Card Ladder’s Thorson joins The Chase

By David Yarger

Co-Host The Chase

Finally, it’s Friday. Happy cap off to the week, we hope you enjoyed another episode of The Chase. Today, the crew welcomed the COO and CFO of Card Ladder Kristina Thorson on to the broadcast. 

Thorson, who has been a collector since 2016, took us on a journey from the beginning of her card collecting days to her collection of Luka Doncic and Maxi Kleber cards to her speaking on the Women in the Hobby panel at the 2022 Industry Summit and her position at Card Ladder!

Her love of collecting began with her fiancé, when the two took a trip to his mother’s house, where Thorson’s fiancé had to clean out his closet. In the closet were his whole childhood collection. From there, the two set off on a journey to find packs and she was hooked. 

Thorson added her first hobby box included a Karl Anthony-Towns rookie signature out of 25. 

Back in October, Thorson hopped on the stage at the 2022 Industry Summit in Vegas to join the Women in the Hobby panel. She said it was kind of intimidating as a new kid on the block, she said with a laugh, but overall, it was an amazing experience. 

“I think it was great exposure for the women who are making impacts in the industry. There are so many of us that are behind the scenes that I think it was an honor to be a part of the face of women in the hobby. But I’m just a collector. I’m just here for the cool cardboard, I’m not here to make statements or be a role model or anything like that,” she said with a laugh. 

Working in the hobby was a dream of Thorson’s, she mentioned. The position with Card Ladder was a way she could take her passion of collecting and put it towards an occupation.

For those who don’t know, Card Ladder is a database that tracks sale history of cards, which includes over 50-million sales data points dating back to 2004 across over 15 platforms and marketplaces. 

Long story short, if a card was sold publicly online, you can find it on Card Ladder and see what it has sold for. Card Ladder also has an index for players, Thorson said, where if you purchased a player’s card for $4,500 and their current index is 10 times higher, then you know your $4,500 is now $45,000. 

“That’s really what makes Card Ladder different. We are three collectors who care about the hobby and want to be here for the rest of our lives, and in order to do so, we need to make sure that good data – clean data – is accessible to people, so they know what they’re getting into, and they can make smart decisions,” Thorson said. 

She added that Card Ladder recently installed a camera search aspect to their platform, where collectors can take a picture of their card and get access to all of its data.

To check out the rest of the interview, head to the YouTube video!

Also on The Chase

Following the interview with Thorson, the crew ripped open the new release of Topps Triple Threads baseball. Troy took home another pack war, ripping not only the lone auto – which was a Logan Webb patch auto – but also a one of one magenta printing plate of Mike Schmidt. On top of that, there was an Alex Kiriloff redemption and a Julio Urias patch out of three. 

To win these cards, just comment on the YouTube video of your favorite baseball card from your personal collection!

A winner will be announced on Monday morning’s episode of The Chase.