The PSA Pod

One of the strongest trends seen internally at PSA in the past year-plus is the dominant rise in submission volume in our TCG categories, with Pokémon strongly leading the way. This comes at a time where pop culture collectibles – and not just cards – are also catching the hearts and minds of collectors like never before. To dive in deeper and discuss new ways in which PSA is meeting this customer demand, Elizabeth Gruene (GM of Pop Culture) and Roxanne Ghezzi (Senior TCG Specialist) join us for the latest installment of Guest Submissions.

As we come out of the long winter, baseball is in the air. And in the hobby community, on the heels of the annual Topps Series 1 release, it officially means baseball card season is here. Who were you stocking up on this offseason? Which trending Spring Training performers are you maybe wishing you'd picked up more of during the past few months? Ryan Greene, Jack Archer and Ryan Porter dig in on those questions, then will draft modern grails from a cardboard pool featuring some of the game's hottest names.

Did you ever wonder exactly what happens while your PSA submission is showing up as in the "Research & ID" stage while at our facilities? Well, we dive in a bit in the latest installment of Guest Submissions, as PSA Research Manager Tim Wong joins the show to share his collecting story and discuss the research process with a bit of a look behind the curtains. Tim also discusses the depth of expertise within our internal research team, and which areas are focuses of continuous improvement in 2024 and beyond.

As a big year both in the hobby comes to close, PSA President Ryan Hoge drops by for our final episode of 2023. Along with taking a look back at key milestones, metrics and moments from the year that was, Ryan shares some of what lies ahead for PSA and our customers in 2024.

In the latest installment of Guest Submissions, we're diving in on one of the hobby's most fascinating niches – graded tickets. For this in-depth conversation, we bring in Principal Ticket Authenticator Matt Fuller, whose years as a learning and growing collector in the space led him to his current role at PSA. Matt discusses his own ticket collecting journey, what he's added to his expertise about tickets since joining PSA and much more.

From a key new product features which allows customers to segment where their orders ship to card by card, to the latest in international grading submission expansion, PSA President Ryan Hoge drops by the show to share all of the key details and more in the latest installment of Guest Submissions.

From Vintage to Ultra Modern, from generational GOATs to today's hottest hobby stars, it was once again a massive year for PSA on-site grading at the National Sports Collectors Convention. Hobbyists save some of the biggest cards imaginable to grade on-site with PSA each July at the industry's biggest show of the year. In this installment of Hit Draft, the guys not only recap some favorites that passed through the PSA grading operation this year in Chicago, but then curate their dream collections from a pool of cards that is as premium as they come.

Whether their careers end in the Hall of Fame or short of enshrinement, being a No. 1 overall pick in one of the major professional sports' drafts is a distinction that lives on forever. Especially with hobbyists. In this edition of Hit Draft, the guys build their collections from a pool of incredible cards featuring memorable top choices in the NBA, NFL, MLB and NHL drafts. As a collector, who is YOUR favorite No. 1 overall pick of all-time?

April means the NBA Playoffs are underway, providing some of sports' best theater of the calendar year. And for basketball card collectors, the sport's hobby heat is reaching its annual peak, as well. So we've rounded up 12 absolute grails of some of the top names playing in this year's postseason for this edition of Hit Draft, as the guys make the tough decisions making their picks out of this insane, uniquely-curated treasure chest.

In this installment of HIT DRAFT, hosts Ryan Greene, Jack Archer and Chris McGill build collections from a genuine mixed bag of big ticket items. "March Madness" extends well beyond the hardwood here, as this curated draft pool features a little bit of everything, from basketball and baseball to Pokémon and additional surprise categories. Take a listen and try to determine what your strategy would be in this 3-round snake draft if you held a pick.

In the first installment of HIT DRAFT, with Spring Training now underway, hosts Ryan Greene, Jack Archer and Chris McGill build their baseball grail collections in this 3-round snake draft. The curated draft pool features beautiful and unique items of some of the game's top names in the eyes of hobbyists, from hot talent Julio Rodriguez to bona fide superstar slugger Aaron Judge.

Super Bowl weekend is upon us, and to get ready with a good hobby twist, hosts Ryan Greene, Jack Archer and Chris McGill dive into another perfectly curated hit draft, this time featuring nine grails of Super Bowl QBs both present and past. Also, an NBA-focused installment of Stock Up / Stock Down, including the hobby impact of both the Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant trades that went down this week.

Before diving fully into the upcoming Super Bowl match-up from the hobby perspective - though we do give a taste this week - the guys are headed to the hardwood for the ultimate hit draft, featuring the just-announced starters in the 2023 NBA All-Star Game. The selection includes true grails, RPAs, unique 1/1s and much more, featuring some of the biggest names in both the game and in basketball cards.

The field of teams vying to be raising the Lombardi Trophy in Arizona in early February is now down to eight, and the first weekend of the NFL Playoffs saw results with significant hobby implications. Hosts Ryan Greene & Jack Archer venture into "Buy, Trade or Hold" when it comes to several names drawing attention heading into the Divisional round. Does Trevor Lawrence have more magic in him? How are you feeling right now if you're a Lamar Jackson collector? Those and much more, plus an in-depth conversation with PSA President Ryan Hoge, discussing topics from PSA now imaging all cards authenticated & graded in 2023 to the highly-anticipated launch of the Goldin Marketplace.

In 2023's first episode of The PSA Pod, hosts Ryan Greene, Jack Archer & Chris McGill explore who is hot and who is not to kick off the year in the hobby, beginning with a look at the NFL playoff picture. Leading the way is this weekend's Justin Herbert & Trevor Lawrence showdown in Jacksonville, with some big hobby implications on the line, as well. Plus, closer looks at the likes of Tyrese Haliburton, Alexander Ovechkin, Aaron Rodgers, Devin Booker and more. It all culminates with a Hit Draft featuring this week's subjects ... with a couple of fun twists.

In the final episode of 2022 and of Season 1 of The PSA Pod, the guys tackle both 2022 and 2023 from a collecting perspective. The discussion includes favorite products from 2022, which athlete could consider this "their year" in the hobby and some favorite pick-ups & collecting moments from the last 12 months. From there, the guys head into the time machine and attempt to predict answers to the same questions if it were 12 months from now.

Stock Up / Stock Down this week is replaced by the Nice & Naughty list in the holiday spirit, and it was led by a pair of greats both reaching their peak performance in an epic World Cup Final. Did Lionel Messi & Kylian Mbappé put on the type of head-to-head performances that can truly inspire collectors to dive into soccer cards? Also, a conversation with PSA President Ryan Hoge, discussing the itch to rip new Bowman releases and some notable changes coming in early 2023 to PSA's grading prices & service offerings. The guys close things out with a round of Not-So-Secret Santa, gifting each other dream pieces for their PCs.

The 2020 NFL Draft's QB class has proven to be nothing short of elite now nearly three full seasons later. Despite the emergence of Tua Tagovailoa and Jalen Hurts as legitimate MVP candidates in 2022, it's Joe Burrow and Justin Herbert who have been darlings of The Hobby since Year One. In this week's dive into the COR scoring algorithm, Ryan Greene, Jack Archer & CardLadder's Chris McGill attempt to answer the question: Which of the two is more collectable?

The latest athlete to be broken down within the COR score algorithm is the red-hot Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. The Oklahoma City Thunder's young star has a ton going for him, including All-NBA numbers through the first stretch of the 2022-23 NBA season, plus rookie cards that are within the loaded 2018 Draft class and run of product releases. So how does he stack up in the eyes of collectors, especially against members of that class such as Luka Doncic, Trae Young and others? The guys break it down from every angle, and start it off with a hit draft involving his most iconic and desired cards from that loaded product year.

After spending just over a year with Collectors and PSA as the company's Chief Product Officer, Ryan Hoge now takes over as the new President of PSA. In the first of many drop-ins on The PSA Pod, Hoge joins hosts Ryan Greene & Jack Archer for an extended conversation not only about his background as a collector, but about priorities he's focusing on taking the company into 2023. Those include significant operational and international expansion, an increased card show presence for PSA and much, much more.

In this week's episode, Ryan Greene & Jack Archer dive into another week of "Stock Up / Stock Down" with a football-heavy focus. Justin Jefferson this past weekend made one of the greatest catches in NFL history, and his card market has moved in lock-step with his MVP-caliber play so far in the 2022 season. Plus, the guys break down one of the coolest new insert sets to hit the football card market, and if you're collecting Josh Allen, how are you feeling as the Bills scuffle a bit with the season heading into its home stretch?

In the weekly look evaluating Stock Up / Stock Down within the hobby, hosts Jack Archer & Steve Sloan take a look at a fast-rising young QB, offset by the apparent diminishing of the position's old guard. Plus, Spida Mitchell's hot start that's fueling the Cavs, and a peek at the baseball card market: Whose cards will YOU be targeting as the winter offseason months set in?

In the second installment of measuring one of today's top hobby names with the COR score - Collectability Over Replacement - the guys take a category-by-category look into Buffalo Bills star Josh Allen. The 5th-year star QB is a leading MVP candidate as the 2022 NFL season nears its midway point. Can he finish the job this year and get the franchise - and its incredible fan base - the title it so badly craves? And if he does, how would it further affect where his stacks up among the most collectable QBs in the game today? That and much more in this week's deep dive.

The calendar has flipped to November, which means that World Cup month is finally here! Back by popular demand is PSA Product Manager and Soccer card expert Matt Hendler. He joins the show to talk about where to start when it comes to collecting USMNT star Christian Pulisic, some more young names to keep an eye on in the World Cup and much more in another educational conversation on where the beautiful game meets cardboard (23:00). Also, the guys deliver this week's Stock Up/Stock Down (1:30), headlined by a young QB who continues to soar above the rest as the 2022 NFL season nears it's mid-way point.

On the heels of the rare sports equinox, there was plenty to talk about in terms of whose hobby stock went up and down in this past week, including the likes of Joe Burrow, LeBron James, Bryce Harper and many more across the landscape (1:15). Then, the full house crew this week takes its first dive into the COR score algorithm - Collectability Over Replacement - where athletes across all eras can be compared & contrasted by calculating the average of several key factors that collectors take into account when deciding whether to jump in on their cardboard. First up? Zion Williamson (22:45).

This week, hosts Ryan Greene & Jack Archer open the show talking about what has been a wild MLB postseason to this point from a collecting perspective (1:00), including how Fernando Tatis Jr. collectors are feeling in this unique position. Then, Chris McGill from CardLadder once again joins the show to talk about some significant movement in the Football corner of the hobby (6:30), involving the rising popularity of non-QB collecting (with some significant sales data to back it up). Also, Chris lends his hoops expertise for the latest installment of "Buy, Trade or Hold" as the 2022-23 NBA season gets underway (23:15). Plus, the guys tease an upcoming feature on the show in coming weeks that will surely stir up some debate - The COR score, or "Collectability Over Replacement" (36:10).