Eric Michael

The one that got away 🥲⚾️
Years ago, I found a Babe Ruth card listed on Craigslist of all places. I couldn’t believe it. I reached out, we started talking, and we got THIS close to making a deal. $5,000 for a Babe Ruth. We were basically at the finish line…
And then the guy vanished. Never heard from him again. No reply, no explanation, nothing. I figured maybe he changed his mind, maybe he sold it to someone else, who knows. I let it go.
Fast forward a few years. I’m walking the floor at the White Plains National Card Show, and I stop dead in my tracks. There it was. The SAME Babe Ruth card. Sitting in a case with a price tag of $125,000. 😳
I could’ve owned that card for five grand. FIVE GRAND. And it wasn’t even about the money. It’s that I would’ve NEVER sold it. A Babe Ruth is the kind of card you hold forever. You pass it down. It becomes part of your story. The Sultan of Swat, the guy who basically built baseball into what it is. That’s a forever piece.
Out of every card I’ve ever bought and sold, and I’ve moved a LOT of cardboard in my life, this is the ONLY one I truly regret not getting. Not because of what it’s worth now, but because of what it meant.
Lesson learned: when the right one shows up, move fast and don’t let it slip. Because sometimes the card that got away haunts you way more than any bad buy ever could. ⚾️💔

The 3 cards I sold that still keep me up at night 😤 (but here’s the truth nobody talks about 👇)

1️⃣ 2018 Bowman Chrome Shohei Ohtani Atomic Refractor Auto PSA 10 sold for ~$30K in Jan 2024. Worth almost $200,000 today. Two hundred THOUSAND 🥲

2️⃣ 2017 Panini Contenders Patrick Mahomes Auto (9.5) sold a bunch for SIX HUNDRED bucks in 2018. Worth nearly $30K now.

3️⃣ 2000 Bowman Chrome Tom Brady PSA 10 sold these for $2K–$5K each. Worth around $30K today.

Now here’s the part nobody wants to admit: I’d STILL sell every one of these again. Here’s why 👇

For every Ohtani, Mahomes, and Brady that blew up, I sold HUNDREDS of other cards worth pennies now. Guys I was just as high on. “Sure things” that flamed out and now sit worth less than the toploader they’re in.

Nobody posts the graveyard of dead cards in their closet, but that graveyard is exactly WHY you sell. You can’t predict which card becomes the $200K Ohtani and which becomes a $2 common.

So you take profits. You lock in wins. You stay liquid. Selling isn’t the mistake, holding a pile of worthless cardboard hoping lightning strikes IS.

I don’t regret selling. I regret thinking I could pick the winners at all 🤝

Drop a 🫡 if you’ve got a card graveyard too 😂

Not financial advice, just my scars 📉➡️📈 Follow for more 🔥

🗽NYC! I’m coming for you on June 20th for , the world’s greatest culture festival!

I’ll be there as a vendor buying and selling sports cards AND I’m bringing Podcast LIVE to New York…

I’m talking live debates, live interviews, right on the show floor. 🎙️

Shout out to for putting this together!

New York is one of the biggest sports cities in the world and the culture deserves this. 🙏

This isn’t just a card show: sneakers, cards, streetwear, vintage, luxury, all under one roof.

5,000+ people expected, giveaways, special guests and so much more...

📅 Saturday, June 20th
📍 Pier 36 — New York City
🕛 12 PM – 6 PM ET (Early Admission 11 AM)

Grab your tickets at www.gotsole.com before they sell out. 🎟️

Come shop, trade, and say what’s up!👋 I want to meet you all!

And oh yeah, LET’S GO KNICKS! 🏀🗽