What's going on, everyone? Welcome back to Stacking Slabs, your hobby content alternative. I'm your host, Brett, flagship episode time, coming at you.

Each and every week, we dive into something going on with my collecting, digging into the psychology, try to share my experience with you, and hopefully some of what I share today will resonate.

I hope you're having a good start to May. I love this month. I was born in this month. May and Indy rules. 500 people coming from all over the world into my city.

Pacers and racers, when the Pacers are playing, even better. It's awesome. I got a lot of energy. There's a lot going on in the hobby. People are heading out to shows. Got a show coming here in June, at the June, Midwest Monster.

Gonna try to make it to that show. The Nationals right around the corner. A lot of things happening. Hopefully, you're having really good conversations with the individuals in the hobby that you connect with.

I find the more conversations that I can have, whether it's, you know, public on content, private, not when I hit record or just DMs, that really helps motivate me and gives me fuel for everything that I am doing.

This is an escape. Remember that this is our time to get away from all of the trials and tribulations of everyday life.

Sports cards, man, there's something. I want to dig into a topic that was triggered from a conversation with somebody from the community.

I don't wanna necessarily share that member. I'm sure that member this member would be okay, but we didn't get a chance to talk before I hit record.

But I thought that it was a good enough topic, and I had a lot of a lot of thoughts. But, you know, the topic's gonna be the evolution of a player PC.

What happens when the chase slows down? A friend in the hobby asked recently about the lack of buying a certain player and some observations that he had made, and so was just curious and asking questions.

And I gave an answer and thought, you know, I'll deliver that answer here. And then I've gotten more time to dig in, and think about it from my own lens, and my own collecting.

So we'll explore that today. I wanna shout out all you for showing up, showing out. Stacking Slabs is growing. People are coming in, listening, sharing, telling a damn friend, doing everything that I would hope for, and it's awesome.

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I'm having some of those conversations right now. But let's just get into it. Let's talk about the evolution of a player PC. One of my biggest observations with just how the way the hobby works is, the focus in on player collections.

It is an easy step when you graduate from the muck and the mire of buying stuff that you don't really care about, or losing a bunch on ripping wax, or buying into breaks, that sort of thing.

You know, if you decide after you go through that initial layer of, you know, content of people telling you what to do, ripping wax, buying into breaks.

And I'm not saying ripping wax or buying into breaks is is a bad thing, but, you know, an observation I I made about myself and then just other people that I've talked to is that you go through these phases.

Right? You get exposed to the hobby. You're like, man, that was fun when I was a kid. I'm gonna come back to the hobby, then you're fed.

You know? You know? Buy this. Rip that. Win big here. And most of the time, that's not sustainable. But for those of us who go through that phase and really want to find our footing and figure out, you know what?

This sucks. Really sucks. But I wanna stay in this hobby because it's made me feel a certain way, and it's offered me something in the past.

I just need to find my footing. An easy way to find your footing is to just ask yourself the question, okay, who do I like? What player do I like? Okay, I like that player. Let me go run over and let me collect them.

And I don't think we spend a ton of time digging into the construct of player PC and how we all go about building those player PCs, and I think that is an episode and probably a whole series in and of itself.

And I'm giving myself ideas, which is really bad because the last thing I need right now is to start another, series, but I like exploring these types of things.

So I think about that, and I think about the way I've thought about building player PCs.

And you know it's the shotgun approach out of the gates. Right? It's like, oh, I like this player. Any card that pops up that makes me feel something I'm gonna buy, and then we amass this a collection of based on quantity.

And we realize, you know what, those cards, maybe we were just buying them because we do love the player. However, these cards aren't doing it for us, and maybe we just wanted that dopamine hit of those mail days.

And you get in this phase where it's like you got these cards and you're like, man, I feel guilty selling these cards because I really like this player.

And, like, I don't know if you've been through that, but I've been through that. And then we graduate. Right?

It's like, we like this era. We got like this set. We like this parallel. All those things until eventually, we get down to a point where we know exactly what we like about collecting that player, the type of cards, all of those things.

We realize that, we know that, and we recognize it. And when you and this does not happen overnight. This takes years to mature. Like, in I'm gonna be talking about my patent collecting in this conversation.

My my patent collecting is it's been, like, six years. It has just evolved to finally, it's reached a point for me where I know exactly, not only the type of card, the profile, but the exact cards that I want for my collection.

And it it it none of none of what excites me is volume. None of what excites me is opening up a case and being like, alright. I got 40 Peyton Manning cards here. Like, let's go.

That does not do anything for me. It maybe did something for me in the past, but what does it for me right now is the satisfaction in the hunt and the chase of trying to find those specific cards that make me feel something inside.

And I can look at my case right now and look at my Peyton cards, and I it it's the smallest my Peyton Manning collection has ever been.

However, those cards that are in my case right now are a reflection of the collection that I want represented when I think about Peyton Manning.

And those cards that are in my case right now are cards that I have absolutely zero interest in moving.

Let's and so what I wanna do in this episode is just unpack that from my perspective, and hopefully, some of what I'm sharing can resonate with you. The question, why haven't you been buying Peyton Manning lately, is a good backdrop.

That's a good backdrop. And what I'm gonna do in this one is just give some reasons and and explore kind of that topic from my own personal perspective.

You know, I think this is not meant to be a goodbye to player collections, but more or less a study of the evolution that one collector goes through.

It's kind of like a shift or a recalibration. So let's start here by breaking down kind of my decision making on the player PC side.

I wanna dig into psychology behind maybe how these shifts happen for me, and I want to break them down into three different reasons that I think is really important to talk about and will help maybe explain some of where my head is at.

When the question was initially posed, you know, I have not seen much many new cards from Peyton that you've been buying. Like, why are you not buying?

Like, my my initial response was because nothing is available that I want, and that is true, but I I want to offer more than just that. And I knew I had more to offer than that. And so that's what I'm gonna do here is just share that.

I will say, though, when you get really specific on the exact types of cards that you want, usually, they're limited, they're rare, they're scarce, they're in people's collections, and they have no interest in moving.

So it becomes almost like a game of patience where it's like, I'm gonna need to be patient, I need to regularly kinda check-in, but don't be annoying.

Also, I need to be in a space where I'm not buying a car just to fill a void. And that's why I think it's like, why I have moved on more or less beyond player collections is because I like the the rapid activity of building.

And when you get really niche, narrow, and focus in a player PC, there's less building. So I want more activity, so that's why I have other collections and projects that are consuming my time.

But outside of the card being available, I wanna dig into first the error perception. Think error affects how you perceive value and scarcity.

Not all rarity feels the same. A card out of a hundred from the nineties might technically be rare, but still feels more available, and feels like there's an opportunity for more of them to surface over time.

I think about majority of my personal collecting is in the modern era where I'm chasing cards like one of ones, gold vinyl, black finite, and there's an emotional weight to that, right?

Especially on the black finite side, there's there's only one and you're the only one who can own it. Now, anybody who's gone after one of ones who are really into one of ones who know exactly what they want know what I'm talking about.

It is really, really hard for me to spend the money that I spend on a parallel like a Black Friday and a card that I love. And when I get that card, it's like fireworks going off in my brain.

It it checks all the boxes, makes me feel something inside. And a big reason for that outside of they look amazing, and they're so hard to come by, and the chase is everything, is the fact that, like, I am the only one who owns this.

Like, as a collector, that matters a lot to me. And so there's a difference between owning a one of one from a modern set versus a, you know, out of a hundred from the nineties, even if the latter is more respected.

So let's, like, let's, like, think about it from this perspective. Okay. Let's say I have a Jonathan Taylor twenty twenty four, which I own this card. It's at grading right now.

Can't wait to get it back. Jonathan Taylor twenty twenty four Black Finite Prism. Jonathan Taylor is my favorite player in this era of the colds. Black Finite is my favorite card. I love the 20 fours. Those cards are freaking amazing.

Now, if I think about that card and what I paid for it, all things considered, and I think about, like, maybe a, I don't know, a Peyton Manning platinum medallion rookie card. And I compare and contrast in the pricing and stuff.

There's a big disconnect there, right, because I'm gonna have to pay more for the Peyton Manning ninety eight platinum medallion, but I think about the print run, and I think about the one of one, and that's just a big disconnect.

And I think in the market's eyes, nineties might be the crown jewel, but that doesn't always align with how I feel.

Supposed to be rare doesn't always translate to urgency or desire, and I might feel more drawn to a card with less clutter around it knowing another card is just around the corner.

I think there is consideration for the emotional versus analytical side here. How do I feel about these cards even when the market says something else? Emotionally, I'm more connected to cards that feel singular.

Analytically, I know PMGs is an iconic and hold values, but if I pause, it doesn't fit necessarily with my internal collecting compass. This is where perception clashes with legacy.

What the hobby rewards versus what I wanna live with as a collector. And so as I start to peel back some of this, I begin to understand based on my own personal collecting how important error is.

I also think the next one is value and justification. It is mental gymnastics, spending big big on a card that you're no longer emotionally chasing.

It's like going through the motions. You recognize significance, but something is missing. The spark you felt used to feel when that Manning card would hit eBay doesn't feel the same now.

And I think there's collector bias. Right? Do I, like, the question is, do you find yourself mentally needing a reason to justify a purse purchase even if it's a card you like?

I catch myself saying all the time, that's a great card, but and the but reveals a lot. It's usually a sign I'm trying to talk myself into something rather than chasing it naturally.

Sometimes I hold off, and I'm not sure the card has a place in my current framework even when the price is right. I think future upside is really important to me when I'm collecting.

Do I have a crystal ball? Absolutely not. But I want to feel like when I buy a card, it has upside if I hold it to gain value over a long period of time. It affects my decision making.

You know, if you look at the legacy of players like Manning, the seal the ceiling can feel capped unless there's something externally that happens to help shift the narrative. It's hard to bet on upside when the arc is already written.

I am not saying I need a card in my collection to go up for me to be satisfied, but I am saying when I am spending thousands of dollars on a sports card, I want to believe that I am not buying at the top of that market, and I want to believe because I'm spending a thousand dollars on a card, it has a chance to grow.

That makes me more cautious cautious even if I love even if my love for the player has has not changed.

So we talked about era, talked about value, wanna hit on focus and refining refinement. So how collecting maturity changes your lens.

You start to look tighter on themes, cohesion, and emotional hierarchy within my PC. Early on, I wanted everything manning, rookies, parallels, base cards. Now I want the cards that fit within my vision, Aesthetic harmony, purpose.

My standards have shifted, not just in terms of price or rarity, but what it feels right to own. I think collecting collecting just collecting a player starts to feel broad and unfocused the deeper you go into the hobby.

When you chase everything, nothing necessarily stands out, and eventually, your display feels chaotic rather than intentional.

The more I have spent time collecting sports cards, the more intentional I have get. It's like the more I invest in collecting, the more intentional it becomes.

And that's that hasn't stopped, and that's only gotten more refined the more I do it. I think the clutter makes it hard to appreciate what you what I built and what's the story it tells.

And I'm very focused on the story that my collection, Current PC, is telling. I personally have shifted over more towards away from player collecting to being a collector of moments, eras, aesthetics, sets.

I love Peyton. That's never changed. He's my favorite player of all time. But I am no longer chasing Peyton cards for the sake of completing some sort of checklist.

I'm chasing because of a vibe, a memory, a jersey color, a design that sticks with me. I've become more of a collector of moment moments than a collector of players.

I think this is reflective of some of the projects that I've been working on. I think it's important to dig into the the tension and where the tension exists and the identity versus intuition.

Talked about this last week. Got a lot of feedback from you, the listener. Appreciate all the DMs and conversations about labels.

And, you know, we talk about labels, and we give ourselves in the hobby and how hard it is to let go or evolve past those identities. One of the labels that I think about a lot is the player collector label.

Like, we don't just collect cards, we collect identities. Right? You become the Peyton Manning guy or the PMG girl or the nineties the February baseball refractor guy.

These labels feel like badges. They give us direction, community, and sometimes even some sort of personal recognition or clout in this community. I think the problem is labels can quietly become limit limitations.

What happens when the cards no longer excite you the way they used to? Do you feel like you're betraying your past self if you stop chasing the next Manning or Jordan or Brady?

It's easy to keep performing the role of player collector long after your heart's moved on. Letting go of a label can feel like you're losing part of your identity.

You might worry people will question your loyalty or think you've flipped. But what you're really doing is growing. The deeper truth is you're still collecting. You're just doing it more intentionally now.

I think it's important to acknowledge those quiet transitions. I've watched collectors who used to post every week about one player slowly shift their feed to vintage, or rare inserts, or another player.

They didn't make a big announcement. They just started collecting differently. And it wasn't performative. It was authentic. They followed followed the cards. They they moved they they followed the cards that moved them.

I think the best part is those collectors usually look more free in how they collect. It's like a rejuvenation, and it's fun to see. I think there's more joy, less pressure, less boxing themselves into a lane that they've outgrown.

I used to think I used to think stepping away from a player PC meant something was wrong, but I've learned it usually means something is right.

It means tastes are sharpening. When you shift right, it usually opens space for a new lane. I think evolution in collecting isn't a loss.

Right? It's a refinement. When you chase something else, it it it rejuvenates. Opening up a new player collection or a new collecting project is one of the most fun things I've I can experience in the hobby.

I'm a start up guy. I love building something from the ground floor. And when you're collecting something new, it's a lot of that.

Right? You have to, research, analyze, have conversations, buy, make mistakes, all those things. And that is the fun part about refining on an area and not keeping going all in on a area that isn't exciting to you.

Think you're allowed to change your mind, you're allowed to evolve, and that's part of the joy of the hobby. What player have you quietly stopped chasing and why?

Was it the price, the availability, or something deeper? Think about that. That's the story. I would love to hear these stories. If you got stories, examples, or cards, anything you wanna share, hit me up.

Post them on your stories. Tag me at stacking slabs. I'd love to engage. I'm I'm really enjoying all the conversation around all the episodes, especially the flagship episodes that I'm dropping.

This community is incredible. I really appreciate you supporting you getting value out of what I'm doing on a regular basis. It means the world to me.

I love this, and I'm not gonna stop anytime soon. So enjoy your escape, enjoy the hobby, collecting cards, kick it kicks ass, man. It's one of the best things ever. More stacking slabs on the other side always. I'll talk to you soon.