Oct 15, 2026 · 44 min · 14 segments
Has the sports card hobby already experienced its golden era, are we living through it right now, or is the best still ahead of us? And what makes a collector decide that a card simply doesn't belong…
Joe PoirotPanelistChris McGillPanelistDavid ChasePanelistJoshua AdamsPanelistUnidentified PanelistPanelistChris, uh, or Josh or David, do any of you have a topic you wanna bring? Uh, I know I can always rely on Chris if I don't see any nods, so I'm gonna go to you, Chris.
Yeah, I borrowed a question that got sent into the crossover that didn't make it into the hour and 15 minute or so episode, and then it was such a good question that, uh, I wanted to bring it here.
And the, the question comes from our friend Mike, who goes by TheShrugMJ23 on Instagram, and his question was this: "Is the golden era of sports cards over, or has it not started?" And then he, uh, implored me, "Ask me about golden era theory." So I DM'd him and I said, "Tell me about this golden era theory." And he said this.
He said, "The golden era is when something, which can be anything, reaches its peak, meaning it's as good as it's ever going to be.
And the golden era isn't true for an individual, it's true for the collective mass.
There is a golden era for everything, and in the moment you don't know when you are living through one.
Fairly consensus golden eras that have already passed include horse racing, boxing, jazz, rock and roll, and prestige TV." Okay? So that's his theory of what a golden era is.
Let's just take it for granted that such a thing can exist for the purpose of this, uh, thought experiment, and then I've formulated his question precisely to be this: What is the golden era of sports cards, in your opinion? And, uh, there, there can be any f- configuration of this.
There's nothing saying a golden era can't be 50 years or, or you might think that the golden era of sports cards was 1949, and it was just that one little, it was that one little year, and that's it.
So you can define the length and the duration of the era however you'd like.
We must not have had it yet." Or you could say, "It passed a long time ago," or you could say, "We're living in it right now." So I turn the question over to the panel, to the, to the chat, to the audience listening at home.
Thank you, Chris, and I just wanna say I think this is a very timely topic on behalf of MJShrug and, and yourself, Chris, for bringing this.
And the reason I say it's timely, I was, again, I said this before, I was listening or watching Hobby Hotline this morning.
Chris, uh, or Josh or David, do any of you have a topic you wanna bring? Uh, I know I can always rely on Chris if I don't see any nods, so I'm gonna go to you, Chris.
Yeah, I borrowed a question that got sent into the crossover that didn't make it into the hour and 15 minute or so episode, and then it was such a good question that, uh, I wanted to bring it here.
And the, the question comes from our friend Mike, who goes by TheShrugMJ23 on Instagram, and his question was this: "Is the golden era of sports cards over, or has it not started?" And then he, uh, implored me, "Ask me about golden era theory." So I DM'd him and I said, "Tell me about this golden era theory." And he said this.
He said, "The golden era is when something, which can be anything, reaches its peak, meaning it's as good as it's ever going to be.
And the golden era isn't true for an individual, it's true for the collective mass.
There is a golden era for everything, and in the moment you don't know when you are living through one.
Fairly consensus golden eras that have already passed include horse racing, boxing, jazz, rock and roll, and prestige TV." Okay? So that's his theory of what a golden era is.
Let's just take it for granted that such a thing can exist for the purpose of this, uh, thought experiment, and then I've formulated his question precisely to be this: What is the golden era of sports cards, in your opinion? And, uh, there, there can be any f- configuration of this.
There's nothing saying a golden era can't be 50 years or, or you might think that the golden era of sports cards was 1949, and it was just that one little, it was that one little year, and that's it.
So you can define the length and the duration of the era however you'd like.
We must not have had it yet." Or you could say, "It passed a long time ago," or you could say, "We're living in it right now." So I turn the question over to the panel, to the, to the chat, to the audience listening at home.
Thank you, Chris, and I just wanna say I think this is a very timely topic on behalf of MJShrug and, and yourself, Chris, for bringing this.
And the reason I say it's timely, I was, again, I said this before, I was listening or watching Hobby Hotline this morning.
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