For almost a decade, maybe more, I avoided retail stores like Wal-Mart and Target like the plague. Not my thing. But in the past two months, I’ve probably been close to thirty times. Why, you ask?
Sports cards. The latest addition to my sports x fun x investing portfolio. I traded sports cards as a child, but didn’t think a lick about them for nearly 25 years.
Then LA happened. And everything changed.
—
When my son and I went to Los Angeles about five months ago, I did not purposefully pick a hotel that was directly across the street from a Pokémon/sports card trading store. It just happened. At the time, I hadn’t messed around with a sports trading card in decades. But as y’all know, I love sports, I love sports adjacent activities, and I love my son. So when he suggested that we walk across the street and check LA Sports Cards out, I didn’t hesitate.
I felt right at home in the store, and the gentlemen that worked there gave us a more than warm welcome. However, when it came to modern sports cards, I did not know anything. I didn’t know what was going on in the industry, what was valuable, and what was not. What I did know was I love investing, I love limited edition things, and I love art. Oh, and I love sports.
So I bought a few individual cards, namely Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, but I also bought a few random packs. I had no idea what might be in them, but there is nothing like the thrill of the chase.
I vividly remember opening the packs in our hotel room across the street and pulling a Shohei Ohtani card, who we were scheduled to see play in person later on our trip (We didn’t. He got hurt.). But I also pulled some cards that I had no idea what was in my hand. I kind of just laid them down and gave them to my son, quietly unaware if they were good, bad, or totally irrelevant.
Then I got to work.
—
I told my son that we had to learn what the hell we were doing. The process was already fun, but it would be even more fun if we knew what we were doing. We took to Instagram and YouTube, but interestingly learned the most from a Prime Video documentary about the modern card trading game.
You have cool players, cool cards, rare cards, rookie cards, stamped cards, and autographed cards. Then you have cool players on cool rare rookie stamped autographed cards. And that’s what you want.
—
My son pulled a coveted Victor Wembanyama rookie card from the Wal-Mart in Ocean Springs. I pulled a Juan Soto autograph from a WalGreen’s in Gautier. I pulled a CJ Stroud rookie Prizm from Target in D’Iberville. My office is officially overflowing with some really good stuff pulled from the most mundane places, mundane places that I now frequent like the local pub.
My son and I have a standing deal. If I pull a player from his beloved Boston Celtics, I have to trade it to him. If he pulls a player from my New Orleans Pelicans, he has to trade it to me. We negotiate and trade all the time. One time I tried to make a trade that he didn’t like, and he told me to screw off. I was very proud of him. One time I offered him a fair amount of cash for that Wemby rookie, and he made the deal. I only wish he had had some of these cool Celtics players’ cards when he met part of the team last year in Houston.
Fresh, live autos. That would have been a vibe.
—
After I learned everything that I learned, we started going through some of the cards that I pulled in Los Angeles and just lazily gave to my son. Turns out that I am a dope, and there were some real gems in there that I had to trade to get back my own cards.
Since LA, we’ve visited a card shop in New York City (Bleecker Trading) and found a local card shop (Gulf Coast Sports). All three places have been absolutely awesome, and I’m sure the card shop category will be added to all future trips.
But in the strangest of strange twists on this wonderfully wacky journey, I now like going to Wal-Mart and Target. Who would have ever thought that the thrill of the chase would take me THERE?
—
Have a great week.-Benj
Join the abk community!
Follow along on Instagram @anythingbutkhakis, @abkgolf, and @anythingbutkhakisphotography.
If you enjoy these and would like to get the weekly piece via email, please follow on the website http://www.anythingbutkhakis.com.
anything but khakis 