Episode 139
An Entrepreneur's Dream with Barry Meisel, President and CEO of MeiGray Group
Finding an authentic Super Bowl 3 jersey, working with an incredible business partner, and turning a hobby into a thriving business can truly be classified as entrepreneur Barry Meisel's dream. This week, Barry Meisel joins the show to talk about his business MeiGray Group, which sells authentic game-worn jerseys and sports memorabilia to collectors. He discusses his background in the sports journalism field, as well as how he transitioned to become an entrepreneur. He has some incredible stories that he shares, including the one time Traci was with him and he confirmed an authentic Super Bowl 3 jersey from Matt Snell. Tune in for this fun discussion with Barry Meisel!
IN THIS EPISODE:
- [7:02] Barry introduces his background and talks about the books he has written.
- [11:35] What were the first few years of entrepreneurship like for Barry?
- [17:47] How has Barry been able to scale his business and leverage all the enhancements in technology over these years?
- [21:00] Barry shares a story about when Traci was with him and he retained an authentic Super Bowl 3 jersey from Matt Snell.
- [25:35] Barry talks about his experience working with a business partner.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- [18:37] MeiGray has techniques to prove that the items they get are real, authentic items. They use technology that blows up an image a thousand times to find one thread or imperfection depending on the sport to prove that it is authentic.
- [30:57] The jersey’s and items that you can purchase from MeiGray are so special because they have a connection with the actual event and player. This is something that was worn or used by a player at a specific game, which can be a real special memento.
LINKS MENTIONED:
Discount Code: WRAP10
Email: sales@meigray.com
NHL Wraparound Podcast on Spotify
NHL Wraparound Podcast on YouTube
BIO
On April 21, 1997, The MeiGray Group wooed award-winning sportswriter Barry Meisel from the New York Daily News by signing the Brooklyn, New York native to an exclusive multi-year contract.
On April 21, 2017, Meisel celebrated his 20th year at the helm of the hobby’s No. 1 source for Game-Worn Jerseys.
MeiGray marks the second sports memorabilia company to be headed by Meisel. His successful 18-year sports journalism career began while he was directing Garden Sportscard Company, which Meisel founded in August 1977, the prehistoric days of the sports memorabilia industry, while a junior at the State University of Binghamton, N.Y.
Garden's rapid growth under Meisel's direction - sales rose more than 500% over four years - mirrored Meisel's blossoming journalism career. After his graduation from SUNY-Binghamton in May 1979, he was hired by the Binghamton Sun-Bulletin to cover the American Hockey League's Binghamton Whalers.
By 1981, Garden had become phenomenally successful - so successful that it needed Meisel and his partner to run it full-time. Rather than give up his sports journalism career at the age of 23, Meisel sold his 50 percent stake in Garden. He spent five years at the Sun-Bulletin, and then was hired in June 1984 to cover the New York Rangers, New York Mets and New Jersey Devils for the Morristown, N.J., Daily Record.
After only 15 months at the Daily Record, Meisel was hired in October 1985 by the New York Daily News. In his 12 years at one of the nation's largest dailies he covered the New York Islanders, New York Rangers, New Jersey Devils and New York Giants. He spent 1993 and 1994 as the News' investigative sports reporter.
He has also worked as a columnist for The Hockey News (1982-90) and The New York Giants Newsweekly (1990-96). He was a contributing writer for Sport from 1990-1994. He has written two books. In 1988 he co-authored 'Boss: The Mike Bossy Story' and in 1995 he wrote 'Losing the Edge: The Rise and Fall of the Stanley Cup Champion New York Rangers.'
