Every time my daughter goes out shopping with my in-laws, she somehow finds her way back home with a new football card for me. It’s become this quiet little tradition between us — nothing planned, just something she does because she knows how much I love collecting. This weekend she brought me home this 2024 Donruss Optic Blue Stars Joe Burrow from a local festival.

Those cards have quickly become my favorites in the whole collection. Not because of the player or the value, but because of what they represent — her thinking of me in that small moment.

It’s funny how the things that end up meaning the most usually aren’t the rare ones or the expensive ones… they’re the ones that come from the heart.

Fred reaches out back to his Dad’s hometown for his nextguest…

In this episode of Cards and Memories, host Fred North shares heartfelt stories about his father and the sport of curling, highlighting the significance of personal connections and memories. The episode features an interview with Eugene Hritzuk, a notable curler, and explores the legacy of curling through trading cards and personal anecdotes.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/2UOJdnUocKCVkjOKYKCaNJ?si=OnOhUrRNQSaR1UFy9sY3oQ

https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/cards-and-memories-a-journey-through-my-dads-collection/id1789015224?i=1000725430236

With hobby boxes topping $3K and grading fees ranging from $28 to $80 with 5-month wait times, is collecting still fun for anyone who doesn’t own a PayPal business account?

Remember when card collecting was about joy, trading, and hoarding base rookies like they meant something?

Now it’s a luxury flex.

Want to rip a hobby box with your kid? That’ll be $500, a background check, and a co-signer.

Grading?

Starts at $28. Want subgrades? $80.

Want it back this year? LOL.

Estimated return: somewhere between Christmas and the next Topps lawsuit.

“My 8-year-old saved up allowance for a hobby pack. We’re now entering year 2 of waiting for the redemption to come back.”

“Letting kids collect today feels like onboarding them to crypto.”

“Back in my day, ‘collecting’ didn’t involve a spreadsheet and a reseller license.”

The hobby has gone full Wall Street.

We’re not collecting cards — we’re applying for mortgages on them.

And yes, the prices are wild:

Hobby boxes: $400–$3,200

Grading a single card: $28–$80

Slabs worth keeping: 🤷‍♂

Even base cards — once the gateway drug to collecting — are considered cardboard trash unless serial-numbered, shiny, or auto’d by someone with a blue check.

So how’s a kid supposed to collect without a parent who runs a slab hustle on eBay?

🧠 The Big Picture

If kids can’t afford to join the hobby, the hobby eventually dies.

No new collectors = no future nostalgia = no long-term value.

We’re not building a community — we’re building a flipping economy with cardboard NFTs.

🛠 What Can We Do?

• Bring back affordable hobby products with actual value

• Design kid-focused sets that don’t feel like rejects from Panini Sticker Books

• Give base cards meaning again — tradeability, gamification, story

• And maybe, just maybe… grade what you love, not just what comps

🧃 Final Thought:

If your kid needs to Venmo you just to open a pack…

we’ve officially priced fun out of the

#CardCollecting #TheHobby #DadCollector #KidsInTheHobby #RetailRage #GradedCards #SlabTalk #SportsCards #BaseCardsMatter #CollectingNotFlipping #HobbyBurnout #RipResponsibly