Ask Me Anything!

I’ve never done an Ask Me Anything (AMA) before, so let’s do one before the end of the year.

First of all, it’s important to remember that I’m not an expert on cards. I’m happy to provide my opinions on things, or share details of my channel or newsletter.

Please keep the questions to topics I talk about:

• Sports cards & the industry

• YouTube

• Newsletter

• MLB/Red Sox

• NBA/Celtics

• Horror movies

• TV shows

• 1980s and 1990s Nintendo games

I’ll try to answer every question in an upcoming video and/or newsletter or two.

To ask me a question:

• Add a comment below

• Reply to this email

• Email me at [email protected] with subject line AMA

On CT Scanning

I have not waded into CT scanning territory because, aside from a box of 1990 Donruss, I don’t own or care about sealed wax. I wouldn’t have anything to add to it, and doing a video just because I know it will get clicks isn’t of interest to me.

I’ve actually barely paid attention to it.

The Athletic did a big story on the fad, though. (I say fad because card manufacturers will almost certainly find a way to make this impossible. Right?)

I was most interested in this scan:

I had seen this type of image before, but seeing how precisely they can calculate centering was new to me.

The company most famous for doing the scanning has actually patented a process that will make it much more challenging for people to scan cards.

It’s really worth a read.

I sent the article to a friend, who said it was paywalled for him. I’m not sure why it wasn’t for me, since I’m not a subscriber. Sorry if it was for you.

Social Media Comes Through

You’ve Gotta Watch This

🗣️ YouTube Comment Of The Week

Both of these are from last week’s discussion of Topps using AI for cards:

🎬 Upcoming Videos

• Another Attic Find Friday — I have a bunch of these again

• #59-55 of my ACE 100 list

• Amazing card room — seriously, this is amazing!

• A subscriber’s killer music card collection

📩 Upcoming Newsletters

I hope you don’t mind a few newsletters a week until I catch up.

• Topps and the case of the worsening collation

• An absolutely bonkers vintage and pre-war collection my friend Oliver saw parts of on Saturday and is trying to help the person sell

• Trimmed Ohtani card graded by PSA

• Swapped jersey patches

• A Paul Skenes card that surprised me

• 2025 sports card industry predictions

Meanwhile, from my newsletter last week:

🎬 Channel Highlights From the Past Week

This is an interesting one. It got about as many views as I expected Friday night. And then at some point on Saturday afternoon, the algorithm grabbed it and pulled it to a ton more views. I love it when that happens, but I never really understand it.

And more ACE 100:

🎁 My Pickup Of The Week

Instead of talking about cards I bought, let’s talk about cards I didn’t buy.

Steph Curry’s rookie card is one I really want. PSA has only graded about 5,000 of them. Compare that to LeBron’s 2003 Topps, which has been graded 20,000 times.

8s sell for $700+, and anything under and 8 doesn’t come up for auction very often. A really nice 2 popped up on eBay last week, though, and I meant to put in a snipe bid but forgot.

It sold for a very affordable $330.

👻 Brief Horror Movie Review of the Week

Actually, this isn’t going to be all that brief. And there will be spoilers.

I watched “Nope” last week. It was one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen.

How did this get such good reviews? What did people like about this?

Which characters are we supposed to root for? OJ is dull and kind of sucks. His sister is cool and fun, I guess? But what is their backstory? Why would we care about them? And why do they not have any brother/sister chemistry?

Who is the antagonist? The “alien” thing that showed up 90 minutes in and then really didn’t do much?

What was the point of the Jupe character and his childhood acting backstory?

When OJ and his sister go to the Best Buy-like store, there’s one salesperson there. He sucks really badly. But he’s eager to go to their ranch to set up the system they buy. How does the only salesperson have time for that? And when he shows up, he tells them a weird story about his ex-girlfriend. Why? And somehow he ends up becoming best friends with OJ and his sister.

How is it that everyone seems to know about the alien thing, but it’s not national news?

After watching that movie I feel the way I felt after reading A Man Called Ove, one of the worst novels ever.

1 out of 5 stars

I’m going to see Nosferatu on Saturday with friends. I hope it’s a lot better than Nope.

🔗 Links:

Collēctīvus Holdings announced as Beckett parent company

King Street leads $250 million financing for Beckett parent company Collēctīvus Holdings

Collector Has A Change of Heart; Is Giving MLB Debut Patch Card Back (I mentioned this story briefly on Sunday, but Horacio got comments from the seller!)

2 Sask. men say they are out thousands of dollars after hockey card order never arrived

PSA Offers program will play 'matchmaker' for collectors with wish list of cards

Top 10 Most PSA Graded Cards of Athletes So Far in 2024

Ohio Man Gets 4-6 Years in Prison for $2 Million Baseball Card Theft

Lucky 11-Year-Old Has Box Break to Remember at Local Show

Unknown Until Recently, Yeow Basketball Collection Wows

I’m also adding a Links section to future non-Monday editions! More and more links nowadays.