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Canton, Ohio, is AWESOME!!!

3/22/2012

Canton, Ohio, March 18, 2012 -- After driving five hours to get to Dayton the night before, the three hour drive from Dayton to Canton didn't seem so bad. It being St. Patrick's Day an' all there was some really cool Celtic music on the radio. I stopped once for some Taco Bell. I ate the tacos in the car and promptly dripped taco gunk all over myself. Once in Canton and stinking like a taco, I easily found the Courtyard Marriott where the show was slated to occur. The Marriott looked a little too nice and expensive so I opted to stay at a nearby Motel 6. The Motel 6 was nasty. I don't think they clean the rooms and there was a large clump of hair in the tub. With all this smash and grab business going on, I was real nervous all night. I kept checking the window for suspicious characters. The night proved uneventful.

Up at 7 a.m., I was quickly out of the Motel 6, munching an egg mcmuffin, then arriving at the show. I was able to use a hotel cart at the Marriott to get my stuff into the hotel in one trip. As soon as I started setting up I was greeted by 1970s baseball card collector extraordinaire, Tom Brown. Tom is living in Michigan these days and drove a few hours to the show in Canton. It was great to see a friendly face at a new show far from home. The Canton show was also GREAT! The minute I saw Tom, I was busy, which was around 8:30 a.m. The crowd at my table did not let up until around 1:15 p.m. CANTON ROCKS!

The madness started with a gentleman purchasing some '61 Golden Press. Several guys dinked through my binders while I was setting up. A young buy purchased a '64 Philadelphia checklist. Then a guy pulled 200 cards out of my hockey binder. A guy with the Cleveland Browns mascot tattooed on his forearm and the "O" for Ohio State on his elbow, picked up my '51 Bowman Norm Van Brocklin. He was a younger guy too. I love seeing guys like that get into the old stuff. Another guy bought a bunch of '74 football. A dealer came over and purchased my lone C55 hockey card. Then there was the awesome guy who stopped by my table three or four times to buy some '59 baseball, including my '59 Sparky Anderson rookie. I really appreciated the purchases but what made him really awesome was that he picked me up a burger at Wendy's. Ever since I got the diabetes, I get shaky if I don't eat. Thanks to that burger, I had energy throughout the show. I really needed that energy because I was really busy. At one point there were six guys at my table, each going through a binder and pulling out cards to purchase.

A guy wearing a St. Louis Cardinals 1982 World Series shirt (yes, 1982) picked up my '53 Topps Pee Wee Reese along with some '53 and '69 commons. Then there was the older guy, who didn't speak and pantomimed for communication. He picked up some '54 Topps baseball and some '56 Topps football. A young guy picked up some hockey. An older guy decked out in a Ohio State golf shirt, a Ohio State baseball cap and an Ohio State gold necklace, picked up some '57 and '60 baseball commons. Another guy picked up some '77 football and some '78 baseball. An older guy bought some '55 Bowman baseball. Another guy picked up some '77 football, focusing on Raiders. A guy wearing a Cleveland Indians shirt bought some '68 baseball commons. A guy wearing a Cleveland Browns shirt bought some '75 Topps football. Then there was the gentleman, one of many wearing a Ohio State shirt, who went through all my binders and pulled out about 300 or so cards. We had a great conversation. He was telling me about growing up in Cleveland and going to Indians games at old Crosley Field for just $3.50 a ticket. Another guy who made my day was the dad who had his 6 year-old son attached to his pants, literally. The tot had a plastic string around his wrist that was hooked into the dad's back pocket. The little tike tried but he couldn't get away from his dad -- I need one of those for my 6 year-old! The dad had on a Red Sox T-shirt and bought all of my '70 and '71 Topps football. Did I say that I LOVE CANTON!! I was selling a lot of stuff quickly and I lost track of everything I sold.

I had a real nice dealer on one side of me named Larry, who grew up in the area. Larry told me that Thurman Munson was a local boy and died in a plane crash just two miles from the Marriott. Larry said Munson owned all the land around the hotel at one point but his wife sold it after he died. Larry said there are some streets named after Munson in the area.

On the buying front, nothing. Nobody brought me anything. I picked up some supplies from some of the dealers at a real nice price. I was so pleased with my sales that I wasn't focusing on buying. There was a real nice crowd at this show that continued to pour in from 8:30 a.m. all the way up to 3 p.m. I think the three autograph guests helped. Signing autos in an adjacent room were Randy Gradishar, Don Cockroft, who was also selling and signing copies of his book on the "Kardiac Kids" (the 1980 Cleveland Browns), and the head coach of the Kardiac Kids, Sam Rutigliano. The lines were long all day for these guys. Each guy also stuck around well after the show ended making sure everybody who wanted an autograph got one. Remarkably, the first dealer to start packing up began at 2:15 p.m., which is unlike most of my regular shows where many dealers start packing up at noon. There were still many dealers set up at 3:30 p.m. when I decided to pack up.

I definitely need to return to Canton. I need to figure out how to fit it in with my regular shows. I had a GREAT day! As I was leaving, I scanned the parking lot for suspicious characters. Didn't see any and it didn't appear that anybody was following me. It took me about six hours to get home. It was a boring and uneventful drive.

I am taking the next two weeks off and will be back at it on April 7th at Fred Copp's show in Hoffman Estates. Please come out to the Hoffman Estates' show on the day before Easter. I'll probably be gitty after two weeks off from doing shows. I can't say enough about how I appreciate everyone in Canton. What a wonderful town filled with great sports collectors and fans! Below are some photos of my drive from Dayton to Canton and a few shots of the show.

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Slow sales, numb-nuts, and thieves cloud Dayton show

3/20/2012

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Nutter Center, Dayton, OH, March 17, 2012 -- I have been monitoring the Beckett show calendar, which lists just about every baseball card show in the country and Canada, ever since they began publishing it some 20 years ago in the hope that I would travel around the country and set up at some out-of-town shows. In all these years, I have never been able to get more than an hour away from home for a show, thanks to work and family restraints. Finally, this past fall, I drove from Northern Illinois to St. Louis twice and to Dayton, Ohio, once, for shows. While I enjoyed getting out of town, meeting new collectors and buying and selling cards at these shows, I did not enjoy the drive. Each time I drove out the night before, worked the show then immediately drove home and went to work at my real job the next day. It was grueling. So this weekend, I wised up and reserved tables at two shows over two days so I could relax after the first show before the long ride home. I also left for the Dayton show straight from my office in Downtown Chicago which saved me at least an hour. The result was I slept better the night before each show and the drive did not feel as hellish.

Interstate 65 in Indiana is the one sore point in the drive. That road is nothing short of a drag. You are either tailgated or stuck behind a truck going slow in the passing lane. It was a relief when I switched to I70 outside of Indianapolis. I began the drive at 3:30 p.m. and made it to Dayton around 8:30 p.m. I stopped at a Fairfield Inn for the night. The hotel was nice, clean, with a flat screen TV, fridge, microwave, coffee maker and complimentary shampoo. I had a good night's sleep.

I woke at 7 a.m., showered, loaded up the car, and dined on a couple hard boiled eggs at the hotel's free breakfast. Hey Fairfield Inn, would it kill ya to have some bacon or sausage in your lavish breakfast spread? Anyway, my GPS was off a bit and took me the wrong direction through Downtown Dayton, which I have to say is pretty cool looking. There are a lot of Victorian buildings and the area is real clean. I saw street car wires overhead but didn't see any street cars. Maybe they don't run on the weekends. I made it to the Nutter Center around 8:30 a.m. With it being my second time at the show, I knew exactly where to load in and parked right in front of the door leading to the show, unlike last fall when I drove around the Wright State University campus for 20 minutes trying to find the Nutter Center. The Nutter Center provides nice large carts so I was able to get all my stuff in there in one load. Promoter Dan Corley gave me the same spot I had back in the fall. I had three 6-foot tables to display my wares. The dealer next to me decided to make a long display going up the side between our tables. So essentially, customers looked at his stuff in the front then walked behind MY tables to look at the rest of his items. I was miffed and told him so. Those that follow my blog know that I've been victimized by theft in the past and try to avoid offering an easy opportunity for thieves to swipe stuff off my tables. The dealer didn't move his display and I had to cope with people walking behind my table all day long, including the numb-nut dealer. Figuring I would have problems, I put all my display cases on that side of my tables and kept them locked throughout the show. I didn't have any thefts but people were in my way when I needed to access my display cases.

Thankfully, the dealer on the other side of me was a real nice old guy with some great vintage cards. As soon as he learned that I was from Chicago, we started talking about the old Prohibition gangsters like Al Capone and Johnny Torrio. I'm a Chicago history buff and am well-read on the city's Prohibition era. There is also some gangster history in my family. I have a cousin whose best buddy was Baby Face Nelson. They were childhood pals and continued their friendship right up until Nelson's death in a shootout with the feds. My cousin supplied guns and automobiles to Nelson and the Dillinger gang. Some of the gangster history books called my cousin a thief. We called him Clarey. His actual name was Clarence. Shortly before the famous "Lady in Red" gave up Dillinger and the feds assassinated him, Dillinger and fellow bank-robber Homer Van Meter hid out at a warehouse Clarey owned on the near Northwest Side of Chicago. Needless to say, old J. Edgar Hoover made sure Clarey went to jail for hiding Dillinger and Van Meter. After his stint in prison, Clarey lived quietly in the old neighborhood up until he died of old age in 1969.

With a 130-year family history in Chicago, I have some good tales to tell but I'll save those for another blog (maybe I'll do one on how my old man hustled jazz legend Dizzy Gillespie into teaching him how to play the trumpet back in the early 1950s). Back at the show, things were slow going, unlike my prior visit to Dayton where I had some nice action at my tables. I hardly saw any of the folks I met back in October. I think I lost them to the weather, which was amazing, and to St. Patrick's Day activities. Though I did make some sales on this fine day. An older gentleman picked up some '65 Topps football tallboys and some '71 Topps baseball commons. A father and son duo pulled out quite a few '72s, including the father's favorite boyhood player, George Foster. He also bought my 1959 Topps Hank Aaron All Star. My pal TJ will be pleased to learn that a fellow member of the OBC (Old Baseball Cards) club, wearing that powder blue OBC baseball cap, spent a great deal of time at my table. The OBC member picked up some 1969 and 1953 Topps baseball commons. I met another guy who told me his son was in Chicago this weekend enjoying the city's St. Patrick's Day festivities. That guy picked up some '72 Topps baseball commons. There was a young guy I remembered from the fall and he picked up some '63 commons. Another guy bought some '72s which were real popular on this day.

On the buying front, not much doing. Only one guy offered me some cards. He had a box of stuff that was mostly late 1980s rookies like Randy Johnson and Ken Griffey Jr. Those cards are a dime a dozen and essentially worthless. The guy did have one T206 common. It was a beater: creased, worn, folded and frayed. He had it encased in one of those old thick screwdowns. I think T206 commons book at $60. In poor condition, I can sell them for $12 or $15. So I offered the guy $10. He immediately puts the card away and says the case is worth more as he stuffed it back in his box. Well, no, those screwdowns are worthless. Cards actually get destroyed in those things because the card will stick to the plastic and then tear when the case is unscrewed and opened. That's why the manufacturing of screwdowns ceased years ago. Regardless, I was up front with the guy. I told him the card books at $60 and isn't worth much when it is heavily creased, frayed and worn. Then he starts telling me about other stuff he has for sale. At this point, I'm not listening to a word he is saying. I'm just wondering why in the world he would think I would buy anything from him when he acted like an ass. He didn't have to take my offer but I think he should have kindly declined instead of pulling the card away and making a daft comment. I have two rules I follow when I buy cards. The first rule is that I never buy cards from assholes. I don't care if they have unbelievable deals, I won't ever buy cards from assholes. This is my hobby, I do it for fun. If someone is going to ruin my fun, there is no way in hell they're going to get some of my hard-earned cash, even if I could make a huge profit on the deal somewhere down the road. Some things like dignity are more valuable to me than any amount of money. Second rule, I don't buy anything that I can't sell for more than I paid for it. I don't have to get rich on the deal, I just have to make a little more than I paid for it. If I buy a card for $10 and sell it for $12, I'm happy.

So this guy is in clear violation of the rules. But I'm a nice guy and there is nobody else at my table, so I hear him out. He tells me he has a complete set of '61-62 Fleer basketball. I try to explain to him that I purchase cards for the sole purpose of reselling them at a profit. I'm honest and up front with him as I am with everyone. I'm not out to swindle anyone, that's not my idea of fun. Both parties need to feel good about the transaction. So the guy says he would sell me the cards at half book. Well, unless the cards are in absolute mint condition, I won't pay half book because I can't sell them at half book. I'd lose my shirt. Judging from the few vintage cards he showed me, I'm guessing his Fleers were in poor to fair condition, which means I would resell the cards at quarter book. So why in the world would I pay half book for his low grade cards and then sell them at a loss at quarter book? He didn't seem to get it. I find it amazing that Becket has been publishing this price guide for 34 years and people still see the high book number and think that's what they should be paid for their cards. They never seem to notice the lower number located directly next to the high number, which clearly is an indication that the price of a card is based on condition. Which means that when your cards are in the worst possible condition, you don't get to receive the highest possible price -- HELLO!! You can't tell these people anything because they're the experts. I'm probably over reacting but it's just that I've been selling cards during the entire 34-year period that the Beckett price guide has existed and I still have to regularly explain how the thing works. The folks at Beckett even explain this simple matter in their book. So my question for the great oracle at Delphi, the same oracle of knowledge where Socrates sought answers to the nagging dilemmas of virtue, is how can someone think they can get high book price for a card that has been stepped on and run through the washer? These are the things that keep me awake at night. Sad really, I know.

Anyway, I did make one purchase. I bought a soiled '72 Johnny Bench for a few bucks from a guy who happens to set up at all the Orland Park, Illinois, shows that I attend. I have known this guy for a while but didn't know he lives deep into Indiana, several hours from Orland and several hours from Dayton. Nice guy though and he always gives me good deals.

I know last time I blogged about this show, I talked about the promoter Dan, who is a tremendously nice guy. Dan told me that today's show marked his 20th anniversary of promoting this show in Dayton. He started promoting shows back in March 1992 and is still going strong. He did not charge a cover today. He gave everyone who came in a red ticket. He held drawings all day long for free giveaways. My old college roommate Sean Canty, who is from Dayton, stopped in to see me with his son Liam. Sean and Liam won some packs of cards in one of the drawings -- I thought that was pretty cool. Thanks Dan, and I also appreciate the free cans of pop. Dan also announced the attendance at the end of the show -- 141.

Prior to leaving Chicago for the Dayton show, my buddy Fred warned me that dealers have been smash and grab burglary victims after leaving shows in Ohio. I also recently read about a smash and grab of a dealer's car in Pennsylvania. Then after the show as I was about to leave, Dan warned me about smash and grabs as well. Several dealers at his shows have been hit. One guy was victimized four hours away in Kentucky. I was the last one to leave the show and as I was driving out I observed two guys hanging out in a red pick up truck. For the next three hours as I drove to Canton, I looked for that red pick-up or any suspicious vehicles. I didn't see any. Then when I checked into a Motel 6 in Canton, I saw a red pick-up truck circle the parking lot. I slept with one eye open that night. Luckily, no incidents to report. However, the next morning as I was checking my emails on my iPhone, I received an email from Dan, reporting that one of the vintage dealers was hit after the show. The dealer parked in front of his apartment in Dayton after the show and went inside. When he came out, someone had smashed a window on his car and taken all his cards and showcases. Dan also said that this was the seventh smash and grab theft after a Dayton/Cincinnati show since November. There is a serious problem in southern Ohio. Hopefully these scumbags slip up and get caught. A nice cold jail cell for a couple of decades is what they deserve.

I must admit that I'm a little reticent to return to southern Ohio for a show. Though I really like the Nutter Center show, even though sales were down and I had to deal with a couple of numb-nuts. Most people there are really nice and there is a tremendous inventory of modern and vintage cards in the room. It is a really good show. I think if I go back there, I'm going to have to take someone else with me. I think I'd be less of a target if I have another body for these slimeballs to contend with.

Anyway, my Canton blog is coming soon. Thanks for sitting through this unusually long-winded show report. Also, to all my Dayton peeps, thanks for the purchases, I greatly appreciate your business. Below are some photos from the show. The first two display cases are from the nice vintage dealer located on one side of my tables. The third photo is my tables. The first photo in the middle row is a display case from the modern card dealer set up across from me. The last three photos are some random shots of the room, including a Pete Rose jersey.

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Nice Show at Serb Hall in Milwaukee

3/12/2012

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Sunday, March 11, 2012 -- My 6 year-old son Kolby has a cold and didn't sleep very well last night, thus, I didn't sleep very well. I was dragging today. I made it to Serb Hall in Milwaukee just after 8 a.m. Load in and set up went smoothly but I didn't feel good all day. I think it was the lack of sleep coupled with the diabetes. I'm having a terrible time with my eyesight right now thanks to the big "D." I had a few rough patches today but was able to tough it out. Serb promoter PJ flipped me an extra table so I had a ton of space and a real nice display today.

Things were slow going early on and I was nervous with the lack of customers in the room. Around 10 a.m. things picked up and we actually ended up having a nice crowd today. My one customer who is working on a great many sets got my day going with a nice pile of cards that included some '57 baseball, '65 baseball and '59 football. A new customer purchased some 1922 American Caramels. Another customer pulled out some '66 baseball and '70s basketball. A regular customer picked up quite a few '71s. Jason bought a pile of stuff including some '73s and a '50 Bowman Pee Wee Reese. A new customer, also named Jason, picked up some hockey and sent me a kind email after the show, which is much appreciated. Another new customer picked up some '54 Bowman football and some '68 Topps baseball. I sold some football to another customer. A regular picked up some '56 Topps baseball. Quite a few guys dinked through my binders and pulled some cards. No Mark and Jim today. Hopefully, I'll see those guys next month.

On the buying front, not much doing. One guy brought by a small binder with some '70-'71 Topps basketball and some modern football and baseball. I have a large inventory of '70-71 basketball and am not interested in modern cards so I didn't make an offer. I watched the guy shop the cards at other tables and he didn't have any takers. Nobody else brought anything by my table to sell. Another dealer Bill made a real nice buy on some '70s football including a bunch of Payton, Staubach and Bradshaw rookies. I was able to find the 15 cards I needed to complete a '77 baseball set at Bill's table.

All in all, a good day, and sales were up from the last Serb Hall show. My only real disappointment was the gas prices in Milwaukee. The price of gas in Milwaukee is almost always 20 cents cheaper than by my house in Illinois but today it was only 1 cent cheaper! I am really glad gas prices are rising just in time for me to drive to Ohio next weekend. NOT! I'm doing a show in Dayton on Saturday and Canton on Sunday. I'm skipping the Sun Times show in Rosemont, IL, this weekend. I haven't had a good Sun Times show in several years and with the expensive table fee, parking fee, crappy convention food, the show is just a loser for me. I think the only big show I'll do in Chicago is the National. I may try big shows in some other cities in the future. There is one in Pittsburgh in May that I'd like to do. I just have to convince my wife that we need to go to Pittsburgh in May. In the meantime, I'm looking forward to my weekend in Ohio. I plan on hooking up with my old roommate from college, who is a native of Dayton. I also had a real nice show last fall at the Nutter Center in Dayton and am hoping for more of the same next weekend. Canton is going to be a new show for me and it is always fun setting up at a new show. Good times planned for next weekend. I'll be sure to snap some photos next weekend and post them here.

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Hey Numb-nut! My Cards Are Priced To Sell!!

3/6/2012

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Schaumburg, IL, Show, Sunday, March 4, 2005 -- So the wife had to attend a birthday party/brunch today which meant the kiddies joined me for the show in Schaumburg. I've taken each child along individually but I've never had them with me together at a show. I wasn't sure how this was going to work out. I figured I better feed them right away, so we hit McDonald's on the way in.

Load in and set up went smoothly. We brought with us a pile of Girl Scout cookies that Tabitha is selling for her troupe. Kolby saw some Wacky's on Willie's table and wanted 'em. I tried to hold off until I made a little money. I set the kids up with the portable DVD and they watched a movie. Kyle was one of my first customers today and was looking for guys who played with Mickey Mantle or Ron Santo. He found quite a few cards. He was also throwing some zingers at Don, the dealer set up next to me. Kyle said, "Don calls me up every night to see what I'm watching on TV." A regular picked up some '65s and a smattering of basketball cards. A guy who used to own a card shop bought a nice pile of '72s. Chuck picked up some '63s and some Post singles from the early '60s. Willie picked up a '62 Topps Gaylord Perry rookie. A new customer, a Boston native and an employee at a local card shop, picked up all sorts of Red Sox cards from the 1970s. Quite a few other guys dinked through my binders throughout the day. Mike made an appearance at the show today. Mike is a vintage dealer that regularly sets up in Orland. He was looking for a few guys from the '56 Topps football set which I didn't have.

Then there was the numb-nut who complained about my prices. I can't remember the last time someone complained about my prices, it is a rare occasion because my cards are priced to sell. Prior to each show, I spend a ridiculous amount of time pricing my cards. Generally, each card has both the book price and my sale price written on the sleeve. I price everything to condition. Numb-nut was complaining that I had a '53 Topps common baseball card in Good Condition priced at $6. The card books at $25. So he's essentially saying that my price at 25 percent of book is too high. I'd like to see numb-nut find that card cheaper. Then he complained that I didn't have any stars in the binder. Well, numb-nut, I keep the stars in my display cases. Numb-nut then has me pull out a '58 Topps Ted Williams from my display case. The card books at $600 and I have it priced at $150. The card is in Good Condition. It is off center with some edge wear. No creases and it presents real well. Numb-nut acts like I insulted him by showing him the card. What an ass!

On the buying front, I picked up a small pile of '48 Bowman and '67 Topps baseball. I also bought some Wacky's from
Willie for both kids. I always have a good time at this show with Ted, Fred, Willie and Don. No Woj today. The kids behaved well today and we sold quite a few boxes of cookies for Tab's troupe. I enjoyed having my kids with me today, hopefully they'll come along again soon. Up next week is Serb Hall in Milwaukee. I'm working on my '76 binder. I'm not sure if I'll have it done in time. I also have '59 football and '61 Fleer baseball lined up. Hopefully, we have a nice crowd at Serb Hall on Sunday. All those planning on attending Serb on Sunday, email over a want list and I'll have your cards ready to go!

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Is There Anybody Out There? Somebody? Hello!!!

3/5/2012

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Kind of a weird day after a very weird few weeks. I was diagnosed with diabetes last week and have been heavily medicated and on a new diet and exercise plan. My meds make me feel like hell -- like I have the flu and I am drunk at the same time. So today I decided that I just can't deal with the meds and skipped 'em. The result was that I feel the best I've felt in a very long time. I'm going to monitor my blood sugar and see if I can get by without these horrible pills. Goodbye doughnuts, we had a good run, but all good things have to come to an end.

Without the meds, I was able to wake up rather easily, unlike the previous week of morning drug haze. I made it to Orland around 8 a.m., much earlier than usual. The room was sparsely populated... which was the theme for the day. Several empty dealer tables and a much smaller crowd than usual. Usually my table is mobbed while I'm setting up. Not today. My easiest set up to date.

Though, even with the empty tables, there were quite a few new dealers in the room and quite a bit of vintage. Where do these new guys come from? One guy had some old hockey, another binders of 1950s cards, and still another with a table full of singles. I find it really amazing that new vintage dealers seem to come out of the woodwork and set up at this show. The result is that the Orland Show is the best show around for collectors of vintage cards because there is always an ever-changing large inventory of cards in the room.

Back at my tables, Dave was the first guy to arrive, much to Rick's chagrin. Dave picked up my '56 Topps Luis Aparicio rookie along with some '58 Topps football. Rick picked up a variety including a '60 Topps Duke Snider, some '58 Topps football and some basketball cards. A regular picked up quite a few '70 Topps. Another regular picked up some '58 Topps football. Denny picked up some '65 Topps baseball and some '70-71 Topps basketball. Joel picked up my '55 Topps Sherman Lollar, among a pile of Sox cards from various years. A customer, who I haven't seen in a while, picked up some '71 Topps baseball. Chris picked up some '75s then the tumbleweeds rolled in. It was eerily silent at the back end of the room. Lou, the dealer across from me, along with the dealer on my left, whose name escapes me, and I just stared at each other for a while. Lou started cracking jokes at our lack of customers. Then Lou and I carried on a conversation across the aisle without any interruption. Nobody walked by, not even the dopey bald guy who works at the Civic Center. Though at one point later in the show, Uncle Fester took a group of people behind my tables and out a side door. Just before Fester Adams provided an easy opportunity for strangers to swipe stuff off my tables, the dealer on my left folded up shop and went home.

Luckily, Will and Joe showed up and and I got on a bit of a roll. Sales started to come in. Some guys dinked through my binders and pulled some cards. Will picked up a '62 Topps Koufax and Spahn along with a '61 Topps Mantle MVP. A new customer purchased some cards out of my binders then started to haggle over my '55 Topps Clemente rookie. We couldn't come to an agreement and he walked away. Willie came by and picked up my '60 Topps McCovey rookie and my '69 Topps Ernie Banks. The new customer came back and bought the Clemente. A few more sales came in and I ended up having a decent show.

On the buying front, Junior had a '60 Yaz rookie and a '67 Colavito high number that just seemed priced a bit too high for the condition and I passed. I picked up a box of early '80s Donruss baseball from Chris. Selling cards from the 1980s is tough but I seem to be able to sell early 1980s cards. My pal Chuck gave me a nice pile of '74 Topps Cubs and Sox. I picked up a '59 Banks All Star, '60 Kaline, '67 Frank Robinson, and a '63 Fleer Santo from a dealer who brought some stuff to my table. I also picked up a large pile of mid-50s baseball and early '50s football from Jim, along with a small stack of '65 Topps football tall boys.

With all my sales seemingly coming at the end of the show, I was real slow getting out of the room today. Some numb-nut, who works at the Civic Center, not Uncle Fester, shut off the lights in the room around 2:30 p.m. I really hate these Civic Center people. I was the last one out of the room today. Where's Mark Smith when you need him?

Overall, I'm pleased with the show and I always enjoy hanging out with my regular crew at the Orland show. I also felt really good after a somewhat harrowing past 10 days with the onset of diabetes. The Orland show was the first of a double-bill weekend and I will have something on the Schaumburg show shortly. All is well in the world of Fat Daddy, though a bit slimmer these days. I lost about 30 pounds over the past several months thanks to the diabetes. Doughnuts are bad. I gotta walk the doughnut gauntlet tomorrow morning when I arrive at Union Station in Downtown Chicago and walk to work passing half a dozen places where some of the world's most delicious doughnuts reside. Won't do it. NO DOUGHNUTS!!

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Canton, Ohio, is AWESOME!!!

Slow sales, numb-nuts, and thieves cloud Dayton show

Nice Show at Serb Hall in Milwaukee

Hey Numb-nut! My Cards Are Priced To Sell!!

Is There Anybody Out There? Somebody? Hello!!!

Tony Gordon

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