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On The Road Again!

1/28/2015

4 Comments

 
I set out for Indianapolis on the afternoon of Friday, January 23, 2015. For some reason, I thought it would be a four-hour drive from the northern suburbs of Chicago but I made it to Indy in three. First item on my agenda upon arrival was food. I drove around the western part of Indy for a while looking for a Ma & Pa type restaurant. All the chains were well represented. I observed that most every strip mall was named after some aspect of automobile racing which makes sense since I was in the home of the Indy 500. I ended up at the "Number One Chinese Restaurant" where I dined on beef and broccoli, fried rice and an egg roll. The portions were large and the price was just $8. Number One Chinese Restaurant reminded me of a place that used to be by Wrigley Field called Mr. Chop Suey where they had the same deal for around $5 back in the mid-1980s. Mr. Chop Suey is long gone. I think it is a tavern now. When I was in high school and into my first few years of college, I was a regular at Mr. Chop Suey.

Located across from Number One Chinese Restaurant is the Dollar Inn Hotel. I Googled the Dollar Inn from my cell phone and read several reviews that complained of bed bugs. I then Googled Motel 6 and learned that there were some up north. Motel 6 is my go to motel because they are usually cheap and clean. After a short drive, I easily found a Motel 6 that seemed to be in a nice part of town. Lying in the motel bed reading Facebook on my iPhone, I saw a post that Ernie Banks had died. I was heartbroken. Ernie was a hero in my house growing up. My dad was a beer and hot dog vendor at Wrigley Field during the first half of Ernie's career. So dad watched most every game Ernie ever played and stories about Ernie's greatness permeated many childhood dinners and road trips. Dad is coming in from Florida to attend Ernie's funeral.

I was about five years old when Ernie retired from baseball and I don't remember watching him play. I do remember him as a fixture at Wrigley Field throughout the 1970s, a decade where I attended dozens of games every summer. I remember Ernie out front on the corner of Clark & Addison greeting fans. In the summer of 1975, I went to Wrigley with a youth group for a tour of the field. To my surprise, our tour guide was Ernie Banks. About two dozen or so kids followed Ernie through the stadium and out onto the field. He took us to the outfield where we touched the ivy. It was an awesome day.

I appreciated Ernie Banks for what he did on the field as a player and how he carried himself as a human being. I don't think there will every be as great an ambassador for the Cubs or major league baseball as Ernie Banks. RIP Ernie.

I can't think of a better way to celebrate the life of Ernie Banks than to swap stories with fellow baseball fanatics at a card show. I was up bright and early on Saturday, January 24, 2015, for the Fishers American Legion Post Baseball Card Show. The show starts at 8 a.m. I like to show up an hour early for set up so I woke up at 5:30 a.m. which was really 4:30 a.m. because Indy is an hour ahead. As my regular readers know, I don't do mornings well and was slow going on this particular morning.

I had taken all my cards out my car and brought them up to the room the night before for safe keeping. So I had to reload the car in the morning. I then tried to plug the address for the Fishers American Legion Post into my GPS. The street would not show up! Slight panic set in until I Googled Fishers American Legion Post and learned it was in a town called Fishers and not located in Indy proper. The listing in Beckett stated the show was located in Indianapolis. I had about a 20-minute ride to the show.

Once at the American Legion Post, I was greeted by modern card dealer extraordinaire John Dobiecki. John lives in northern Indiana and I regularly see him at shows in the Chicago-Milwaukee corridor. I saw my name on two tables next to John and loaded in. Set up across from me was another dealer I know from the Orland shows Juan Ruiz, who also lives in Indiana. I always thought Juan was a modern card dealer but he had some vintage items on his table at this show. Set up next to John was another dealer I know from southern Indiana but his name escapes me. I ended up buying some cards from him.

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The room at the American Legion Post, pictured above and below, is good sized. I'd say 40 tables or so. Jeff Meyrose, the promoter, had a bunch of tables at the front with both modern and vintage. Jeff treated me real well and made me feel at home. There was also one wax dealer. A few guys with flea market-type set ups. A few other guys with smatterings of vintage and the rest was the shiny stuff. This show gave me a flashback to the early 1990s when I used to regularly set up at VFW shows. It has been a long time since I have set up at a VFW or at an American Legion post. The Fishers American Legion Post is heads above the others. I remember one VFW back in the day where the show was housed in the basement and you had to carry all your stuff down a flight of stairs. At Fishers, I was able to park in back and load in on a ramp. My tables were right by the back door. 

The best part of the Fishers America Legion Post is the bar/restaurant which was open during the show and serving breakfast! YES!!! I was starving and in desperate need of coffee. For five bucks I got a gianormous plate of pancakes with thick meaty bacon and a large cup of coffee. Oh man. That bacon was about the best I ever had. It wasn't that fatty type you get at Jewel grocery store in the Chicago area. I couldn't even finish those pancakes. I made sure I tipped the friendly bartender and got bottomless cups of coffee the rest of the day.

Once set up, I was greeted by an old codger racing around the room in one of those motorized scooters. He thumbed through a couple binders and asked if I had a '68 Ryan and a '68 Mantle, Mays, Killebrew combo card. I had the combo card and showed it to him. It high books at $150. Mine was off grade and I priced it at $40. He sort of demanded I sell it to him at $20. I offered $30. He went into a rant stating how he has been doing this for 40 years and only pays $20. I responded that I too have been doing this for 40 years and I only sell the card for $30. He zoomed away at about 2 miles per hour.

Speedy Gonzales came back about an hour later and was much nicer this time around. He told me how he used to set up at shows regularly. His main thing was plaques. I remember back in the late 1980s and early 1990s there were always a few guys set up with nothing but plaques on their tables. They would make these things in their garage by cutting up some wood into squares, they stained the squares, slapped on a name plate and a card in a top loader and attempted to sell the plaques for $15 to $20 each. My new friend, I think he said his name was something like Big Daddy Dave, stopped setting up at shows at one point and wholesaled out his plaques to dealers until the craze ended. I think I've seen someone with a table full of plaques just once in the last 20 years which occurred about three years ago at the Serb Hall show in Milwaukee. I ended up selling Big Daddy Dave the combo card for $25.

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My second customer of the day was the dealer set up across from me and Juan. He looked through a bunch of stuff, asked for prices on a lot of stuff. It was obvious he was looking for cards at the cheapest possible price. We were able to cut a deal on all my 1951 Topps Red Backs. Next, I had a guy in his early 20s purchase my 1969 Topps Ted Williams.

The room filled up pretty quickly. What stood out the most was the fact there were so many kids in the room. It was nice to see. I set up at many shows where at age 48, I'm the youngest guy by 20 years. Another thing about this show is that most of the customers were very friendly and eager for conversation.

I got to talking to one customer who purchased some commons from the 1960s and my 1962 Post Orlando Cepeda. Like most Hoosiers, he is a big college basketball fan. He told me that his favorite college basketball player was Rick Mount from nearby Lebanon, Indiana, and a star at Purdue from 1966 to 1970.  He told me Mount was the purest shooter in college history. Mount never played in the NBA. Instead he went with the hometown Indiana Pacers of the ABA where he was a member of the 1972 Championship team. He was a pretty decent player in the ABA where he starred for five years. A shoulder injury stymied his career.

My next customer pulled out a large pile of 1971 Topps baseball and also purchased my '71 Clemente. A customer from Fort Wayne purchased my 1954 Bowman Mickey Mantle and the day got rolling. I was busy all day. A few guys balked at my prices. I know my prices are fair and I'm not going to give my stuff away. I think next time I'll make sure I have a cheapy box or two for these guys.

Another customer purchased a bunch of 1964 Topps baseball. I sold my 1972 Topps Roberto Clemente In Action card to a customer who stopped to chat for a while. He told me he is selling off most of his post-War collection and starting to buy pre-War cards heavily. He showed me a picture on his phone of a beautiful T206 Walter Johnson. Then there was a guy I met last weekend in Fort Wayne who purchased all of my 1953 Bowman baseball out of my binder. A guy who said he collects oddball stuff purchased a 1972 Kelloggs Pete Rose and '72 Kelloggs Nolan Ryan. I sold my 1963 Bazooka All-Time Greats Christy Mathewson to a customer who said former major league pitcher Ewell Blackwell was his great uncle. Blackwell played for the Reds in the 1940s and 1950s. He also spent a couple years with the Yankees in the early 1950s. The customer said his grandmother has a large collection of Blackwell autographed items. No game-used items. He wasn't sure if anyone in his family had Blackwell's contract with the Yankees.

An older gentleman wearing Colts cap purchased some 1960s Topps and 1952 Bowman baseball. I observed that quite a few guys showed up at my table with lists in hand which is what I like to see. Overall, I had a really nice day. On the buying front, only one guy showed up at my table with some stuff. He had large quantities of 1974 and 1975 Topps football. He wanted to trade not sell. I declined. I don't want to give up my Mantles for a bunch common football cards from the mid-1970s which I already have in large quantity back home in the card bunker.

I really liked this show. I reserved two tables for the April 18th show where Carl Erskine will be signing. I'd come back sooner but I already booked other shows. I was second to last to load out. The last dealer left in the room was John. Jeff's wife and kids helped John load out. I think John had a real good day as well. He said he bought a lot of cards so he wasn't taking much cash home.

I got into my car and set the GPS for the Sharonville Holiday Inn in Cincinnati. It was an absolutely beautiful day, pictured below. The sun was out and the drive was quick and pleasant. I did not know that Cincinnati was so hilly. I love seeing hills since I live in flat country. The Holiday Inn was smack dab on the side of a large hill. Across the street was a Motel 6 where I spent the night.

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It was a good thing that I stopped at McDonald's before the show on Sunday, January 25, 2015, because there was no food or coffee at the Holiday Inn. Even the Motel 6 had free coffee. C'mon Holiday Inn! There were some vending machines and I was able to feed my caffeine addiction with a diet Dr. Pepper.

The Sharonville Show was a flashback to shows from the 1980s. The room was huge. There may have been 100 tables or so largely filled with vintage cards. I was intimidated right when I stepped foot into the room, especially when I saw the guy's table next to me who had 10 Pete Rose Rookies in one of his cases, pictured below. There was some power in that room. I initially was going to put out four display cases and fill up the rest of my space with binders. I had two 6-foot tables. For some reason, I assumed I would be getting 8-footers. Twelve feet of space is not much. I decided to put out three display cases, all of my baseball binders and two football binders.

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I had a couple sales early on and thought maybe I would do okay but sales were hard to come by most of the day. A big thank you to Terry, a Cincinnati resident and regular reader of this blog, who purchased a bunch of cards including a 1958 Topps Don Drysdale. There is nothing like a friendly face to welcome you to a new show. My next customer Rich purchased a bunch of 1978 Topps baseball. Quite a few guys were working on Reds team sets and I sold quite a few Reds throughout the day, all years. A wonderful older couple came by and purchased some 1958 Topps baseball commons as upgrades. John, who attended the show with his young son, purchased a bunch of 1939 Play Balls. Another customer purchased some commons from the 1960s and showed me some photos of his buddy's collection. He said he is no longer allowed to look at the collection in person because a few seem to go missing every time he views them.

In general, it was pretty quiet at my tables. It felt like a Sun-Times show where people just walked on by. Actually, a few customers recognized me from the Sun-Times show which was pretty cool. I spent a lot of time talking to the dealer next to me, whose name escapes me. But what a super nice guy. He doesn't do a whole lot of shows because he has a farm north of Indianapolis and said his cows are a lot of work. I also spent much of the day hanging out with my friend Tony Schaefer who was set up just down the aisle. Tony was on the second leg of an Ohio trip. Read his blog here. Tony always purchases some cards from me which I appreciate. We made plans to hang out before the St. Louis show on February 8, 2015.

A few guys offered cards to sell. One older customer who looked a lot like Casey Stengel had a binder of Reds cards from the 1950s and 1960s but his prices were too high. Another guy had some Reds team issued cards from 1938. I have never seen these cards before. They look like a cross between 1952 Berk Ross and 1949 Bowman. They are cool. He wanted to sell the whole stack. I asked if I could buy one or two cards. I didn't want to buy the whole stack because I knew absolutely nothing about these cards. From a dealer's perspective, I need to know how much I can sell them for before I place an offer. The only way to learn how they sell is to buy a few but I was not going to buy the whole stack. At least one other customer came around looking for these cards. So I think these are something that will sell in Cincinnati but I do not know if I can move them in the shows I do outside of Cincinnati. I would like to pick up a few of these things down the road. Like I said, I thought they were pretty cool.

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Overall, not a very good day in Cincinnati. I thought my sales would be a lot better. Though, I really like this show based on its size and the amount of excellent inventory in the room. See the photos immediately above and below. Adam the promoter is also a super nice guy. So I will give this one another shot down the road. There are some shows where you need to build a rapport with the customers by setting up a few times before you can expect a decent show -- this looks like one of those shows. I think next time I will but together a display case of Reds cards. This is also a place where I might want to try a cheapy box. Setting up at shows is a constant trial and error. Just when I think I have it figured out, I learn that I really don't and have to change it up.

Next weekend, I'm heading back up the Holland, Michigan, for the Holland Civic Center show on Saturday, January 31, 2015. I was impressed with this show last time where I only had one table. Mark Smith was kind enough to give me his booth this time around because he is setting up in Detroit. So I am going to bring out the whole kit and caboodle for this one because I have a ton of space. I am going to have all nine display cases out and all of my binders. I am also going to see what I can dig up in the next couple of days like some complete sets from the 1970s. I am really looking forward to this show... especially the concession stand which is the best around!

On Super Bowl Sunday, February 1, 2015, I am setting up at the Schaumburg Show where the hotel has once again changed its name -- it is now a Wyndham Garden. I consider the Schaumburg Show my home base and it will be nice to be back home after all these travels. I just finished up a new 1973 Topps baseball binder along with a reload of 1972-73 Topps hockey. I am going to start work on a new 1974 Topps baseball binder but I don't think I will have it done by the weekend. There are just too many cards in that 1974 set. I also include the Traded set.

I really enjoyed myself this past weekend. I met a ton of new people and really appreciated all the good conversation and hope to see you folks again real soon. Thanks everybody!
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4 Comments

E Cards, T Cards, Binders, Bobble Heads, and the Washington Post!

1/20/2015

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I was up well before dawn on Saturday, January 17, 2015. It was pitch black when I set my GPS for the Hotel Fort Wayne in northeast Indiana. I had spent the night in New Buffalo, Michigan, and my GPS took me on some winding country roads in the darkness before sunrise. I was on the road a good hour before that sun finally peaked its head into the eastern sky. Man, what a sunrise! It was absolutely spectacular. If I wasn't worried that I'd be late to the show, I would have pulled over and taken a photo. It was quite a scene as the clouds intertwined in various abstract patterns then turned ablaze in shades of red and orange. I was mesmerized by this light show glowing above antique barns dotting the countryside. I was disappointed when the colors faded quickly as the sun rose above.

This was my first visit to Fort Wayne. I found the show through its listing in Beckett. I looked on a map and thought the drive would not be too bad -- all the while knowing absolutely nothing about this town.  As I pulled into Fort Wayne, my first observations were that It appeared to be a decent size burg. Here are a few tidbits I just learned about Fort Wayne... Apparently,  Fort Wayne is a short distance from both the Ohio and Michigan borders. The population is a little more than 250,000. The area was the original home of the Miami indian tribe. The U.S. government built a fort near the indian village in 1794. Located near several rivers, Fort Wayne became a successful trading post and an actual town was laid out in 1823. The town grew after the completion and the Wabash and Erie canals then boomed when the railroads came through. These days, the main industry in Fort Wayne is defense manufacturing. Wikipedia lists all sorts of notable people that came from Fort Wayne. The only names on the list that I recognize are NFL Hall of Famer Rod Woodson and actor Dick York -- the original Darrin from the television show Bewitched. Charlton Heston's character in Planet of the Apes supposedly came from Fort Wayne but that is a fictitious character and does not count. Either way, Fort Wayne looks like an interesting place that I may have to explore on future visits.

The Hotel Fort Wayne is huge. I figured the card show was located in the back of the hotel through the doors labeled "Conference Center." I walked in on some sort of high school jamboree. I'm not sure what that was all about but hundreds of kids were in formal dress. I got back into my car and drove to the lobby. The card show was adjacent to the lobby. The room is about the size of the Elgin show and packed tight. The promoter is Brian Mayne, a super nice guy. Brian explained that he usually has an additional room but it was unavailable this month. Thus, I was only able to reserve one table.  Load in was a little tough because the aisles were really small. But I did not bring a lot of stuff, so set up was fairly simple. 

I saw a friendly face in Seth Murray, who set up a few months ago at the Smith and Gordon Show. Then I saw the unfriendly face of the guy who set up next to me at the Holland show. I think that guy wears a permanent frown. The young guy with the neck beard and pierced ears set up behind me was also little touchy. As I was setting up, Seth attempted to buy some cards from the guy. Seth pulled a pile and asked for a price then offered $20. The guy bit Seth's head off and accused him of low balling him and "kicking me in the teeth." It was weird. Seth was just asking him for a price and threw out a number. There was absolutely no reason for Neckbeard to get upset. Buying and selling baseball cards is anything but a life and death situation, there is never a need to get offended when someone makes an offer on your cards. The proper thing to do is to make a counter offer. Getting all ruffled defeats the whole purpose of renting a table -- which is to sell cards! You can't sell any cards if you're going to bite someone's head off when they make an offer on some cards. I don't think Neckbeard sold a whole lot of cards. He also annoyed me most of the day by constantly telling people that he was "living the dream." Really?

Frownguy and Neckbeard aside, I could not have had a more pleasant day. The other dealers and all the customers were so incredibly friendly. I spent a lot of time chatting with pre-War dealer Tim Kindler. Tim was wearing his Net54 T-shirt. Net54 is a pre-War website/forum where vintage sports card geeks such as myself spend quite a lot of time. Tim had a real nice display. He is a school teacher and works on roofing jobs in his spare time. With some left over materials from his latest roofing job, he built an awesome display, pictured above. He played it off as no big deal but for someone like myself who can't hammer a nail, it was pretty impressive.

Also impressive were the cards Tim had placed In that display -- all sorts of "E" cards which I never see at a small show. The E cards are small, slim cards, pre- World War I, similar to the T cards. The distinguishing factor of the E cards is that the E's were distributed in candy while the T's were distributed in tobacco. All the vintage cards received these wonderful letter designation decades ago by the father of baseball card collecting Jefferson Burdick. I pick up the candy cards occasionally. I like them and think they are incredibly cool. They are something I plan on getting more of down the road. For now, I would rather purchase a T card because they are more popular and easier to sell. Tim claims to have the only master set in existence of the E98s. The E98s were distributed in 1910 and consist of 30 cards including many hall of famers like Ty Cobb and Honus Wagner. The E98s made national news in 2012 when an absolutely pristine group was found in an attic in Defiance, Ohio -- known as the "Black Swamp Find."

Tim had photo copies of his set neatly placed in a three-ring binder. It was fun to flip through. It was also a real pleasure to chat with someone so friendly and knowledgeable on the E cards. You just don't see someone with Tim's pre-World War I inventory and knowledge at a small show. Some of Tim's E98s can be seen in the photo above on the top line far right. Pictured below are some 1933 Goudeys from Tim's table at the show.

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The best part of the Fort Wayne show was that it was jam packed all day long! I haven't seen this many people attend a small show like this one since the early 1990s. I think they have something real special here in Fort Wayne. I already signed up for next month when I'll have two tables. With just one table this past Saturday, I was severely limited on what I could put out for sale. I ended up with four display cases along with baseball binders from 1970 to 1974. I decided to put out the early 1970s binders because they were my most recent reloads. Those binders saw a lot of action. Quite a few guys stopped by with either paper lists or lists they called up on their phones. I got to chatting with one customer who was working on those early 1970 sets. He and his wife recently moved back to their native Fort Wayne from Chicago because they wanted to raise their daughter amongst family. He told me he regularly visited the Orland show while living in Chicago. He looked familiar. Then I met John the Barber who has been cutting hair since 1968 and absolutely loves it. John went through all my binders and mainly pulled out Yankees. Then he came back and we struck a deal for the entire 1973 and 1974 binders. While it is nice to get a chunk of change for full binders, losing a binder creates much more work for me! I just reloaded that '73 binder. I debated with myself for 24 hours or so on whether to create a new 1973 binder or ignore it and go on to 1974. I decided to put together a new 1973 binder. The only drawback is the new binder won't have as many cards as the last one. I really need a few months to stock up so I can put out a near set, but at least I will have some 1973s on my table.

In addition to the binders, I sold stuff out of my display cases. There was one young couple that bought quite a few cards including a 1935 Diamond Star Mickey Cochrane. They were a bit unusual in that they would come to my table together, the husband would examine cards then they would walk away. The wife would come back later alone and negotiate a deal with me for the cards. I was impressed with the wife's negotiation skills and that she seemed to be truly interested in the cards. Actually, quite a few guys seemed to have their wives along. I don't normally see the better half of most card collectors at these shows. My wife won't go to a card show. Even Mr. Frown brought his wife along. Early in the morning, she was sitting at an empty table wearing, surprise, a frown. Mr. Frown asked her: "You wanna see the most popular card on eBay?" She responded, "No, I have absolutely no interest whatsoever." Later, she pulled out a book and seemed quite content as long as Mr. Frown did not attempt to discuss cards with her.

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Pictured above is one of the many younger guys set up at this show selling modern cards.  The hobby is alive and well in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Back at my table, I sold a real nice 1975 Topps George Brett rookie and a 1988 Fleer Magic Johnson. Another customer purchased a 1971 Topps Pete Rose. I also sold a 1934 Goudey Walter Betts.

On the buying front, I picked up a few Sporting News magazines from the 1960s. There are three from the 1960s, each with Sandy Koufax on the cover. I picked up a fourth from 1974 with Tommy John on the cover. If anyone is interested in them, I am looking to get just $12 for all four magazines. Just let me know.


Then a guy came to my table with his childhood collection from the early 1970s. I asked him what he wanted for them and he said I had to make an offer. it always turns out badly when I am required to make an offer, especially to someone who knows nothing about cards. How do I know he knows nothing about cards? Easy, he had most of his collection tightly wound in rubber bands. Rubber bands are to cards as Kryptonite is to Superman. Rubber bands kill cards and destroys any value because they leave marks on the surface and crush the edges. The value of sports cards is based on the player, the year, the availability of the card, and more than anything else -- condition. So the shoebox this guy was carrying of low grade cards had very little if any value. He just ruined them with those rubber bands. I figured I would offer $25 for the shoebox. He also had some 1971 to 1973 stars and semi-stars in a binder. Condition was mostly VG. I figured I could sell the binder for $150 to $200 and decided to offer $100 on the binder. In total, I offered $125 for all the cards. He said my offer was way off. He did not say how much he wanted for the cards but did tell me that he looked up the value. The problem when someone who knows nothing about cards looks up the value, is that they see the price for Mint Condition cards as the value for their off-grade cards. I tried to explain to him that his cards were not worth the Mint price because of the condition. Like so many that have appeared at my table in the past, he did not believe me and walked away. I watched him offer his cards to every dealer in the room. No takers. He went home with them. You can't get Mint prices for low grade cards in the real world. In addition, cards from the 1970s are plentiful. I just won't pay a lot for them because I can pick them up reasonably at most every show I attend. If this guy had, say, 1952 Topps in off grade, I probably would have offered more money. I am willing to pay a higher percentage for older cards because they are more difficult to obtain.

Overall, I thought there was some good stuff in the room. Several dealers had vintage cards. The prices were a little bit too high for me to buy for resale. There was also a large amount of modern cards, wax and supplies. One dealer had a nice amount of vintage non-sports cards. This is a pretty good show. I can't wait to come back next month when I'll have more table space. It will be nice to put out my binders from the 1950s and 1960s. I was out the door by 2 p.m. I pulled out a map and observed that Route 30 goes from Fort Wayne all the way to Illinois. I figured if I take Route 30, I'll avoid all the traffic and crazy drivers on I80/90. Bad move on my part. Once I hit Merrillville, Route 30 was a parking lot. It took an hour to get into Illinois from Merrillville when it should have taken no more than 15 minutes. I won't make that mistake again. As much as I hate the I80/90 tie up at the Indiana-Illinois border, that Route 30 does not move at all.

Once home, I finished up my 1974 Topps football binder and priced a bunch of cards for my display cases. My throat started to hurt and I was worried I was getting sick. I took some Nyquil and went to bed around 10 p.m. I was up at 5 a.m. for the Gonzaga show on Sunday, January 18, 2015. I was a little woozy from the Nyquil and kind of felt out of it all day. It was tough driving up to Milwaukee. I got to the show early because of the Packer-Seahawks game. I thought the game would keep people away but we had a real nice crowd.

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Set up across from me on Mike Rodell's tables was a wax/modern dealer on one table and two guys who are creating a bobble head museum on the other table, pictured above. The bobble head guys came with a reporter and photographer from the Washington Post. The photographer took both photos and video footage all day long. The reporter interviewed a few people. I am going to have to check the Post's website regularly to see if my ugly mug made it into one of the scenes.

All the usual suspects were there today and bought cards like Mark, Jim, both Jasons, Jeff, Eric, Rob and the others. Thanks guys! I sold a few cards out of my newly reloaded 1951 Topps Red Backs binder. I also sold a few cards out of the recently reloaded 1973 and 1974 Topps football binders. One customer found the last two cards he needed to complete his 1980 Topps baseball set at my table. Another customer purchased my entire 1976 Topps baseball binder -- that's three full binders sold this weekend! A lot of other guys went through all of my binders. I even had a guy buy a bunch of hockey cards which is a rarity at this show. Overall sales were good but not quite as high as the December show.

On the buying front, I picked up a smattering of 1941 Play Ball including Carl Hubbell, Mel Ott and Joe Cronin. I also purchased a 1958 Topps Willie Mays.

At the concession stand, I had green cake in honor of the Packers. I also had some delicious sloppy Joe.

I had that Nyquil haze going and was a little out of it all day. I was the last one to leave the room as usual. I appreciate Keith's patience because he had to wait for me to leave before he could go home. I listened to the first quarter of the Packer game on the radio as I drove home. I thought the game would have thinned out traffic but no such luck. What a weird game. Seattle kept turning over the ball. The Packers should have had 21 points in the first quarter but the Seahawks defense kept them to 6. it seemed like the Packers outplayed the Seahawks for most of the game. Somehow, Seattle tied it up and won in overtime. It all happened so quick. My take on this game is that Pete Carroll is a hell of a coach. I have a lot of respect for Mike McCarthy. I think he is a tremendous coach but clearly the better coach on this day was Carroll. I also think that if Aaron Rodgers was in better health, the Packers would have put more points on the board and Seattle would have been out of the discussion. 


Later, I watched the AFC game and was surprised the Patriots blew out the Colts. I thought it would have been a much closer game. I don't know what to expect from this Super Bowl. I think Brady is the better quarterback. Seattle's Marshawn Lynch is a beast. I don't see how New England is going to contain Lynch. I also expect Russell Wilson to have a much better game. Those factors plus an awesome defense gives Seattle the edge in my book. Though, I would not be surprised if the Patriots pull it out because Tom Brady is clearly one of the all-time great quarterbacks,  my fellow Arizona alum Gronk is a beast, and Bill Belichick is easy to hate but is a tremendous coach. Either way, I think this will be a good Super Bowl to watch.

Back to the card show business. Next week, I'm on the road again. I'm setting up in Indianapolis on Saturday and Cincinnati on Sunday. I hope the weather cooperates. This should be fun! If any followers of my blog are in the Indy or Cincy areas, please come on out and see me this weekend. Thanks!

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Please Don't Bring Me Junk! I Want The Good Stuff!!

1/12/2015

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The thermometer in my car read 4 degrees on the morning of Saturday, January 10, 2015, as I began my drive to the Elgin show. There was a surprising amount of traffic on the roads on this frigid morning. I made it to the show in about 35 minutes. I was pleased to learn Corky advertised the show in the Daily Herald. Seems like Corky's efforts to promote the show are paying off because we had a better crowd than last month. Unfortunately for me, it did not seem like much of the crowd was interested in my varied assortment of vintage sports cards. I was shut out in the morning. Luckily sales started to come in during the afternoon. The dealer that was set up to my right kindly purchased some cards for a few sets he was working on. Another set collector found a few cards. A new customer pulled some 1971 Topps Coins. Another new customer purchased just about all of my T206s. Thank you other new customer! I should have gotten your name for the blog!! Then Angel pulled out a large pile of 1965s. I ended up having my best Elgin show to date. 

On the buying front, I am happy to report Willie had a tremendous day purchasing autographs and all sorts of other stuff. I, on the other hand, purchased nothing, nada, zip. I wanted to buy a few cards from the dealer on the other side of me but something about his cards just did not seem right. He clearly had one trimmed card in his case which was not labeled as such which sets off a red flag for me. To his credit, he did tell customers it was trimmed when they looked at it. A couple other dealers had some real nice vintage cards but I wasn't sure if they were looking to deal. It actually felt good going home with a little cash in my pocket. We're back at the Holiday Inn in Elgin on Valentine's Day so be sure to bring your honey! Trust me when I say there is nothing a wife or girlfriend would rather do than attend a baseball card show in Elgin, Illinois, often said to be the Paris of the Fox Valley. So be sure to begin your romantic day at the Elgin card show on February 14th!!

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A couple of observations about this show that has nothing to do with romance. Each show has 15 or so dealers. None of the Elgin dealers ever set up at Orland. Each dealer has a real nice selection of cards. I thought there was an exceptional vintage card selection in the room today. There was also an excellent display of modern cards, wax, supplies and assorted memorabilia. I think this show is worth a visit. I was happy to see that one of my regulars from Milwaukee made the drive down to Elgin. He found some cards with Don. I am also happy to report that the snarky guy was not snarky today. He even brought some customers to Willie's table.  
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Then there is a phenomena at this show that is not necessarily unique to this show but more prevalent here than at other shows. I am talking about "junk." This show attracts more customers attempting to sell large amounts of 1980s to 1990s cards than any other show I attend. Over the years, cards from the 1980s and 1990s have earned the label "junk" because they have no value. If you Google "worthless baseball cards" you get an endless stream of articles explaining that sports cards from the 1980s and 1990s were mass produced in the billions and the market is beyond flooded, therefore, these cards have none if any value -- they are JUNK. The best use for these cards is to save some money on cat litter and toss them into the kitty's doo doo box.  The problem is that the folks pushing junk at the Elgin show are unaware that the cards they have been hoarding for the past few decades are junk, i.e., worthless. They purchased these cards between 1988 and 1992, stuffed them in a closet or basement as an investment, believing the value of the cards would increase over time in the same manner cards from say the 1950s have grown in value. Unfortunately, unlike the cards from the 1950s, these 1980s and 1990s cards were mass produced.  There are so many of these cards out in circulation that they can never possibly ever increase in value. I read one article where the author states that if all the 1980s and 1990s cards that have been opened and pulled from packs were disintegrated, the cards would still have no value because of the massive amounts of unopened product that is still available.  Yet, the hoarders come to the card shows unwittingly looking for that big pay off they have been expecting for the past 20 or so years. I always seem to be the bearer of bad news. There is no pay off.

One guy came in trying to unload one million cards from the 1980s/1990s. One dealer offered $1 per box. Another dealer told him to donate the cards to a children's hospital. He declined the offer and advice. Later, I overheard him on his cell phone telling the person on the other end that maybe he needs to take a table at one of these card shows. YES! Take a table and learn first hand that your cards have no value. I can only hope that he had space in his home for the junk and did not waste thousands of dollars renting storage units to hold all those worthless cards for two decades. 

I had my obligatory junk offers at Saturday's Elgin show. A dealer offered to sell me some junk wax, i.e., sealed packs of cards from the 1980s and 1990s. I politely declined. A lady came to my table and showed me pictures on her iPad of all sorts of cards from the 1990s that she was attempting to sell. She did not seem to believe me when I told her that her cards had very little value. I always get that same look from these folks when I inform them that their cards have negative value -- they look at me like I just spoke to them in Swahili. I can't help thinking that if this lady was savvy enough to take photos with her iPad, why couldn't she perform a simple internet search to learn something about the cards? Like I said, there is no shortage of informative material online explaining that these cards are absolutely and utterly worthless. My advice to the hoarders is to take whatever you can get for these things. If a dealer offers you $1 for a 1,000 1990 Topps cards -- TAKE IT! Please don't post your 1989 Topps sets on Craigslist for $100 dollars per set. You might be able to get $5 a set if you set up at a flea market.  

Oddly, I have seen an increase of junk on dealers' tables at each and every show. Some dealers report that they are doing quite well with junk. These dealers will buy it as long as the sellers are wiling to take next to nothing for the cards. They will buy a set for $1 and sell it for $5. Not big profits but a sale is a sale. I seem to be able to sell it when I set up at a flea market. I don't make much money on it. Making $25 off five or six sets of junk is pretty good in my book. I may look to stock up on junk when summer nears and I set up again at the Wilmot, Wisconsin, flea market. If I bring it to a card show, it just sits on my table collecting dust. I just never get customers at a card show, or a flea market for that matter, requesting some 1990 Score baseball. In general, I avoid junk like the plague. I would rather spend my money on a true vintage card, 1960s or older, that actually maintains a value. 

Thankfully, there is an additional stream of people attending this show with truly valuable cards and autographs to sell. I observed an older lady on Saturday wearing bright red rain boots walk up to three or four dealers attempting to sell four or five 1951 Bowman baseball cards including a Nellie Fox rookie that she eventually sold to a dealer. In high grade, the Fox rookie can bring in $300 or more. I also saw a guy bring a large box of autos to Willie. It just seems that most everyone who attends this show has something to sell, whether it be junk or decent material which is somewhat of an oddity because I attend many shows where nobody walks into the room with items to sell. This show, for some reason, seems to just bring out folks with stuff to sell. Maybe it is that ad in the Herald that brings them out. Either way, I think it is a good thing. Dealers always need new inventory and we welcome customers bringing in items to sell -- I would just prefer a lot less junk walking in the door and more of the good stuff. 

Overall, I was pretty happy with the Elgin show. Later that I night, I finished up my 1973 Topps football binder and posted a bunch of cards to eBay. I think I drank too much of the free coffee at the Elgin hotel because I could not fall asleep that night. I overslept Sunday morning and arrived at the Bloomingdale show a little late. Thankfully, it was much warmer on Sunday and load in was much more pleasant. 

I was surprised my newly reloaded 1973 Topps Football binder did not get much action in Bloomingdale. That thing was a beast to reload with more than 500 cards in that set. Though, I did sell a nice amount of baseball cards. There is a nice couple that I met once before at the Bloomingdale show and they pulled a ton of cards from 1969 and 1961. They also picked up a bunch of my star cards from those years. Another customer that we seem to call Mr. White Sox because he is always decked out head to tow with White Sox garb, purchased just about all the Bulls I had in my 1969-70 Topps binder. Another customer purchased some 1963 baseball.  Derek pulled a bunch of cards from my 1972 and 1973 baseball binders. Thanks Derek! 

Randy and I made a nice trade. He gave me a nice collection of 1973 Topps baseball including a bunch of star cards in exchange for some 1962 Topps baseball commons and stars. Thanks Randy! I also purchased a bunch of cards from another customer including a 1966 Topps Pete Rose and a 1968 Topps Roberto Clemente.  Overall, a pretty good day in Bloomingdale.

Next week I am venturing out to Fort Wayne, Indiana, for a show on Saturday, January 17, 2015. This will be my first show in Fort Wayne and I am looking forward to it. The only drawback is that the promoter only had one table available when I called. So I think I just may bring out my display cases. It is always tough for me to pare down five tables of stuff into just one table.

On Sunday, January 18, 2015, I am setting up at the Gonzaga Show in Milwaukee. I plan to have my 1951 Topps Redbacks reloaded for this one in addition to a bunch of new cards for my display cases. Former Milwaukee Brave Tom DeMerit will be signing autographs from 10 to 11 a.m. I know the Packers and Seahawks are playing for the NFC Championship at 2 p.m. I will try to get to the show extra early so folks have time to view my cards and plenty of time to get somewhere to view the game. 

I had a really nice weekend in Elgin and Bloomingdale and am looking for more fun with my roadtrips to Fort Wayne and Milwaukee next week. Have a great week everybody!! Thanks again for your support!!!! 

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Snowy Weekend in the Milwaukee-Chicago Corridor

1/6/2015

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Winter reared its ugly head this weekend affecting both the Smith & Gordon show along with the Schaumburg show. It was a pretty scary drive from suburban Chicago to Milwaukee early Saturday, January 3, 2015. I left my house at 6:45 a.m., it was dark, and the main road by my house was completely covered in snow. I drove toward the highway hoping I was in a lane. To top it off, there was a mixture of rain and snow that left a film on my windshield and I could not see clearly at all. Once on the highway, the roads were better but that film on the windshield continued. Matters were made worse by the large number of trucks on the road kicking up slush. It was a scary ride. Thankfully, the snow-rain combo cleared up once I made it across the border though the roads were still very slick. My normal 45-minute ride to the Clarion took more than an hour. 

Once at the show I was greeted by more headaches. I am learning quickly that there are unavoidable headaches when promoting a show. This was our second show in a row with several dealer no-shows. No-shows are a nightmare for a promoter because they cost the promoter money and the customers are stuck walking into a room with empty tables. Last month Mark and I reserved the larger more expensive room at the hotel because we thought we had too many dealers for the small room. Turns out we had to eat the extra cost because two dealers backed out after we reserved the room and another just did not bother to show up. For the January 3rd show, we decided to keep the small room so we would not get stuck eating the extra cost for the large room. The week before the show we thought we had the room filled with dealers and started to turn new dealers away. Turns out one dealer learned he had to work at the last minute and another did not bother showing up. So we lost out on table fee for four tables that we could have had filled. I fully understand that things come up and sometimes dealers legitimately can't make the show -- like being called into to work. In those cases, I'll eat the extra cost, no worries. In the cases where a guy just does not show up, doesn't call, text or email, well that just plain sucks. If the dealer gave me a call, I would have been able to fill the table with another dealer and not lose money. 
We also can't properly plan for the show if dealers are going to back out or just flat out not show up. One remedy we are going to have to take is to make some dealers pay up front for their tables so if they don't bother to show we still have the table fee and don't have to dig deeper into our pockets to pay the hotel. Again, if a dealer has a legitimate reason for skipping the show, I don't have a problem with it as long as I receive a call, text or email. 


Our plan for our February 28, 2015, show at the Clarion is to keep the small room. As I write this we are just about booked up with dealers and only have one table available. The first dealer to call/email gets that table and we won't take any new dealers. However, I will start a waiting list and if we get enough dealers to commit we will attempt to reserve the larger room. Though, I have to admit that I am not motivated to reserve that larger room unless I get some solid commitments from the dealers. If you book the show, you have to show up -- period. Dealers keep in mind that if you do not show up, you are hurting the show and costing the promoters money. End of rant.

There is a lot of time, effort and money that goes into promoting a card show. I promoted this last show with a great deal of flyers, listings in SCD, Beckett, Craigslist, and Facebook along with this website. Mark sends out multiple email blasts. I tried to negotiate a deal with the Milwaukee Journal for an ad but they are just too expensive. I might try the Journal again before the February 28th show. I think we had about the same amount of people walk into the show as last month. I would have liked a larger crowd but I think the weather may have scared off some folks. Weather aside, my sales were once again excellent. I have had terrific sales at each and every Smith & Gordon show. Mark, Scott Z. and Mike J. reported excellent sales as well.  I can't say how happy I am to watch customers come into the room and buy, sell, trade cards and have a good time.

A huge thank you to my regular crew of Mark, Jeff, Jason, Jack, Robin and the others. You guys are the best!! Mark purchased some 1963 Fleer baseball and we got to talking about that set. Mark remembers buying those cards when he was a kid. I knew those cards came with a cookie, unlike the Topps cards that came with gum. Mark provided a few more details about those cookies that I did not know. He told me it was a cherry flavored cookie that tasted terrible. He did not like them and none of his friends liked them. Apparently, Fleer, which manufactured bubble gum, was unable to include a stick of gum with the cards because of legal issues with Topps. The management at Fleer felt they needed some sort of treat for kids so they opted for a cookie -- a very bad tasting cookie.  I am a big fan of the 1963 Fleer baseball card set. I like the simple design and I think the player photos are sharper than the Topps photos. I think the 1963 Fleer Sandy Koufax is one of the sharpest looking cards from the decade. I currently don't have the Koufax but have owned it in the past. Hopefully, the Koufax makes its way to me in the near future.

I sold quite a few cards on this day. For the longest time I have been carting around two 1961 Topps Willie Mays cards. Both cards sold on this day. My newly reloaded 1973 Topps binder saw a lot of action. I sold quite a few cards out of my case. Bill picked up my 1953 Topps Jackie Robinson, 1954 Topps Ernie Banks rookie and a 1966 Topps Mickey Mantle. Quite a few other guys came out and pulled cards from my binders. Thanks guys! I always get my obligatory Braves collectors who seem to continually find Braves cards at my table.  

On the buying front, I picked up a large pile of 1955 Bowman baseball. I'm getting ready to reload my 1950s binders and have been stock-piling cards. While my inventory is pretty good from 1951 through 1956, I still need cards from 1957 to 1959. I may try to pick up some sets and break them up for the binders.

Other than the frightening drive and the aggravation of no-show dealers, it turned out to be a real pleasant day. Nelson and I got to talking about Puerto Rican cuisine. I did not realize Nelson was from Puerto Rico and spends a lot of time visiting family there. Sounds like Nelson can cook up a storm. He had me drooling while he was talking about all the Puerto Rican style dishes he cooks up. My first apartment after high school was in the Wicker Park neighborhood in Chicago. At the time (1985), Wicker Park was largely made up of Puerto Rican families. The neighborhood had some tremendous Puerto Rican restaurants along with some great little grocery stores and butcher shops. Also, one of my roommates was Puerto Rican and his mother lived down the street and she used to whip us up some delicious meals. Needless to say, I am a big fan of Puerto Rican food. Actually, I am a big fan of all food. Milwaukee is a tremendous food town. Mark, Willie and I went back to the Aviator Bar & Grill after the show. I wanted to try something different this time and went with a pub burger which was pretty good. Willie and Mark went with the ribs. I'm eyeing the pulled pork sandwich for next month. 

The drive home was a lot easier. The roads had cleared up nicely. I stopped off for gasoline in Milwaukee and was surprised that the price was the same as the Chicago area. I paid $1.98 a gallon which is what I have been seeing around my house. Usually gas is 10 to 15 cents cheaper in Milwaukee than Chicago. Though, I can't complain about $1.98 a gallon. 

On Sunday, January 4, 2015, it was the Schaumburg Show. Once again we had some weather issues. The temperature dropped and it snowed all day long. The main road by my house was actually clear on this morning and I was able to determine whether I was driving in a lane or not. I made it to the Wyndham Garden in my usual 1/2 hour. The wind and cold made for a shivering load in. It seemed to snow steadily all day long which I think kept some customers away. My sales were down. I do appreciate the guys who came out. A big thank you to Dave, Bill, Eric, Chuck, Ron and the other guys who bought cards from me today. We are a dedicated few who won't allow a little weather to interfere with our hobby!

I am happy to say that Bill found the final card he needed to complete his 1973 Topps baseball set at my table. Bill also gave me a nice grouping of 1964 and 1966 Topps baseball cards in trade. Thanks Bill! Additionally, I purchased a 1964 Philadelphia Jim Brown and a 1973 Topps Mike Schmidt Rookie from Dave. Thanks Dave! Junior had a nice grouping of cards from the mid-1960s but I was out of cash. Mark picked up those puppies.

Dave and I had a nice conversation about the gum that came with the 1955 Bowman football cards. Dave remembered that the packs came with a large stick of gum, much larger than the gum Topps provided. Dave also said the gum had flavor, unlike the Topps gum which seemed to lose its flavor after a few chews. He told me that in his kitchen pantry he kept a large stack of gum he had pulled from those Bowman packs. I can only imagine.

After the show, Mark, Willie and I went over to Moretti's. I had a really good meatball sub. Mark and Willie went with the burgers and seemed to enjoy them. Another pleasant day. I had a really nice weekend and was sorry to see it end. Next week I am setting up at Corky's show at the Holiday Inn in Elgin on Saturday. The hotel is located at the Elgin/West Dundee border. It is real easy to get to, just off I90 and Route 31. I am hopeful that we have a nice crowd for that show. Corky promised to give me some better tables so I am not fighting that wall. Last time I only brought out my binders because of the wall. This time I will have a binder-display case combo. My binder reload project this week is 1973 Topps football. I also hope to price some cards for my display cases. I have been working on my cheapy boxes but I am not sure if I will have those ready by Saturday.  On Sunday, January 11, 2014, I am setting up at the Indian Lakes Resort in Bloomingdale, Illinois. My last Bloomingdale show was really nice and I am looking forward to another great show. I hope the weather cooperates next weekend and everyone makes it out to both Elgin and Bloomingdale!! See you next weekend!!

One last note... I observed a lot of activity on this website as I write this blog. About 600 hits today! I really appreciate your interest and support. Thank you!!!  

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    Tony Gordon

    Vintage Sports Cards Addict

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