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Who Invited My Second-Grade Teacher To The Show?

8/26/2012

Sunday, August 26, 2012, Orland Park, IL -- Large crowd in the parking lot when I arrived at the Civic Center around 8 a.m. Unfortunately, all those people weren't there for the card show, rather, they were there for some sort of community bike ride. When I went inside the building to grab a cart, I saw Brian, another dealer, who alerted me to a large buffet set up in a nearby room and joked that show promoter John Leary had ordered a large food spread for all his loyal dealers. A good joke, I thought, as I was being eye-balled by a stern-looking middle-aged man and an equally stern woman. These folks made me feel real uncomfortable real fast. I grabbed one of the large green carts that the Civic Center provides, which allows me to bring in all my gear in one load. When I turned the cart around, I accidentally bumped the wall. The stern-looking woman nearly jumped out of her socks and gave me the kind of look I haven't seen since 1974, when my second grade teacher Mrs. Mueller would serve up that same look with regularity.

I just wanted to get the cart, go out to my car, load up and begin the show. But Mrs. Mueller, circa-2012, was staring me down. So I said to her, "These things are tough to maneuver."

She responded, with far too much emotion, "I hate when you people bump the walls. We have to repaint them all the time."

I didn't reply and briskly exited the building with the cart in tow. As I was pushing the cart toward my car, which was located at the far end of the parking lot because of all the community bike ride people, I was wondering, what the hell was that about? Once I loaded up the cart, there she was again as I went back in the building. She held the door open and gave me a look like she was going to slug me. The Orland Park show is starting to rival the Sun-Times show as the biggest hassle around. There's the Bald Guy, the subject of several previous blogs, who is a drag to deal with. Now I think there is some sort of problem with the carts. Is this crazy lady going to be around now too? Once again, I'm asking myself, is it really worth doing this show?

I don't want to fight with anybody. I just want to show up, do my thing, have a good time and go home. But there seems to be some sort of hassle at this show with regularity.

My guess is that Mrs. Mueller is a member of the Orland Park village board and feels like she has some sort of ownership rights to the Civic Center. Well, last I checked, public buildings, are... well, public! Mrs. Mueller should not be trying to intimidate the public. I'm sure Orland Park, like every other municipality in Illinois, is underfunded and in serious financial trouble. Why in the world would you mess with something that brings revenue directly into the town coffers? John rents the space twice a month. A good 150 to 200 people, sometimes more, always attend the show. I, for one, spend money at Orland Park businesses every time I'm at the show. I can't tell you how many times I've stopped and made purchases at the nearby Walgreens, or fast food, gas, even flowers for my wife at the nearby flower shop. I'm sure a great many of the regular dealers and customers spend money in the town as well. So instead of staring me down like I'm some sort of criminal, maybe Mrs. Mueller, you should thank me for paying your pension! I, in no way, intentionally bumped your precious wall with the cart. I was merely trying to maneuver it out of the building. What the hell?

I'm probably over-reacting but I'm really tired of the hassles that this show brings. The thing that keeps me coming to the Orland show is that there are some really great dealers, tremendous customers, and my sales are consistently good. Unfortunately, there are all these intangibles that really sour the experience. I think if Mrs. Mueller decides that us lowly baseball card dealers are not worthy of the Civic Center carts, I just may take a vacation from this show for a while.

Okay, rant over. The show itself wasn't too bad. We had a really nice turn out today. All the dealer tables were filled for the first time all summer. The side hallway was even filled with dealers. A regular autograph hound got things going today with some purchases of 1961 Topps baseball cards that he is going to send out for signatures. Newly married Chris T. picked up some '65 Topps football and some '64 Topps baseball. Chris brought me some 1971 Topps Super that I took in trade. Larry, who is working on the '63 Topps baseball set, found a few including a real nice Curt Flood. Another Larry, who is working on the 1956 Topps baseball set, found a few as well.

A regular customer purchased my 1938 Our National Game Tabs of Joe McCarthy and Red Ruffing. Another regular purchased some 1960 Topps and some 1959 Fleer Ted Williams cards. Dave, who has been absent for a while, purchased some 1965 Topps football and 1964 Topps baseball. Dave showed me some photos of his new house -- what a beautiful house! I was drooling at that 3-car garage. Rick picked up some 1963s, including a Carl Yaszstremski. Rich picked up some 1962s. A regular customer pulled three cards out of my dime box for a big 30-cent purchase.

A regular customer purchased some 1963s. Another regular found cards in my dime box. A regular customer bought some 1961 Fleer baseball. Aaron picked up some 1963s. Another regular hit the dime box. A customer in town from Los Angeles picked up my 1934 Goudey Heinie Manush and 1949 Bowman Carl Furillo. Chuck bought all my 1973 Topps football, along with some 1974 Topps football and some 1961 Topps baseball. Chuck shared some interesting information about the 1963 Fleer baseball set. I always assumed that packs of those cards originally came with a stick of gum, like the Topps cards. Chuck told me that he remembers buying packs of 1963 Fleer baseball cards at the store back in 1963 and that they came with a cookie, not a stick of gum. Chuck said he remembers that the cookie tasted pretty good.

Tony S. picked up a bunch of cards. I can't remember what was in the group other than a 1934 Goudey Paul Waner. I haven't seen Tony in a few months. He has a bit of a drive to Orland from his home in Downstate Illinois. It's always good to see him and I appreciate his regular purchases. My regular customer, who collects Mets, found a few in my 1964 binder.

On the buying side, I bought a nice group of 1965 Topps football early on and didn't have the funds to purchase much else. I did get a few 1940 Play Balls and a stack of 1969 Topps stamps from Jim. I had to turn a bunch of other guys away for lack of funds. Unfortunately, I just can't buy everything -- even though I REALLY want to.

Overall, a pretty good day. If it wasn't for that lady in the morning, I would of had a really nice day. I was planning on setting up next week in Bloomingdale but something has come up and I can't make the show. So my next show is September 8, back at Orland. Ugh! I hope Mrs. Mueller isn't there!! I'm also doing Gonzaga on September 9. I should have several binders reloaded before those shows. A big thank you to everyone who bought cards from me today!! Have a great week and please, take great care when pushing a cart through the hallway at the Orland Park Civic Center!!! Mrs. Mueller just may send a note home.

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All-Star Dealer Line-up Leads to More Talk About My Vacation

8/20/2012

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Sunday, August 19, 2012, Bloomingdale, IL -- Slow day at the office today. We had a really nice dealer turn out with a tremendous inventory in the room but we were a little slow on customers. I think folks missed out because, dealer-wise, this was one of the best Bloomingdale shows in a long time. We had Fred, Stark, Bill Nest, Tom, Woj, Frank, Willie, Brian, Corky, Skip, Jeff P., Ted and myself. Between us there was an awesome amount of new and vintage cards in the room along with a great selection of autographs. I haven't seen Woj all summer, it was nice to see him set up. Also, Tom hasn't set up in ages and he always has a stellar inventory.

I got to the show around 8 a.m. today and there were already customers in the room. I think these guys had other things going on today and wanted to stop in the show before their various events occurred. Problem is, the show doesn't start until 9 a.m. and most guys weren't set up. I was the last one to finish setting up, as usual.

Long-time customer Scott got things going for me today with some purchases of some 1957 Topps commons and a Minnie Minoso. Another regular customer pulled some cards from my $1 and 50-cent box. I gave Kyle a 1973 Topps Randy Hundley. Two regular customers then pulled some piles of cards from my dime box and my 50-cent box. Mike picked out some 1961 Topps and 1963 Topps baseball cards. An autograph hound pulled some 1961s, 1962s and 1963s to get signed. Willie made my day by pulling a large pile of baseball cards from 1960 through 1963, then a few 1965 Topps football cards. That, folks, was all she wrote. No more sales.

Ted and I talked about getting shut out at shows (not making any sales). It has only happened to me once and it was eight or nine years ago at the old Friday night show at the Holiday Inn in Elk Grove Village. At one time, that Friday night show was terrific for me. There was a lively bar in the hotel and I got quite a few tipsy bar customers stumbling into the room and making purchases. Then the bar closed and my sales went down to the point where there was one show that I didn't sell a single thing. So today was not my best show but it certainly was not my worst. I'll be back in Bloomingdale in two weeks with a TON of new cards! I've been buying everything up, I can't help myself. It's a disease... at least that's what I tell my wife.

I bought a few things today. I picked up some 1954 Bowman baseball, some 1973 Topps and some 1963 Topps. Corky had a smattering of low-grade vintage that he offered and I would have normally jumped on the cards but I was broke at that point. A customer offered up some cards to trade but I wanted to make some sales and turned down the trade.

There just wasn't much doin' today, so I'm going to talk about my recent vacation some more. My family spent a week in a part of western Massachusetts known as the Berkshires. I've been to the Berkshires many times because my wife grew up there. It's largely rural but folks that live there are sports crazy. Most are fans of the Boston teams but there is a strong contingent that support the New York teams, my wife's family included. I've been to card shops on past trips but didn't see any this time around. There also used to be shows in the town of Pittsfield but I haven't seen one listed in Beckett in a long time. What I noticed new this time were a couple of ball fields/parks named after ball players. There was one in Pittsfield named after Mark Belanger and one just north of Pittsfield named after Jeff Reardon. Seeing these ball fields got me interested in learning about which major leaguers past and present are from the Berkshires. My wife's cousin told me that Turk Wendell and Tom Grieve are from the area. I pressed some other relatives but they couldn't name anyone else.

Thanks to my friend Google, I found the names of a bunch of ball players from the Berkshires, including Ulysses Frank Grant, an African-American ball player who played in the 19th Century. Some others are Art Ditmar, who played for the Pirates in the 1950s, Hall of Famer Jack Chesbro, Gene Hermanski, Paul LaPalme, and Rabbit Maranville. There were quite a few other guys who played for just a year or two.

Then I did some numbers crunching. Massachusetts has had a total of 650 major leaguers while my home state of Illinois has had 1,019. The most is California with 2,028, then Pennsylvania with 1,367 and New York with 1,104.

I'm kind of wishing I was still on vacation and engrossed in more useless sports information. But tomorrow is a work day and I'll be solving all sorts of legal disputes by mid-day. After work, I plan on loading by 1973-74 Topps basketball and 1964 Topps baseball binders. I hope to have those binders reloaded by Sunday and the Orland Park show. Because of my vacation, I haven't done a Sunday Orland show since June, so I'm looking forward to the upcoming show. I think Tony Shaefer of Monster Cards is setting up at this show, so between Tony, myself and the usual slew of guys, we should have a tremendous inventory of vintage cards in the room on Sunday. Hopefully, we'll have a tremendously large crowd. See you Sunday!!

Pictured below are some vacation photos.

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GREAT GREAT SHOW TODAY IN MILWAUKEE!!!

8/13/2012

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Sunday, August 12, 2012, Milwaukee, WI -- Nothing like a great show to renew my vigor and appreciation for this fine hobby. I love the Gonzaga show. There are so many terrific people at this show and I had an absolutely terrific day.

I made it to the show in about an hour's time. During load-in, I told Mark Smith that I had a knockdown all-out fight with the Bald Guy yesterday in Orland. I had Mark going until I said that I poked the Bald Guy's eye out and he's now wearing a patch. Mark came by my table a few times with his hand over his eye and a big grin.

I was able to load in fairly quickly but set up went slow, as usual. I felt a little sluggish today. I don't know if it was the diabetes or what. I guessed my sugar was low and had a piece of cake to get some energy. Man, I love the Gonzaga cake and it definitely helped. I also ate a bratwurst for lunch. They haven't had brats at the show all year. I love the brats.

While I was setting up, Milwaukee Brewers first baseman Mat Gamel walked in. Mr. Gamel signed autographs today at the show for just $5 a piece.

I had quite a few guys at my table all day long. Though my first sale of the day was just two 1979 commons for 20 cents. I can't remember the last time someone came to my table and made just a 20-cent purchase. Things changed quickly, however. Tim bought a TON of cards. Thanks Tim! Tim is only about 800 cards away from completing all the vintage Topps sets. Today he filled his lists from 1956, 1958, 1959, 1961 and 1962 baseball along with 1964 Topps and Philadelphia football.

It was great to see long-time customer Mark today. I never know when Mark is going to make it to the show because he has to work most Sundays. Mark picked up a bunch of cards today including Kellogg's baseball sets from 1979, 1981, and 1983. Mark also purchased a large pile of 1964 Topps and Philadelphia football. Then there is Jeff, an absolute superstar of a customer, who purchased a large pile of 1962 and 1961 Topps baseball.

Another great customer is Jason, who picked up my 1941 Double Play Bob Feller and Phil Rizzuto. Another superstar, Gary, has been working on the 1957 Topps baseball set lately. Today, Gary bought my '57 Mantle-Berra dual card, a Berra base card and a Roy Campanella. At this point, I could have gone home and been happy. But the fun continued with a terrific array of customers purchasing all sorts of cards.

A regular customer picked up some 1953 Topps baseball. Another regular purchased some 1962 Topps. A regular customer pulled a bunch of cards from my 50-cent and $1 boxes. Another regular picked up some 1964 Philadelphia football cards. A new customer purchased some 1960 Topps baseball. I made a cash and trade deal with Ron, where I picked up close to 300 football cards from the early 1970s and Ron grabbed a pile of football cards from my binders.

A dealer came by and purchased some cards out of my 50-cent and $1 boxes. A regular customer purchased some 1972-73 Topps basketball and some 1970 Topps baseball. I got to see Andy from Florida for a second day in a row. This time Andy was accompanied by his son Ryan and I think I saw Andy's dad lurking around. Ryan is working on the 1973 and 1974 Topps sets. Andy is working on everything and he purchased a TON of cards. Thanks Andy! When are you moving back here!! Andy bought my 1958 Topps Duke Snider/Walter Alston dual card, 1956 Topps Gil McDougald, Hoyt Wilhelm, 1958 Topps George Kell, Hoyt Wilhelm, Frank Robinson, 1973 Topps Hank Aaron and a large pile of commons.

A regular purchased my 1965 Topps Boog Powell. An autograph hound purchased some 1967 Topps baseball. Paul rounded out my day by purchasing some 1965 Topps high numbers. While I was packing everything up, I found Paul's list on my table. A vintage set collector without his list is like a fastball pitcher with a dead arm. You just can't play. So I'm always concerned when someone leaves a list. But I saw that Paul had his address on a sheet of paper in the pile he left on my table, I was going to mail the lists to him but then I heard Mike from across the way say, "Take care, Paul." I caught a glimpse of Paul walking out the door. I then found my sluggish legs moving much too quickly and I caught up to Paul just as he opened his car door. Disaster averted.

On the buying front, a random guy had a 1962 Topps Babe Ruth special card depicting Ruth and Gehrig. I think the cards books at $50 or $60. The condition was pretty good and I was able to get it for $10. Another guy came by with a 1970-71 Topps Lou Alcindor and a 1959 Topps Whitey Ford. The cards were VG with some wear. So the guy says to me that someone offered him 25 bucks. Using several four-letter words, he let me know that he was not pleased with the offer. I told him that the retail price on the pair is between $40 and $75. My offer would have been only $20 but I kept my mouth shut. The only other guy to bring any cards to my table had some '80s and '90s stuff. I stop at 1979 and advised him to try another dealer... someone with cards from that era on his table.

Well, I wanted to buy some cards. I made a TON of sales today and had money burning a hole in my pocket. So I checked out George's table. George has been a dealer since the 1970s and is a member of the Wisconsin Sports Collectors Association's hall of fame. He always has some pre-war cards on his table. I bought them all today. I picked up some T206's, Polar Bear backs, some 1933, 1934 and 1936 Goudeys, some 1934-36 Diamond Stars, a Tip Top Bread card, and a post-War 1956 Topps button featuring Dick Donovan of the White Sox. Cool stuff. I also purchased some 1970s Topps baseball card wrappers from Dave, who was set up next to me.

Great, great day! Up next week is Indian Lakes Resort in Bloomingdale. I should have some 1965 Topps football and my 1963 Topps baseball binders ready to go for the show. I'm also working on some lists for guys and should have those cards ready as well. I have an absolutely tremendous inventory right now and will be working feverishly nights after work to get this stuff priced and out on my tables. My Bloomingdale shows have been really good as of late and I'm hoping for another nice show next weekend. A special thanks to everyone who bought cards from me today in Milwaukee. I appreciate you!!

Pictured up top is Ryan and his dad Andy. Below are some of my purchases from today.

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BOUGHT ME SOME VINTAGE SPORTS CARDS AND MEMORABILIA!

8/11/2012

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Saturday, August 11, 2012, Orland Park, IL -- During my 13 years of working as a newspaper reporter, I wrote thousands of articles covering every subject imaginable. Oddly, of everything I've written, nothing seems to have generated as much interest as this blog. Today at Orland, I was blown away by how many people commented on my bear encounter blog. I didn't think anyone was checking this website while I was on vacation. I only wrote the bear blog after I saw that 200-plus people were tooling around the site last Sunday!! It's taken quite a while, but I think I finally found an audience. Thanks everybody! This is very cool!! I may have to pull up some of old articles from the archives and post them here. There was some entertaining pieces, like the time I wrote about goat udders at the DuPage County Fair or the time when I visited every tavern on Milwaukee Avenue from Downtown Chicago all the way out to north suburban Libertyville (30 or 40 miles) and lived to write about it.

I have lots of good stuff for another day. This day, however, was my return to card shows after a rare two-week hiatus. I actually had a bad feeling about this show because the Saturday Orland show last month was real slow. First thing I noticed this morning when loading up my car was that the weather was perfect. I then thought we were doomed. Early on, it seemed that way as well. The joke all morning was, "When does the show start?" Today, it seemed like the show didn't start until close to noon. Other than Rick, all my early-morning regulars were AWOL. Did I smell or something today? Some guys completely blew me off. Weird!!

Luckily, I had a bunch of new customers today. A father and son team kicked things off with a purchase of my 1961 Topps Ron Santo and Billy Williams rookies. I just priced those cards for the show last night. Those cards never stick around long. A regular picked up some 1971s. A new customer picked up some 1961s, including a 1961 Nellie Fox All Star. Another new customer purchased some 1957 Topps football singles. My man Joey picked up some 1970 Topps. Chris pulled a pile of 1964 Topps and Philadelphia football cards.

Rick grabbed my 1975 Topps Minis Robin Yount rookie. A regular customer, who told me that he is a vendor at Wrigley and Comiskey-cellular, purchased a 1957 Topps Joe Collins and Lou Burdette. An autograph hound purchased some 1952 Bowmans. Those cards are pretty old, I'm not sure if he's trying to get them signed. Is anyone still alive from the 1952 Bowman set? A regular customer purchased some 1975s. New customer, Dan Taylor, made my day by purchasing all the 1953 Bowman Color cards from my binder. Dan also brought along some 1957-58 Topps basketball and some 1961-62 Fleer basketball to show off. Cool cards! In addition to those tough basketball cards, Dan pulled out a complete set of 1954 Bowmans. He sold Mark Smith some tough 1962 Post football. He used the money from the sale to Mark to purchase my Bowmans. Thanks Mark for helping me out!!

A regular then picked up some 1961 Topps. Northside Chuck, as opposed to Joliet Chuck, purchased a bunch of football cards. Will picked up some '62s and '61s. Andy, in town from Florida, picked up a bunch fillers from '54 Bowman, '52 Bowman, '63 Topps and some '72--73 Topps basketball. Burl, who I haven't seen in a quite a while picked up a nice pile of 1976 and 1972 Topps baseball. Burl is recovering from triple bypass surgery and I wish him well in his recovery.

On the buying front, I went in with a plan to purchase very little because I won some online auctions on Thursday and need to raise some funds to cover the purchases. Well, what's that old saying? "The best laid schemes of mice and men often go awry." This should be my theme when it comes to buying cards. I just can't refrain! If you notice I'm running a crazy number of eBay auctions this week, it's because I've got to raise some cash fast to pay a whole bunch of baseball card debts.

Anyway, I picked up a bunch of oddball stuff today like those RC Cola cans from the 1970s that have baseball players depicted on them. I picked up some 1962 statback Exhibits, commons mostly, but I love those things. Some 1969 Topps football poster inserts. A bunch of Kelloggs baseball cards from the late 1970s. A smattering of 1970's Hostess panels. A ton of 1976-77 Topps basketball. I picked up two different groupings from two different guys. How often does that happen? Some 1964 and 1971 Topps coins. Those baseball card discs from the 1970s. A pack of Harley Davidson cards from the 1990s (they came with the group of all this other stuff). A nice pile of 1969-70 and 1970-71 Topps basketball. A bunch of commons from the 1960s and a smattering of stars. I bought so much stuff, I can't remember everything.

Later on, a young guy showed up at my table with three 1962 Topps Mickey Mantles -- three, yes, three! They were battered and he wanted too much money. If I actually had any cash left in my pocket, I would have made an offer on those. I didn't have the money to see if he was firm on his pricing. All in all, I left the show with far more cards than I came there with. That's the thing with being a baseball card dealer... buying is just as important as selling. I really upped my inventory today!

A good day, I must say. I ended up selling a decent amount of cards after a slow start and picked up all sorts of stuff. Leaving the show was a little weird. The Civic Center worker, dubbed the "bald guy" by me, was in a frenzy. From 1:30 to 2 p.m., he must have walked by my table six or seven times. He was itching to take down the tables. Burl was my last customer today and he stuck around until 2 p.m. and I didn't get out of there until 3 p.m. It takes me a while to pack away all my stuff and load it into my car. Bald guy was telling people to "wrap it up." He also hid all the big carts, though Phylis was kind enough to sneak me one. Last summer, I blogged about a run-in I had with the Bald Guy. Noticing the Bald Guy's manic act today, Mark Smith tried to stir up some trouble by telling me Bald Guy said he was going to kick my ass if I didn't leave soon. Then Mark went and told the Bald Guy that I said I am waiting to fight him. If Mark is reading this blog, you left too early and missed a great fight. I poked out one of Bald Guy's eyes and he knocked out a few of my teeth. Big Brad joined in and tossed some tables while Bill Nest went all karate and landed a few flying kicks. *Disclaimer* Any on all attempts to report an actual account of the end of the show today has been purposely avoided. This portion of the blog is absolutely fictitious and any resemblance to actual events, occurring anywhere in the world, at any time in the history of mankind, is purely coincidental.

This Orland show is the first of a double bill weekend. Up tomorrow is Gonzaga. Looking forward to seeing all my Milwaukee peeps. In closing, as my cool friend Stats once said, "Peace Out!"

Pictured below are some of my pick-ups from today.

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Huge Bear Puts A Scare Into Family Vacation!

8/8/2012

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I just returned from a week vacation with my family to an area of Western Massachusetts called the Berkshires -- one of the most beautiful parts of the country. To this Illinois flatland native, the hills of the Berkshires look like mountains. There are quite a few ski resorts here. One, Jiminy Peak, sets up a giant slide and a roller coaster along the ski trails during the summer. For the slide, you ride up the ski lift to the top of the mountain then hop on a single-person cart, where you control the speed, and zoom down. For the roller coaster, you hop on a single-person cart at the foot of the mountain, then are pulled half-way up and dropped down on the coaster tracks for a twisty, turny thrill. These rides are awesome!

The Berkshires is made up largely of wilderness, farmland and some small towns dating back to the early 1700s. We stayed in the town of Savoy which doesn't have much other than a few buildings, a general store, and a campground. When we pulled into the campground and saw the warnings about bears, we knew we were in trouble but went ahead and pitched the tent anyway. This campground is huge and was only a quarter filled. We were one of the only visitors camping in a tent, the rest had campers.

The first few nights were uneventful other than some knuckleheads slamming their car doors in the middle of the night. On the fourth night, at about 2 a.m., I awoke to what sounded like the shredding of metal. I knew it was a bear. I wondered if it was tearing apart a camper. I started to contemplate what to do. My wife woke to the sound as well. The kids and the dog continued to sleep soundly.

We heard the bear go through one of those industrial garbage bins about 50 yards from out tent. Then quiet. Out of a tiny window in the back of the tent, my wife saw the bear walk by a picnic table in the adjacent campsite, about 15 yards from our tent. On all fours, the back of the bear was much taller than the picnic table. My wife was freaking out. I grabbed my iPhone and googled "What to do if a bear is in your campsite." I read all sorts of stuff about bear encounters. The thing that struck me the most was a passage that stated that folks injured by bears always acted passively. The website urged campers to be loud and fight the bear if it attacks. I grabbed my trusty aluminum bat... not that it would have done much against this monster but it made me feel like I could fight the thing, if necessary.

As the bear clanged away in the garbage bin, I decided we should follow the advice on the net and not act passively. I determined that we needed to flee the tent into the minivan and get the hell out of the campground. My wife agreed and we worked out a plan where I would race out of the tent, unlock the van, open the doors, go back to the tent and help everybody out and into the van. We woke up the kids. They were groggy and remained calm. The bear continued to clang in the garbage. I unzipped the tent door, with bat in hand, raced to the driver's door and unlocked the van. It was dark and I couldn't see the bear but I could hear him. I opened the passenger door of the van then went back to the tent and ushered everyone out and into the van. I zipped the tent door shut, hopped in the van, shut the door, started the car and drove away.

At 3:30 a.m., I drove south to the town of Pittsfield, one of the larger towns in the Berkshires with about 40,000 people. We located all the hotels on our GPS and the wife called them to see if they had rooms and accepted dogs. Many of the hotels didn't answer. The ones that did answer were either booked or didn't accept dogs. I stopped at one of the hotels that was booked up and the night clerk gave me a list of dog friendly hotels. Only one of the hotels answered our call -- Bob at the Shaker Mill Inn in West Stockbridge. Bob normally charges $200 a night, as is the norm for hotels in the Berkshires, but offered us a room for the morning at $100. He was booked up for the rest of the week. By the time we found our way to the Shaker Mill it was close to 5 a.m. Bob greeted us and kindly showed us to our room. The hotel is in a refurbished circa-1800's mill and only has six or seven rooms. It's a cool old place and our room was modern, bordering on luxurious.

We slept until about 10 a.m. and were on the road by 11 a.m. We backtracked up north to Williamstown where I had observed inexpensive lodging earlier in the week. We spent the next two nights in a little motel, not quite as nice as the Shaker Mill but the price was more in line with our budget. We waited a day to go back to the campground and grabbed our gear in the daylight. I saw a new camper across from our site. They were right next to the bear's garbage bin. I'm sure they had some interesting evenings.

Overall, we had a great trip and am glad that I didn't meet that bear face to face or he would have gotten a thumping (more likely I would have been a quick snack). It's nice to be home. I'm currently working on updating my 1962 Topps baseball binder for the Orland Park show on Saturday (August 11, 2012). Also slated for this weekend is Gonzaga on Sunday. I hope everyone has been having a good summer and I am looking forward to the shows this weekend!! No bears please!!!!

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Who Invited My Second-Grade Teacher To The Show?

All-Star Dealer Line-up Leads to More Talk About My Vacation

GREAT GREAT SHOW TODAY IN MILWAUKEE!!!

BOUGHT ME SOME VINTAGE SPORTS CARDS AND MEMORABILIA!

Huge Bear Puts A Scare Into Family Vacation!

Tony Gordon

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