@Sportsbalt Hosted By Danny Black. Analysis, news, and fun for sports, cards, and memorabilia · Danny Black

Ryan from GemRate and how to look at Hobby Data

·46 min·4 clips

The most graded card ever has only a 4% gem rate, revealing why vintage Griffey rookies remain so rare.

This episode features host Danny Black interviewing Ryan, founder of the data platform GemRate, which analyzes sports card grading statistics. They discuss how hobbyists can use grading data to make more informed collecting and investing decisions. Ryan explains that GemRate originally focused on calculating "gem mint" percentages to help submitters understand their odds with different grading companies and card sets. He describes spending months building data infrastructure before launching, with early traction coming from features on platforms like CardPorn. The conversation covers how grading trends vary between companies like PSA, BGS, and SGC, and between modern and vintage card eras. Ryan notes that PSA's massive backlog during the pandemic boom revealed astonishing submission volumes, like hundreds of thousands of 1990 Flair Michael Jordan cards. A key insight is that high print runs and numerous parallel versions for modern stars like Wander Franco can create "dilution," making a player's overall market seem strong while individual card prices fall. The host predicts 2023 will see a "data war" with more consolidation and improved data access, while universal population reports remain a complex challenge. They discuss how private sales and "crack-and-resubmit" practices distort available data, making true population tracking difficult without technological solutions. Ryan is actively building a universal population report that aggregates data across all major grading companies, which he plans to release in phases. He believes greater data transparency can build collector confidence and grow the overall hobby market. The host suggests grading companies may evolve into separate "ecosystems" combining grading, marketplaces, and vaults, similar to choosing between Android and iPhone platforms. The tone is a casual, enthusiastic conversation between two data-focused hobby insiders, with technical details explained accessibly. This episode is ideal for sports card collectors and investors who enjoy deep dives into market analytics and grading strategies. Listeners seeking only general sports talk or narrative stories about athletes should skip it.

As heard by us

A card-market conversation about trust, skepticism, and the systems behind pricing data.

GemRate's annual report opens the door to a broader conversation about grading, marketplaces, vaults, and pricing data. Danny Black keeps circling back to a practical question: what does a collector actually trust as the hobby adds more connected systems?

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Why you'd press play

If you want the annual GemRate report unpacked through the lens of hobby data, start here.

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