How a hobby friendship led to a new podcast

We all meet a variety of different people during our hobby journey, some online and some in-person.

Occasionally there's a person you really click with, like you've known them for many years. For me, that guy is Danny Black.

I met Danny in person at the 2021 National Sports Collectors Convention in Chicago. He was a listener of the podcast, he introduced himself and we talked for a bit. Soon we struck up a friendship and those conversations continued. They centered on the hobby, content creation, sports and life.

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In getting to know Danny better, we realized we shared many parallels, including the fact that we both became dealers at a very young age. And while we root for rival football teams — Danny pulls for the Ravens, while I am a Steelers fan — we do have similar perspectives on the hobby and the many facets of it. Even when we have opposing views, the mutual respect makes discussing those differences interesting, fun and no one gets hurt.

Danny's interesting background is not your average bio. He's worked for both the Atlanta Braves and Baltimore Orioles, including during Cal Ripken Jr.'s retirement ceremony, which he was involved in. He went full time in the hobby in 2020 but started as a broker in 2016. He's done radio shows in Baltimore since 2020 and started writing for Baltimore's Press Box magazine this year.

Our histories have led to many great conversations.

When Sports Card Nation received a main stage slot at The National, I knew I wanted to share that 30 minutes with people who love the hobby as I do and have its best interests at heart. I asked three friends to join me as co-hosts — Danny and Oz & Tony from Cousins Collectibles. Those 30 minutes flew by but all on that panel and those watching enjoyed the genuine, honest and interactive conversation.

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At the time of this writing, I've had more than 180 different people and personalities on the podcast during the first four years of the show. I appreciate everyone that has been a guest on the show. In getting to know Danny, I learned that he brought a lot of experience and knowledge to his content. I invited him to be part of our live video conglomerate podcast “Hobby Hotline,” which features almost 20 different hobby content creators, including Dr. James Beckett.

However, it was during those "off-air" conversations when we both realized it would be fun to collaborate on some new content. We also knew we wanted to do it differently. So, we decided to do a bi-monthly show that not only touches on the hobby but also tackles hot sports topics and even sports betting and fantasy sports as well. Something tells me some everyday life stuff will seep in there as well.

The name of the new show is “Card Mensches,” with a nod to our Jewish heritages. 

Twice a month, it will go live with podcast audio being uploaded a few days after. It will launch on Dec. 9 (live) and Dec. 12 (audio) on the Sports Card Nation YouTube channel and podcast platforms. I hope you join us. It should be interesting to say the least.

— John Newman is a collector, dealer and the host of the Sports Card Nation podcast. Catch his Hobby Quick Hits on Monday and his guest interviews on Friday on your favorite podcast plat­form. You can reach him at sportscard­nationpc@gmail.com or on Twitter at @ sportscardnati1