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This Freebird You Cannot Tame

5/22/2015

Seems like yesterday when I met the blonde-haired kid playing "Freebird" on the guitar in 1981 at a high school party. He played the song over and over. About the tenth time through the song, I was a little aggravated but from that day on, the blonde-haired kid, Mike Kandel, would be one of my closest friends. We played in a band together. We traveled the country, camped, hung out in countless taverns, he helped me run my publishing business, he stood up at my wedding, he was there for the birth of my children. We never stopped hanging out.

On my way to the Fishers card show in Indianapolis, I got off the 294 in Crestwood, Illinois, and drove the backroads all the way to Indy -- just like Mike and I used to do when we graduated college and spent six weeks driving the backroads of the West. Later that night, Mike called while I was watching TV in a crusty Motel 6. He was traveling the backroads of the West again. He was in Reno, Nevada. We made plans for when he returned to Chicago in about a month.

He died Sunday. We were supposed to drink Scotch and smoke cigars when my children grew up and got married. He was also supposed to take me to Aruba. There were too many things still to do. I am absolutely crushed.

I couldn't bring myself to write a blog this week. You guys are very patient with me. I've written far too many blogs about friends who have died. For this one, I want to share a video of Mike's band Tranquility Bass performing live in a club in Chicago in 1997. By this time, Mike had lost his blonde mop and replaced it with a Grizzly Adams' beard. That's him, fronting the band.

I'll be back next week with a blog about cards. Thanks guys!

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Buying Spree at the Smith & Gordon Show

5/13/2015

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The May 2015 Smith & Gordon show was held this past Saturday on May 9 at the Clarion in Milwaukee. Last month, I was battling a cold. It was nice to be healthy and able to wake up in the morning with no issues this time around. I expected most of the dealers to already be in the smaller Rembrandt Room when I arrived around 7 a.m. However, just Mark was there, set up, munching on doughnuts and drinking coffee. After months of being one of the last dealers to arrive at my own show, I was the second one to arrive! Woot!

Normally, we place about 19 tables in the Rembrandt Room. Mark was able to get 24 tables in there. I liked the way he set it up. I think we can actually get four or five more tables in there now by creating a small rectangle in the middle of the room. I am going to try and keep the show in the Rembrandt Room instead of the pricey Mitchell Room, unless I am absolutely overrun by dealers. I really need to keep costs down because Mark is going to reduce the number of shows he attends. It was a tremendous benefit to have Mark's expertise and financial backing these past nine months. He will be sorely missed at any show he does not attend. Thanks Mark for all your help!!

One of the many great things Mark does to help the show is to send out an email blast before each and every show. Quite a few customers attend the show because of Mark's emails. To keep the email reminders going, I am going to start collecting emails. If you would like to get on my email list, send me your email address by clicking HERE.

Without Mark in the room at the crack of dawn for now on, I am going to have to somehow get there extra early. The show starts at 9 a.m. but some dealers like to be there by 6 a.m. I will try my best to get there between 6 and 6:30 a.m. from now on -- which is going to be tough because I am not a morning person. Ugh!

This is not Mark's farewell show. He will be back. He just will not be at every show. It is tough for Mark to commit to a show in Milwaukee when he lives near Detroit. I will let everyone know when Mark is planning to attend the show again. In his absence, someone is going to have to step up and take Mark's place in razzing me all day and bringing out a tremendous inventory of vintage football cards!

Back at the May 9th show, I had four tables. I was able to put out seven display cases and all of my binders. Set up went smoothly. Jerome has consistently been my first customer of the day and he kept up his good record by arriving around 8 a.m. He spent most of the morning going through my newly reloaded 1976 Topps baseball binder. Jeff picked up his usual large pile of cards including a bunch from my newly reloaded 1956 Topps football binder.

A grandfather, son and grandson team purchased a 1958 Topps Eddie Mathews and a 1970 Topps Willie Mays. Thanks guys! Robin purchased my 1979 Topps complete set. Thanks Robin! Mark purchased a whole bunch of stuff including the remainder of my 1970 Kellogg's baseball cards. Rob purchased a bunch of stuff from the 1970s. It was nice to see Larry and his wife, who drove up from Illinois. Larry purchased some 1933 Goudeys. Several other guys drove up from Illinois. Milwaukee is such an easy drive from the Chicago area and there is so much to do in and around town that many folks are coming up from Illinois and making a day of it. We're starting to get a nice group to go to the Nite Owl burger joint after the show. Everyone and anyone is welcome to join us after each show for some of the best burgers around.

Back at the show, I got caught up in many conversations and did not get a chance to jot down each sale. I know I sold more cards but I cannot remember what I sold.

I noticed it was a late arriving crowd. We seemed to have the most customers in the room around 11 a.m. or so. I had customers at my table all day, even past the closing time of 3 p.m. I think we had about the same amount of customers as last month. I plugged the show heavily on Craigslist, Facebook, on this website, and Beckett. I also passed out quite a few flyers. I plan on doing more of the same for the June 20th show.

On the buying front, I had a tremendous day. I purchased a pile of Sports Illustrateds from the 1990s. All had Michael Jordan on the cover. I also picked up some 1974-75 Topps basketball cards. I was pretty happy with those purchases and thought I was done for the day but another dealer dropped off a nice stack of 1964 and 1958 Topps baseball. Then a customer came in with a box of 500 cards from 1955 through 1964. He gave me a really nice price. Thank you!! So, instead of coming home with money in my pocket, I came home with a whole ton of new cards. I am going to have some fun pricing these and getting them out at future shows.

I did not leave the hotel until after 4 p.m. When I got to the Nite Owl, Nelson, Seth, Willie and Mark had already finished their burgers. Thankfully, the Nite Owl did not run out -- which they often do. Shortly after I ordered my burger they ran out! It was nice to talk cards and the trial and tribulations of selling baseball cards with the other guys. I made it home around 6 p.m. and started to prep for the flea market.

The weatherman said rain early, then it would stop until night on Sunday, May 10, 2015. So, I got a whole bunch of stuff ready, loaded the car, woke up at 4 a.m. -- yes, you read right, I woke up at 4 a.m.!! I was surprised how many folks were on the road before sun-up. I have being setting up at the Wilmot Flea Market in Wilmot, Wisconsin for the past two years. I have never found the best route to get there until this past Sunday. I had my easiest drive yet.

When I got to the flea market around 5:45 a.m. there were not a whole lot of dealers. I got my best spot ever. I'm usually set up in one of the back rows but this time I was in the second row. I think the overcast sky and the steady drizzle and mist kept most dealers away. I set up my tables and only put out a few things like some children's toys and some CDs. I just put out things that could not get harmed by water. I kept my cards in the car hoping the rain would stop. Unfortunately, the rain did not stop. Stupid weathermen!!

I was impressed with the number of customers that came out in the rain. The only dealers that made any money, though, were the ones selling plants. The rest of us just sat in our cars. I could never really put much out. I sold a couple of dolls. I started to pack up around 10 a.m. When I was just about done I saw Kevin, a pre-War collector who has been a regular customer in Milwaukee for a long time. Kevin said he saw on this website that I was going to be set up at the flea market and came out to see me. Unfortunately, I did not bring out any pre-War cards. I mostly brought cards from the 1970s and 1980s. I'm planning to set up again at the Wilmot flea market in two weeks and I'll be sure to bring some pre-War items. It was just a miserable day out there in the cold and rain this past Sunday. I really appreciated that Kevin made the effort to see me. Thanks Kevin!

Next up is the Fishers show just north of Indianapolis. I was thinking of camping near Indy to save on hotel costs but the weather forecast is calling for rain so I reserved a hotel room. There are a lot of nice campgrounds near indy. Hopefully, the weather will agree and I can camp prior to one of the Indy shows this summer. I will also be back in Milwaukee on Sunday for the Gonzaga show. I just finished reloading 1955 Bowman baseball nad 1957 Topps football. I am currently working on some 1956 Topps baseball. I might have some time to reload 1958 Topps football. I also plan on pricing more cards for my display cases. I should have lots of newly priced cards for Indy and Milwaukee this coming weekend. In the meantime, I have been posting all sorts of great stuff to my eBay store -- check them out HERE.

Pictured below are photos from the Smith & Gordon Show. A big thank you to everyone who came out to the show! You guys are the best!! See you this weekend!!!

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Nice Show at the Indianapolis La Quinta Inn

5/6/2015

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Indianapolis is quickly becoming my second home. I seem to be there every other weekend. This past Saturday (May 2, 2015), I was set up at Seth Murray's La Quinta Inn show. Seth recently took over the promoting duties of this show. He said the show has been held at the La Quinta for about 15 years. The show is housed in a small room and Seth is currently negotiating a larger room in the hotel. This was my second time at the La Quinta show. Sales were a little slow on my previous visit. This time around, however, I had a surprisingly good day.

Show officially opens to the public at 8 a.m. I arrived just before 7 a.m. and saw that Seth was already set up and had five or six customers at his table. By 8 a.m., the little room was a mob scene. You could not walk through the aisles. I knew I was going to have a good day when I sold my entire 1975 Topps baseball book right away. I had quite a few vintage set builders throughout the whole day -- which is my bread and butter.

One customer purchased some 1971 Topps baseball. A customer I met a few weeks ago at the Fishers Show, purchased a bunch of hockey from the 1970's. He is also working on 1976 Topps baseball but I unfortunately did not have the binder reloaded in time for the show. I am still working on that thing. Those binders from the 1970's just take forever to reload. I should have it ready to go by this weekend.

Quite a few Cincinnati Reds fans in the room on this day. Seems like much of the conversations were focused on the state of the Reds. One customer wearing a Reds cap purchased some 1971 Topps Coins and a 1963 Topps Sandy Koufax. I broke out my newly reloaded 25-cent box and 50-cent box and both received quite a bit of action. An older customer spent the better part of the morning going through both boxes and pulled out quite a few cards. A customer on crutches purchased a bunch of 1970 Topps baseball cards. Another customer purchased a bunch of 1974 Topps.

Annoying Bob from the Fishers show was set up at La Quinta. Before the show, he promised not to go through my binders. His word is mush because he packed up around noon, announced he had to go to a little league game then spent the next hour annoying the hell out of me. He ended up buying a lot of cards but it was not worth it for me because he is such a headache. Every time we would agree on a price he would try and short-change me by four or five dollars, saying he did not have all the money. Another dealer, Wayne, said that is one of Bob's "moves." He will never give you the cash for the agreed upon price. He will always be a few bucks short. What a scumbag! I hate this guy!!

After Bob finally left, all the dealers seemed to have a story about Bob. Wayne had a good one where Bob asked him to buy a card from another dealer because Bob felt Wayne could get a better price from that particular dealer than he could. Wayne goes and purchases the card and brings it over to Bob expecting to get paid for the card. Nope! Bob asks Wayne if he could hold onto the card for a while because he did have the money for the card -- the card in which Wayne had no interest but was just purchasing as a favor to Bob! Another dealer said he once purchased a box of cards from Bob. An hour after the purchase, Bob came over to his table, gave him his money back and asked for the box. The dealer took the money, gave Bob the box and watched Bob go sell the box to someone else for more money! Out of all the shows I have ever done, Bob is the absolute worst person, be it customer or dealer, at any show. Did I say I hate this guy?

Thankfully, I had a bunch of new customers at this show who were extremely pleasant to deal with, canceling the negativity from Bob. All the other dealers, beside Bob, a really good guys. I purchased a bunch of 1972 high numbers from Walt, one of the other dealers. So I was pretty happy when I left the show with some money in my pocket and some good purchases. I ran into another dealer John Dobecke at one of the I65 rest stops. John lives in northern Indiana and has a pretty long ride as well.

On Sunday, May 3, 2015, I brought my wares over to the Wyndham Garden in Schaumburg, Illinois. I was crammed in the middle of the room with Beanie Don. It was a tight squeeze but we made it work. Attendance was up at this show which was nice to see. We had a nice late-morning rush. I sold some cards to Dave, Mort, Chuck, Randy and a few others. Thanks guys. I was hoping for a few more sales but things don't always go your way. I purchased a handful of cards as well along with some comic books to try to sell at the flea market. After the show, Willie and I feasted at Morretti's. I had the Buffalo chicken sandwich and it was very good.

Next up on Saturday, May 9, 2015, is the Smith & Gordon show at the Clarion in Milwaukee. The Smith & Gordon show has been my best and most consistent show of the year. I am expecting more of the same on Saturday. I have already received quite a few calls, texts and emails from guys planning on attending the show. We are in the smaller Rembrandt Room this time around. I just did not sell enough tables to splurge on the larger Mitchell Room, which is very pricey. I hope to finish up that 1976 binder, price some cards for my display cases and work on 1955 Topps baseball. In a perfect world, I'll get to 1956 Topps football as well. I'm looking forward to the show on Saturday. Seth is coming up from Indy to set up. We have our usual cast of dealers with some new guys sprinkled in. It should be a great show. I hope to see everyone Saturday in Milwaukee!

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Slow Dancing In Mason City, Iowa

5/1/2015

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Sorry for such a late blog post this week. I did not have a very good show in Mason City, Iowa, last weekend and lost my motivation to blog about it. The baseball card business is like a roller coaster ride where you have ups and downs. When sales are rocking and the crowds are out at the shows, I am extra-enthused to blog, buy, sell, and prep for the shows. On the other hand, when few people attend the shows and sales are down, I turn into a sloth. Except for the Smith & Gordon show, April was a lousy month at the card shows. There was a decline in attendance for each and every show. Mason City had the worst attendance of any show I attended this year. Though, I have been setting up at shows long enough to know to avoid making any assumptions about a show after just one visit. I assume the Mason City show is generally better than what I experienced last weekend.

First off, the promoter Rick Larson is awesome! When I called to reserve some tables, Rick offered to reserve a motel room for me. I have never had a promoter reserve a motel room for me in the past. I can't say how much I appreciate that kind of service. On top of that, Rick is a real personable guy. He owns an excellent card shop in the mall that houses the card show. He is very active on social media promoting the show. He said he has been running the show for eight years. There were a good number of dealers with excellent inventory. We just did not get much of a turn out. Saturday was actually okay but Sunday was abysmal. I would set up at this show again but just on a Saturday and try and find something in nearby Minnesota for Sunday.

So I had some time to explore Mason City. It is an old Victorian town with a nice Downtown highlighted by a beautiful old hotel designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. There is quite a bit of housing in Mason City from beautiful Victorian mansions to small ranch houses. The outskirts of town are pocketed with various manufacturing and farms. This is a town that has maintained the status quo and has not suffered the decay of so many other Midwest manufacturing towns. The Southbridge Mall, where the card show was held, unfortunately, is only half filled with stores -- which does not make a whole lot of sense because I did not see many other shopping options other than the typical big box stores like Walmart and Target.

Rick said the town is going to build a sports complex where a vacant JC Penney sits and also take over the area where his store is located. He is going to move to another part of the mall. A lot of folks seem excited about the sports complex that will have a hockey rink and basketball courts. I hope it works out and breaths new life into the mall.

With time to spare, I took a bunch of photos of Mason City, posted below. Click on the photo for a larger view.

Well, good riddance to April. I am sure happy to see May. I am heading to Indianapolis today where I will set up tomorrow, May 2, 2015, at the La Quinta Inn. I was hoping to have a new 1976 Topps baseball binder ready to go but I did not finish it. I should have the '76 binder ready for the Smith & Gordon show next weekend. I am setting up at the Wyndham Garden on Sunday, May 3, 2015, in Schaumburg, Illinois. I always enjoy seeing dealers Fred, Willie, Ted and the Woj. There are some great customers at the Schaumburg show like Randy and Larry. It sure would be nice to see some additional folks in Schaumburg on Sunday. Where are you guys? Come on out to the show!!!

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This Freebird You Cannot Tame

Buying Spree at the Smith & Gordon Show

Nice Show at the Indianapolis La Quinta Inn

Slow Dancing In Mason City, Iowa

Tony Gordon

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