Welcome back, loyal listeners of the Stacking Slabs podcast two, episode nine of the WNBA card podcast.

My name is Katelyn. I go by at cold lunch cards on the Instagram machine and everywhere else on the Internet. And I'm joined by my my amazing co host, Brett McGrath at stacking slabs.

We're excited to be delivering you guys more collector driven and community focused content this week and every week ahead. Can't believe we're at nine episodes already. We appreciate everybody being along for the ride.

Brett, how are you doing today? I'm excited to be talking about the WNBA and WNBA cards. Caitlin, I feel like we just recorded one of these because our last one, we recorded a little later in the week, and now we're back at it.

But it's it's good. We've both been consumed with life. I don't think we've had as much couch time to just sit and veg out and watch Hoop, this past week.

But I think that's what these conversations are for. We can talk about things that we're seeing, not only on the court, but with cards. And I just wanna shout out everybody for all the DM slides and following WNBA card pod on Instagram.

Go do that if you haven't already. You are awesome, and you motivate me to continue to, do this show, and it's a lot of fun. So I'm happy. I gotta just I know it's a WNBA card podcast, but come on. My Pacers are going to the finals.

That's where, kind of, my head space has been at. I was at the closeout game in Game Bridge. And, I mean, when when you when you see the trophies and you get the confetti and all that stuff, man, it just it makes me really happy.

And our, we need Caitlin Clark at all these games because whenever she's at these games, the Pacers win.

So it's like, I'm looking at the schedule, and I know she's hurt right now, but I'm like, well, she needs to make sure she's in Oklahoma City for this.

And I I know that's probably unreasonable, but she's kind of like a good luck charm for the Pacers.

So I hope to see her and other members of the fever at these finals games. Yeah. That would be funny to see Clark in Oklahoma City. Iowa to Indiana to Oklahoma, that's quite the, circuit that she's going on right now.

It's it's the final finals talk here, Oklahoma City in Indianapolis. It is the shortest geographic distance in a finals in fifty years, which is a fascinating nugget.

Obviously, people are saying non major market. Right? These aren't coast teams, but I found that interesting as just a a geo nerd that were they're not there. They don't have to travel too far, to play each other.

That's hilarious. And I just gotta say one thing, which is on my fridge, I've got a little magnet of The United States, and it has the Midwest states filled in, and it says anti coaster.

So, I definitely think that's a fun fact, a little something. But let's let's move on to the topics of today's podcast. How are you, though?

How are you? I'm good. I like I like you said, I didn't have a lot of time to sit down and watch WNBA this past week because I was traveling for work. I still tried to consume as much as possible, and I was online, during my traveling.

But it's been it's been quite the week, so I'm happy to be back in the saddle here. But just excited to talk about WNBA. I feel a lot of inspiration from, the traction that we're getting on the WNBA CardPod Instagram.

Having you guys comment and engage in thoughtful conversation below the post that I'm putting out means a lot, and it's just been fun to to interact with with the listeners, more and more each week.

So that's been that's been fun. Awesome. I'm fired up to get into it. Alright. Let's start with tip-off, Brett. So this is this is a fun segment, probably my favorite way to start out, the WNBA card pod each week.

And here's we're kind of spinning this question on its head, which is a new a new take on Tip-off, which is what advice would you give to someone to listening to this show, who has never collected WNBA cards before but is excited about it either from watching it or listening to the show.

What what advice do you have for them if they're diving in, head first?

I think I the only advice I can share is advice that I try to give myself, when I jump into new categories, and that primarily that is collect from the inside first.

And what I mean by that is buying products, parallels, or players that you want to collect above all else. I think, especially, like, it's really exciting with WNBA cards and the the price in comparison to other categories.

It's really easy to be like, oh, wow. This is really affordable, and it's really cheap in comparison to something else I collect.

And I think, like, it's a great there's a great opportunity within WBA cards to buy cards, and to explore, and to try to sell cards to make money.

But, like, my feedback always is gotta make sure you connect with the category. You might make sure you love it. And that's why I think it's, like, whether it's an association you have with a player, a team, a product, whatever it is.

It's it's you just gotta you gotta care and you gotta love it. And I think, I guess I don't know. There's different phases of collecting in new categories, and it changes quite a bit. But have a purpose.

Have a reason, first of all. Like, if you're listening to this show, like, content gets us excited to explore different lanes. Like, I've listened to a bunch of different podcasts and categories of that I don't collect in.

And when I get done with each episode, if it's good content, it always makes me wanna explore and figure out, oh, well, if I was collecting nineties basketball, this is what I would do first.

And I think that's good. But if you're listening, thank you. If we're making you wanna collect cards, we're doing our job. But I would say just do some introspective introspection yourself, before you go head first.

Because if you do that upfront, it will likely sustain your, interest in the WNBA card category. That's that's some awesome feedback, and I wish I would have heard that when I first started collecting WNBA cards.

And I would kinda piggyback off that that idea with this this other way this other idea, which is how do you kind of cultivate that fandom. Right?

If you've never watched the WNBA before but you're listening here or you've never collected WNBA cards but you're listening here, you know, a good way to to really get yourself in that mindset is to start watching the games and to that end to attend a game.

Like, I could not express how important I think it is if you're in one of the major WNBA markets.

There's 13 now. Right? If you're in one of those, get to a game. To feel the atmosphere and the it's such a unique feeling to go to a WNBA game compared to any other sport I've been to.

And I just would encourage you guys to give it a chance, and then you'll immediately, I guarantee, there'll be somebody you like on the floor that is gonna spark some sort of collecting idea or lane. So that's my first piece of advice.

In order to get where Brett is going about cards, you gotta be bought into the sport and be bought into what you're what you're watching. And and, yeah, my biggest piece is to to get to a game. That's I think that's really key.

I one comment on that, and that's great feedback, is it is different. It is, it's refreshing. I will say, I love, like, when that there's a big three or a big moment. Just the the shriek in the crowd is it's a different type of shriek.

And the other thing is, I don't know, like, it's it feels like in a way that where, like, we've got the Indianapolis Indians, which is a my triple a team here in Indianapolis, and it's very kid friendly.

It it feels like when I go to a w game, it feels very like if you got kids too, it's, like, another added bonus.

It's, like, very kid friendly too. And so, like, definitely feels like more of a community type vibe, which is which is, I don't know. We're all looking for communities in in our lives at this point.

So, I don't know. It's good feedback, and hopefully, some of you take some of that to heart. Yeah. I I highly encourage it, and I think it'll inspire, some collecting journeys for you if you end up going to a game.

Alright. That was what was top of mind for me this week for advice, Brett. Was there anything else you wanted to close out there?

Otherwise, we can keep her moving this week. Let's let's keep it going. Alright. Let's move into league talk. So like Brett and I said, we didn't have as much time to witness WNBA play this week.

But, you know, I still watch my links, obviously, and I've been tuned in to the start of the commissioner's cup. Brett, I I think we could use this time to talk about what the commissioner's cup is, why we have it, and the impact of it.

How do you feel about that? I think it's good and maybe just a little peek behind the curtain at the WNBA card podcast. We go back and forth on formatting and ideas. And Caitlin sent me a message this week that said, hey.

Can can I talk about the commissioner's cup? And I was just like, hey. I'm getting out of the way. Like, if if you wanna talk about that and you wanna educate, like, talk about why it matters, let's make that happen.

So, Caitlin, I'm gonna, like, pitch it back to you so you can even Okay. Thanks. So for any new listeners or new, WNBA fans, I want to introduce you to this this idea. It's semi new in the WNBA.

I think it's been happening since twenty twenty, twenty twenty one ish, and it's called the Commissioner's Cup. Now the Commissioner's Cup is an annual in season tournament that results in prize monies for the winners.

And so this tournament features a 36 game total schedule starting June 1, which will be prior to when this this podcast comes out, and it finishes June 17. So just over two weeks of inter in season tournament play.

And every team will play one game against each of the other teams in its conference. So a total of five games for the six eastern conference teams and six games each for each of the seven western conference teams.

Now let's just keep in mind that all these wins and losses, wherever that falls, the tally in the columns, is going to be applied to a team's regular season wins as well.

So this isn't just far removed from the regular season. These games mean a lot, not only because of the money that they're playing for, but because it's giving them a better record to compete for the playoff spots.

Okay. Now the part that makes the in season tournament, the Commissioner's Cup, super fun apart from increasing competitiveness and incentivizing players to play well, not not just during the playoffs, is the prize.

And so the team from each confident conference, the eastern and western, will go to the Commissioner's Cup championship and compete for a $500,000 prize pool.

Plus, I don't know if this is, like, a big selling point that they're trying to give, a hundred $20,000 in cryptocurrency. Now I haven't seen too much crypto on the WNBA side. I know, like, Crypto.

Com arena and the NBA, but, yeah, this was an interesting little little thing. But a total of $620,000 in prizes, which includes a guaranteed $5,000 per player in the championship game that will be happening on July 1.

And that game isn't happening at a neutral site. It will happen at whatever of the two teams has the better record. We'll be hosting at home for the commissioner's cup.

Okay. So not only are the players playing for money, not only the players feel incentivized to do well, but it also incorporates a core element of the WNBA, which is what Brett and I were just talking about, which is community.

For each win within the tournament and then obviously for the championship game, money will be allocated to each team's chosen charity.

So each WNBA team has partnered with a local organization that aligns I can speak for, the links partnered with ACLU Minnesota.

And so every time that they win or if they win, the championship, they'll be given dollars on behalf of the links, which I just think is an incredible way to not only it just adds another layer, I suppose, is what I'm trying to say, to viewership is that you I feel like as I watch a game and if the Minnesota links win, I'm directly, you know, my my community is directly benefiting.

So this is a super special in season tournament. And now I'll finish it off my recap of what the Commissioner's Cup is by saying a little fact, which is no winner of the Commissioner's Cup has ever won the final in the same season.

I remember last year, we were at the Commissioner's Cup. The Links won it, obviously. And I was like and all the Liberty fans were in my DM saying, saying, that's okay. You guys can have the commissioner's cup.

We're gonna take the finals. And I was like, hell no. Nobody's beating us and look what happened. So hopefully, the curse can be broken because I'm expecting the links to win both the commissioner's cup and the final.

Previous winners were the Liberty in 2023, the Aces in 2022, and the Storm in 2021. So that's just a little introduction of the commissioner's cup.

By the time you guys are hearing this episode, we'll be knees deep in it, and hopefully, your team will be making a good run for some extra payout for the players and some payout for their communities.

I love the recap. I remember last year. And I think an important element of this is, like, there's an NBA Cup and a lot of NBA fans are like, why do they have this? What does it matter?

And there's cash much that, like, it's like, it doesn't even scratch the surface. But we know, we've talked about it, and there's gonna be a CBA and, you know, they're gonna work on He's working on it. Nick is working on it.

Yeah. Exactly. But this money matters to these players and, obviously, to these charities too. But I remember last year, like, Courtney Williams. I just remember, like, sound bite. She was all she could talk about was, like, the money.

And I was like, you could just tell, like, that this like, that money mattered to her. And, like, when money matters to someone and it's a cash prize, like, inevitably, like, players are gonna play harder.

So I did that element of it, I think, is is really cool, and, like, you can watch those games in comparison to other games. And I always feel like WNBA is a good product where it's like, I'm never like, oh, they're not trying.

I oh, that's, like, why I like the w so much. It always feels like everyone's trying, but they're they're taking it up a notch or two, when there's some cash considerations on the line.

Yeah. It's a fun part of part of the season, and I'd encourage everybody to tune in. It'll be interesting. Hopefully, there's not another rematch at all from last year. Don't just don't you don't wanna win.

You don't want your team to win. Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. Alright. So speaking of winners, at the time of recording, the Lynx and the Liberty are both seven and o, Brett. I can't believe I'm saying that out loud.

First of all, I just wanna say it feels great to be a Lynx fan. We're we're rolling. We're having fun. It's business as usual. But at the same time, it is a race to the first loss between the two best teams in the WNBA.

And both these teams don't play each other till the July. Like, Kathy's, like, making all these teams play each other over and over again, and I don't get to see links be Liberty for another month, over a month.

Here's a little question. Brett put this in the notes, and I I wanna hear from you, your thoughts before I go because I'm a little biased.

By the time they meet on July 30, what do you think, each team will have in the lost column? Well, it'll be interesting to see by the time this goes live, I'm looking at tonight specifically.

And the Links don't have a pushover opponent. Right? They're playing the Mercury who's playing very well. I'd still pick, you know, the links to take care of business, especially since they're at home.

And then I think the aces played the mystics too this week before this goes live. I could have that wrong. But, or the liberty. Did I say aces? I meant liberty. I don't know. I that's a long time. It it really is.

It's a long time. So I would have to imagine that there's going to be some losses on both sides. I mean, when my fever had Caitlin Clark, we pushed the liberty to the limits, and they obviously are a great team and still won.

I'm gonna say Careful. Be careful what you say here now. I know. I would say I wanna say, like, three or four losses, like, range, I would say, in that For each.

For each. Yes. I'm saying for each. Are you you think are you're thinking that these teams are just gonna be unbeaten by the time they play each other?

I mean, I if you're not delusional in your fandom, you need to level up. I'll say that. I was I was feeling so generous and so unbiased that I put the links will have one loss between now and when they meet the liberty.

And I had that loss coming against the Mercury. They played the Mercury three times between now when we're recording and when they play the Liberty. And I think that's a tough tough team to beat three times in a row.

So that was me feeling very generous. In reality, I have a bet on the Lynx to win over 31 and a half games, which is a huge line. They only play 40 games, guys. Like, that's, like, a lot of wins.

I think they had 32 last year. So I'm a big believer. I think one max for the Lynx and the Liberty, I mean, I hope they lose every single game leading up to July 30. So Keep hoping for that to happen, Julian.

No. Realistically, I think the Liberty have a similar situation where it's not exactly a gauntlet because they're not facing the Lynx. Like, if they were facing each other, I think they would both each lose at least one time.

So I don't know. Same thing. One to two, maybe two for the liberty. You you go one to two. I'll go three to four. We'll see how it shakes out. That'll be must see must see television though by the time, they play each other.

What is it? July 30, I think? Yeah. It's like, we're gonna be that's already, like, almost end of summertime. That's so crazy that they haven't played, but it's leading up. The anticipation is building.

I have a lot of beef with the Liberty fans in my mentions on Twitter. So, like, I'm looking forward to this, and it should be good. Like, I'm expecting them to play an incredible game. No doubt about it. I put this on here.

I wanted I maybe the most surprised I've been maybe moving on to the next topic is with the Atlanta Dream. And I I remember saying something to you at the beginning of the season because I played the Mystics right away.

And, of course, I was locked in wanting to see this Mystics team. But I I I think I mentioned to you, like, if the Dream lose this game, it's going to be a long season.

And the the dream lost that game, and I couldn't be have been more wrong. And I just wanted to talk about the dream just a little bit.

At the time of the recording, they're five and two. They've got a new coach, Carl Smesko. He he, if you followed him in college, which I didn't really, although, like, you could see, like, the style of play he implemented.

It was like, we either wanna score in the paint or we wanna shoot the three. We don't want any want to be any mid mid tier or mid game stuff.

And then I look at, like, the moves that they made in the off season with, with, obviously, BG and Bree Jones. It's like, okay. Well, they solidified that that that, front court.

And I just, like, didn't really expect it to work out. And then they played the fever twice, and they looked really I mean, Bree Jones was she's been unstoppable. I'm like, she's a beast. Like, no one can hang with her.

And then, Alicia Gray, is fifth in the w in scoring at the time of the recording, 21. 4 a game. Rhine time, we talked about her a lot, but they they weren't very good last year. They were No. Easy beat, like, every day.

I think the fever beat them every time they played them last year, and that is certainly not the case this year. So it's just amazing to me, like, the transformation one can make year over year, but they're they've got it going on.

Like, that that's a playoff team, and that is not a fun playoff matchup. So it's just it'll be fun to just check them out. And if you haven't watched them yet, I would encourage you because they look a lot different than last year.

They've got the outside scoring. They've got the inside scoring, and they play good defense. So I just wanted to all you dream and I don't know any dream fans out there.

We are more dream fans, honestly. Like, that's such a historic organization. It's at the top of my list for where I wanna watch a WNBA game in person is at the Dreams, facility.

It's pretty small and intimate. It kinda reminds me of what unrivaled had going on in terms of an audience, and I love that idea. So they're at the top of my list for who I wanna go see.

Ryan Howard, one of my favorite players in the WNBA. I texted Brett one time saying, like, Ryan Howard could never make another shot, and I would still say she's, like, such a great player and doing so good.

So I'm definitely a fangirl of the the dream. And I'm glad that you brought up what you texted me earlier this year because I was gonna out you on that, Brett. Just say you didn't bring it up.

So thanks for for bringing that up and attacking that. And the last thing I wanna say about the dream is Bree Jones' footwork is insane. I know we don't get too much into the technicalities of basketball and so on and so forth.

But as your resident JV superstar basketball player, I had to comment on that because it is fun to watch a big girl move under the paint with such ease and grace. So big fan of the dream. Excited to see where they go.

Hopefully, they don't cause any issues for my legs. Final note for me. She's a problem because it is very hard to keep up with that footwork defending her, and there's not a lot of big like, you have to have size.

You have to have speed. You you you gotta have strength. She's she's just a problem. And, like, I I've always thought she was good, but, like, I don't know.

Maybe it's a new new new coat of paint. She's new team, all that. Like, I'm paying more attention. I'm just like, did I like, I've been asking myself this question all year.

Like, did I know she's that good? But she was the best player when the fever played. Like, she's unstoppable, and I was like, this is a I think my mind went to BG when they brought less on her.

She's just she's a hell of a player. So it's fun to watch. That that duo, it's like you just have to pick your poison. Like, okay. You're gonna get Bree Jones then BG. Like, good luck. Or you're gonna take BG and eliminate her.

Good luck. You got Bree Jones. So, yeah, fun to see. I think they can make a deep run-in the playoffs if they keep this up. I'd like to see it. Like I said, one of those organizations I I really like.

So alright. I think that closes us out for league talk. I feel like I just wanna keep going and talking about the league, but we can't. We can't. We gotta cards. Yeah. So let's talk cards.

Let's jump in the product pulse spread. I know you've got a product you wanna spotlight and walk us through today. Why don't you take it away? I do. And this is off the heels of a card you talked about last week, and I wanted to dig in.

And how about catch on the box here? We've got 2,004 WNBA Ultra. Shout out, Garrett, at wmbacards. com for being a great resource. Whenever I wanna dig in and learn more about, these older sets, it's always where I go.

And I just well, I want a box of this, which I I I don't wanna box, but I wanna box because this would be a great display piece back here with catch on the front. And and she could walk by, and I'd be like, hey, catch.

Check it out. I got I got this box of Ultra. You wanna come rip it? Maybe that'd make some good content. But, anyways, I wanna I wanna get into this product. Wanna kinda talk about why we're talking about it.

But this hobby box had 24 packs, eight cards a pack. You're you're chasing the gold medallion or the platinum medallion specifically, the gold medallion rookies out of a hundred, platinum medallion out of 25.

These when I think about older sets and older WNBA cards, like, I think about this product. And I was asking myself when I was trying to put this together and on the sheet, like, why do I wanna talk about it?

And it's because, like, we as collectors always zero in on the key card of an icon and a legend, and that set will always matter because of the key card rookie card of the icon or the legend.

And this is the, Diana Taurasi rookie year, which, the Taurasi Ultra platinum medallion, which we'll talk about more, is a massive card, and I would consider it one of the best WNBA cards of all time.

And I'm Caitlin, I would love to hear kinda your opinion on that.

But, yeah, just wanted to start there. Like, again, I don't collect this older stuff. On the last episode, I mentioned, like, maybe I should collect catch, so it would help get me into some of this older stuff.

But I know you've spent a lot more time digging into kind of the ultra side. And I I I mentioned upfront, we talked about a card last week, which was the Lindsay Whalen, card, which I think I've got these yeah.

I've got the sale up here. So way. I know. Sorry, Caitlin. This is a card Caitlin did not win. And this This is the platinum medallion PSA seven, and it's sold for a thousand dollar a thousand dollar a $1,009, 05/27/2025.

So I just said a lot. If you wanna talk Teraci, you wanna talk about this set specifically, whatever you wanna get into. This set is just such a like, it just brings me back.

You know what I mean? I I'll say this, guys. I was three when this came out, so I don't have, like, a nostalgia factor as much as, say, some of you guys do for, like, the nineties cards.

Let me say this. Let me say this. So you said you were three. This is the year I graduated high school. Look at this. We got some diverse hosts here with some age.

Come on, Mal. No. But that being said, you know, it doesn't invoke that immediate nostalgia for me. This is more, from my perspective, less of a nostalgia thing and more of a, like, appreciation of something that I didn't get to watch.

That being said, the the Diana Taurasi of it all is that Diana Taurasi played for twenty freaking years and has been playing for twenty years.

So, of course, I'm familiar with her and would want to recognize the greatness of her rookie card.

So I think that is the headline of this set, and the kind of subtext to it is the platinum platinum medallion of it all, which is my favorite quote, unquote nineties, early '2 thousands parallel across sports.

I have multiple from the NFL, and I've owned a few of them from the WNBA.

Particularly, I owned, I think, a 1998 Cheryl Swoops when they were numbered out of '98 or '99. Whereas in 02/2004, it's a lower, serial number to 25. So this is an awesome set. I definitely want to get my hands on some of them.

You mentioned the Lindsay Whalen. This is her rookie card. She is arguably I mean, this might upset people, but, like, best gofer of all time outside Like, she was defining Minnesota sports.

She was a part of the Minnesota Lynx dynasty with Maya Moore and Simone Augustus. So for me, that's where 2,004 Ultra really enters is the Lindsay Whalen of it all, but also the DT of it all. So this is such an iconic set.

I'm excited to dig into it, some of the sales. And I just have to put it in here. If you want that Lindsay Whalen, DM me now. Like, as you're listening, pause, DM me, and then come back and continue listening.

Can I can I ask you mentioned you love the platinum medallion? What is it about across sports, what is it about the platinum medallion that resonates with you? It's just the simplicity.

It's such it it's almost it reminds me of the modern day blank slates where the card company focused much less on the flashiness and more on just here's the player, And we're gonna surround the player with a simple background.

And I do like the die cuts too. I think that's fun that they incorporated that aspect into the card as well, making it more condition sensitive, which I like.

I like the idea of a harder chase. It doesn't it's not supposed to be easy. So finding something in a good condition of a card that I think is really pretty, is what puts it over the edge for me.

And I'll say this, the one that I have in my collection right now is the 1998, Deion Sanders platinum medallion. And that's what got me into platinum medallion.

So I I'm just looking for more cards that make me the fifth feel the way I do when I pick up that card, which is just like, damn. This is a cool card. Like, just objectively cool. So that's that's why. Great explanation.

I wanna before we get over to, like, market watch and cover some of the sales from this set, I wanted to ask you about this idea of what what does having a goat rookie card in a set do for the set from a broader perspective long term?

Like, how do you how do you think about the fact that, like, this is the Terraci rookie year in this set? Like, does it matter for the rest of the cards? Yes? No? Like, what's your perspective? My perspective is it matters a lot.

And I encourage everybody to push back on that if they have reasonings as well. But to me, I think having an all time great amplifies the rest of the set. So if DT wasn't in the set, the next up is Lindsay Whalen for a rookie card.

Not as many people know who Lindsay Whalen is, and that's okay. No I mean, you should know who Lindsay you should really look into that. But DT is a cultural icon who led a league for twenty years.

She was defining a league for twenty years. I think that by her being the kind of chase in this set elevates the rest of the cards and brings more attention to them. And, obviously, the association factor is also very important.

I wrote down the same thing happened with 2017 Prism in NFL with Patrick Mahomes. The same thing happened in 2018 Prism with Luka Doncic. The same thing is going to happen in 2024 WNBA with Caitlin Clark.

It's going to continue, and this is just one of the permeations of that. So I think that it's really good. And I think as we go further and further back into vintage as well, the same idea continues to repeat over and over.

So I think it matters. I think it's very important. I think it's overall good for the cards. And it it's really exciting too because we don't talk a lot about set collecting on this podcast.

I'm not a set collector or I mean, you're a subset collector, I suppose. But this is another opportunity where now this set becomes even more desirable, which I think is an important factor as well.

I love that, and I wanna get into some of these sales. But I also too when you were talking about greatest go first of all time, my my brain immediately went to Bobby Jackson.

Just what? I I remember watching Bobby Jackson with the socks as a kid on Saturday mornings on, like, CBS, and he had a pretty good, NBA career, but I just had a bunch of guy.

Wear, Brett. That's a pull up. Alright. So let's get into it. Here's the Taurasi platinum medallion in all of her glory.

This is the a PSA eight, and this card sold this this card is sold several times, and I've got card ladder up, shout out card ladder, the official data provider of the WNBA card podcast.

This card is sold for $11,000, August fifteenth 20 20 3. We can even dig in here on the pop report. Oh, wow. Yeah. Wow. These don't exist. Are you kidding me? They don't exist. So I'm just on the pop report right now.

There's two PSA eights. Okay. Remember, 25 copies. Two PSA eights, one PSA nine. This card sold two years ago for 11 k. I mean, Caitlin, if this card were up for auction right now, what do you think it would do?

Oh, that's a big question. At least double. I'll say conservatively. Yes. And you could go up to probably quadruple, maybe maybe more. I mean, is is this is the so there's no, masterpiece one of one out of 2,004 Ultra.

Right? No. Yeah. Well, there there's masterpieces in the nineties ones. Right. '98, but not in 02/2004. No. So if you look at the card catalog so we're going over to Rittenhouse. We're going over to o four Ultra.

You think about Taurasi's rookie catalog. This to me, unless, like, there's a blind spot, which they're very well could be because this is a little bit outside of my zone of comfort in terms of what I'm digging into regularly.

To me, this seems like this is Taurasi's rarest, rookie card. Would is that a fair assessment? I agree with you, Brent.

I think so 100 this is the Taurasi card in my head. When I close my eyes and I think about DT, this the card I see. So we go nuts over rookie cards, and rookie cards are always more expensive, and we love rare rookie cards.

So what I love about w the w and w collecting, and I love the sport, and I love the connecting with the players through cards, but I also love the opportunity to find value.

And, I mean, we've got you could we could sit up here for the next two hours and talk about why we think Diana Taurasi is the greatest WNBA player of all time.

And I'm sure we could have an argument that'd be very hard to refute if you bring up all the stats, analytics, accolades, everything else, longevity.

And so we're we're talking about arguably the greatest player ever, the rarest rookie card ever.

And the last sale of it was $11,000. So that like, I just wanna put that up on a banner because that just shows you, like, don't just go running towards the rookies this year and prism and paying all this money.

It's like, dig in a little deeper because if you can find this stuff, like, there's a and you believe in this stuff, there's a chance you can and you wanna sit on it for a while, there's a chance you could probably find some pretty good value.

If you can find them.

That's the big asterisk I wanna put here is we can all sit up here and say, oh, if I had $11, I would buy this no doubt, which, like, as somebody who doesn't spend that much money on cards, yes, I would spend $11 right now on a DT Platinum Medallion if it came up.

These things don't surface. Brett showed the pop report and it kinda took me aback because I was like, okay. It's been twenty over twenty years now since this card came out, and only three have been graded by PSA.

Five by BGS. Five by BGS. So that's eight of the 25. Where are the rest of them? Are they in boxes? We should be we should buy boxes and just rip them on air. Let's do it, Caitlin, because we might hit the jack pot. Yeah.

Okay. Brett's gonna write it off and we're gonna Yeah. Tax write off. No. But to me, this is just an insane card in 11,000. Whoever bought it was ahead of the game. I feel like we say that all the time, but, like, ahead of the game.

And if you bought it now for quadruple or whatever you think it is worth more, I think you're still ahead of the game because we're still only what, thirty years into the w?

We've got how many more to go? This is going to be the card of the Yes. The league forever for Yes. Like, not just for 02/2004, not just for the early two thousands, not just for the February, for the WNBA. This is the GOAT.

And you can argue, but that's it's true. So I just think that this card is amazing. I'm glad we're digging into the set. And if you have one, I wanna see I wanna hold this card so badly. I don't think any of this is hyperbole either.

Like, this is to me, this is the card because I can't cut any holes based on what I know about the offering, the sets, the players, the rarity, the scarcity, like, I can't cut any holes in you telling me, Caitlin, this is the card.

And it sold for $11,000 2 years ago. That should get everyone excited who is collecting WNBA cards or who wants to collect WNBA cards. You know? Alright. Let's move quickly through some of these other ones.

We've got a Cheryl Swoops, this sold last week last week for $1,200. EBay auction, you know, I can't That's Sheryl Swoops right there. Like, you you have nothing to add about Sheryl Swoops, Brett?

No commentary on Cheryl Swoops right now, but just trying to use it as a way to share recent sales. And then we also had so somebody must have offloaded these. We had a, Lisa Leslie for $1,100, also a sell via eBay.

So, I mean, maybe I should have been paying attention, but I wasn't paying attention. But to me, although these aren't rookie cards, those are vets that set the stage for the way the WNBA is today.

And I don't know, like, 1,100, a lot of money. But in context, in comparison to other categories, like, I don't know, seems like it seems like a lot of opportunity.

100%. I just gotta say this Lisa Leslie card for our Patreon listeners. If you're looking at it, like, this is such a gorgeous card.

I just I love it. And, like, for anybody that's just listening, it's Lisa Leslie going up for a shot fully extended against the comets, I think, in the background, which is just like in the old school sparks uniform, like, the haziness.

It almost looks like haziness with the platinum medallion effect. Just gorgeous. I just can't say enough things about this set.

And I'm not I'm not just saying that. I don't have any of my any WNBA in my collection right now of platinum medallions, but I want them. And and to see this many being offloaded is also interesting at the same time.

So we'll see we'll see where these ended up. The fun part about these older sets is you get the nostalgia of the teams that aren't anymore Yeah. By seeing them, which is fun. But, yeah, 2,004 Ultra.

If you have these cards, like, please post them. Tag at w m b a card pod. We'll repost them. We wanna see them. Yeah. Alright. Should we move on to Yes. Let's go. Not this segment, guys. Pickups of the week. I'm so sorry to report.

I still don't have a pickup to share with you guys. I've been being patient Yeah. It's good. And budget conscious. Smart. I did pick up a Nafissa Collier branded WNBA basketball to hoop with at the park, but that's not a card.

So that's not very exciting for you guys. I had no pickups either. However, I sent two cards to PSA. The two cards I finally got around, sending my, Asia. I put concourse on the notes that's wrong.

Or no. It's courtside. Courtside, I have a gold vinyl, one of one, a pretty big card. Casual gold I was I was looking at it ahead, and I hadn't, like, pulled it out of the top. I keep my cards that I'm I keep them in top loaders.

Like, the one touches scare me a little bit. So especially if I know I'm grading it. Yeah. And I was looking at it, and I don't know. Like, maybe there's a little corner. I thought it would I don't know.

We'll see. But, anyways, that's a card. It's a big card. I bought it. And, yeah, I don't know what I'm I we'll see what happens. But it's one of those ones that it's like, I don't know what I'm gonna do with this card.

Oh, I think I could come up with a good path forward for that card. I I'm I'm sure. But that card but a card I certainly will keep is my, Aliyah Boston, which is Blackfin.

I I sent that one too. So a big two card order off the PSA. We'll do a reveal once those cards hit, but, yeah, no pickups. I'm, I'm I'm nurturing my collection this week. Week. I love it. I love that. That's a good theme.

Reflection, appreciation, connection. We don't always have to be moving so fast. Alright. Should we move on to my most favorite segment of the week, which is our collector spotlight. I'm super excited about this one.

Our collector spotlight of the week is at giant legends on Instagram. This is Cindy's, Instagram, and I'll just read her bio for you guys so that you can kind of get a grasp of what this account is all about.

The boat is the bio is, quote, vintage women's sports cards. Women's sports cards printed between 1887 and 1972. Celebrating women's sports history through the lens of their trading cards.

Working on the book. I mean, this is just so so cool to me. I feel like a lot of what we've spotlighted has been ultra modern, which is awesome. And, like, that is where Brett and I are probably the most experienced and comfortable.

But I think it's so important to educate yourself on what came before even if you're not a huge vintage head or vintage fan, especially in women's sports.

When we think about the WNBA, a lot of pioneers had to come before us to enjoy the WNBA and to have WNBA license cards on the same level of the NBA. Cindy's collection spotlights women athletes from 1887 to 1972.

This is these are old cards objectively, and it's super cool. Each post has a very educational and entertaining caption about who these women are and what they did, for sports.

So just thank you for sharing. I think she's going through a twelve days of PSA grade reveal by the time this is coming out. So you'll be able to see some cool graded cards too. So just thank you for sharing this sweet account.

I'd I'd encourage everybody to check it out and learn something. I will also say so I was looking back on the archive. I interviewed Cindy, a long time ago. So it was episode 87 of Stacking Slabs, 02/19/2021.

There's a episode with Cindy back in the archive, and I remember coming across her page and just being so captivated by how different it was and then talking with her. And she is an incredible collector and a very thoughtful collector.

So if you want some of her that conversation, dig back into the archive. It's there. But at least give her a follow at giant legends on Instagram. Great page. Awesome. Well, let's let's round it out here today with our buzzer beaters.

We're going with some mailbag questions from you guys. I've been posting my favorite memes from the week to solicit questions, and I appreciate everybody, sending them in on WNBA card pod Instagram.

So we picked out three of them that we thought would be the most, exciting to talk about. And, if yours didn't get selected, just know we're trying our best here with the time that we have, and maybe it'll get entered into next week's.

So let's start with, oh, this is a big question to start with, but let's just do it. Let's just rip off the Band Aid here. This is from at so coolie cards on Instagram.

His question is, what defines a collector's legacy? It's it's a big and overwhelming, question. And I was trying to, like, spin wheels thinking about this. And I think, I think there's a a a few, like, word things that come to my mind.

I think number one is just consistency. I find that the collectors who I appreciate most are the most consistent, and and consistent see is a tough one because it can mean a lot of different things.

And I don't necessarily mean showing up and posting a card every day, but it's it's almost like they with the way they share their cards and talk about their cards is consistent from post to post, and you can feel the reason and passion from those collectors.

And I think that's really important, and and that matters.

And I I also, like, think when we're talking about legacy of collectors and people, like, I don't know. It's just like how you treat others. Like, it sounds simple, but I don't know.

If someone's DM ing you a question or if somebody, like, you know, sharing your stuff, like, being kind, saying thank you, like, we our cards would be would be worth nothing without the rest of everybody else.

And I just think it's, like, really important to show up and help people when you can.

And I don't know. The best collectors I find and I don't wanna, like, mention names, although their names that are in my mind right now consistent have the consistency, and they also, like, are kind to others.

So that's what I'd say. I love it. I mean, this has been a theme of this episode as community, and I think that that's you hit the nail on the head.

I'll say I'll go a little bit I'll echo what you said and say completely agree, and I'll go a different direction and say, I appreciate collectors who are willing to change their minds as well and to admit that their preferences and their tastes and everything has changed.

I think that that's so powerful. And to be able to examine and reflect on your collection and say, you know what?

This I've outgrown this or I've moved on from this and I'm excited to hopefully leverage my community to give it to a collector who appreciate will appreciate it more and cherish it more.

So not only the community aspect but also the growth part of it. And that doesn't necessarily mean growth in value or money. It means growth in yourself as a collector. So that that's how I look back on it.

And I'll say when I first saw this question, my mind went kind of a different way, which was in twenty five years or however long when, hopefully, at some point, I have kids of my own and they look at my collection and they say, oh, who was that?

I can be I can feel well equipped to tell them who it was and they can learn something, especially in women's sports, about people who paved the way and for trailblazers.

And I think that's a defining moment too in addition to just fandom.

So lots of ways you can define a collector's legacy, but that's kind of where my mind went. You you mentioned kids and it's I I don't know if I've mentioned this, but I will mention it here.

I've a big part of the reason why I feel so passionate and collect w specifically is, like, I have two daughters, and I want when they're going through dad's case of cards, like, I don't want it to be all males.

I want there to be females, and I wanna be able to, like, have that resonate with with them.

So, that struck a chord with me, and I felt compelled to share that, as we move on to the next one. Okay. Let's move on to the next question, which, also another big one.

At m j s underscore sports cards. Thanks for listening and continuing to submit questions, by the way. He asks, AJA platinum edition thoughts, and then I added the two listed on eBay.

And so Brett has pulled up one of the listings on eBay of a 2018 WNBA platinum AJA Wilson rookie card numbered out of 25. Currently at auction, seven days left, $5,300 is the current bid.

Brett, I'll open it up to you. What are your thoughts on this? Well, I wasn't thinking about this ahead of it, but we were talking about the Taurasi rookie selling for 11 k.

So there's two these cards popped up, two different sellers. One's up for auction, and it it it is at the time of the recording, seven days left.

So in by the time we record next week, 32 bids, $5,300. I mean, this is this card likely will blow past the terrazzi sale. And I just it's interesting because this card was not in my hemisphere.

Like, I didn't think about this card. I didn't really know anything about this card. But we've talked about AJ Wilson and how important and impactful she is not only to today's game, but the history.

And it's just interesting. We've got a card to monitor that a lot of people can say. If people disagree with us and say that, you know what?

I already think AJ Wilson's a better player than Diana Taurasi, Then this would be an example of a card that they might point to when comparing the, Taurasi Platinum Medallion with this platinum edition AJ Wilson card.

So yeah. And then it's also crazy that there's, you know, 25 copies and two different sellers posted this.

I'm putting the, buy it now up right now, and it is listed. It's got an offer, but it's a PSA 10 pop four, and then they've got it listed for a cool, 70 k.

So make an offer if you have a lot of belief in this card. And it is written house. I don't know if we've mentioned that, but, like, what's interesting if you go back to the BGS slab, it just says What are we doing here, folks?

In 2018 WNBA platinum AJ Wilson. You go over to the PSA slab, and it says 2018 Rittenhouse WNBA.

So if you're it's a little confusing, but that there it goes. This okay. So when this question got sent, I also had a little bit of preamble with the question asker talking about it.

And I had a lot of thoughts, and I do think something interesting that we talked about was the idea that the PSA nine is at auction, whereas the PSA 10 is at buy it now, which could kind of damper some of the bidders because they're like, okay.

Well, the PSA 10 is available. Why would I bid on a PSA nine if I go buy the PSA 10? I think that's interesting.

And the strategy from this seller who has the PSA 10 on buy it now OBO, they initially posted the card for 30,000, then it got taken off, then it got put up for 50,000, and then they take it off really quickly, and then it got put up for 70,000.

I I think if it sat there for 30 k, we wouldn't even be having this discussion because I think it would've got it could've got binned right there.

I know that's kind of out route outrageous to say, but, like, this card, in my opinion, my personal opinion, is a Mount Rushmore card of WNBA cards along with the DT Platinum Medallion.

This is two of the potential for Mount Rushmore cards. And I think that this is an unbelievably scarce difficult card to find, let alone to gem, that I think it's just gonna set some people are gonna have their eyes locked on this.

I'm excited to see where it goes. I expect big numbers. We're doing these sellers a little bit of a service. So, you know, we'll take commissions for Yeah. Commissions, please. Casting up your cards.

But I think too, this goes back to a thread that I want all of you listeners to consider as we talk about cards on this episode or the rest of the life cycle of of this show is that 2018, you've got one of the greatest players ever.

Not a lot of cards. Very few serial numbered cards. So when you start to, like, compare an agent Wilson's rookie catalog with a Patrick Mahomes' rookie catalog, it's it's night and day.

Yeah. So I think there's not a lot of understanding around that right now, which is okay. This is, like, new people coming in. I am learning too, but, yeah, this card's got it going on.

I've hit favorite on both of these. I'm excited to see where they end up. No. We'll keep everybody updated with where that one lands. I'm excited to see what happens. Okay. Let's round out today's episode.

This is a good question that kinda weaved into the theme of today's episode around ultra and older sets. So at mister period madrid cards madrid collects, excuse me, asks, what do you think of the early two thousands WNBA card sets?

Do you have a favorite set, a favorite player? Are there any little known set sets that you gravitate towards, etcetera?

I would say I've talked about this and not a big major update. I don't collect in this, era right now. However, I would like to. The more I sit here and talk about these cards, the more I'm like, when am I gonna dive into it?

Yeah. Ultra stuff, I think, is definitely what's got my attention. I think I mentioned, you know, the connection back with some of the stuff I collected as a kid is important. Not saying I'm not interested in the Rittenhouse stuff.

It's just I don't understand it as well as I understand the Ultra stuff at this point. Okay. Fair enough. I'll say my big card from the early two thousands is the one that I missed of the Lindsay Whalen.

That is by far the one that I covet the most and I think is a critical part to achieving, my Minnesota Lynx collection. Even though she's in a a Connecticut sun uniform, that is the card of Lindsay Whalen.

Another thing that I've been thinking about from February not necessarily early two thousands, but just pre Panini, kinda just taking that that angle is Kayla McBride's rookie card is Rittenhouse.

So I think 2014 area ish. And I think that cards like that, nobody's even looking at. At least not at, like, the at at scale.

So those are kind of the two sets or cards that I'm looking for for my collection. But on the same page, like, I feel like I've focused so much on modern and ultra modern that I want to discover new things and to look back.

So, stay updated. I'll I'll keep you guys posted on what hopefully happens. Hopefully, that Lindsay Whalen shows up again. I think that might have been a once in a a few years opportunity, but I made a good effort.

Just didn't didn't get there. Hey, there's always another one. Let's hope. Let's hope. Let's hope. Alright. Well, that's this was awesome, guys. That's the end of episode nine.

I appreciate everybody listening. I appreciate everybody engaging with the content that we're posting over on at WNBA card pod on Instagram. And we'll see you next week for episode 10, hitting the double digits.