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October 26, 2014, Bloomingdale Show Report

10/28/2014

We had a nice crowd early in Bloomingdale on Sunday, October 26, 2014. The crowd quickly dissipated by late morning. I sold a large pile of 1978 Topps baseball along with some cards out of my newly reloaded 1975-76 Topps basketball binder. I sold some 1961 and 1962 baseball. I also sold a few Goudeys and a Diamond Star. Not much else. Kind of a slow day on the sales front.

While I was setting up, a guy came in with his childhood collection. He had two binders filled with cards from 1961 through 1965. The price was a little high for me. One binder was all 1963s but it was not a complete set. The Pete Rose rookie was in there, no Mantle. The Rose was pretty nice except for a bend on the upper left corner. It was also slightly diamond cut. The seller said he thought it would grade out to a 7. I thought it was more in the 4 range. I made an offer on some Post Cereal baseball and football. The seller said he had one more guy to show the cards to. I don't mind when a guy shops his cards around. I think it is the only way he learns the true value and learns which guys are giving fair offers and which guys are low-balling. I thought I gave a fair offer on the Post. He said he'll stop back in next week.

I was able to purchase a high-grade group of about 400 1969 Topps baseball commons from a different seller. I was pretty happy with the purchase. I don't always get high grade and these came at the perfect time because I am currently working on reloading my 1969 Topps binder. This seller had the '69s stars in a separate group. He was priced high on the stars. I'm noticing a lot more guys coming to shows with cards to sell. The only problem is the prices are too high. It sure would be nice to get somebody in looking to dump off some cards at a decent price.

I was happy to see Joe who lives down south and came out to Bloomingdale after stopping at the Orland show. I appreciate the effort.

Guys were shouting out updates on the Bears-Patriots game while we were packing. I am glad I did not waste my time watching that game. I think it is fairly evident that the Bears stink. As much as I disliked Jerry Angelo, it is painfully obvious the Bears failed to upgrade at GM with Phil Emory nor at coach with Mark Trestman. I really think it is time for Ted Phillips to go. The Bears just seem to get one lousy regime after another. I am not interested in watching them at all. Thankfully, hockey is here and I can focus on the Hawks and ignore the Bears. I caught part of the Hawks-Blues game which was disappointing. Though, they beat Ottawa the next day with a new kid in goal.

I am also a basketball fan. I'm not buying into the hype on the Bulls. I don't think they're that good. I fully expect Rose and Gasol to have some injuries and miss substantial time. Noah is also playing hurt. McDermott and Miratoc look interesting but I'm not expecting a whole lot out of those guys. Maybe down the road they'll be decent players. I'm actually more interested in watching the Bucks and Jabari Parker this year than watching the Bulls. I hope to get to a Bucks game this season. The benefit of living smack dab in-between Chicago and Milwaukee is that it is a short drive for me to catch a game in either city.

Back to the card shows. I'm setting up in Schaumburg next Sunday at the Best Western Plus. I'm hoping to see a better crowd out there than we had in Bloomingdale. I'll have the '69s ready to go and hopefully some more stuff. Come on out to Schaumburg on Sunday, November 2!!!

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Free Appraisals and More at the Smith & Gordon Show

10/22/2014

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It took a great deal of effort but I was able to reload my 1968 Topps baseball binder just in time for the second Smith & Gordon show on Saturday, October 18. I finished the binder on Friday at midnight. Then I spent the next hour putting a 1975 Topps set together for a customer. I went to sleep shortly after 1 a.m. and was up at 5 a.m. Like last week, I loaded my car in the dark and drove up to Milwaukee. I was amazed at the traffic on this early Saturday morning. I fought traffic the whole way. Though, I heard traffic to the north of Milwaukee was much worse due to road construction.

Once at the hotel, I had to scramble to get additional tables into the room. We had six new dealers for this show and I needed to get 8 more tables. The manager at the Clarion Jeff is a superstar. He helped me get the tables, more chairs, and some tablecloths. Those tables are solid wood and heavy! I'm sore today from carrying those things. So after a bit of a scramble we had the room set up. It was the larger Mitchell Room and once the tables were set up I thought the room looked pretty good. I then went and placed signs all over the hotel to alert folks we were in the Mitchell Room. My set up was slow as usual.

I had my first customer arrive while I was loading my stuff into the room. He spent hours with my 1968 binder and hit it pretty hard. He also left his umbrella at my table which I will keep in my car and hopefully return to him at our November 8 show at the Clarion. I was pretty busy all day. A large number of my regular guys were there. Mark purchased all sorts of stuff including some 1962 Post Cereal. Jim and Jeff purchased a bunch of stuff. Jason purchased a 1957 Topps Don Drysdale rookie. Then Bill made my day by purchasing a "tray" of cards including a 1954 Topps Ted Williams. Thanks Bill! Tim came up to Milwaukee from my neck of the woods and purchased a bunch of cards. Thanks Tim! A bunch more guys that I regularly see at the Gonzaga show purchased cards. I had one customer who drove up from Oak Lawn, Illinois, to attend the show! Then I had all sorts of new customers who came in from our ad in the Milwaukee Journal. Many people cut out the ad and brought it in. I initially wanted to run a radio ad but Mark convinced me to go with a print ad.

I really hate to say anything nice about Mark but he does posses an infinite wisdom. It was Mark's idea to place the words "Free Appraisals" in the ad. All sorts of people came to the show with cards and autographed items looking to find out the value. One customer brought in an old baseball autographed by Grover Cleveland Alexander -- it was cool!! See photo below. I was able to purchase a nice group of 1971 Topps football cards from someone who came in to get the cards appraised. Willie was able to purchase a tough Thurman Munson autograph. I also realized that we have an unmatched level of expertise in that room and we can offer highly professional appraisals of cards and autographs.

My only mistake with the ad was not placing a phone number in there. My world in 2014 is digital and I forget that a large number of folks are not wired in. So the next ad will have Mark's phone number. Another piece of wisdom from Mark is that I can't be as cheap with the tables as I would like to be because our costs are high between the room and the advertising. So in an attempt to come close to breaking even, we are going to charge $25 per table. All dealers that have been setting up with us and continue to do so will get the two for $25 rate. Once a dealer misses a show, though, he's up to the $25 per table rate. Mark and I were in a bit of hole after the show for the room costs and advertising. The advertising definitely worked and brought a lot more people into the show. Based on that success, we want to run an ad before each and every show, so I don't think dealers will mind paying a little more to help cover the advertising costs. It is a win win for everybody.

We had a tremendous group of dealers on this day -- Roger Beahr, Willie Shabas, Jim & Scott Ziegert, Nelson Rodriguez, Bill Nest, Ken Schaefer, Vintage Jerry, Mike Johnson, Mark Smith, Tom Risen and myself. There was an amazing inventory in that room. I picked up a pretty cool 1948 Leaf Luke Appling from Tom. Most dealers reported good sales. I think we're on to something here. I had quite a few customers thank me for putting on the show. I think there is a definite need for a Saturday show in Milwaukee. Mark and I plan on running the show indefinitely. Mark your calendars because our next one is coming up fast on November 8.

After the show, Mark, Willie and I went over to the Nite Owl Ice Cream Parlour & Sandwich Shop for the best hamburgers around. Unfortunately, the Nite Owl closes up for the winter and we're going to have to find a new place to dine after the show. My drive home was easy. I stopped off at a Starbucks at the Lake Forest Oasis so I could have a little pep going over to my neighbor's house for a BBQ. Once I got home and unloaded my car, I went straight to the BBQ. My neighbor Wade grilled up some steak that I didn't touch. I couldn't get past the vat of brats he had cooking in beer and onions. Oh my, that was good stuff. Wade is from Green Bay and has that Wisconsin touch when it comes to making bratwurst. I don't think a better brat was cooked and eaten in Illinois on that day. I left the BBQ around 9 p.m. and crashed hard. It was good to sleep.

This coming Sunday (October 26), I am setting up at the Indian Lakes Resort in Bloomingdale. I am finally going to load up some 1975-76 Topps basketball that I have been hoarding for a while. I also hope to get some new cards priced for my display cases. If anybody is looking for particular cards, give me a holler and I'll bring them out to Bloomingdale. I can't thank everyone enough who set up and attended the Smith & Gordon show this month. You guys rule! Thank you!!!

Pictured below are some photos from the show.

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This Show Was All About the 1957-58 Topps Basketball Purchase

10/15/2014

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Just to follow up on last week's blog, I met my brother for his birthday on Saturday, October 11, 2014. Traffic was ugly the whole way from the burbs to my brother's place just east of Wrigley Field. It took me about an hour to get to his place. The ride to Brasa Roja was much easier. My brother found this Columbian restaurant years ago. It's awesome. We always get the garlic chicken, pictured below. The garlic chicken was delicious as usual.

After lunch, I had a long drive home but enjoyed the beautiful fall scenery in Chicago. The city is alive in fall colors right now. It looks pretty cool. Once at home, I priced cards the rest of the day and night. I was hustling to get my 1967 Topps baseball binder reloaded. I sold the whole binder earlier in the year and had to create a new one from scratch. It was incredibly time consuming but I finished it and also found some time to price some cards for my display cases.

Morning came like a thud. The Gonzaga show starts at 8 a.m. during football season which means I gotta get up at 5 a.m. Though, I can't really complain because the earlier start brings in more customers. It gives guys plenty of time to hang out at the show then get to the bar or home to watch the day's football games. It was weird loading up by moonlight in the morning. There was also a spectacular fog going through Lake County, Illinois, as I drove north to Wisconsin. I made it to Gonzaga around 7:15 a.m. By 8 a.m. I had a crowd at my table, even though I wasn't close to finishing my set up. By the time I finished set up, the crowd was gone but left behind large amounts of empty spaces in my 1966 and 1967 Topps binders. The usual suspects bought tons of cards. Thanks guys!

I had a new customer say he came out to the show after finding my blog, which I thought was pretty cool. There were also lots of kids at the show today which was awesome. I sold quite a few vintage cards to kids from age 8 to 12. I love seeing kids at the show. Overall, my sales were pretty good as is the norm at this show.

I had a spectacular day on the buying front. I picked up a mid-grade group of 1957-58 Topps basketball. I LOOOVE the '57-58 basketball which is extremely tough to get. I probably paid more than I would have liked but like I said, these cards are just so tough to come by. About 10 or 15 are graded ranging from PSA 5 to 8. There are another 10 or so that are raw but really nice. No big stars. I'm real happy with this purchase. I have never had this many '57-58s before. I also picked up a huge group of 1976 Topps football and a small group of 1955 Bowman baseball commons.

I also turned down some cards. There is a guy who is at each one of these shows and always offers to sell me stuff but he always asks for about triple than the amount I'm willing to pay. I usually don't even look at his stuff because he is so high but he had some cool pre-war stuff that was nice to look at. Of course his price was off in the stratosphere and I didn't buy anything.

Overall, another terrific Gonzaga show. We had a large crowd. A big thank you to everyone at the Wisconsin Sports Collectors Association -- this group is made up of nothing but superstars.

As Mark Smith and I head into promoting our second Milwaukee show on Saturday, October 18, 2014, we aspire to create the same great vibe as the WSCA but with our own unique twist. I was really pleased with our first show last month and am looking forward to our second one this coming Saturday. I really like the Clarion hotel, which hosts the Smith & Gordon show.

As a new show promoter, I'm taking essentially the same approach I take as a dealer. I try to be a dealer, I myself would like to buy from. I take a ton of time to price each and every card because it always bugs me when I'm looking to buy cards and nothing is priced. I try to be reasonable in my pricing. Nobody wants to get scalped when they buy a card. So as a promoter, I'm not charging the dealers a whole lot of money for the tables. Mark and I are paying for the bulk of the room fee out of our own pockets. I want all the dealers to make money and not start the day deep in the whole with table fee. Like I said before, Mark and I had excellent sales at our first show and we want all the dealers to have great sales as well. So in addition to low table fees, we're shelling out some dough to purchase a newspaper ad in the Milwaukee Journal that ran Wednesday, October 15, 2014, in the Sports Section. The ad immediately brought in a call from a dealer who wants to set up. We had a nice turn out the first show and I'm hopeful our promoting efforts will bring even more bodies into the show.

I'm planning on reloading my 1968 Topps baseball binder for Saturday. That binder has been hit hard so it is quite a project. I'm going to hustle and get it done. I probably won't have as many tables for myself this go around because we have six additional dealers for Saturday's show. I'm going to try and get my dime box and 50-cent box out. I'll probably keep the hockey and basketball binders behind the table to give some room to some other stuff. Please note that we are in the "Mitchell Room" for this show.

In regards to our future show in the south suburbs of Chicago, we've gotten some really good feedback and will start checking into pricing and hopefully have a venue secured shortly. Stay tuned for updates. In the meantime, I hope to see everyone Saturday at the Clarion by Mitchell Airport in Milwaukee!!

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Beware of the hypo-card-o-mopolis... and happy b-day to my brother!!

10/6/2014

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Well that was a crazy busy weekend... on the morning of Saturday, October 4, 2014, I drove my daughter and her friend to the Matteson Community Center for an Anime Con. This was my third time in Matteson, Illinois. The first time was for a card show at a mall. This was years ago and the show was terrible. I think I just made table fee. The second time was to visit a buddy who lived there briefly. He's now down in Springfield, Illinois.

The ride from my house to Matteson took an hour. I got off the 294 at Cicero then drove 10 miles to Matteson. The whole way I was scoping out places for my future south-suburban card show. There is quite a lot of action on Cicero but I didn't see any ideal places to hold a show. The Matteson Community Center is real nice. I could potentially do a show there but I just have that vivid memory of the Matteson mall show and don't think I could run a show in that town.

I take my daughter all over the area to these Anime Cons. She and her friends dress up, or "cosplay," as they say. This particular con was lacking when compared to the others. The folks that ran it were real nice but there just weren't a whole lot of people in attendance. It was run by Prairie State College. My suggestion is they reserve a booth at the larger cons to promote their little event in Matteson. I think we only stayed an hour or so. Usually, I have to pry my daughter away. She was ready to go around noon when we originally planned to stay until 3 p.m. I'm going to another one of these things in Rosemont in December. I won't be so lucky to get out by noon.

After the con, the wife and the kids went to a movie while I spent the rest of the night reloading my 1966 Topps binder. I was amazed at how many high numbers I had. I also found time to price some cards for my display cases. When I was finished, I couldn't sleep. I think I was a little wired from the con and hustling to price cards. So I stayed up late and watched "Mystic River." I know I have seen this movie before but I could not remember much about it. What a great movie! Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Kevin Bacon. I was hooked until the movie ended around 2 a.m. I woke at 6:45 a.m. for the Schaumburg show. It was tough going that morning. I was the last dealer to arrive at the show. Though, I wasn't all that late. I got there around 8:15 a.m. and the show doesn't officially open until 9 a.m.

Though, the one guy who always shows up an hour before opening was there at about the same time I arrived. It doesn't really matter that I wasn't set up because this guy hasn't bought anything from me in a couple of years. In fact, I have not seen him buy anything from anybody in a couple of years. Yet, there he is, an hour before the show opens, like clockwork. I think the folks from National Geographic should follow him around with a camera. Study his habits and environs to learn why he goes to each and every card show and never buys I thing. I think it would make a nice short documentary. Something like the old Jacque Cousteau films. Except for this one, no French stuff, the narrator should have a Scottish accent and say something like:

"There he goes, the rare species 'hypo-card-o-mopolis' from the land they call Buffalo Grove. He is tempted by the vast color range of the baseball cards. He can sense when they are near. However, this particular breed of hypo-card-o-mopolis must never make a purchase for fear of upsetting the natural order of his kind."

I might just have something here. If I only had more free time. I think I'd make the documentary myself. I know much more about the hypo-card-o-moplis than Jacque Cousteau or anyone else from National Geographic. I must warn you that I am writing this late at night and am a little slap happy.

Back to the Schaumburg show. While I was setting up, old Uncle Morty arrived. He asked about some old football cards. I directed him down to my binders and tried to finish filling up my display cases before he would be back. He went through the binders pretty quick and didn't find anything he wanted. He asked about boxing cards. I just happened to have priced a whole bunch of 1948 Leaf boxing the night before the show. Morty seemed real interested in the Leaf Boxing. I left the display case with the boxing open and let him rifle through there at his leisure while I completed setting up. Morty ended purchasing a Max Baer and a Barney Ross.

While Mort was perusing cards at my table, four or five other guys started going through my binders. A couple other guys were at my display cases. One guy wanted some Ron Santo cards that I did not have. Then he asked for Rick Barry. I pulled out a real nice Topps 1972-73 Barry. He showed the card to his father with great enthusiasm. However, dad did not share the enthusiasm and the pair left without making a purchase. It goes that way sometimes. I'll show a guy all sorts of stuff out of my display cases and he doesn't buy anything. I'm okay with it. I don't mind showing the cards... as long as they are not card-o-mopolises.

One of my regulars pulled a bunch of stuff out of my newly reloaded dime box. Another regular found a few basketball cards. Another guy purchased all the Bears from my 1981 Topps football binder. I was amazed I had so many in there. I brought out my box of pocket schedules and actually sold some. Larry and I made our usual cash and trade deal. Donny and his buddy were there. I usually see Donny at the Schaumburg and the Gonzaga shows. He collects oddball stuff. He likes ABA basketball cards, USFL football cards, and hockey publications.

There is another customer that I only see at this Schaumburg show. He is real nice guy and has been buying 1976 Topps baseball from me for several months. He picked up a nice pile on this day. Willie grabbed a bunch of the '66 high numbers. Randy sat down at my table and pulled a bunch of 1963 Topps baseball. Randy also generously brought some pumpkin bread to share that his wife made. Oh my, that stuff was good!!

Then Will and Joe made my day by trucking up to Schaumburg from the far southwest Side of Chicago. After driving to Matteson the day before, I was well aware of the long trek these guys made to the show. I can't tell you how much I appreciated it. Will and Joe are a father and son team and two of my favorite people in the world. We always have a good time together. These guys also know more about hockey than anybody I know. Joe collects modern hockey cards. Will is building vintage baseball sets from the 1950s and 1960s and he pulled a bunch from the '66 binder.

Will and Joe were kind of forced to come see me up in Schaumburg since I'm not doing the Orland show any more. They both said the Orland show last weekend was dead. Neither bought a single card! I am really glad I was set up in Hoffman Estates last weekend and not Orland. I have been getting a lot of real good suggestions for the Mark and Tony south-suburban show. I hope to have a venue and some dates soon. Stay tuned!

I had a nice day on the buying front. I picked up my first ever 19th Century card -- an Allan & Ginter boxing card from 1887. The card is in rough shape but did I say it is from 1887? It is cool!! I picked up some 1971 Topps baseball and football cards as well. I also picked up some random cards from the 1950s. I picked up some more Post Cereal cards including a Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris and Roberto Clemente. I also picked up a smattering of star baseball cards from the early 1970s. I was pretty happy with my haul.

After the show, Will, Joe and I went over to Moretti's which is basically next door to the Best Western, where the show is held. We had some tasty burgers and watched the Bears give away the game to the Panthers. After five weeks, it is real apparent that the Bears are not very good. Thankfully, hockey season is just about to begin. Seems like hockey is the only professional sport worth watching in Chicago these days. We had another hideous baseball season on both sides of town. I'm not expecting much from the Bulls. The Hawks, on the other hand, should be fun to watch once again.

Next up is the Gonzaga show in Milwaukee. I started in on my 1967 Topps baseball binder. If you recall, I sold the whole binder last year. So it has been a while since I had any 1967 baseball out on my table. I have been stock-piling cards for a while. I should have that binder ready to go by Sunday. I also hope to add some new cards to my display cases. In a perfect world, I would finish the '67s mid-week and start on some '75-76 Topps basketball. Though, I don't think I'll get the basketball done by Sunday.

Just a reminder, that the Mark & Tony Milwaukee show is on Saturday, October 18, at the Clarion, 5311 S. Howell. We have two new dealers so far. Mark and I are going to place an ad in the Milwaukee Journal next week to help promote the show. We're expecting another nice turn out. We will also have shows at the Clarion on November 8 and December 20. We are working on 2015 dates. We also hope to have an Illinois show in January. There's lots of good stuff happening!

A big shout out to my little brother Jon, who turns 43 on Saturday. Kind of crazy that he's going to be 43. I still remember the day he was born. Early in the morning on October 11, 1971, my folks left for the hospital. Leaving me, my older sister and brother home alone. Dad said he'd call when the baby was born. I sat in my room all day waiting for the phone to ring. Back then, we had three phones in the house. One in my parents bedroom, one in the kitchen and one in the laundry room. There was no such thing as a mobile phone. If you wanted to talk on the phone, it had to be on a large, clunky thing plugged into the wall.

When the phone finally rang, I darted to my parents room with my brother and sister hot on my tail. As my larger older siblings were about to pass me, I dived onto the bed and snatched the phone as they groaned in disappointment. "It's a boy!" my dad exclaimed on the other end of the phone. "It's a boy!" I relayed to my brother and sister. My dad said the baby's fingers were the size of my pinky. I repeated every word for my brother and sister, "dad said the baby's fingers are the size of my pinky!" Shortly, thereafter, I was overpowered by my brother, six-years my senior, and lost control of the phone. Though, I'll never forget beating those guys to the phone that morning and being the first to learn I had a little brother.

Somehow, I knew that things in the house would change. My older brother and sister are rat-faced finks (as Allen Sherman would say). On that wonderful morning, I got an ally. As my brother grew, it was him and I against the older pair which still rings true to this day. My older brother and sister are still jerk-offs and my younger brother and I are buddies. I'm looking forward to having lunch with my oldest pal on Saturday. Woot!

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October 26, 2014, Bloomingdale Show Report

Free Appraisals and More at the Smith & Gordon Show

This Show Was All About the 1957-58 Topps Basketball Purchase

Beware of the hypo-card-o-mopolis... and happy b-day to my brother!!

Tony Gordon

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