From software sales to full-time card dealing 💪🏼

Today’s edition is brought to you by Cardboard Market — use one search to find cards across eBay, COMC, PWCC, MySlabs, and more!

Rise and shine, card enthusiasts! This is Penny Sleeve, we’re the Magic School Bus of sports cards — we make learning fun and easy. 🚌

Here’s what we’ve got for you today:

• From software sales to full-time card dealing 💪🏼

• Rookie cards to watch for the NBA Playoffs 👀

• Auctions ending soon 🔎

• People to follow in the hobby 👥

• Meme of the day 🃏

FROM SOFTWARE SALES TO FULL-TIME CARD DEALING 💪🏼

We’re all too familiar with the state of hobby content today — pack openings, loud screams, and the whole shebang. But not everyone is doing it that way.

Enter Ty Wilson. Wilson left his high-pressure software sales job in Kansas City and relocated to the Pacific Northwest to pursue a less conventional career — flipping sports cards. But unlike most hobby creators, he partnered with cinematographer Matt Coleman to create documentary-esque videos highlighting card collections and telling the stories of the people behind them. They titled the show Chasing Cardboard.

Most of the Wilson’s purchases have been large personal collections. One of his most memorable deals is purchasing a nearly complete run of Mickey Mantle cards, with every year except 1952. Another memorable deal, for a different reason, was when he purchased a 1986 Fleer Jordan card but only realized it was trimmed after sending it in for grading. Yet another was purchasing a large collection of Funko pops (along with sports cards), but quickly realizing that his audience was only best for liquidating sports cards. He had no choice but to sell many of the Funko pops for even less than recent auction prices.

The major TV networks (History Channel, A&E, Magnolia Network, etc.) all shot down Chasing Cardboard for being too niche. That didn’t get his hopes down, though — Wilson and his team are hell-bent on proving them wrong by building a significant YouTube following. Their goals are lofty — 50k subs by the end of the year, and eventually becoming the first 1 million subscriber channel in the hobby. Let’s see if they can pull it off, I’m rooting for them!

ROOKIE CARDS TO WATCH FOR THE NBA PLAYOFFS 👀

The NBA Playoffs started this past weekend, and it marks the beginning of a pretty exciting time for basketball card values, especially for early-career players who have standout performance in their games. As always, this is not investment advice, but here are some of the rookie cards to watch for the playoffs this year (courtesy of All Vintage Cards).

• Jalen Brunson - 2018 Prizm Silver #250: selling for $250

• Nikola Jokic - 2015 Prizm #335: selling for $725

• Anthony Edwards - 2020 Prizm Silver #258: selling for $650

• Shai Gilgeous-Alexander - 2018 Prizm Silver #184: selling for $550

• Chet Holmgren - 2022 Prizm Silver #266: selling for $325

• Luka Doncic - 2018 Prizm Silver #280: selling for $1,250

• Jayson Tatum - 2017 Prizm Silver #16: selling for $700

• Kevin Durant - 2007 Topps Chrome #131: selling for $810

• Giannis Antetokounmpo - 2013 Prizm #290: selling for $560

• Damian Lillard - 2012 Prizm #245: selling for $170

• Joel Embiid - 2014 Prizm Silver #253: selling for $1,240

• LeBron James - 2003 Topps Chrome #111: selling for $3,975

AUCTIONS ENDING SOON 🔎

• MeiGray Auctions: end April 22

• Fanatics Auctions: ends April 22-25

• Alt Liquid Auctions: ends April 25

• Rockhurst Auctions: ends April 25-26

PEOPLE TO FOLLOW IN THE HOBBY 👥

• Johnson Sports Memorabilia: Card shop and card show content

• Lapp3r30's Hockey Card Flips: Hockey card flipper

• Grip n Rip Sports Cards: Baseball commentary and pack opening

MEME OF THE DAY 🃏