner every night and

32:31

go the other way? Right, there's

32:33

definitely something to be said for the reason

32:35

why we're on eBay so much, just because we're sitting

32:38

in front of our computers and we don't have human

32:40

interaction, and this is our way to

32:42

have interaction. Now there's one

32:45

some people will say this is an alternative asset

32:47

class for the first time that as

32:50

money gets more inflationary due

32:53

to the third stimulus check and

32:55

we're just handing out money like we never have, never

32:58

have that. Putting money

33:00

into cards is like a side

33:02

or memorabilia is like a sideways

33:05

way to uh to to

33:07

to de risk uh your

33:10

cash because and anything can this can

33:12

it be chucked up at all? Just something as

33:14

basically as like the popularity

33:16

in cars is cyclical because like when I

33:18

know, never, it's never

33:20

it's never been that, it's never been this crazy

33:23

because the money has never been this crazy. The

33:25

percentage return has never been this crazy.

33:27

Yes, and and it's and and having

33:29

been with you at you

33:31

know, the holiday, I probably was

33:34

at the same holiday and in the

33:36

East Meadow that you you know, the

33:38

big show is the NASA Colisseum. That was

33:40

like that was the super Bowl, the

33:42

super Nasa. The NASA Colisseum had

33:45

one every weekend. I was

33:47

at a mid valley a hotel

33:49

lobby. I mean it was people were

33:51

trampling. There's a great

33:54

show. What what we what were those things

33:56

called the um

33:58

ship not the Elks lie? What does it call

34:01

the the uh the Knights

34:03

of Columbus. Knights of Columbus.

34:06

Yes, always got good

34:08

deals with them, because

34:10

so I, you know, so for my whole life. We

34:12

know, once I got out of high school in college and then I you

34:14

know, came in sort of an adult, I

34:16

would always think to myself, I can't believe I wasted

34:19

all that money, because there

34:21

was a point where I, like these cars, you wicked

34:23

all that time because I didn't stop collecting,

34:25

and now I'm really enjoying. So

34:29

based on a couple of things you saw here, I can

34:31

make a little bit of money. Probably you can't.

34:33

You should probably get going, okay,

34:36

but I gotta send this all out to get graded. Someone

34:39

needs to invent a graded store. I want to just

34:42

go to a store and get it, like the best buy man,

34:44

like do it, Like just let me walk into a store and

34:46

getting graded. I'll pay and after

34:48

Stevie Cohen, you know, bought some of this, imagine

34:51

get you know, I pay for Obviously I'm a Mits

34:53

Mets fan too, so I mean I

34:55

know you're a Yankee fan, but I would pay

34:57

for a Mets ticket, you know,

35:00

and uh, imagine

35:02

if you could grade it at the game, that would be something

35:04

else. I threw out all my tickets. I

35:07

mean I was at that. I was at that that that that

35:09

that that's the tragedy. That's the next tragedy

35:11

because the next thing coming as tickets. I mean

35:13

I was at the Mets Braves game, first

35:16

game back in after nine. A lot of

35:19

yeah, I have about I bought that

35:21

ticket for five Jimmy, I

35:24

threw it right in the garbage. Who

35:27

Yeah, I'm very anti hoarder. I try to keep

35:29

when you when when you when you when

35:31

you walked out of the game and people go Hey, can I

35:33

have your ticket? You're like laughing at that guy. Now

35:35

that guy is the guy who's doing

35:38

the snow Angels in cash pretty much

35:40

pretty much. Yeah, I don't have a good history

35:42

with the cards, although now I'm very excited about saying

35:45

maybe I'll send this out to get great at this Jordan thing.

35:48

Actually yeah,

35:51

there you go, just for ships and gles. We'll see

35:53

what happens. All right. Well, I appreciate this lesson

35:55

because if you're on Twitter, um,

35:57

and you're you know, if you have friends who are sports fans,

36:00

I mean I know friends who are into this big now, so

36:02

like my stuff is now this

36:04

it just is I mean, you know, yeah,

36:07

it's funny because I you know, I had you booked

36:09

yesterday. But this morning on how It's Sterns show,

36:11

they spent like a half an hour talking about this. They got a couple

36:13

of guys who are yeah god

36:16

j D, j D HARMEI are big into the Brakes

36:19

j D. So um,

36:22

so I was you know, I had booked you before then

36:24

because it happened this morning. I had asked

36:26

you to come on yesterday. So I do feel

36:28

like this is just gonna get bigger and bigger here for a while

36:30

at least. Yeah, Um,

36:33

what is there one card you don't have that you want?

36:35

Not from money, you know, not like the Jordan

36:37

Rookie, but is there something? I mean, my, my,

36:40

my, my investments. I'm only five percent

36:42

in cards lockily. Um,

36:44

I I collect tickets, checks,

36:47

Black History, and Tech.

36:50

Those are my end video games. So

36:54

I'm looking for I'm not I'm

36:56

really not looking for another card. I I want

36:58

to go to the next level. I

37:00

want to get, you know, something that that

37:02

people want tomorrow, not today,

37:05

you know. So the ticket types are valuable because

37:07

there's a limited amount, Like at that met game that was

37:09

probably forty tickets, So that's that's

37:11

what makes it valuable. Well there's forty five tickets

37:13

and then forty four thousand, eight

37:16

hundred through them out immediately or

37:18

lost them. So yes, there's a

37:20

unlike cards where it's like this card

37:22

is one out of fifty, there's a artificial

37:25

there. That's an artificial scarcity.

37:27

It's a real scarcity when

37:29

you think about tickets. So I have the

37:32

tickets to their Notre Dame Rudy game. There's

37:34

like fifteen of them.

37:37

So that's why because in my head I'm thinking, like what

37:39

else could become popular

37:41

as a collectible or like, you know, why aren't like,

37:43

you know, VCR tapes from the eighty You

37:46

know VCR. They are VCR tapes

37:48

from the eighties. You gotta make sure they're sealed.

37:50

I have. I have about twenty in my closet right now. So

37:52

like if you have, like a VCR tape of

37:54

Eddie Murphy Delirious, for instance, the

37:56

greatest, the single greatest stand up that's ever

37:59

taken place in the history of comedy. You

38:01

know, I didn't have these. I bought these. This is

38:03

whole Hogan's first highlight tape. It's sealed,

38:06

you know, instead of buying if it was open,

38:08

it wouldn't be worth anything, correct, Instead

38:11

of instead of buying his rookie card, I

38:13

decided I was going to buy the

38:16

seal. I think sealed stuff, an

38:18

original first of Ferrest, beautieble

38:22

go to be sealed. So so we're we'll

38:24

we'll get I I have I

38:26

have. You know, sealed is the next

38:28

thing, right So like a sealed iPhone,

38:30

A sealed iPhone one is now twenty dollars

38:32

if you could afford that right now, I would

38:35

afford that all I would buy that all day

38:37

long. Now, the problem

38:39

is they're ceiling fraud, right

38:42

Is it a fake seal? Is it not? And there's

38:44

not a grading company that's really good yet

38:47

on ceiling So I'm

38:50

not I'm not. I'm not saying this

38:52

in a judgmental a because I think if people

38:54

want to do this, that's great. It sounds

38:56

fun and exciting, but it takes over my

38:58

life. This is a screwed up world. People

39:00

are just into weird things. It's

39:02

just I don't know if it's we I mean,

39:04

I I collect weird. I mean my check collection

39:07

is just beyond weird. What do you mean check like

39:09

written checks? Yeah?

39:11

Wrong? Let me let me hold on. I

39:14

don't even I don't even know if I want to see. I want

39:16

to see this. This is not even this is just for you. Let

39:18

me just give you one second. I need this can't be just

39:20

from me with taping a podcast, So for everybody,

39:22

hold on, hold on second, my audience,

39:25

I need to see. I need to see if we

39:27

have a conflict at the time, Are you available at

39:29

four thirty? Okay? Hold on Aarren doing

39:31

his scheduling, well he yes, okay,

39:34

the SI Media podcast. So so

39:36

on checks. I collect checks

39:38

with stories. So what

39:41

I do is h this

39:44

is not only a John F. Kennedy

39:47

check, It's a check of him subscribing

39:49

to the Washington Post four months

39:51

before. What's the amount? I can't see

39:55

the sense? That is so

39:57

so for the people who aren't watching on YouTube. He's got a check

40:00

first National Bank of

40:03

New York from John F. Kennedy Jr.

40:05

Whether JFK j K for

40:08

eleven dollars signing up? And

40:11

that the why of nineteen fifty

40:13

nine, so essentially six months

40:16

before he became president? So what did

40:18

you pay for? That? Is New York Times? But

40:20

John F. Kennedy did read the Washington

40:22

Post? What what did you pay for that? What is it

40:24

worth? I paid seven

40:27

thousand and I think it's probably worth about twelve

40:29

to thirteen. Now

40:32

what about that? Do you have to send that to get graded?

40:34

It is? It is indeed graded by P s

40:37

A. It says that it is even checks. This

40:41

what I need to go research. I

40:43

gotta go read up in this P. S A company. That's

40:45

what I'm fascinated by. I think more than any you're

40:47

a Yankee fan. I will have a check right

40:49

now that will blow you

40:53

away, Derek.

40:56

I'll let you figure it out, because you got to look

40:58

at all the elements of it. Hang on, because

41:00

I'm blind as a bat. Here, Reggie Jackson

41:04

looks like eleven one tho that

41:09

I can't uh that I can't say.

41:11

Okay, let me let me read it to you, Reggie

41:14

Jackson. It's his earned

41:16

income business account twenty

41:18

two Yankee Hill, Oakland,

41:21

California, pay

41:24

to the Order of the New York Yankees, one

41:26

thousand. He

41:29

notes that these are

41:31

business Memo

41:33

World Series tickets and

41:36

he wrote this check

41:38

nine days before he became Mr October,

41:44

So you know that kind of thing.

41:46

So I even have I even have evidence

41:48

of Larry David committing a federal crime.

41:51

Um. You know, I would have liked to have heard

41:54

that story way more than the Reggie Jackson to j

41:56

Leno, j Leno, Jay Leno paying

41:59

Larry char comedy material. I

42:01

got it. Yeah, ten dollars for jokes

42:03

his second year as a comic. Okay, that's

42:06

Larry Charles is, yes, you do.

42:08

The audience doesn't know,

42:11

Okay. Larry Charles was

42:13

like starving artist roommates

42:16

or friends with Larry David. They worked on Fridays.

42:19

In the early eighties. Anyway

42:22

to Larry Charles, you turn the check

42:24

on the back who signed it, Larry

42:26

David right, which is a federal crime.

42:29

You cannot endorse a check written out for someone else. So

42:31

you can imagine this is a curb episode where

42:33

Larry Larry. Larry's like, you

42:36

only ten dollars. My name is Larry,

42:38

your name's Larry. I'll go to the bank. They won't even know I

42:40

know the telense. He's don't you want to you know? And they do the

42:42

whole thing, and then JB. Smooth is like, yeah, Larry, I've

42:44

done that, And then Jeff Carlin comes in and be like, Larry,

42:46

you can't do that. You can't go to a bank.

42:49

That is definitely definitely an

42:51

episode there for sure. Yeah. So like again,

42:54

I have a hundred of these, They're all crazy.

42:57

I have Denzel Washington paying for

42:59

his lates courtside seeds. I

43:01

have now and then again a stupid

43:04

question. This is all bought and sold on eBay. Everything

43:06

is eBay eBay auctions. You

43:09

might like this. You're you, you

43:12

Marlon Brando getting paid for guys

43:14

and dolls

43:17

that the week that's dude

43:20

paid And then my final one for

43:22

you also a Yankee

43:24

thing. So someone found out that I was

43:26

collecting all these and the

43:29

guy goes, do you need any Babe Ruth, And I go, yeah,

43:31

yeah, yeah, so so I need this is what I need

43:33

for Babe Ruth. He's either

43:35

got to be paying a prostitute, drinking

43:38

too much or eating too much, right,

43:40

like, those are the three things that Babe Ruth

43:42

does. Right, So the guy came

43:45

through. It's a beautiful George

43:47

Herman Ruth. It's

43:51

the to the Park Circle liquor

43:53

Shops, which, by the way, is actually

43:55

the last time I was in New York City is still

43:58

on thirty eight and Madison, okay, um

44:02

a liquor store, and that year is a hefty,

44:05

hefty it's a four thousand

44:07

dollar liquor purchase. Now he we

44:10

know that he and uh Wally

44:12

Pip were roommates and they used to drink a bottle

44:14

of Oka every night. You know, but man,

44:17

that is a number. So anyway, I

44:19

got these. They're amazing. I love telling the

44:21

stories. Um, and it's

44:23

not only you know, so like I'm I'm I'm

44:25

totally beyond uh

44:28

you know cards right, Well,

44:30

I I appreciate you giving me the card lowdown

44:32

because that one what is that? I

44:35

can't see it, Martin

44:37

Luther King. I'm

44:40

blind, Martin Luther King. It looks like this

44:42

is a nineteen sixty three unite.

44:44

The guy was sitting next to him on a plane and

44:47

he was going from Philadelphia to

44:49

Atlanta, and he had Martin Luther

44:51

King sims very cool. All

44:53

right, well, I appreciate you giving me a little I mean, I understand

44:56

it a little better. I'm not thrilled

44:58

with some of the information. We

45:01

need a p s A store. That's my takeaway

45:03

from this podcast. We need p s A stores.

45:06

This mailing it away waiting for what I think.

45:08

I think the new ownership is gonna do

45:10

that, I really do. I think

45:12

the lines there will be worse than the d m V

45:15

it's I'd prefer that though then shipping,

45:18

although especially if you're yeah, but

45:20

then you're gonna hold a hundred someone's gonna hold on.

45:22

Hey, I'm holding a hundred thousand dollars. That would be a

45:24

hell of a place to rob too, you

45:27

know. So listen, casinos don't get robbed,

45:29

and p s A places can't get robbed. You

45:32

need security, That's all, all right, Darren,

45:34

thanks for thanks for educating

45:36

me and I appreciate it, and uh get

45:38

going. Good luck on eBay.

45:41

You got it all right, take care

45:44

alright. That wraps up this edition of the SI

45:46

Media podcast. Thanks for listening. My thanks to Darren

45:48

Rovel for explaining the crazy, crazy

45:50

world of trading cards and what's going on with

45:52

it. Hopefully some of you got educated

45:54

like I did. Um interesting

45:56

stuff I have to say, Like I

45:58

made a good point if you're a gamble or you could see where

46:00

it appeals to people. And I'm sure there are some

46:02

gamblers listening to this. Before

46:04

I let you go, just a reminder. Last week

46:06

on the podcast, Kevin Clark from The Ringer

46:09

he was great. Two weeks ago, Aaron

46:11

Andrews and Kyle Brandt for a roundtable. Three weeks

46:13

ago, Roman Reigns from the w w E. So if

46:15

you miss any of those, check those out in the archives and

46:17

subscribe to the Simedia podcast. Again,

46:20

thanks for listening, appreciate it, take care, We'll

46:22

see you next week and be safe,