Mike Baker -- now offering a full line grading service?
 

In his last iteration he was only offering third party stickers. It looks like he has expanded? Uphill battle I would say. I wonder if Brent is involved behind the scenes.

https://www.mbadiamond.com/grading-and-encapsulation

Looking at his web site it is mentioned that he is not taking cards from the public but just from hobby entities

I think Peter your question can be answered by just contacting him as per the website and seeing whom the people are on his list

Rich

Who ?
 

. I wonder if there's any money in grading old baseball cards. ?

I took this picture of their display at the National this year:

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...1b2e576863.jpg

It always seemed like the obvious next step to me. Surprised it took him this long.

Also, I call bullshit on the rumor that Brent owns MBA. Where did that come from? I could be wrong obviously, but I would need to see some proof of that claim in order to believe it. And it seems precisely like the sort of nonsense that gets birthed over at Blowhard.

Wouldn't this be the PREVIOUS step? GAI take 2.

There's some likely affiliation, no? I mean Mike didn't just happen to move to the same town. He had been in Poolesville MD and Bettendorf IA before that, I believe.

Obviously he had some sort of partnership with PWCC, but that doesn't mean Brent owns MBA, which our mutual fake-name friend from the other thread claimed is the case.

Is there any sign of Brent? There was this from Betsy last year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KS4SUTT-Rkw&t=36s

And why wouldn't he be there, thriving industry hotbeds that they are?

GAI/Global Authority or whatever it was called when Damien owned it was in IA. He was still the head grader then.

Since he is such a well known great guy in the hobby it is only fair he gets his second chance he deserves.

These filings suggest both Brent and Damien are involved with MBA.

https://egov.sos.state.or.us/br/pkg_...&p_print=FALSE

About time! Plenty of $$ in cards and card grading so Mike might as well take advantage.

Quick Google search shows PWCC and MBA being a 12 minute drive, 2.5 miles away
that combined with the filings are proof enough for me.

That's interesting. I wonder what their involvement is though? He's listed an a manager on the articles of organization, and Betsy is listed as the registered agent. Maybe Mike Baker just doesn't know how to run a business and needed to partner with someone who did? Regardless, I still have a hard time buying the idea that MBA Authenticated is "owned by" Brent in the sense that such phrasing implies. Clearly they have some sort of partnership, but suspect Mike Baker would take issue with the claim that MBA is "owned by Brent".

People barely care about his fancy gold/silver/black stickers so even less will care about his new grading venture.

What are the chances of creating another TPG that will compete with the already established TPGs? Bottom line is that they'd be trying to take market share from the smaller TPGs and one of them is now under the PSA umbrella.

What's there schtick? New type of guarantee? Certainly isn't going to compete for people that like registries.

If it ever goes as an IPO, let me know, I'll short it on the first day! :p I'm really hoping someone doesn't think the IPO comment was serious and then try to tell me how stupid a comment it was because the company would never go public, etc. Believe me, there are people that will do that on this board.

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Mike Baker authenticated
 

I thought I recalled a Mike Baker Authenticated thread:) I'm asking a very
specific question for net54 land. If anyone has purchased an MBA card since
the thread began in late December 2024, what is your impression of the
grading accuracy? Any submitters? I'm not looking for replies about Baker's
prior connection to SGC or GAI, but rather your satisfaction/ lack thereof
with the current product. Please feel free to PM or post in the thread.

Thank you!

Trent King

Here’s an interesting grade combination we haven’t seen before. A VG 3 with minimum size qualifier. That’s not a terrible idea if TPGs are hell-bent on mentioning the mysterious minimum size requirement but still want to proclaim a condition assessment.

Overall I’ve noticed that MBA vintage cards seem really clean, like clean clean…very clean.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...8aba2a5924.jpg

"Factory cut small" might make more sense, rather than minimum sized which means what? It was just barely big enough to qualify for a grade? Do fat border cards get a "maximum sized" moniker.

I don't care about stickers but.....

Personally, I think they (MBA and associates) would be a better grading company than all but CGC at this point.
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So once he grades the cards and slabs them, will he also put stickers on them? Or is that a separate service?

Seems the sticker pile is right there in case it’s needed.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...5bb0644b46.jpg

That label looks like someone printed it on their inkjet at home.

I have seen some MBA encapsulated cards and the grades look consistent but might be a tad conservative. Most of the cards were NM or lower. I love the Min Size option with a numeric grade. All TPG should have been doing that, which is a point I made a few times on the Goldin Auctions 36 WWG DiMaggio thread.

Which one? The Gold Flip, the Diamond Sticker nonsense, or both?

What is the fascination with Mike Baker anyways? I know the backstory with PSA, but does he really have any impact on the hobby these days?

I meant the gold (yellow?) flip. Maybe it's the font... I agree that the whole sticker thing is silly.

The holders look nice, although the flip leaves a lot to be desired, and the diamond stickers are just a comical money grab that I personally wouldn't pay an extra nickel for.

I wouldn't pay an extra nickel for any part of the equation.

But it's got the sticker!!!

Should we read the sticker as an indication that the fake is of the highest quality?

It can't be a fake, it has a sticker!

If you went outside and pointed to the sky and it was dark, you would have a hard time convincing one person....it was night time.

Maybe an eclipse? A cloud we can't see covering it? Volcanic eruption? I'd if it really is night time

I don't know anything about these cards. Any idea how they know it's fake? Someone asked that on the Blowout thread but no one gave an answer other than a link to a 27 page thread which I really am not that interested in reading through.

The experts don't always want to share their info on fakes - as it can help the criminals perfect their craft. It could be something so small and virtually unnoticeable.

I don't know, but I have seen enough of the guy's work and messaged with him enough times that I trust his assessments. Plus, with all the stuff he has called out, I don't think anyone ever really disputed any specific finding.

For those established members who have seen and handled a lot more vintage than I have...If you came across a hard to find vintage card in a MBA holder, would you keep it as is, or would you send to PSA or SGC for a crossover?

with the way PSA has been grading vintage for the last 2-3 years, MBA can't do worse.

Mike got that one wrong, evidently, but I would still trust him more than PSA or SGC, but that is just me.
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Thank you for the reply, Leon. I appreciate it.

Rethought to now reflect -

"Not real sure on that as the website menu shows that you need to "ASK" on the pricing for Card Grading? - What kinda Crap is that??????"

I can't answer this directly, but there were a number of 1952 Topps MBA graded cards that ended recently. I was surprised at how high some of the ending prices were. Apparently buyers were convinced there was significant value with this grading service

With the George Schirm Carolina Brights T206 and lack of a reponse from Andy I wouldn't trust CGC over any of the other grading companies.

Depends on who purchased those MBA graded 1952s.

FYI- bunch of these cards in Mile high auction
All nice looking