Klein’s Korner: Summer Solstice Updates – Sometimes the one column a month idea is easy to follow. June has been full of interesting news and this is my third column for the month. Sometimes strange things do happen, indeed. But there has been several developments I personally thought my words, for the penny they are worth, might add a little something to the discussion.
The first thought. and this is just a thought, is that if I were Fanatics, I’d take my card authentication a step further and begin to grade cards. There is no doubt Fanatics have the financial wherewithal to begin the process and this might be a perfect time to begin. With Beckett making a public announcement they are 11 months behind on their non-guaranteed orders and PSA recording huge profits for their business, there is certainly both an opportunity and the volume to begin your own grading business. And Fanatics, also is already slabbing cards with authentic and could hire and train graders to learn about cards and what to look for. I want to stress I have no idea if this in their future but it was my first thought when I saw this:
My twitter feed is fairly predictable. On an average week I might receive 15-20 notifications and scan through some interesting feeds and pay some but not much attention. Imagine my surprise on Monday when I looked up and there were nearly 80 notifications in my feed. About 95 percent of those notifications had to do with the story about how Topps had secured an extension on their exclusive license with MLB Properties. We also do need to remember Panini has a MLB Players Association License which Topps also holds. As for the properties license, I’m sure the MLBPA would remember those players who retired before 1980 who were not grandfathered in for a pension. Can you imagine how much great press Bryce Harper would receive if he received that $400 million contract but pledged $40 million of that to help those players as well as others BAT (Baseball Assistance Team) were helping? He’d still have more than enough, even after taxes, to take care of several generations of his family. However, this is all a pipe dream because there is no way his agent Scott Boras would ever let his players take less than maximum dollars and keep them for himself so his fee can be maximized.
I think there is one way almost no one in our collecting community is looking at this. Which is, having exclusive licenses is something which makes total sense to MLB Properties. Do you want more than one official MLB Pizza, Soda. or countless other goods? For MLB Properties, it is much easier to keep track of one license than of 4-5 card licenses as they had to do during the early 1990’s. One can argue that Topps should receive the license because of their vast history of producing cards; you can argue that Panini should be the licensee because they produce interesting and innovative products. But what no one should argue is this is actually better for the person who is holding the license.
And in case you are wondering, I am actually speaking from personal experience as someone who would have benefitted from more than one license. And no, this had nothing to do with sports cards. You see, my brother-in-law runs a technology company and had worked out a deal with the Texas Rangers to provide all the internet capabilities needed for Globe Life Field or whatever it was called at the time. The deal would have included a suite to every game and I would wager I would have gone to 15-20 games a year. On a different note, getting to the games would sure be a lot easier if there was bus or train service to the ballpark. Driving more than an hour in rush hour traffic when the temperature is almost always around 100 degrees from June through August is no fun. And it’s not just me who thinks that way. Amazon, when they were looking for a home for their second headquarters ruled out Arlington, TX for this reason. Arlington’s mayor’s confirmed this in the local newspaper:
“Arlington Mayor Jeff Williams said in an interview that Amazon was looking for a more urban environment and that probably led to Arlington’s not making it to the next round. “To me, that read that Amazon realized there was too many cars and not enough ways for bicyclists, and people on buses and trains to get there.”
The third and final newsworthy aspect which came up, and this is the most recent of the three, is the recent Supreme Count Decision to insist internet vendors collect appropriate sales tax. As with many other parts of life, this is hard to look at in black and white. First off, and in the spirit of full disclosure, I work for an e-commerce company in COMC and have no idea as to what we will do as a company. That is a decision for Tim Getsch and the rest of upper management to make.
However, another part of me, as a person who began in the hobby as a show dealer and a person who promotes local shows approves of this rule. To me, this was always a major hindrance to brick and mortar store locations such as Nick’s in the DFW area. While Nick’s has been part of the community for nearly 30 years now not all stores are so lucky to have such long runs. Yes competing is difficult and yes as Dean (the owner) once said about stocking baseball boxes in 2017 when the market exploded: “The collectors who know the hobby and want the hotter products all look up every price on their phone anyway.”
There is a big part of me which approves of this decision because we want Nick’s and places such as his to be an level playing field with those which only do internet service. I run shows and being able to buy and sell cards to collectors in person and work with them and learn about their kids, their new houses, their struggles when they have them and their collecting interests is not something which can always be done on the internet through emails and texts. I’m a big fan of interpersonal relationships in the hobby and if this happens more in the hobby as a side benefit of that decision then today was a great day for the hobby.
Rich’s vast experience and knowledge of the hobby has been well documented through the years. GTS is happy to feature his thoughts on collecting in Klein’s Korner. The opinions expressed are his and do not necessarily reflect those of GTS Distribution.
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- Klein’s Korner: Record hobby history - April 6, 2021