I always thought “Why is there any value at all in a player’s autograph if you weren’t the one getting it?” was a valid question that nobody really wanted to grapple with because the gambling was fun and once you start asking questions, you start getting answers you don’t necessarily want.

This autograph scandal feels like when NFTs got frothy and people finally started asking what you get for your money or why a cartoon ape with gold fur was more valuable than a cartoon ape with blue fur. People stopped blindly aping and started asking questions, and the cracks began forming. Was all downhill from there.

Predatory card companies, breakers with preferential treatment, slab cracking and resubmission as a business coupled with PSA quality control issues… The hobby has been dealing with these cracks for a while now, but at what point do all the individual cracks lead to structural damage?

Will be interesting to see the long term effects (if any?) of this new one.