Should You Listen To Sports Card Influencers? 

NOTE: Ty gave me permission to use this thumbnail 😂.

I told my wife not to worry. I pulled out all our savings and put it into Jeff and Chris’ favorite pitchers.

My Billy Butler collection has realized zero growth in value over the last three years…thanks a lot influencers.

I appreciate the options & guidance. People need to think & be smart with their own money.

Definitely my favorite RU-vid baseball channel. I listened to much to influencers in 2020/21 and wasn’t very successful. I’ve done much better the past few years doing my own research and understanding the market better. Now. Shows like this and others will bring attention to sets or parallels I might not have known about and I will research them further. I am grateful for that type of information

I was one of those people that watched the Arraez episode. I held and made a killing selling duplicates the last couple years. He also became my favorite player. Now he's PC and I sell off the duplicates I don't care about. Thanks again Phil.

I learn so much from you guys! Met with my Vets, on Saturday, and they LOVED the cards! You guys are the BEST!

When the pandemic spike hit, I, too, got caught up in the frenzy. The only thing that saved me from going into debt was not having cash to spend and being unwilling to use credit cards. Some of the financial nightmare stories I've heard since ... 😬

This is my thought. With houses, you don’t want to buy an ugly house, meaning if you think it’s ugly, other people think it’s ugly. So I try and listen to people who watch and have experience in what cards are well liked. Then those are the cards I want to buy IF I care about my cards holding value. My house is not an investment per say. I like it, it works for me, but I also want it to be worth something if I one day move. My cards are not purely investment in the same way. I like my cards, I buy what I like. But also I take into account what others like so that if I decide to sell I’m not stuck with a bunch of ugly “houses” aka cards that nobody want.

I always tell people to collect what you like, collect players that you like, collect what you think looks cool, use that as your “North Star “ And usually your collection will end up being ok (as far as an investment goes)

Scott when your explaining why a player is a potential buy it’s like taking a college course on the player. The way you explain the stats using baseball reference is awesome. The people who are shoving 3rd string quarterbacks in your face are who the pumpers are.

Absolutely not. Collect what you like. For me that’s first ballot Hall of Famers.

“You’re not middle-aged, you’re all awesome”. I’m having the T-Shirts printed right now. 10% of the proceeds go to this channel.

Far and away my biggest mistake has been buying that very first pack for $12 at cvs and getting involved in the hobby. I now have a small fortune in cards that i paid a large fortune for. The value for me is the time i spend enjoying the hobby.

A lot of people watch card channels for hype to flip short term. Much like Gamestop stock and Reddit. Do I believe most these cards will hold long term value, no. Too overprinted and 10 years after retirement, even if inducted to HOF, most cards will be forgotten, or major market shrinkage. Smart people know that. The problem is, most influencers talk about players once they’re doing well and cards are already overpriced. So doing research on your own is really the way to go.

Unfortunate that people have been reduced to blaming other people for their own actions. Use these influencers and podcasts as educational tools not investors. Thanks for the transparency, Geoff, Jeff, Ty, Phil, and Scott are providing information. What the public does or how they act on that information is another question. Thanks again

I don't see you guys as influencers but as educators. Influencers are not for me, we can all have an opinion and that doesn't necessarily mean you are influencing. Great job guys!

My biggest mistake was thinking "Oh look its 2021 and there should be a ton of decent rookies in topps chrome and Bowman." I bought and still have a ton of 2021 topps chrome blasters and Bowman mega boxes still sealed.

I enjoy listening to influencers opinions. Sometimes I follow them and make money, sometimes I follow them and lose money. Sometimes I don't listen and cost myself money, sometimes I don't listen save myself money. Listening to opinions is beneficial, if you're blindly trusting other's opinions, that's on you, not the person giving the opinion. Unfortunately too many people in today's society are looking to blame others when things don't pan out in their favor.

Influencer sounds like influenza for a reason. I collect what I want and don't listen to SCR, Geoff Wilson, Gary Vee, etc. Cardboard carpetbaggers don't care about the hobby. I'll continue to buy my PC guys and avoid the rest of the gimmicks.You guys inform and I appreciate the fact you don't have sponsors.

I have never been on your side gents of discussing or opinions live but I have seen people just be crazy on sites because of something said and you cost them or the militating being done! That is just someone giving an opinion and they couldn’t separate that. I really appreciate every thing you guys talk about and other sites I watch because it’s just opinion and nothing solid. Keep up the great job and Geoff isn’t that bad either 😅😅😅

Influencers, especially the guys thst collected for three years 40 years ago and have started collecing again for another 2 years, are basically just annoying. The young guys trying to make this seem as some sort of easy money are obvious and easily avoided. Those that simply talk about prices arent really collectors. As things normallizing they will steadily leave the hobby. I won't miss any of them when they are gone

“Stupid enough to be influenced” is the key phrase for this episode

I watch your videos and really enjoy the conversation as all of you are down to earth and I as well love cards (An avid collector since 1980). Jeff hits it right on the head, pundits give an informed viewpoint which makes me aware of cards and sets to pay attention to. With that being said, I have my own budgetary reality and collecting preferences but your options are terrific and helps give me a rounded understanding of the baseball side ( I collect Hockey as well). Thanks and keep up the great work on these talks 👍👍😎😎

Just because I watch (and listen) to you guys and others, it certainly doesn't mean I'm "influenced" by anyone..... I make my own responsible financial decisions in life whether that's baseball cards, stock market, etc. And besides, it's usually said by alot of you guys over and over that your content IS NOT financial advice. The reason I consume these video to to gain insight and knowledge about certain cards, and for the humor !

When SCI does their informative Top 5 cards videos, I’m always amazed when reading the comments how many people think the video is about the top 5 cards to invest in. If they spent any time thinking about what they were watching, they would see that Ty and Geoff Wilson are reporting on trends in the sales data that Market Movers collects. Yet there are always complaints about how stupid it is to be recommending the #1 hot card, etc. I think some of the comments are on purpose and others reflect laziness. There is nothing wrong with watching hobby content. Everyone making content is a potential influencer to some degree. Exercise critical thinking skills and make your own decisions. Don’t blame others for those decisions. I do agree with Ty that watching content to get the perspective of others and see the thought process that they go through when making hobby decisions can be rewarding and enrich your hobby experience.

I didn't buy any cards for 25 yrs+. When I started up again I did some research on popular guys and decided that 2018 rookie class was the best to go after. Ohtani, Soto and Acuna have HOF potential in my opinion. Unfortunately Acuna probably has a tough road now but Ohtani and Soto are going strong and with Soto playing for the Yankees I think his ceiling is high. My first purchases were '18 topps update blaster and heritage high number. I ended up with all of there rookie cards. Ordered some more today. The high end stuff looks good but still a little pricey for me. Judge is another one to get, what a special player. And Skenes is looking dam good so far

Yes! You guys should give me advice because im stupid! Lol! But honestly I listened to Scott because he knows his stuff when it comes to stats, print run, rarity, and card value, Chris and Jeff know the stuff when it comes to SSPs, Phil's approach is unbiased and straight forward, and practical. Ty knows the market. Above you 5 are great for me as far as information. Especially for someone who is getting into hobby. Just my 2 cents!

I've strictly invested in Gerrit Cole and Dynasty RPAs based on this podcast. It can't fail. Edit - and it goes with out saying, Billy Butler to the moon.

I bought hard into Kelenic, as a fan. I bought during his dips and did fine, minor loss all in all and have some cool cards of his I will keep. Him getting traded away stopped my interest in his cards. i was brought back into cards during the boom and all cards still had the guise of always going up and being investments. My biggest whiff is Noelvi Marte. I bought as a fan, he did do well while called up, but bad choice of cards bought (non first prospect cards that were numbered, I have a ton of his paper sky blue parallels from 21), getting traded away from the Ms and the steroid suspension soured both the money I put in, and my fandom of him. I’ll still snag a rookie auto of his eventually as a reminder and dude could be a good MLB 3B but that was my one and only dive into prospecting.

Wait, so are we supposed to buy Arraez or not? I’ll cash out my 401K if you guys say so. As long as you agree to take 100% of the blame if it doesn’t work out.

Biggest mistake after getting back into the hobby a little over a year ago... joining a ton of breaks for Bowman. Spent way too much and accumulated a bunch of $5 autos (along with some nice ones too). Realizing the money spent wasn't worth it for the outcome. Live and learn haha.

Great show fellas. The junior caminero stuff at the end was hilarious 😂 Phil

Great discussion! Ethics of Sports Cards should be a college class! There is a lot of nuance to this topic.

We all want to have valuable cards regardless if collecting to flip or buying to PC. I'm a subscriber to the channel because I like you guys and enjoy hearing what y'all have to say so yes I value your opinions but personally I'll only be influenced if I actually like the card. I'm honestly not a fan of the Heritage Red Inks. I understand the importance/value of them but I'd choose the RPA over it even if it's not as "valuable." Also, if I'm buying to PC, I'd choose the color match over a Gold parallel. Anyways, keep pumping out the great content.

Pretty much all my purchases are mistakes, pitchers, players I like. I need to do the George Constanza and just go with the opposite of what I think

I hoping junior does well. I put a few dollars into his bowman 1st last year. Didnt cash out the 401k to do so 😂

Chris has influenced me to only collect closers.

That thumbnail was awesome! 😂

I'm all in on Will Grier and Desmond Ridder 🔥

Bowman chrome is the only product that holds value. And usually the big spikes accrue to a player whose bow chro cards are five years old. Iotw the 2023 set, the few players whose cards are going to spike, it won't happen until 2027 and 2028. Ddls, ss, and rv are the fellas whose cards I am buying. Cr is 2021 and getting close to the breakout. There's no way base prizm rc's hold value regardless of performance.

Thanks for the videos

Yes, but mostly for entertainment purposes. The golden rule is that you must do your own research. That means trawling through minor league box scores and having a data tool. I was sceptical of the latter a few years ago for many reasons but it is an aid to the box score trawling. This is a great show!

I buy my favorite team, if any of the prospects hit, Great.

Fwiw: most of the names you mention frequently, i looked into their cards and prices on the cards that will hold value, they are so expensive already that i didnt even consider purchases. For the average buyer, the speccing involves cards valued $25 to $500 that have the potential to 2x to 10x. it is a long long game and the player has to blow up big time.

Yes, obviously! Buy those Will Grier cards ASAP!!

Answer: P- Pott obviously has to listen to the worst of the worst every day. Otherwise love the show and panel. He must have misremembered" he has a job because his boss gave investing advice to the dumbest of the dumb kicking off his business.

“You’re paying for a piece of cardboard with men on it.” Jokes on you Ty I only collect WNBA cards. #Invest

If chris is an influencer, im doing the opposite of what he does. I love you guys but he's a black cloud, lol

I start putting my attention on future HOFer's.

I see nothing wrong with "card influencers" talking about cards they like, hyping up cards and players, etc. Ultimately its my duty to decide if the "influencer" is giving me good or bad information. If you buy based solely on another person's opinion - what happens next is on YOU. I enjoy people talking about card and sports with enthusiasm. Its even better when they put their money where their mouth is and they invest in those cards/players. When I listen to videos from influencers I take it all with a grain of salt, I decide what makes sense for me and my situation, and I discard the rest.

Phil you having never taken full ownership for Ketel Marte and Ramon Laureano. I bought a Ketel Marte BCA and a hatful of Laureano rookies after watching one of your vids. That did not work out well. I hope that by now folks realise I talk mostly tongue in cheek. Here's the the takeaways from that: I didn't spend much so it didn't matter if it went wrong; even the very smart guys like Philmington can get it wrong; and lastly, if a player/prospect is spoken about on a video it's almost certainly too late to jump on. You have to do the legwork yourself and then, when the player/prospect starts getting mentioned in sportscard influencer videos, you get rewarded. P.S. T-Pott always seemed like his own man from the get go with SCI. That must have been a tricky balancing act given his employer's appetite for hype.

Oh great... so what am I supposed to do with all these Billy Butlers?

The reason why you guys aren’t like those pumpers is because of what Phil and Ty were saying that they say why not to that’s why I started following you guys was because you guys were teaching and not telling me what to do lmao if I were listening to others I would be stuck with a whole bunch of blue grass shimmer sticker auto /43 of Justin Feilds 😢

Hear hear, Phil

thx for the vid!

Hello I have been watching some of your videos and I have seen some of the other 2 guys except for Phil’s videos and I think a lot of this subject isn’t really about a certain player or card all the time. I have noticed that many of the influencers have some kind of agenda behind their words or posts. I don’t consider you guys as influencers because you are just talking about the hobby and what’s going on. I think of an influencer in any aspect of life, as just that, an influencer or marketer. I think most of them in the card hobby/industry either are marketing for specific products and that’s fine but I will use SCI for example because t-pot is on here and I think he is very biased towards marketing for fanatics and it is not made clear in his videos directly that he’s a marketer/influencer for fanatics mainly. Influencers seem to not do what you guys do and talk about ups and downs and the reality of it. I will use an example that some of the influencers not on RU-vid but social media (which I don’t use), but they have pictures of their cards in one hand and money in the other. I think that certain people no matter what they influence, should be aware of they have the attention of many people and make it clear. In cards I have had so many people on eBay that I can only assume they follow some influencers that don’t give them the information of how hard it is to get to a place where you can make decent money and let them know it’s not easy and it takes a lot of hard work to get yourself known and established. I think it’s one place that people feel betrayed by some of these influencers and figure that they without knowing how tough it is throw cards up on an auction and think they can just sit back and wait for the money to come in. I don’t deal in too many high dollar cards but it is relevant because I have had too many people that I have won auctions for relatively cheap and after the auction is over and I paid they just refuse to ship the cards because they figured it should have sold a lot higher. Some have been really good and have said that they expected more but it is the chance they take. Some come right out and say they won’t ship it and ignore messages. I have even had to report a few that canceled and refunded me telling me they wanted more and then relisted. I think that’s more of an issue that influencers have to address because of the bigger issues than the ones that suggest who they think is worthy of investment. For me I think of it as entertainment and learning to make better informed decisions but some people are lazy and just want others to do the work and tell them who to buy and what products but they have no one to blame but themselves. Sorry for the long comment. I just think it’s a more complex concept than just a simple pump and dump.

Man I got a google ad when Scottie told me I was going to get one at the 18:48 mark… 🤦‍♂️

I was high on Gavin Lux also and I don't really think we are "wrong" its not his fault he keeps getting squeezed out of positions for 300 million dollar players! lol

Geoff the Sports Card Investor is an Authority on Trading Card Investments... Will Grier 4 X

I would just recommend you not listen to these guys on this channel, and you will be alright. JUST KIDDING! I've stayed long term in the hobby, because I collect what I love. I mostly keep it Texas Rangers, players I grew up loving and a very select few players I like outside of Texas Rangers like Luis Arraez, Bryce Harper ect.

I think if you're going to talk about a question like this, just for the sake of an authentic conversation, you need to have someone with a counter-opinion on the show.

Well here is the thing. I think that if you’re an investor, you’re in it for the wrong reasons, but what can I say? I know nothing about stocks which is how I see investors, but even if they do something stupid, they usually get praise if it works out. It’s the sunken cost fallacy on steroids for these people, so even if they do or don’t take advice on investments, they will end up losing money anyways. You should buy the cards that you want to buy because you want them. Obviously the issue with this is that you can be paying more at some points of the year with trends, but I truly believe that if you want a card and it is in your budget, why not? Prospecting I don’t even want to get into as I don’t know anything about it, but imo it seems like investing on steroids.

Card collecting is not investing-period. You collect because you admire a player or a fan of the team or like building sets- you like collecting. Being informed is ok-but being influenced why??

Sad you even have to talk about this

Boo Scott! Yay Chris!

Will Grier FLEEEEEEEEEER!!!!!! 4X

Plain and simple if a vid watched by a few thousand hard core collectors moves a market it is more indicative of the fact that it is not really a market in the first place.

Disclaimer on buying sports cards? How depressing.

Buy vintage =)

@philmington says "discaimer" and t-pott squirms. ??? Hard making money at a card shop if you had to disclose issues with cards.

😂😂....Y'all dead wrong

No. I even like you guys, but ignore everything you say. lol

Spoiler: Ty spends all his time defending Jeff.

I’m not too sure on who theses so called influencers talk that much about baseball cards.

No.

"It looked really bad" You think? But you kept doing it for 8 to 10 months. I watch these videos and appreciate all of you for putting them up, but that line makes me think this video is trying to be revisionist on the short-term history of the hobby. The articles were being sold to subscribers. It was done as a way to generate revenue. If that is not something that should be taken seriously, then tell what should be?

The hobby is the worst influencer out there.. Look at the difference in price or ( value ) associated with certain grades over another. Some pretty ridiculous differentials from grade to grade🤷‍♂️

In 2024 we should have all figured out by now you can't just trust people on the internet. Doing your own research isn't THAT difficult. Get the ideas SPITBALLED to you and go from there