Random Cardboard Of The Day:1994 Stadium Club Ring Leader Ronnie Lott

First off, let's take note how odd it is to see him in anything but a 49ers Uniform.

Second, I have been wanting to add one of these inserts for a long time and finally did.

Glad I did.

Now this may become a new set chase.

The AmeriCARD Dream

How ones hobby can turn into a dream job

Can you imagine what it must be like to have your favorite hobby also be your job?

It sounds like the American dream to me and that’s why I am chasing it. My love and passion of sport cards since I was a kid has carried over to my adulthood. Now I want it to carry over to my future career.

Sport Card Marketing is my dream.

A job that lets you talk about, think about, post about and even handle sports cards all day. As a sport card enthusiast, could you ask for more?

So, I wanted to get to know more about this exciting dream job and was looking for someone to interview.

One person that came to mind immediately is the legendary Susan Lulgjuraj, who’s been well known in the hobby circles as Sooz for many years. She is someone I have followed for a long time on Twitter and watched her career blossom into the career I am currently chasing and going to college for.

 

Susan started out as a journalist about 15 years, spending some of that time writing about sport cards as well with her time at Beckett magazine, a long-time sport card publication. She then spent some time doing PR, social media, and choosing card images for a product called Stadium Club while at Topps cards, one of the industry leaders in producing sport cards. From there, she spent some time at Goldin Auctions before landing her current position as Senior Marketing Manager at CGC Cards, a grading card company.

   

Her decade long hobby work paid off as she got the opportunity to pivot into marketing, which she says is a similar transition, “Storytelling. Working under deadlines. Understanding how people operate. Content creation. There were a lot of areas where it was a good fit.”

All of that experience before she landed her current job was a big help as she states that having “a variety of industry experience and gained more at each step in my career. I learned how to coach employees, work with partners and create solid marketing plans.”

  

When I asked her about what her typical day was like, though it didn’t come across as exciting when she said, “A lot of meetings”, there is still a lot of interesting aspects to the job as well including, working with different teams that do content, social media, graphics, events, finance, sales, and so on.

Having the right skills is also an important piece to a job like this, it’s not always about the fun of playing with sport cards all day. Susan mentioned some skills when I asked her which ones were important, she immediately pointed out that “Empathy is incredibly important. You have to know how to work with people and understand them.” Along with that, another useful skill “is knowing how to work under deadlines. Also, don’t being afraid to say you don’t know. You can always learn and research, but don’t fake an answer.”

Other than having the opportunity to have your hobby as your job, there are other perks of the job that make it fun. I asked her what her favorite part of the job was and she told me, “My favorite part is seeing a campaign or social post hit with the audience. It’s really satisfying to see hard work come together.”

As someone who does a lot online with cards myself, I can see how the reward of that probably feels. Being creative and having it be a hit among other hobbyists is a high point of a job like that. I know when I come up with some ideas on my social media pages for sport cards and seeing others enjoy it, it hits you in the feels.

To sum this job up, you have a job that lets you work with your favorite hobby, you get to use your creativity to show the hobby to others, and then you get paid to do it?! Sign me up.

So, when I asked her If you could do things all over again, would you choose the same path for yourself? I wasn’t surprised with her reply, “I would choose this path every time. I love cards and I get to work on them every day.”

I hope to say the same thing someday. Thanks for the interview Sooz.

 

(this is a college course paper I am writing and sharing with you all as well!)

14-Year Blogversary

14 years ago today, I took a dive into the world of blogging.

And even though the landscape of blogging in general has changed and so hasn't mine when it comes to blogging, but here I am still chugging away with new posts.

I didn't do a lot of posts in Year 13 on this blog and as I always say I am done on here, but, let's be honest, I can't ever just fully leave this blog can I? It's my foundation.

Though my main focus is still on Cards Over Coffee, I am still here checking on this blog daily. Maybe I will string together some posts this summer at some point even if they are just Random Card Posts and expand upon those posts and discuss the card. Maybe if there is time.

So, as with every passing year on here, let's take a look at the blog numbers from last year and previous years.

Year One, Sport Card Collectors blog had 68,169 overall views. 695 Twitter Followers and 118 Facebook LIKES.

Year Two, Sport Card Collectors blog grew to 205,240 overall views, 2,206 Followers on Twitter and 147 Facebook LIKES.

Year Three, Sport Card Collectors blog grew to 340,841 overall views, 3,576 Followers on Twitter and 159 Facebook LIKES.

Year Four, Sport Card Collectors blog grew to 483,217 overall views, 4,494 Followers on Twitter and 431 Facebook LIKES.

Year Five, Sport Card Collectors blog grew to 679,331 overall views. 5,325 Twitter Followers and 541 Facebook LIKES.

Year Six, Sport Card Collectors blog grew to 952,540 overall views. 6,272 Twitter Followers and 627 Facebook LIKES.

Year Seven, Sport Card Collectors blog grew to 1,268,414 overall views. 7,120 Twitter Followers and 815 Facebook LIKES.

Year Eight, Sport Card Collectors blog grew to 1,595,972 overall views. 8,353 Twitter Followers and 1291 Facebook LIKES before I ended the page.

Year Nine, Matt's Wonderful Blog Of Hobbies grew to 1,814,262 overall views. 9,763 Twitter Followers and 780 Instagram Followers

Year Ten, Sport Card Collectors grew to 2,029,117 overall views. 10.9K Twitter Followers, 1427 Facebook LIkes and 1095 Instagram Followers

Year Eleven, Sport Card Collectors grew to 2,611,826 overall views. 13.2K Twitter Followers, 1500 Facebook LIkes, 1600 followers, and 1119 Instagram Followers

Year Twelve, Sport Card Collectors grew to 2,913,153 overall views. 13.6K Twitter Followers, 1500 Facebook Likes, 1600 followers, Blusky has 291 followers and 1087 Instagram Followers (lost a few)

Year Thirteen, Sport Card Collectors grew to 4,144,097 overall views. 14.8K Twitter Followers, 1613 Facebook Likes,  Blusky has 319 followers and 1088 Instagram Followers 

Despite lack of posts, the views are still staying strong on here now that I have passed the 4 million level. I really am hoping to pass the 5 million threshold by the time next years post comes. Wonder if some actual posts will help boost this number?

Guess we may see.....

Hope everyone has a great day and once again, thanks for coming by to read this blog as always.

Rodney's Cardboard:2024 Topps Chrome Frozenfractor

Winter is right around the corner for some, for me, it's already arrived as we have had snow on and off since the end of October.

Nothing has fully collected on the ground yet, but, we that live here know what's to come.

So, what better card to show off on this Rodney's Cardboard Sunday than a Frozenfractor.

 

It's got a chill to the card with the serial numbering as -2/0.

This doesn't mean that this is numbered to 0 or -2, it's just part of the look.

I believe these chilly cards are SSP's rumored to be numbered to 5 overall.

Speaking of a chill in the air, let's not even talk about today's Giants game. They can't catch a break or a cold.

But, enough about them. The dreadful season is almost over and that's not going to give me frigid feelings over it.

Hope everyone had a great Sunday. Sorry about the late night Rodney but better than never!

Next Sunday the plan is to have Rodney posted sooner, but we will see how my time goes this week.

Hobby Topic: Topps/Fanatics Taking Over NBA

NEW Hobby Topic on Sport Card Collectors.

Here is how it works and it's simple.

Just leave your reply or thoughts in comments about the following..

"Topps/Fanatics Taking Over NBA"

How many of you are happy about this move? How does this effect the Panini card market from previous years? Is it good having one company owning a pro license? Do you plan on buying an Topps basketball cards? Or any other thoughts on this move?

Random Cardboard Of The Day: 2025 Mosaic Micro Mosaic Patrick Mahomes

Random Cardboard Of The Day: 2024 Stadium Club Triumvirates Nickname "Junior" Ken Griffey Jr

Random Cardboard Of The Day: 2024 Topps Chrome Aqua Geometric Autograph Malik Nabers

Rodney's Cardboard:2024 Topps Inception Magenta /99

  (Previously posted on Big Blue Cardboard. All Rodney's Cardboard posts from here on out will be cross-posted)

 

It's October and we are already one month into the football season.

Crazy!

Today the NY Giants (1-3) travel to New Orleans (0-4) to take on the Saints. Records are always out the door in games like this. It could go either way, I just hope it's my way.

While we all wait for kickoff, let's take a look at a new Rodney.

This is the Magenta parallel, not be confused with the red parallel though looks pretty similar.

I really like the look of Inception this year and have more to chase whenever they pop up. The base Hampton is still like chasing the 1/1 at this juncture. I am surprised that someone out there doesn't have it!

Anyways, I hope everyone has a great Sunday. God Bless!

BOT-ember!

 I am a guy of numbers and when I see numbers go crazy like they this past month on here, I tend to question them.

I really haven't had time to post at all on here since May as most of my blogging focus has been on Cards Over Coffee, which is now my main blog.

But, for kicks, I actually started posting on here the last few days to see what kind of traffic would kick up....it actually made them go down.

That's how you know the bots took over.

That and my blogging records that were absolutely destroyed.

 

Last month alone this blog put up 328,190 views which was two times plus the record I had on here. This blog wasn't alone as Cards Over Coffee did the same kind of record numbers, even though I did post a few times on there (ps check them out and go follow!!)

I do appreciate those of you who do come here to read my posts still and maybe some of you go back and read the older posts here still.

I am trying to decide what the future and fate are of all three of my blogs, the other is Big Blue Cardboard, as my college classes ramp up and my life gets busier. I am no where close to retiring, just have to find the time to blog when and where I can and how I can.

Being that this blog is much quicker, you may see more posts on here in the next few months with older segments returning which is what I did in May.

Have a great October everyone!