Collector Q&A: RJ Collects Sets

RJ from RJ Collects Sets was the other collector along with me and my friend and Vintage Card Voyage co-host Ken on the “5 Cards Every Collector Should Own” episode during Hobby Palooza, and it was great getting a chance to meet him, so I thought it would be fun to learn more about him and introduce him to other collectors. He’s uploaded card videos since 2020 with more than 900 videos on his channel, so let’s find out his answers to the Drawn to Cards Q&A.

What’s your card collecting story (when and why did you start, which sport(s)/card era(s), and do you consider yourself a collecting generalist or specialist)?

Like most of us I started collecting as a kid. I ripped packs from 1978 through 1984. I was the only kid I knew who collected, so I didn’t have anyone to trade with. One of my many hobby regrets is that, because I had no one to trade with I would just throw out all of the doubles I got. Why have two of the same card?! I was out of the hobby for a couple years when a kid I worked with at Burger King brought in a pack of 1987 Topps cards and ripped them in front of me. That got my collecting juices flowing again. There was a card shop near the local mall, and every time I drove by it, I thought about stopping in but never did. But after that 1987 pack rip I was motivated. Took a while but in 1988 I dropped in. I lived that same experience we all did when we had this moment. Looking in the showcase I started seeing various cards for $5, $10, $25 and kept saying, “I have that card. And I have THAT card.” Walked out the shop that day with a complete set of 1988 Topps.

My father was a total sports nut. He was a really good high school sports star, never anything after that, but he loved watching sports on television. He watched ABCs “Wide World of Sports” all the time. He bought me a baseball book when I was 12, all about the history of Major League Baseball. It’s a pretty well know book – “The Image of Their Greatness” (2nd Edition – green cover, not red). I never even opened that book until after that card shop visit in 1988. I devoured that book. That’s when my love of baseball and baseball history really took off, and when my passion for baseball card collecting started in earnest.

In 1989 there was card show at the Allentown Fair Grounds. It had a couple autograph guests. Jim Palmer – oh, and Ted Williams and Mickey Mantle. $12 for Palmer. $35 a piece for Ted and Mickey. I went there with a healthy budget and three baseballs to get signed. Second regret(s). This was my first ever card show. I didn’t know that you are supposed to get signatures on official MLB balls. Back then they were AL or NL Official balls. I just brought some official “League” balls I found at Kmart. But I did get the autographs. But the biggest regret from that day, my autograph number for Mickey was pretty close to the last number to be called. While I and everyone else were in line and getting closer, one of the show organizers came walking around informing us that Mickey was getting anxious to leave and wanted to know if anyone wanted to take an autographed ball that Mickey had done for the promoters prior to signing for the public, and step out of line so as to hasten Mickey’s departure. I guess one or two agreed, but most of us wanted to stay and “meet” Mickey. Then one guy piped up and said, “I’ll do it if you give me two (2) balls.” And the guy agreed. So, back then in 1989 I could have acquired two (2) Mickey Mantle signed official AL baseballs for $35.

Following that encounter I was big into card shows and collecting through about 1994. I had acquired about 135 autographed balls, including every living member of the 500 home run club. I stopped collecting for a long while and actually sold most of my collection during my divorce. Lost a lot of great stuff, including all of the balls. But I got back into it just before and during the Covid crisis, and now my card collection is bigger than ever.

What’s your favorite collecting memory?

Interesting, in that most of my favorite collecting memories are the regrets and mistakes I made. They really stick with you and make for great stories. Let me give you a couple. First, I started to attend The Philly Show back in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s when it was still held at the George Washington Convention Center in Willow Grove. At the time it was mostly about the cards and the memorabilia for sale, but they always had an autographed guest, usually a long-forgotten former Phillie or Philadelphia Athletic, but you would get a free autograph for the price of admission. And I always PASSED! I thought, why would I want this guy’s autograph? I don’t even know him. Can’t imagine turning down a free autograph from ANY former MLB player these days.

Second would be the Mantle autographed ball story from above. Lastly, long ago I saw an ad for an estate sale in the area, and it noted that they were selling some old tobacco cards, including a Ty Cobb. I brought a good amount of cash for the time, a couple hundred. But, before the Cobb came up there were a lot of other card lots that were offered. I spent a good amount of money scooping those up first. So, by the time the Cobb came up I had spent some of my budget. It was just me and another guy. I was tapped out at about $125, so he got it. Oh, it was a T206 Red Background Portrait in case you were wondering.

Who/what do you personally collect?

First let me say I will purchase ANY baseball collectible I find interesting. My collection is baseball only, but the topics are far ranging. However, I have several active concentrations ongoing at the moment.

I am a set collector. I buy pretty much any and all sets of baseball cards that I come across if the price is right and it interests me.

I consider myself a Mike Schmidt Super Collector. I have nearly 2,000 unique cards, I have completed the Basic Topps AND Basic PSA Set Registries. And I have all sorts of memorabilia. Recently I have narrowed my card collecting focus to only cards produced during 2005 or before. No one can have it all anymore.

I collect anything related to the Phillies that I find interesting. That includes bizarre Phillies logo household items and food products. I have a box of Phillies Band-Aids, an empty Phillies tissue box, an unopened bag of Phillies peanuts, and even a Phillies flyswatter.

I am collecting baseball themed stamps at the moment. Trying to acquire a full sheet of the old style, and sheets of the new stickler type as well. Any U.S. issue with a baseball or baseball player theme.

I am building a collection of every movie, either VHS or DVD where the primary plot revolves around baseball. I have about 75 so far. I imagine there are many still out there.

I am trying to acquire a biography of every person enshrined in the Hall of Fame.

What’s your favorite card you own and/or what’s your grail card? Tell us why.

This is a tough one. I don’t really think about my collection in terms of favorites. However, a few YouTubers over the years have done contests asking for your “coffin card” or the one item you would grab before running out of the burning house. I guess if I had to choose, I’d pick my 1978 Topps Mike Schmidt card. Not my PSA 9 slabbed version. Not the one in my Mike Schmidt binder. Not the one that is part of my 1978 complete set. But my original card. I still have the Mike Schmidt card that was on the top of the first 1978 pack I ripped. That’s my favorite card. No grails here.

Who/what motivated you to start a YouTube channel?

During my absence from the hobby, from time to time I would view YouTube videos watching people at card shops opening high-end product and pulling huge hits, like Ruth, Cobb, or Wagner autos. That was fun. Then as the urge started to build again in 2019 I started looking for more interesting videos and stumbled across Ray From Philly’s channel. I found his Mike Schmidt PSA set run and I think he was just starting his Carlton run. Started watching a number of YouTube channels then. Eventually I thought, why not take a stab and show off some of my own stuff. So I did. But it was actually watching videos by Ray From Philly that got me inspired.

What’s been the best part of your YouTube experience so far?

As a guy who has always collected alone, getting to know people in this Cardmunity and having the ability to chat with them from time to time has been the best. Last year I went to the YouTube gathering in Cleveland. And I mean I went to the YouTube gathering. I drove out all day Thursday from eastern Pennsylvania to get to the Legion Hall by 6:00, spent the night in a hotel room, then drove home the next morning. Never attended the National. But I got to meet a lot of the big names on YouTube. And this year I got to be a part of Hobby Palooza, which was equally great.

If you could talk to/interview any person on your channel (creator, person in sports, person in the hobby, etc.), who would it be and why?

On this one I don’t have a single name. I don’t do guest spots on my channel. At least, I haven’t done that yet. And there’s no list of names I’d want to make. I’d like to invite ANY person involved in the hobby to join me on one of my episodes. That extends all the way up to people in the sport, people in the card manufacturing process, dealers, collectors, YouTubers, or even hobby widows. But again, that’s not something I currently do on my channel.

Which three YouTube sports card channels do you think more people should watch?

Not sure this matches your criteria, because most of these channels are already well subscribed to. However, three (3) channels I view as Must-See-TV are Baseball Collector, Chris from Missouri, and The Mangini Collection. Why? These three channels show a variety of card products, and their content is almost always uplifting. Not much criticism of the hobby, just showing cards they love. And that’s why we watch content on YouTube.

If you had a magic wand, what’s one thing you would change in the hobby?

Time to end parallels. One of the worst things that ever happened was the invention of the 1 of 1 card. And in today’s world there are nearly 500 1 of 1 cards of the star players every year, from the 1 of 1 base cards of each product, to 1 of 1 parallels of each insert set, to 1 of 1 versions of the auto and relic inserts, to 1 of 1 on-line exclusive sets. It’s crazy! And each base card can have 50 different parallels, all different colors and serial numbered variations. I long for the days with no parallel cards. You open a pack of base cards, maybe with a couple inserts, maybe with the Gold version numbered to the calendar year. But 50 versions of some bullpen pitcher who appeared in only two games in the major leagues? No thank you. Parallels are what have made base cards worthless.

What do you think the future holds for your channel and for the hobby in general?

I did a video about two months ago giving my “State of the Hobby Rant.” I’ll summarize that here. It is clear that the Hobby is currently experiencing its second boom. The first was from the late 1980s to the mid-1990s. I personally believe a large part of the current boom came from YouTube. We all can be “a part” of the hobby now, and we can share with others and make hobby friends in a way that was not possible before. Another part of the current boom is the Covid crisis. I think this drew in a lot of money from outside sources that were unable to spend elsewhere but poured money into eBay and other auction sites. But with every boom comes a bust. At some point in the future the hobby will go dormant, like it did during the early 2000s. But that won’t mean it will be “dead.” Consider the following collectibles: stamps, coins, beer cans, Coca-Cola. Each of these items was at one time big business. But in truth, somewhere in the world right now there is an online group of individuals as passionate about those items as we are about sports cards. It’s just not as widespread as the passion for sports cards currently is. And some day we will enter our dormant period again. But like those other collectibles, our hobby will never die. New products will be released; old favorites will disappear. New stars will emerge, prices will rise and fall, and someday a 1952 Mantle will sell for $50M. Welcome to the future of our hobby.

Hobby Thoughts: Setting Up at a Card Show

This past weekend, for the second time in my life, I set up as a dealer at a card show. My first time was at the same show back in March, when I shared a table with a friend, and I spent a lot of time prior to that show choosing, comping and pricing cards to sell. As much effort as the preparation was (and it was a lot), giving me a glimpse into the life of a dealer, I enjoyed the process, and even managed to sell a few cards. Thankfully, the preparation and the experience better prepared me for this go-round.

I did this one with a few friends, which helped the experience, as, like the first show, it’s nice to have people to talk with, especially during any down time - but, honestly, there wasn’t much of that. According to the guy running the show, every vendor table was filled, and for the first few hours of the show, there was a constant flow of people.

I didn’t have the opportunity to walk the show (or eat, for that matter), but based on what I heard from my friends, there weren’t many vintage sports cards, so I likely didn’t miss much. Based on what I did see, there were a lot of Pokemon cards and other TCG, as has been the case with most shows I’ve been to this year. I do wonder if that helped me and my friends. I say that because we likely were some of the few tables focused on sports cards, and I think we had a pretty successful show. I ended up selling more than 80 cards, and most of the proceeds will go toward trying (emphasis on “trying”) to help fund our kids’ higher education goals.

I get the feeling that, schedules permitting, my friends and I will continue to set up at the occasional show, which is not something I necessarily thought I’d say. I think this experience has made me realize, as someone who’s hesitant to put himself out there in these types of situations, and as someone who doesn’t have experience in sales, it’s been a valuable lesson to realize that I actually can do it. And not only does it help build confidence, but it’s also a great way to expand my network in the hobby, and since one of the reasons I’m collecting again is because of the community that comes with it, that’s pretty darn valuable, too.