Nonsense Newsletter No. 181: MLB All-Star update, other options to add to your collection and more!
Happy Friday Nonsense Newsletter fans! Welcome to yet another edition of the hobby’s most amazing newsletter! This week, John Dudley dives into the MLB’s All-Star game hobby update. Meanwhile, I enter the 21st Century and discover new ways to shape for cards. And, as usual, the Quick Hits are a cool breeze on a hoy summer’s day! So, let’s kick back and enjoy another magnificent edition of the Nonsense Newsletter!
By John Dudley
I love lists. One list I revisit frequently is the top 50 MLB players in terms of their place in the hobby. I can spend way too much time happily shuffling players around the list. The All-Star break is a great opportunity to check in on my rankings and move some folks around after that stellar first half of the 2025 season.
The full top 50 is listed at the bottom of the article, but I'd like to highlight some of the notable movers in the hobby from the last time I updated this list at the start of Spring Training. There were five new players in the top 20, and several players who shot up the rankings after being unranked previously. Alas, there were also a few that dropped precipitously. The list is a harsh mistress.
By John McTaggart
I am the type of guy that walks around the card show literally most of the day, regardless of how big the show is or isn’t.
I’ve always been this kinda guy.
I love to look at the wide array of cards, compare prices, talk to dealers and friends and just get lost in a sea of cardboard and shiny paper.
But lately, I've been spending a considerable amount of time on auction sites during the evenings, sometimes even following folks livestream the close of these auctions on Youtube one after another. Of course, bidding on cards as the evening progresses and listening to the different opinions of these guys right up until the close of the auction.
Quick Hits
Hobby News- Rumors abound of a massive counterfeiting ring that got caught recently. Counterfeit holograms, autopens, and estimates of $500 million of seized memorabilia are the talk of the sports card world. It’s early days, and it is hard to separate the real from the rumor. With one of the principals having died, it might be a while before we get a good grasp on the scale and scope of this development. Check out more info here.
Vintage- This is literally 45 minutes from my front door! A 1935 Goudey sheet emerges at a local shop, complete with the Babe Ruth! ! It’s a crazy-cool find and one vintage collectors dream about. Read more about it here.
Hobby News- It’s worth remembering that this is hardly the first time the sports market has been hot with a forgery scandal. Operation Bullpen was the first major attempt at reigning in the sports forgeries. It was estimated by some involved in the investigation that up to 90% of all autographed memorabilia. More conservative estimates were at 50%, but that is still a ton of fakes in a VERY large market. Read more about it here.
The Sports Card Nonsense newsletters reflect the opinions of only the authors and contributors. They are for informational purposes only and are not a recommendation for purchases or of an investment strategy or to buy or sell any assets.