Hi, Ryan Reynolds here for Mint Mobile. Are you looking for a beach read this summer? May I suggest your big wireless bill. It's got suspense, mystery, a slightly flat emotional arc, and a shocking twist where you realize you've been overpaying the entire time. Fortunately, though, Mint's story is better.
Every plan, $15 a month, even unlimited. That's it. Happy ending, zero tears. Give it a try at mintmobile.com/slash switch. Upfront payment of $45 for three months, $90 for six months, or $180 for a 12-month plan required, $15 per month equivalent to taxes and fees extra.
Initial plan term only graded with 50 gigabytes be slow and network is busy. See terms. Fidelity Crypto is built on 80 years of investing experience with the same discipline we apply to everything we do.
So you can trade crypto and stocks together at Fidelity while getting industry-leading security for all your investments. That's crypto without compromise. Visit fidelity.com slash crypto to get started. That's fidelity.com slash crypto. Crypto is offered by Fidelity Digital Assets NA is not insured by FDIC or SIPC and includes risk of significant loss.
Securities are offered by Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC member NYSC SIPC. 5 a.m. I'm up with a crisp Celsius energy drink. Running 12 miles today. Grab a green juice, quick change, and head to work.
Meetings, workshops. One more Celsius, no slowing down. Working late, but obviously still meeting the girls for a little dancing. Celsius. Live, fit, go.
Grab a cold, refreshing Celsius at your local retailer or locate now at Celsius.com. Game. Good morning, everybody. Welcome to the Winklerverse. I'm Bart Winkler.
Today's episode, we are going to meet Casey Sabinish and Andy Sabinish. They are brothers. They are twin brothers, and they are the. Faces Who you'll get to know. of the slab.
The slab is coming to Shood. Great village. You know, I'm fond of it. The slab is coming to Shorewood. It's going to be on Oakland.
Oakland's under construction. It's a mess. But when Oakland's done, the slab should be ready to go.
So some good timing there. Probably early 2027. It's going to be a place where you can come in. Look at cards, trade cards. You can buy cards.
You can get your cards. on sale for consignment. They could have a drink. There's going to be a bar and restaurant. Component to it.
Check it out, the slab.net. You'll see. what the space is going to look like. The slab.net. It's going to be really.
it's going to be really really cool it's going to be it's going to be a part of Sure, with the people kind of make one of their you know i always say that we need more third spaces You need your work, your home, and then a place where you can go and just hang. And this could be that, the slab.
So we're going to talk to them. That'll be the bulk of today's episode. Tomorrow, we will get mm-hmm. I had to push it off. Because I gotta watch these World Cup games.
And they're at our recording time.
So pushed it off. We will do it tomorrow. on Thursday.
So Thursday Um And then more exciting stuff as the days go by. Remember the Winkler versus Tailgate, August 6th. People have been buying tickets. I got like 100 reserved in the outfield. But You gotta buy them if you're gonna come.
They're like on s uh they're cheaper than I did get a group discount.
So don't go to the brewer's website and just buy a seat. I've tweeted it. At Bart Winkler's show. It's pinned. Otherwise, hit me up and I'll get you the link.
For the Brewer's Tailgate August 6th. I have not decided what to do if it rains. I just thought of that just now. Hmm. Home run derby came and went.
Do you like the format? Do you not like the format? You know who I'll credit? I saw a little bit of Josh Albrecht. Talk about this.
He says the format's fine. Just Don't change it now. That's the thing with these exhibition contests. NHL, Pro Bowl, NBA, everyone's always changing. They're always make it better, make it different.
I am a bit worried. That's why I'm not going to complain too much. About Um Oh, okay. Yeah. I guess the brewers made a trade.
Okay, I'm just uh I just went to ESPN.com. to look at the box score from last night. And it seems like the Brewers have traded for Lance McCullers Jr.
Okay. What they will receive in return is not yet known. McCullers is waiving his no-trade clause to complete the deal. He's in the final season of a five-year $85 million contract. Um Nobody's text me on that.
What am I doing here? This was an hour ago? All right. We're also getting left-hander Colton Gordon. Hmm.
Okay. He's only pitched 39 innings this year for the Astros.
So we're. Taking a little bit of a flyer. Lance McCullers, Jr. is not. What he used to be?
I'd like to see who are giving up before I. Comment more on this. More on this in mm-hmm mm-mm. I do see uh One tweet here from Jean-Claude Fan Dan. Brewer's edition of McCulloch is a classic buy-low from a cheap skate organization.
If they want to be legit World Series contenders, they're going to have to push in.
Some real chips. Yeah. Well Okay, we'll see how this works. Lance McCullers Jr. to the squad.
Anyway. And again, we'll get more into that tomorrow. Or we won't. Maybe it's not a big deal. The American League won 4-0.
It feels like there's a lot of these games now where There's one inning of scoring and then No one else scores. Like if you go up 3-0 in an all-star game, it's over. That game was over. And everyone knew it. You got to take the under in these things.
Contreras got in. Uh all for one. Miz, of course, didn't pitch. Fifteen strikeouts? From the American League, 12 for the National League.
The pitching's too good. When all these guys need to do is go pitch for three batters. But I'm not going to complain about it because then, if we complain about it, then Major League Baseball is going to be like, oh, we got to change it. And suddenly they're going to be like, throwing a fungal ball out there or Using a softball or something or All right, let's give them bigger batch. Just it's it's It's the most traditional kind of game that you're going to get.
In any of these sports. Because baseball You try your hardest. You can't not try. Whatever you do is trying your hardest. Maybe they're not running it out to first or.
diving for a ball to save a no-hitter, but Just trying in baseball. encompasses all of not trying. and trying. It's all The same action. You can't try harder in baseball.
Just like you can't try less. in baseball.
So We'll see what happens there. Probably nothing, hopefully nothing. But yeah, they scored in the first inning. It was. It was over.
It was over. As always, we're brought to you by Dan Shaney Insurance. We're brought to you by Carl's Place for Golf Simulators and Happy Place Hemp promo code BART. 25% off each and every order when you get your THC or CBD products through Happy Place Hemp. Do type in BART.
at checkout for 25. Off. The Slab Twins will join the program. That is next. You're into the Winklerverse.
Having a daily routine is crucial. For me, daily walks with my dog are a non-negotiable part of my wellness routine to get some fresh air and clear my mind. And after those walks, it's easy to grab my favorite all-in-one nutrition shake and take it wherever I'm off to next with Kachava's new travel packs. One easy to use packet provides complete nutrition, ready for life on the go with protein, fiber, vitamins and minerals, greens, probiotics, omegas, electrolytes, and more. Cachaba has eight great flavors, including chocolate, vanilla, chai, matcha, coconut acai, strawberry, coffee, and my favorite, backed by popular demand, chocolate mint.
Take your daily ritual with you. Go to kachava.com and use code SPORTS for 15% off your first order. That's cachava, spelled k-a-c-h-av-a.com, and code sports. The World Cup champion will be crowned this week, and you can trade the tourney through the finals on Cauchy, America's number one prediction market platform. Right now, England is trading at 44% to beat Spain, meaning 100 trade pays out 176 if they win.
On Cauchy, you're trading against other people in a live market. No house, no odds makers. For a limited time, download the Cauchy app and use code HOOPS to get $10 when you trade $10. K-A-L-S-H-I. Cauchy, trade the beautiful game.
18 plus only restrictions and eligibility requirements apply. Event contract trading involves risk and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices, values, and available markets make different from those mentioned. For more information, see Cauchy.com slash regulatory. Good morning, everybody.
Welcome into the Winklerverse on location. We're in Shorewood at the slab, or the offices next to the slab, but the slab is coming to Shorewood. Annie and Casey. Last name again? Slavonish, right?
Sabinish. Sabinish. Ah, slab, sav.
So you guys are the kind of, I guess the face says. identical faces of what's going to be coming to Shorewood. Tell us first what people can expect when the slab does open. Yeah, thank you, Bart. Yeah, Andy Sabinash, I'm one of the GMs, my brother Casey.
We appreciate you having us on. Yeah, the slab is going to be a really cool space. It's going to be a multi-use space. Um History is with Sports card collection that goes back to our childhood, early childhood. And really, it was something that our family enjoyed doing together.
And Since COVID, you know, back in 2020, 2021, the market just boomed. There's been so much in terms of pop culture relevance that has just kind of entered into the card collecting. stratosphere if you will that Um It it It was the right time to kind of begin a business. My brother and I started a business that slowly kind of. Transferred into the slab.
And what we wanted to do is build something that is not going to be just a standard hobby shop experience. I think, you know, while we respect all of our, you know, the people who exist, not only in the local Milwaukee, Wisconsin area or the state of Wisconsin, but broadly speaking, There's things that can be made better in the hobby shop entity. And so we're going to be building a bar restaurant that goes along with the hobby shop experience. We're going to be adding a A multimedia space called this content studios that'll be used for not only live selling, which is a huge part of the hobby, but also podcasting. That's something that we have a lot of interest in as well.
And then, you know, rentable events space. We're going to be a place where both hobbyists and non-hobbyists will love coming together because at the slab, our slogan, if you will, is connect and collect. And we're very purposeful with putting connect first. We want to make it so that anyone from the community can come in and enjoy themselves and find something that they're passionate about within the slab.
So I think one of the things with like card shop experience that I've had, and it's been pleasurable, but when you go in, it can be a little overwhelming. Like there's a lot here. I don't know what to do. I don't know what I want. And for people that.
I think so many people. Like, might have a collection. And they're trying to figure out: well, how do I best maximize the value of this? Because you can look online. You get these cards.
I'll give an example with my father-in-law. He passed away, and then I had his cards, and I was. trying to sell them for my mother-in-law. And I started looking up the prices. And I'm like, oh my God, we have like $100,000 worth of cards here.
And then I realized that, you know, that's if it's PSA 10 or PSA 9. Or if it's graded as an eight.
So a lot of these were like. Five or six. Uh and still we made Not that much money, but we made some on it, which is good. But that whole grading thing I found to be. Like a little overwhelming.
So, if you're somebody. that has a collection of cards, and you know it's worth something. What would be like the appropriate steps? Should they come to you and look at it? How do you get it graded?
If I've got a stack of cards that I want to sell and I don't know what I'm doing, How do I do it, essentially? Sure. And I think that's where my brother and I's expertise comes in here. look to become the experts within the field. You know, the situation you just described is a very common one.
People having collections that they just. don't really have an idea where to start. And thankfully, that's where an entity like ours comes into play, bringing collections to us, or we are more than happy to travel around the state, around the country, frankly, and explore collections. It's part of our job. And being the experts, to your point, in understanding.
A, what is your collection look like? How diverse is it? What eras are we looking at? Years, players, all that kind of stuff. And then defining.
What is the quality of the card, the condition of the card, being able to really kind of start to dive into, okay, what is the, I guess, investment look like to start getting cards graded and what content might be worth it? Because there's examples of cards that are worth it, and there's examples of cards that probably aren't worth grading. And it's better to just kind of move it as a raw card, as we call it. And so that's where our services come into play. We're going to offer not only kind of appraisal services as well as grading services with all the major grading companies that are out there.
PSA, Beckett, SGC are the three kind of main companies that you work through. And then it's just from start to finish process of understanding: okay, here's what the value can be expected, you know, based off the grading appraisal, and then going into the process of going through the grading process, shipping the cards, waiting for the cards to come back. And then we offer the full service, you know, the full package really when it comes to consignment or buy-sell options and stuff like that.
So, my brother and I, and we have a team of people behind us that really view ourselves as experts in that field and have the ability to help people. Yeah. Totally naive to the hobby industry and work them through the entire process from understanding what they have to selling it and getting the money in their pocket. Go ahead. I was just going to add, I think what's It's funny because when we We, you know, have a number of people, as my brother mentioned, um, that we're, you know, this lab is hiring and bringing in in all different fields.
So, um, we have Emily Johnson or Patrick Spencer who do our social media or marketing, um, and sometimes when we bring people in, they have very limited experience with. uh the sports card hobby or just the hobby in general collecting Um, and I think in general, it is still a fairly niche thing, though it is growing day over day, um, and it. What I always say to people is Something that seems so traditional or so simplistic in nature is ripping open cards and just seeing. Is incredibly complex, and so it's taken years of understanding the market, under learning from others, and doing a lot of research to be able to get ourselves to a point where we feel like we can be very helpful to people in that regard. But, yeah, something as simple as it seems can be very complex.
And so, that's kind of like my brother mentioned: a service that we hope to provide to the community is just helping understand what do you have here and what steps do you need to take in order to make sure that. That you're getting the value out of your collection that is possible and trying to make it more simple than it maybe sometimes can seem like. I don't know what it is about. Like Cards that I've. It's just something.
When I was a kid, um, As soon as I had memories, I was collecting cards. And I can vividly remember my sixth-grade birthday. Was that a Shaky's? Nice. And I got a box of cards, like a top set 89 or something.
You know, all the wax ones from my grandpa, and I still have it. It's unopened. I just, I don't, I don't want to get rid of that. I have so many other cards that I've.
Sorted and organized over the years. And then I like Didn't force it upon my kid to like cards, but I would give him cards very young, and he started playing with them last night. Last night, I'm not kidding. At like nine o'clock, he's like, Daddy, can we go get a pack of carts? Yes.
Like, first of all, you should be in bed. Second of all, Sure, we'll go get him tomorrow. And he just likes opening cards. And then I thought, okay. Because he's into like Pokemon and he's into Sports.
And he's got other friends that are like it. The other day he traded with one of his buddies. He gave up sports cards for Pokemon. And I thought he got ripped off. And then his buddy's dad thought he got ripped off too.
And we were like, should we? It was just, it's weird.
So, what I'm saying is, it's cool that I thought I was maybe gonna have a tradition and to share with my kid. But I'm seeing other kids like this hobby is still alive, not just for. Adults. I was walking by. I was on a walk the other day.
And there was a kid. Near my house. had a table and I thought, okay, there's a lemonade stand. Sure. This kid is selling cards.
Oh, he's like sitting there selling cards. And I'm like, buddy, are you? Cause I know him. I'm like, are you selling any cards? They're like, well, I got candy too.
Yeah, okay, so he's selling candy. And then as I'm talking to him, some kid comes up with like cards to trade and it's just If if that is happening, that is really cool.
So I think that There's You know, people like us, we can say we grew up and we can say we all thought we were going to get rich off the 10 Griffey rookies. Right, right, yeah. But then there's also these kids now that are growing up, and I. They are growing up, though, in a different kind of landscape because now I'm seeing a lot more. Like one of ones or There were Too many.
They were overproduced.
Now, I'm almost wondering if are they under-producing cards for kids, or is there a happy middle? I don't know. I think what in regards to a long story to get there, I know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think the hobby in general.
Um There's a lot of differences. Viewpoints. You go to a hobby show, for example, or a trade show or a card show, and you talk to vendors, you talk to other people who are attending the show, and you'll get. Different viewpoints, no matter who you talk to. I think there are a lot of traditionalists who look at, you know.
Back in the day, when there were really just four manufacturers, and each year they would release like a basketball set and a baseball set and maybe a football set. And that was sort of what they grew up with, and that's what they seemed to enjoy the most.
Nowadays, with the, you know, with just media in general being so. Like it's just exploded, right? Kids these days have access to so many different types of media. Good or bad, you know, that could be, but um. I think Collectors, especially young collectors, like you mentioned, are going to be seeking variety when it comes to their collections.
And so I think the manufacturers like Panini or Fanatics, who owns Tops. are kind of going that direction too. They want to have the ability to Allow collectors the access to different sets or different varieties of cards so that they can then go about collecting differently. There are people who will collect rainbows or essentially all of the different parallels of a card in a set. There are lots of people out there who do that specific thing.
And so I think it's just a matter of like it's kind of the hobby adjusting to be able to. Go to your preference as a collector. As a collector myself, I think it's a lot of fun to go out there and seek different things, different cards, different varieties that maybe I haven't even seen before. And I I think just in general new collectors, at least this is what I found. are looking for similar things.
But at the same time, I could definitely see how A maybe more traditional collector would see it and say, Maybe it's a bit much. You know, that's there. There's just different viewpoints on it, I guess, is my take. I wanted to touch on one thing that you spoke to there, and that's the concept of entrepreneurship that exists within this space more like more than ever before. Yeah.
Are we seeing a. Start to really turn into young entrepreneurs. And it's incredible, frankly, when you start to walk. My brother alluded to these shows that we go to, or even just. engaging with folks online or whatever it is.
You're dealing with individuals who are young into their careers, young into their lives, and they're collecting and they have all this. Their collections are quite vast, and they've invested quite a lot of money and assets into these things. And so when you see, you know, young kids on the side of the road, you know, selling their cards. That's That's not uncommon, I would say. That's frankly a part of the hobby space now is to.
Try to Understand the value of your collection. You know, back in the day, so many times you hear about folks who are just into trying to get a hold of the card just from the sheer appreciation of who the player was or you know, the type of aesthetic the card has.
Now it's like, okay, what is the value of this card and how can I go about flipping it into more value or trading it or whatever to be able to continue to elevate the collection forward.
So I think you're seeing quite a bit of investment, even at a young age, from kids into what can I, you know, invest in to try to flip into even more valuable stuff. Because there'll be when when your shop's up and running. I mean, they'll be guys like me. That are coming in and saying, what is this worth? I remember in my house where my dad's collection was.
And we always like thought that was, there's so much money there. They're going to make so much money. And again, it's all the. 87 tops, 89 donors, all that stuff. But you're going to have also like, you're going to have.
It's eight-year-old children coming in and wanting to experience. And then there's going to be, you know, there's going to be someone that this story always happens. My husband had these cars. I don't know what they're worth. It's like, oh, lady, they're worth.
A hundred thousand dollars, yeah, yeah, exactly.
So, that connect that you said earlier, I think you really are going to see that, especially. Um, you know, in a place like Shoreline, I think you guys are going to see that big time. Yeah, I think. I love the hobby. We've loved the hobby for You know, 25 years ever since we had our first memories, even we say.
Uh We were really brought into the world as collectors. There's a photograph. The two of us as baby infants in our cribs. And just in the background was there was a set of. The 90s called Ultra is produced by Fleer, and Ultra had some of the best inserts from the 90s, especially in basketball.
And there was one insert called Jam City. Um, and our dad had collected during that time, and so he had the just the jam city set just in the background, so it's just us in our cribs, and then the jam city set in the background, and what That's really what we appreciate about the hobby is like The connection piece, being able to talk to people about their life experiences, being able to talk to people about. What brought them to the hobby? How can we get them into the hobby if maybe they're not? Because, like I said, at the slab, we're hoping to appeal to not just people who know about cards, or maybe they've never experienced cards before at all.
They didn't have kids, or you know, they're single people who just want a place to go. How can we get them interested? I think it's such a cool time to be entering into the hobby and It's not going to be just cars, but maybe it is something a little bit different that we can provide to them artwork or. Vinyl, you know, people out there like different things, and we're hoping to be able to appeal to everyone. And even if it's just that you come in and enjoy a drink with us and we just talk and we, you know, get some exposure to you, and you get some exposure to us, that's that's really what we want.
And when I think about the traditional hobby shop experience, it's a very mixed feeling.
Sometimes, We have really great relationships with some of the hobby shops that we've been to just across the country. And sometimes it can feel just a little bit like. Too transactional focused. It's like we want you to come in and buy. And if you're not going to be buying, then goodbye kind of thing.
We. And to us, that just seems a little cold. We want the slab to be a place where people come in. and they want to be there and they want to stay. Um and that's that's really the the core of what The hobby is to us.
In the core of what we're trying to build.
So you guys were targeting December or January? Yeah, we're looking at really realistically an early 2027 opening, late 2026, early 2027 grand opening. Oakland Avenue here in Shorewood is unfortunately ripped up right now. It's. A benefit to us to an extent because our construction is taking place at the same time that the street outside of our business is being completely ripped up.
So there's a little bit of parallel there. But for us, it's a matter of. You're probably the only business then on the street that's okay with it. Correct. Yeah.
I mean, we've been a part of many a conversation.
So it's not in Shorewood. This Oakland thing is. A nightmare. Yeah, it is. It's the main road in the city.
And so we're very fortunate to have our location right on the main stretch, very walkable community. But the main stretch of downtown Shorewood, basically, if you want to call it that, is Oakland Avenue. And it's completely torn up right now, down to one way each, or I guess one strip each way. And it would be very much of a challenge to get customers out here at this point.
So we're somewhat at the mercy of what Shorewood's timeframe is with Oakland Avenue. We have no intention of really trying to open it when Oakland is looking like it is right now.
So we're somewhat putting the pressure back on Shorewood to try to keep things moving along. Obviously, they're doing their best. And I think. When all is said and done, Oakland Avenue is set to become quite the communal spot for people to be walking, biking. That's the beauty of Shorewood.
That's the beauty of this community: the fact that it's very walkable. It's the most densely populated community in the state of Wisconsin. You're tucked right in on the lakeshore here. It's just a beautiful community. And so we want to be able to engage as much as possible.
And when Oakland Avenue is all finished up and complete, I think that's going to be what it is. Um Can people still like you have a website though that you're still So, if I've got cards now, I don't have to wait until then. What would we do there? We say, well, the slab, the brick and mortar is not currently operational in the sense that you can't walk into the store. We say the slab is open for business right now.
We do a lot of our selling through our e-commerce platforms, our website. We're going through it. 2.0 build out right now of our website.
So it's going to be a great top of the line experience for people who want to just log in and see what or log into the internet, if you will, and just see what's going on at the slab. But you'll be able to buy and sell straight through the website. A main thing that we're trying to grow, especially, is our consignment.
So, we're trying to build our consignment partnerships, and that stuff goes straight out to our eBay platform, our website. We are beginning what we anticipate being a large. A large selling platform for us on the WhatNot platform. It's a very popular live selling platform. You can get it through the internet or an app that they have.
Ideally, our goal is to be selling on that as much as possible.
Now, we always say when it comes to our consignment partners, like the main thing is getting them top dollar for what they have. And so our objective is not necessarily To sell your stuff as quick as possible just to get you money. We want to make sure that the money you're getting is top tier money for what you have.
So we have a lot of branches that we are actively creating right now or Able to provide right now, even before the shop is open. What's the website? The slab.net. The slab.net. Yeah.
And beyond just selling content, we offer services. We have office space off of Silver Spring and Kent and Whitefish Bay, just up the road from us, not two miles from where we're located right now. And we have a fully built out ability to service collections, as we kind of alluded to earlier, where if you have content you're looking to grade or get, you know, we've already had customers come in and are looking for just appraised value on collections. That's what we can offer to the community immediately.
So We're totally open. There's a platform, you know, through our website, LawFromthislab.net. You have the ability to connect with us. You can sign up through our newsletter, follow us on social media, obviously, to be able to connect directly to us. You're speaking directly to my brother and I.
When you reach out to us, that's who you're engaging with.
So we are fully open for business. The open sign is always on. You guys find more people come in? Or you see people that think they've got a lot and then don't, or they're like, I don't know what this is. And you're like, um.
I mean, it's not a honest wagner, but they have like, oh my God. What do you see more of? It's so funny. I'll take a pretty popular quote is to say that 99.9% of Cards, sports cards in general. Um, or you know, cards in general are not worth the paper that they were printed on, but the 0.1 percent.
is really what we chase and that can be worth tons of money. Um And and There's so many cards out there that have been produced just since, you know, even the pre-war 1908 time period, all the way through ultra-modern cards that are being released on seemingly a daily basis. It's really dependent on The market, right? Like, what is the market saying? Are certain cards worth right now?
Because you'll see a card say sell for $1,000 today that if you wait until next year to sell it, could be worth less than $100 because the the modern day player goes out and is not living up to the hype that they are. Or, for example, we've been paying close attention to because we have on consignments a Michael Jordan Fleur rookie that's in a BGS nine grade And the same card that was selling at the beginning of 2026 for $15,000 just sold for $28,000 this week.
So you have to kind of play the market and be really honed into what are cards doing right now. I would say the majority, and maybe you have a bit of a different experience, but the majority of things that people bring to us. Most of it is not going to be worth a ton. But you still take the time and care because There really just has to be one card in a section of. A million cards potentially that can make up for the difference of all the other cards, and then some for sure.
Just to kind of Go back to the question a little bit. I would say a majority of people. that we engage with. tend to have a concept of what they have, but it's not necessarily like a full understanding.
So, you know, educating is the number one thing that we tend to do. We view ourselves as educators as much as anything else. And hey, you know, People might understand, like, okay, this card I think is valuable, but have no concept for what it's actually selling for. And that's where we come into play, and we can actually give you like real in-time market values on things. And to my brother's point, that can be very volatile.
So how do we ensure that, you know If a card is peaking at the right time, how do we know when we're selling it at the right time? And then, you know, maximizing the value of the content. I would say our our job is to educate. When you the first question I had, you mentioned COVID. Mm.
You got the story of cards. COVID's a big part of it. It is. Which is weird, but it is. I had brought in those cards I was telling you about with my father-in-law.
I took him to I took him to name that card.
Okay. Uh Rick. Sure. And great guy. And I took him there the summer before COVID.
Now, obviously, you don't know COVID's going to happen. No. And then I talked to him after and I said, This card thing seems to be booming more. He goes, if you would have held on, I could have got you three or four times as more than we did. But it's weird.
It's just, it was a time where people. Just kind of like Remembered that they had these collections, or they needed something to get into, which is. It's just so weird. Like, I don't, I think. There's no way that You could have a conversation about cards now.
It's just a weird thing, that exists. It really was. I mean, it's. Super bizarre, and I do attribute it to people. We were at in their homes more, and they were like, Well, I have the time, I guess, a little bit more now because I am home all the time to just go through.
And so, But really, what it was was you start, it just brought back nostalgia. And I think that's the core of the hobby in general, whether it be sports cards or, you know, with people our age now, Pokemon has become such a big thing. As people our age are starting to get, you know, incomes that they can spend on war stuff, they're going back to what they enjoyed as kids. And I think that's just sort of almost like a human psychology type thing where we just. Like the things that made us feel comfortable, and that oftentimes does bring us back to when we were kids.
And so When you started flipping through the cards you had in your attic or in the basement. All of a sudden, there's more interest that's piling up and more money that's coming into the hobby. We saw huge spikes in market values on cards because there's just a lot more people who were investing. Because they were brought back to the hobby from being around their stuff more. And then I think what you saw from that is like big businesses.
We look at like uh Like a dick sporting goods, for example, they just dropped. Millions of dollars to up their sports card inventory within their shops. With that, they purchased the Paul Skeens, you know, MLB debut patch auto, one of one that got a PSA 10. They spent millions of dollars on that, and they've made it a central piece of their. You look at the guy from Shark Tank, whose name is escaping me right now, Kevin O'Leary, right?
And he's dropping millions of dollars. Right.
So, what the overall arching point is: I think these big businesses saw, wow. As a result of COVID, a lot more money is being poured back into this. Let's take advantage of that and put more money into it so that we can really build it into this thing that exists within pop culture. That isn't going away. You know, I think there was a time where card collecting was so niche that.
It kind of just fizzled out a little bit, but it just seems like there's been so much money pumped into this now that it just. It's super sustainable now, which I think is a good thing. Obviously, for shops like ours and others that are in the community, we just kind of keep. being able to grow in that in that way. Having a daily routine is crucial.
For me, daily walks with my dog are a non-negotiable part of my wellness routine to get some fresh air and clear my mind. And after those walks, it's easy to grab my favorite all-in-one nutrition shake and take it wherever I'm off to next with Kachava's new travel packs. One easy to use packet provides complete nutrition, ready for life on the go with protein, fiber, vitamins and minerals, greens, probiotics, omegas, electrolytes, and more. Cachaba has eight great flavors, including chocolate, vanilla, chai, matcha, coconut acai, strawberry, coffee, and my favorite, backed by popular demand, chocolate mint. Take your daily ritual with you.
Go to kachava.com and use code SPORTS for 15% off your first order. That's cachava, spelled k-a-c-h-av-a.com, and code SPORTS. The World Cup champion will be crowned this week, and you can trade the tourney through the finals on Cauchy, America's number one prediction market platform. Right now, England is trading at 44% to beat Spain, meaning 100 trade pays out 176 if they win. On Cauchy, you're trading against other people in a live market.
No house, no odds makers. For a limited time, download the Cauchy app and use code HOOPS to get $10 when you trade $10. K-A-L-S-H-I. Cauchy, trade the beautiful game. 18 plus only restrictions and eligibility requirements apply.
Event contract trading involves risk and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices, values, and available markets may differ from those mentioned. For more information, see Cauchy.com slash regulatory. Yeah. Did you guys um and I'll tell you mine, I'm asking so I can share, but Your favorite maybe collection growing up or like and like a lease favorite.
Interesting. Is it Bowman?
Okay. Oh, interesting. They were just like a little too big.
Okay. Yeah. I don't know. I just I hated the card so much. And I have such a weird affinity.
To 1990 NFL Pro Set.
Okay. I just forgot. Not 91, not 92, not 89. That was my set. Yeah.
And I was recollecting it the other day. I collect, I have the whole set now except for this, like. Special Herschel Walker All-star one. I got it's fifty bucks I can get online, but I haven't. pulled the trigger yet but i got like they made a santa claus they made a richard petty Yep.
They made all these weird ones. Iconic. And I had that. But I didn't like those ones. Then there were the game day ones where you needed different pages for.
In like 94. I don't know. But I was a big, and I love now. God, I love now when you buy a pack of like, let's say, the 2026 tops, and then it's Of a print of, like, oh my God, with the, I don't know what, just seeing the guys now and the cards you grew up with, for some reason, that is like. Yeah.
It's like taps just like understanding that that's going to be something that's going to draw people in. And so you might as well do it every year, year over year, every year. They come out with kind of the anniversary sets. And it's a throwback to the old school stuff that a lot of us grew up with. To answer your initial question, I think my favorite set.
We grew up, my brother and I just turning 30.
So you're 96 was our birth year. We grew up in a A great era for collecting sports cards. Our first core memories, frankly, are opening up. like 2,000. uh FUIA or or ultra sets Bowman sets, Bowman chrome sets.
I would make the argument to this day that ironically, my favorite set of all time is the 2000 Bowman Chrome set. That is the Tom Brady Rookie Year set. Ironically, the slab actually at its core, its colorways are kind of. Uh Somewhat tied into that exact set. You had this kind of goldish border to it.
You had these kind of teal blues kind of found in there. The ones I didn't like are like the 90s. Yeah, very different cards for sure. Totally different. It's like they made them out of a bench.
It's like wood. It's like, just, I don't know. I don't know. Yeah. So I think you'd find that.
That 2000 Bowman chrome set is just probably, in my opinion, If not the most iconic football set there is, it's got to be one of the most iconic football sets there is. And I just, it's a core memory that I have growing up opening packs like that.
Now, do I wish we would have held on to a few? You know, we went through this sort of phase where we were kids, we were growing up collecting, trading, buying all that stuff like everyone else did growing up. And then you. You start to kind of teeter into other stuff, and you're maybe less focused on ripping packs, and you're dealing with other stuff. And then you get right back into it, right?
So, do I wish I knew exactly where those 2,000 packs were today or what the cards are doing these days? Totally. Um, least favorite set, I don't know if I can have, I don't know if I have an answer to that. Geez, maybe modern day, uh, you know, probably modern-day Donrus sets. I don't know.
I'd rather just rip optic, I guess, would be like there's one who's doing it. There's a set I bought, maybe it is Donras. But they don't have the licensing rights. Correct. So you get these guys just wearing a blue helmet.
Yep, yep, exactly.
So these are terrible. In terms of, it's funny you mention that because there's been a lot in the last year or so of transition with like licensing, like you mentioned. And so Fanatics owns a lot of the licensing.
Now they've always owned Topps, who has the license for Major League Baseball.
So Topps, for many, many years, has been able to be the exclusive manufacturer of baseball cards that have. Logos for teams on them.
Now, Panini, it's not to say that they can't produce because they have deals with, say, the MLB Players Association or something like that.
So you could still. Have cards of them, but it just won't have their logos. And typically, those cards tend to have less appeal to a lot of collectors. And even so, like you think of like Shoei Otani, for example. Super collectible player.
His 2018 rookies out of like Panini products. Have some value, but when you compare them to what the TOPS products do, it's not even a comparison, really. Fanatics. really now, like as of this recording. And just a few months ago, has established themselves as like the major player for pretty much everything, minus the WNBA, the FIFA World Cup, belong to those two belong to Panini still.
Uh and then the NHL belongs to Upper Deck, but everything else, the WWE to M MLB, NFL and NBA, uh all of those belong to Fnatics now.
So they're really kind of taking the the charge on and who owns what Um I'm going to kind of go with more of a modern, and I'm going to tip my cap to Panini actually, because I think in terms of, Since like maybe 200, well, it would be since 2012. Until just this last year when Panini lost. The right of the uh The licensing to the NFL and to NBA, they made Prism. Yeah. And Prism became kind of like the modern-day go-to set for a lot of collectors.
And specifically the 2012, which was the first year of Prism, I think that that card. When you look at the refra, you know, they call them silver prisms, or if you compare them to like a TOPS project, it would be like they're refractors. Those cards are very, like, to me, it is very eye-appealing. I'm a huge Milwaukee Bucks fan. And so Giannis' rookie year being 2013, his Silver Prism rookie is.
A card that I'm still seeking. uh and really wanted to own someday because I I personally love that collection for sure. There's a lot to get into. There's a lot with the space and the hobby. The slab is coming, it's here.
The slab.net, as they said, otherwise, the brick and mortar early 2027. Guys, good luck. We'll be there. We're touring it. I'm going to.
I'm going to give you the exclusive tour. I just decided that too, if you guys don't mind.
So, when that opens, we'll let you know. But in the meantime, the slab.net. And, guys, thank you so much. Absolutely. Thank you so much.
Thanks for stopping into the Winklerverse. You're more than just one thing. and your vehicle should have more too. More connectivity when you're the boss. Hey Google, when's my next meeting?
More space when you're the ringleader? And we're good. and when you're the mom. Everyone in? the all-new Mazda CX5.
or to move every side of you. Learn more at Mazdausa.com. Google is a trademark of Google LLC. Sequences shortened and simulated. The World Cup champion will be crowned this week, and you can trade the journey through the finals on Cauchy, America's number one prediction market platform.
Right now, England is trading at 44% to beat Spain, meaning 100% if they win. On Cauchy, you're trading against other people in a live market. No house, no odds makers. For a limited time, download the Cauchy app and use code HOOPS to get $10 when you trade $10. K-A-L-S-H-I.
Cauchy, trade the beautiful game. 18 plus only restrictions and eligibility requirements apply. Event contract trading involves risk and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices, values, and available markets may differ from those mentioned. For more information, see Cauchy.com/slash regulatory.
