“You can give a man a fish and he will eat for a day, OR you can teach that man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime” There are a few variations of this famous quote. Not sure if I even got it entirely correct word for word, but since hearing it as a pre-teen I’ve repeated it numerous times and even once tried to translate it in languages that I don’t speak. Within it lies the key to success in almost every field. Don’t just get the answer or a handout of information, take your time to understand how the answer exists and more importantly how it was produced.
Last month we highlighted why F1 makes so much sense, especially those very special 2020 sets. We went over the incredible “Perfect Storm” that created the 2020 F1 Sets and their similarity to Iconic sets like 1952 Topps & 1986 Fleer. We mentioned the stones that have been set by the sport itself for more growth in the US and around the rest of the world that already adores the sport.
But, even if the sport was so great or it’s fanbase so fervent and dedicated, does it all matter for the future value of their sportscards? The NFL has long been the most popular sport in the US, absolutely demolishing the MLB & NBA in ratings and popularity amongst the general public. They’ve been atop that perch since the 1970’s. Why then have NFL cards of every generation sold for less than comparable cards in both the MLB & NBA? The key fact is that not until Tom Brady came along has this mold ever been broken in NFL trading cards.
Well then, does F1 have a Tom Brady?
Yes, yes they do and this month we'll talk about a guy still currently in F1 with more Instagram followers than Brady, Patrick Mahomes, Mike Trout & Shohei Ohtani COMBINED. Read that again! More than our two most popular NFL Players AND our two most popular MLB Players. A man so popular that Tom Brady & Michael Jordan themselves traveled to take a picture together with him. Who is he and why does he remind me of some of the most collected athletes ever?
Hey Bono! What time is it? … It’s Hammer Time!
The Heroes
In 10 Words:
Cards are valuable because of an emotional connection to heroes.
In 100 Words:
Mickey Mantle & Michael Jordan. The two most valuable and sought after athletes in all of collectibles. Whether you were a young child watching and trying to imitate them or fully grown and in awe of each, they made the impossible look easy & effortless. They constantly reminded us with their 1000-Watt smiles that you can enjoy the moment while playing the game you love at the highest levels. We didn’t so much want to trade places with them as much as we just wanted to be near them when they did something memorable. Charisma & Performance at it’s finest.
In 1,000 Words:
Lewis Hamilton.
This could easily be just two words long as much as it could be 1,000 words.
I remember the day I finally realized that I was completely wrong about F1 Cards thanks to Lewis Hamilton. Topps had already come out with the cards, and like everyone else in the US I did not see the value in them. Early on I already wrote off the 2020 F1 releases as normal early product movement/hype and a “no” in my card portfolio.
I had bought Jeff Gordon RC Cards in the past, Danica Patrick Autographs too. I thought if their cards still weren’t worth much even after the pandemic boom, then how could these other drivers that I’ve never heard of (at the time) be worth buying at these astronomical prices.
Then that day came. Sitting in my office late at night while doing my normal work, I would always let YouTube run on the laptop next to my desktop. While researching the latest Soccer prospect that intrigued me (Florian Wirtz if you’re curious), YouTube loaded an advertisement like they normally do. You know, the wait five seconds, then click the “Skip” button on the bottom right motion that we all go through.
Sometimes I’d let these ads run for 10-15 seconds before I’d stop my typing and then move the keypad on my laptop to click that Skip button. This time was no different. The advertisement came on and I was getting ready to stop typing to move my fingers over to click my laptop, but during those fortuitous 10-15 seconds I would hear perhaps the most well put together hook of a YouTube video I had ever seen. A blaring “Lewis Hamilton is the 2020 World Champion” followed by a vintage clip of a young boy with a remote control car, both with the lyrics of “Hall of Fame” starting up in the background. I thought, oh well I think I could go through this.
The advertisement would last a little under 14 minutes and in 14 minutes I understood that I was wrong.
I’ve been doing this for a while and the thing about greatness is that when you see it, it’s obvious. The mammoth HR by Mantle followed by an “Aw Schucks” smile. The gravity defying layup by Jordan followed by a shrug of the shoulders and a wide grin. They knew they could do it, they’ve done it before. They knew they’d do it on a big stage and when they did they turned the charisma-meter to 100 and hit us with it. They were naturally talented and worked hard enough behind the scenes to give us the iconic moments that we’d all remember and delivered them with all the ease and joy that our hearts could ever handle.
Remember that proverb above about teaching a man to fish and how I personally came to feel about it. The most important understanding for me was that in order to learn new things or new ways to do things I’d also have to identify when I’m wrong about something.
By the time that YouTube advertisement had finished, I had the feeling that I was about to be incredibly wrong and was eager to find out how wrong I was with more research. Over time it became more and more evident that Hamilton possessed all the qualities – talent, success, confidence & charisma – of the Greatest and most popular athletes ever to such an extreme degree. Further research led me to understand that of course he had those qualities! He was already arguably the greatest athlete in his sports’ history and one of the most famous & beloved celebrities in the world!
Don’t worry, this is not me going on about an athlete that I have come to admire or fanboying over a new personal discovery that the rest of the world already knew about.
Lewis Hamilton’s upbringing & background would have made him a pioneer and a beacon of hope to so many people around the world and alone would no doubt make his items very sought after in the collectible field in any generation. The biggest anomaly of all was that his card collecting situation was like no other great we have ever seen.
The fact that the most famous driver in the world for over a decade would finally be getting his first F1 Trading Cards made would probably be enough to make the 2020 Topps Sets landmark sets. The fact that the driver also happens to hold almost every single record imaginable in his sport, and is recognized by many as the Greatest Of All Time in his sport would simply make the 2020 Topps Sets Legendary, or Iconic, or Generational…You pick the word, they all work for this situation.
Will I use the entire Playbook Volume 2 to talk about ONE single driver the entire time? Truth is that we could probably fill a lot of Playbooks talking about each individual driver in Formula One, each with their own mass popularity.
To finish this up though and not stay Lewis-centric, there are those that say that Hamilton may not even be the “Best” pure driver of his generation. That in equal machinery Max Verstappen would be able to beat him. This is a highly debatable topic and there is still much more that the relatively young Verstappen must accomplish to be considered as great as Hamilton historically. However Verstappen is on a torrid pace and is the most precocious young driver since Hamilton himself a decade earlier.
The beauty that we saw in our F1 play is that it wouldn’t matter which you buy, just buy them both. One or both will end up on top one day, each with a fanbase that adores them and defends them like they are their own family. They’re already treated and revered as two of the most talented and successful drivers in their sports’ history and they still have time to grow their fanbase and legacy.
Our Playbook feature last month discussed how the gap in years between products produced Iconic Sets in other sports by ultimately creating an abnormal amount of Rookie Cards in a single product. What if there was a set that featured the equivalent of their sports’ Michael Jordan AND Lebron James ROOKIE Cards in the same set?
Do you know the last time a situation like this existed in other sports where two GOAT Level Heroes made their professional trading card debut in the same set? 2003 Netpro with Federer, Serena & Nadal? 1980 Topps Basketball with Magic & Bird? 1952 Topps with Mantle & Mays? 1999 Pokemon with Pikachu & Charizard?
Shall we add 2020 Topps F1 Sets with Hamilton & Verstappen? Sounds good to me.
And that will wrap up this edition of The Playbook. Hope you all enjoyed this and thank you for all the kind words of encouragement. We still have a lot more to share and looking forward to doing so. We do have a “Playbook” on what we will be sharing but please let us know if there’s anything that you’d like us to talk about and we can take a few detours along the way. We love cards and love talking about them, sharing our thoughts and experiences. Most importantly, we've loved being able to be purposeful over the years and point people in the right direction to do cards for the longer haul. Our inbox is always open to questions, suggestions and comments at info@grid-xchange.com.
Want More?
