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Welcome to the Stacking Slabs, a podcast for sports cards collectors. There's been a tremendous amount of change to our Hobby over the last few years and the one constant has been the passion from the collecting community. Stacking Slabs is built by the collector and lives to tell stories for the collector.
What's going on everybody? Welcome back to Stacking Slabs, your hobby content alternative. I am Brett.
It is wild card Thursday, baby. I told you, you might not know what's coming on Thursday. You might get an existing show that you know and you love. You might get nothing if I'm feeling real lazy, or you might get Wildcard Thursday.
And that's what we got here. We've got a special edition of Wildcard Thursday where we're getting wild. We're getting crazy. We're digging into a topic that is near and dear to my heart and is on my mind.
And the inspiration for today's topic came from a reflection in me looking at specific collector pages on Instagram and recognizing these collectors are constantly driving engagement from me because I appreciate the way they're approaching their collection.
And so I wanna dig into that, and I wanna dig into that that as a topic because these aren't collectors who are letting safe searches, auction listings, or Instagram story sales run their operation.
No. No. No. They are very intentional, and they're curating a collection that deeply and intimately matters to them.
And so I think this is an aspirational type of collecting style that a lot of us are striving for, and it takes as many years to get focused around what are those players, cards, sets that we're running towards and would pay more than anyone else if it's a missing piece of that puzzle.
And I wanna dig into that because a lot of the way we consume content and a lot of the way we consume what's available is passively.
It's just what comes at us. And maybe we haven't had a mail day in a while, and we decide to buy a car that's outside of our zone just because we need that dopamine hit.
It's part of the learning process, and we've all been there, but I think it's fun to dig into the reasons how and why certain collectors continue to drive engagement from the rest of us based on their style.
And so I wanna get into that. Before we do that, trying something new today. I have never done a partnership outside of the hobby. I value you and I value the trust we've built here, but as Stacking Slab scales, we're trying new things.
We're testing some stuff out. One of my fraternity brothers started a business called Shinesty at a college, and I've watched him build it from the start.
The brand makes underwear, lounge wear, pajamas, swimsuits, and other items that are built around comfort and humor.
Shinesty keeps things light. We had a conversation, and I told him what I was doing, and we were talking about his business.
And he's grown this thing into incredible heights. I I love to hear his entrepreneurial journey and where the pivots he's made and where he's ended up taking his business.
And I know the individual behind the business, and I trust him. His name's Chris. He's a great dude building an awesome business, and that matters to me when I'm bringing something new to you.
And so what I wanna do is offer all of you 25% discount on any Shinesty item, and you can do that. And I'll put the link in the show notes.
You gotta make sure you click the link if you're going to go purchase something because it'll auto discount 25%, but I'll I'll say it here. Ww. shynessy. com backslash question mark r e f equals stacking slabs.
That's www. shynessy. com backslash question mark r e f equals stacking slabs. So if you wanna grab some new underwear, god lord, lord knows I need it, a robe, pajamas, or something new for the holiday, you should check out Shinesty.
And, certainly, this is a great way to support stacking slabs and help me validate, this test, with all of you.
If you don't need anything, that's totally fine. There's no pressure. I want to see if a fun brand outside of the hobby fits this community. So tell me what you think. I value your feedback. Life gets busy. The hobby gets busy.
Shinesty is the opposite of busy. It's a break. It's something light. And that's why I thought this partnership could fit. So go check out Shinesty. Use the promo code. It is in the show notes. Use that link. You'll get 25% off.
Let's get into the damn show. Let's go. Let's talk about this topic of curation over accumulation. That is a mouthful. Why am I hopefully, I don't have to do that again. But we're we're talking about building with intention.
I've always viewed maybe not always. I'm lying. I've it's hasn't been always, but it has been ever since I've gone into stacking slabs full time where I'm literally thinking about every piece and phase and slice of the hobby.
This is where I really realized collecting sits on this spectrum. And in this spectrum, we move along it, and sometimes we stay stagnant in one space because it makes us happy, and sometimes we move all the way to the other end.
But on one end of the spectrum is accumulation, amassing, buying cards because they make us feel good.
The maybe the cards, the products, the aesthetics don't matter as much to us as much as getting that mail day and compiling a collection of cards.
On the other end of that is curation and, most collectors drift towards accumulation without even really realizing it.
It is way easier to accumulate than it is to curate. It is really easy to pull up eBay and go through the search bar and search a specific player and just start buying.
It is very hard to have a plan and to build themes around your collection and to get organized around those themes and provide those guardrails where then you make your decisions based on that framework that you've created for yourself.
It is a lot more difficult to do that, and it takes a while to realize taste what you like, what you don't like.
I've talked about this a lot, and I'm not gonna get into the weeds too much. But for me, I will never forget when I got rid of my Carson Wentz collection.
Man, that seems like ages ago. The reason it started, he's the Colts quarterback for one season. Didn't go well. And so I was like, I gotta get these cards out of my collection.
So I I got rid of them. But then as I was getting rid of the cards and selling them, taking them to consignment, all the things, like, the cards I couldn't let go of were the Prism Gold cards that I had had of him.
And that was that to me, that told me something. I was, why am I not getting rid of it? And that's because I had deep affinity and affection for the years of Prism and Prism Golds.
And that was when a spark went off in my head that said, well, maybe I should be focused on the prism side a little bit more because it's doing things for me that, makes me really happy.
And when I started to do that and started to focus, and that that realization didn't like, executing on that realization, it it took probably a year or another year and a half later for me to really hunker down and be like, alright.
This is what I'm gonna do. But it was that moment. And so part of that moment that was a realization for me was the idea that I'm just amassing in accumulation and just buying cards to buy cards creates clutter.
And, yes, it's more cards, but it's less meaning as well. There's no cohesiveness. It's this constant burn and churn, and this is the feeling that this collection that you're supposed to be running because you're the CEO is running you.
Curation, on the other hand, creates a connection. You know why everything exists, why everything is in place.
Your collection feels like you. There's a direction. There's an identity. There's pride. There's long term happiness. There are certain expectations that you're setting with yourself.
And I know some people might not like the idea of curation or don't understand the idea of curation, in connection with collection building, but I just I think it it's an operating style. It is a way to approach your collection.
And when you approach your collection in that way, it it forces you to be intentional, much like anybody who runs an art gallery who's creating an exhibit that has a specific theme, whether it's a specific artist or era.
Right? They're just looking for pieces to showcase that theme, and they're curating those pieces from other, maybe, art exhibits, from artists themselves.
And they're trying trying to get us, as we're going through that gallery, to understand the connection points.
And I think I have seen that in collectors, and I wanna talk about it. There are so many collectors that are curating incredible collections, and my network of of collectors on Instagram is probably very different than your network.
But just some names that came to my mind immediately. You've got Andy at Buy Buy Baby Cards, Tim, Timmer's Cards, Tim, Exquisite Collector, James Mad City Collector.
When I think about curation, those names come to mind and those collectors come to mind. And I don't view what they're doing as being collectors who accumulate.
I view what they're doing as collectors that show intention and not noise. So when I think about the psychology behind accumulation, I think about accumulation is the product of being reactive.
The safe searches run your operation. They dictate your buys. You see a blue dot go off, you click it, and you look at a card, and you say, you know what? I haven't bought a card in a while. I wanna buy this card.
Stories you see on IG of people posting cards drive impulse decisions. You see a player or a card get posted, and you say to yourself, you know what? That seems like a good deal, and I like good deals, so I'm gonna buy this card.
Of course, auctions, there's time parameters. Right? You got seven days, and that creates false urgency for you where you see the price. Like, ah, this card to me is probably, like, a $300 card, and there's two minutes left.
And it's only at $82. So I should bid because I might get a deal. And I'll bid at $2. 75 because I'll get a deal there. And you went in at $2. 75, but you never really wanted the card.
You just perceived that you saw a deal. You say things like, and I might not ever see this again. I might not ever see this again, so I need this card. There are a lot of psychological drivers of accumulation.
I talked about the mail days, the dopamine chasing. The thrill of the buy becomes the hobby. Loss aversion, fear of missing out pushes quick decisions. Identity uncertainty, you buy broadly because you don't know what you really want.
Social comparison, which runs rampant in this hobby. You react to what others post, but not what you personally value. The outcomes of accumulating a lot of cards aren't ideal.
Your collection feels bloated. You lose interest in half of what you own. You sell constantly, you feel disconnected from the hobby, like, why am I here? You never learn the products that you buy.
Now we flip it and we think about the psychology of curation. Curation is proactive, where accumulation is reactive. Curation allows you, as the collector, to be on offense. You define what belongs. You are the one who's the creator.
You're creating your themes, your story, your lanes. You are the ultimate decision maker. You make fewer but stronger decisions. The decisions might have different financial implications, but that's not the point.
The point is is that you're settling on cards that are a part of a thematic collection that you're building. There's also psychological foundations in curation.
It's clarity. You understand your identity as a collector. Restraint, a topic I love, and one of the most underrated attributes in the hobby, delayed gratification until that right card appears.
There's meaning. Every card represents a choice you made as a collector and not a reaction. There's pride. Your collection becomes a reflection of you.
This is like the ultimate. When you have a collection that you're freaking proud of in the way you've organized it, and it's not complete, but you're just like, damn, this is awesome. I love this.
It gives you the sense of satisfaction that can't even be, it's hard to even describe. But it's like someone coming up to me and making an offer on a card that's part of my collection that I'm curating, and it's like, no thanks.
I'm not interested. I had someone come up to me and make a strong offer on a Jonathan Taylor card that I own. Strong offer. We're talking six, seven times what I paid for it.
I didn't even blink. No. Thanks. Because if I got rid of that card, I would just want that card back. The money that I would have gotten from that card, I would just wanna go buy that card.
Does that make sense? But it's pride, man. It's like we you should be proud of what you have going off on a little tangent. But it's that excitement.
It's that pride of ownership. It's that I'm doing this thing with my collection that nobody else is doing, or even if people are trying, there's no way they can replicate the spirit for which I'm putting into this.
There's satisfaction. You enjoy the collection instead of just chasing the next hit.
Take some damn time and go check out your cards. You've got them. You spent a lot of money on them. Enjoy that. There's utility value. The curation leads to happiness, and that's what we wanna be. We wanna be happy in this hobby.
You love what you own. You stop comparing yourself with others because you don't give a shit what other people are doing. I could care less what you collect or how you collect. I don't care. I don't care. That doesn't influence me.
I can be influenced and that's when someone is telling stories and sharing meaning. I can be influenced. We all can be influenced. But I don't care. Like, what you're collecting has zero impact on what I'm doing.
I'm confident in what I'm doing. And I think the collectors that I'm featuring here are confident in what they're doing too. Your collection, when you're doing things like this, grows roots, and those roots go deep down in the ground.
And that not only keeps those cards in your collection, but they keep you interested as a collector. I let's okay. So let's get into some of these collectors because I I I reference them.
And what I'm gonna do as I'm doing this is I'm gonna pull up their pages on Instagram. I'm just gonna use them as a reference point. Talk about Andy first, buy buy baby cards. Clear identity. He knows his lanes. He knows his standards.
And he knows why each card fits. All you have to do is, like, go through his page and see, like I just pulled open this 1998 Giants PMG team set. He is a Giants fan. He likes nineties cards. He's got the entire team set.
Jeff Kent, JT Snow, Shawn Estes, Rod Beck, what a stash, and, of course, Barry Bonds. Now he he has taken the photo of all of them together, and then he's in his carousel, he's got pictures of them individually.
To get to this point, you have to have product level understanding. You have to study sets. Right? You have to have an understanding of, okay.
Well, there this is how many Giants players are in this set. This is why I like this set. You have to understand scarcity. You have to understand the price. You you're building with an intention.
And, Andy, like, if you want a to see a a page in a collector that has intention, is confident in what they're doing, and continues to put together pieces of his collection and share them out that give you a lot of confidence.
Collectors in this hobby, like, Annie's page is awesome. Curation requires a defined point of view, and it's very evident that Andy has a point of view on the way he wants his collection to be built in design.
You've got a collector like Tim, Timmer's cards. Funny, both Tim and Andy are 40 guys. Maybe it's something in The Bay. Maybe it's something out in that area that gets collectors gets them focused.
Tim's one of the most passionate collectors I ever come across. One of the most passionate forty niners collectors. He collects what connects his fandom and history. Nothing he brings to the table feels random.
He's got stories and long term emotional investment in his collection. The cards carry memories. He's been on the podcast several times, talked about the Vernon Vernon Davis super fracture in that story.
And the stories he has drives his decision. Curation taps into long term and emotional meaning, and there's not a collector who that's more evident than Tim at Timmer's Cards. We're going with another Tim, exquisite collector.
Tim, when I think about aesthetic and historical curation, I think about Tim. He's got a deep understanding of, obviously, exquisite collection, but he also values design scarcity and significant significance.
You can see that he buys only when cards meet his standards. And while there isn't a ton of uniformity around specific sets. Seeing it all laid out together on his page is you start to understand the curation.
Obviously, he's a massive LeBron James collector, and he's got one of ones of inserts that you've never seen before. And he's got prism stuff, and he's got flawless stuff, and obviously, exquisite stuff.
But his collection, even though so many pieces are different, still looks cohesive, and nothing feels out of place. His, whenever I when I see his page, curation is all about taste, and it's not about volume.
Think about James, Mad City Collector. He is very focused on themes, sets, zero drift off of those paths. Everything he's collecting fits the story of a broader collection.
He's described in his bio as collector of 2017, 18 Topps Chrome, Champions League, twenty eighteen Panini World Cup, National Landmarks, Mojo, pre modern and vintage, Manchester United, Wayne Rooney.
His buys are intentional because they're fitting different pieces of the puzzle.
I have a first time I've ever seen one of these, a 14 gold prism and gold power Wayne Rooney together. I mean, his videos about his Topps Chrome Champions League set are insane.
But James is a collector that I've observed is is really good at eliminating the noise and the distraction and getting really, really focused. There are so many other collectors that I appreciate and admire.
Those are the ones that have come to my brain as I prepare for this Wild Card Thursday episode. So what's the framework? How do we do this? What do we do? Well, there's never an instruction booklet. I can't just say, hey. Do this.
But when I think about these things and I think about these collectors and also try to put it in from my own perspective, I think key ingredients of this are understanding the products you want to collect, studying the set, studying the parallels, studying the print structure, studying historical significance.
Having that understanding makes you like the products more and makes you wanna go after them. It blows my mind how many people in this space aren't curious and don't care about that.
I care deeply about it. I care deeply about the history. I care deeply about the aesthetic, the design, the presentation, how all the pieces connect with each other.
If you wanna reach this level, you gotta have a care of the product. You gotta define your own lanes. Is it a player? Is it a team? Is it a product? Is it an era, a parallel, a theme?
Identity emerges through the constraint. You gotta create a standard for what belongs. We all should have standards. People without standards, come on. You gotta have standards. Ask yourself these questions before you're buying.
Does it fit in your lane? Does this product make sense to you? Will I still care about this next month, a year from now? Would I show this proudly? Curation relies on no. Accumulation relies on why not.
You've gotta build a vision. Think like a storyteller, not a shopper. Whenever I move into shopper mode, I always sell the cards. And I'm not perfect at this. I sell cards all the time where I'm like, damn it. Why did I buy this?
Cards should build a narrative, not a pile. Your collection should feel like an album, not a playlist on shuffle. So I guess the question is we're rounding the corner on this is what happens when you commit to curation?
The things that I've observed about myself, and I can't speak for other collectors, is but it slows you down. It keeps you grounded. You stop buying to fill void.
Start to understand your identity as a collector, and you make fewer mistakes. You build confidence in what you're doing and how you're approaching it. And you begin to feel very proud of the collection that you're building.
You stay connected to the hobby for the right reason. Why do you own it? What cards no longer fit? What would your collection look like if it was curated instead of accumulated?
Those are the types of questions that you begin to ask yourself. So I don't think you need more card. I think you need more intention. Believe curation is a path towards that meeting, and it will help with burnout.
It gives you a guiding light with how to create a collection that you actually wanna keep. This is Wild Card Thursday, and this is the type of stuff we're talking about here on Stacking Slabs. This is fun.
This was on my mind when I woke up this morning. I drove my kids to school. I was thinking about it when I got back, and I was like, I gotta just hit record and start talking about this. So I appreciate you being along for the ride.
I appreciate your passion, your support of what we're building here at Stacking Slabs. I don't take your attention for granted. I appreciate you and all you're doing to tell a damn friend. We'll be back. We'll talk to you soon.