Another Catch Up Blog

So after the Strongsville show, I was back at Gonzaga on September 18, 2016. I had a nice show. As usual during football season, the room cleared out by noon. 

Next up on Septmeber 25, 2016, was Indian Lakes Resort. I had a great show selling two high-priced Mantles to a new customer from Oswego.

​October started off with a double-bill weekend with my show at the Clarion, pictured above, on October 1, and the Wyndham Garden show in Schaumburg on October 2. I had a packed house of dealers at the Clarion. My sales and purchases were strong. I ended up buying a 1954 Bowman Mantle and a 1955 Bowman Mantle. I had a typical Schaumburg show where I sold some stuff out of my binders and display cases. I purchased some 1966 Philadelphia football.

On Saturday, October 8, 2016, I went to Game 2 of the NLDS at Wrigley Field, pictured above. My pops came through and brought me, my brother and nephew to the game. My brother lives down the road from Wrigley Field and we were able to park at his condo building. I had not been to a game this year and was blown away by the construction at Clark and Addison. I have a lot of memories at the McDonald's that was once located on the northwest corner of Clark and Addison, across from Wrigley, and is now a massive construction site. I spent a lot of time in there during the early 1980s when I was a teenage punk rocker and there were regular punk rock concerts at the Cubby Bear across the street and at the Metro down the road. Then in the 1990s, I lived in two different apartments in the neighborhood and stopped in to eat often. The kind folks that owned the McDonald's allowed me to park my car in their lot during the winter when the snow made parking on the side streets impossible.  There was some great memorabilia on display in that McDonald's, particularly items from the 1945 Cubs team, the last team to get to the World Series prior to 2016. I wonder what happened to all that stuff?

Across from the McDonald's on Clark was a parking lot where Cubs players used to park and it contained a doughnut shop. That area is under construction as well. The police had Clark Street closed off so it was very hard to walk through this area.

​The game was awesome! The Cubs jumped on former Cub Jeff Samardzija early creating a lot of electricity in the stadium. It seemed like we were mostly standing up and high-fiving everyone around us. This was my third Cubs playoff game, having gone in 1984 and 2015. The Cubs won all three playoff games I attended. Though, I have to admit, that I am a pessimistic Cubs fan and did not expect the Cubs to win the series against the Giants. When the Cubs won the series against the Giants, I did not think they would get past the next team up, the Dodgers. Obviously, I was wrong.

I still have more catching up to do going back to October. I hope to have another "Catch Up" blog soon. In the meantime, come see me this Saturday, January 7, 2017, at the Clarion Hotel, 5311 S. Howell, in Milwaukee, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. I have a bunch of new stuff including a reloaded 1973 Topps football binder, a 1980 Topps Baseball binder and a 1963 Topps baseball binder along with new cards for my display cases.

Pictured above is my brother and my dad at Game 2 of the NLDS at Wrigley Field on October 8, 2016.