DJ Skee Talks Hobby Inclusion, The Realest, 'Pinch Me' Moments in the Hobby, Snoop Dogg

Courtesy of DJ Skee

In the second part of our interview with the legendary musician and entrepreneur, we talk about his ideas for hobby inclusion, his many works in the hobby including The Realest, his sports related 'pinch me' moments and much more.

https://www.si.com/collectibles/inside-the-hobby/dj-skee-talks-sports-card-collecting-origin-story-satchell-paige-1991-minnesota-twins-nineties-nostalgia

TR-Being so immersed in the hobby, what do you see as the current hurdles or challenges for continued growth?

DJS-I think one of the big challenges is a lot of kids are priced out. The most expensive card we could think of was that 1989 Upper Deck Griffey for 120 bucks. Of course there was more, but that was out of the price range and now that's like table stakes for a box. Boxes are way more. I'm scared of everything being so much about the money and when we saw the hype that hit during the Covid pandemic, it brought in a lot of new people and increased prices, which is good for collectors on paper, but it kind of also took the focus away. Those people weren't buying the 1994 Griffey Upper Deck Electric Diamond because it is important to them, they we're just focused on basically gambling. I don't think that's healthy, long term, as we saw. That's why when the market started to shake down and shake out a lot of people that were around for just different reasons, I wouldn’t say the wrong reasons, but for different reasons, but I don't think that's healthy for the hobby. 

Tony Gwynn 1987 Gold Glove Award
Courtesy of The Realest

TR-With your creative forces, what are you doing to improve the hobby and help make it a little more fun and worthwhile?

DJS-So for me it's about creating moments that are really cool. We started in Chicago at The National a couple of years ago and did the whole Jordan, Bears, Patrick Kane, Wrigley kind of themed card drop. It was four random series. If you collected all four, you could get an insert. We did a PMG play where the first 100 serial numbers in my Jordan card had a different background and those were selling for crazy money, but all from a free card. And the best thing that happened was people were coming up like ‘My grandson, I don't know what this is, but he said I had to get it so, I'm coming to grab it.’ Just seeing and introducing something new that's accessible to everybody and just really fun and cool no matter the value. Also, doing something similar in Atlantic City and this year in Cleveland doing the Tony Gwynn drop and bringing The Arena Club in and announcing our project and what we're doing with The Realist with Tony Gwynn before we launched the first auction. It was a great tie in for that, something just to give back to the community. I enjoy just connecting with people, seeing the reaction that we get from these free giveaways. I do so much storytelling in layers on a lot of these cards and spend so much time thinking through that concept. So when I get to talk to people and they recognize those little details that again, aren't obvious to the naked eye, but when they appreciate that, that's what it's all about for me.

TR-Not to sound corny, but the future of the hobby are the kids, the next generation, and we can't price out 90% of them. Most kids aren't walking around with fanny packs with 20 grand. Most of them can't afford a box or maybe even a pack at this point. It is wild. So that's really cool to be able to connect with the kids like you do and offer other alternatives.

DJS-I appreciate it. That's what it's all about.

Snoop Dogg DJ Skee
Courtesy of DJ Skee

TR-You are a legend in music and in music circles and obviously a big collector. If there was such a thing as major rookie card in music, whose rookie card would you want? There are cards, but if there were big time rookie cards, who would you want a rookie card of in music?

DJS-Oh, it's tough. There are some out there. I mean, we just did a big thing with Snoop, so that's obviously iconic, especially watching how he's transformed his career. There are some great old school Snoop cards. We just did a small one together for his last auction we did at The Realist, too. Man, there's so many, but I'll say Snoop. We'll keep it in the family with somebody iconic. He has a couple of cool cards. The rap cards that he has out there that are really sick.

Panini Snoop Dogg sticker
Courtesy of DJ Skee

TR-Those 1995 Panini Smash Hits Stickers, they were stickers, but the imagery was so iconic.

DJS-They were stickers, with the clean background. It's really cool card.

Mike Trout DJ Skee
Courtesy of DJ Skee

TR-We mentioned it a little bit here, your work with Topps through Project 70 for 2020. To be a kid and a card collector, now you're creating not only cards and awesome exhibits for Topps, but to mesh those worlds of hip hop music and cards. How fulfilling was it to be able to have your own line and pull that off and have so many amazing cards out there?

DJS-You nailed it. It's a dream come true. I still remember the first design and putting the Topps logo on the card next to yours. It was just wild and a dream come true. And it's just some of those things that as a kid growing up that you'd never even imagined. I thought I was going to be a pro athlete and I got into music. That was kind of my foundation. It kind of all came back full circle and be able to make my own cards in a different way to tie music in. The way that I did it was just the perfect combination of everything that my career represented and just really a dream come true. And to work with some of my favorite baseball players, not only currently, but in the past. And to connect with Kirby Puckett's family and to do some cool stuff there to do a release with Fernando Tatis and they loved it so much that I ended up throwing up the first pitch at a Padres game. Really, really incredible. I mean Julio Rodriguez from one of the cards, they made a cereal and used the same design from it. Like when Ohtani posted on his Instagram and I got to meet Mike Trout and get him his card and talk through the making of it. Things I can only imagine, it's truly a dream come true.

Byron Buxton
Courtesy of Topps

TR-What was the most 'pinch me' moment from the whole process and that experience for you with Topps and everything you've done there?

DJS-All of those equally, right? That logo and seeing it for real, well, there's nothing better than that. Then the Satchell Paige one, being able to touch his legacy was amazing. Kirby (Puckett) with growing up in ‘91 and doing a giveaway, a limited run of 91, at the Twins Stadium the first 91 people through the door with the team, that was special. It was incredible doing the Byron Buxton one and getting him all excited. He told me it was the best card that anybody had ever designed of him. Hanging with Trout pregame and talking cards and stuff and then hanging in the Angels dugout was incredible. It's all a blur, all of it. Bad answer, but it's the truth.

TR-I get it. You're a big collector of physical cards and digital items. How do we continue to further marry those two worlds that seem, at least to some, so very far apart? There are some old school collectors that want nothing to do with it. Then you have the kids that are almost exclusively or very heavily leaning in that direction. How do we continue to marry the old heads and the young heads?

DJS-It's a great question. Look, it's important when you look at the next generation, they're growing up playing video games and where skins and Fortnite are more valuable than physical clothes or certain accounts on eBay sell for thousands of dollars. They have limited edition skins, which are just digital outfits. But when you think about the time spent online and then these platforms, more people are seeing it there. I believe that there's a future where both exist and there's going to be a lot of crossover between that, right? I would love nothing else. And we're starting to see it with some of the apps that almost like not only vaulting but also inventorying your card so you can see what people have. I think there's a future where for items that you have, having a digital twin reflects it so you can show it off even if you're not in possession of it, even if it's in storage in a vaulting service or something somewhere else, it's going to be wildly valuable. Even if I have this Ken Griffey, Jr. Electric Diamond card, only a handful of people are ever going to see it because you have to come to my house, come down to my office, like pay attention. But it's online, the whole world can see you can get millions of views. So, I think that's going to become wildly important in the future. And it's also something that we're looking and how we build things at The Realist and keeping those kinds of digital things there so people can showcase their collections and build community and build conversations around that and interact with others. I think it's inevitable. And I think we obviously saw a lot of push and pull and then that'll always exist, but I think you're going to see more and more come together as, like you said, with this generation digital goods are arguably more valuable than physical.

TR-If we are looking at a physical or digital card, if you had your own rookie card per se, we flipped it over, what is the one stat or one fact that you would be proud to have on the back of your own card?

DJS-I have no idea. Good question. I would put whoever else I have put on. Who else has come through my ecosystem or path where they've been elevated? I think you're as successful as others around you, right? So maybe some line about my assists, I guess.

John Stockton
Apr 14, 1994; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; FILE PHOTO; Utah Jazz guard John Stockton (12) in action against the San Antonio Spurs at the Delta Center. Mandatory Credit: Imagn Images / RVR Photos-Imagn Images

TR-There you go, like John Stockton.

DJS-Yeah!


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Tony Reid
TONY REID

Tony Reid spent more than a decade covering combat sports at the highest level. He has written hundreds of articles and conducted hundreds of interviews about sports collectibles for such publications as Beckett, Sports Collectors Digest, and Sports Collectors Daily. Reid worked full time at a sports card shop in Central Pennsylvania for a number of years. A lifelong collector, Tony treasures his rookie card collection of star players in baseball, basketball, and football. If you want to discuss the greatness of Michael Jordan, Bo Jackson or Ken Griffey Jr., you can reach him at @tonyreidwrites on all social media platforms