Sunday, October 27, 2019, Orland Park Civic Center

It has been about three weeks since I set up at a show, an unusual amount of time in-between shows for me. The gap came after I missed the Gonzaga show for a little three-day weekend with the family then the Orland show was held later in the month than usual. 

I almost missed the October Orland show because I was having a tough week controlling my diabetes. I'm glad I made it to the show, and, wow, there was a great inventory of vintage cards in the room!! I think this may have been the most vintage dealers at Orland in years along with the best quality.

There were the usual vintage guys like me, Jim from Indiana, Jim from Michigan, Terry, Rich, Steve, and new this month Kevin Farrell and Tony Schaefer who both created a wow factor in the room. This was the first time I met Kevin, who is a fan of this blog. Thanks for reading Kevin! Well, I'm a fan of Kevin because he had one of the best pre-war displays I have ever seen at the Orland show. I really wanted to pick up some T cards from Kevin but I had already blown my allotted funds buy the time I saw Kevin's table. Then there is Tony Schaefer who has one of the best inventories around and always gives the show some much needed credibility when he sets up.

As regular readers of the blog know, I try to come up with a game plan for each show. My plan for the October Orland show was four display cases and most of my baseball and football binders. It has been three months since I brought out any display cases at the Orland show. For the cases, I planned to place a limited amount of vintage cards, all four sports. I am currently working on upgrading my display case material in preparation for the three-day Moeller show in Cincinnati over Thanksgiving weekend. As a result, I held some stuff back but still thought I had a decent selection. I brought out a bunch of Exhibits and sold my Satchel Paige and Joe DiMaggio. Also, new, I brought out some vintage lots that I have been slowly working on. I brought out the lots with a certain customer in mind, who, as it happened, did not purchase any of the lots. In fact, I did not sell one of them. Today's lesson, don't bring lots to the Orland show. I had been on a roll at the Orland show but I guess I was due for a bad day.

I'm always reticent to change things up when I'm on a roll but I reasoned that I could not continue to roll with the same material and needed some new stuff. So, I brought out the dime box, something I have not carted out to Orland since the summer. I added new cards and observed first thing that two fought over the box which perplexes me. Those are dime cards in there, nothing special. They may be vintage but they are creased, torn, scratched, off-center, worn and ugly. Why fight over these cards?

These same two guys seem to go at it each and every time I bring the box out. They also only purchase cards from the dime box. If I don't bring it out, I don't get any sales from these guys. Once these guys finished, the rest of the dime box divers throughout the day were nice and polite. I'm probably not going to bring the dime box out in November. Instead, I think it is time for the quarter box to make an appearance. I'm pretty sure the same two early birds will fight over the quarter box. It is really a silly spectacle.

I had a lot of new stuff in the binders, including 1952 Bowman baseball, 1975 Topps Minis, and 1962 Topps football. I had reloaded my 1966 Topps baseball binder but forgot it at home. I forget something at home each and every show. It is par for the course.

I had a really pleasant day. I saw a couple of guys I had not seen in a while like Joe and Dave, who have been off traveling. Chris purchased some cards. Will found a nice pile of 1967s. A regular customer pulled a bunch of 1970 Topps baseball while another regular pulled a bunch of 1971. A dad and his two teenage sons bought a bunch of stuff.

Joel purchased my Billy Goodman Exhibit. Rick purchased a 1969-70 Wilt Chamberlain and a 1958 Topps Sonny Jurgensen rookie. A regular customer purchased some 1953 Bowman baseball. While another regular purchased some 1953 Topps baseball. A bunch of other guys purchased cards out of the binders. Overall, sales were down, so it is back to the drawing board for a new plan for the November show.

On the buying front, I picked up quite a few cards. I purchased about 200 off grade cards from 1955 and 1956. I also picked up a Lou Brock rookie, Jim Palmer rookie, and a Terry Bradshaw rookie. I picked up a 1968 Topps Gordie Howe and a 1971-72 Topps Ken Dryden rookie. I purchased a nice grouping of 1970's basketball cards including a group that seems to be part of a board game, which I need to research to learn a little more about them. I also picked up a handful of cards from the 1950s and 1960s.

Do you remember the blog where I requested that folks stop bringing me cards from the 1970's. Well, about five or six different guys came up to me, and each said with a smirk, I've got a box of 1978s for you. Haha!

I thought the show was well attended, but as usual during football season, it died down fairly early. I was able to get a chili dog from the concession stand. Afterwards, me, Will, Joe, Tony and Nate went over to the sub shop. I had a really good beef sandwich. I had been craving a beef sandwich and that one did the job.

Well, November is going to be a crazy card show month for me after a relatively easy October. I've got my Salvation Army show next week, Nov. 2. Then Gonzaga on November 10. I'm back at Orland on November 17. I will NOT be at the Sun-Times show. Instead, I'm setting up at Moeller, as previously stated. The Sun-Times show is a lot of work with very little reward for me. I had been attending as a customer, working on my '66 set but I think I've hit up all the regular dealers there and don't have a need to go. I plan on sitting in my card bunker that weekend pricing cards for Moeller.

I've got lots of new dealers lined up for my show next weekend at the Sal, 8853 S. Howell, in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. I picked up a box of 2015 Donruss Baseball from Steve Zinn in Orland which I plan to give away at the Sal. Steve is threatening to set up at the Sal, I hope he does. 

A big THANK YOU to everyone who bought cards from me today at the Orland show. I hope to see you and more next week at the Sal!! Have a great week everybody!!

Saturday, October 5, 2019, Salvation Army Community Center, Oak Creek

So you want to start your own card show? Let me tell ya, it is a TON of work. Folks regularly ask me to start another show at this venue or that venue or in this town or that town. My answer is always "no". Promoting my show at the Sal is more than enough for me.

I do something for the show most every day whether it be fielding calls and emails from dealers and customers or placing the show on all sorts of event calendars to obtaining packs of cards to give away to purchasing tables to donate to the Salvation Army. There is something that needs to be done constantly.

Work was non-stop in the weeks leading up to the October 5th show. I had a higher number than usual dealer cancelations. I also had a high number of dealers calling for tables. I had all sorts of customers calling to confirm the show. As I stated before, I NEVER cancel the show. I think some folks have me mixed up with other promoters who regularly cancel their shows. It stinks that those promoters give us all a bad name. Again, I will NEVER cancel my show. The next show on November 2nd is happening come hell or high water!

I went the extra mile promoting the October 5th show and spent more money than usual on advertising. It is nice to see my efforts pay off come show time when, once again, we had an excellent crowd for the October show. From about 9 a.m. to noon there was a steady flow of customers. My iPhone isn't working properly, so I couldn't take any photos. I meant to bring along my iPad to use as a camera but forgot it when I left home at the crack of dawn.

It was pitch black out when I got on the road around 6 a.m. There were a lot of trucks which sucks on those thin construction lanes on I94. The Ryan Road Exit is especially scary because there is no turn lane during construction, the exit just pops up and you can miss it unless you slow way down. I made sure there were no trucks on my tail when I slowed down for the exit.

My main man Mark was already at the Sal and the doors were open when I got there around 6:45 a.m. Roger was there already and loading in. Like clockwork, Larry wasn't far behind.

I tried to chart out the dealers the day prior but the tables were set up a bit differently from last month and the early gang had their own ideas as to where they should set up. So, I hustled to reconfigure my dealer layout and then placed name plates on the tables. By 8 a.m. I had completed the new layout, many dealers had arrived and I began my own set up. It is really tough to layout the tables then deal with my own set up. You still want to run your own show?

Then there are the "no-shows", dealers who reserve space but do not show up. I had more no-shows than usual. I may have to start collecting table fee up front to limit the no-shows. At least one dealer thought the show was on Sunday, not Saturday. My show is ALWAYS on Saturday! I don't know what the other excuses were. Those guys missed out because we had a big crowd. 

My wax pack giveaway has been a big hit since I began the promotion a few years ago back at the Four Points Sheraton. I try to provide a variety of packs, all sports, from junk years to the newest issues in 2019. I find that I am always purchasing wax for the giveaways. I bought a bunch of wax at the September Sal show then picked up some more in between shows from folks who contacted me with some for sale and from Steve Zinn who sets up at Orland.

As I mentioned last month, a little girl pulled a Mike Trout auto from a pack of 2019 Topps Big League. At the October 5th show, a little boy pulled a Cody Bellinger autographed rookie out of a 2017 Topps Heritage pack. I saw on eBay that the card is selling for $300 to $400. The boy's father was ecstatic and wanted to purchase a case. I directed him to dealer Roger Baehr, the dealer whom I purchased my box from.

I purchased more wax from Roger and dealer  Tom Daniels for the November show. I am sure I will purchase even more wax before the November show. Follow my Facebook page for updates. There are always some guys that want to buy the wax from me. I don't sell this stuff, I buy it just to give it away. Make sure you attend the November 2nd show for your free packs! I hope we keep the great pulls coming!!

Dealer count was down from the 31 we had in September to 26 for the October show. Nevertheless, there was great stuff in the room. I picked up a 1934-36 Diamond Star Kiki Cuyler from Jerry and a 1966 Topps Willie Mays from Gary. It was great to have BILL STOCKS back at the show after a long layoff. I bought some stuff from Bill, as well.

An older gentleman was a bit distraught when no dealers were interested in purchasing his binder of 1990 Score football. I explained to him, as I do at every show, that those cards were printed in the billions and everyone has them, so nobody wants to buy them. They are worthless. As usual, he did not believe me and pointed out the Tom Landry card in the set. I explained that if he had a 1952 Bowman Large Tom Landry, then he would have a valuable Tom Landry card. The 1990 Score Tom Landry was overproduced thus it has NO value. I advised that he give the cards away because he will have a hard time selling them.

He explained that he purchased them in 1990 and held onto them believing that they would increase in value. I explained that he was not alone, tens of thousands of folks just like him, bought the cards and locked them away only to find out that they are worth less in 2019 than they were in 1990. It is a sad state of affairs but I meet people like this gentleman most every week and am always the bearer of bad news. I, too, have large quantities of 1990 Score football in my possession. Anybody want them?

I'm sure Nick C's dad Scott had some 1990 Score football back in the day. He told me he used to have a sports card comic book shop in Chicago in the early 1990s. As he described it to me, I vaguely remembered it.

On the selling front, Jerome found the Darrel Porter he needed to complete his 1975 set. John purchased a large stack of football and hockey cards. A regular found all sorts of cards for his sets. Larry purchased my 1962 Topps Don Drysdale All Star. Many other guys purchased cards as well. I didn't sell nearly as many cards out of my display cases this show as I did in September. I might just bring all binders for the November show.

On the food front, I ate a sloppy Joe and a brat from the concession stand. We had the Sal's Ladies' Auxiliary running the concession stand at the October show. Thank you ladies! Please, please, visit our concession stand. All the workers are volunteers and all of the proceeds to straight to the Salvation Army.

Along those lines, the Sal is looking for a business to sponsor their scoreboard. Contact me if you are interested. I also volunteered to help raise funds to purchase jerseys for the Sal's youth soccer league. I am going to place a collection box at the November show. Please show your support for the Sal! I can't say enough about these folks. My show has really taken off since we moved to the Sal. They are such a great partner!! I am going to try and support them in the same manner they support us!!

Back to the October show... the day went by quick. There was a rain storm coming, so a lot of guys were out the door by 1 p.m. I think I was on the road home by 2:30 p.m. I took the back roads, opting to avoid that construction hell on I94.

Next show is November 2. The final show of the year is December 7 and we have booked Packer Hall-of-Famer Dave Robinson to sign autographs. I don't have details yet but will pass them on as soon as I get them!

A huge thank you to everyone who attended the show! I may put a lot of work into this show but it is oh, so, worth it when we get such a large crowd of friendly faces. Hope to see you all at the November 2nd show!

In the meantime, I will not be at the October Gonzaga show but will attend the November one. The next show where I am setting up is the Orland show on October 27, 2019.

​Happy collecting everybody!