Welcome back loyal listeners to the Stacking Slabs Podcast Network to season three episode 10 of the WNBA card podcast. My name is Caitlin. I go by at cold lunch cards, mostly on the Instagram machine, but you can find me on other platforms as well. I'm joined by my incredible cohost, Brett McGrath at stacking slabs, and we're excited to deliver more collector driven and community focused content to your radio, to your stereo, to your headphones, maybe to your couch this holiday season, wherever you're listening to us today. We're excited to have you here, and we're feeling good as we wrap up 2025.

Brett, how are you feeling? I'm feeling really, good. I can't believe how many of these episodes we've had, Caitlin. It has been a wild ride, a lot of fun. You know, as we started this, it was from the perspective of, hey.

We talk a lot about this. This is a category that is growing that we appreciate. Let's just start having conversations and share them with people. And it's been wild that we've done almost three complete seasons to this point, and I've not tried to lie about this on this podcast. This is a new category for me as I didn't really start collecting WNBA cards until, let's see, q two, 2024.

And by no means do have I ever tried to act like I know more than anyone else. This has been, learning and getting feedback from the community and trying to refine how I collect in this podcast just in going through these run sheets every week and getting DMs. It's been awesome. And so I've enjoyed it. I've learned a ton from many of you out there in the community.

So I'm feeling a little gratitude as we're kinda ending 2025 with an episode. But, yeah, this is an exciting time to be a WNBA fan and collector and excited we could get this in before Christmas. I know things are crazy. This obviously is getting, published after Christmas, but, I think this will be a fun episode. Absolutely.

I I'll express the same thing in terms of gratitude. I'm thankful to all of you guys for being here, for listening to us. Like Brett said, to hit on this many episodes is super rewarding. I've learned a lot about WNBA cards. I've learned a lot about my own collecting, and most importantly, I've made a lot of new connections in this space.

So thankful for that. And also thankful for our sponsors of season three. I'd like to shout out Great Lakes Trading Cards Co in Saint Paul in my hometown, the local card shop located off Randolph Ave across from Saint Kate's University. If you're ever in town, be sure to stop on by. And also shout out to Card Ladder, the official data provider of the WBA card podcast and of the Stacking Slabs, network.

So super excited about our sponsors for being along for the ride, for season three. So let's start things off with a tip-off. We're gonna talk more about a 2025 review, and Caitlin has some thoughts, but there's some quick hitters. Let's get to. So we did an entire episode on impeccable and not necessarily a product review last week, but just overall thoughts on debut sets.

Impeccable is out and is beginning to be ripped. Caitlin sent me some videos of, the product being ripped, and it was kinda fun to see. Update, no game use patches. I'm curious, Caitlin, what is your reaction on what you've seen so far on impeccable? One, the cards themselves have met the mark in terms of what I was envisioning from the the mock ups.

I saw the card that I will be chasing, the My Amore Timeless Moments. That was the one I wanted to see. It looks exactly how I envisioned it in my head. I want it. But to say I was disappointed by the patches and relics not being affiliated with any specific game or bent, yeah, that'd be an understatement.

I think for the price tag, we discussed first off the line starting at $4 via dot chalk chin going down to $2. And now the Hobby Boxes, I think releasing at about 1,400, something around that. I am extremely disappointed to not see Game Use patches, there, especially because a lot of the patches are sweet. They're like really sweet spot patches. You have logos, you have sponsor patches, laundry tag patches, etcetera.

And for those to just be coming off of nonaffiliated jerseys is is sad, especially for the price point. Waiting for the moment when a manufacturer surprises us in a good way, it feels like every time we have one of these conversations and topics, we say something to the effect of we're not expecting it, but would be nice, and then it's what we weren't expecting. Hopefully, sometime soon, it is something we're not expecting, and we can be wowed, and it justifies the price point. Absolutely. I echo that.

We're waiting waiting patiently. Alright. Next quick hitter. WNBA PA authorized to begin strike if necessary with overwhelming support. Caitlin, I know we got some questions on this topic, but this is a big topic with a lot of implications specifically for WNBA card collecting.

We won't hit on the card collecting now. We're gonna do that later. But, generally, have you been thinking about the strike? What have you been reading? I've been reading that the players know their worth, and they will not back down, and that the league may not see some court game time as a result.

And for that, as a fan, I am simultaneously sad because I love the game, but also very proud of the players, for knowing their worth and for hopefully, showing some some labor solidarity there. I think that they deserve it. They deserve to pay. CVA negotiations, well, the commissioner and other executives say are advancing. Players are still saying they're not hitting the mark and for that, I hope that they continue to pressure executives.

And if the strike is what does it, what gets them paid, I'm all for it despite the fact that there won't be a lot of gameplay. I'm scared as a fan. I think it would be very bad to not have the WNBA be playing both for the league and fans and players, all of it. All sides are not benefiting. But if that's what it takes, that that's what it takes.

My perspective on this in the way it's it publicly from the player side began to bubble up, whether it was things that players were wearing, stuff they said in press conferences when asked, Nafisa Colliers, presser, everything after that. It it just it has me not thinking this is going to end very well. So I hate to be that way, but I feel very pessimistic. It seems like this gap is seismic. Yeah.

And the players aren't backing down. So a lockout, I think, in this scenario where you've got emerging league, emerging collecting category, I think, would be the worst thing possible, but I think I'm way more pessimistic than I am than optimistic at this point right now, and I hope I'm wrong. Yeah. Alright. The next topic here is the hobby is enamored by Audi Crooks.

I keep seeing the stat lines, and I keep seeing the cards. I would imagine you are seeing the same thing. I think that this is a new style of play hitting women's basketball, and I think that the stat lines backing it up are very intriguing to a lot of, collectors, but also investors and people that believe in flipping, especially as we approach the tournament. You also have the factor that we always talk about and I hear other people talking about in cards, which is this Iowa phenomenon. You know, it's not Iowa with Hawkeyes, but it's Iowa State, the Cyclones.

The idea that these, folks down in Iowa are dedicated fans but don't have professional sports to feed that means that they're redirected to the collegiate level. And when they have somebody that's redefining how a game is played, I'm not saying Audi Crooks is Caitlin Clark, but I'm saying that Audi Crooks has a style of play that's very unique and different than anything we've ever seen, plus the combination of the Iowa, whatever the heck happens down in that state, means that the hobbies enamored. Like I said, they're enamored and they they feel like they can capitalize and that there's opportunity both for collecting fandom and for maybe some profit. The buzz that I've been hearing, Brett, has been insane. I went to a shop here in Green Bay.

I'm I'm back home for the holidays. And I went to a shop and, you know, I saw a box of WNBA cards, a value box, and all the guys asked me, do you have any Audi Krooks for sale? Do have any Audi Krooks for sale? I'm like, wait. The people of Green Bay know who Audi Krooks are?

Who Audi Krooks is? This is a big development. I'm gonna take this and, you know, use that to my advantage. It was very interesting. They really believe.

I've heard a lot of people talking about it, that she could be a a style changer for the w. I think the most recent stat line I saw was 47 points. Not normal, Brent. That's not normal. Oh, it's been a fun year of stats in women's collegiate basketball.

I know I've certainly been following my Notre Dame Fighting Irish and Hannah Hidalgo. So it's just, like, dropping triple doubles. And I don't know. It's like we're hitting this next gear. And you mentioned the crooks.

I don't wanna investing, flipping, people getting enamored by it. It was what's crazy, I just recorded an episode where I was running through DC sports 87 cards that sold on their my favorite cards that sold through their shop this year, and it seems like forever ago. But as I was digging through the sales, they they sold the Sarah Strong's Superfractor. And I was like, that was this year? And was like, oh, yeah.

Was this year. Was after the national championship, and that card sold for $6,625 as a reminder. So it's been interesting where that card you you start even go back with the Clark Superfractor, and it's just fun to see this much attention in a because of a product and a product that host parallels that we as collectors know and love. And I just if I don't wanna speak it into existence, but I'm just gonna say if WNBA has a lockout, I think Bowman will give us something really fun to talk about continuously because it's evolving in real time, and these players are really pushing it. So you've got, like, great, interesting, fascinating players paired with a product that we're all buying into, a bait that has a parallel structure that we're all used to and has a chase card like a super factor that the hobby loves.

So I think the it's just fun. It's I feel like women's college basketball is fun, and it's great to see collecting, tie into it. Absolutely. And speaking of college basketball, I mean, this was one of the points I wanna hit on and our tip-off was UConn continues to dominate. And I'm just excited to see them going into 2026.

If they can remain undefeated and, you know, show their dominance over some of these more competitive teams, if Sarah Strong continues, a z a z fudd, all these players that they've kind of got, stacked up up up, I think they're gonna be a team to watch and that we're never gonna stop talking about. They seem to come up in every conversation. So let's hit before we get out of this, we gotta hit unrivaled. Yeah. First game's on January 5.

I have been, monitoring the hive training camp going on right now just to see. Live monitoring the hive training camp. Yes. I'm I'm like, all in on the social. I'm like, oh, Sanae Rivers putting up free throws.

Like, I'm like, how fun is this? Like, I'm a fan of her now. Not that I, like, wasn't. She was very interesting to me. Khalid on the college side, and then, obviously, you know, you're following her last year, especially on a team that wasn't so great as, like, gave me something interesting and then the social component.

But it's like, it's just so fun, like, a league like that. And then all of a sudden, I'm like a fan because she's on my team. And so I it's just an interesting dynamic, and I really appreciate it. And we're not even you know, it's it's not now. It's soon, but I'm having a lot of fun, following along.

How about you? I am too. I saw in practice, Paige Becker's throw up a lob to Dom Malanga the breeze, and that's just getting me excited. I I need to see that in gameplay on a three on three scenario. It's just like all these socials, all the short form content plus, you know, hopefully, the season beginning here soon, January 5, like you said, with first tip-off.

I'm just excited to have basketball, pro basketball back on my screen. The we talked about this last year from a start up perspective, getting attention, getting people into the product. What unrivaled is doing right now is exactly in 2025 how you build and develop interest with an audience of people who are hungry Yeah. For women's basketball. So hats off to unrivaled.

I have no doubt that season two is going to be just as captivating as season one, if not more. And I gotta tell you, when I think of unrivaled season one, I can't get out of my head the one on one tournament. Like and I'm just that that better be a thing because that was that was must see television. Oh, it will be, and I'll be running point on another round of fee propaganda as we lose that. So everybody be ready.

I'm sure you will. Alright. Should we get into the meat and potatoes of today's conversation, Brett? Are you ready? Yeah.

I'm I'm gonna I'm gonna kinda back up and get out of the way and let you cook, and then I'll probably try to add my, commentary over the top. Beautiful. Sounds like a plan. So what I wanted to talk about with Brett today was this idea of 2025 in review and doing a bit of reflection on what WNBA cards has taught me and hopefully taught Brett and maybe even some of the listeners what you guys have learned from WNBA cards in 2025. So I distilled or tried attempted to distill a lot of the themes that we talked about this year on the podcast.

And then personally, what I encountered in my personal collection, as five lessons that WNBA cards taught me in this calendar year. So I'm gonna go through them one by one, Brett. Maybe we can talk and see what we have in common versus what's different. But I wanted to start out with lesson number one. Probably the most important lesson that WNBA cards in particular taught me in 2025, which is that patience isn't passive.

And what I mean by that is that, we talk a lot about bin smashing, we talk a lot about new releases, we talk about chases, we talk about the dollar signs, the comps. These things that really take over our attention span and they create impulse. And I think that one thing that I learned in 2025 is that the best cards that I added in my collection were not the result of that. They were the result of patience. They were the result of waiting, watching, strategizing, and being able to say, not yet, to show a little bit of a restraint.

And that restraint, I think, in twenty twenty twenty five really sharpened my taste and my goals and my intentions in WNBA collecting and made when I had those bigger pickups even more fun and exciting. And I think throughout the podcast, if you guys have been listening, there have been weeks on end where Brett and I get to the pickup section of the podcast episode and neither of us have anything to say. But then the week that we do, it's an entire episode about my Phoebe Optic Gold pickup. Right? It's this monumental corner start cornerstone collection card.

And I think that, you know, that's a lesson that was learned because of patience, because of knowing that that's something that I wanted to target, because of knowing that, you know, there's there's a bunch of chases and things that are gonna redirect me off my path, but waiting and being patient, staying intentional even while the noise and the loudness fogs that. That was the number one lesson that I took away from my WBA collecting this year. My default is always do a ton of research, try to build understanding, and then go. And when I go, it's a lot of buying. It's a lot of sitting.

It's a lot of realizing what I like and what I don't like. And every time I go through that, I'm like, this is really good learning, but I'm left with cards that I don't necessarily love. What do I do next? And so I had graduated from that phase and then entered the phase of being more patient. I've been more patient probably for the last six months, but it's been really good.

It's given me insights on what players I really wanna collect. And, honestly, Caitlin, it's been a big, hurdle for me to try to overcome because at the end of the day, I want to continue to add Caitlin Clark pieces to my collection, but I'm very specific on what I like. And what I like is not cheap. And so it's this give and take. Do I buy a bunch of cards that I kinda like, or do I hold off and wait for that one moment when that card pops up and it's in striking distance?

So it's not sexy waiting and showing we're straight and being patient. However, if you can hold yourself to it and hold yourself accountable, you can end up getting a card that you have no plans on selling and keeping. And that's been my experience this year. That's so powerful. I think those short term dopamine releases we get on small mail days intermittently are very fun.

And they're a core way to engage with the hobby. And I think it's not a wrong way. But when I look at the WNBA cards specifically that I picked up this year, I think about, you know, my gold optic fee. I think about my Origins Asia Wilson one of one. I think about my Killam McBride Black Fine Art or my Marine Johannes, gold vinyl one of one.

These are cards that when I take them out of my case and I look at them, I get an overwhelming rush of dopamine every single time. It's not just that one hit when the mail day happens and that's how I know that that patience was worth it. But it's very hard to get to that point and I don't feel myself that I've I've completely, mastered that skill. And so when I say that patience isn't passive, I really mean that that strategy of patience is something that you have to actively work on as a collector, and I'm hoping going into 2026, I can continue to build that skill. My primary takeaway here, Caitlin, is that collecting is an evolution, and just having self awareness around it can be powerful for your own growth.

Ditto, Brad. Okay. Lesson number two is quality over quantity and it's not even close. And so, this year was the year of moving my WNBA collection from being a binder of color match Prism Blue links cards that ranged from a dollar to $10, from picking up Bowman firsts of players that I, you know, believed in but didn't have that memorable connection to to picking up cornerstone, pieces of my favorite players and moments that captured me in my fandom. I think that that translated to fewer cards, both because of the restriction and limitation that's placed upon you financially when you make that pivot, but also because the conviction that comes with those bigger cards is stronger than the the smaller pieces that come in.

So this year really reinforced to me that one meaningful card, can outweigh 10 kind of like fine cards. And that my collection got tighter, it got more personal, it got more focused, I defined the projects that I wanted to work on and kept them quantity restricted. Meaning, know, my fee collection is only six cards, so it better be the six cards that I love the most, otherwise it's not worth it to me. Now those lessons of quality over quantity means that I'm gonna keep the bar high for what I collect in 2026 and that's gonna be difficult, but it's gonna be really really damn rewarding. I love that.

When I bought the Caitlin Clark rookie select concourse gold out of 10 PSA 10, the card was $6,500. I mean, that's that's a lot of money, but I saw something. I saw an opportunity to buy a card where I feel very connected to the player who's playing right down the street and in my city. I thought about the inventory from a rookie perspective, the limitation. The the grade is just bonus on the added bonus.

But it just when I saw it, it spoke to me. Yeah. I I I don't have money growing on trees. Like, I can't go, like, buy that card one week and then go spend $6 on a bunch of other WNBA cards. Like, that was a decision.

Like, I had to make that decision, and that decision came with some sacrifice. And some of that sacrifice was other d m b WNBA cards I had in my collection at the time. But I couldn't tell you what all those cards were right now, and that's the point. Like but I can tell you that that Caitlin Clark I bought in December 2024, and it's still in my collection. And even through the rough year of injuries and not seeing or not playing, like, I didn't think twice about selling the card because I have a connection to it.

And so quality, always over quantity for me. And I think that's not something that happens overnight, but when you get to that point and you're willing to, like, be in that zone, like, it can be very, very rewarding. Absolutely. That was not something that happened overnight. I just wanna emphasize that because I know we have a lot of people that listen the pod that are new to collecting in general or new to the WNBA, and it can be exciting to try to you know, there's a place a time and a place for the quantity.

But once you make that kind of switch in your collecting brain, it can be very rewarding and very powerful. So, yeah, that's a lesson I wanna take into 2026 for sure. One more thing on this. If you are trying to get there, say you buy a card of a player that it costs you a lot of money, but the card has all the profiles, and you have a profile or an attributes, and you connect to it. I heard someone say this once, and it was, like, the best advice ever.

But it's like, buy that card, look at it, appreciate it, but almost, like, stash it away somewhere and act like you don't even have it. And that is how I've thought about, like, that Caitlin Clark card. Although I do appreciate it and spend time with it, I almost act like I don't have it because that can be tempting. It could be tempting because other cards are coming, and it's like, wow. If I sold this and got $6,500, I could get all these things, but it's all new stuff.

And you can't really measure in the moment. And am I saying I'll never I'll never sell that card? I I don't say that about any of my cards, but I think my mindset is like, man, I really appreciate this card, and it costs a lot. I sacrificed a lot. So do whatever I can to protect its existence within my collection right now.

Love that, Brett. Okay. Lesson number three is the losses sometimes matter more than the wins. And so I took this in two very distinct directions, folks. I said the cards that I missed this year shaped my collecting identity, and the actual l's in the lost column of the Minnesota links ended up shaping my fandom identity more than I expected.

And so I'll say this, I experienced some regret in terms of cards that I missed. Meaning, maybe I didn't put in a strong enough bid and I look back and I said, well, I would've just put $10 more into that card, I would've had it and I would've excited, but I didn't. And I I I have to live with that kind of regret from a collecting standpoint. Or the links watching Nafisa Collier go down on a pretty brutal injury in the playoffs and seeing the finals hopes just, drain from our coach's eyes, seeing Cheryl Reeves storm the court, things just falling apart. Those moments made me even more confident in my fandom, in my collecting identity because I knew in those moments that that was my team or that was the card I knew I needed so it's time to make it happen.

And so those losses or the absence of those wins or the absence of that card entering my PC can sometimes be more powerful than picking up a card that doesn't mean a lot to me or picking up a card and making a couple bucks. Those those moments in time really cemented me in this hobby. It didn't push me away. It just drew me further in. Such a great topic and great reflection and observation.

And I'll I'll spare the audience by going through all the pain and suffering I've dealt with in my fandom this year. And just if you're keeping track at home, I am a Notre Dame fan. I am a Pacers fan. I am a Fever fan, and I'm a Colts fan. And it has been rough sledding for a variety of reasons, but I have found this.

In these moments of despair I'm going through one right now. In these moments of despair, I lean on the hobby, and I lean on collecting. And it's the cards in the thought of collection that serves as therapy to me. It when I got out of Monday night football last night, I all I wanted to do was listen and look at cards, and I'm with you. Like, that resonates in a big time big way.

And I felt that with the fever this year in my collecting. It was like you almost laugh with all the injuries, but then I go to my collection, and it it makes me feel better. Okay. Well, let's just remember that going into 2026, Brent, because I know we'll have some heartbreaking moments inevitably for the both of Let's just let's put this one front of mind as we go into the New Year. Okay.

Lesson number four was this space is built for me and the people make it special. And so this one was more relationship based lesson. And so what I wrote down here is that the WMBA card space proved itself this year with big sales, with more attention than ever before, more products. And I think that what I learned is that this space is very welcoming. And I feel very included in this space.

There's people that demand this content that we're putting out all about WMEA cards. And the relationships, the conversations that Brett and I have, the conversations that I have with you guys that are listening, and that shared enthusiasm are really the things that create the foundation, not just the cards themselves. And I think that going into 2026, emphasizing that not all trades, not all purchases have to be just transactional. They can be communal. They can be, really, really powerful relationship wise.

That's something I wanna take into 2026 is prioritizing that part because when I think about some of my favorite moments, I think, just as an example, I went to a Lynx game with a local friend and opened up a box of origins, pulled a Maya Moore auto, and then in the background, you have Maya Moore's retired number. That's not something you can just get by yourself. You know? That that moment was all about the relationships. It was all about the space being welcoming for me and for people like me, and I think that going into 2026, cultivating that, is really important.

I know you were here in my city for all star weekend, but I think about the taking my family to all the all star activations and the way it was all building constructed and watching my kids just loving it and being a part of it and seeing all walks of life and buying merchandise and just the vibe. It was just so high, and it's like, man, cards too. And you see Panini, and I was like, this is great. And so unlike other categories, and I'm not saying WNBA doesn't have this, but it it never really feels like to me that there are these vultures that are just trying to take advantage of other people. But when they do, we all see it, and it's they stand out like a this Yeah.

Sore thumb. It's like, you're not you're not one of us. So I think that's kinda unique and cool, and it's it's fun. It's fun that that core group of collectors is trying to protect, what this this, category is built off of. Love it, Brad.

I love that. That was a that was a good one. I wanted to incorporate the people somehow into one of these lessons, and that one hit home for me. Okay. My fifth and final lesson, though I'm sure I could come up with hundreds more, but when I tried to distill it was that this concept of my lane is mine to define.

And what I mean by that is that in 2025, I learned that it's my job and my, duty to create these rules around my personal collection, how I operate in the space. But that, you know, they're also my rules to bend and that I'm not held to some standard. It's just what I want to collect. Meaning that these rules can become optional. Timelines can come become flexible or carving my own lane is half the fun of collecting.

Figuring out what I like is half the fun. And I think that, you know, I'm allowed to change my mind on what I like. I'm allowed to chase something niche that isn't seen as, like, flagship, for instance. That's okay. I can pick those things out, or I can just go as slowly and methodically as I want through the process of collecting.

To not feel rushed, to not feel like the outside noise is pressuring me to make purchases at the newest release or when the first copy hits the market. In 2026, my goal isn't to collect correctly. It's to collect honestly and true to whatever Cold Lunch Cards is creating and wants to build. And to me, that's that's where the most fun is had is when you create that own path and you define your own lane. It sounds like you're the CEO of your PC there, Caitlin.

I wonder who I learned that from. Had to throw a stacking slabism in there, to close this out. I love it. Okay. So that that was the five lessons I had from 2025, Brett.

I'm sure we'll learn many more in 2026, but I hope that the listeners can hopefully use some of those lessons to either not repeat mistakes that I made or to, you know, learn from the things that hopefully I said worked well for me. We have the one card that sold this week brought to you by our good friends at Card Ladder, and what a shot. We were talking about this, and I didn't even really know this was a card. And then now we see it. And, Caitlin, you wanna share with the listeners what I'm looking at?

Because I can't even talk. I'm just so captivated by this. So contrary to what the listeners and viewers may think, I picked out the card this week for the card one card that sold this week, and I picked out a Caitlin Clark card. And so I picked out twenty twenty five Panini Donner's Caitlin Clark courtside insert, which sold via auction on December 20 for $909. And for folks that, aren't viewing on the Patreon, so you can't see the screen, I'll try to explain what this card is.

Otherwise, I encourage you to look it up on card ladder and pull up the photo. This is a photo of Caitlin Clark going up for a reverse layup under the hoop against the Connecticut Sun, arm extended, ball in hand, just a perfect shot. Looks like she's getting fouled. I will say that. Looks like she may be getting fouled there and the card itself is borderless, meaning there's no kind of framing happening.

It's just a photo horizontal. You can tell who the subject is. And to me, I wanted to spotlight this card not only because of the sale of the number. I think it's a powerful number. It's a big number.

But that this card really speaks for itself. There's no serial numbering. There's no border color to indicate why it's special. The photo speaks for itself. It looks very high end.

The shine is very nice. It's kind of a rainbow foil and it kinda gives me that stadium club feel in other sports. Great photography, let the imagery do the talking and, you know, a 900 plus dollar sale for something that's not serial numbered, Brett, that's not a rookie, strong sale. This takes me back to a specific time and place this card or the photo is taken from Caitlin's rookie season. You can just tell by the cast of characters on the floor.

A lot has changed, but a lot has remained the same. You got, Timmy Fag Bentley in the background. You got AT. You can see Marina Fallon. I'm a I'm a Notre Dame fan, but Marina's Fallon, Caitlin here, Caitlin.

Brie Jones, Boston. You've got DB and then Lexi Hall. You can see I just named, like, almost every player on the floor. Yeah. But that's the point.

You can see all of these players in one card, which is so rare and unique. And I love this card because playing the sun this year, they were so tough, and they were so physical. And I really feel like these games are what, like, toughened, the exterior and the physicality and the demeanor of Caitlin Clark and helped her grow up to be this, like, awesome player. It it was these moments of getting just destroyed under the hole to have her rise kind of above the ashes of a a tough season and then go on a crazy run at the end of the season. So this this card definitely speaks to me.

I I love that. It speaks to me too. I don't know if I would be purchasing it just at this price for for a win, but I did wanna hit on the fact that, you know, there's other players in this set, and this is a card that's kind of permeating my fee six pack in that I'm trying to decide if this is one that makes the cut because the price seems like great value. I went on eBay today because I was like, okay. You picked out this card for a reason.

You like it for a reason. There's one sitting on eBay of fee of a $120 for best offer. To me Yeah. Screams value because of how much just the the high end feel of the card coming out of a product that's so renowned in the WNBA card space with Don Russ, the photography, everything. I just wanted to to spotlight this card because when I showed Brett this card a couple weeks back, I think it was the first time either of us had seen it.

And it was just kind of a a stopping moment where I was like, oh, that's different. We we haven't seen something like that before. So there's feed in the set. There's Asia Wilson. That's like Kelsey Plum and Jewel Lloyd that go for between a 100 and $300.

And to me, I think I don't know. I'm I'm debating it, Brett. I'm debating it. By the way, I I I don't know what I was doing. I was walking the other day, I was thinking about WNBA cards.

And, I was thinking about collecting and price points. And I had this moment. I have I'm sharing it with you live for the first time, but that what you just said, 120 your best offer. I I had this moment of, like, if I were Caitlin, I would probably just be, like, going absolutely ballistic on fee cards based on the price point in comparison to everyone else. Like, I wish I could just buy 10 cards of hers over, like, a three month period.

But Caitlin Clark, I can't because it's absurd. So I don't know. I feel like wait until wait until she wins that that that championship that she inevitably is going to win. It's like, then things might change. But now that's a fun group, fun sweet spot to be in it for a fan.

Absolutely. We say it every week. Opportunity here, in this category, no doubt, for personal collecting pickups. Speaking of personal collecting pickups and pickups in general, Brett, did you have anything that you picked up this week? I've been buying some bar.

I have nothing no WNBA cards to report, but I've been buying a couple, like, cheap cards that are kind of fun that I just appreciate, but nothing on the WNBA card side. What about you? I did pick up a big card. Well, in my definition, a big card. I went to Great Lakes, the sponsor of our Let's go.

Show. And I walked in, and Spencer, the owner of the shop, one of the owners, is dangling a 2024 Baumann U chrome Sarah Strong True Gold out of 50 PSA 10 in front of my face. And I said, that's coming home with me. Thank you very much. We did a little friendly negotiating.

And I got the story behind the card, was pretty cool, I'll share with you guys. Little kid came in, ripped one pack, bone new chrome, pulled that, sold it to Chris and Spencer. They graded it, came back PSA 10, and now it is with me. Until Sarah Strong wins her four straight national championships, which I said is my bold prediction for her, and when I will hopefully profit a little bit of money. So that was my favorite this week.

Good for you. That's a great looking card. Thanks, Brett. Alright. Let's move on to my favorite segment every week, which is the collector spotlight.

This week, we're spotlighting somebody on Instagram that goes by at c p c p underscore sports cards. And this is an awesome account with some great ultra modern women's basketball cards, both the pro level at WBA cards and some awesome collegiate cards. I'm seeing names like Brett's pulling up, Audi Crooks out of five. I'm seeing names like Paige Beckers, Caitlin Clark, Juju Watkins, Silas Swords, Sonya Citron, Cameron Brink. If these are names, we're also got some Hannah Hidalgo.

These are names that you like and you respect, I'd encourage you to to check out c p c p underscore sports cards on Instagram. Awesome. Alright, Brett. We ready to close it out with some mailbag questions today? Bringing the mailbag back.

I love it. We've got four hard hitting questions from the listeners this week. Question number one comes from at jenny root ten. Any thoughts on twenty twenty five Prism in Costco before Hobby Boxes? I I had zero idea that this was a thing, and I think that's probably the problem.

Like, the distribution and availability of products is insane, and I might not appreciate or might not agree with, like, the Tops Chrome basketball price point across the board even from a retail perspective. At least, like, they launched with a strategy and plan where we knew where stuff was going to be and how to get access to them. Like, this is bed, bath, and beyond for me. Like, Costco? Like, Dick's Sporting Goods Blasters?

Like, what's going on? There's just no communication. It sucks. That was exactly what I had down as my thoughts was where's the messaging? Where's the communication?

Why Costco? There's just no reasoning, it seems to me. I'm confused. I don't have the cards in my hand. They're not at every Costco.

That's frustrating. Need a membership to get into Costco in the first place. Like, I just don't understand the distribution here. And for the premier flagship product to be released like this, what the hell are we doing? What are we doing?

Hopefully, they'll take that as a lesson into 2026 and not do this again because I think this was a mistake. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I just wanna it it remind you know what?

Maybe here's a strategy, Caitlin. Here's what they're really doing. They're they're getting AJ and Big Justice, the Costco guys, to hit some boom on the WNBA Prism Blasters. That was not on my bingo card for 2025 because Brett hitting the boom on the WNBA Card Podcast. Okay.

I don't even know how we segue out of this, folks, but I'm gonna go to question number two from Card Collect Her. This is a hard hitting question, Brett. This kinda stopped me in my tracks when I saw this on our story was what is one thing that could make you leave the hobby? Not something I wanna think about, but when I took a step back and thought about it, it was an interesting question to pose. Did you think about something that could make you leave the hobby, or are you here through thick and thin, through good and bad?

Like, what's your thoughts here? I am I'm very good at dealing with a lot of shit, dealing with bad news, dealing with bad people, bad actors, bad trends. I'm very good at dealing with it. However, if the gambling slash investment culture got if the dial got turned up, like, 10 more notches, I might say, you know what? I'm just gonna get off the Internet, and I'm just gonna kinda take a pause for a bit.

Now this is challenging because this is my profession. I do this for a living. So it would take a lot, but I just I need people who want the cards. I need a community of people who want the cards. If there are not people who want the cards, to keep the cards in their collection, then you're starting to look like some, digitized NFT gimmick where people are just trying to make a buck off of somebody else.

So that too much gambling, that's probably what it'd do for me. I don't see it happening, but that's that's where my mind goes. What about you? Interesting. I didn't that was not the thing that I first thought about, which is just interesting because of the proliferation we've seen in that over the past, I would say, year or so.

To me, what I wrote down is the one thing that would make me stop engaging with the hobby would be if my love for going to card shows dwindled to the point of just feeling ambivalent towards if I wanted to go or not. To me, I'm a big card show, person. I try to go to as many as I can when I can make it happen, and those are the moments when I come home and I say, damn. I had a great day. I just spent four or five hours at the card show walking around.

Maybe I didn't even pick anything up. Maybe I didn't even sell anything, but I got to see my buddies or I got to make some new friends and talk about things that, you know, normal people in the common world, the masses don't understand, and I got to nerd out with my card friends. If that went away, I don't think I could see myself in this space anymore. It's it it really does come down to those those human interactions that build up my love for the cards. When I can go to a show and say, look what I picked up this week.

Look what I just bought. That or when somebody can show me what they picked up. Those interactions are what keep me here. And if that went away, I'd start to doubt where my heart was with the hobby for sure. There's no cold lunch cards without the without the show.

Yeah. We'll see. We'll see. Okay. Question number three from at brady cavenas.

How will a, parenthesis, potential lockout affect WNBA card prices? In part two of the question, we have a second person at Patrick Parker LMFT with a work stoppage looking more and more likely, when does the window for off season buying actually end? So kind of a two part question about the potential for a lockdown. I don't I think it I don't think it I don't think it's a good thing for prices. I think it'll actually be very, very bad for prices.

I think it'll be dormant. It'll be stagnant. Not good, especially now. So I can't I have no idea how to forecast or predict, but having the games, having the players play, having the Asia Wilson's winning games and dominating Nafisa Collier hitting the game winner, Caitlin Clark logo threes. Like, that's going to keep people more engaged and more interested in spending money.

Think the stoppage should be the worst thing possible to happen for WNBA cards. Okay. Brett, I put down two scenarios. That way, we could have an alternate perspective if you said that. Because, I will say that was my first thought, and I lean towards that.

But the second scenario that I can see happening is my friend Spencer. When I was at the card shop making this this deal for the Sarah Strong, he presented to me an alternative, option, an alternative path we could go down as a market. And that was the idea of something similar happened in the MLB, which I'm not an MLB person, so I don't know. Apparently, there was some sort of negotiations happening where the league stopped stopped playing. And for that moment in time, collectors felt like there was no other way to engage in their fandom but for cards.

Meaning, they couldn't go to games. They couldn't see their favorite players making headlines. They couldn't see those games. They couldn't see these things happening. So what did they turn to both with the money?

Say you're not spending money on season tickets. Say you're not staying spending money on getting to your favorite games. Say you're not saying spending money on your league pass. Where does that money and that attention go? Maybe cards.

Maybe it could go to cards. So that's kind of the alternative scenario that I see. I like it. The mystic side, I don't have any way of knowing which way it could go, but those are the two two ways that I see it happening. I I that make I think about although there was, like, bubble basketball Mhmm.

I think about the pandemic and that period of time where stuff shot up, and there's a lot of factors there, but one of them was, like, there was no sports, so people were looking for a connection. So I'm I'm hoping that that side happens for sure. Here's to that. Hopefully, that hopefully, we don't get a locket at all. The way we get paid what they need, we can all watch and be happy, but we'll see.

Okay. Let's round it out today with our fourth and final question for Matt. At d sun cards, with impeccable on card auto surfacing, what are your favorite WNBA signatures? So I looked at your list, and I have a similar one came to my mind, and it was on your list. But I'll let you I'll let you share your list.

But before, just generally, this takes me back to being in, like, middle school and looking at, like, cursive between, like, guys and girls. Yeah. Girls always had way better handwriting, and I can't stop thinking about that when I see these autos. Like, so many, like, autos are such trash and people don't take time more than I look at WNBA autos, it always feels like so much time is taken and the autos look so nice. And while I'm not a massive auto collector, I do appreciate, like, a very nice Yes.

Autograph that has a full name, and it looks good. So, generally, when I see WNBA autos, like, that's how it makes me feel, especially on, like, the older, like, Rittenhouse stuff. That's hilarious. I I completely agree. I wrote down five names, and I didn't try to think too long about it.

I didn't try to go into, like, the catalog of all possible autos and to pick out, like, the most obscure, like, Russian player who only played for one year but had an amazing signature, I tried to just go with which ones came to my mind. So here are the five names that I came up with. Tamika Ketchings, Lauren Jackson, Neka Agumike, Elena Deladon, and Sue Bird. Those were five players that when I pulled up their cards and I looked at their autos, I said, that took more than one second to do, and that took a lot of thought to figure out what your final form of signature was going to be. And, they just speak to me.

They're all very detailed. Most of them, you can make out their name. Like, you can see who signed it without having the nameplate on the card itself. They're legible. These were five names that stuck out to me.

Brett, I'm curious to see which one we had overlap with or your thoughts on which ones I picked. Good list. Neko was the first player that came to my mind. Good. Good.

Thinking about her autograph and full name autograph and current autograph, like, it's just great penmanship. Awesome. Well, we'll we'll leave it there with Neko Gumakay. That's always a good place to finish. We thank you for being here for season three episode 10 of the WBA card podcast, we and look forward to seeing you guys in the next one.

Peace.