Collector Nation - Grading 201: Why Pack-Fresh Cards Still Miss a 10 | Mike Baker

Episode Date: June 2, 2026

Welcome to Grading 201 — the next-level conversation collectors need after they already know the basics. Ryan Alford and Mike Baker break down what actually changes a grade once you move beyond surface-level opinions and start looking at cards the way a grader does. From edge chipping and centering to die-cuts, autos, and the factory issues that collectors often overlook, Mike explains why some cards that look perfect still fall short of a 10. The conversation also touches the bigger grading landscape, including PSA’s volume, scaling challenges, digital review, and how tech can improve efficiency without replacing experienced eyes. This is the episode for collectors who want to submit smarter, buy sharper, and develop a more disciplined eye for grading. Topics Covered What actually makes a card a 10 Why “pack fresh” can still grade lower How graders look at corners and edges Why some defects are obvious and others are subtle The role of centering and surface in modern cards Why different card types need different eyes How Mike Baker thinks about grading at scale What collectors should take from grading 201 Links Collector Nation https://www.collectibles.show/ https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/collector-nation/id1832831782 https://thecollectornation.com Ryan Alford https://www.ryanalford.com/ https://www.instagram.com/ryanalford/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryan-alford Mike Baker / MBA https://grading.mba/ https://www.instagram.com/grading.mba/

Really what it's come down to, too, is there's so many parallels and varieties of the same number, the same guy, the same look of card. All they would take is one little serial code. Every other industry uses and does for identification of their products, that cards don't. The kind of myth that we've talked about before, you pull a card from a pack and it's automatic 10, and it's just not. Not every 10 is created equal service, sort of. And honestly, we get more non-10s than we do 10s. Welcome to the Collector Nation podcast here on the Collector Nation Network. Whether you're chasing grails or calling bluffs, you take you inside a hobby.

Here's your host, Ryan Alford. What's up, guys? Welcome to Collector Nation here on the Collector Nation Network. Hey, one of my favorite segments we've been doing about every month, the last few months. We'll call it that. It's not often enough. He is NBA. He is Mike Baker. What's up, Mike?

What's up, Ryan? Great to be back. Hey, you never know what intro you're going to get. Buckle up. Nicknames, you know, world's greatest grader. We've already established that. Not self-proclaimed, third party. That's right.

Third party official from Collector Nation. You remember exactly. It's always good to be with you, my friend. Awesome. Awesome. It is. Can't nickname yourself. You covered it all right there.

No, don't let me do that. Or talking to third person. What's happening, Mike? Where are we today? I know you're preparing for a lot of things coming up. Let's get the lay of the land. Yeah, a real quick snapshot, basically just, you know, hitting the travel schedule pretty hard.

You know, baseball season started a couple months ago, and it's always bringing out a lot of shows going to, going into the balance going into the national, basically. You know, like everyone, all the shows lead up to like one, the one big event in the end of July. And so May has been really strong for us. We went to Dallas. We were in Las Vegas. We were in Pasadena.

I leave for New York tomorrow. We're going to do heritage auctions next week on Tuesday. So no week for the worry. It's good time. Yeah, man. All roads lead to the national. Right. That might be a little promo clip.

I don't know. It feels that way, though, right? I mean, everybody I talk to is kind of like national, you know, like it's all yada, yada, yada, yada, the national. And not necessarily because the other things don't matter. They certainly do. But I think it all kind of, that's the crescendo at least through the mid half of the year, which is hard to believe. Yeah. It is hard to believe.

That's one thing I've learned, you know, you book all these shows and you kind of lose track of time. And before you know, like a whole month's just whiz by it, you know, so it's crazy. Yeah. What's the, and we're going to get into. for everybody set the table. We did 101 last time. This is the unofficial. And if we jump from like 201 to 401,

it just means I forgot what number we were on. So like I don't want anybody like, I don't want any DMs. It's like, you know, Ryan, you didn't hit 204. But, okay. Anyway, but yeah, we're getting to 201. We've got some cards. We've got our handy microscope.

Man, we're getting fancy. We had that last time, I think, but we got lighting. We got a new set going on here, Mike. we're ready for you. But what's the state of grading here in the end of May? Like, both for MBA, obviously preparing for things, you know, through your personal lens, but maybe like, you know, headline, recap, you know, what are you hearing, feeling?

I mean, every number I see Jim Rait and everything else is like, how many millions can be grade a month? But other than velocity and volume, what else is happening? Well, I think we're all experiencing like this unbelievable market. You know, the Wembe 101 Black just sold for $5 million, low over $5 million. It's like every time you look on Instagram or see, you know, comps, it's, it's been like a week. And it seems like it's going up stratosphericly or whatever. So everything's so hyperbolic.

You know, we're just trying to, you know, for MBA's point of view, we're just trying to keep doing what we, what our core mission is, which is basically to keep our steady consistency, you know, keep the transparency, you know, communicate. We're going to all the shows to, you know, kiss babies and shake some hands and bum gump, the whole bit and really introduce all of our products and services and, you know, and keep scaling. You know, like the last time we spoke, we talked about, you know, scaling, we need more people. We're hiring, actively hiring, trying to find, you know, right people. It's challenging, you know.

I mean, the market is so hot, the people that have the experience are making a great deal of money on that side of the table. So to get them to move to Oregon, to be a part of the squad, it's not as easy as putting an ad up there and everybody wants to come. So, you know, it's the experience quotient is something that we're heavily invested in. So I don't want to hire anybody. I want to hire somebody. Yeah. So that's the goal. So we'll see how that shakes out.

Yeah. Uh, what any headlines that like you shake your head at or you go, uh, you know, PSA's always in the headlines. So they're the lead, lead guy. And look, you're there. Like, yep, we like PSA. We got no problem. Hey, let's bring the category up, right? The category goes up.

Mike Baker goes up, you know, like, but, um, it just seems like, some of it, I kind of am starting to feel like it's the big always gets the punching back. you know, it's always that way. You know, I work for a horizon a long time in marketing and they always, you know, like, if you're at the top, you know, you're going to get the punches. But some of it's awarded. I mean, they're doing three million cards a month or something like out of rate. And hey, good for them.

But I think the biggest thing I want to ask you, I heard they, they, I thought it's a great marketing play. You should start this. We're going to stop grading. Make that announcement and see how many more orders you get that day. But in all seriousness, like, what do you make all this? Well, I mean, they've raised prices to make people think long and hard about what they're actually sending in for the price they're charging. Yeah.

The turn times. I mean, I get it, man. It's a, it's a crazy ball of energy when you have that kind of volume and you have X amount of people that are experienced enough to execute that kind of volume, you know, consistently. So it's, it's a, it's a tough one. I know they pause submissions or whatever in the Japan office. I know they've raised submission prices and turn times. And, you know, I mean, it's better than stopping. So at least if you want to, you know, get into the hopper, you still have that ability.

And ultimately, they're gating it with price and speed. So it's just, it's just, the economics will play out. If the card's not worth it, people will look for other options. And, you know, hopefully we'll be one of them, you know. Yeah. And I can tell you that if we weren't gated with, you know, taking cards from public and we're taking them from our NB authorized dealers, which there's very few of, we would be inundated as well, and we would literally have the same problem.

So it's just an endemic problem in the industry right now because the supply is such an all-time high, and everything is gated by grading an authentication. So it has to have that happen first before it gets into the secondary market or goes to an auction house. And so, you know, it's just the sign of the times right now, and hopefully we can, you know, work through it and there'll be some innovation that comes out of it to make things more, you know, faster and efficient and, you know, time will tell.