Alright. We are back with another episode of Passion of Profession brought to you by my good friends at eBay. Returning guest time, this was fun.

I looked back on the archives, on the last time we spoke, and it was in February, which seems like a lifetime ago with the way the year has gone. But I'm excited to chat again with Tate from Hoodies Collectibles.

We've got a lot of ground to cover. There's been some incredible cards that have sold through Hoodies Collectibles, and we're gonna just talk about this year and everything in between building a business market, all that stuff.

But, Tate, welcome back, man. How are you? Good, Brett. Thanks for having me, man. Excited to be here. I'm excited to have you. I'm excited to, dig into some of these card sales, but we'll get there.

But I wanna start as I'm starting a lot of these conversations of business owners who I've had back on the podcast talking about just 2025 and and the year it's been, just a wild ride.

I'm curious on your end as a business owner. How have you navigated kind of your position, what you've been doing in this market as it's continued to heat up and interest continues to grow?

Yeah. I mean, it's it's been great, obviously. You know, as of late, especially with Topps, we got the, new license, for them with with the basketball, with NBA.

So that's been cool. That's been a a major shift going from Panini, you know, basketball to, Tops basketball. And really with current day stuff, you know, baseball is kinda probably the third in line for popularity.

But you have, like, your flagship sets that, that always do really well, and people are still a huge collector base for them. But the shift in basketball is is super big from our perspective because of our retail stores.

So having tops back and everything, I think that's really, really changed the game a little bit. And then we had, like, the panini dump with all the, you know, inventory they had for game used items and all that.

So everything's been exciting. We've had the the basketball market has been the hottest for us because of the panini dump, like, eminence with all the game use stuff.

Some of the products they put out towards the end of their, licensing really did really well for us because there was a lot more value in them for for collectors and people that are ripping.

Kinda like 2,009 with upper deck. You know, they had so many different sets that they put out that, they always think of SP game use.

And then, like, SP signature for baseball, they just had sticker autos they put on random, you know, cards with no photo of the player or anything.

So everything's been exciting on the retail side, and the, you know, market's super hot for you know, on eBay with the consignment and, just getting crazy value of some of the higher end stuff.

You know, top of the market, our hoodies high end auctions that we do every month, we've been seeing prices that were pretty much, in some ways, unfathomable. I mean, it's it's been it's been awesome.

The on the retail side, I haven't spoken to anyone about this, and you brought it up. So I maybe wanna dig in a little bit. But the Panini dump, the end of the run, and the license in basketball, there's was a ton of products dropped.

And I'm thinking of, like, you've got silhouette, you've got flawless, a lot of these products with these this game used material, which collectors have been salivating for for a while, and it everything just seemed to come out at once.

And it and and everybody from the, collector side, everyone's like, this is quality. Like, they're ending with, really good products.

As all of those new products came in, like, how how was that like for you as just a business owner navigating, like, allocation? Like, are are people gonna want this stuff? Is tops is on the horizon?

Like, how did you manage all of that? Yeah. It was the demand was high from the get go. But I think one if you think about that, Silhouette being a new product, you know, it was first first time they've ever done it.

They've had, you know, Silhouette patch autos and preferred and things like that in the past or Crown Royal. But this was the first of its kind, and we didn't know what to expect. I mean, at the end of the day, the cars are clunky.

They're kinda ugly. But the only value in that I mean, all the autographs are sticker. It was just dumb central. But the only value that we really that you really could see in that stuff was all the prime patches.

So, you know, you had the, you know, finals game worn stuff, you know, every everyone from, you know, the seventh man to LeBron James and, you know, prime and all that.

So there's a lot of value in that. The box price wasn't super expensive. So that that helped a lot.

And having the Chase and having a a box that comes out of $800 that has logo men that are attainable, it kinda you know, it's nowhere near flawless, but it gives you that high end feel for a fraction of the price in comparison.

So I think that was it was good.

It was well received. I had a lot of guys that were just ripping cases of that that usually do the high end chase and logo man. Now you get the logo man. It's number to five and doesn't fit the window, but, you know, it's there.

So it was interesting. It's it kinda makes you think I was just talking to a couple of my employees about this is where is, like, where is all the Game More and stuff been?

If we had that if there was that much excess, like, what was the what was the thought process why that stuff wasn't getting other products?

Logistically. Yeah. It's funny, just the desire and the demand on just no matter what the card looks like, p if it's Game Warren, there's gonna be collectors that have that will will flock to it.

And this can be maybe on the license transition or just like market in general.

Has there been anything for from your end as someone who's managing kind of online, managing kind of the retail operation as well, that has surprised you at all about what's gone on in the industry in 2025?

As far sorry. As far as what? Just the It it just anything in general in just the way you've you're you are going about kind of building your business? I mean, Pokemon has just been insane.

That's been one of the main things if you go over to TCG, just the prices that we're seeing out of you know, they can put out a Charizard in every single product, and it's the product's gonna, you know, go go up 50 to 60% in the first month.

So that's been crazy. But I think one of the biggest takeaways was in this last year, or this year for 2025 in football, the lack of a of a star rookie and how big of an impact that has on product.

You know, Scatterboo, of course, we had him and but he's a back, and now he's injured. So not having a star rookie quarterback, quarterback being the the keyword here, just kills a product.

I mean, it just kills the whole the whole everything everything is, you know, half the price. And now I say kills the product, but it makes also makes it more attainable for so many more people.

Mhmm. So in that way, it's a beautiful thing. But it's just how important a star rookie is, especially in football with quarterbacks in mind.

And usually, there's some guy that we can you know, from the get go people, you know, look at him and say, you know, this guy could be the next big star.

And there's a big demand, and then usually they end up tailing off and there's no value in their cards coming a year or two down the road.

Right? That's just realistic. But that really was never in place at all this year for any of the quarterbacks. So that I think that really hurt, like, secondary market, and we're seeing, price drop very, very quickly.

So we've had to change our strategy from, you know, being closer to retail to kinda undercutting retail a little bit and the penny need football stuff so we don't lose, you know, lose our ass in two weeks.

You know? So this is the Yeah. I love that insight.

And I think most of us as, you know, collectors, investors, flippers, whatever your label is that you're listening to this, like, look at everything from the lens of, the individual, quarterback and then their market.

But I feel like few of us think about it from the perspective of someone who owns a hobby shop.

Maybe help us understand, like, when what like, I have some thoughts in my head, but, like, what was the last quarterback that really drove a product that where for for you, you felt comfortable and things were trending upwards?

And, like, talk about, like, the difference between that quarterback or quarterbacks in year in comparison to this year where you've got Cam Ward who is struggling.

You've got Jackson Dart where there's excitement, but, obviously, he's gone through some, injuries and concussions, and his team's not very good. Like, help us kinda compare and contrast different years. Another thing real quick sorry.

I will do that. But, one thing to add is we had that same effect with basketball. Not a huge rookie that we were super excited about, especially with tops having so many of the autographs like, you know, exclusivity.

But Panini brought value to the product by doing products like silhouette with the game used bet stuff, really latched onto that, where, I mean, we can only see Mosaic and Select so much in a year.

You know, it's every year. It's the same stuff over and over and over again. So I think there's a lot better job with Panini doing the basketball and finding game worn and finding value for collectors beyond the rookie.

With football, they haven't had game worn patches in so long or anything like that that they're just kinda making the same thing with different players every year.

So I think that's kinda what we're starting to feel. So, last quarterback to be hyped and continue and have a good career, I mean, I've got I mean, it's gotta be I don't think anyone.

I mean, I don't think I mean, I don't I don't I don't I mean, you could look at, Lamar Jackson, you know, in 2018 and Josh Allen, and their prices have gone up.

But that's because the market shifted Yeah. More than anything. I think if you had, I mean, a top guy that well, usually, the trend is the guy comes out super hot, prices are high.

Yeah. They kinda taper off, and then maybe we see him come back to what they were the rookie year. But and I could be missing one, but I don't think in the last five years since the big market shift, it's happened. I don't think so.

What okay. So from, like, maybe from an an owner perspective in getting allocation and decisions you make, like, let's take 2023, and I would imagine there was a lot of interest because of the early success for a player like CJ Stroud.

Right? Yeah. You you could say maybe what you want to about Stroud and regression or whatever.

But, like, there was a enough of a period where I would imagine because of the success he was having on the field, like, it was easier for, you know, a hobby shop to sell boxes of football.

Yeah. Because maybe he a player like him gave you a a a longer window for excitement around all the products that year as opposed to maybe this year where it it's different.

Like I see. Yeah. In in those two instances, like, how do you know when to maybe stop making sure your shelves are stocked with football from that year versus, like, maybe not buying as much on the front end?

Like, how do you how do you make those sorts of decisions? For sure. So and I guess the one year we could go back to was 2022 with Hertz and Herbert. Mhmm. And all those guys. So that was a good year.

And then he probably had some, appreciation on some of those. But, anyway, honestly, for for us, it's it's more about it's never I'm never really speculative on, on the rookie class, itself. It's more product driven.

So I'll never put I have never put away a case to hold. Never. I'll make my margin on it, move on, go buy a collection, or do some I I think reinvesting into something other than whack for the business is is pretty important.

And so what what with that being said, it's more about, like, the the product itself. So if I have somebody that's ripping some high end that is on a bit of a bender or something like that, it'll get more flawless or immaculate or NT.

But, you know, those are more, driven by the customer themselves. And then for stuff that, like, reinvesting capital for product, it's gonna be more, like, pack driven or cost effective.

So Mosaic, Select, you know, Prism, where we can pass stuff out or, you know, if we're looking at baseball, it's like tops paper or chrome or all that.

Stuff that it's gonna be more obtainable for anyone coming into the store and then kinda more, you know, almost like talking to a customer face to face.

And one of my employees tells me, I think, you know, blank is gonna want more of this stuff. So it's really just just getting stuff that is an affordable price that has high demand.

And if it's I should say this. If it's an affordable price, it will have high demand for a longer duration, but it's never based upon the rookies within. It just doesn't Yeah. That makes a lot that makes a lot of sense.

And I was thinking as you were talking through that, I was thinking about, like, the world you're living in where there's, an online presence, and then then you've got customers and regular customers coming in store where you're making decisions on if they want, more or less of a certain product to buy.

How do you think about, like, the, like, the management of those two worlds?

Like, the online world versus the in store, and how you make sure kinda, like, you those that personal those personalized touches are involved in in both sides.

I I'm sure it's very complicated, but I'm curious, like, how you think about that on a regular basis.

Oh, yeah. It is. And so it's the store is like, it's a hub for so many different things. So it's a hub for collections. You know, we sell wax in the store, of course, and that's very important.

And our, you know, relationship with tops is important. And getting product in general, there's a lot you have to do to get to a certain level, and we finally gotten there.

So we need to make sure that, you know, we have a good relationship with all the manufacturers and all that. But at the same time, it's, you can't your store can't just be built upon the product.

You can't rely on the manufacturers to drive your bottom line. So it's introducing, the a new the newest customer. It's not only the product that just came out, but things that were released prior.

So we have a huge, selection of slabs and just single cards in general in the store. You know, I'll put atomic refractors or essential credentials in there so you people will ask, and then that could be where their interest level is.

You just don't know. You can't you can't really gauge a customer, until you actually give them, a selection to pick from.

So, you know, getting some of that older product in the store, you know, we have black hobby boxes from, you know, '2 1995 to 2010. So we just get a little bit of everything in the store so people can, you know, see what they like.

And then we just make sure we educate everyone that comes in, and show people why the value is what it is. And it correlates to, you know, the online presence where we're buying collections.

We put a lot of that online. All my the managers at both my stores get first, priority on any collection we buy for the store. And then, everything goes to auction after that or grading. So that's important.

And then, you know, the education part of it is really cool for consignment as well because people may buy a car in the store, and then five years later, you know, they still come into the store, and then they'll consign it with us when it's time to move on that market.

So, we're having that with, like, a lot of, Jordan stuff right now. Jordan rookies, autographs, especially, of course, for Jordan are just on fire.

So a lot of that high end stuff that we get, and we get good amount of shipments, but also a lot of that is just stuff we're communicating with customers that we know what they have in their collection.

And we'll reach out to them and say, hey. It's a good time to move that card. So the relationships, that's probably the biggest part.

It's just being in touch with every single one of our customers and being personable with them and then them trusting us to take things to auction when the time's right. So that's kinda what I'd say.

Do would you say it sounds like you've got, like, a strategy, and it sounds like you've got a process built in. Does it it feels that there's probably a a tremendous, a tremendous workflow that's all designed.

And if this, then that, and this, then that it like, this are is that something that you're, like, having to, like, think about and manage and refine on a regular basis on how you make sure that your the processes for which you've you're building at hoodies is is optimized to help you all grow in the way that you wanna grow?

For sure. Yeah. I mean, at the end of the day, for consignment and, you know, collection by and all that, it's just sometimes it's as simple as you just need more bodies because you can only scan so much stuff in an hour.

I think our process, like, the actual workflow of things is is good.

But, like, you know, the super scanners, like, it gets down to, you know, if we have a stack of Jersey cards or pass cards, let's say, and then a stack of, you know, parallels or whatever it is for consignment, we'll put the parallels through the super scanner so we can get there's a lot more vow you know, value for me hourly for an employee if they're doing the super scanner because they can push so many more things to the super scanner as opposed to the, the flatbed where you can only do, you know, nine cards at a time.

So it's figuring all that stuff out and, you know, if we're low on a certain thing, where to put an employee, and then always have having, like, the super scanner going.

And then the people that are listing, they just list day to day. And that's really just you can only ramp that up by, hiring more people, because they can only put out so much in an hour.

You know? Is is higher like, what's the hardest part about scaling right now? Is it just getting the right people in technology, getting the right cards and collections, all of the above?

Yeah. For sure. Exactly. I mean, it definitely is. So it's it's all the above. What we I usually do with, most of my hires is I'll start them with scanning, and then start them with, so starting with scanning, maybe do photos as well.

And as they learn cards and they see cards every day, they you know, and talk to their, you know, employees as well, other employees. You just subconsciously start to learn cards without knowing it.

So I have guys that are, you know, my best listeners that don't. They didn't know anything about cards before they started here, and now they know everything. So you just see it every day. And then we use Beckett.

We copy and paste a lot of our wording for each card from Beckett and then add serial number, add auto, things like that. So that helps a lot too. But, yeah, it's just you don't need to be an expert in cards to list.

I mean, of course, it helps, but people learn it very, very quickly. There are it seems like every day I, you know, open my phone, there's a new something in this space, whether it's a new hobby shop, new breaker, new consignor.

There it just continues to grow, and there's new brands doing new content, doing new exciting things.

How do you in this era where it feels like everyone wants a piece of the pie, everyone wants to jump in, How do you make sure that Hoodie stands out and you differentiate in this space?

Yeah. I mean, it's differentiation is, like, I think almost thought about too much in in our space, you know, all these bringing so, you know, you know, AI into grading or things like that.

At the end of the day, a lot of the a lot of the, collectors don't want that. You know, grading in itself is pretty rudimentary, but that's apparently what the market wants.

So it's really just having a solid business model and and having a lot of, like, complimentary parts of your business. So for me, it's like I'm not gonna come up with the greatest technology. I'm just not the way my brain works.

You know, I'm a I'm a spacey guy. I'm all over the place. But I love cards, and I really just have, you know, four or five systems in place that work really well, and we just beat the hell out of them.

You know? And and that's what cards is, man. Cards are people people try to make cards super fancy and, you know, super elegant. And they are. They can be.

But at the end of the day, like, this industry, if you're an owner of a card shop and owner of a card company, like, you're just working your ass off. That's what it comes down to. So it's going out, be willing to travel to collections.

You know, it's not filming yourself on YouTube or anything like that. It's it's really just, like, working long hours, working hard, but having a passion for it and being, you know, being honest with people.

Like every collection I have is a a lead from another person, because I kept, you know, I treated them well.

And so you just naturally begin to grow the more people you meet, the longer you've been around. And then, you know, to really scale the company, I think one thing that's really helped us is having some of the higher end stuff.

You know, once you have high end items on your eBay especially, I think naturally people correlate that to, you know, being a a person of, you know, good regard.

So the the more high end you have, the more your name gets out there. And I think the more that comes to you, throughout the entire country. That's kind of the trajectory I've seen. So I I yeah.

I wanna hit on that high end note in a a second, but you said something there that, like, resonated with me about the way you're describing this the industry is just like, you know, it's it's this I don't wanna take the words out of your mouth, but it sounded like to me, it's like, this is just, like, kind of a simple space and Yeah.

Like, people are easygoing, but oftentimes, we see the industry come in and try to, like, bring flashy new, like, whether it's tech or, the way, cards are presented.

It just it it feels off to individuals who have been here and are just kind of collecting because they love it or building a business grinding because they love it.

And it always seems to me, and I love your reaction on this, it always seems to me like those companies or brands that come in and it feels too polished never stick around.

Never know what happened. Never said. Take your per give me your perspective on that. It's yeah. I mean, at the end of the day, it's people it's it's pretty simple. Cards are very, very simple.

I think most of the innovation will needs to begin with, the manufacturers. So, you know, some of, like, the debut patches that the tops did or is doing. Like, that that's amazing stuff, and that creates value for the card itself.

Having rarity, you know, I think a lot of people like these complimentary products, even the grading, you know, I know for vintage, it's important. But so many people think that they need to grade every card.

Well, if you have a, you know, an autograph that's number to 25 of Willie Mays, that's a sticker autograph from Don Rust. But you don't necessarily it doesn't give you any more value to go great and get a seven.

So it's I think the lot there's a it's educating your customers and letting people know that, like, you know, you don't have to get the most flashy thing, and spend extra money where it doesn't need to be spent.

But, yeah, I agree a 100%. I think some too much innovation can hurt, can kinda just confuse people in our space.

And, you know, at the end of the day, it's cardboard, you know, and the and a lot of the the value is brought upon by the manufacturers. And then for vintage and all that, it's by grading, of course.

But it's yeah. I just don't there's some things that you just don't need to revolutionize. And I think that there's a lot of that in our space. You mentioned something about, high end too.

It's like once you start having high end, it attracts a new, maybe, buyer, and then also build gives you all credibility. Is that something that just organically has taken place with hoodies over time?

Like, you've gotten some high end cards, and then people see it and continue to send. Has there or has there been anything you've done that's been, like, intentional to try to attract more high end cards?

It's yeah. I mean, it's having some of the the better stuff. And high high we know if you look at eBay, we have a lot of the top dollar stuff that's gone through, you know, under sold listings and things like that.

But, yeah, the hoodies high end every month was a strategic plan that I made. And Max is the head of consignment in the company, and he's done a great job getting, you know, a lot of the high end stuff under our belt.

But, yeah, it was strategic where I I wanna make sure we have some of that stuff to complement our day to day.

And it keeps people in well, it keeps people in tune with hoodies. So we're reaching out to people every month, and we're always on other people's radar, you know, our customers' radar.

So they know every first Thursday of the month, they can submit it to Hood. It's coming up, and that's where the high end auction will be.

So it's really just, like, at letting people plan to send something to us and giving them the excuse to do so, and then doing our part to make sure, you know, we're advertising the cards properly, and they're getting the most value they possibly can.

And remembering what they have. You know, if there's a guy that has a Jordan auto right now in a Bulls uniform, it's the best time it's ever been to move it.

I mean, and he's outpacing every single I mean, all of his high end stuff is doing better than it was during the boom. So and that's a real market. So Jordan autos are the real deal. We don't sell any Jordan autos that go unpaid.

I mean, they'd always get paid immediately. So, yeah. That's the the high end has helped a lot for sure. We're gonna talk about some of those cards, that have sold through hoodies in a in a in a bit here.

Before we do that, I I wanna maybe get your perspective on just current state. Obviously, it feels like a very productive year. There's been big sales, businesses.

Everyone I'm talking to seems to be, excited about the growth and what's happening around the corner. I I wanna maybe get your perspective on, like, current state. What what maybe excites you the most right now?

And then maybe what is something happening in the industry that maybe concerns you a little bit? Yeah. For sure. I think one of the most exciting things I mean, I'm a big I love, like, mid two thousand stuff.

And also, you know, I love nineties with Griffey and everything and Jordan. But I I'm excited for basketball, and tops just because well, not just because, but one of the things that really excites me is Chrome.

Bringing Chrome back, having guys from the past that Topps does a really good job of having, you know, Burton products, Magic Johnson, all these old names that Dennis Rodman that we haven't seen Chrome format or these other products format for a really long time.

So I think it's exciting to just kinda have a little bit of a question mark on, you know, what's Chrome gonna look like one, but also, like, are we gonna see more game use jerseys of of these players that we haven't seen in a long period of time?

This is kind of the unknown excites me with that and being able to correlate that to the stuff I grew up collecting.

And I just feel like the future's bright with that for sure. I know pricing will be different. People can say that and all, and I get that. But at the end of the day, you know, putting any product wasn't cheap either.

So No. It wasn't. And and maybe on the flip side of it, is there anything that maybe get causes you a little trepidatious trepidation or makes you a little concerned about the way things are going in the space? Yeah.

I think there's I one of the things I always think of, and I'm just gonna be 100% honest here, is, like, you know, I think of the kaboom market, where this stuff is all there's high end of, like, Jordan, LeBron, you know, high end vintage baseball.

I I'm between high end Griffey. You know, there's stable markets, and then there's markets that are being, like, propped up right now by flippers or repackers.

So you're getting you know, they're buying a a card, and then it goes to their, you know, their stream. And then the person that hits it in the stream, let's say, they may wanna just, you know, they okay.

Let's say they put a thousand dollars into that break, for that repack, and then they hit a 10 to $15,000 card. What's the first thing they're gonna do? Probably sell it. Sell it. Yeah. Exactly.

So if we're having recycled one of ones and, you know, green kabooms and all this, like, that, you know, gold kabooms of the current day stuff, where things really hold value and have, long term value in general is stuff that doesn't hit the market.

So it's hard to read into what is a true value of a kaboom card. No one knows. But we, you know, but they're very liquidate. They always use the term liquid at, at shows and things like that.

So some dealers wanna have them. The flippers wanna have them. But, you know, I worry about people that are coming into the hobby and they're just chasing the kabooms in downtown.

So what are those gonna look like in five years? You know, if we pass go away and things like that. So that's one of my my big, concerns, so to speak.

And it's educating people on that. People always ask me, who should I be investing in? It was like, Michael Jordan, Yogi Berra. Like, you know, guys that have done it. And, you know, game use stuff from the greats of baseball.

Like, you know, you can't go buy Babe Ruth jersey if you're a manufacturer of cards anymore. Donner's did it in o four, and no one's gonna do it again because it's gonna cost them millions of dollars to do it.

So having stuff that is rare and, like, being able to in itself, not with, you know, with with it being greater and like that, having that kind of stuff and introducing people to that, they don't they don't always like to hear it when I give them my opinion on that.

But, you know, I think that's where the long term value is. So I worry about some of the modern day, like, kaboom type inserts and things like that. I I love that perspective and wholeheartedly agree.

I think one of the most valuable things about cards and collecting is last time in between sales and a card that we don't see in years is likely going to sell a lot more than cards that we're seeing recycled over and over again.

And I'll tell you this tape.

I picked Cherry picked some cards that sold through hoodies collectibles for me to to for us to talk about. And the best part about them is is, like, these are cool to me because I'm they're not cards I see every day. And Yeah.

I wanna start last time we spoke, you talked about feel like the advantage that you might have a little bit based on where your shop and where you're located. You it's like you you you sit in this, like, landmine of Griffey Grails.

Yeah. Hell yeah. For sure. Help me come your way. So the first card is the the latest, and this was, like, just added to the agenda, because it sold a few days ago.

And this is the 2010 Topps Chrome Ken Griffey Junior Superfractor. One of one. I was telling you before we jumped on, I love the 2010, design of Topps Chrome.

And, obviously, Griffey's a a little bit older on this card. We see A little chunky. A little chunky. We see the DH, position at the bottom. But this card sold November 16 for $35,200 and a PSA nine.

Talk about this card. Awesome sale. Awesome card. Oh, it's a great card. So this has, of course, some things, you know, a lot of things going for it, besides the picture of him and DH in the bottom left corner.

But that's besides the point. Now he's got okay. So for obviously, I'm a Griffey collector. So, you know, having him in a Seattle uniform is huge.

So that's what the most that's gonna bring, like, exponential value to a card. And it's playing this. So if we look at Griffey's career, he retire he got traded to the, Reds in ninety two thousand.

So we don't have any super factors from tops chrome during those years. So anything that was, when they introduced super factors in, like, '4 or '5.

So all that stuff '5. '5. Right? Yeah. So all that stuff was Red's uniform. Now in 02/2010, he has a Super Fractors in the Mariners uniform during his playing days. Playing days in in quotations because he was playing a whole lot.

But, yeah, having him in the Mariners uniform during his playing days and it being the Super Factor base card key, you know, being part of the base set, that is where the value comes into play.

When you when you think about a card like this and, you know, making it available and it going to auction, or it's like you just checked all those boxes.

It's like playing days, Mariners, which is what everyone remembers them by, base set, super fracture, and a PSA slab.

Is there just like this list where when a card literally checks all the attributes that and it hasn't maybe sold publicly, that's when you know that just, like, this is where all the collectors are gonna come out and be bidding on this type of thing.

Is that kinda how you think about bringing a card like this to market?

For sure. Yeah. It it touches on all those. And especially but, you know, the cool thing about a guy like Griffey is, like, there's so many collectors of him. So, of course, demand's always high.

But there's so many of us that think differently. Like, I I don't care. It is a cool card. Don't get me wrong. But I didn't keep this in my collection, because I just don't like the picture of Griffey.

And I don't like it that says d h. But what happens what's kinda started to happen with Griffey is there's so many people that are coming over from, like, basketball, the basketball market especially.

You know, Jordan collectors, Kobe collectors that are starting to dabble with Griffey because he was the, you know, you know, the popular guy and, you know, is, like, you know, socially relevant being with Nike and things like that.

But there's so many people coming over from other markets that are now latching on to Griffey, from my perspective. And touching all those key points, like you said, I think really helped this card for sure.

Moving from one Griffey to another, this one is the o nine Bowman Chrome Superfractor Griffey in a 9. 5. This one sold in May for $21. 03. Let's talk about these sales in comparison to each other.

Obviously, one's Topps Chrome, one's Bowman Chrome. This Griffey was sold before the other one. Like, how do you think about both of these sales and just, like, the timing of everything? Yeah.

I think it's a somewhat of a market shift. So I think maybe this would would be of a little more value now. And you know what I'm seeing on this? Is that it has him as number 17, which he was 24 with, the Mariners, obviously. Yeah.

I've never I never noticed this. I've seen that card too, and I've never noticed that. That's his White Sox number. Yeah. So I just noticed that. Anyway, but, the Bowman I mean, the main thing here is Topps Chrome versus Bowman Chrome.

So, it's got him in the Mariners uniform, but there's just such a premium on Topps Krom stuff, especially especially in baseball. Topps Krom for, vet, especially vet, and maybe different for, like, the first Bowman, of course.

But if you compare a Topps Krom rookie card to a Bowman Krom rookie card, the tops chrome's gonna sell better. But then you got your, first Bowman of a when they're a prospect at that time, that will outpace both of those.

But, so it's a little weird with that. But this I think, honestly, I think the main factor here because you have all the same characteristics going on, playing days with the Mariners, in the Mariners.

But the fact that it's both in chrome, that's where we see the biggest slide in value.

Alright. Well, this is a card I I, there was some buzz about this card, and this is the o nine National Treasure, Drew Holiday, logo man, one of one, PSA eight.

This sold for 27 k, November 3. And I think a a lot of the buzz, which is fun when you get to this zone, it's like there was, obviously, Drew Holiday's a wonderful player.

He's had a great career. But then there was a lot of comparison with the, like, well, this is the this is the courier. So, like, it could demand so this is a one of a kind card. Obviously, a historic set, Curry rookie is is in this set.

I'd love to learn maybe just everything you know about this card and, you know, through hoodies and what you can share. This was, yeah. So this is one we've got in a collection. This is in a top loader. So this is, yeah, legit.

Yep. So this card has never never seen the market, I don't believe. It it hasn't. Definitely hasn't. And so, yeah, we just got this and then graded with PSA, which is one of those situations where it's like, do I grade this card?

This is the thing. That's a you know, you can't submit that below a Super Express. Actually, it was walk through. So it's a one on one logo man rookie. And everything in my gut tells me I don't need to grade that card.

Every, you know, every part of my body that has sanity in it, which you shouldn't have to. But that's what the market wants. They want these cards in a slab for whatever reason.

So, we got it graded, and this it's I mean, it did incredibly well, but it's it's o nine Curry year. But also, it's like, when we think of Logoman, autograph rookie cards, it's a pretty nuanced concept.

I mean, all things considered for cards, if you look at it from a macro perspective. So Adam, Gray, and I, you know, we this we decided to cover this one on on his Instagram page and all that.

But it's like how many of these count, like, borderline hall of fame guys or hall of fame have logo men one on one rookie cards? And there's not a lot.

There's not a lot of them at all. So that's I think that's where a lot of the value comes into play, and he's had, you know, a lot of success in his career championship wise and all that. Now he's a blazer, which is cool.

So it's just it was totally unknown what it would do, and it's impossible to compare it to another player. It just is. That's awesome. I love that, Adam. I was like, I knew I saw this somewhere, and it was definitely Adam's page.

So what a what a card. Yeah. Here's the, 51 Bowman mantle PSA four. This one sold for 15 k in June. Part of the reason I wanted to bring this one up is just, obviously, it's mantle. It's rookie.

I know people obsess over the, 52 tops, but the 51 Bowman certainly has some some prestige to it. Just wanted to give some space for vintage in, like, this card and what you see coming through hoodies regularly on the vintage side.

Yeah. The vintage, I love vintage. Vintage is like my probably my well, besides, like, you know, late nineties and all that.

But probably my second favorite. Vintage is fun because, you know, it's pretty uniform, but also that you, you know, there's, like, 67 high numbers and all that stuff.

There's so many different moving parts with vintage. Like, '57, you got the Jean Baker. That's bacon. Like, weird errors that they made that are super rare. But with this card, you know, it's a '51 Bowman.

We get a good amount of this stuff, but we don't see a lot of the early fifties because of the fact that tops didn't really send a a lot a lot of that stuff didn't make it over here, especially the high series during that time period to the West Coast.

So we don't find a lot of that stuff, like, in the wild, so to speak, in collections.

So most of this stuff will be submitted, especially of mantle, you know, high end cards are gonna be submitted during, of the early fifties during, you know, high our high end auctions or something like that.

You know, in today's world, this is one thing to think of and why, I think a lot of vintage collectors are, you know, know their stuff really well, and they're super educated and are true collectors instead of just, like, you know, pop up investors.

You know, this one, if you were to take this to PSA right now, I don't think it gets a four. So, you know, it's way off center.

It's got and one of the worst parts of it is it has the, the surface issues on its face, and super off center. So it's interesting to compare. You can't look at I love about Bendigo, you can't look at every four the same.

Mhmm. So it's just kinda interesting to see this card and think speculate on what it would be in today's world, grade wise. Alright. Moving over. We gotta talk Jordan. You referenced Jordan earlier.

He's part of almost every conversation we have here in the hobby. 9798, metal universe platinum portraits, Michael Jordan in a b g s nine five. It's a pop '24. This one sold in March for 21. K, obviously, iconic set.

This is a part of insert. The technology around this card is insane just like one of the cooler Jordan cards. Maybe just talk about your you you mentioned earlier, Jordan has a real market, which I could agree with with you on that.

But maybe just talk about, the this Jordan and just the Jordan market. Yeah. These are they're obviously awesome cards.

Here's one one of the things with this. Having the Jordan yeah. The Jordan market's crazy. His autographs especially, which is somewhat of, in my opinion, my I have a lot of money in Jordan autographs.

But it's there's a lot of things that are just booming that don't make a lot of sense at times. But, you know, Jordan, there hasn't been a supply of bulls autographs since 2009.

And he doesn't sign a lot of stuff, but demand has only increased. So you have all the autographs that are going ballistic, but these inserts as well, in parallels, like the credentials and rubies and all that.

These inserts are going ballistic and high grade. So this one right here sold pretty strong. And if you look at the card, the card letter value now, it's gone up even more.

It's because there's such a gap between everything in a PSA and then a PSA 10. So we had a NetRageus, that just did, like, 52,000 in a PSA 10, I think it was.

And the last sale was 26,000, like, a year ago. So we'll see what we're starting to see with some of these nine fives in particular is they're appreciating pretty rapidly because people are maybe speculating.

This is speculative on my part. Speculating that they could cross to a 10. So if you see something with nine fives and then, like, a especially a 10 on centering with PSA in line, like, that that's gonna hold a massive premium.

That's awesome. Cool card. Final card I wanna chat about is the o nine Bowman Chrome draft orange refractor of Mike Trout, and, out of 25, it's a b g s nine five.

This card is just, you know, whether Trout's playing or not, this card's always selling. Maybe, like, what what was this say like, what are your thoughts regarding this sale?

And just I know Trout's market's been on a wild ride over the past few years just based on his injury or not. But to me, like, this card has an iconic nature to it just based on his position in the hobby.

Yeah. For sure. Yeah. I mean, his his market's gotten totally just, you know, obliterated. It has, which is, in my opinion, silly. With a guy like him, his peak is about as good as it as it it is you can fathom.

So I think we'll we'll start to see a shift in this market once once, you know, he's getting towards the tail end of his career, and people will see these, you know, he's a first ballot hall of famer.

He's the best of our, you know, the last I don't know, if you were to really god, is he the best in the 2 thousands?

I mean, really close to it. But certainly since 2010. I I think that we'll start to see his market come back, you know, in a better way, but the sale of this card was pretty low in comparison to previous, previous sales.

Because his stuff during especially the COVID boom, it coincides really well that his stuff was going crazy because he was playing so damn good. He was the guy to get in baseball.

No doubt. Some fun cards, sold through hoodies this year, and it's there there was a whole list. I was cherry picking. I was like, I didn't I had to keep it tight, and those were some cool cards that I wanted to to touch on.

Maybe before we get out of here, Tate, I'm I always like to, like, dig into this a little bit. But just curious, like, you're a business builder, owner, operator, and a really fun industry and space.

Like, what what keeps you motivated? Like, waking up and continuing to churn and and do this? Like, what are those factors about your your role and your job that keeps you excited every day? Oh, man. I just I love cards.

It's just, like, honestly, it's today, I woke up, got to the shop at 9AM, and bought, like, guy had 70 pack insert of William Hayes autographs. He had bought them. Just walked me to the shop while I play. I mean, he met me at the shop.

And just I I my favorite art of what I do every day is just going to collections. I love going through going through a house and just picking collections and, you know, finding finding a way to go get them.

And so I think that's my favorite thing. I love traveling to do it, and then finding out figuring out the logistics of it to you know, we've gotten collections a U Haul truck in, Indiana.

You know? So it's it's all over the place. So my my number one thing is just going and doing collections, and just trying to find, like, that diamond in the rough.

That's what keeps me going. It really is. Well, we've we've had a couple of these chats, and there's always cool cards, being sold through Hoodies Collectibles. So I think, you're doing a a good job.

Tate, it's always good catching up, talking about the hobby, your business, some cards, and everything in between, man. I'm looking forward to doing this again down the road. Yeah. Thank you, Brent. Thanks for having me again, dude.