Welcome back, loyal listeners of the Stacking Slabs podcast, to episode 10 of the WNBA card podcast.

I'm your host, Caitlin. I go by at cold bunch cards on the Instagram machine, and I'm joined by my amazing co host, Brett McGrath at stacking slabs.

And we're excited to be in the double digits of episodes continuing to deliver collector driven and community focused content around the w and WNBA cards. Brett, how are you doing today?

Time flies when you're having fun. Already on double digits. That's crazy. I'm, I'm really good. I will say I am definitely consumed by my Pacers, as we record this. They're up two one in the NBA finals. We're recording this.

I'm going tonight to game four. So that's been consuming so much of my attention. It has allowed me not to, like, wanna throw things at my wall because of what's happening with the fever right now. And so I I will just say this.

I Caitlin Clark, I know you're not listening, but we need you back. I I like it how you're protecting yourself. You're not going out there, but we need you back. When you when you lose the central force of everything, nothing goes well.

And it reminds me I think I've said this before, but it just reminds me so much of, of a big Colts fan when, you know, they they had all these surrounding pieces around Peyton, and they were great.

One of the best teams of the decade. And then once Peyton got hurt and they removed them, it just all fell apart. And I I feel like that very much so with Caitlin Clark. So we're hoping for her to return, maybe against the Liberty.

I got my fingers crossed this weekend, but we'll see. Caitlin, I gotta ask you. Your team finally suffered its l. How are you doing? I'm coping. Okay? I it's been a tough week for me as a fan, to be honest.

I lost my favorite player on my favorite NFL team, and I'm still going through the five stages of grief with that. Add on my links taking an l to the storm and not handling it very well, the team.

It's been an a difficult week, but we are resilient. I'm sure we'll bounce back. I think Cheryl probably is on their asses about it, so I wouldn't wanna be in that locker room this week.

That's for sure. They should just make an Instagram post of the inevitable, suicides that they're running in practice. That's the right coach to get the team back on track after Anil.

I think they'll be okay. I think they're gonna be okay. But, yeah, she kinda has the fear of God instilled in them for better or for worse. So I'm hoping for a bounce back weekend, and hopefully, we'll be well on our way.

This will be our only loss, and I'm hoping that the storm take a loss throughout the commissioner's cup so that we can still make a push for the finals there.

Gotta get that money. We gotta get that money. That's really important to me and important to them. So alright. Should we dive into our tip-off for today? Yeah. We we got a lot going on, and we've got a time constraint.

So, for the audience in advance, we're we're gonna be covering a lot of ground in Yeah. A short amount of time. So we'll be flying. Alright. Let's do it with tip-off. I'm really excited about this week's topic.

And so this week's topic is, Brett, what's one thing that you've observed in the w community of collectors that you wish was more present in other circles or lanes in the hobby? And I don't wanna dog other areas or categories at all.

I just I because I just this is there's a lot of feeling and it's like personal experience, but I feel like one of the the the things I enjoy most about the community is everyone's willingness to help even if it doesn't directly impact them in their collecting.

Quick example, their and by the way, I'll point people. The I the I'm referring to Carter, MCU Basketball PC for the assist on this one.

Carter was also on Stacking Slabs, yesterday talking about starting off being an NBA collector, and and how he moved over and collects, of course, still NBA, but also WNBA.

So there's a really, awesome story there. I'd encourage you all to listen. But I received a DM from Carter.

And if you're listening to this, you probably know Carter. He's very involved in the community. And he made mention that he saw a post about another collector in the community, who needed a card, and I had that card.

And my initial reaction was, I am not I don't wanna sell this card. But when I started to dig in, I realized that the individual who wanted the card needed the card for a collection that they're building.

And I'll give the example because the collector has posted the card, so I feel comfortable talking about it. But, Timmy, the collector's name, posted that he was looking for the gold vinyl, Aliyah Boston Select Courtside one of one.

I own this card. I really enjoyed this card. There's a reason why it it was in my collection. It was on Golden, which I would encourage everyone, look at all marketplaces, especially if you're, like, trying to set collect.

But I found the card, and I thought, you know what? I don't know how many other w collectors know this card is here, and I want the cards.

So I felt like when I bought it, there was a little bit of, I I got it there was an opportunity that I wasn't sure, like, had the visibility. So I had the card.

Timmy's trying to collect all of the go Aliyah Boston gold vinyl one of one out of selection. And he has all but two, and this is including inserts. And I'm like, one, he I I told Carter, have him reach out to me, and we can talk.

Yeah. It was the best outreach ever to me because the communication was great. The, the, he there was three different, deals that he proposed in order to make this happen.

It really told me, like, this guy really wants this card, and he's built he needs it for a collection. And after if I sell it to him, then he's only one piece away from that.

Come to find out he's a fever season ticket holder. We he made a really strong offer. We got the deal done. I was getting ready to package it, and he sent me his address. I realized he was five minutes from me.

So I said, dude, what where do you live? And I just met him. And this was, like, last Friday, and we just did the deal in hand, person, boom, had the talk, got to talk about the fever, got to talk about cards for a minute.

And it was just so good. And, like, yes, I was giving up a card that I really like, but the fact that it was going somewhere and none of this would have happened if Carter didn't share the original Facebook post in my DMs.

And I just that that type of story hasn't happened to me in other collecting circles, and I just thought that was really cool.

Oh, that's so beautiful. I'm so jealous of that, and good luck to that collector in finding that final piece of the puzzle.

That is gonna be a beautiful, beautiful PC of Aliyah Boston. I know that's probably tough for you to part with, and so making that strong competitive offer off the bat, probably helped alleviate the pain of letting go of that.

It cash always talks. Lead if if you want a card that someone doesn't wanna sell, lead with a very strong cash offer, and that will get your attention for sure. Absolutely. Well, that's that's tough to follow-up.

I'll say that. That's a really good story, but I'll I'll talk more about a theme than, like, a personal story, which is positivity. And like we said at the beginning, this is not meant to put down other lanes of the community.

I'm just talking about my experience in the WNBA collecting lane. And one thing that I've noticed is the overwhelming positivity from collectors. Specifically, I wanna note two different places, which is both online but also in person.

And I think that it's really important to call that out because, you know, everybody that I talk to, you know, there's exceptions to the rules to everything.

We can't we can't say it's perfect. But, everybody that I seem to talk to in the w community genuinely likes to talk about their cards and wants to hear about my cards and wants to hear about how they can, help help each other.

You know what I mean? It's it's not about what can you do for me.

It's about what can I do for you? And I think that that's a mindset that, you know, the nature of the league kind of brings that out. And so I I found that positivity is definitely a theme that I wish existed more in other lanes.

And I think the, the number of like dedicated collectors in the WNBA that's kind of the reason why that happens is because they're not there for any other reason than to collect their favorite players or their favorite teams their favorite cards so the the motive is really about that love for the game and the love for the hobby.

So, positivity is definitely what I'll say, and I've just really enjoyed, you know, connecting with collectors, whether it's in person or online, and having that that similarity between us. I think that's a great call out, Caitlin.

I would I I my observations are the same. I have collected in other niche categories that have grown where it felt like that at the beginning, but then as it's grown, there's been a bunch of conflict and controversy.

And that certainly this category is growing, and that certainly can be a result of it.

My hope is that this show and kind of the community we're building around the show can help alleviate some of that potential conflict from from happening. But, yeah, right now, this is a really fun and cool space to collect in.

Absolutely. There'll be growing pains along the way, but, like, I'm just so proud of what we've built both, you know, the two of us and our listeners, but also just in the community as a whole.

It's taken a long ways to get here, you know. There's there's been people collecting WNBA cards since the beginning.

And so we're just here to to uplift the collectors. I think that's just really important, especially in this segment. Speaking of segments, I think that that really closes off the tip-off segment today, and we can move into league talk.

There's a lot to talk about with the league right now. We kinda touched at it in the beginning about my loss of the links.

I do not wish to further comment on the matter So we will move on to other things that are happening in the league and I was excited to talk about one thing that, you proposed as an idea during this segment, which is to talk about the expansion model So maybe you could introduce us about what your thoughts were here What what you really wanted to dig into in terms of the expansion model in the w.

I am not sure I have ever seen a rollout in any sport of an expansion team that has been executed more flawlessly than what's happening with the Golden State Valkyries.

And I felt like I've been thinking this, observing, watching this for a long time or not a long time, but is as far as this is all gone.

And this started when, like, announcement, Like, the team was announced, and it was, like, then that night or the next day, I saw Steph Curry in, like, Valkyrie's gear.

Mhmm. And that and that led to a whole, like, just absolutely massive momentum build for the launch of this franchise.

And usually, you think expansion team, there's gonna be growing pains, and the team's not gonna be very good. But I would say, like, with the Golden State Valkyries, it couldn't be more opposite.

Number one, like, butts in seats. That's something that's a key objective across the league, and the Valkyrie's attendance is the highest in the w. They're filling up a brand new arena.

They sold 10,000 season tickets, which has never been done. They picked the right coach in Natalie Nakase, Asian American WNBA coach. Saw the winning happen with Beck on Becky Hammond staff with the aces, and then beat the aces.

Like like Like, both the aces. Yeah. Both the aces. I and, I mean, we did it. For all you Aces fans, we we're gonna need to do, like, some therapy and a whole another segment on Bev down the road.

And, hey, I was right there. I was out there cheerleading for the Aces being the squad this year, and there's some things to get over there. But that's not what we're talking about here. We're just talking about a team that is fired up.

They're fun. They have a great collection. They're, just the marketing, everything about the way the international style of play, which is unique to the w in terms of having one team have that many international players.

I just think yeah. So I'm gassing up what the Valkyries are doing. It's awesome. They're if you're going to the national, I believe they're playing, the the sky while the national's happening.

So if you wanna get away to a w game and check out the Valkyries, there's another opportunity there. But, yeah, I'll stop, Caitlin. Anything you wanna say about just and oh, final thing for me.

There's more expansion teams coming, and I just hope they just look at what the Valkyries are doing because it is it is unbelievable. So shout out to the Valkyries. Shout out to all you Valkyries fans out there.

What what are you what are you observing with this rollout, Caitlin? I'm loving everything that they're doing, Honestly, I was, like, skeptical of any expansion team really having success right off the bat.

I thought there would be more of, like, a grace period where we're, like, you know, they're just figuring their stuff out both on the court and off the court.

But, it's been amazing. And I traveled to San Francisco Oakland area for work, so I get to witness, like, the in person of it all as well.

And there are real fans on the ground that were so excited to have a WNBA team, go to the to the Bay Area and I just think it's been overwhelming support from the community and that's translated like you said to some really impressive statistics when it comes to attendance and you know when when people talk about attendance, the thing name that they like to pull up is Caitlin Clark.

And just let it be known that this season, the fever are not the most attended games.

It is the Valkyries. And I think that that is astounding and surprising and really impressive. And I just love everything that they're doing both with, like I said, the fan engagement, the building, the roster aspect.

I was a little bit skeptical as well of their expansion draft where they, you know, passed up on a lot of very good American players that were not, protected for more experienced international players along with Money Martin, of course, who is like the face of the Valkyries.

And it's been really really cool to see them take off and especially under, their head coach who's just incredible to watch as well. I'm I'm I'm expecting a playoff push from the Valkyries.

I thought they were gonna be bad. Like, I really thought they were gonna be bad. So I just I'm really liking it. I like how seriously their fans are taking it, their coach, their players.

Everybody's taking it very seriously. This is not, like, you know, the the the the year where we're just trying to figure it out. This is we're we're trying to win, and we're here for you to take us seriously.

So super cool, and I'm excited to see how that translates to cards as well because one thing that I wanted to mention is that, you know, I get a lot of DMs from people saying, you know, I haven't watched the WNBA or I'm just starting to get into the WNBA.

Who should I cheer for? And it's like, well, I never wanna tell you who to cheer for because if I'm telling you who to cheer for, it's gonna be the links. Okay? And, like, I try to be very, unbiased when people ask me this question.

And when usually, I just deflect it back to them. I'm like, well, what what do you like? And a lot of them always say the Valkyries. They're like, well, the Valkyries, they're also new, so I wouldn't be hopping onto any bandwagon.

I'd get to cheer a team from their inception and be an og fan of a team while not being an og fan so to say of the WNBA and So not only is this a really a good experience for just fans of the game, but for hobby enthusiasts, I think the Valkyries pose a really unique situation for card collectors.

I love that. That's incredible, and I had never thought about that. And I think I'm thinking a lot about just the awareness around w collecting.

And I don't think I don't really believe in this mentality, which I've heard maybe from the top of big hobby business that all we need to do is, like, get these cards in front of these fans at these arenas, and they'll become collectors.

Like, I don't think that's the case. I think there are certain people that collect, and it's a certain profile, and it takes a lot of different things.

But the awareness is always good. So I think in terms of cards, like adding an expansion franchise and adding new fans will only increase the odds and chances of there being more card collectors in the WNBA space.

And, you know, I feel like this show can be an extension of that awareness.

I know there's amazing groups on Facebook and IG chats that I think, you know, Carter, who I mentioned, facilitated. So all of these things, I think, are really important to not only the the growth and development of the category.

And when I talk about growth and development of the category, I'm not necessarily talking about, like, the price of cards and cards going No.

It's just the the interest in having more conversations and more more transactions. And it can be transactions on $2 cards, but it's just someone collecting some something different.

So, yeah. I'm excited for more expansion teams because I think maybe I think more expansion teams can lead to the likelihood of there being more collectors in this space.

100%. I think a lot of people that aren't paying attention now would be forced to pay attention if they showed up in their hometown or wherever they're living. So no doubt about that.

And I think it's really exciting to see people jump in head and maybe, you know, cling on to the Valkyries or hopefully cling on to a future expansion team and so on and so And I hope that that translates, like I said, to card collecting to make them less of a casual viewer of the game and more of a fan of a team.

And I I know you wanted to touch on that.

So I guess, maybe let's talk about, you know the Valkyries are doing a really good job of engaging fans and keeping them there and continuing to show up to the games. What do you think that can be done by either franchises?

Or if you wanna spin it into the card market as well, what can we do to activate those fans and keep them engaged? I think let's see. I think, obviously, having star power is important.

It's helpful when you've got a Nafisha Collier on your team or when you've got an AJ Wilson on your team or when you draft a Caitlin Clark. Like, that stuff matters. Obviously, it doesn't all always happen.

I think the the the like, new facilities, new arenas, new experiences, engaging fans in the community in new and exciting ways will always help. Like, these teams need to get active and need to get out in the community.

And I think one of the big things is understanding your demographic. Like, under like, it's it's hard to put, like, a WNBA fan in a box and say, this is what a WNBA fan is.

But anyone like, individuals know, like, why people show up to these games through conversations, through ticket sale, all these things.

And I think getting out and just finding air areas and opportunities to promote the w and those teams in those areas where their fans or likely likely would be fans hang out, I think, is really important. 100%. We'll leave it at that.

I think that's a really good point. And I I wanna move on to kind of, like, the transition of becoming a fan of the w or becoming a fan of a team or a player, if you wanna go that route, and converting that person to a collector.

I think you mentioned, like, there's this corporate headline of, like, if we just put the cards in front of any single person that likes sports, they're gonna start collecting.

And that's just not true. You know? Like, we all know people in our lives that love sports, but they don't collect. And and I just wanna have a little bit of a conversation here.

I know we have a lot to hit on, but a conversation about how can we drive that awareness and that fan engagement for w collectors in general and continue to amplify it, either through the podcast or online or in person, avenues.

One one thing I'll say, and I'll be really brief, and I'll let you touch on whatever you want to.

But I would just say this. If you are listening to this podcast and you're on Instagram, sharing your cards and talking about why you collect what you collect is the easiest way.

Posting about them, putting them in the stories, like, w cards aren't cards that are popping up on everyone's feed all the time.

So when you when you share something different, it'll catch attention, and it's really cool it's really easy to engage others when you're authentically talking about why you collect something.

So that's what I think I found the most helpful is individuals in on IG posting their w cards. If I find someone posting their w cards and talking about it, I hit follow on everyone. So Mhmm.

I think that's probably the easiest thing we can do. Yeah. And to that end, I just the one point that I wanted to bring up here was that the more that you engage with this kind of content, the more it's going to be fed back to you.

So if you're asking yourself, damn, why can't I find any WNBA cards in on Instagram? It's because you're not liking those posts, sharing those posts, sharing similar posts, commenting on those posts.

You know, when you engage with content, this beautiful algorithm, whether or not it's a good thing or a bad thing, we'll feed it back to you.

And I think it's so important that we as a community, which is niche and smaller than some of the other card categories, that we really help to lift each other up, both online and in person in a way to kind of be delivered more content is to engage with it.

So I just encourage everybody to really just make that intentional, if you're looking to expose yourself to more WNBA cards.

And and go ahead, Brett. Yeah. I was I wanna give you some flowers, Caitlin, because I've gotten comments from other people about this. But if you're not already, go follow, WNBA card pod on Instagram.

Caitlin is doing an awesome job of engaging the community on a weekly basis. And through the reposting of stories on WNBA card Wednesday, there's opportunity to not only see cards, but see other collectors.

Follow that account because there's opportunities every week through the repost and the content Caitlin's doing there to go follow other collectors and build your network.

So I have had individuals reach out to me directly and say, I love these the separate account as an extension of this show. So, Caitlin, good job. Keep it going. Everyone go follow us over there.

Yeah. Appreciate that, Brett. And appreciate everybody following us and engaging. I think I mentioned this on last week's pod, but it really is inspiring to keep doing it. You know, it's not easy to just, like, churn out content.

I'm not a I'm not a content creator. I'm just, a fellow fan and collector. So it's really fun to be really, exercising that muscle, so to say. And I'm glad that people are are enjoying it.

So well, let's move on. Let's move on from league talk. Let's move on from our plug to the WNBA card pod. We've got, a lot more going on in today's episode. So, Brett, I want you to bring us to product pulse.

I'm really excited to talk about this because there's been some big news finally in the w space. We're talking about a new product coming. Let's celebrate. You've got it. It's a new, but it's an oldie but goodie as they said.

And so we're highlighting the 2025 Panini Donrus WNBA hobby box on the screen. Donruss is back. If you've been following along, we've talked about Donruss in the 2019 being the set in the Panini era.

They're bringing this set back. I guess the release day, allegedly, like, write this in pencil, not in pen, is 07/16/2025. So we'll have some new cards out.

Probably December. Yeah. But but if you're chasing those, true Paige Becker rookies, like, here, this is this is these these boxes are gonna be flying here in a minute once once they go to do the presale.

But, anyways, this is the set in a long time. What, my question to you, Caitlin, is I'm a big legacy guy when it comes to collecting. Mhmm. How important do you think lineage and legacy is around a product like this for collectors?

Okay. Let's get into that. I'm gonna dodge it for one second. And I just need to address an elephant in the room, which is for our Patreon watchers and viewers, you can see the box.

For people that are not watching on the Patreon, the box is displayed. And, let's just I used to pray for times like this, guys.

We got Paige Beckers and Caitlin Clark on the box in pro WNBA uniforms. It is just like these two women have been the front page of women's basketball since they were, like, 12 years old.

Like, this is like they made it, and I'm so excited to have them both on the box. I like the selection of the two players that we're showcasing, and it just makes my heart happy.

So before we get into legacy and lineage, if anybody has, like, an empty box eventually, this is one that I think is worth, displaying, at least for for me.

I I will say this too. I've been having this debate because I need a Clark jersey in my closet, and I I like the whites.

I think I'm not a big white I think the fever whites are the ones that speak to me, and both Paige and Caitlin are have the whites on the box.

So, yeah. Anyways Now we will get into your question, which I think is very important, but I did wanna bring that up.

But we're talking about lineage and legacy and those things. So as we know, I think we previously did, product pulse around 2019 DonROS, which was the and only release, right, of WMEA DonROS.

And now we're having a break of, a few years, And now we're coming back with the Paige Beckers class. And I think that lineage and legacy is very important to a lot of collectors.

I think for not for everybody. Some people do not care. They look at product and cards in a very in a vacuum. Like, do I like this single card and does it speak to me? Which I think is a beautiful thing, and I wish I could do that.

But for me personally, I can't. I have to take it as a holistic view of the hobby and of the lineage of the set. And so when I see a break in a set, it's definitely not ideal for me. I'll use an example from another lane.

I know that it's kind of difficult to compare. But when I'm in my Packers collecting, there's a certain player who is no longer on my team that I wanted to do his run, like, complete a run of gold prisms or whatever.

And he wasn't in, like, two of the years, and so it would not be a very consistent, lineage and run. And that turned me off the idea immediately. I was like, well, there's no need. I'll just get the rookie and call it good.

And I think that that could be a similar situation, with Don Russ. The fact that it appeared once, then it went into hibernation, and now it's coming back is definitely an adjustment that collectors need to make.

And while I don't think lineage and legacy is the end all be all, I do think that it plays an important factor.

So I am I'm happy it's back. I'll say that. But, it doesn't make it easy for collectors to want to, like, dive in and stick in because this isn't a new product, but it's also not really an old product.

So we're kind of in a weird, purgatory stage with Don Ross. I love it. Let's dig into the makeup of the box. So there's 16 boxes in a case, 12 cards per pack, eight or 12 cards per box, eight cards per pack.

They're promoting the autos, the inserts, and the parallels on the box. And before I get into a question, I wanna ask you about a specific card that I know is gonna cause a lot of buzz.

The one thing I did notice is I didn't notice any promotion of optic being inserted on so if that that, to me, makes twenty nineteen twenty nineteen. So if it is not, I think that's a missed opportunity.

And if they don't do it, I hope they're doing a stand alone optic. But I'll say this. We're gonna talk about downtowns, because downtowns, of course, is what Panini is going to promote whether you like them or not.

They're what sells it shows. If they're going if they're if they decided we're gonna go downtown instead of optic, I'm saying that's a bad that's a bad decision for the collector because the optic was the chase.

I just saw fee a fee silver hollow rookie out of 2019 PSA 10.

Silver, selling for $500 now, which is that's that's something. So Mhmm. I don't know. I hope Optic is involved here. I'm not getting my hopes up just based on the promo. Have you seen anything different on the Optic side, Dylan?

No. I'm in the same boat, and it's disappointing for sure. I really liked how unique that was, and I like that it didn't introduce a new product. I like that it was inserted, and that was the chase.

But, I guess beggars can't be choosers, so we get downtowns. So we've we we I will put this on the screen, for all of you watching. Of course, the card that they're going to promote is the Caitlin Clark downtown.

The sales of this card are just going to be absolutely out of control. And you know what? I'm looking at the downtown look. Yeah. Is that indie? I got a question.

I mean, it is. Maybe if you, like, cross your eyes, it's indie, but I Like, it looks like a Liberty logo in the background. What is that? There's like a porch with fire? It's it's the, it's on the state on the state flag.

Well, obviously, I'm not an Indiana native here. But, yeah, it's It's It's giving me a little I'm not a downtown guy anyways, and I'm just like, I don't know. Yeah. So let's let's talk about it because this is the elephant of the room.

I have a lot of thoughts, and I do not wish to offend anybody throughout my discussion of downtowns. But it is a hot topic in the in the hobby, so we gotta talk about it.

And, you know, the question that was posed in the notes is, is the insertion of a case hit like downtown, good or bad? And I my notes say I don't know. And so that's truly how I feel.

I feel like, the thing when I look at this card is, oh my god. Can we stop with the AI slop on these cards? It's pissing me off. It doesn't look I don't know what Indy looks like. I feel like Indy doesn't have that big of a skyline.

That's all I'll say. But, like, it really doesn't make me feel, like, any closer to my city. And so I wrote here, if if Nafissa Collier had a downtown, which if we're making downtown, she better have a downtown.

If she's got a downtown and it actually looked like Minneapolis, I would feel compelled to wanna collect that card objectively.

But as we go further and further down this AI rabbit hole that we're going down, they begin to look more and more just like a general city skyline.

I mean, I remember those NFL dual ones that came out. They literally had, like, errors in the football field lines because they weren't even, like, like, an artist isn't making these cards.

These are, like, generated photos, and that's my biggest knock with them. It's not that Repackers like to buy them. It's not that they're super expensive.

It's the fact that the photo that they choose, photo in quotes because it's more of like an illustration, doesn't make me as a fan feel more connected to the card, which is the whole point of me collecting cards.

We we we buy cards based on connection. We collect cards based on connection. I have lived in Indianapolis forty years. I've lived Downtown Indianapolis for sixteen years of my life. This is not I'm looking at this card.

This is not where I live. And it's like Yeah. I don't know. It's like, go out to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, put Caitlin Clark in the middle of the track. Like, there's representation there of what this city is.

Like, there it's a missed opportunity. And so what's crazy though, Caitlin, is that the missed opportunity doesn't matter though for a car like this because it's just a commodity. Right? It's gonna be a commodity.

It shows going back and And I think when you start to not be intentional with the look and feel and the design of a car and have it represent something that it truly should represent, then all of a sudden you're in the space and you're asking yourself, what what what actually is this card?

Is this just a piece to pass on to someone else to get cash?

And that's where I think we go sideways a little bit. Yeah. And, like, to each their own. If you look at this and it makes you feel connected, I'll I really hope that it the price doesn't get too inflated that you can't collect it.

I'll I'll I wanna, like, headline that. But if you like them, it is not our place to tell you any differently.

Like like what you like, whatever. And I just think that the it just feels a little bit ingenuous from a card company to keep producing these without a lot of thought.

And I just hope that either the this is just a mock up. You know, there could be the case that this is just a mock up and the card looks a little bit different. I become more impressed and suddenly I'm I'm not on the fence about them.

But, it's gonna be interesting. We haven't had this level of kind of, manufactured hype in WNBA cards before. And so, I wouldn't say I'm excited to see what happens, but I'm definitely paying attention.

And, I would expect some major, major sales on this card. I think this is gonna be a huge card whether or not we like it or not. And so, yeah, it's it's gonna be interesting to watch how this unfolds.

And, you know, I'm just hoping hoping for the best. Make the most out of it. Net net, and I know we have to move on. I'm excited that Donruss is back. I'm excited that it's going to be, something that we can dig into and collect.

Time will tell if it's something that I wanna collect long term, but I always think new sets NW and more new sets or more new old sets is a a really good thing. 100%. I mean, we'll take what we can get at this point.

That's what I think. Alright. Should we move into market watch, Brent? Yes. Let's do it. And I I burned up what I had listed because as I was thinking about this, I was like, you know what?

There's only one card that we talked about last week that we should probably talk about this week. And so we're just gonna dig into it. And if I can get my, operating correctly okay.

So here we go. So we talked about the Rittenhouse platinum edition, Asia Wilson rookie BGS nine out of 25 that was up for auction. Well, this card sold, and this card sold June 10 for $11,215, which is something.

I guess, before I get into maybe the primary theme of what I wanna talk about, the number, Caitlin, is that what you expected, too high, too low, like, where are you at?

Okay. So when I initially saw this card, I thought it was a $20,000 card.

K? I'll just put that out there. That's what I thought this card was worth. And the more that I'm kinda looking back, the more that I'm like, this card wasn't doing itself any favors.

And I I don't mean to, like, harp on it at all, but, like, let's just call it as it is. This photo is not the greatest. I can see it's, like, lined up in a group of other BGS slabs.

So it's not even like this was, like, standing alone. Notice that. Yeah. Like, they, like, cropped this photo. It's on, like, an interesting Liberty teal background, so it's not, like, popping at all.

It's in a BGS slab without any subgrades. The photo's quite blurry. It's just it's a nine. It doesn't have the correct, I suppose, label on the PDF slab at all.

So I do think, inherently, this card sold at a discount because of those things that are working against it. That being said, this is a a huge sale. I am not dropping $11,000 on a car.

Okay? Like, this is, like, way above my tax bracket. That being said, it feels like a deal. Like, Asia isn't having the best season this year. I mean, she's really good. Like, let's not fool ourselves, but it's not last year.

And, you know, WNBA cards usually don't climb into this 10,000 plus range. So I do think it's good, but I would expect that, you know, there's another sale that happens within the next year or two where we go, damn.

11,000 looked really nice, at the time. I got I got feedback from other collectors about this card, and a lot of people said it it was an appearance thing.

Like, they didn't like the look, and so they figured they knew it was gonna be a high dollar tick high ticket item. But when you compare it to maybe some other cards in the space, there's a little bit of a disconnect.

But the primary point before we move off this card that I wanna hit, and you said There you go. This this hasn't you said this doesn't sale doesn't happen too often.

How about this, Caitlin? This hardly ever happens. And I but the the interesting point here is I went in the card ladder. I did a WNBA sales history all time removing Caitlin Clark from this.

And this is this is a trend here. So this card is We'll we'll take out a lot because a lot's in one of this. It is the highest selling WNBA card of all time according to card ladder, non Caitlin Clark.

And what's ahead of it is you've got the Cameron Brink black finite PSA nine that sold via auction for 16 k June 1, then you have a sale from 2022, which is the Sabrina black '21, one of one selling for $11.

05. And then number three here is 112 in this agent Wilson. So in the last in in this month, two of the highest WNBA cards sales of all time, non Caitlin Clark happened.

And to me, that's the story. Like, that's the momentum. Whoever it is, whether you don't think Cameron Brink deserves that spot or whatever, that's a whole another conversation.

But I think the momentum around high dollar, non Caitlin Clark WNBA cards is picking up, and this has been a theme we've been talking about throughout the entirety of this show. For sure. I mean, this is this is awesome to see.

I will say that. But like I said, I think it did itself a disservice, and I think we're gonna see more cards in this 10,000 plus range, including probably that PSA 10 that is still sitting on eBay of this exact agent card.

I'm excited to see if maybe some of the people who were looking to buy this this card a copy of this card sat out in hopes of letting this sale play out so they could make an offer on the PSA 10. So it'll be interesting.

I I just I do like to see the momentum for sure. I think that's the headline. Awesome. I know you had, which I'm thumbing through my disorganized tabs right now, you had a pickup of the week that you wanna talk about.

I'm gonna Yeah. I'm I I just found it and Okay. Great. Go ahead. I'm really excited, guys. It's been a while since I've had a pickup, but I was able to scoop a fun card for our Patreon viewers.

We've got it pulled up. I'll I'll name it for the people that are just listening. It's a 2024 Select Rekia Jackson black color blast in a PSA nine.

And boy, oh, boy, do I like this card. Okay? We were just talking about case hits and downtowns, and, you know, I think that the color blast is an underrated case hit that, I really enjoy objectively.

And one thing that I'll point out, if you do wanna scroll down just a you will see the pop on this, which it's only a pop three and a PSA nine with three higher.

I think that's a good sign. This is not getting this is not oversaturated. I saw a statistic of, like, NFL downtown rookie downtown populations, and they're in the thousands, like in PSA holders.

So I think that this this only having six copies and a PSA nine or higher really makes me like it a lot. And I got it for what I thought was a a reasonable price.

It didn't cost an arm and a leg. And before we move on from my pickup, I did I just wanna brag about the card for, like, a which is the reason why I really, really like it is because the pose that Rekia Jackson is in.

She's doing her signature step back fade away, with the leg sleeve and the headband.

The colors pop, the yellow uniform with the black background with a little bit of that color blast. I just I really liked it. I didn't expect myself to be buying a case hit, but here we are, and I'm excited to have it.

Fun card. Congratulations. I had a, return, and so I've got it in hand. Obviously, it won't do it justice, but I got my Brittney Griner 2024 black Finite back from PSA.

It got a PSA eight. And what's cool about this card that I realized after the fact when I got it in hand is that the Mercury are playing the fever, and you got a Aliyah Boston shadow right here in the corner.

So I love these black finites. I love firsts. I have I'm a black finite collector in football. And so when I saw the opportunity to get this card, it was a a no brainer for me.

So happy to add this one to my collection. Congrats, Brett. That's a a sick card, and I'm excited that you've got it. There you know, there's a lot of sick cards coming from today's, Oh my god.

What a transition. Collector spotlight. So why don't you hit us with Yes. Let's move on to my personal favorite segment, which is the collector spotlight of the week.

This week, we're highlighting at WNBA win on Instagram. of all, I love that we're smacked over the head with WNBA in the username in the handle.

I mean, that's how you know this is a serious collector. This collector is one of my favorite WNBA and NCAA women's basketball, card collectors to follow on Instagram because of the, both quality and quantity.

And, you know, let's just stop right here. Stop right here. Go to the left. Right there. Look at this. This has 47 likes, folks. Look at this card.

This is the 2,004 Ultra platinum medallion Diana Taurasi. Like, what? What is this? This is a crazy card to just casually have on your Instagram, and I'd encourage everybody to go check it out and start liking this up.

This thing deserves more attention, and this is just one of the many great cards on this page. How about this one?

You you spotlighted this Cynthia Cooper. This is a this these cards are just the I have not, like, had enough experience looking at these, but, man, these are sweet cards with the 99 rubies or black stars effect in the background.

It's just this is a card you don't see every day. I I remember commenting on this.

I see it right here that I like, I never saw this card before, and it's just beautiful. So, yeah, this is definitely an account worth following and scrolling through, and it's just a really impressive collection.

So excited to see more posts from this collector, if we just wanna scroll through and just see if it'll load. There's tons of really cool cards for both pro and, collegiate up and coming stars for sure.

You know how Instagram desktop is. All good. All good. I mean, just look at that right there. There's a gold Juju auto, a Hannah gold a Hannah gold auto, just like super impressive stuff.

So really excited to spotlight them. Awesome. I know we've got a big old mailbag, so why don't we round it out? Yeah. This is how we wanna close this out. I just wanna say thank you to everybody for submitting their questions.

We plugged the WNBA card pod Instagram before, but just one more time for us, please. I've been soliciting questions from you guys over on that account, and it's been super fun, to hear what you guys want to hear about.

And we wanna talk about what you guys wanna, listen to. So we've got, I think, almost 10 questions, and we're gonna try to get through as many as we can, but bear with us.

Some of these are really, like, deep and philosophical questions, and others are just really fun hard hitting ones. So let's just get into it.

I I, organized the mailbag by different segments. So we've got a segment. Most of it is about card specific. We've got a couple questions about just the league specifically, and then a fun one that I wanna end with.

So let's start with the card specific. At and this is an interesting one to start with. At greatest card shop, which love the confidence there. How do we feel about corporations entering the high end card market?

We just talked about a high end card with that, AJ Wilson. Brett, what do you think about corporations entering? I think corporations entering, in general, I I support in general.

I'm a business owner in the space, and the more corporations that are involved at some level means probably more liquidity across the entire industry, which I think is a good thing for someone in my position.

I would imagine they're alluding to the Dick's Sporting Goods, Paul Skeens, Rookie Patch Auto Sale.

And Dick's, if you weren't familiar, Sporting Goods purchased that card, so it was not bought by a person. It was bought by a company. There's a whole another thread that goes we should that can be pulled on that one.

I don't really I don't know. I'm not I'm not sure how I feel about the participation of corporations in actual, like, bidding and auctions. That's an interesting topic.

But I think in general, more visibility and more, like, corporate entities that are interested in purchasing, paying in the hobby is a good thing. Yeah. Citizens United. These are just these are just citizens.

Right? They can bid on these cards too now. So, no, I put in my notes, I don't care. This is not my tax bracket. If you wanna bid against the the ultra high wealthy, competitors in the hobby, be my guest.

I won't be competing with you. So, I'm excited to see them on display for the public with, the Paul Skeens card that sold and Dick's, like you mentioned.

I do think that it's cool that, like, you can go visit that. That's cool. Instead of just being locked in a box somewhere, I think that's definitely a positive of the city of the situation.

So, my take, I don't really care. If it gets you fired up, good. That means you care. So, I think this was an interesting, place to start. But let's move on to question two from at ram jam sports cards.

Downtowns are coming. We talked about this. What other inserts or case hits would you like to see in w cards? This is not a great question for me because I'm not a big case hit guy.

Actually, I'm not Are you evading? I have zero I have zero opinion on this game. You're thinking okay. I'll tune I'll I'll chime in, and I'll say I don't collect a lot of inserts, so kind of in the same boat.

But one card that I would love to see is a crusade. Okay. I do like the look of those cards. I think they're cool, and I think, it would be nice to see them in the in the w space for sure.

Okay. Question three. We're going through as fast as we can, folks. At cornerstone underscore cards. Similar question, but different. Okay. What insert from selector prism is cool but flying under the radar?

And in parentheses, we have other than snapshots, lol. And I appreciate the call out because that's what I was gonna say, and I think we talked about that before. So you can't say snapshots.

You have to say something else. Okay. So, again, this is, like, hard for me because this is, like, outside my lane a little bit. But I have mentioned this. I like en fuego out of select, and we've talked about that.

I think that is a cool looking parallel or cute cool looking insert. Okay. Good pick. I'm going color blast, one, because that was my pickup of the week. But I my reasoning is is real, and it's because of the shorter print run.

And I think that that's really important in inserts that they're not just oversaturating in in every single pack. And I wanted to bring up an example which I used to own a Sue Bird color blast from 2021, maybe.

And I remember it like, had like four graded like ever like that was it. So, like, I just find, the rarity and scarcity of the color blast to be really intriguing, and I and I like that insert for sure.

Okay. I'm losing my breath here. At a rod dot one. Long term investment. Okay. This is a difficult question.

Long term investment, what are you taking, Brett? Platinums out of 25, like that AJA we were talking about, or twenty twenty gold prisms out of 10? I'm the wrong guy to ask this because I'm the ultimate Prism simp.

I would say the twenty twenty gold Prism out of 10 Aja Wilson card, if an opportunity presented itself today on that card and it wasn't completely over my skis from an investment perspective.

And I don't give investment advice ever, but you're asking me in this to pick one.

I'm picking that card all day, every day. Lineage and legacy of the Prism brand. It is the flagship brand of this entire era. AJ Wilson is the best player of this current era.

She's got the accomplishments and the accolades. The gold prism is the most important parallel in this era. set, Rittenhouse is playing catch up a little bit. People are trying to learn about it who hasn't haven't always been here.

Everybody knows Prism. I'm going Prism all day, every day. Easy. You know, I thought about just, like, for the sake of playing devil's advocate, picking platinums out of 25, and that I would be lying to you.

I I agree with Brett with all of his points. And, you know, maybe we're both prism sims, and we're just, like, have these prism glasses on, but I'm picking the twenty twenty gold prisms as well.

Awesome. Alright. Let's keep chugging, Brett. I know we got time here, but question five at rain tan dog underscore.

This is an exciting question. When I saw this in the mailbag, I was excited. All you. This is I want you just to address this. How about I'll ask the question. Okay. Who asked the question? Rain tan dog, do you think wait.

Hold on. I just lost my place. Oh my gosh. We're keeping you guys on your toes here. Oh my god. I just I got you. I got you. I got you. So Raine Tandog asked, do you think Johannes's cards have the potential to skyrocket in her future?

I love her playing. That's the question. of all, I agree with you. I also love her playing. I've been spewing Marie Johanna's propaganda on this podcast since day one, and I'm looking to expand my collection of hers.

And I find her cards to be extremely undervalued. I think she has a lot going for her, and I'll just hit on a few points quickly, which is that she's an international player from France, so you've got the global aspect.

She has a unique play style in that it's all about the threes, baby. That's all we care about. We only care about fun, silly body threes. We're chucking up one legged shots, when it's completely unnecessary to do so.

And then finally, the thing that I need to acknowledge, even though I don't want to, which is she plays for the Liberty, one of the biggest market in the WNBA.

So I think that's a lot of potential, a lot of factors. I could see her cards taking off, but we'll see.

And I I just wanna say shout out to Rain Tan Dog for bringing up Maureen Johannes. Any opportunity for me to talk about her, I'm gonna do it. Alright, Caitlin. Let's I know we got more. Let's do one more. Okay. Let's do one more.

And I'm putting you on the spot, Brett. We're finishing with this last question that we had in the mailbag from Iowa Dave. Sports cards, a fellow podcast listener or podcast host. Excuse me. Is there a WNBA meetup at the national?

If so, when and where? And if not, why not? And, Brett, finish us off here. Everyone go listen to the shallow end. I love Iowa Dave and what he does with this content. So there's a shout out back to you, Dave.

We should do something. I've been in I've been in, like, hold hold mode right now. I'm trying to figure out some one domino to fall so I can figure out the rest of my schedule. But how about this?

Teaser. More to come. We'll talk about it. I love the question. We should do something. No plans are defined right now, but let's keep that conversation going because we should all get together at some level at the beginning.

So 100%. And if and if there's nothing formal that comes out of it, I'll be there and ready to talk anybody's ears off about the WNBA and about the hobby.

So She will. Excited. Yeah. Excited to see you guys there. I I want to finish with that just because we talk a lot about community.

We talk a lot about connection, and and national's gonna be a fun one for sure. Fun show. We we powered through that. We have some, stops on our schedule. So appreciate everyone.

Go follow WNBA CardPod. Appreciate everyone for supporting and listening and engaging. And, Caitlin, I'm looking forward to the next one. Appreciate you, Brett, and appreciate the listeners. See you guys next week.