Hobby Musings: MLB Pitcher JJ Hoover, Hoov’s Hangout – Interview
Hobby Musings: MLB Pitcher JJ Hoover, Hoov’s Hangout – Interview Transcript
Editor’s note: Some text has been changed from original audio for grammar and clarity.
KS: Hey everyone, welcome to another edition of Hobby Musings. I’m Kelsey Schroyer, joined today by a very special guest, former Major League Baseball pitcher J.J. Hoover. Thank you so much for joining us.
JH: Oh, thanks for having me, Kelsey. Appreciate it.
KS: So not too long ago, you opened up your own card shop. What more can you tell us about it?
JH: So being a kid, collected baseball cards, collected Pokémon cards, and, got into selling about three years ago, just kind of on the… just kind of happened. I have a good sealed collection of Pokémon cards. And it’s just been the slow evolution of where do I go with this? I started building an online community and that was amazing. I still have that community and I’m still trying to foster that and grow that.
When it came to opening up a physical card shop, one can interact with customers and fans face to face in the flesh and there’s something just about holding one of your cards or a ‘Grail’ card in your hand. I think that’s just something that’s really awesome about the hobby, being able to, especially when we’re starting to talk big, big dollar cards, like seeing it, holding it like, okay, yeah, I can deal with this. Or man I’m so pumped to see this instead of going online and it being impersonal. So, it’s been this big evolution over the last couple of years.
And then you mix in the fact that I was just wrestling with what to do with the potential after baseball. That was probably the biggest hurdle for me to get through. But I tell you what, I cannot express how happy I am that I’ve made this jump and how much joy this has brought back to my life.
KS: So, the shop itself is still in its relative infancy, what have been some of the challenges you’ve encountered, in kind of getting it off the ground and getting it to the point where it is now?
JH: So, one of the biggest things I think a lot of people grumble about in the hobby or in this business is allocations. Getting the products that people want at a good price so then you can charge the customer a fair price. Allocations were hard, but thankfully I was able to get in with, distributors like GTS and start that process a couple of years ago. So at least I hit the ground running. That’s been one of the challenges.
Another challenge is just inventory management and, cash flow management because as a growing business, I am trying to plan anywhere from three months out to nine months out, depending on the brand and having to decide, well, what can I request? Will I have the capital for that kind of purchase?
Because and in all honesty, as a Pokémon collector myself, I would just go crazy and buy as much Pokémon as I could, just because I’ve been doing this for years, but I always try and put a little bit aside for a long term sealed collection. And now I’m actually getting back into baseball cards. And I started ripping some of the Bowman product from this year, and that’s been fun to collect. I will probably just be dipping my toe back into the sports card market but, I’m still absolutely in love with Pokémon.
KS: So, you talk about getting the product and what you yourself are collecting. What would you say your shop specializes in as far as inventory goes?
JH: So, one of the things that I wanted to do with my shop, and one of the things that I think we’ve been able to execute on, and I do give a huge shout out to all the players that are actively collecting in the big leagues NFL, NBA, soccer, hockey, whatever sport, or just the big competitive players in the TCG world. But one of the barriers that I feel has been broken down now, which I’m so pumped to see, is that players can collect Pokémon cards, they can play Magic, they can play Warhammer, and these are professional athletes. So, I feel like that barrier of, and I hate even saying this word, but like it used to be “nerds” and “jocks” type of thing, right?
To where that if you did, you were kind of like a closet collector. To where now it’s such a more open and accepting space. And that’s one of the things that I wanted to share with my community here is say: hey, I can be a top-level athlete. I can perform at the highest level on the biggest stage, but I still love Pokémon. Like I will collect Disney cards with my wife and you can find joy. And there’s nothing wrong with enjoying those hobbies and being, a collector on both sides of the aisle.
So that was one of the things that made me want to do the kind of dual card shop. You know, card shops back in the day where kind of you had your sports card shop or you had your game shop and you are seeing that kind of, around the broad market now to where they are combined more often. But that was my whole thought process.
And then creating a big, bright, open space. I’ve been into a lot of like “dungeony” card shops. The place that I chose has a ton of natural light. It’s just a very welcoming, bright, clean environment. And that’s all I wanted to create a place where people could hang out, obviously by my name choice.
KS: So being a former MLB pitcher, your shop is in Kentucky. You pitched for the Reds, so not too far from there, per se. Do you feel like being a former pitcher has helped the notoriety of your shop to drive some traffic for people who just kind of want to meet you?
JH: I definitely think it’s helped. Especially being in the market where I spent the brunt of my Major League career. It was my longest tenured team, loved my time with the Reds. And it’s definitely helped. But one of the things I also feel has helped is that there’s a level of trust. Like, I’ve spent my entire career building up my reputation and my character through my work through the community, my work with charitable foundations. All those things were always a big, big, component to who I wanted to be as a professional athlete and in the community.
So being in a market that has some shady characters and has some fraudulent stuff, bringing a level of trust to, hey, when you’re coming into the shop, the product’s legit, and I’m going to do whatever’s right by the customer and being able to have a product for every price point because I will pack out expensive sets. So, a kid and a dad or a parent will come in. They might only have a budget of 15, 20 bucks or whatever it is. They can buy a pack of the hot new set. Or there’s the hobby enthusiast to where buying a couple booster boxes isn’t a big deal, or a hobby box of football or baseball cards isn’t a big deal.
So being able to hit all those price points and just having that level of trust in the community and in the industry, is one of the things that I think is a huge benefit for Hoov’s Hangout.
KS: So, I know this might be kind of an indulgent question, but like when people are coming into the shop knowing you are a former pitcher, or are they asking you to sign items like a baseball or your cards? Do you keep cards handy to potentially sign for people?
JH: I do my best to have a couple cards on hand. I’ve definitely had some people come in with cards, which I’m always happy to sign, especially if it’s like a mutual benefit. Like, I’m not saying that you have to come in and spend money at the shop, but it’s just a level of respect to support a small growing business. Yes, I was a professional athlete, but I’m building this from the ground up and just super happy to sign an autograph or two.
One of the coolest things that I’ve had come into the shop was, one of the organizations I helped with and did some kids work with one of the guys who led that brought in two of my jerseys, and he said, here’s the deal. I will trade you a jersey for a signed jersey. So, I got to choose a jersey. And it just happened to be one of my Memorial Day jerseys from when I played, which I’m all about. I love the camo and I love our troops. And you know, and that was just an easy fix.
So now I’ve got that hanging up in the shop, and that was just a really fun interaction that if I didn’t have the shop in a physical location, I don’t think I would have been able to have that type of interaction.
KS: So being a former MLB pitcher, you do have contacts with teammates and other, people in the industry. Is that something you plan on potentially doing with your shop? Is having in-store signings?
JH: I mean, I know they can get a little lucrative and sometimes be hard to plan. My goal was to kind of stabilize the business first. I still need to buy chairs, like I’ve got. I’ve got probably 40 to 60 chairs. And I probably need to buy another 40. I’ve got a fairly large space, which is another thing that I went into this with. I want people to come in like if one of the products coming out soon is Series Two Baseball, right? Baseball player. Baseball cards. Series Two flagship. Brand flagship release. Being able to have a huge opening party in the store, big. Going to be so fun.
We’ve partnered with the local brewery a couple times and had the beer trailer here. We’ve had food vendors. Trying to just make it a fun family place and like I said, hang out, have fun with the hobby. And just on the same thing with, the Pokémon or Magic, Lorcana. One of the other products that I’m super pumped about is Bo Jackson’s Battle Arena. Such a cool combination of sports and superheroes. That’s a sick, sick product. That update’s coming out at the end of June.
So being able to have and host a large number of people at one time was key. And I just think that’s a big benefit here. So, as I get that settled, I’m definitely going to start reaching out to some of the guys that are still playing that I’ve played with and against, and see if they’d be willing to do something. I wouldn’t mind doing a little charitable thing with it as well, I know a lot of the guys that I’m friends with, they have a charitable arm with their career because, a lot of those guys are just similar spirited guys as me.
Being able to figure out something like, hey, if you want to come get an autograph, one of my favorites is Goldschmidt, one of my favorite teammates. Right. So, if he’s coming to town, I don’t think he is this year with the Yankees versus the Reds. But let’s just say if he was still with the Cards, he’s coming here at least three times a year. If I had the shop open last year, I’d be like: Hey man, pick a charity. Anybody who wants an autograph has to make a donation. Just be able to do stuff like that to where it could be a huge benefit for a lot of different people. Yeah, that’d be really cool to see. I mean especially now, it’s not always easy to try and meet some of your favorite players.
KS: Asking about autographs a little bit. You touched on signing, you signed countless autographs in your career. What do you think is the strangest thing someone has ever asked you to sign, though?
JH: I was asked to sign a baby’s diaper. As the baby was wearing it. Thankfully it was clean, but I signed it. It was no big deal. It was a big laugh. I thought it was funny. I’ve seen so many of those posts of, I think it’s Topps that does a lot of that, but they post like, will they sign it? type of deal.
I still remember it. We were doing an event through the Cincinnati Reds at the Cincinnati Zoo and we were in the autograph line and there was three of us there. It was me, Logan Ondrusek, Zack Cozart, and family brought in a baby and asked me to sign the diaper. So, I don’t know if there was hidden language there or if it was just funny. It was hilarious.
KS: I mean, at least it was clean.
JH: Yes, that would probably have been a no if I caught a whiff of anything.
KS: So conversely, on the flip side, you mentioned the jersey a customer brought in. What do you think is the coolest thing someone has ever asked you to sign?
JH: That is a good question. Most recently, to memory, I had limited edition cards that I had no idea existed. They were just kind of like I guess a better parallel or variant of one of my base cards from 2016. And they had like a gold outline. They said limited edition. I was like, oh, I had no idea this existed. And got to sign that, got to sign some shoes.
I’ve got to sign some products or some memorabilia where, I was the lowest man on the totem pole, right? Just there were Hall of Famers all over the product, and the fan asked me to sign alongside those. So that was always a big honor.
KS: You talked about, you got the jersey in, what memorabilia, if any, have you kept from your career?
JH: I’ve got some jerseys, I’ve got some hats, I got some postseason material, couple of the bobbleheads and stuff like that. For playing with the teams that, just as being a player, if it’s a bobblehead night, we typically get one or two of them for, either our own personal collection or for us to give away to friends or family. So, I’ve got some of that stuff. It’s kind of still boxed up.
That was kind of like that mental grind of, “is baseball over for me?” type of deal, because I didn’t really, a lot of players don’t get to go out on their own terms, and I definitely didn’t get to go out on my own terms. So that was a wrestle for me the last couple of years, which I had alluded to earlier, this has been such a good turnaround and such a joyous thing for me to do. So, as I get the wherewithal to decorate the shop we’ll be bringing in, getting some of my jerseys shadow boxed. I’ve got a Derek Jeter signed jersey, like one of the few autos that I collected during my time playing. I got a Mariano Rivera signed picture. I wasn’t a huge autograph collector because I kind of felt like it was against some hidden rule when I was playing.
So definitely have the wall space to decorate it up. And that’s been one of the phases of production here at Hoov’s Hangout.
KS: You talked about your own collection of Pokémon, you’re getting back into baseball, if you can say, what do you think is your favorite item in your collection?
JH: This is funny because I don’t collect my own stuff but, the last 5 or 6 years I’ve been doing individual and group and private instruction for pitching and throwing. It was just a natural progression post-playing days. And I really enjoyed coaching, mentorship. Mentorship is probably the biggest aspect of it that I love, but I was doing that for the last 5 or 6 years on the side and kind of as my full time gig. I had a player and his dad gift me some really nice graded cards of myself. I’ve got two Beckett nine-fives and one PSA nine of a couple of my cards.
I’m still hunting a Beckett ten of myself. I think that would really be cool. I doubt I have any cards out there that would be a black label Beckett. But that’s like my holy grail. I don’t I don’t even care what card it is. It would just be cool to be in a black label Beckett card. I think that’s one of my goals.
KS: All right, I’ll get you out of here on this. Again, circling back to your shop, what would you say is your biggest goal for your shop for the rest of the year?
JH: Rest of the year is getting the communities in place. From a playing standpoint and a collector standpoint. We’re already, working our way on a Bo Battle Arena community. The Pokémon community, the Magic community is probably the fastest to grow. And then the sports card community and having rip nights and bounty hunts and just fun events like that. Just being able to utilize the space that I have.
And then I’m actually working on building up a high-quality team of streamers that, I respect the heck out of soccer and all the other, basketball. I respect the heck out of those sports and those athletes. But I’m not educated on those sports, so me breaking those doesn’t have the same affect and appeal to some people.
And I want people who might dig what we’ve got going on here and on our streams, be able to join across the country and across the world, be able to watch and enjoy those cards being opened. That’s one of the cool parts about breaking, outside of being able to get access to really cool products. Whether it’s on the TCG aisle or the sports card aisle, certain small town hobby shops might not have as much access to product at times, so being able to be online and have an online community.
So, building the in-person community here at the shop and then continuing to foster and build the online community through finding the right streamers, people that will join my streams to where they can get high quality products and have fun ripping together. It’s all about hanging out, having fun. It’s a hobby, it’s supposed to be fun. If it’s stressful and if it’s any negative, I don’t know if you’re in it for the right reasons. This is too much fun to be, not fun.
KS: Amen to that. So people want to get in touch with you or come visit the shop, where’s the address and how do they get in touch with you?
JH: So, we are located at 405 Washington Street in Alexandria, Kentucky. The ZIP code is 41001. You can connect with me at HoovsHangout@gmail.com. I do have a Discord. I don’t have a link for that. That’s easily shared, but it’s on all of the descriptions on our YouTube, which is @HoovsHangout and then HoovsHangout.com. We’re dropping a new website in the beginning of June. Fresh, updated, high end. I’m excited about that. So, people will be able to view our entire, online catalog of products singles and then our online rips and live streams. So those are the best ways to get ahold of us. I’m answering the phone. I am the man, I’m boots on the ground still, and I plan to be for the next couple of years. I’m not afraid of the work, and I love the interactions with people. I look forward to talking to a bunch of people. And, I just appreciate the time that we’ve been able to share today.
KS: That sounds wonderful. Best of luck to you. Thank you so much for joining us.
JH: Thank you.
Hobby Musings: MLB Pitcher JJ Hoover, Hoov’s Hangout
Kelsey’s ability to bring hobby coverage to the mainstream sports fan has been a true asset. GTS is happy to feature his thoughts on collecting in Hobby Musings. The opinions expressed are his and do not necessarily reflect those of GTS Distribution.
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