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Neither Rain, Nor Sleet, Nor Snow, Can Keep Collectors Away From the Baseball Card Show

1/30/2012

I tried to get the Kolb to go with me to Orland but he wanted to stay home and hang out with his sister. Sans Kolby, I was on the road to Orland Park at 7:20 a.m. Mother Nature gave me thick snow from Deerfield down south to Ogden Avenue, then the snow suddenly disappeared. While driving in that thick snow I was worried the show would be dead. Thankfully, I was wrong and we had an absolutely terrific crowd today. One of the larger Orland crowds I've seen in a while.

This was the first show in the past several months where there were no empty dealer tables. Even the side hallway was filled up. There are usually some new dealers at every show and I saw quite a few new faces today. Across from me were two guys I met last month at Serb Hall in Milwaukee. They sell modern cards and have a real nice set up. One of them posted on the CU board asking whether the Orland show was worth the drive from Wisconsin. Several knuckleheads, who obviously never attend the Orland show, blasted it. I responded on the board that it is a pretty good show. Before the day was over, the dealer posted that Orland is a great show. I have noticed on the CU board and Net54 that there are a lot of guys, who never go to shows, but take every opportunity to blast them. These guys are ultra knuckleheads and are really missing out on a prime venue to buy and sell cards.

I missed out on what was in the room today because I was too busy to walk around. Seems like guys were finding reasonably priced vintage around the room. Though I did notice that the boneheads who set up the tables for the Civic Center did not leave much aisle space so it was tough to walk around. Notably absent today were vintage dealers Mike, Jim, and Mark S., and modern card dealers Dell and Jeff. There seemed to be a lot less vintage dealers than normal, which is unusual for this show. Tom Ward was set up today, I haven't seen Tom in a while.

Dave was set up again and was the first one at my table. We ended up doing a cash and trade deal where I received a nice grouping of 1960's era Beatles cards. Rick was there shortly after Dave and he picked up a nice pile of cards including my Lou Alcindor rookie, a 1970-71 Topps Jerry West All Star and some '57s Topps baseball. Another regular picked up my '59 Topps Hank Aaron. I sold some '73s to another regular. One of my regulars was wearing a cool early '70s Richie Allen jersey and he bought a mixture of baseball and football from my binders. Gil picked up a large pile of '66s. I have two customers named Chuck and both were at the show today. One Chuck told me about some terrific sales he has been having recently on eBay selling complete baseball sets from the 1970s. The other Chuck bought my '61-62 Fleer Bob Cousy along with some '57 Topps baseball. Tom Brown was back and picked up a few cards from the '70s. Another Tom, who is recently retired, likes the off-grade and he found some stuff. Another long-time regular was there and he picked up some '72s and '79s.

I have four regular customers named Larry. Two of the Larry's were at the show today. One is working on '63s and unfortunately, I had nothing he needed today. The other Larry bought a '39 Play Ball Lon Warneke. I had a new customer pull some '77-78 Topps Blackhawks from my hockey binder. I had a customer buy some '67s. Quite a few guys dinked around my binders and found small piles of cards for their collections. Joel found some 1950s White Sox for his collection. TJ was out today and picked up quite a few cards. TJ also brought me a Stan Mikita book and a University of Arizona lamp -- both are much appreciated.

Seeing that Arizona wildcat logo on the lamp brought back lots of memories. I earned a journalism degree at the U of A in 1990. It is also where I met my wife in 1989. We were seated next to each other in a Russian literature course. It was love at first sight for me. It took a while for the wife to realize she needed a vintage sportscard-obsessed husband who wanted to move from the warm beautiful city of Tucson, Arizona, to cold, icy Chicago. That woman deserves a medal for following me on my many hair-brained adventures. I started a publishing company out of our Chicago apartment back in 1994. She worked side by side with me while the company grew. We eventually had a series of offices. You can still find our book, "A Barfly's Guide to Chicago's Drinking Establishments," on Amazon.com. If anyone wants a copy, let me know and I'll bring you one for free. In 2001, I decided I had enough of working 80-hour weeks and all the headaches that a small business brings and decided to go to law school where I would study for 80 hours a week for three years. In law school I got the bug to do cards again and have been setting up at shows most every weekend since 2001. The wife draws the line at the shows. She'll post cards on eBay for me but she won't go to shows. So, I send her crude, distasteful texts while I'm at the shows.

But I digress. Back at Orland Park, a new customer picked up a '55 Bowman Nellie Fox. My pals Will and Joe made it out today and I gave them some cards they purchased from me on eBay. Will also picked up a small pile of stuff including a 1961 Topps Nellie Fox All Star. I also have three or four guys named Dennis who regularly buy cards from me. Today the Dennis that collects Braves cards picked up quite a few cards including a 1955 Bowman Hank Aaron and 1958 Topps Hank Aaron. Another customer picked up a 1953 Topps Joe Black. I have a customer that collects New York Mets cards and he found a bunch today. A new customer cleared out my 25-cent book. I sold him about 350 cards. Jim, who sends cards out for autos, picked up some 1960s Topps. I have these autograph hounds at every show I do. I think it would be cool if some of them sent me some scans or photos of some cool autos from their collections to post here. All in all, it was a terrific day.

On the buying side, I wasn't all that interested in spending money because I'm saving my cash for some large deals. I turned down a binder of '74 football. I have a ton of this stuff. An older couple came up to my table carrying some bags of cards. I tried to explain to the lady that I only buy old cards. So she says, "It looks like you have lots of cards from the 90s in your binders." I kindly told her I don't have any cards from the 90s and am not interested. She moved on. I picked up a few things from Junior including some '62 high numbers. I didn't buy much else.

I had a great day today. I was very busy and enjoyed the banter and the stories that are shared at my table. Next week I'm at the Park Inn Radisson in Schaumburg. I am currently in the midst of a very good string of shows and hope everybody reading this blog comes out to Schaumburg before the Super Bowl begins on Sunday. You'll have plenty of time to see me, buy some cards, and get to your Super Bowl party!! I'll have my binder of '74s ready for the show. If there is time, I'll have some '57 football as well. A big thank you to everyone who bought cards from me today and hope to see you all next week!!

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Despite sketchy auction, another great Gonzaga show

1/24/2012

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My apologies for taking so long to get this blog out. I was watching football Sunday night and then I get stuck on my discussion below about the live auction at the Gonzaga show. Anyway, here's my blog for the Sunday January 22 card show at Gonzaga Hall in Milwaukee:

My wife and daughter joined 300 other girl scouts for a ski trip to Lake Geneva, Wisc., on Sunday. So I took my 6 year-old son Kolby along with me to the card show. Kolby has walked around with me at shows in the past but he has never gone to a show with me while I was set up as a dealer. I was a little concerned that I would be spending the day chasing him around the room or he would need me to take him to the restroom when I was at my busiest. Luckily, he was absolutely terrific today and we both had a great time. I think he is ready to regularly accompany me to shows.

We were on the road at 7:15 a.m. I had the mini-van loaded to the hilt which reminded Kolby of when we moved from our house in Chicago to a house in the suburbs about three years ago. We arrived at Gonzaga at 8:24 a.m. I had Kolby sit by our tables while I loaded in the cards. He chose to sit under a table while I brought the stuff in. While I set up, Kolby played Angry Birds on my iPhone. I was slow setting up on this day. Seemed like it took forever to fill up my cases.

Rant time -- I want to talk about the live auction. While I did not like the auction when I first started attending the Gonzaga shows, I tolerate it now because have found it is something that makes this show unique and adds a little flavor. The auction usually goes from 10 a.m. till noon and features all sorts of sports memorabilia, including cards, autographs, books, programs, posters, and jerseys.

Before and during the auction, the auctioneers warn that everything is sold "as is" and they essentially make no warranties as to the authenticity of any of the items, especially autographs. A few years ago I bid and won a Sid Luckman autograph, fully aware that it might not be real. Shortly after the show, I found out the autograph was not real. It left a bitter taste in my mouth and the auction lost its credibility in my mind. I won't bid on anything in that auction and I regularly warn others not to bid on autographs.

Before the auction started at this past Sunday's show, one of the auctioneers went over the rules in depth because someone complained after purchasing a fake autograph at the December show. The auctioneer explained that they make no guarantees that the autographs are legit. He even went so far as to say that buyers should not take these autographs to an authenticator. Now, I understand this show is put on by a club, everybody knows each other, and it is real low key. But to flat out tell people to avoid getting the autographs, that you are selling, authenticated is dishonest in my opinion. Having said that, I know these are honest people. The problem is that they mistakenly believe that if they tell buyers up front that items are sold "as is," like it is a piece of real estate, they are acting honestly.

Let me premise this next bit with the fact I am an attorney. In my professional opinion, the "as is" disclaimer does not absolve the actioneers of liability for knowingly selling fake autographs. I conducted some cursory research into Wisconsin's consumer fraud statutes. Wisconsin allows the "as is" disclaimer in real estate sales but no such language is found in the state's personal property, i.e., consumer protection statutes. I learned that in order to prosecute someone for a criminal act involving fraudulent conduct, the prosecution must prove the seller intended to induce or trick the buyer into purchasing the item. Now I would need further research to learn how the Wisconsin courts define "intent." In Illinois, where I practice law, intent may be proven with evidence the seller had knowledge the item, such as an autograph, was fake and failed to inform the buyer that the item was fake. Here, a prosecutor could easily present evidence that the auctioneers have knowledge they are selling fake autographs.

The proper legal and ethical road to take here is to discontinue selling fake autographs. I think this could be accomplished without reducing the number of items in the auction and in the end it will improve the quality and credibility of the auction by bringing honesty and integrity into the event. My proposal is to simply place the onus on the consignor by requiring the consignor to provide contact information to each buyer that purchases a non-authenticated autograph. Along with the contact information, the consignor must provide a period of say 30 to 60 days in which the buyer may return the autograph and receive a full refund. Consignors who refuse to comply with these simple rules would be banned from participating in future auctions.

Now I hate to complain about this show in any way because I truly love this show. The folks that run the show are good people and they put a lot of time and effort into making this the best show around. Also, my customers here are second to none. They flock to my table, spend a great deal of money with me and I enjoy conversing with each and every one of them. I look forward to the show every month. Today was another excellent show! I have no more complaints!!

I saw Mark early on but I did not have anything new for him. Mark likes oddball and insert vintage baseball and football along with non-sports cards. Jim, who also collects non-sports cards and tin soldiers, along with vintage baseball and football cards, arrived shortly after Mark. Jim and I had been emailing back and forth all week long concerning 1951 Bowman football cards. I had seven or eight cards Jim needed in my back stock. I have a large inventory of cards that I don't bring out to shows because I just don't have the time to get everything priced and sorted. So I bring new cards out in increments. I usually bring 500 to 700 new cards out to every show. This week it was '73 Topps baseball. I stuffed 600-plus cards into a binder. I think I was missing just 10 cards for a complete set. The '73 binder got a nice workout today.

Tim from Madison made the trip to Milwaukee today. I met Tim a few years ago on the Net54 website. He is a super nice guy who is working on a myriad of vintage baseball and football sets. Seems like he bought quite a few '72 Topps baseball today. He also picked up a really cool 1934-35 Diamond Stars Charley Gehringer. Jim Goodfriend made the trip up to Milwaukee from the north suburbs of Chicago. Jim was a regular dealer at the Gonzaga show for years until he took ill a year or so ago. He says he feels pretty good but can't drive yet. Jim's friend Paul has been taking him to shows each weekend. Jim's a tough sell and I actually got him to purchase some cards. He picked up my '53 Topps Campanella and a '54 Red Heart Bob Lemon. I enjoyed talking with Jim's friend Paul. He sells Chicago Cubs memorabilia including postcards and pins. He had a great day in sales at the recent Cubs Convention.

I have a semi-regular who purchases Brewers cards from the late '70s and is also one of the few guys who will buy cards from the early 1980s. He was able to find quite a few cards today. My autograph hound found many cards today to send out for signatures. Larry picked up some '56 Topps baseball team cards. Another semi-regular, who travels the country picking up autographs at all the baseball team sponsored conventions, was in town today and found quite a few cards to bring out to future conventions. He told me he was real disappointed the Kansas City Royals cancelled their convention this year. He said the reason they gave was that they are hosting the All-Star Game in Kansas City this summer and feel they don't need to have a winter fan convention as well. He said the World Series Champion St. Louis Cardinals convention was awesome. The Cards had 30-plus old-timers signing autographs, including Wally Moon and Mike Shannon. As a public service announcement, BrewersFest is next weekend and quite a few of the Gonzaga dealers will be there selling Brewers cards, autographs and memorabilia.

Today was one of those perfect days where I had a steady stream of set builders at my tables throughout the day. My whole set up caters to these guys, so I like seeing lists out and set builders pulling cards from my binders. Early on, I had a new customer purchase my 1959 Roy Campanella. Turns out it was the last card he needed to complete his set. I have a superstar regular at this show who is working on a great many sets. He always buys a large pile of commons from me. On this day, he did not disappoint and pulled quite a few '73s and '61s. I also have two regulars named Jason and both guys bought quite a few cards today. One Jason picked up some '73 baseball and some '74 football. The other Jason bought some '59s. I have another regular who likes the off-grade. He found quite a few cards in my binders today. I have a newer customer who is working on Braves cards from the 1950s and he found quite a few cards for his collection. I had a few guys buy some vintage basketball today. Some guys dinked through my football binders. No hockey sales today. My dime box got a good workout for a change.

I'm pausing this blog in an attempt to figure out if my daughter has gone to bed and maybe I can switch from Nicktoons to Sports Center. I think the coast is clear and Nick is going down. I can't stand these kid shows on Nick and Disney Channel. Why can't they put on Hong Kong Phooey or something? Remember when Muhammad Ali had a cartoon?

Back to the blog. I had a nice day on the buying front. Tim brought me a nice grouping of '62 football, '67 football and '55 Bowman baseball. Tom D. brought me a nice grouping of cards including a Fatima Philadelphia Phillies and a '62 Salada Aaron. Jim brought me a pair of '55 Banks cards but we didn't complete the deal. Hopefully, we can get that one done at the next Gonzaga show. My pal Mike brought me some '69 baseball and '70 football. I also picked up a '65 White Sox schedule booklet. Another guy brought me some Gale Sayers photos but I took a pass. Even though I bought the Sox sked, I prefer to stick with cards. Like I told the guy, I can't buy everything. I also turned down some cards from the guy who hits up my customers. He needs to get his own table and shouldn't be trying to sell cards to customers at my table... unless he wants to start paying a portion of my table fee.

I want to thank everyone for being so kind to Kolby. One customer even bought the Kolb some food. In all, Kolby ate two hot dogs, chips and a piece of cake. He also drank a couple cans of Coke. He found some Hot Wheels at a table for a buck a piece. He ended up with four Hot Wheels before the day was done. I think the highlight for Kolby was the kids auction. I have never seen the kids auction before because it is held in a back room and I can't leave my table. I had some regular customers who I trust watch my tables while I walked Kolby back to the auction. About 20 or so kids were seated in a hallway. The guy conducting the auction, I think his name is Bob, walks around the room and asks each kid to pick a number between one and 15 or something similar. When a kid hits the number, they pay Bob a quarter and get to go into an adjacent room and pick a pile of items displayed on a table. Kolby came out of there with several packs of cards, a Brewers sticker and another toy car, all for a quarter. I left him in there for a while so I could work my table. Kolby did real well and thanks goes out to Tom who looked out for Kolby and it seemed like Tom's son Nolan and Kolby became fast friends. I also have to say that the kids auction is a real special event and amazingly cool. I regularly hear people complain that there are not many kids involved in the hobby any more. Well I just witnessed 20 kids having a great time buying baseball cards in this unique kids event. Kudos to Bob for making it happen.

Another great day at Gonzaga, despite the sketchy auction. Next week, I'm back at Orland. I plan on bringing out a nice pile of stars, high grade and high numbers and I'm working on '56 Topps football. I hope to complete '74 baseball as well. My biggest concern for the Orland show is whether the hot dog lady will be there. I just may have to pack a lunch. I hope to see a large crowd at Orland!!

Below are some photos from today's Gonzaga show:

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Sold some cards this weekend!!

1/15/2012

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Another double-bill weekend. This time it was Orland Park on Saturday and Serb Hall on Sunday.

After several subpar Orland shows, I was not all that interested in setting up at Saturday's show. My mood soured further when I observed a boat load of empty tables in the room shortly after arrival. Tom, the memorabilia dealer in the front room was not there. Vintage dealer Mike was not there. Modern card dealers Del and Jeff were not there. Wax dealer Betty was not there. Even the hot dog lady was not there! Doom and gloom set in early.

But I should know better. I have been setting up at shows long enough to know that sales are never consistent and a good show is just around the corner. On this cold January day, attendance was good and sales were tremendous! Dave was set up today but found time to pick up a couple of '59s from me. Rick bought my '56 Koufax and '60 Yaz rookie. A regular found some '62s. Another regular purchased quite a few '61s and '62s. I finally had some '72 high numbers for a customer who has been asking for them for quite a while. Gil bought some '67s. Another regular, who usually buys basketball, bought a nice pile of early '60s baseball. Chris found some cards in my dollar box. A new customer purchased quite a few cards from my 50-cent box. Tom Brown from Orlando was in town today. Tom, a great guy, comes up here every so often for work. He picked up a bunch of cards from the '70s at my table.

Joel picked up some White Sox cards from the 1950s. Will bought some '62s. Dennis cleared out my '65 binder and '65 stars from my display case. Dennis is a set builder and he starts most of his sets at my table. He has also completed some sets at my table as well. I sold some '65 Topps football to a regular. Gizmo made an appearance today. I think Mark Smith had called him prior to the show to get him to come out. I am deeply in Mark's debt because Gizmo went on a spending spree at my table picking up my '39 Play Ball DiMaggio rookie, '54 Bowman Mantle, '58 Mantle, '62 Mantle, '54, '56 and '57 Ted Williams, '54 Jackie Robinson, '57 Mantle/Berra and a '54 Mays.

On the buying front, I picked up some '55 Topps commons from Chuck. I purchased some '53 Bowman Color, '59 Topps high numbers and some '65 Topps football from Jim. I got about 150 '67s from Gil and a nice pile of cards from Dennis, including a '68 Clemente.

Overall, an absolutely terrific day. I could not be more pleased. I think I'm going to go on a little buying spree. I'm on the hunt for '54 and '55 Topps complete sets. You just can't beat the rookies from those sets. I'll let you know if I have any luck.

On Sunday, I had an uneventful ride to Milwaukee. There were quite a few police officers patrolling the highway. Luckily, I didn't get a ticket. Once at Serb Hall, I was met by some extreme cold. It was much colder in Milwaukee than Chicago today. I was freezing loading my stuff into the hall and it was cold in the room all day long.

As I was setting up, I heard Scotty, a modern card dealer, tell Bill, a local card shop owner, to be careful with his tables and that they'll fall down if he bumps them. A few minutes later, the legs on one of Bill's tables went out and thousands of cards in top loaders came tumbling down. It was painful to watch. Mark Smith and I helped Bill get the table back up but there was a large mess of cards below it. Scotty helped Bill pick up and sort the fallen cards. I also saw Jim Ziegert help out as well. I was actually impressed with how quickly the cards were sorted and placed back on the table.

The Serb Hall parking lot was jammed today. I think there were several events occuring at the hall simultaneously, including a toy car show in the hallway outside the baseball card show. I thought the toy show would bring in some extra sales but that was not the case. In fact, the lady running the toy show was real snotty when I walked by to use the bathroom which is located in the hallway. I ignored her. I wasn't about to pay her three bucks so I could use the bathroom.

Attendance at the card show was light but a few regulars thankfully showed up. It was nice seeing Mark, who I haven't seen in a while. Those slave-drivers at work have been keeping Mark away. Mark picked up a bunch of '56 Topps football, some '65 Topps football and some early '60s baseball. Another regular picked up some '61 and '75 Topps baseball. I sold quite a few cards out of my $1 box and my 50-cent box. A young autograph hound found quite a few cards to send out for autos. I sold some '53 Topps football cards to a new customer. Kevin picked up some '61 Golden Press. Quite a few guys dinked around my binders. I had a lot of people just breeze by my table. I'm guessing these people were from the toy show.

On the buying front, a customer who had emailed me prior to the show that he had some Aarons to sell did not show up. Another customer, who had emailed me a few weeks ago, was there and we discussed the Mantles he is trying to sell. He is much too high on the Mantles. A few guys told me they had some cards from the '70s that they wanted to sell. I turned them down because I have a very large inventory of '70s cards and don't need anymore. I suspect I have 50,000 cards or so from '70 to '79. I picked up a '61 Mays base card and a '61 Mays MVP from Bill. I picked up a bunch of stuff from Mark Smith. Thanks for the nice prices on the cards guys!!

Not much else doing at the show today. I enjoyed chatting with Mark and Jim early on and Mark Smith and Bill near the end of the show.

Next week is Gonzaga, my favorite show. I'm particularly excited about this show because I was just informed by the WSCA newsletter that I won a drawing for a free table at the next six shows!! YES!!!! Lots of love for the Gonzaga. All is good in the world of Fat Daddy's Sports!!!

Below are some photos from Sunday's Serb Hall show.

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New Year's Double-Bill Weekend with Orland and Schaumburg

1/2/2012

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I've been enjoying my week off work and a rare weekend off from card shows. I wasn't sure I could wake up for the Orland Show today since I've been sleeping all day each of the past eight days. Surprisingly, I didn't have much of a problem. I made it to Orland around 8:04 a.m. The room was fairly empty when I got there. There were three or four empty dealer tables today. Nice crowd though. I was busy most of the day. I thought maybe I'd see some out-of-towners but that didn't seem to be the case. Many regulars were there along with a few new customers. There seemed to be a decent amount of vintage in the room. The guy set up across from me had game-used hockey jerseys and some gear. I don't know what that stuff normally sells for but Will, my resident hockey expert, said the items were priced too high. As a result, I don't think that dealer sold a thing. Another dealer, the guy set up next to me, has mostly new Bears cards. I don't think he sold a thing either. I even heard him ask John for a break on his table fee. I don't know how many years I've been setting up at Orland but I've never asked John for a break on my table fee. I've had promoters at other shows in the past give me a break on my table fee when my inventory wasn't as strong as it currently is. I've only asked a promoter for a break on table fee one time. It was eight or 10 years ago after I had set up at a mall show and barely made table fee -- 35 bucks. I was willing to give the show another shot as long as the promoter would discount the table. The promoter refused and I haven't set up at a mall show since and have no plans to do so in the future. I guess I don't have a problem with the Bears dealer asking for a break on his table fee. Whether John gives him a discount is his business. Though, I think it is my business when John leaves tables empty. It makes the show look bad and I don't want to give customers any incentive not to show up. Luckily, we had a nice crowd today.

Rick and Dave were the first guys at my table. Rick, who has a great wit and can be really funny, was in a real good mood and in rare form today, cracking one liners. I haven't seen Dave in a while, glad to have him back. Rick picked up a bunch of '72 baseball and '69-70 basketball. Dave picked up a few cards as well. I sold some '74 baseball to a regular. A newer customer picked up a bunch of '79s. I had a couple regulars work on '61s today. Another regular bought some old football. Derek picked up some '70s basketball. Larry picked up a '55 Topps Junior Gilliam. Another Larry picked up a '55 Bowman Don Zimmer. Chuck picked up some '63s. I had a new customer buy a bunch of '72s. Another customer picked up a T207 Ed Delahanty. My White Sox collector picked up a '51 Topps Blue Back Billy Pierce. Ron bought a bunch of '58s. Will picked up some '62s. Tom picked up a '76-77 Topps Bill Bradley. Another regular picked up some '62s. A new customer bought some '56s. I had a few autograph hounds today buy cards to send out for 'graphs. Jim Goodfriend made an appearance today.

On the buying front, I picked up a nice grouping of 1960s cards from Jim, a small pile of '60 Topps from Junior, and Chuck gave me a gift titled "Little Box of Horrors" with a skull and crossbone drawn on the box, which I thought was pretty cool and I really appreciate the cards. Another dealer brought over some cards but he had them priced a tad too high and I turned down some boxes of multi-sport cards from the '70s because my inventory is pretty solid on those right now. All in all, not as many buying opportunities today as there usually are at this show.

Midway through the show, a dealer came over and asked me about a customer who regularly buys from us both. Today that customer skipped my table while the other dealer is pretty certain this customer stole some cards off his table. It wasn't more than a few bucks but he stuffed them in his pocket and walked away. I've actually had the same experience with this customer where he pocketed a few bucks worth of cards off my table. Oddly, he occasionally will drop 50 to 100 bucks at my table. The other dealer said he'll spend that amount with him too. The other dealer and I are a little perplexed. Why would a guy who can spend 100 bucks at your table one day steal five bucks worth of cards on another day?

Other than that, a pretty mellow show. I had a good crowd at my table most of the day and always enjoy hanging out with my group of regulars in Orland. It's actually a double bill weekend, where I have two shows. Orland on Saturday and Schaumburg on Sunday.

I made it to the Park Inn Radisson in Schaumburg around 8:30 a.m. on Sunday. I had a hard time waking up Sunday. We were in the big room today which I prefer. I had the tables by the front door. I hit the breakfast buffet which was jammed packed. I had a tough time staying awake after eating all that food. A few Mountain Dews did the trick. It was slow going on this day. I think most people stayed in bed this New Year's Day. Though, I had a good time hanging out with Fred, Willie, Corky, the Woj, Ted, Starks, and the Korean stewardesses. I sold a few things to Larry, Kyle, his dad, my 25-cent pack guy and Willie. Not much else doing. A lot of guys went through my cheapie boxes but didn't pull the trigger. One guy wanted to trade a few '59 commons. I wasn't interested. I picked up a smattering of '39 Play Balls, '49 Bowmans, '78s, '71-72 basketball, and some '88-'89 Fleer basketball. Good purchases always make up for slow sales. I was home by 2:30 p.m. which may be some sort of record. I slept all afternoon which was awesome.

I'm off again next weekend, hanging out with the in-laws who are coming in from L.A. I have another double-bill weekend January 14 and January 15. On the 14th I'm back in Orland while on the 15th I'll be at the Serb Hall Show in Milwaukee. I'm planning on knocking out my '72 high numbers and '73s. I'm going to load up some '77-'78 hockey and some '56 Topps football. See you soon and Happy New Year!!

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Neither Rain, Nor Sleet, Nor Snow, Can Keep Collectors Away From the Baseball Card Show

Despite sketchy auction, another great Gonzaga show

Sold some cards this weekend!!

New Year's Double-Bill Weekend with Orland and Schaumburg

Tony Gordon

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