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Alright, everybody. Excited for this conversation. We're going to be digging into just WNBA cards gaining perspective, maybe not just what's happening now, but what's happened before and maybe how we got there.
I've been following today's guest, Anne Marie, who runs Women on Tops for a while.
I think she's been she has been a long time collector. She writes for The Athletic and just has a lot of knowledge and insight on cardboard. So we're gonna dig into that.
But without further ado, Emery, welcome. How are you? Great. Thanks for having me nerd out about cardboard pictures, so I appreciate it. Anytime. Let's let's start maybe just with the landscape of WNBA cards.
Obviously, it looks a lot different than probably when you first started collecting, and we're gonna maybe get into, like, the current market and just the new prism and everything else.
But maybe talk about your start collecting the BMBA cards. You've been doing it for, I think, almost three decades.
Like I'm I'm old. Yeah. Would would it out me as being old? Yeah. No. I, like a lot of collectors, I started in the eighties. It was a connection with my dad. I collected, you know, baseball, and I was into basketball.
Not as much football. I will never forget 1992, so I'm, like, 13. You have Mia Hamm's card, comes out in Sports Illustrated for kids, and it's, like, the first time I really see a women's sport card.
And I'm like, oh my god. Right? It's that classic, like and and I see when I I do a lot of I I have a program where I give, give away cards to to, at at events and through the mail.
And just the the the way that, like, girls particularly light up when they see their favorite hockey player or basketball player, they don't even know it exists.
And for me, that started a quest. And, you know, one of the things I I started finding is, wow, there's a lot of cards of women's athletes going back to the early nineteen hundreds.
And, you know, I would say I collected cards on and off like a lot of people. I had to, you know, sell most of my men's cards to help pay for college, but nobody wanted my women's cards, when I was selling in the late nineties.
So those went in a giant Rubbermaid bin. And through the dozens of moves that we make in our twenties, the Rubbermaid bin came with me.
So, you know, probably for the last, you know, ten, fifteen years, I've been pretty much exclusively focused on, women's cards and, like women's sports in general.
It's been a pretty boom. It's it's there's never been a better time to be a a women's sport collector and a women's sport athlete. Maybe talk about just, like, focusing in on on WNBA cards and maybe the early days of WNBA cards.
Take, us into what that looked like because I think a lot of collectors now are, like myself, you know, within the last one or two years have got involved in the category and it just in learning it, it looks a lot different now than it did.
But maybe to take us into some of those early days, like sets, products, community, that sort of thing.
Yeah. So before the WNBA, we had various leagues WBL. A ABL was probably the more prominent league that followed just before the WNBA.
It was, it was actually in some ways better compensated. Players had more more, authority. The the year before that, there was an ABL set that came out that was a Reebok set and through Skybox.
Along with that, you know, in 1996 before the WNBA, Us Us of women's basketball nerds were very excited every summer Olympics because that's when we got, you know, women's basketball prime time, and upper deck had done some team USA sets then.
But women's basketball, the other kind of cards that we that that we had, 1997, I would say we have two big things happen almost at the same time, and I think they're really important to understand the landscape.
Nineteen ninety seven, you have the WNBA inaugural season. You have Pinnacle create a set out of cans, and quickly probably found out that, like, can't metal cans that you literally have to open with a can opener, not great for grading.
I will say that. But what was also happening at that time, which will be the most important thing I would say for women's sport collectors, is in 1995, you have eBay established.
Nineteen ninety eight, a year after WNBA cards begin and the WNBA begins is when eBay went public.
So you see a big blow up, of that eBay landscape because that's going to become the way that women's collectors would get around what happens when your local your LCS doesn't care about women, you know, women's cards.
And to a large extent, you know, just like the best thing that happened for women's sports was the demise of the newspaper because you we could create all the Internet could create all these little niche podcasts in places where women could go.
The same thing happened in the digital space where that's our marketplace where we could we could connect and also in these smaller communities like on Facebook and other social media platforms.
So 1997, you have one product with Pinnacle. Nineteen ninety eight, you have another product come out.
Nineteen ninety nine, again, we generally would have one product, whether it be, FLIR would would grab the license after Pinnacle. There'd be a FLIR Ultra set. Some years, we had a tradition set. The max we ever had was two two sets.
A big shift happened when Rittenhouse got the license, and Rittenhouse was known in, like, science fiction community, other other communities for having cards. They had a very different model than FLIR, and and Pinnacle had.
They were all about smaller run sets. So not sort of the hobby packs that you rip open with parallels. They, you know, shrunk down print runs, and you bought basically sets that you had.
And those sets might have, you know, there might be a, you know, couple autos in that set, and there would be case incentives that would be a much smaller print run.
That very much, I would say, was a change in the landscape because what that you know, making it exclusive maybe drove up some prices, but that's where we see, like, you know, Maya Moore has two hundred and fifth to what?
225 rookie cards. Don't call me, but two I think it's $2. 25. That's it. Like, imagine if Michael Jordan only had 225 rookie cards. Right? I mean, there's a Maya Moore auto rookie that's to 33. Right?
So we're talking about crazy low print runs. Right? Griton House will be the standard until 02/2019 where Donris now has it. And Donris's two thousand nineteen print run will now look wicked small compared to what we're seeing in 2024.
Just like happened in overall collecting, we had a couple things happen, that I would say came together that increased the the the interest, particularly in w WNBA cards.
You had the WNBA have a new, CBA deal and a new, a new licensing deal, which made it more visible.
You had the COVID bubble, where the WNBA was one of the only leagues that saw a rapid increase in viewership, and that's for a lot of reasons.
You had the COVID bubbles increase in the overall hobby. People became interested more interested because we are socially distancing and we nostalgia made us feel good.
But you had the me too movement and black lives matter, I think, which also gave rise to athlete welfare and the WNBA allowed athletes instead of, like, muting them.
They sort of celebrated that. And then you had a couple really important rookie classes. Sabrina's, 02/2019 was a really small rookie class, but Sabrina's entry into the league was massive. That had huge dividends.
And then you see last year's rookie class headlined by Angel Reese, Caitlin Clark, Cam Brink. At the same time, you had NILs and the expansion of social media where these college athletes will be able to become a brand.
All these things happening, including fifth year eligibility, it the perfect storm for what we're seeing right now in the hobby. I love the the just the history lesson there.
And we were talking before we hit record just about, the women's game, college game now, and just I can look at the the women's game and then the men's game, and I I can name a lot more women's players right now.
And they're they're projecting right now as, you know, stars. And I Juju is, like, the easy one to call.
You just look at her, watch her game. I've I've watched the highlights on the UCLA game so many times. It's just like she's bore she's ready to just jump right in and make an impact in the WNBA right now.
How important do you think that landscape of, like, the current college product, NIL, and the way, like, the these player players are like, they're be they're becoming maybe stars in a bigger way than ever before because of social media.
How much of a role do you think, like, that plays in just the continued elevation of WNBA products as they get released in this era or the next era we're about to enter? I mean, I think it has a huge impact.
Now there's also a a a a like, I would say a couple of things. I think, you know, Caitlin Clark didn't you know, people were saying Caitlin Clark is gonna be the MVP, and I'm like, Caitlin Clark's not gonna be the MVP of the WNBA.
It's and that's not me dismissing that Caitlin Clark is a generational talent. It's not that people thought she was too great.
It was that people dismissed how good the WNBA is. It is a big jump from women's college basketball to the WNBA. Right? There's only been one athlete that has ever been a rookie and win an MVP, and that's Candace Parker in 02/2006.
I think absolutely the popularity of women's college basketball has because the idea of prospecting now prospecting in the WNBA historically is much different than prospecting in the NBA because it is commonplace where, a rookie of the year, I could think about Crystal Dangerfield or, you know, Collier, Charlie Collier, number one draft pick, will be cut the following year.
It is not unusual that a top 10 pick will be released before the start of a season because the WNBA has so much fewer roster spots. Now with expansion, that's changing that we're gonna have more teams because that was a big struggle.
So absolutely, the interest in prospecting, the interest in college basketball, these incredible start now understand the WNBA has always been a good product.
Right? The WNBA has always been a great been a great product. It's not new. People are just late to the party. Right?
I I think it's also important to say, and I think this is something when we talk about how long term collectors, the change in our communities in the last oh, not like, six months, eight months, ten months is the the rise of breaking culture and how that has brought in that gambling element.
And when you have stars like Caitlin Clark and Cam Brink and other stars where it is the flipping culture is it's an it's an easier jump into it when you can go on an app and pay for a spot and then try to turn that into money. Right?
So I think, you know, that wasn't you know, when Diana Taurasi was coming into the league, when Sue Bird was coming in I mean, these are players that had massive hype when Candace Parker was coming into league. There was no whatnot.
There was no loop. There was no quick flip that we have now, and that's a big driver into the culture of people getting into the WNBA now. Okay. We're about to jump into that, but I wanna hit maybe this newer era we've been in.
So you mentioned 2019 Donruss. And, you know, in that product, you'll find the optic golds or the gold vinyl. And then to me, I think back in, like it's, like, kind of, like, the start of this newer chapter of kinda Panini era.
And then I'll never forget being at the Dallas card show when 2020, prism dropped, the debut WNBA prism and seeing, like, Sabrina in showcases at that was it was the first time I had really seen, like, dealers of, you know, men's basketball, baseball, football, putting, you know, women's basketball product in their showcases.
That was maybe a pivotal moment, just for me as, like, looking at how the landscape was changing a little bit.
Maybe, like, talk Yeah. Go ahead. Go ahead. No. I was just gonna ask One big shift within NILs and and the change in technology that allows for Bowman Yu instant and Panini instant.
Sabrina had one card prior to her WNBA debut released. Asia Wilson had one card prior to her WNBA release. Caitlin Clark had over 800.
Right? So that's a and we're only we're really talking about a shift in, like, a couple years. Right? That has a huge impact in terms of product, just the release of products. Sorry. But that that I think is important for the context.
No. I love the context. But how important do you think, like, with a flagship product in the hobby like prism for we don't know, right, if if it's gonna be WNBA Prism forever or if the license is gonna move, that sort of thing.
But how important do you think for that moment in time, it is because in other sports, Prism is such a a a a behemoth for WNBA to to to be to have prism cards.
Like, how important do you think that has been to to bringing new collectors into at least be exposed to WNBA cards? Well, I think it may have been important in 2020.
Right? Because you have to understand, we only got one product. We didn't have a second WNBA product until last year. So it it it could have been score, and I think WNBA collect like, we never had a choice.
Right? Like, you could have given us score, and we would have been like, well, score. Like, that's all that's so so it it wasn't like the things that were commonplace in men's cards, we didn't get.
Patch cards. We had until, what, until this year it wasn't until last year, origins was the first time we had a patch card since February over almost, like, 02/2016, '2 thousand '15.
Right? The we haven't this was the first year we had dual autos since Rittenhouse.
Right? So the the like, when I say, like, I think a lot of I think for a long time, we were told, yeah. We treat you like third class citizens, but be grateful you're not fifth class citizens. Right?
So but one and, again, I don't I don't have the data on this, but I would think for actual collectors right now in my conversations and things we're talking about, I actually think there was more excitement for Select than for Prism because we've had Prism for five years.
We just got Select. So so for me, like, for a lot of collectors and also I think at the at collectors.
Right? Like, I don't think collectors celebrate a $1,200 box. Sellers do. I don't think I think it's really important to understand that collectors want product that is high quality and accessible.
And we're talking about a product you know, last year's prism, we were buying for 2 hun you know, retail. Right? $260 a box, and it would dip to 200.
Now we're talking about 12 hun like, this is not a long term this is not a long term strategy in what has happened. This is a short term change to get as much money as Panini can until Caitlin Clark and that and that license is gone.
You to the detriment of the WNBA as a whole. Yeah. You you had an article which I enjoyed reading in the athletic. The sudden jumps in WNBA card prices capitalize on new interest, but at what cost?
And you one of the, very compelling lines was you you quoting you, I blinked and got priced out of my own personal collection, which I think speaks to the jump from 200 a box to now.
I think the last time I looked, it was 1,300 for the new prism.
Maybe talk about just, like, that feeling as a collector who's been collecting this stuff for as long as anyone else. And and then then the new era we're in, like, expand on that line and that feeling that you have.
Well, I think, you know, there's just been, like, a shift. Right? And there's a lot of things that create create that. So I'm like a sport marketer, and I've worked with leagues for a long time.
And I talked in that article about the idea of reach versus revenue. And this idea of, sport card collecting works similarly to, gambling and fantasy sport and video games in that they drive their drivers of fan avidity.
And fan avidity, how big a fan you are, is the biggest predictor of spend. Women's sports fans tend to have a higher fanability than the average men's fan because it just takes more work to be a women's sport fan.
I can't, like, be going through cable and trip and be like, oh, PWHL is on or, like, you know, like, I have to upstream. I need to know when they're on. Like, it just takes more effort.
Right? Oftentimes, right, there's a balance that all brands have between reach, growing your long term collectors, and revenue, bringing in revenue. Right? And and this is something that all brands in marketing try to figure out.
I think it's important at this moment for the WNBA. Right? To me, Panini and, and distributors skewed heavily towards revenue at the expense of potentially bringing in new collectors.
Now, again, I think the critique of my article, I'm not gonna would would be ignore hobby retail is still an option.
And I think that's largely true. We're still talking about, you know, a $50 buy for a blaster box. But I do think that in their rush to produce as much as possible, I think long term collectors were alienated a little bit.
I think, absolutely, you saw, shops and and businesses that for years had bought WNBA when they were lost where they were losing money on it and and demand was low, absolutely just that loyalty meant absolutely nothing in allocation.
And that is a business decision. Right? And, you know, women's sport collectors have a long you know, women's sport fans one difference between women's sport fans we know and men's sport fans is women's sport fans have a longer memory.
Right? Men's sport fans forgave Michael Vick. Women's sports fans never did. Right?
So I think it partially, this is a really interesting moment, particularly when you look at breakers, when you look when you take, retail stores, people that are breaking WNBA, that are embracing communities, that know how to pronounce athletes' names, that do their research on a product.
I think long term, they're gonna be rewarded with loyalty. So what I love this thread because I look at the hobby and analyze it all the time, and I feel like so much of the industry over indexes on this.
Let's let's get the money right now. Let's do whatever we can at all costs. And and and it doesn't matter if it's gonna those those new people in the hobby are gonna fall out the bottom.
It's just continue this model instead of, like, focusing in on nurturing and maturing those relationship and and leaning into education.
How how do you think like, what are something that, like, manufacturers, distributors, or just anyone in charge?
Like, what would you recommend that they would have done differently in the rollout of maybe, like, this new prism product or the select product with, Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark at the forefront of it?
I mean, I think there's been some real well, a couple things. Huge major misses in not I think there could have been more done in bridging history. I think women's sport collectors are really interested in history.
So, you know, I think, you know, a big miss in the twenty fifth, anniversary, like, set for the WNBA. There were no dual autos. Right? Like, there were just misses there that I think. I I I think one of the outcomes I didn't see.
Right? Because one of the things bringing in new collectors and and the the the focus on Caitlin Clark, one outcome that I didn't expect or I didn't I didn't think about was how veteran cards, many of them have tanked in price.
Blows my mind. It because I think there was this assumption that with more people coming in with more fandom, you're gonna see all prices rise.
I haven't experienced that. I have I think there's a lot of people who have bought in looking and searching. You see it on the breakers where they're only focused on Caitlin Clark. It's the box is a miss if there's no Caitlin Clark.
Right? Because they're feeding that appetite of resale. And you have, I think, buyers that are dumping veterans as quickly as possible to try to recoup whatever they they could. And one of the things that and this again, great for me.
I will happily buy, a, you know, a collier at a five for $25. Right? But I didn't I think there was this assumption that with greater interest, all prices rise. I'm not again, I'm not sure I've experienced that.
A lot of collectors that I've talked to, that wasn't that's not what we've experienced. And I think that has to do more with this overfocus on on one or two players at the expense of everybody else.
I I'm so fascinated by this thread, and I'm glad you pulled on it because that has I think my assumption, especially with the Caitlin Clark effect that, you know, rising tide lifts all boats.
But you look go in your eBay searches, go look at, like just look WNBA Gold Prism, safe search, and you can look at all the years that there's been WNBA Prism and, like, all stars, league MVPs, and you can buy, like, their gold prisms for just a percentage of what you would expect the same comparable player in men's or in, another sport to be in.
I think I don't know. Do you think that's just, like, a lack of awareness and a lack of education of, like, non n b non people who don't have an WNBA team in their city or who don't have league pass and aren't watching it regularly?
Do you just think they they don't know who Asia Wilson is? Or if he's a Collier, do they don't know who she is?
And is that the issue, or or is it something else? Because that's that's one of the observations I've made since just digging into this, promotional overall overall women's sport cards are incredibly undervalued.
Incredibly undervalued. Now I think there's a lot of demand for Caitlin Clark. One thing I'm sort of I'm kind of surprised that her I've been waiting for her cards to kinda decline.
I I haven't seen that. Right? And I don't know if that's just insatiable demand or it's that you have you know, collectors aren't comparing Caitlin Clark rookie cards to Asia Wilson rookie cards.
They're comparing her to Jordan rookie cards, and they're comparing her to Kobe rookie cards that that's their frame of comparison.
And when you compare WNBA women's sport cards of similar athletes to male counterparts, they seem incredibly cheap. Mhmm.
I think that and the other thing I think it's also important is while WNBA is a huge growing market, Caitlin Clark cards are still such a small percentage of when we compare compare the amount of Wendy cards that are moved every month versus Caitlin Clark cards.
They're WNBA is still such a small niche within collecting.
It's growing, but it's still such it is a small niche. So, you know, we're not talking about trends and, like, we we can't look I mean, the trends we're looking at at WNBA is we're looking at, like, trends that are six months old.
Because like I said, there was one card of Sabrina before before she ever came into the WNBA, and that was a sports illustrated for kids card.
We've never had I mean, has there been an athlete in all of sports that have had more cards produced of them before they became a pro?
In women's sport, it's absolutely Caitlin Clark. But who's the compare is it Wanda Franco? Who? Potentially. I mean, I for great. I mean, we're talking eight over 800 different individual cards.
So how how big of a role do you think Bowman Chrome U is in terms of setting exposing collectors to women's, like, Paige, Juju, like, Hernando, and, like, having giving them getting ex getting them to expose to women's basketball cards before they even reach the WNBA.
Do you think that helps, or do you think that that hurts?
Like, how do you see that point? Frankly, I think the men's game needs Bowman U men's basketball more than the women's game does because the women's game right now is a better product.
I think the worry is I mean, I I think the men's basket in some ways, the men's college players need more exposure than the women's do right now.
And, again, you have the instance. Right? So we don't know long term how people are gonna view, the instance. Right? So there's just we've never had this many products for women.
So it's hard like, I don't I I I will be interested to see, like, for me you know? And there's great discussions where people say, is the, you know, the WNBA Panini instant draft gonna be the true rookie card?
I don't know. The rules will say it needs to be pack pulled and it needs to be a base. Some of the rules don't work in the women's game.
I mean, I'm seeing this right now with PWHL where people are saying, you know, we just had the new upper deck PWHL product where we have, you know, Hillary Knight was born in the eighties, and she is a young gun.
You know, Marie Philippe Poulenc. Right? First rookie card was in first card was in 02/2007, and people are saying, no.
Her young gun for this year is a rookie card. Are you really gonna tell me that someone has had a XRC for fifteen years? That's ridiculous. Some of the rules may not work because it's we haven't had the same kind of exposure in product.
So we're we're we're seeing that. You, mentioned, I guess let's go here with Mhmm. A lot of collectors are coming in or whatever you wanna label. Mhmm. Investors, whatever.
They're coming in. Mhmm. Their their first exposure to WNBA cards is on a stream, a whatnot stream or whatever that buying into breaks to win it big to hit that Caitlin Clark parallel that they can then go resell and make some money.
That's what that is what's happening right now.
And, like, you mentioned, like, right, breakers aren't even, like they don't even know the other players. Like, the stuff they don't even know Asia Wilson, who's the MVP, best player in the league.
How, like, how do you think that's, like I don't know. I I think exposure is a good thing, but, like, do you think that hurts the long term, like, the the chance of someone being in getting into WNBA cards for the long haul?
And if they're able to kind of learn from breaking and they realize it's something that they like, what what are kind of the recommended paths that you you would say to continue to get informed and to continue to get educated on the products you're a collector who's just not a fly by night, but someone who's gonna stay here for the long haul?
Well, I think, you know, absolutely, if there was, you know, break I and, again, the hobby needs people who flip. I'm not I'm not against I mean, I'm a business school professor.
I'm not demonizing people who get in the hobby necessary for flipping. I think those voices have changed these small insulated communities that have been created, when they sort of come in and don't understand the culture.
And I think that's created some interesting moments of shifting feelings among long term collectors. I mean, there's never been a better time to collect women's scorecards.
I would say breaking rooms aren't the place that's going to be the best place to start simply because it's usually not a hue it's gambling. Right? It's it's like it's gambling.
And a lot of break rooms are not a place where they respect females and respect female athletes. Right? So, you know, it it's the same thing of why, you know, the Internet was so important to women collectors.
Like, women collectors don't you know, I go into a a local card shop, and I get treated like I don't know what I'm talking about. I go into break rooms, and I hear horrifically demeaning stuff. Right?
So give me eBay. Give me a Facebook group where that's not gonna happen. Right? It's just like where I say where people will say, well, women just aren't interesting in collecting. And I say, alright. Well, like, why do you think that?
And they're like, look at the national. How many women do you see? And I'm like, okay. Well, is that because women aren't interested in connect collecting, or is the national a place where women don't feel comfortable?
Right? Is it just not an open environment? And and so, you know, I think I think but but women control more than 85% of household spending.
So women may not be the person buying the card on the floor of the national, but, statistically, over 80% of transactions are controlled are are are signed off of by a woman.
Right? So, you know, I think, you know, I think I think there's larger questions about how breaker culture, how repack culture is changing, how people enter the hobby, and whether that's positive or that's negative.
I think there's a lot of interest right now in the WNBA, and I just I I think I think women's sports are only gonna go up.
I think overall, these cards are incredibly undervalued. With the rise of women's sports, do you see an increase in women female collectors through your channels where you interact?
Do you feel like that number is is growing alongside just the rise in women's sports? Yeah. I think women's sport collectors have always been there. I think they've just been pushed to the periphery.
And I and I see this particularly you know, it it's it's interesting. I I study I'm a sport marketer. I do a lot of I've been looking at why women don't watch women's sports. I've been looking at disinterest. Right?
And, I find particularly and I see this maybe I've talked about this a lot with a lot of female collectors in the last year, for instance, in the WNBA that I think in some way, male collectors coming in because women's sport collecting isn't necessarily a, like, sanctioned like like like, sanctioned part of the hobby for men.
You know how they talk about men either puff up or they shrink down?
Right? There's a lot of peacocking right now. There's a lot of mansplaining. There's a lot of really triggered men, in these chat rooms, and we and we see and we see that.
Right? And I think that's one reason why, you know, whether collecting women's sport isn't, a celebrated aspect of masculinity, capitalism is and flipping is.
And so they'll lead with that. And I think that's just part of the the male gaze, the g a z e, and how they, you know, gambling is masculine, Making money is masculine.
Watching women's sport, it depends what your friend group is, I guess. I hope it's getting I think it's getting better. This has been a really fun con I wanna know what what is your what is your favorite stuff to collect right now?
Like, digging into your collection, what excites you the most? It's I have never been more bored with WNBA. I and I don't know if it's just but I just never been just like I just you know?
And it's it's that's just me. PWHL, upper deck. Finally, we get an up a a product. If there is any critique on a company, like reach first revenue, If if I could give any piece of advice to the PWHL, it's do not resign with Upper Deck.
Go and find someone like Parkside because it Upper Deck sat on this license for years, and gave us a product that, people can't even find. The PWHL doesn't need exclusive products on ePACT.
The PWHL needs an affordable product in people's hands right now because their issue is reach big time. But that's like, PWHL is excited. Some of the products, LEAF is coming out excited.
You know, I I I love I love giving away cards. So, you know, I have events with the PWHL. I do events with that. But some of some of the stuff coming out with with the the others women's sports have been really cool.
What in your mind, going back, just thinking about just the lineage of WNBA cards, what what t like, in your mind, what is, like, the pinnacle set?
What what set excites you most? And you think just years from now, it'll be the most revered set. Like, what comes to your mind? A few quick things. Right? 01/1997, the inaugural set has a parallel called executive collection.
They're about one in 81 cans. That set is extreme get it in a high grade if you can. They came in cans. That's gonna be a legendary set. I think you have these short print, vets.
And, again, if you look at the cards that are selling, like, well conditioned short prints of Rittenhouse vets, are always I mean, those are selling, like, amazing because they're just they're rarity there.
Right? So I think those are the kind of cards that I get excited about.
Game use patches that we had at Rittenhouse, I think those the coolest card I well, how about this? One of the coolest cards I think is Sue Bird's rookie year '20, 02/2002.
Fleer Ultra did a patch card of hers. The card isn't just game worn. It's her game worn jersey from her first WNBA game. If that ain't and I that how do you get better than that? Who doesn't wanna own that card? That's nuts.
Right? So, I mean, there's some such really cool iconic cards that are out there. And, again, you for the price of, a Caitlin Clark base auto at a prison prism, you could buy about four Diana Taurasi rookies raw. Totally. Yeah.
It it's it's if you take the time to go dig into the WNBA legends of the past like Taurasi and start price doing some price comparison. Stuff just doesn't doesn't add up. And to me, that always I mean, yeah, and that's probably true.
You you know, my my friend, my my my friends remind me when I see a, you know, $1,300 box of prism opened, and it's a a lot of beard and, like, Shea Petit Auto that nobody in any no one's collecting prism in the men's products for the autos.
Right? Like, nobody's not. Right? The difference again is the price point. We're just we've never seen price points like this in the women's game.
No doubt. What's what what's next? Maybe just let's close out with women on top to your IG page. Like, what what's next for you? Like, maybe share with the audience what you try to achieve with your account on a regular basis.
Yeah. I'm just a nerd. I mean, I don't work in the hobby, so the account started me just chronicling cool stuff in my collection. I'm really passionate about our donation program.
You know, every week I'm sending out you know, last year, we we sent 55,000 cards, across America. It's a free program. Collectors donate cards to me. I pay for the shipping out to places.
I partner with the PWHL fleet next month giving away cards. I just I love putting hands in the cards of kids. I mean, that's, like, a real big passion for me. I don't know. I'm just gonna talk cardboard.
You know? I've been working with Tai Fauci and Bullpen LA on a on a podcast, so I don't know. Companies keep making cool cards. I'm gonna keep talking about them. It's just it's just this is just it it it's this is better.
I'll do this instead of doing laundry. Much more fun. Much more fun. I'm with you on that one. And if you're looking to get educated on women's sports cards, definitely follow Anne Marie at women's on tops, and check out our articles.
Always good stuff. This is a lot of fun. Thank you for taking the time to dig into the current WNBA, card landscape. I will have to do it again soon. Yeah. Thanks so much for nerding out with me.