The King of the Diamond Kings discusses the autograph hunt on new episode of 'Carded'

Forget the Mona Lisa and the hours-long line you have to wait in to get a glimpse of it. (Despite her smile, I bet she couldn't even hit .250.) If you want some real art featuring players who could hack it at the plate, you want to turn to Diamond Kings, the lovingly painted Donruss cards of baseballs superstars from 1982-1996.

In the latest episode of MLB.TV's "Carded," Greg Amsinger sits down with Nathan Burns -- the King of the Diamond Kings -- who details how he put together a collection of the entire set, complete with autographs.

Baseball players have always been larger than life, essentially flamethrowing, homer-hitting superheroes of myth and legend. In MLB's campaign for the 2025 season, though, the players were literally transformed into that as they became "Heroes of the Game." MLB Network's Lauren Gardner takes a behind-the-scenes peek at the process:

Then, Oscar-winning actor J.K. Simmons, a devoted Detroit Tigers fan -- "I've been Tigers fan since Mr. Kaline was a rookie," Simmons noted -- comes on the show to look through a stack of Tigers baseball cards.

Beyond noting that Kaline and Clemente were the two best right fielders of the 1960s and '70s, Simmons said that "one of the big benefits of being semi-famous is getting to meet so many of my heroes. I got to meet this guy, currently on the Tigers staff, Alan Trammell."

Next, Chris Costa, the co-founder of CardVault with Tom Brady, joins Alex Giaimo to discuss the store and what it's like to partner with the NFL superstar QB turned card collector extraordinaire.

"I was one of the bigger Tom Brady collectors in the country, I was one of the bigger Tom Brady dealers in the country, and one of our first locations was in Gillette Stadium," Costa said. "It's been a pretty wild and surreal ride."

Bergen Catholic High School's card-collecting club from Oradell, N.J., got a pretty sweet invite thanks to Mark DeRosa -- himself a Bergen Catholic alum: The group was given a personal tour of the MLB Network offices. You can follow along with them on their tour below:

Finally, no episode of "Carded" is complete without the pack rip. This time, it's a special Spring Breakout box break with top MLB prospects tearing into packs of Bowman 2024. The Hall of Famers of tomorrow could be found within packs today.

For more episodes of "Carded," check out MLB.TV.