Saturday, January 15, 2022, Salvation Army Community Center, Oak Creek, WI

While January card shows are generally well attended, there is always that fear of a bad snowstorm to throw a wrench into things. My Oak Creek show is generally held on the first Saturday of the month but that Saturday would have been New Year's day this month. As I stated previously, the Sal was closed New Year's Day and they had another event on January 8, so the first Saturday available was January 15.

I am soooo lucky we held the show on January 15 because Mother Nature roared on January 1, bringing a nasty snowstorm which would have killed the show. Even though I know the weather forecasts are rarely accurate, I kept nervously checking them in the weeks before the show. Initially snow was forecasted for January 15. On the Friday before the show, Ginger Zee was reporting a massive snowstorm that would blanket most of the country. I was concerned.

Luckily, Ginger's storm ended up far south of Milwaukee. We only had some flurries. It was a little cold out but not bad weather for a January card show in Milwaukee. Thank you Mother Nature!!

Attendance was tremendous! Probably the best attended show in the past six months. As Harry Caray would say, "Look at that crowd!" 

Bob, who operates the show in Lake Station, Indiana, was set up at the January Oak Creek Show. I appreciate his efforts in driving all the way up from Indiana. Thanks Bob! Early in the morning we were talking about how we both worry prior to the show if anybody is going to show up. Almost eight years in and I still worry before every show about attendance. 

Thankfully, my worries were quickly abated as piles of customers started coming in around 8:30 a.m. and kept coming and coming. Thank you everyone! Nothing makes me happier than to see the show packed with people, COVID notwithstanding.

I gave myself the space right by the front door. Initially, I was going to set up in the Game Room but we had to block off the back parking lot so the folks coming to the Sal for another event had space to park. I normally load in those back doors when I set up in the Game Room. I was feeling a little run down from my diabetes and did not want to cart my stuff all that far so I gave myself the prime spot by the front door.

PJ was the only dealer to complain about the lack of parking in back, so I gave him a spot by the front door as well. Everybody was happy. In fact, this is the first show I can recall, in about forever, that I did not receive any complaints from any dealers about anything! Everybody was truly happy! 

This was about the most perfect day I could ask for. Of course, a handful of guys cancelled last minute because they claimed they had COVID. A few guys were no shows but I overbooked and we had the place well covered with dealers.

Being the first table in, I had folks buying cards before I could finish setting up. It was nice to see Jason, a longtime customer, who has not been around in a couple of years. Jason purchased a few T205s. Thanks Jason! Scott made the drive from Illinois and purchased a bunch of cards. Thanks Scott! A few new customers purchased cards and things were rolling right away.

Normally, I have two helpers at this show, Jason and Rachel. Jason was out with COVID and Rachel had to leave early. Thankfully, she was able to come out earlier than normal and I was able to leave her at my tables and get everything done that I needed to get done, like collecting table fee from 65 dealers, which takes several hours to complete. I was able to make my rounds and be back at my tables in time for Rachel to leave for her real job. Thank you Rachel!!

It was nice to be out and mingling in the crowd. Such a great crowd at this one! I received a mix report from dealers on their sales. Most said sales were great but a few said sales were slow. I like when dealers who report slow sales also say it doesn't matter because they were having fun. Looked like everyone was having fun.

Big day on the buying front. A new customer said he heard about the show on the radio, which was awesome. I love free radio advertising! He had a box of cards including three T206s. I bought the T cards. The goofy guy from the Buenavista show sold me some 1955 Bowman football. I bought some of Eric's doubles. I picked up a box of 1960's baseball from Bruce. Then I picked up four boxes of cards from Jeff that included vintage from all four major sports. Nice haul!

One minor rant... I have one dealer that removes his name plate at every show and switches tables. It is starting to piss off other dealers and I have to put an end to it. Dealers! You gotta set up at your assigned table. Don't switch out tables! It is not fair to the other dealers. Play nice!

Nothing else to rant about for a change. It really was a picture-perfect day. I had two Sloppy Joe sandwiches, which were awesome as usual. They made a double batch this month because they ran out last month, so I was able to take some home. Thanks Mark!

Mark is the guy in charge at the Sal and I can't thank him enough. He shows up there with me at 6 a.m. and stays well past the end of the show at 3 p.m. He is an absolute superstar and one of the nicest guys I know. I would not be able to do this without Mark and am so grateful for everything he does.

I am also grateful to all of the tremendous dealers, all 65 of them. There are another 50 on the waiting list trying to get in. Be patient guys, I'll get you in... eventually. Most of all, I want to thank everyone who attended the show. We can't do it without you guys! Much love for you!!

Next up is a double bill weekend for me with Lake Station, Indiana, on Saturday, and Root River on Sunday. I'm probably bringing out show cases for these shows. Let me know if you want to see any binders. Have a great week and see you next weekend!!

I am always too busy to chat at the Oak Creek show but will have plenty of free time in Lake Station and in Franklin next weekend. Come on out!

​Below is a photo of one of my favorite dealers at the show Saturday, Jeremy Hasslebring.

Sunday, January 9, 2022, Civic Center, Orland Park

After the Rockford show, I checked the news reports online, and viewed reports stating that freezing rain was going to make travel unsafe Saturday night and Sunday. Later that night, I unloaded my display cases from my car and threw in the bins of binders. My driveway was a little slick but I fully expected the Illinois Department of Transportation to salt the highway for my trip to Orland Park in the morning.

I was surprised when I went out to my car Sunday morning and there was no ice on my windshield. Awesome. I figured the roads would be fine... which they were. While I was driving to the show around 7:30 a.m. and listening to news radio, the newscaster said the roads were a mess and advised everyone to stay home. What? The roads were fine! 

The only ice I saw was in the parking lot at the civic center. I parked, opened the car door, looked down and saw a sheet of ice. I also saw some scruffy bearded guy throwing down salt. I cautiously exited my vehicle and loaded my stuff into the civic center. I wore my winter boots and did not slip. 

I think guys who wore sneakers slipped in the parking lot. I saw one guy hit the deck. Lesson here... don't wear sneakers when there is ice on the ground.

Terry, who arrived at the show long before me, said the parking lot was a sheet of ice when he got there causing his car to slide and hit the curb. I was thinking this might be a good day for me to hand out my business card. Textbook case of negligence on the Village of Orland Park for not salting the parking lot the night before the show. 

Unfortunately, the weather reports and the ice scared off a lot of people. There were several empty dealer tables and we had maybe a fourth of the crowd we had at the last show. I was disappointed because the roads were fine. The only ice was in the parking lot at the civic center and it soon dissipated under salt.

In addition, after having such a great show in Rockford and Saturday, I was expecting a great show in Orland, which turned out to be a dud. It was a wasteland in front of my binders for most of the show. Good thing I brought out the dollar boxes because most of my early sales came from those boxes.

One guy asked if I would discount the cards to 50-cents each. I told him "no." The cards are already discounted at $1, plus I sell them 6 for $5. I've written about this many, many times, yet I am always frustrated with customers who ask for discounts on cards that are already discounted. There were quite a few cards in those boxes worth $5 to $10, I'm not going to sell them for 50 cents. I probably should not sell them for $1. Maybe I should increase the price to $2 each then give some numbnut the cards at a $1 "discount."

The guy obviously knew the value of the cards in the $1 boxes because he bought piles of them and came back a few times with no complaints.

I would like to talk about cheapy box etiquette. Now the guys that regularly go through the binders are very considerate of one another, which I appreciate greatly. However, the guys that go through the cheapy boxes have no manners at all. I think if a guy is standing in front of a box, going through it, making piles, no one else should stick their paws in there. Wait for the guy to finish going through the box -- "take turns" as Mrs. Utne, my first-grade teacher taught me in 1973.

I rarely bring out the cheapy boxes but when I do, there is always chaos around the boxes. I just don't understand. Honestly, the stuff in those boxes isn't that good. No need to fight over junk. There is much better stuff in my display cases and binders. I just brought the dollar boxes this time because I noticed I had extra space on my tables at the last show and I wanted to fill the space. I'm not bringing cheapy boxes to the January 30th show, too aggravating.

Also aggravating was the fact that almost all of my regular customers were AWOL at this show. Stop listening to the weather reports!

If it wasn't for Will and Minnanette, it would have been a complete disaster. Will purchased a pile of 1971, including a bunch of star cards. Thanks Will! He also brought me some breakfast. There is no bigger superstar than Will!

In addition to being my best customer and one of my best friends, Will tells the best stories. I love his stories about serving in the military during the Vietnam War. He was stationed in the south and has so many great stories. He should write a book. 

He told me that his mother saved everything, including his draft papers. He brought some of the papers to show me.

Some of Will's best stories are about his dad, who was a Chicago cop on the 1950's and 1960's. What a character!

One of my favorite stories about Will's dad is the one where he let Will's older brother Ed drive the family car when he was just 13 years old. Will's dad was a big fan of the A & W Restaurants, which used to be everywhere when I was growing up. So, in this story, Ed was driving his dad around Wisconsin and dad asked him to pull over at an A & W.

Neither was aware that a local policeman was in the parking lot and the officer observed the 13-year-old driver get out of the car. Ed then received a ticket for driving underage and without a license. This occurred in 1955. Will's mother saved the ticket, pictured below. What a cool piece of family history!

​Back to my big sales at the Orland show. After Will, long-time customer Minnanette was my next big spender.​

I haven't seen Minnanette in a couple of years. She said she was afraid to come out during COVID. I did not recognize her at first because she lost a lot of weight. She looks great while, I, on the other hand, have gained a lot of weight during COVID, and look a little like Uncle Fester. It is a good look for me.

It was business as usual with Minnanette as she pulled piles of cards out of my binders. I am going to try and put a box of cards together for her to give my binders a rest. I am not a wholesaler so it is difficult for me to sell to resellers like Minnanette. I have a simple system of inventory, I've got star cards, commons and a few cheapy boxes. I've got to figure out how to make a box for Minnanette. There are a lot of guys who just flip cards. They buy in quantity and have boxes ready to go for resellers. I'm just not set up that way. I prefer to sell to collectors rather than resellers.

I think I am going to bring display cases to the next Orland show coming up on January 30. It was depressing sitting there all day with very little action out of the binders.

On the buying front, I picked up a 1957 Topps Roberto Clemente -- Will has already claimed it. I also picked up a pile of 1958 Topps commons and some star cards from the 1960s. It is hard for me to get out of the Orland show without buying cards. I turned down a bunch of stuff because I just wasn't making any money, as result, had no cash to pay for cards.

Rare off day in Orland. Hopefully the weather is better for the January 30 show which will have former White Sox outfielder Carlos May signing autographs. I went through my autograph collection after the show and saw that I did not have a Carlos May autograph. I need to dig something out before the show to get signed.

Up next is my show on Saturday, January 15, 2022, at the Salvation Army, 8853 S. Howell, in Oak Creek, WI. We'll be back to the three rooms plus the hallway filled with dealers. My show has become the largest monthly show in the area. If you haven't been there, come check it out! It has really turned into the best show around. But don't take my word for it, come see it for yourself!

Saturday, January 8, 2022, Rock Church, Rockford, IL

Everybody knows that it is winter and the chance of snow, wind, bitter cold is high. However, the folks that issue weather reports resort to hysteria and consistent false forecasts. I have learned to ignore the weather reports.

All day Friday, I saw the reports calling for freezing rain and slick roads for Saturday. My drive to Rockford on Saturday occurred under sunny skies, a little cold, but a beautiful day for January in northern Illinois.

Looks like there are a lot of others that, like me, don't take these weather reports all too seriously because we had a really nice crowd at the Rockford show. There was some sleet and some light sprinkles on the drive home but nothing too bad. The roads were fine. My drive home was fine.

So after bringing out binders to this show the past two months, I changed it up and placed eight display cases on my tables. I filled the cases with baseball from 1909 to 1968 along with football from 1948 to 1968.

​I was located next to Skip and behind Tom. We have a nice number of vintage dealers at this show now which I think helps me greatly because vintage customers don't want to see just one vintage dealer. There were at least six of us with vintage on our tables. I think the word is getting out that there is vintage at this show. I had some really nice sales.

There was a young guy who bought a bunch of cards from me last month who was set up on this day. Nice guy. He came over and purchased just about all of my T206s. A new customer purchased my 1964 Topps Willie Mays. Skip purchased some 1959 White Sox. A father and son team purchased a bunch of Duke Snider cards, various years. There was another guy who bought a bunch of cards from me last month and this time he spent a good hour at my table and purchased a pile of cards from all years.

While I was helping the one guy go through all of my cases, another guy showed up and asked to see some of my Mantles. Already, I had quite a few guys look at the Mantles but none pulled the trigger. I did not recognize this guy and I assumed he was window shopping like the others. That will teach me! He purchased three Mantles. I was ready to go home but I stayed and sold more cards! Great day in Rockford! My best Rockford show to date!!

I did not buy anything at this show but was able to pay off the cards I bought last month from Terry Hatch. Not much brought to my table. One guy tried to sell me a 1989 Upper Deck Ken Griffey but I must have a dozen of them and don't need any more.

The local Rockford NBC station stopped by the show and posted a nice little write up on their website. Link to the story below:

Various collectibles on sale Saturday in Rockford | Top Stories | wrex.com

Next Rockford show is on February 12. Don't listen to the weather report!! 

Next up for me is my show on January 15 at the Salvation Army Community Center, 8853 S. Howell, Oak Creek, WI. I am leaning towards a display case set up. I brought binders to the December Oak Creek show. I have a really nice inventory of vintage football cards and want to show it off. I'll probably do two or three display cases of football then one case of basketball and hockey and the rest I'll fill up with baseball, maybe 1960's on.

Hope to see you Saturday in Oak Creek!!

​Pictured below is my offensive line at the Rockford show.

Sunday, January 2, 2022, Woodfield Hyatt Hotel, Schaumburg, IL

Honestly, I was a little disappointed I could not operate my Oak Creek show on January 1st. I knew it would have been difficult to pull off a New Year's Day show and I was a little relieved when I learned the Sal would be closed on the first... but I still wanted to have the show.

I scanned the Beckett Show Calendar for another show on January 1st but could not find any nearby. At least I had the Schaumburg show on January 2nd.

As it turns out, a January 1st show would have been a disaster as we were hit with the first big snowstorm of the season. The roads were horrible Sunday morning on my drive to Schaumburg. I had a very scary drive. Upon arrival, promoter Joe said he was surprised to see me. Well, it takes a little more than some snow to keep me from a card show.

In addition to the horrible state of the roads, it was bitter cold outside. I was hoping to snag a hotel cart for load in but they were all being used. I used my cart to load in but it takes two trips on my smaller cart. 

Doreen saved me from a headache and caught me as I was about to enter the elevator to head on down to the usual spot for the show in the basement. Instead of the basement, the show was in a back ballroom, which I did not know existed. I much prefer that back ballroom than taking the elevator down to the basement.

My tables were located in the middle of the room near the back, split between modern card dealer Steve and a younger modern card dealer. I like the brown velvety tablecloths that the hotel provides. The room looks good, classy.

Set up went smoothly. I brought out eight display cases thinking I had eight-foot tables but turns out they were six footers and could only fit seven cases. I filled the cases with baseball cards from 1909 through 1967.

I was amazed at the nice turn out with such awful roads covered in ice and snow. A few dealers braved the roads from Wisconsin like Josh Brothers and Randy and his kids. A lot of friendly faces at this show like Skip, Karl and Tom, who commented on my Orland blog and the dope who placed his cup of Coke on my table. Mike also commented on that guy as well.

​I received several comments and compliments about my pop-up shops that I ran at my law office in Palatine early last year. I need to plan for another one soon.

While the room was filled with people all day, kind of slow for me. Junior was my first sale of the day. He purchased my Yaz rookie. I sort of think I originally purchased the card from him. I bought a McCovey rookie from him as part of the transaction. My only purchase of the day. As usual, Tom and I were the only vintage dealers.

This has always been a modern show with just one or two vintage dealers sprinkled in. My expectations are always low for this show because the vintage crowd just does not attend. Joe told me our old buddy Andy called and asked if I was setting up but Andy was a no show. Hope to see you this weekend in Orland Andy! Joe told me he went to grade school with Andy.

I was thankful I made that early sale to Junior because sales were slow all day. A new customer, who said he is just getting back into collecting vintage, purchased a few Ernie Banks cards. A few more guys purchased some cards. I can't remember what I sold. I do remember that my old friend Randy purchased some 1957s. I gotta remember to bring the '57 binder for Randy at the February show.

The other Randy, who was set up across from me with his kids, and who came down from Oak Creek, purchased a few cards. Thanks guys! While this is not my worst regular show it does have the most expensive dealer tables out of all of the shows I do so after table fee, I was disappointed with my sales. I must admit, my sales were better than the December show.

I am not sure what to bring out for February. I brought the binders in December and display cases in January. Maybe I'll bring out a mix of display cases and cheapy boxes and binders for the February show, which I think is on Super Bowl Sunday. If any vintage collectors are planning to attend the February show, let me know what you want me to bring out.

The temperature really warmed up after the show and the roads were much better for my drive home.

Up next is a double bill weekend with Rockford on Saturday and Orland on Sunday. I'm thinking display cases for Rockford since I've done binders the past two months. I like to change it up. I'm bringing binders to Orland where I have a lot of table space and need to figure out what else to bring. I'm thinking maybe one display case with basketball and hockey.

Then my Oak Creek show is scheduled for January 15, 2022, at the Salvation Army Community Center, 8853 S. Howell, in beautiful Oak Creek, WI. Dealer tables are sold out as usual. I'm hoping the Oak Creek show starts out with a bang!

See you next weekend!

​Tony