MBA Opinions - Mike Baker Authentic
 

So far, from what little I've seen on eBay, MBA seems to be trying to make a name for themselves as a legit third party grader. Has anyone here had experiences yet trying to cross any of those MBA grades? If so, I'm interested. Thanks.

FWIW, I think Mike is one of the better graders in the hobby. His stuff should cross but with TPGs you absolutely never know.
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If you are just going to cross the cards why are you wasting a step—just submit to who you want the ultimate grade from.

I have not, but found the following.

According to a 2025 filing with the Oregon Secretary of State, Brent Huigens is a Manager of MBA.

https://records.sos.state.or.us/ORSO...dhtml/10870947

Further, the address of MBA is listed as 7632 SW Durham Road in Tigard, OR. PWCC's address was 7560 SW Durham Road. From a map, they look to be adjacent.

As I like to say, presented without comment.

The material I have seen sell looks accurately graded. The thing that did not sit well with me was that there seems to be only two outlets for the material and there is a consistency to the type of cards being graded. Almost feels like a pilot program from the inside. The prices seem pretty solid too for the couple of dozen prices that I checked. The not so feel good is now learning that PWCC is associated with it.

I have a slab from MBA. The grading seems fair, given the edge wear. I've seen PSA 3s that look similar, but I've also seen PSA 5s that look worse.

That’s accurate grading - You cannot even guess what SGC or PSA will grade anything nowadays

That's an accurate grade. PSA will call that a 2 most of the time today though. They've completely forgotten how to grade vintage cards. SGC will usually call that a 3 now, though they're getting less consistent now as well.

The card has been cleaned though, FYI. I've seen a lot of cleaned cards in MBA slabs recently for some reason.

I can think of one...

I would guess that 99% of cards that get crossed are not crossed by the original submitter

The 1952 Topps I have seen in MBA slabs sold for a higher price than anticipated. I was a little surprised

Travis, please explain the part about the card being cleaned. I have bid on MBA cards (without winning them) and would like to have a full story if possible. I am sure others may be interested, too.

Most vintage cards have been cleaned. Seriously if you are buying a card in a slab there is very little chance it hasn't been cleaned in some way.

The more things change....

all you need to do is watch a few of Kurt's videos (cleaning vintage cards) to see what to look for. one obvious tell is bright white vintage cards w/ rounded corners. all vintage paper stock ages and tones over time

I have a question. Has anyone tried to submit to MBA grading crossing over your cards in GAI holders? I know he was head grader there and there was a lot of cards that would not grade with other grading companies that he slabbed with number grades in GAI holders.

Johnny,

I was wondering the same thing. When GAI started, I thought they were good, then after time it just got horrible. Obviously trimmed cards were slabbed with numerical grades. I wondered WTF happened.

It got way worse when he was the head grader when they changed the name to Global Authority. Many people who sent cards in never got them back. I was one of the lucky ones that after sending several emails got my cards back ungraded but still got charged for grading. At least I got my cards back. That is when I learned the BBB was completely worthless and actually can't do anything to anybody.

Exactly!!! The people that have been around a while know the past… I would be interested to know if he would put those cards in his new holder.

I wasn’t aware of Mikes affliction with GAI. I have heard bad things about GAI slabbed cards. Are any GAI cards good?

I crossed a 1954 Red Heart Mickey Mantle in a GAI 8.5 to a PSA 7. I thought the card might be trimmed but placed a minimum grade of 7 for the crossover and they crossed it. It was worth about $2K in the GAI 8.5 slab and I sold it for $4500 in the PSA 7 so it was worth the $250 fee.

GAI was legit in the early days and Baker was the head grading guy but was also a partner in the company and I'm sure he became overwhelmed and they took shortcuts due to being flooded with volume. I can't remember the exact details but they did a promotion of some sort that completely overwhelmed their grading capacity.

So I guess some are good and some are not so good?

Whenever a GAI card come for sale on Facebook, the comments usually light it up with negativity.

I personally would not own a GAI card.

So the card is a 3.5 but the silver bar means it’s a high grade 3.5? Like a 3.7? What if it had a gold bar? Then a 3.85? Why not just grade it 3.7 or 3.85 as accuracy would presumably be important to a grader? And does the submitter need to pay two fees, one for the grade and the second for that silver bar? Does a bronze bar mean 3.6?

It is all in perspective.

I bought the 1954 Red Heart Mantle GAI 8.5 for roughly what a PSA 4 would have sold for at that time 4 months ago, $2000. I spent $250 to crossover and sold it for $4500. So, a $2250 profit was pretty good. Wish I could buy already graded PSA cards and more than double my money. The key is in the serial numbers. The early ones before they blew up are good as far as being gradable cards. Granted, their 8.5 from 20 years ago was only a PSA 7 today but PSA 8's from 20 years ago would be lucky to get a 7 today.

So, for the time period when they first started and for about a year or two, they were pretty consistent and legit.

They were actually the Host Sponsor at the National one of their early years so at that time they were pretty well respected.

Obviously, as time passed they became really bad and there are a lot of trimmed cards in GAI holders.

But, like this Mantle, there are cards in their holders that are still pretty valuable if crossed over or simply broken out and resubmitted.

But again, the serial numbers are the key to finding cards that will grade and they will still be 1-3 grades lower than the GAI grade on the old holder.

Hey Randy, what would be the serial number range that'd indicate a likely good GAI grade or authentication?