flat - u- lence: the accumulation of gas in the alimentary canal.

The dealer in the booth next to me at the Fan Fanatics show held March 18-20 in Rosemont, Illinois, accumulated quite a bit of gas in his alimentary canal and was far too generous with sharing his unpleasant bounty. The initial release occurred on Friday while I was sitting in front of my partner Dave's table looking at my emails on my phone. I was absolutely blasted. So much so that I had to get up and move to avoid the cloud.

Now, I understand that everybody has to fart sometime but when you are trying to sell something in a retail setting, wouldn't it be better to release your excess gas in, say, the washroom, instead of right on top of your product? One of the dealers next to me, who I believe was the culprit, just had that look of a guy who spends most of his time sitting on a couch, eating Big Macs, watching TV, and blasting farts. Needless the say, the air around my booth was tainted terribly all weekend. The farting guy was really bad on Friday and Saturday. He had better control on Sunday but was still releasing the sporadic ball of doom. Me and Dave walked around our booth all weekend with the same sort of frown as Eli Manning, pictured above. It was nasty. I honestly think we lost some customers due to that foul scent permeating our row thanks to the fat farting guy.

Before I knew what I was in for, I took advantage of early set up on Thursday afternoon and brought in most of my cards and staked out my space. In general, this show has the worst behavior among dealers than at any other show I do, except maybe the National. If you do not set up on Thursday, there is a good chance the some jerk-off dealer will pinch part of your space. Fart Boy arrived before I did and took up a ton of space, far more than he should have had for just one table. The first thing I did on Thursday was to spread out my tables to block any further encroachment from Fart Boy.

Figuring out how to lay out my space was a little difficult this time around because usual tablemate Bob had to work and did not set up with Dave and I. Me, Bob and Dave have been setting up together at the Fanatics/Sun-Times show past 15 years or so. When the three of us are together, we get three tables which usually includes another 10-feet or so behind the tables and our layout is pretty routine. Without Bob, we had just two tables and less space. Dave is a stickler, he must have his table in the aisle so it really limits our creativity and ability to maximize the space. I felt the only option was to run some tables on the left side of the booth going back about 10 feet or so then run some more tables along the back, blocking potential encroachments from the dealers to our rear, heading toward Fart Boy's booth and behind Dave's tables. I then had room to build a Donald Trump-like wall of tables from the back of the booth to contain Fart Boy and stopped a few feet behind Dave's tables. I ended up with quite a bit of space and was able to put out all of my binders and five display cases. The only issue was trying to get customers to leave the aisle and walk into my little shop area. It seemed like most people just walked by. Maybe they did not want to stop because of the constant farts from my neighbor or they just did not want to leave the aisle. I actually really liked my set up. The only drawback I thought was that I could not stand behind any of my tables and was stuck most of the show behind Dave's tables, which left me uncomfortably close to Fart Boy.

Once the tables were set up, I went through the lengthy process of laying out all my binders and tying them down with string. During the show, a few guys complained that the binders were tied down. They prefer to grab whichever binder they need and pull it to the front. There is one customer who I remember from the Orland show who really laid into me for having the binders tied down arguing that he found it difficult to lean over a table to look at one of the binders in the back. I tried to explain that I had a binder stolen a few years ago and MUST tie them down to prevent theft. He did not want to hear it. I suppose I should have offered to flip through the binder for him so he would not have to actually make some sort of physical effort to obtain a card.

I do understand that there is a degree of difficulty to get at some of my binders but, no pun intended, I'm in a bind! I do not want to have another binder stolen, therefore, I must tie them down. There was a rumor on Sunday that a dealer had a binder containing a 1953 Topps baseball complete set, about $8,000 worth of cards, stolen from his table. I feel terrible for the dealer but also a little vindication for my sporadic arguments with a few customers about tying down my binders. There are thieves at the Fan Fanatics show and dealers, such as myself, must take certain precautions to prevent theft. I think the few customers that complain need to be a little more cognizant of the environment at a big show in Rosemont and understand that I am not trying to be difficult, merely protecting my investment.

I spent about two hours Thursday laying out the tables and tying down my binders. Sometimes I make some sales to other dealers on Thursday night. No sales this time around. I also noticed that there was a lot less people walking around on Thursday which I found odd because the show contained more dealer tables than I've seen in years at this show. After set up, I went home for some last minute pricing of cards for my display cases. I also worked a little eBay.

Later that night, I was awoken by my son who had a toothache and I did not get much sleep. I made it to the show around noon on Friday when I had planned to be there closer to 10 a.m. I spent an hour or so filling my display cases with cards. I had some nice stuff in there, including a complete set of 1962 Salada Coins. In fact, I had the only set of Saladas in the room. I only observed one other dealer with any Saladas at all. Right off the bat, a bunch of dealers lowballed me on the set. I turned them away.

Dave rewarded me with some corned beef sandwiches. I also had quite a few cups of coffee from Starbucks, which is located on the ground floor of the Stephens Center. I observed that a "Tattoo Show" was running in the room across from Starbucks which made sense since most people in line at Starbucks were caked in tattoos. One guy had a weird looking tattoo on his neck depicting Abraham Lincoln. I wanted to check out the tattoo show but thought better of it once I learned the cost of admission was $20. I don't have any tattoos and don't have enough interest in them to justify twenty bucks on admission. I think many folks from the Tattoo Show came into the sports show. I saw more people than usual at the show covered in tattoos. I wondered out loud to Dave why no one has ever gotten a tattoo of a baseball card. I see lots of tattoos of team logos but never a tattoo of a player or a card. I think it would be pretty cool if someone got a tattoo of a 1933 Goudey Babe Ruth.

My sales started off pretty good on Friday with the sale of a 1962 Jello Mickey Mantle to a dealer. Matt purchased some Diamond Stars. Quite a few guys found cards in my binders. My tablemate Dave was a superstar, as usual. I enjoyed chatting with Sandy, one of Dave's regular customers and a professor at the John Marshall Law School where I obtained my law degree in 2005.

Pictured below is one of Fart Boy's display cases, the gold one of the left, my Starbucks coffee and one of Dave's display cases on the right. As  you can see, the booth across the way had all sorts of Blackhawks stuff.

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As much fun it is to buy and sell cards at this show, I also like the social aspect and running into all sorts of friends like Mark Smith and his crew including Craig from Ohio and Hockey Greg from the Detroit area. I ran into quite a few folks from Wisconsin, including Al, Gary, and both Jasons. One Jason I have not seen in a long time along with his two boys. Jason's son Barty is now in college. I remember when he was just a kid tagging along with his dad to the Gonzaga show.

A few dealers approached me with questions about the Gonzaga show. I fully understand the difficulty in obtaining table space at Gonzaga. I went through it about 10 years ago when I first started visiting Gonzaga. There are not enough tables to go around at Gonzaga and dealers who want to get in there need to be patient. Keith, who runs the show, is a superstar. He will get you tables when vacancies appear; and NO, I will not sell you one of my tables. I need them for myself (otherwise I would not purchase them in the first place!). Again, dealers need to be patient and wait their turn. A table will open up eventually. I started out the same way, waited it out, now I have regular tables. Like I said, Keith is the best, and he will get you a table when one is available. Waiting your turn to get a regular table at the Gonzaga show is right of passage.

I saw quite a few people from the Orland show which I no longer attend. It was nice to see Rich Little, Steve, Paul, Harry, and Junior among assorted Orland regulars. Curiously missing was Larry from Berwyn, who I always see at the Rosemont shows. I hope Larry is okay!! I am still trying to find a venue to run my own show in the south suburbs. I'm thinking of launching a show in the fall.

I saw my old buddy Ross Foreman who writes for SCD. He took a photo of my Salada set for his article on the show. Ross and I have been friends since we were 12. I remember working on the 1980 Topps set with Ross when we were in our early teens. 

I ran into so many people I knew at this show. My apologies for forgetting to mention anyone. I was pretty tired most of the weekend and quite forgetful.

On the buying front on Friday, I picked up some goodies including 1958 and 1969 Topps Mickey Mantles. I also took some time to walk around the room and observed some pretty fair prices for vintage cards. If I had more money, I could have easily found some cards to buy. I needed to save some cash to pay Dave for the table so my purchases were limited. I was happy with my Mantle purchases. 

Fridays at the Sun-Times/Fanatics show is always grueling. The show closes at 9 p.m. and I am always dragging. Once home, I ate a ton of food and found I was sort of charged up from the show. I started watching Marco Polo on Netflix, which is an awesome show. Unfortunately, I was up most of the night watching Marco Polo and had a tough time waking up and getting going on Saturday morning.

Once awake and functioning, I considered grabbing some posters and framed publications to bring to the show to sell. On the non-Farting Guy side of my booth were two guys selling autographed jerseys and the like. They surrounded their booth with a fence-like structure. I figured I could lean some posters and publications up against the fence. Now just a little bit about the autographed jersey guys... they had the fences covered in framed jerseys and autos on Friday. By Sunday, the fences were nearly bare, they had sold just about everything. I was very impressed. Pictured below is are autographed Kris Bryant and Joe Montana jerseys for sale at my neighbor's booth. Both jerseys sold before the weekend was out.

Once in Rosemont on Saturday, I ended up parking in the garage across from the Stephens Center and dropping 15 bucks -- which is highway robbery! If I did not have stuff to carry, I would have parked for 5 bucks at the CTA lot.

I saw Willie in the walkway from the parking lot to the Stephens Center. Once at my booth, I noticed that Fart Boy encroached on a little more space with one of his display cases which now hovered over one of my display cases! I opened my case to see if Fart Boy's would hinder my ability to open the case. I was able to open my case just fine so I did not say anything to Fart Boy, who kindly greeted the morning with more gas. Dave made the Eli Manning face as soon as he arrived.

Another nice crowd on Saturday. I saw quite a few folks I know from the Fred Copp shows in the Chicago area like Randy, Dan, Corky and Gary. There is a newer customer at Fred's shows who spent quite a bit of time at my table.

Sales were frequent on Saturday but the amounts were small resulting in a drop in money from Friday. I did not sell much out of my display cases. I had some cool framed stuff like a 1969 Topps Chicago Cubs poster, an old Saturday Evening Post and a 1958 World Series Program that did not attract any interest. I did sell some hockey cards which I have been reloading regularly for the past few months in anticipation of this show. I also sold some basketball cards, including my newly reloaded 1976-77 Tall boys. For baseball, my sales seemed to center on the 1970s. I did not get much interest in my 1950s and 1960s binders.

On the buying front, I picked up a 1961 Topps Roger Maris. After the show, I debated on seeking out Mark, Craig and Greg for dinner but I was so tired that I went home and passed out. Pictured below is a random photo from the front of the show on Saturday.

I dropped the 15 bucks again on parking Sunday morning because it is easier to deal with loading out when your car is across the street. Attendance seemed light on Sunday and so were sales. I forgot my cell phone so I was unable to take photos or sit on eBay. I spent most of the day chatting with Dave's customers. I was able to make a few purchases including 1933 Goudeys Heinie Manush and Billy Rogell along with a smattering of cards from the late 1960s. 

I did sell quite a few cards out of my cheapy boxes. Quite a few sales went to the OBC crew. Thanks guys! I brought out more cheapy boxes than usual. 

Overall, my sales were about the same as the November show, which was slow as well. I decided to make something happen and unloaded some stuff to a dealer from Pennsylvania. I probably could have gotten more money but I really wanted to go home with some cash in my pocket. Sometimes you just have to be a little more proactive to make some sales. By and large, the dealers at the Fanatics show have money to spend and if you sell your items to them at a price where they feel they can make some money, you make a little cash as well. I noticed that quite a few Milwaukee and Chicago area dealers don't set up at this show, instead, they bring boxes and boxes of stuff to sell to the hordes of East Coast dealers that set up at this show. So, there is more than one way to make a little money at a card show!

The Fanatics people have added a show in May which I will not attend. I have already committed to Gonzaga that weekend and plan on setting up in Highland on that Saturday. I do plan on setting up at the November Fanatics show. With my sales sort of flatlining at this show, I need to come up with something to lure in more customers in November. I would rather sell to regular customers as opposed to dealers. I can always blow stuff out to dealers. I did sell a few publications and will probably increase my inventory by November. The cheapy boxes worked well, so I think I may increase that stuff. I thought I had pretty good stuff in my display cases but did not get nearly the attention I thought I would. I know I will have plenty of buying opportunities between now and November. Hopefully, I can obtain some more interesting items before November. As I've learned over the years, you really need to buy well in order to sell well.  
All in all, I had a pretty nice weekend. I would probably set up at this show regardless of my sales because I enjoy it. With more dealers, there was quite a buzz in the room all weekend -- which makes buying and selling cards that much more fun. I am already looking forward to the November show!

In the meantime, I am taking Easter weekend off. I know! I never take a weekend off!! I am going to put in some family time and price some cards. I will be back at it big time in April with two shows lined up in St. Louis. Ron Estes, who is a regular dealer at the Fanatics show, has a show at Machinist Hall in St. Louis. Ron says he has been getting a really good turn out at Machinist Hall where I will be setting up on April 2. Then on April 3, I'm heading over to Dave Jackson's show at Orlando's in St. Louis. Dave is bringing in Lou Brock and Red Schoendeinst to sign, so I am expecting a tremendous show. I also hope to spend some time with Tony Schaefer, who is a regular dealer at the Orlando's show. I'm hoping to lure Tony and his tremendous vintage inventory up to my show at the Clarion in Milwaukee sometime soon. Stay tuned, I will let you know when Tony's coming to Milwaukee. I'll take some photos of his stuff in St. Louis to wet your whistle.

I am still loading those binders from the 1970s, which is a painfully slow process because there are so many cards in those binders. It seems that everytime I'm loading those 1970s binders guys are asking me to hurry up and get back to the 1950s and 1960s. Though, the 1970s cards sell just as well. Like I said, I seemed to have sold mostly 1970s cards this past weekend at the Fanatics show. I am currently working on 1977 Topps baseball. Depending on how quickly I finish that binder, I may work on 1976-77 Topps hockey next because there are a tremendous amount of hockey collectors in St. Louis.

This April trip will be my first to St. Louis of the year. I have lots of friends down there and hope to see them all at either Machinist Hall or Orlando's! Have a great spring break and happy Easter! 

I am not a big fan of daylight savings time. It is always tough to lose that hour of sleep in the spring -- especially the night before a card show. I was not well rested when I woke the morning of March 13 for the monthly Gonzaga show in Milwaukee and the three cups of coffee I drank did not seem to help either. Thankfully, Candy's famous cake returned and I dined on a strawberry-flavored concoction that was delicious.

I thought it was pretty cool to see Paul Hornung, who signed autographs at the show for a few hours. I have a tremendous appreciation for the legends of yesteryear. I was surprised there was not a larger crowd for Hornung, though I did notice a lot of new faces at the show.

Overall, attendance seemed a little light for this show. The lousy rainy weather may have been a contributing factor. There was some nasty wind in the morning while I was loading in. My sales were steady, not overwhelming. One customer made my day with large purchases of cards from the early 1970s. Todd also found quite a few cards for his sets in my mid-1970s binders. I had just reloaded 1976 Topps baseball for this show. I also reloaded 1966 Topps football but the cards this time around are in low grade and did not draw much interest.

Quite a few guys dinked around my binders and found cards for their sets. I can't remember what I sold. I also sold some things out of my display cases, but memory eludes me once again.

I put out a couple of dime boxes and had a few sales out of the boxes. Jim found a bunch of 1984 Topps Tigers that he plans to gift to his doctor, who is a big Tigers fan. I am not sure if I am going to bring out the dime boxes again. They take up a lot of space and did not generate a whole lot of sales. Other dealers swear by them but they are inconsistent for me. 

On the buying front, I picked up a few things including some 1964 Topps baseball, some mid-1970s Topps baseball and some Exhibits. This was the first show in a while where I did not purchase a treasure trove of stuff. Gonzaga is always hit or miss for me when it comes to buying.

I had a lull at my table late in the morning and walked around the show looking for cards for my 1970 Topps set. Scott Z. had a high number that I needed. I did not see any other 1970's in the room. Around 12:30 p.m., I had a late rush and had some nice sales including a new customer who purchased a bunch of 1952 Bowman baseball.

After the show, the wind died down and the weather warmed up. It was still a little rainy. I took the scenic Route 45 down to Illinois. It is a longer drive but I am so tired of the highway.

Up next is the Fanatics show in Rosemont, Illinois. I loaded up some 1976-77 Topps basketball and some 1970-71 Topps hockey. I was hoping to get more done but work got in the way, again! I'm still working on loading up some stars for my display cases. I'm heading over to Rosemont this afternoon to start setting up. You really need to set up on Thursday at this show because the other dealers will pinch your space. There is a lot of bad dealer behavior at this show. Several guys always steal the free carts provided by the venue and hide them at their booths so no one else can use them. So, I am off to Rosemont. Stop by my booths 162 and 163 this weekend! 

The thing about hotel card shows is that you never know what type of event is being hosted in the other banquet rooms. Over the years, I have been set up at shows where bizarre religious services were occurring in adjoining rooms. The dull murmur of particular baseball card variations was drowned out by shouting preachers, loud bands, chants and the like. My favorite one was the polka band playing in an adjoining room at Serb Hall in Milwaukee some years ago. I love polka music so I thought that one was pretty cool. Well, this past Saturday, March 5, 2016, there was an event at the Clarion in Milwaukee that was more like an invasion. 

When I arrived at the hotel around 7:30 a.m., I knew something was up because the parking lot around back near the Rembrandt Room was filled up. That parking lot is never filled up this early. I observed that the main ballroom had a dozen or so electronic dartboards set up, so I figured there was some sort of dart tournament going on there. By 8 a.m. there were folks in the parking lot doing jello shots. By noon the hotel was filled with hundreds of highly inebriated 20-somethings. I was a little uncomfortable. The worst part was the hordes of drunks hanging out just beyond the hotel doors to the parking lot, chain smoking and engaging in loud demonstrative drunken banter. Customers to my card show had to weave their way through this mayhem to get into the hotel and into our show. Our attendance for the show was quite good and no one complained, thankfully.

The crowd for the dart tourney was more like one for a rock concert. Yet, as drunk and stupid as they were, they did not bother any card show customers. I have had too many experiences in my younger days being in drunken environments where knuckleheads just wanted to fight once the drink strained their brains. No issues here but I am sure there were multitudes of hangovers Sunday morning.

Like I said, attendance to the show was good, once again. I had two dealers that were no shows. One was Mike J., who I cut some slack because I know he was up late running his tavern. He did eventually arrive to the  show, paid for his table, and showed me some cool 1953 Topps he picked up earlier in the week. The other guy was not heard from. These guys missed out because collectors were spending money. I had an excellent show. Brent, a new customer, purchased a large amount of 1959 Topps baseball. Brent brought his two teenage sons, pictured below, who were interested in cards and sports and very engaging.

​Rob, who is usually a latecomer, was at the show early with his friend Mike and Mike's two young sons. The boys seemed to have a good time purchasing some modern cards from some of the other dealers and purchasing some 1980s wax from me. Surprisingly, I sold quite a bit of 1980s-1990s wax. I usually save this stuff for the flea market but I may have to start bringing it out to the shows.

Mark was the first customer in the room and purchased some 1965 Topps and Philadelphia football out of my newly reloaded binders. Thanks Mark! Our pal Jim arrived a short time later and found a few 1955 Topps. Thanks Jim. Many regulars were in attendance. I am so bad at names, I wish I could remember everyone's name. I sold quite a lot of football cards. One customer purchased all of my Bart Starr cards. Quite a few guys purchased piles of stuff out of my binders. A customer purchased my 1948 Bowman Pete Reiser.

I nice contingency from Illinois attended the show, including some new faces. One customer, who I met years ago at the Sun Times show, spent the weekend in Milwaukee attending my show on Saturday and a toy show at Serb Hall on Sunday. I really appreciate all the guys who make the long drive from Illinois or from Northern and Western parts of Wisconsin to attend my show at the Clarion.

Once again, the other dealers in the room reported good sales. Jerry said he sold quite a few T206s.

On the buying front, I had another excellent day. I purchased a binder of about 300 late 1950s and early 1960s  baseball cards that included a '54 Bowman Rizzuto, a '58 Mays, '58 Kaline, three '59 Sniders, two '59 Nellie Foxes, '62 Tresh and McCarver rookies, among lesser stars like Wilhelm, Lemon and Richardson.  Some of the cards are pictured below.  I also purchased several thousand cards from the late 1970s through early 1980s. This last group, I really didn't want to buy because I already had a large inventory of this stuff but the seller has been regularly bringing me much better items and he threw in a nice stack of 1965 Topps baseball. So, if anyone is looking for an 1982 or 1983 Topps set, let me know!

Getting all this stuff out of the room after the show was a little scary with all the drunks milling about. The crowds in the parking lot literally parted when I came out with my cart filled with bins. As a dealer, you are always worried about theft. So I was very nervous loading out. Though, these folks were so snockered and engaged with their fellow drunks that they did not notice me and presented no issues. I was happy to get on the road and away from those folks.

I ended up taking Wisconsin Route 31 south all the way to Illinois in the quest for cheap gas. I paid 1.79 a gallon for gas somewhere along the way home. The price of gas near my house in Illinois was up to 1.99 a gallon. I stopped at Luke's Hot Dogs on Waukegan Road and picked up dinner for the family. I am a big fan of the Luke's chain of fastfood restaurants in the Chicago area.

After a nice night with the family, I was up bright and early Sunday morning for the Madison show. I initially set my alarm for 5 a.m. When the alarm went off, I remembered the Madison show did not start until 10 a.m., so I set the alarm for 6 a.m. and enjoyed an extra hour of sleep. Madison is about a two-hour drive from my house. I arrived around 8:45 a.m.  There was an unusual amount of knuckleheads on the road at this early hour on a Sunday, tailgating my vehicle, making the drive most unpleasant. Though, all was right with the world once I was set up and open for business at the card show. 

There was another nice crowd, pictured below, at the Madison Clarion, as is usual for this show. There were a couple of empty tables where I was able to spread out, which is always nice. I probably had more items out than I ever had before in Madison. Many customers took notice.

There is one customer in Madison that is just an absolute rock star. He purchased my 1979 Topps complete set. Another regular found some 1973 football cards. Like my show in Milwaukee on Saturday, I once again sold quite a few football cards. Another regular purchased a bunch of 1971-72 Topps basketball star cards from my display case. While I had many sales, the dollars did not quite add up as they had the past few shows. Though, overall, I had a tremendous weekend selling cards, a much better weekend than the previous one.

I also ended up buying some cards in Madison. I purchased a large pile of 1976-77 Topps basketball. I lot of folks seem to dislike the postcard-size cards. I remember buying them as a kid when they first came out in 1976-77 and always liked them. The Artis Gilmore is a particular favorite of mine. I remember it like it was yesterday when Gilmore was dunking over opponents for my Chicago Bulls. Gilmore is the best scoring center around the basket I have ever seen. Overall, Kareem is the best scoring center I ever saw. That hook shot was indefensible and deadly. Gilmore, on the other hand, was a certain dunk or layup anytime he had the ball in the paint. He made defenders look silly. Hakeem Olajuwon is another great one, I remember appreciating. I am not all that impressed with any centers in today's game.

Anyway, I had a much more pleasant drive home. I stopped off at Fuddruckers in Janesville. Oddly, the doors were locked around 4 p.m. A young family approached the same time as I did, they would not be denied. The father called the restaurant and asked why the doors were locked. The person on the other end of the phone replied that they were short staffed. What? I have never heard of a restaurant closing because they were shortstaffed. I bussed at a steak house when I was in high school. We were always shortstaffed, it was just a fact of life and you dealt with it. The man was able to get someone to open the doors for us. I saw plenty of employees. These folks have a far different definition of staffing than I do. Anyway, my 1/2 pound burger with grilled onions and mushrooms was quite good. 

Up next, is the March Gonzaga show this Sunday, March 13, 2016. Paul Hornung is scheduled to sign autographs. At the moment, I am not planning to set up anywhere on Saturday, but am on the fence. I may end up somewhere on Saturday. I am currently working on reloading 1976 Topps baseball. I also have a tremendous amount of goodies up on eBay. I am going to really hustle these next few days to finish that '76 binder and work on some other stuff for the show on Sunday. Hope to see you this Sunday at Gonzaga!!