There are a million factors that can affect a trading card’s value, notes Chris Lambros ’26, founder of Rhody Sports Cards, from the crispness of its corners to the vibrance of its colors.

Yet those details are only skin-deep — or paper-thin, as the case may be.

At the end of the day, you can’t beat a good story, Lambros suggests. That’s the real value.

Sure, cards can be seen as an investment — and Lambros’ success speaks to their value as a commodity — but their real worth lies in the moments, and emotions, they embody. They’re portals through time and space to larger-than-life heroes — from buzzer-beating championship baskets to incredible tales of overcoming the odds.

As stories go, Lambros has a pretty good one, himself. In just a few years, he’s grown his small business from an initial $300 investment to more than six figures in sales. Along the way, he’s learned what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur.

Rookie talent
In the beginning, Lambros’ ambitions were small, more of a lark, really. During his senior year of high school, at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, he found some old cards that had belonged to his father, a former dealer himself, in his basement.

The cards weren’t anything special — most of them were worth just a few dollars, Lambros says — but he was able to turn a profit on eBay after giving his dad his cut.

Intrigued, he decided to dip his toes into the business and continued to buy and sell.

A few years later, Lambros’s dad suggested they attend a card show. They’d been to a few together when he was younger, and it seemed like a great time for a return. The location was a draw too. “What’s better than a show at Fenway Park?” Lambros, a longtime Red Sox fan, asks.

“I chose Bryant because I wanted a hands-on education. I didn't want to just be learning off of slides.”

He took some of the money he’d made from his job at a clothing store and used it to make an initial $300 investment. Originally, he says, he was hunting for a few specific cards of players that meant something to him: Red Sox Hall of Fame slugger David Ortiz; former Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo, a member of their 2008 Championship team; and Tom Brady, then the quarterback of the five-time Super Bowl champion New England Patriots.

But as he looked around, Lambros found something even more valuable: inspiration. “I saw kids even younger than I was doing thousands of dollars’ worth of transactions,” says Lambros. “And I thought, ‘I could do that too.’ So, I told my dad, ‘I think I should really try to make what I’m doing into a business.’”

Starting from scratch, though, meant sacrifice. “As much as those cards had meant to me, I went home and listed them on eBay and sold them for a little bit of a profit,” he says. “Not a lot, but enough to give me confidence to keep going.”

Rhody Sports Cards, LLC, was born.

Learning the game
Deal by deal, Lambros built his business online and at card shows. “You just keep doing it,” he says, “each time a little bit bigger.

“I wasn’t making a lot of money at first, just experimenting and having fun,” he notes. “And it was also a chance to work with my dad.”  

Deepening bonds like that is one of the perks of card collecting, points out Lambros. “If you go to a show, you're going to see thousands and thousands and thousands of people. They're kids with their parents, siblings, and grandparents. It’s a hobby that brings people together and gives them something to bond over.”

With each trade, Lambros learned more about his hobby and what it takes to excel in it as a dealer. Success means keeping up with the sports world — who’s hot, who’s hurt, and who’s the next big thing — but it also means understanding larger economic trends that affect consumer habits.

“With modern cards, it's all about timing,” says Lambros.

In a small, close community like sports card collecting, you also need to build a reputation for reliability and professionalism, Lambros says. “I chose Bryant because I wanted a hands-on education. I didn't want to just be learning off of slides,” he states.

“Maybe 10,000 people came through the doors. I completely sold out everything I brought with me."

Lambros points to his “Creating a New Venture” course, taught by R. Isil Yavuz, Ph.D., entrepreneurship coordinator and assistant professor of Management, who has become a valuable mentor.

“I chose Entrepreneurship because I wanted to learn a little bit of everything, from Marketing to Finance,” says Lambros, whose mother and father both started their own small businesses. “You’re not just learning how a business runs; you’re learning about leadership, you’re learning about hiring — all rolled into one program.”

He’s also drawn inspiration from other entrepreneurs. One classroom experience that sticks in his mind was meeting Ron ’75 and Pete ’78 Cardi, the owners of the Cardi’s Furniture chain, when they visited as guest speakers. “They were able to build an empire,” Lambros notes. “They’re the kind of guys you see in TV ads and on billboards — and they took the time to visit our class and talk to us.”

Other Bryant courses are helping him as well. An Information Systems and Analytics class, for instance, introduced him to tools and practices that have helped him manage, and scale, Rhody Sports Cards. That’s come in handy as his total sales have grown past the $100,000 mark.

He’s made a name for himself — a jump for someone who admits he can be “kind of shy.”

“I go to events now, and people say, ‘What's up, Rhody?’”  he says.

MVP
In May 2023, Lambros made his triumphant return to the Fenway Card Show, this time as a dealer. Surrounded by some of the biggest names in the baseball card business and professional athletes like Hall of Fame Red Sox players Pedro Martinez and David Ortiz, he considers it one of his proudest moments.

“Maybe 10,000 people came through the doors,” Lambros recalls, and success made the day even sweeter. “I completely sold out everything I brought with me.

Lambros’ online business is thriving, and he’s shifted his energies toward the vintage market. It’s more stable, Lambros notes; the stories are also richer, and the meaning deeper.

“You start talking about cards and it can be really interesting to see where the conversation goes.”

“You get to learn more about the history of the game and the greats like Jackie Robinson,” he says. “I also get to deal with more true collectors.  They’re looking for cards that are personally important for them.”

In a short period of time, Lambros has forged connections with hobbyists throughout the region: business owners, pillars of the community, even the former mayor of his hometown. “You start talking about cards and it can be really interesting to see where the conversation goes,” he muses.

And Lambros has gotten his hands on some truly impressive cards, including a Topps Hank Aaron from 1954 (his rookie year) and an exceptionally rare 1933 Babe Ruth Goudey (“It’s a pretty desirable card,” he says modestly).

But there’s one card he’ll never sell: an autographed 2022 Topps Davd Ortiz containing a patch from his uniform that sits on a place of pride on his shelf.

“He’s my favorite player,” says Lambros. “And it was a gift from my parents.”

In the end, that’s the most important story of them all.