Nonsense Newsletter No. 96: The Card in your life, someone to rival Patrick Mahomes, cardporn and more!
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This week you’re in for a treat as John Dudley searches far-and-wide for someone to give Patrick Mahomes a run for his money. Meanwhile, I wax poetic about the two cards in my life that means the most. Plus, the Quick Hits section is once again loaded with amazing and wonderful tidbits! So, as the summer makes way for fall, sit back and enjoy this week’s edition of the Nonsense Newsletter.
Contributor: John Dudley
Football has a clear top dog both in the game and in the hobby with Patrick Mahomes. That said, I’d argue that it is better for the hobby when it is less clear who is on top. Montana, Marino, or Elway? Favre or Young? Brady or Manning? Heck, even Couch or Harrington? The hobby flourishes when there are multiple top-tier quarterbacks vying for dominance. The big question for me this season is can any quarterback live up to the challenge and start rivaling Mahomes.Â
The following top 10 lists looks at who could challenge Mahomes for the top spot in the hobby. I’ll let the football prognosticators debate overall careers and just focus on the hobby outlook of the quarterbacks. Think of the list as ranking the odds one of these guys becomes a true rival for Mahomes.Â
Contributor: John McTaggart
I’ve been so very blessed by this hobby for the vast majority of my life, and for that I am so grateful.
I’ve met some amazing folks, held some amazing cards in my hands, and even have had the honor of owning some of these cool cards myself over the years, moving most along as part of what my true passion is — the trading card business.
From Michael Jordan rookies, to Nolan Ryan rookies to Mantles and Mays and just about everything in between.
I have loved this ride ups to now and look forward to what the future holds for me and for the hobby.
There are a pair of cards in particular, however, that stand out to me.Â
One is recognizable, memorable, and clearly one of the benchmark cards in the hobby.Â
The other, has a much more personal meaning.
Either way, we all have those cards that rise above the others.
Quick Hits
Grading News- Overall great news for the grading companies in August. All four major companies saw sizable gains in August. The companies combined to grade over 1.5 million cards for the first time ever with PSA doing the lion’s share of the work (1.2 million).
Vintage- Yet another story about a scrapbook uncovered in a closet or something that has some vintage cards worth hundreds-of-thousands of dollars. What am I doing wrong? Read more about this amazing and cool find by clicking here.
Grading News- It’s easy to miss given the overall positive numbers in the grading report, but CGC’s non-TCG numbers are frankly abysmal and give credence to the notion that they might’ve been slow on updating their pop report to keep these numbers hidden. While the company crossed the 100,000 threshold, only 13,000 non-TCG cards were graded. This is a far cry from where they were when they stopped reporting numbers (42,000) and way off their numbers from before they increased their prices. They may be second in terms of TCGs, but they are a distant fourth in sports cards and are losing ground at an alarming rate. Surely they’ll have to do something dramatic to regain market share soon.Â
Hobby News- Juan Garcia, better known through his social media account’s moniker Cardporn was one of the more vocal critics of wrongdoing in the hobby. Perhaps unsurprisingly, he is involved in his own lapse of ethics. The problems stem from attempts to certify a Michael Jordan jersey as game-worn when it apparently was not. Much has been written about the scandal, but this gives a pretty reasonable update of the tale. Perhaps most tellingly, Garcia has deleted his very popular social media accounts.
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.