Thursday, July 31, 2025, Day 2 of the National
I have to admit that it was kind of fun having different helpers each day of the National. Day 2's helper was my pal Bronko, who came down from Wisconsin for the National and stayed with some friends who live conveniently near my house. I picked up Bronko and once again went to Chicago Bagel and Bialy. I went with a kosher salami sandwich this morning. Bronko was not hungry.
We took the back roads to Rosemont and hit a traffic jam on River Road at Higgins. It took us a long while to get into the parking garage. Once at the booth, I sat down and ate my sandwich while Bronko perused the show.
Set up took a little longer this morning as I spent a ton of time replacing all the empty holes in my display cases from Wednesday's sales. Having all those extra cards priced out ahead of time proved necessary and helpful as I was easily able to fill all the holes.
First person at my booth on Thursday was big Tim, who apparently sneaked into the show somewhere near the autograph pavilion.
Much larger crowd on Thursday. I saw lots of people I knew like Jim C., Jeremy S., Chad W., Troy K., Larry N., and many more. Sadly, I had to inform Sandy of Dave's passing.
Andy and Scott stopped by and purchased some hockey. Thanks guys! I sold my 1955 Bowman Mickey Mantle along with a ton of other cards. Sales were frequent once again. Bronko's help was invaluable. He quickly figured out my discounts and we worked really well together.
I am so lucky to have so many great friends that I have acquired in my sports card hobby journey. I enjoyed hanging out with Al on Wednesday and enjoyed hanging out with Bronko on Thursday.
As much as I love cards (well it is really a serial addiction), I really enjoy hanging out with all my hobby pals. I really had an enjoyable time on Thursday. Too busy once again to the leave the booth. I did have a binder of 1963 Exhibit stat backs walk up and now in my possession. I have always had a tough time acquiring the '63 stat backs and am really excited about this purchase.
It amazes me that in a building with 700 vendor booths, a huge amount of the booths are of the vintage kind, that stuff finds its way to me. I don't have any big "buying" signs like other dealers. I don't have a jazzy booth. Just old school. Seems to work!
I gotta comment about this lady who came around today. She was around last year in Cleveland as well. She comes by to try and sell some really cool pre-War items but they are insanely over-priced. She must be set up in a nearby booth and trying to move some high-end items. Below, I'll post photos of some of the stuff she brought by today. I mean, I loved seeing the autographed Lou Gehrig Butterfinger premium but her $22K asking price is on the nutty side.
I also started to have a problem with one of the dude's set up in the Texas booth. He had three or four display cases in the booth adjacent to the end of my booth. He seems okay and I watched him do a brisk business selling slabbed complete tickets and ticket stubs. Problem is that he has some regular customers that come every day and they stand in my booth because he only has one table in the Texas booth which seems to always have people in front of it, so his overflow goes into my booth, blocking my display cases and access into my U. I had to shooo a few of his customers away today. I don't mind if they stand there 15 or 20 minutes but they were blocking my booth for more than an hour. Kind of sucked.
Other than these dooshbags blocking my booth, there really were no problems or issues. Overall, an excellent day.
I don't know about Bronko, but I was pretty tired when the show ended at 6 p.m. and very hungry.
Much easier time exiting the building on Thursday. I treated Bronko to one of my favorite Chicago-area restaurants -- Hackney's on Lake in beautiful Glenview, Illinois. I've been eating at Hackney's my whole life (58 years!) and still absolutely love the place. We dined on Hackney burgers. Bronko had his first Green River, my favorite Chicago soda from my youth. I can't drink them any more due to diabetes. I tried the diet Green River once and it was horrible. Man I miss Green River!! Stupid diabetes.
Anyway, Day 2 of the National was in the books. Sales were awesome!! I did not want to get too excited but it was looking like my best National ever. Woot!
Below are some photos of the pre-war items brought by the random lady who I met last year in Cleveland. Cool stuff but she was asking five-times the actual value for these items.
I have to admit that it was kind of fun having different helpers each day of the National. Day 2's helper was my pal Bronko, who came down from Wisconsin for the National and stayed with some friends who live conveniently near my house. I picked up Bronko and once again went to Chicago Bagel and Bialy. I went with a kosher salami sandwich this morning. Bronko was not hungry.
We took the back roads to Rosemont and hit a traffic jam on River Road at Higgins. It took us a long while to get into the parking garage. Once at the booth, I sat down and ate my sandwich while Bronko perused the show.
Set up took a little longer this morning as I spent a ton of time replacing all the empty holes in my display cases from Wednesday's sales. Having all those extra cards priced out ahead of time proved necessary and helpful as I was easily able to fill all the holes.
First person at my booth on Thursday was big Tim, who apparently sneaked into the show somewhere near the autograph pavilion.
Much larger crowd on Thursday. I saw lots of people I knew like Jim C., Jeremy S., Chad W., Troy K., Larry N., and many more. Sadly, I had to inform Sandy of Dave's passing.
Andy and Scott stopped by and purchased some hockey. Thanks guys! I sold my 1955 Bowman Mickey Mantle along with a ton of other cards. Sales were frequent once again. Bronko's help was invaluable. He quickly figured out my discounts and we worked really well together.
I am so lucky to have so many great friends that I have acquired in my sports card hobby journey. I enjoyed hanging out with Al on Wednesday and enjoyed hanging out with Bronko on Thursday.
As much as I love cards (well it is really a serial addiction), I really enjoy hanging out with all my hobby pals. I really had an enjoyable time on Thursday. Too busy once again to the leave the booth. I did have a binder of 1963 Exhibit stat backs walk up and now in my possession. I have always had a tough time acquiring the '63 stat backs and am really excited about this purchase.
It amazes me that in a building with 700 vendor booths, a huge amount of the booths are of the vintage kind, that stuff finds its way to me. I don't have any big "buying" signs like other dealers. I don't have a jazzy booth. Just old school. Seems to work!
I gotta comment about this lady who came around today. She was around last year in Cleveland as well. She comes by to try and sell some really cool pre-War items but they are insanely over-priced. She must be set up in a nearby booth and trying to move some high-end items. Below, I'll post photos of some of the stuff she brought by today. I mean, I loved seeing the autographed Lou Gehrig Butterfinger premium but her $22K asking price is on the nutty side.
I also started to have a problem with one of the dude's set up in the Texas booth. He had three or four display cases in the booth adjacent to the end of my booth. He seems okay and I watched him do a brisk business selling slabbed complete tickets and ticket stubs. Problem is that he has some regular customers that come every day and they stand in my booth because he only has one table in the Texas booth which seems to always have people in front of it, so his overflow goes into my booth, blocking my display cases and access into my U. I had to shooo a few of his customers away today. I don't mind if they stand there 15 or 20 minutes but they were blocking my booth for more than an hour. Kind of sucked.
Other than these dooshbags blocking my booth, there really were no problems or issues. Overall, an excellent day.
I don't know about Bronko, but I was pretty tired when the show ended at 6 p.m. and very hungry.
Much easier time exiting the building on Thursday. I treated Bronko to one of my favorite Chicago-area restaurants -- Hackney's on Lake in beautiful Glenview, Illinois. I've been eating at Hackney's my whole life (58 years!) and still absolutely love the place. We dined on Hackney burgers. Bronko had his first Green River, my favorite Chicago soda from my youth. I can't drink them any more due to diabetes. I tried the diet Green River once and it was horrible. Man I miss Green River!! Stupid diabetes.
Anyway, Day 2 of the National was in the books. Sales were awesome!! I did not want to get too excited but it was looking like my best National ever. Woot!
Below are some photos of the pre-war items brought by the random lady who I met last year in Cleveland. Cool stuff but she was asking five-times the actual value for these items.
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