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Both me and the show were a little slow

7/31/2011

It has been three weeks since my last show, an extreme rarity because I normally do a show every weekend. So I was limping into the show today after camping last week, an all-day birthday party for my son yesterday, and an aching back. Needless to say, I was really tired today.

Largest crowd in Orland since the summer began, though sales were a little slow. All the dealer tables were filled. It was good to see Dennis today, a long-time customer who only comes out to Orland four or five times a year. Dennis picked up my '68 Aaron All Star and a couple other cards. Andy from Orlando was in town today. I met Andy through eBay a few years ago and he comes in every year to visit family and likes to hit one of my shows. He picked up a nice assortment today including some 1952 Bowman baseball. Rick picked up a really nice '59 Banks All Star and an assortment of others. Terry picked up a '59 Topps football Jim Taylor rookie and a few others. Indiana Dave, who brought future card collector Zachary to the show, picked up a '51 Red Back. Gil was my customer of the day, purchasing a '55 Bowman Mantle and a large group of '63 Topps baseball. Illinois Dave picked up some '57s. Chris picked up my '71 Topps Bradshaw rookie. Chuck grabbed my '74 Topps Washington variations. I couldn't get him to bite on my '74 Topps Winfield rookie. Mark picked up some Washington variations as well. Joel made some purchases and is also looking for the Jewish ballplayer sets. If anyone has any of these, please let me know. Will picked up my '60 Topps Maris. Quite a few other guys purchased small groupings of cards.

As usual, I bought more than I sold today. I picked up about 1,400 cards from Jim, mostly early to mid-1960s commons. I bought a '66 Topps Mantle and a '53 Topps Campanella from Junior. I picked up some '70s basketball, some '61 Topps baseball, and a '60 Topps Maris All Star. I also purchased a '39 Play Ball Hank Greenberg PSA 4 and a T205 Hughie Jennings. A real nice haul today.

The National Show comes to Chicago on Wednesday. I'm working on pricing some '62 Post baseball for the show. It is going to be a crazy week for me because I have to set up for the show Wednesday morning, go to work, come back for the show and stay till 9 or 10 p.m. Thursday I'm going to take off work and Friday I'm going to work in the a.m. and hit the show around 1 p.m. I plan on pricing cards the next few nights to have some new stuff out at the show. There's nothing like the National. It should be fun!

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Heat, stench, suspicious check, traffic

7/10/2011

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"Sauna" was the operative word today at the Gonzaga show. Reportedly, the hall has air conditioning but it sure didn't feel like it. The WSCA club president Keith Kilps was very apologetic about the heat, there wasn't anything he could do about it. Though, I wouldn't mind seeing some fans set up at the next show. I was dripping in sweat after bringing in my stuff. Other guys, the ones with much more girth, were worse off than me. Whooo boy did it stink in there. Reminded me of my high school football lockerroom after a few weeks of two-a-day practices.

Nice turn out today though, all the dealer tables were filled, a nice crowd attended the show. I made quite a few sales. Mark picked up some '63 Post and some '65 Topps Transfers, Jason purchased some '35 Diamond Stars and some '39 Goudeys along with some '72s and '73s. Mike picked up some '70s. I sold my '53 Bowman Color Gil Hodges to a new customer who said he sells on eBay under the name Cooperstown Sports. One of my regulars picked out a large stack of '64s. I sold a PSA 8 1959 Topps Felix Mantilla to another customer. I sold a bunch of '35 Goudeys to another regular. Gary picked up a '57 Don Drysdale rookie and a Roy Campanella. Another customer, who I normally see at the Serb Hall show, picked up quite a few Hispanic players for his collection of Hispanic players. Another semi-regular picked up some '62s though he was disappointed I didn't have more. I can't blame him, my commons from the '50s and '60s have been hit hard. I just can't keep up with the demand. Because of my day-job and family, I can only reload about one binder a week. I'm hoping to get '51 Bowman baseball reloaded this week.

I may have made a terrible mistake in accepting an out-of-state check from a customer I have never seen before. The customer, who claims to live in Georgia, said he grew up in Wisconsin and regularly visits and attends the Gonzaga show. He was decked out in Brewer gear and a little older, so I took a chance on accepting a check from him. Normally, I don't take out-of-state checks because I have been burned in the past. After I took the check, I wished I hadn't and have a real sinking suspicion about this one. Hopefully, the check is good. If not, it will teach me an important lesson -- Don't accept out-of-state checks! I feel like a real dumbass at the moment. I know better.

I have to pause this blog to point out that as I sit here, my wife is unloading my car for me. That woman totally rocks!

Okay, back to the blog. I made more purchases than usual at the Gonzaga show. I have one regular guy who I make a few small purchases from each show. I picked up my small group from him. I also spent a few hundred dollars for some high grade '50's through '70's baseball and football from another dealer. A random guy offered me some Michael Jordan cards and some Sports Illustrateds, which I turned down. A dealer across the way had a T206 Christy Mathewson for $150. The front was okay except for a dinged corner that was frayed. The back had paper and paste from being pasted into a scrapbook. The dealer wouldn't budge on his price. I would have bought the card if the dealer would have knocked something off. I never understand dealers who are not willing to negotiate. I always knock something off the price for my customers. I guess that is why my table was filled with people from start to finish while I hardly saw anyone at his table. The dealers behind me made a nice buy of vintage from a guy who has burned me in the past. Even witnessing this purchase, I'm not ready to buy from that guy again. There is just something real shady about him.

One of the coolest moments of the show was when a little boy, about six years old, came up to my table and asked me if Mickey Mantle played the violin. I told him I didn't know whether Mickey Mantle played the violin. He was quite sure that Mickey Mantle plays the violin. I love kids and love seeing them at the show. I met Scott Ziegert little girl today. Scott and I are sharing a booth at the National. Hopefully I can rustle my little girl out of bed and she and Scott's girl can hang out at the National. My daughter is like her old man and doesn't do mornings.

Anyway, the Gonzaga show is always solid and consistent and today was no exception. It was another great day in Milwaukee. Though traffic was lousy coming home. It took me an hour and a half. No shows for three weeks, which is unusual. There's no Serb Hall until August 22, which I'll probably skip because I'll be wiped out from the National and the Gonzaga/Orland gauntlet. I plan on hitting Serb in September. Next show is Orland and I hope to have many books refilled by that show. Now it's time to nap.

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Great Orland show despite empty dealer tables

7/9/2011

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When a promoter doesn't sell all the tables at the show, the promoter should not leave the unsold tables empty. Empty tables reflect badly on the show. It shows dealers are not interested in setting up at the show. If dealers are not setting up, they're obviously not making the sales to make the show worth their while. Customers do not want to pay admission to a show that is not full of dealers. Empty tables are bad for both the dealers and the customers. The proper thing to do with empty tables is to allow the dealers, who did bother to show up, to spread out onto the empty tables, especially the dealers that pay full table fee all summer long when attendance is down. I felt there was no excuse for there to be six empty dealer tables at the Orland Show today. I have a large inventory, pay for three tables every Orland Show, why not put one or two empty tables next to me and allow me to expand? Instead, there was a dealer next to me. One wall in the room had four empty tables and it made the room look bad. The guy next to me had a large inventory, why not put him next to some empty tables and allow him to spread out? Most every show promoter will allow dealers to expand into empty tables. It just doesn't make sense that the Orland Show will leave them empty.

Even with the empty tables and low customer turnout for the third Orland Show in a row, I had a tremendous day. Terry picked up my near set of 1975 Topps minis. Another customer purchased my 1939 Play Ball Ted Williams. Rick picked up some nice stuff including a 1971 Topps Mike Shannon that was Mint, some other high grade 1972s, a real nice 1961 Post Nellie Fox, a 1961 Topps Willie Mays PSA 7, a 1967 Topps Ernie Banks PSA 7, and a 1964 Topps Al Lopez PSA 8. Another customer picked up quite a few 1967 Topps baseball, Chris picked up my 1967 Topps Pete Rose and some '77-78 and '78-79 Topps basketball, a young customer purchased my 1969 Topps Roberto Clemente, another young guy got my 1956 Topps Nellie Fox, and I sold my 1970 Topps Glossy Johnny Unitas to another customer. Joel picked up some 1960 Topps baseball, Chuck purchased my 1976 Topps George Brett, another customer purchased some 1972s, and Bill picked up my 1965 Topps Tony Perez rookie.

I picked up some 1957 Topps baseball from Dave in a trade. In another trade, I picked up some 1979 Topps football and some 1969 Topps commons from Chris. I bought some 1972 high numbers from Jim. A random guy, who I have seen at the show forever but who has never purchased cards from me, sold me a small group of cards including a 1967 Jim Palmer, a' 72 Bench and a '72 Aaron. I purchased a nice group of cards from a dealer, including a 1961 Yaz and Eddie Mathews.

Overall, a great show for me and I was in my car heading home by 2:15 p.m., a real rarity. Tomorrow is Gonzaga, my best show. I plan on pricing some extra cards tonight for the show and am looking forward to some cake (preferably chocolate).

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Reflections on the summer of '76

7/8/2011

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Every time the seasons change, it seems to trigger a flood of childhood memories. It is an absolutely beautiful day in Chicago today and it got me thinking about the summer of 1976. I was finishing up third grade in the spring and it seemed like every kid in Mrs. Rucklick's class was collecting baseball cards. We'd bring piles of cards to school, tightly wound in rubberbands. We'd show them off, trade and unfortunately... cut them up. The design of the 1976 Topps cards just begged for kids to cut them up. There was a cartoon action figure in a bottom corner that needed to be cut out. The player's name was in a box that needed to be cut out. The team name was in another box that needed to be cut out and the border around the card had to be cut out. So when Mrs. Rucklick wasn't paying attention, we took those small, thick, child scissors with the blue rubber around the finger holes for righties and green for lefties, and cut up our cards. I still have a Mike Marshall that I cut up. Also, good trades were made at lunch time with Brad Serlin and Adam Kosh.

After school, me, Adam and John Rice played wiffleball on John's front lawn or shagged flyballs on the street in front of my house. I also spent many-an-hour chucking a rubber ball up against a brick wall on the side of my house. When school ended, my folks shipped me out to summer camp in northern Wisconsin for the entire summer. Camp was okay, I played a lot of baseball, but I was bummed I couldn't get any baseball cards. A few weeks into camp, my mom started sending me packs of cards. I pulled a Pete Rose and a George Brett. My dad sent me a large team photo of the 1976 Chicago Cubs. So now I had both a Davey Rosello card and his mug on the team photo along with the other greats from the '76 team like Mick Kelleher and Manny Trillo. My favorite player in 1976 was Bill Madlock, who won the NL battling crown in '75 and was on his way to doing it again in '76. Before camp, I would check the Chicago Tribune sports section every day for the NL batting stats to make sure Madlock was on top of the list. Madlock got hurt and was out for a while. I wasn't sure if he would get enough at-bats for the crown or continue to hit when he came back. After camp, I scanned the Trib and listened to Jack Brickhouse, Lou Boudreau and Vince Lloyd on the Cubs' radio broadcasts. I didn't care if the Cubs won, I just wanted Madlock to get a hit. I would bring my little transistor radio out to the side of the house and pretend I was Steve Carlton or Phil Niekro pitching against the Cubs. I'd kick high like Carlton or try and throw a knuckler like Niekro and fling my rubber ball up against the wall. If Madlock was batting, I'd let the ball bounce off the wall and get by me for a hit. When the other team batted, I would be Ivan Dejesus and make a spectacular play at short for the out.

In the fall, Madlock won the batting crown and I had nearly completed the 1976 Topps baseball set. I marked up all the team checklists with a big thick marker showing the players I had. There were very few blank spaces where I couldn't get a card like a Nyles Nyman rookie. Oh yeah, there was a little thing called the Bicentennial Celebration going on in 1976. I didn't pay much attention to it because it had nothing to do with baseball or baseball cards. All in all, a great summer and some great memories.

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One of the best Schaumburg shows of the year

7/3/2011

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The one thing about the Schaumburg show that is consistent is that the show is never consistent. I never know how it is going to go. I've been setting up at the show regularly for the past 10 years and there is never anything I can hang my hat on. I was starting to think that if the show is split into two small rooms, it will automatically be a bad show. I've had some real lousy shows in the split room. Today, however, I had a real nice show, one of the best Schaumburg shows of the year, and in the split room.

I had five tables today and was able to put out a large mass of cards. One customer called it a museum. There were just five dealers today. Fred had an entire room to himself. I picked up some 1970's Cubs scorecards from Fred. One of the scorecards had the ticketstub taped to it. In the second room, Ted had the side wall and sold me a nice lot of 1970's White Sox. Willie had the back wall and his usual merry band of autograph collectors. I was hoping Willie would have some autographed postcards that I could add to my collection today but he only had one on his table, Billy Pierce. I already have a couple of Billy Pierces. Me and Skip were in the center. I haven't seen Skip set up at a Fred show in a long time. Skip is a real pleasant guy and it was nice to have him around today. I enjoyed his anecdotes about the old Chevy Chase shows. I also purchased two boxes of opened 1989 Fleer baseball from Skip for just 4 bucks. I make 15-card packs that I sell for a quarter each with this type of stuff. We also had one no-show dealer. I think it may have been my buddy Ralf.

Sighted at the show today were Steve from Jim & Steve's Card Shop in Waukegan, Illinois, and Big John, who had a card shop in Chicago for 20 years up until April. The autograph hounds carried the day for me. Tom and Bob picked up quite a few '58s and '60s. Willie bought a bunch of stuff, baseball and football. One new customer found quite a few St. Louis Cardinals at my table today. I sold a 1979 Topps set to another first-time customer. I think his name is Marty. Another new customer picked up some 1953 Bowmans, including a real nice Luke Easter. Second Schaumburg show in a row where I didn't see Larry or Uncle Morty. Overall, I have no complaints. A real good group of guys at the show today. I enjoyed myself, sold some cards, bought some cards. Unfortunately, I won't be back in Schaumburg until September because the National is occurring next month at the time I would normally set up at Schaumburg. This will give me some time to organize some stuff for my autograph hounds and I need to put together a 1977 Topps baseball set for Marty.

Next week is the Orland Park-Gonzaga gauntlet. I have quite a few baseball card debts at the moment, so I'm hoping these are good shows so I can pay off the cards.

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Both me and the show were a little slow

Heat, stench, suspicious check, traffic

Great Orland show despite empty dealer tables

Reflections on the summer of '76

One of the best Schaumburg shows of the year

Tony Gordon

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