Living the Card Life

BY KEVIN CZERWINSKI

The creative boom surrounding trading cards, particularly baseball, which coincided with the height of the pandemic introduced the world of collecting to dozens of artists whose imaginations have produced some of the most spectacular cards the hobby has ever seen.

“The boom”, which has now gained a name much like the junk wax era of the late 20^th century, is also responsible for one of the most popular shows on regional sports television around the country. The Card Life, which is the brainchild of long-time sports entertainment producer Brandon Verzal, has become a staple in the industry since it debuted in the spring of 2021, providing seasoned hobbyists and novices alike with a place to turn to share stories and insights on the card-collecting world.

Verzal, 47, and his wife, Tiffany, are the driving forces behind the scenes while Philadelphia Phillies reliever Matt Strahm, an avid collector, is the show’s face. The southpaw, who has also pitched for the Royals, Padres and Red Sox, travels the country with the Phils, opening packs and talking cards in every city the teams hits. Verzal is right there with him to film, edit and put together the stories that have captured the hearts of collectors of all ages.

The Card Life, which releases new episodes monthly, is now seen on 27 regional sports networks across the country and is aired as many as 540 times a month.

“Literally every month since we started we’ve added new stations and airings,” Verzal said. “I can’t claim that we air more than anything else but … to think we’d be airing 14 times a day across the country, you would have never convinced me of that.

“There is a nostalgia tie-in there. We are on the networks where MLB, the NHL, the NBA and the other sports play, so whether we come on before or after a game, I think it’s been good for the hobby. It gets people thinking about their collections or gets them back to collecting.”

The attention that the Verzals have enjoyed following the debut of The Card Life has been remarkable but it wasn’t always an easy journey for the couple. There were hardships, some that continue to exist, that paved the path on which they travel. Yet the experiences – good and bad – have contributed not only to the show’s success but continue to highlight the warmth and energy that the couple and their family exude.

A COUPLE OF MIDWESTERN KIDS WHO GET A PHONE CALL

The Verzals, who live in Lincoln, Neb., are both natives of the Cornhusker State and graduates of the University of Nebraska with each having majored in broadcast journalism. They met in 1999 and worked together at HuskerVision [the video wing of Nebraska athletics] as students but didn’t start dating until 2001 when he was working for the Kansas City Royals.

Brandon Verzal spent six years working in Major League Baseball for the Tampa Bay Rays, the Kansas City Royals then the Seattle Mariners in the in-game and video production departments of each team. They began dating while he was with the Royals and were married in 2002. He ultimately took a position as director of 12^th Man Productions for Texas A&M. Tiffany Verzal also went to work as for A&M, briefly as an event planner and producer, before becoming the manager of 12^th Man Productions, a position she held until the couple moved back to Nebraska.

The couple welcomed their daughter Alexis in 2007. It wasn’t long after Alexis was born, though, that their lives took a turn. Verzal dropped the then 14-month-old Alexis off on the morning of April 3, 2008, with the woman who provided daycare for many people associated with A&M, including several of the university’s football and baseball coaches.

It wasn’t long before the Verzals got the kind of phone call that every parent dreads – Alexis was unconscious and had stopped breathing. The Verzals raced to the hospital to learn that their child had apparently been shaken and thrown about by the daycare provider [who was charged]. She had been working with Texas A&M families for years. Ultimately a jury acquitted the provider of any wrongdoing.

“She had found out her husband had cheated on her,” Brendan Verzal said. “It all just culminated on her. Our daughter cried when we left and she [the provider] lost her mind on her.”

Alexis Verzal was in a coma and spent more than a month in the ICU. When she finally regained consciousness, she couldn’t walk, talk or see and was essentially “like a newborn again”, according to Brandon Verzal.

“The only pediatric hospital that could help her was in Lincoln, so we flew back to Lincoln,” he said. “We came back here at the end of April 2008 and spent three months in patient where we lived in the hospital with her. That’s when we decided to quit our jobs and start our own company. We walked out of Kyle Field [at A&M that day] and we never went back.

“Alexis has now done 15 years of therapy, both physical and occupational, and she is doing things that they told us she was never going to do. They said she was going to be in a vegetative state. Both of us worked our tails off to get her better and she has made remarkable progress. She can walk with a cane with assistance, she can talk and she can see. And she has tons of friends.”

That moment in time altered the lives of the Verzal family forever. The couple formed V2 Content, which, in addition to The Card Life, has become one of the most successful full-service media companies in the country, covering television, digital and social media. V2 specializes in creating content for a variety of fields including sports, healthcare, finance, fitness, non-profits and many more.

The Verzals have also produced a documentary entitled “Forever Shaken” about the long-term impact that being shaken can have on a baby. The film is used nationwide to help train and educate medical professionals, social workers, childcare workers and parents about the dangers of shaking an infant. An update on the documentary is in the works.

LIVING THE CARD LIFE

Through it all, the Verzals worked extensively with Alexis and welcomed a second daughter, Abby, who is now 10 years old. It was in 2009 that Brandon Verzal began to rediscover his love for baseball cards, a hobby that he had put aside when he was younger, as he walked through a local Target.

“I grabbed a pack of baseball cards and started collecting again,” he said. “Around 2017, 2018, I was producing other shows and I was surprised about how no one had ever done a show about collecting sports cards. Almost everyone who is a fan of every sport at one time or another collected and opened a pack of cards. It took until 2021 until the boom happened that that everyone was talking about it [the hobby].

“I thought I might go for it and approached some television executives at Bally Sports [in Feb. 2021]. I thought I would get a professional athlete to do it with me and they loved it instantly.

“I knew Matt was one of those players before the boom who was outwardly promoting collecting. He didn’t start collecting again until 2018 [he had collected cards as a youngster] but it wasn’t something he talked about in the clubhouse. But when the pandemic happened he started a YouTube channel where he was opening packs and boxes in empty stadiums. So, two minutes after Ballys said they wanted to do it, I DMed Matt on Twitter.”

Strahm replied instantly and within a four-to-five-hour period, Verzal had not only sold his idea but had gotten a professional baseball player to work with him. They filmed their first episode that May and have been on the air ever since.

Filming takes place over the course of two or three days in whatever city the Phillies happen to be playing. Verzal usually tried to pick a city which he hasn’t visited before and will generally film with Strahm on the second day the club is in town to give the hurler a chance to recoup from what may be late-night getaway-day travel with the Phils.

Overall, it takes a week of filming and editing to put the show together. Tiffany handles all the graphic designs so it is truly a mom-and-pop operation.

“He’s out having the fun,” Tiffany Verzal said. “I’m also having fun; I just end up taking care of the kids more. Sports cards are his passion, not mine. I appreciate cards but I was never a collector. Bran always has great stories; he is a history buff with all sports. For him, the collecting thing is what ties into the historical thing.

“He has such an appreciation for it so the collecting ties it all in. I appreciate [the stories on] the art cards and the graphics, those pieces, when he does stories like that. I would say that’s where my appreciation for baseball and football and all cards come into play.”

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

There doesn’t appear to be anything that will slow down The Card Life, at least not for the foreseeable future. The show is a sustained success and has, for many, become an integral part of the hobby. But for how long?

“I have asked Brandon that [where is this all going?] a lot,” Tiffany Verzal said. “I don’t know but it’s going to be really interesting. It’s changed so much since we started and there was a Twitter message to Matt to see if he was interested. My hope is that this show lasts for really long time because there are so many stories out there to be told. He’s just scratching the surface.

“My hope for him is that more and more people continue to watch. I love when we get messages and I love the stories that have gotten to come out. We want to get more and more of those in.”

Another question can be asked is whether The Card Life would even exist had tragedy not befallen Alexis Verzal. It’s a fair question. The remarkable young woman whom she has become is a testament to not only her strength but the strength of her parents and her sister.

“I don’t know if we would have stayed [doing what they were doing or in Texas] or if we would have moved closer to what we are doing now,” Tiffany Verzal said. “It kind of forced our hand on a lot of things. When you go through something like that you kind of have ‘What do you have to lose?’ perspective. The worst has already happened so if something worse happens, we can handle it.

“Our focus has to say so positive and on her [Alexis] and her recovering. If you let that negative energy in, it will literally eat you alive and that will never serve her.”

SPEAKING OF ALEXIS

Alexis Verzal is as much a part of The Card Life as her parents. She frequently travels with her father from city to city and has made friends in each stop. The ballplayers adore her, as does everyone she meets.

She impacts every person she meets, lighting up every room she enters, providing her family as well as the show with a spark.

“She is amazing,” Tiffany Verzal said. “People gravitate toward her. With the energy she has, people just want to be around her. She is just a great human being. She has made a lot of people better and not just us. You can interview her teachers, the kids she has grown up with, she changes lives. She still has weekly phone calls with her elementary school principal if that tells you anything.

“There are so many that have had this happen that pass away. We could have never seen her smile or talk again. There are a lot of families that live like that every day. Things can be difficult and time consuming but she has a phenomenal attitude. She really drives her own ship and we’re just along for the ride.”