My Hobby Blog/Vlog Story of the Month details the sights and sounds of a weekend of Hobby 1st and my personal and vulnerable exploration of what these two experiences meant to me, how they have shaped my collecting journey as a Black Collector, and how I can help move the hobby forward in becoming more accessible and inclusive.
A Cardboard Weekend of Firsts—Replays, Recalls, and Reflection.
Even though I did not have to wait for the clock to strike midnight, “My Cardboard Weekend of Firsts” was officially over as I made my way home from Wheelhouse. On my drive home, I replayed the cardboard events that I experienced throughout the day and night with my sidekick, cardboard family, and newly acquainted cardboard friends over and over in my mind. I looked at myself in the rearview mirror and smiled profusely as I thought about my daddy-and-daughter moments with my sidekick. As my smiles subsided, I gazed softly at the empty road before me and stored all the memorable conversations I had throughout the day in my short-term and long-term memory banks. After my eyes awoke from the brightness of the lights at my exit from the highway, I remembered all the great cards I had seen at both cardboard events. Finally, when I arrived home and inserted the key into the doorknob, my heart became overwhelmed with joy, nostalgia, peace, and excitement because Saturday, February 24th, 2024, would become the cardboard milestone experience of my second hobby run.
In the aftermath of this memorable Saturday of buying cards, rippin’ packs, and authentic cardboard community at The Brotherly Love Show and Topps Rip Night at Wheelhouse, I thought deeply about this defining day and night of cardboard experiences in my cardboard lab. At first thought, I immediately went back to my first hobby run. I imagined what it would have looked, felt, and sounded like if I or the collectors from my first cardboard ecosystem had the opportunity to experience robust cardboard events like this in the '90s’. Then I thought about how proximity, or the lack thereof, plays a pivotal role in shaping how specific sociodemographics can experience the hobby. Next, I thought about how I can get the cardboard industry to “see the room” and genuinely assess “The Hobby” through an equity and equality lens to ensure that future cardboard events truly embody a community that is the sum of all collectors. These three thoughts, coupled with the picture I took of my daughter before we entered the Brotherly Love Show, the little Black boy I saw at the show, and the communal experiences I had with a majority of collectors who didn’t look like me, challenged me to assess the current state of “The Hobby” honestly and void of emotion.
A Cardboard Weekend of Firsts—These two pictures embody the idea that “The Hobby” can one day be a community that is the sum of ALL collectors, not a few. The picture of Skylar represents inclusivity, and the card of Mookie Betts represents belonging.
A Cardboard Weekend of Firsts—The Current State of The Hobby; My Honest Assessment
While sitting in my comfy chair surrounded by my collection of cards, I assessed the current state of the hobby through my day and night of cardboard firsts. After using my photographic memory to replay everything I saw, heard, and felt, I arrived at a conflicting cardboard juxtaposition. On the one hand, I witnessed and engaged in cardboard moments when “The Hobby” achieved the notion of being a community that is the sum of all collectors. On the other hand, I also remembered vital moments when I saw “The Hobby” as a community that was the sum of a few collectors. This jarring but honest assessment of my magical cardboard day made me smile but punched me in the gut. So, instead of harping on all the societal causes of my conflicting cardboard juxtaposition, I put on my educator thinking cap to address the pink elephant in my cardboard lab and the room (e.g., the hobby industry).
The pink elephant I saw in my cardboard lab and the room (e.g., the hobby industry through the Brotherly Love Card Show and Topps Rip Night) consisted of four factors. They are access, proximity, targeted engagement, and heterogeneous(varied) opportunities. These four factors that make up this pink elephant aren’t new to the modern era of collecting. These four factors were present during my first hobby run twenty-eight years ago, and they were among the main reasons I walked away from the hobby when I was 12 years old. As a disclaimer, even though I could not articulate these points as a twelve-year-old, my experiences as a collector, or the lack thereof, were my experience. Also, despite my lack of knowledge of the cardboard industry twenty-eight years ago, through my singular POV and listening to the stories of other collectors who look like me. My current inference about the hobby as an industry is rooted in my cardboard experiences and industry research. So, given my background knowledge about “The Hobby” and experience as an educator, I believe the success of “The Hobby” over the next 150 years will rest on the card industry’s willingness to bring the right people to the table now. More importantly, the primary focus of “the right people” at the table must ensure that the card industry diversifies its reach and genuinely models/drives the actions and concepts to pollinate the ecosystem we call a community.
A Cardboard Weekend of Firsts—The image on the left represents cardboard access, and the image on the right represents the potential of “proximity” if the hobby were the sum of all collectors.
A Cardboard Weekend of Firsts—A community that is a sum of all collectors
If I were one of “the right people” sitting at the table, my suggestions to improve:
access would consist of two strategies. For my first strategy, I would increase product availability in underserved cardboard areas by allowing small box variety stores, gas stations, and corner stores to sell 2nd and 3rd-tier packs/boxes of cards so a once prominent target market can be reintroduced to the hobby. I would also insert educational information in these packs/boxes about collecting and the hobby industry, such as how to build sets, the difference between an insert card and a parallel card, industry careers, and backstories about prominent industry figures, etc. In addition to increased product availability and educational information, corporate entities such as Fanatics, Upper Deck, Panini, etc., could partner with local hobby stores and incentivize the creation of cardboard community outreach programs so new collectors can nurture/expand their cardboard experience. Coupled with incentivized community outreach, the aforementioned corporate entities could also incentivize and support local hobby stores that want to open brick-and-mortar card stores in underserved collecting communities that traditionally don’t have access to local hobby stores.
proximity would consist of corporate entities reimaging what traditional theme or national cardboard days such as National Trading Card Day, Topps Opening Day, or Topps Rip Night could look like in communities with or without local hobby stores. For example, if Fanatics formed a strategic partnership with a local community center with proximity to both urban and suburban communities of diverse sociodemographics and a nearby local hobby store(i.e., 5 to 15-mile radius), an event like Topps Rip Night could genuinely embody what the hobby really looks like in real-time and beyond what we don’t often see on social media platforms—a melting pot of collectors. This intentional investment through community partnerships and innovative planning of these themed and national cardboard days could foster a more connective collecting community and consistently bring together collectors from diverse sociodemographic. More specifically, through these rich connections, the cultivation of cardboard friendships, and a plethora of organic cardboard experiences, strategic events of this magnitude can deepen the card industry’s reach and maintain attention on collectibles outside traditional cardboard experiences.
targeted engagement would include corporate entities such as Fanatics, Upper Deck, Panini, Leaf, etc., establishing strategic partnerships with school districts, recreation centers, and the boys’ and girls’ clubs to create trading card clubs. The engagement components of these card clubs could focus on learning how to build a collection, the history of trading cards, entrepreneurship (i.e., selling cards), designing cards, and industry insight about the business of trading cards, etc. Investing in the creation of robust trading card clubs would allow collectors in underserved collecting areas to experience the full scope of “The Hobby.” More importantly, having kids from underserved cardboard communities engage in the full scope of cardboard experiences to fidelity would, in my opinion, positively impact collector longevity and the card industry. First and foremost, engaging in diverse cardboard experiences beyond collecting could keep kids from these areas interested in trading cards during the traditional years when kids typically stop collecting cards. Finally, if all kids, especially kids from underserved cardboard communities, partake in these industry-based experiences, years later, these once-young collectors, entrepreneurs, and creators could potentially take product innovation in design, marketing, branding, sustainability, etc., to new heights.
heterogeneous(varied) opportunities would include shifting the cardboard industry's current practices and approaches from “the help” to a more inclusive opportunity environment at all levels (i.e., corporate entities, card shows, distribution, local hobby stores, etc.). So, what do I mean when I say the cardboard industry needs to shift its current practices and approaches from “the help” to a more inclusive opportunity environment? The best example I can provide without being long-worded or winded is that at any typical card show, whether it be The National or a local show, the dealers at the tables are predominantly white and male, and the athletes are predominantly Black. This example plays out at all levels of the hobby, from Topps Rip Night to the Boardrooms of corporate card entities to the majority of digital publications that create/promote the story or stories within “The Hobby.” Whether you agree or disagree with my honest assessment of the card industry through the examples that I have provided, we can have that spirited discourse another day. However, suppose you are willing to acknowledge the cardboard experiences I have shared through various media platforms and my status in the collecting community as a top contributor. In that case, the merit of my stance should be considered when it comes to elevating the card industry.
heterogeneous(varied) opportunities (cont.) To shift the current practices and approaches from “the help” to a more inclusive opportunity environment that mirrors the notion of the card industry being a community that is a sum of all collectors. First and foremost, the card industry (i.e., people in charge) must look in the mirror and ask: are our boardrooms, departments, and industry partnerships a true reflection of our collecting community? In addition to this critical question, the card industry must ask itself another crucial question: is the collecting community a true reflection of the sum of all its parts or just the likeness or image of a certain sociodemographic? After answering these questions honestly through comfortable and uncomfortable conversations, the industry decision-makers must invite a diverse group of stakeholders and change agents to the table and actively listen to suggestions and ideas that can ensure that:
at local, regional, and national shows, the dealers are diverse.
the boardrooms, industry departments, etc., are diverse throughout the card industry.
all sociodemographics, especially sociodemographics from underserved collecting communities, have equitable access to cardboard experiences.
there is a concerted effort to ensure an equitable balance of mirrors and windows when telling stories or creating cardboard content.
A Cardboard Weekend of Firsts—The Epilogue
My cardboard weekend of firsts at the Brotherly Love Card Show and Topps Rip Night at Wheelhouse was a nostalgic day and night filled with many magical cardboard themes and memorable cardboard moments. These events showed me glimpses of what “The Hobby” should and could be now and for the next 150 years and beyond. However, if we don’t take the time to “see the room,” be comfortable with having uncomfortable conversations, and think intentionally about expanding “The Hobby’s” reach beyond affluent collecting communities, then “our” community will never know what it would look, feel, and sound like to experience collecting cardboard beyond the surface level—a community that is the sum of all its collectors.
A Cardboard Weekend of Firsts—A small glimpse into the idea of what a community that is the sum of
all collectors could look, feel, and sound like.
Keep Collecting,
#thesprtzcardcoltr #thehobbyexperience #everycardhasastory #thebrotherlylovecardshow #toppsripnight #wheelhouse #thehobby #whodoyoucollect
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