Develin of Women In The Hobby joins ‘The Chase’

By David Yarger

Co-Host “The Chase”

Monday morning, “The Chase” crew continued to unveil its recorded interviews from The National in Atlantic City.

Julie Develin of Women in the Hobby, and close friend to the show, met up with the crew the last day of National to discuss how the week went for WITH.

For those who may not know, Women in the Hobby is a platform that shines a light on female collectors in the hobby and breaks away from ideologies that the hobby is only male.

When people think of a regular collector, they likely think of a white, male collector, which is what WITH is looking to get away from, and try to get people to realize that people of all genders, ethnicities, orientations and more are a part of the hobby. It is also a way to highlight the female collectors of the world and shine a light to those who are a party of the card collecting industry.

Women in the Hobby had their own booth at National for the first time, and had a few women athletes sign at said booth. Additionally, they handed out custom packs with the WITH logo. On top of everything, their booth was slammed every time the crew walked by to chat with them.

Of the week at National, Develin said, “We’ve had an amazing show. The Women in the Hobby booth, I don’t even know where to start. It started before the National with support, but it’s just blown up to where we’ve seen even so much more support and there’s just so many people coming to our table thanking us for existing and saying that this conversation has been overdue. We’re just excited and happy to have representation here for the first time.”

She added that a ton of breakers, collectors and people of the hobby came up to the booth looking to collaborate with the group, which made her very excited for the future.

As far as getting the booth, she said the work began less than six months ago and everything came together very quickly.

“It’s difficult to get space here, so we have to thank the National also for helping us out and being supportive of our group, too. Obviously, we look forward to being here every year and having even more representation here year over year,” Develin said.

Women in the Hobby also has a Facebook group, limited to women only, where the group just talks about the hobby and gets to socialize with each other. Develin added, as great as the group is, it was time that Women in the Hobby became visible in person and show up to the National where they could meet and interact with the people they’ve been talking to for a while.

“We want to be assimilated into that culture as part of this hobby, because women are a huge part of this hobby,” Develin said.

Furthermore regarding the busy week for Develin and the WITH booth, she added that the connections make the long, tiring week all worth it.

“That’s what this show is about. There’s the cards, there’s the memorabilia, there’s the dollars being exchanged, but for so many people, this is about community, it’s about connection, it’s about forging relationships, it’s about business, too. But, there’s such a major part of this hobby where I’d say 95% of the people are awesome people,” Develin said.

She added, the reception at the booth was “humbling” and an awesome experience. A lot of people just wanted to have conversations and others asked how they could get involved with the group, as well. On top of everything, Develin said several male collectors came to the booth and handed over graded womens sports cards and told the booth to hand them out to kids who come by the booth.

Develin said the week was a huge success for Women in the Hobby and following the show, the group will debrief and brainstorm more plans for next year’s National in Rosemont.

As far as those looking to help out, Develin said to include women with inclusive language and making sure that the vernacular being used in online forums is inclusive and not sexist, homophobic, racist, etc. and if you see something, say something.

The group has a private Facebook for women, and they can be found on Instagram here. Additionally, their website is here.

Also on “The Chase” … 

• Jacob McNeilly of DSS Sports Cards recently got a not so pleasant surprise.

While at the National, McNeilly was about to do a break of 2012 NBA Prizm, a box worth approximately $15,000. As he tore apart the wrapping and opened the box, he realized it was not Prizm packs in the box, but Austin Powers packs.

In a partial statement on YouTube, McNeilly said: “Several months ago I purchased a 2012 NBA Prizm hobby box. … I brought it to multiple Dallas [card shows] and received multiple serious offers. … I never assumed anything nefarious about the product or the packaging. We decided we were going to break it at the National on the @ntwrk app. Over time, we sold all the spots for the teams, we drew the random teams and at the national we opened up the box and sure enough there was Austin Powers packs in it, so obviously it was a fake.”

We’d love to tell you even more about it, but guess what? McNeilly will be coming on the show for an episode this month. The date is to be determined, but we look forward to hearing from him and getting his reaction to this terrible happening.

• Lastly, Troy ripped a box of Photogenic Basketball today. For those looking to win, comment on the YouTube video who you feel is the most photogenic athlete of all time.

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