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Farewell 2015, Hello 2016... 1st show of the year set for Sunday, January 3, 2016, at the Clarion in Milwaukee!

12/28/2015

I have learned over the years to avoid having any expectations before setting up at a show -- that way I am never disappointed and often pleasantly surprised. My only expectation is to have a good time. I had a real nice time on Sunday, December 20, 2015, at Chicagoland Sports Cards, in Buffalo Grove, Illinois. This is the most unique card show I do because the show is inside a card shop. I've set up there now four or five times and each time there has been some real nice attendance. Unfortunately, this past show, the crowd was not interested in vintage cards. I was surprised because last year at the show right before Christmas, I did real well with folks purchasing gifts. Not so this year, though, it was still fun, eating doughnuts, watching football, and hanging out. I will be back.

On the following weekend, Sunday, December 27, 2015, I brought my wares to the Hyatt Place Hotel in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. For my last show of 2015, I dined on the free breakfast at the hotel and sold quite a few cards to boot. One customer purchased my 1938 Our National Game Pin of Joe DiMaggio. Another customer purchased my 1961 Topps Al Kaline and Moose Skowron along with quite a few '61 and '69 commons. He was talking about how he was recently on vacation in upstate New York and randomly found some good card shops. His wife cut him off and said he planned to go to the card shops all along. We all got a good laugh.

Another customer pulled quite a few 1962 Topps commons. Randy purchased a bunch of stuff including my 1963 Topps Roger Maris. Chris purchased a nice pile of Chicago Bears from 1961 and 1974. Chris is an autograph collector and plans to get the cards signed. Willie also purchased a bunch of cards to get signed. I sold a few cards out of my recently reloaded quarter box. Though, I thought the box would get more action. I'm not sure when I'm bringing the box out again. I like to reload it before I bring it to a show again.

Angel brought me some cards to sell for him on eBay. He has a complete set of 1974 Topps in poor condition along with a large lot of 1972 Topps and a box of mixed cards from 1967 through 1982. The condition is rough on all the cards and I am thinking of placing them all up as one big lot for around $100. If you are interested, keep tabs on my eBay auctions HERE.

Oddly, I did not purchase one single card during these past two shows. Not one person brought me anything to purchase. However, I am sure that will change next weekend at the Fat Daddy's Sports Card Show at the Clarion Hotel, 5311 S. Howell, in Milwaukee, on Sunday January 3, 2016. My show seems to be my best buying show these days. FYI -- I am on the hunt for 1964 Philadelphia football. I need both commons and stars.

New for next week are 1972 Topps baseball, 1964 Topps football, 1980-81 Topps hockey and 1975-76 Topps basketball. If I have any time, I will price some stars for my display cases and some publications. Also, vintage dealer Jerry is returning to the show. Jerry hasn't been set up since the summer. We had a really nice crowd at the December show and I am hoping for much of the same on Sunday. I hope to see everybody this weekend at the Clarion. Come on out!!!

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Oddly warm day for the middle of December

12/13/2015

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Can you believe this weather? I went out to load the car around 6 a.m. and it was warmer outside than in my house. How can this be in the middle of December? It started to rain but I did not mind, as long as it did not snow. It rained my whole drive up to Milwaukee.

Just past Mitchell Airport the highway splits. One path goes to Downtown while the other goes west around the city toward Madison. Police had the Downtown path blocked off. I'm guessing there was a bad accident that way. Someone at the show said the fog was real bad earlier and it was almost impossible to see. The fog was not too bad for my ride, nor was the rain.

I was unloading my stuff into Gonzaga Hall around 7:30 a.m. I was actually completely set up before the customers came in at 9 a.m. -- a first for me!! The room filled up pretty quick with customers. My first customer as usual was my friend Mark, who found some 1961 Post Cereal to his liking. Jim soon followed and brought me coffee, which is always much appreciated.

Mark and Jim have a friend Joe who walks the show and sells cards. I think he should pay for a table like the rest of us who sell cards. Anyway, Joe spotted my 1974 Topps Stamps complete set of panels. He had some interest and looked through them. I'm asking $200. Joe searched eBay on his phone and found a set of panels that sold for $26 and asked if I would reconsider my price. I declined. Joe was able to look at my panels and see they are in EX+ Condition. He has no idea of the condition on the set that sold on eBay. Sports cards are condition sensitive. If the eBay stamps were in lousy shape, then $26 is the right price. If not, someone got a heckuva deal. As I said before, I can't sell cards for less than I paid for them. I paid much more than $26 for my set of stamp panels.

I had a nice steady stream of customers early on. Jason and several others found some cards in my newly reloaded 1971 Topps baseball binder. Jack decided he his going to pursue autographs from football players and pulled a large pile of football cards. Thanks Jack! A new customer purchased a 1970-71 Topps Oscar Robertson. Terry bought a bunch of stuff including a 1964 Topps Ernie Banks and a 1963 Topps Warren Spahn. Thanks Terry!

Quite a few guys dinked around in my binders and pulled some cards. I really appreciate all the purchases today. Thanks guys!

On the buying front I picked up a near-set of 1971 Topps football cards. Not much else turned up at my table. One guy had a PSA 6 1959 Mantle highlight card. He wanted $50. I probably should have checked to see if he would have taken $40 but I passed instead.

As usual, I enjoyed some cake. This time around I had a holiday cake with green frosting. Oh, I was so tempted to get a second piece but it is just so bad for my diabetes to eat that stuff -- but it tastes so good!!! I just had one piece. I also had a complimentary sloppy Joe, thanks to the generosity of the WSCA.

So I learned a little info on Jeff, who has been AWOL since the summer. Jim has a friend who talked to Jeff's manager at work. We learned that Jeff has been working weekends all these months. We were all thankful that he is okay and we anxiously await his return. Work always gets in the way!!!!

So next weekend, I initially booked a show in Oswego, Illinois, on Saturday, December 19, 2015. Unfortunately, I learned that I have a staff meeting at work and cannot attend the show (who schedules a staff meeting on the Saturday before Xmas?). I have never set up at this show before or with this promoter. I tried calling to cancel my tables but the phone number listed in Beckett is disconnected. Does anyone know Michael Taves and how I can reach him?

So far no staff meeting on Sunday so I am still planning on setting up at Chicagoland Sports Cards in Buffalo Grove, Illinois. I just finished some 1981-82 Topps hockey. I am going to work on some 1964 Topps football, though I think I just may bring my baseball binders to the show because I only have two tables. If anyone would like me to bring football, basketball and/or hockey, please let me know and I'll bring them along. Have a great week everybody!!

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Fog Doesn't Deter Baseball Card Addicts

12/12/2015

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The stars aligned perfectly on Saturday, December 5, 2015, for my monthly card show at the Clarion Hotel in Milwaukee bringing out a really nice crowd. I think it helped that we had a really great dealer line-up with Gary, Terry, Scott, Larry, Bill, Mike M. and PJ. This was my most vintage-heavy show to date. Oh my, we had a tremendous vintage inventory in the room thanks to Mike and Terry. Mike's display cases were filled with nothing but vintage heavy hitters. I admired his 1963 Topps Pete Rose rookie. The only dealer with shiny stuff was Scott, who had a bunch of cool autos and inserts. All of the dealers enjoyed a steady flow of customers all day long. One of my better-attended shows.

I had reloaded some 1961 Post Cereal baseball cards for the show. Quite a few guys, including Jason and Bill, found some cards in there. A big shout out to my buddy Jim Kaiser, who is working on a 1956 Topps baseball set. My law school pal Andy stopped in. A big thank you to Gizmo for coming up from Illinois and buying cards from quite a few dealers. I sold several T205 cards to a new customer. We both agreed that the artwork is so much cooler on the T205s than the more popular T206s. Tim also came up from Illinois and bought some cards. Thanks Tim! Todd, who I met in the spring at the Appleton show, came down and found some cards for his sets. Thanks Todd!

I was busy most of the day and enjoyed chatting with numerous folks at my tables. I also bought a few cards. A huge thank you to Mike P. who has been regularly bringing me cards at this show for months. Mike always has good stuff and I appreciate our deals. Thanks Mike! Bill also brought me mounds of stuff. Thanks Bill! I definitely went home with more cards than I came with. I picked up some 1950s and 1960s football, some early 1960s baseball, some Coke football bottle caps from the late 1960s, some old Sports Illustrateds, and some 1971 Topps coins, among assorted goodies.

My next Clarion show is set for Sunday, January 3, 2016. This will be my only Sunday show in 2016. I am hopeful that we have the exact same crowd for the January show that we had in December. A huge thank you to everyone who came out to my show on Saturday. I hope you all found some great cards (I know I did!).

I was back up in Wisconsin on Sunday, December 6, 2015, for the show in Madison. I have set up at this show a few times over the years. All those shows were at the Crown Plaza. Promoter Darin Blang recently moved the show to the Clarion in Madison. The show at the Clarion was just as good as the one at the Crown. I love the fact that this show does not open until 10 a.m. which gives me plenty of time to drive up from Illinois. I took a new route thanks to my trusty GPS. I have been driving to Madison since I was a teenager and always took either I90 or I94. The GPS took me to Route 12, to 14, then a brief ride on I90 and I was at the Clarion. This route saved at least a 1/2 hour and was more interesting. My only issue was some heavy fog. It was foggy on Saturday for my drive to Milwaukee and twice as foggy on Sunday for my ride to Madison. Visibility was only 25 to 50 yards or so which made for some scary driving.

Once safely in Madison, I enjoyed some free hotel breakfast at the Clarion. I especially appreciated several cups of free coffee. Like my show on Saturday, we had a really nice turn out on Sunday. The room was filled with dealers. Gary, who was set up at my show was also set up in Madison. The only other dealer I knew was Jerry, who regularly sets up at Gonzaga. There were many more modern dealers at this show.

I saw some folks that I normally see at the Gonzaga show, who purchased a bunch of cards. There was a customer named Jim, who remembered me from my last visit to Madison. Jim purchased a ton of cards, including a huge stack of 1970 Topps baseball. Thanks Jim! Quite a few other guys found some cards in my binders.

Gary remarked on my reduction of inventory from the day before where I had five tables full of stuff. I just had two tables at the Madison show. Both Gary and I agreed that the Madison show is excellent. My sales were very good, even with just two tables.

After spending a ton of money on Saturday, I was not in a buying mood on Sunday. Only one person showed me some cards and he did not have a price in mind. I watched him attempt to make a deal with another dealer. It seemed awkward and they could not come to an agreement. I decided not to pursue anything. It is really hard to make a deal with a customer who is not certain of the value of his cards or how much money he would like to obtain in exchange for his cards.

I observed that Jerry, pictured above, had a nice inventory of Diamond Stars that he recently picked up. I was tempted but decided to bring home some money. Another dealer had some Exhibits that piqued my interest but he was crazy high on his prices. He wanted $500 for a grouping of 20 or 30 cards. I don't think he had more than $50 worth of stuff there. Where in the world did he get a number like $500? Exhibits are not rare or expensive cards. Strange.

I put out some fliers for my Clarion show on a small side table. I overheard some dealers talking about my show. They have never been to my show and were curious. One said that every time he does an internet search on card shows, my show is the first one to pop up -- which was good to hear. Hopefully, these guys give my show a try sometime.

I noticed something interesting about this show as compared to the Milwaukee shows. This show draws dealers from far northwest Wisconsin, guys who never travel to shows in Milwaukee, located in southeast Wisconsin. The Milwaukee shows, on the other hand, seem to draw dealers from all the lakefront towns from Northern Wisconsin down to Illinois. It sure would be cool if we could somehow get all these dealers together at one show in either Madison or Milwaukee some time.

Anyway, I had a really nice show in Madison and a really great weekend buying and selling cards. Up next is the Gonzaga show on Sunday, December 14, 2015. The pre-Christmas show is always one of the best Gonzaga shows of the year. Keith and all the folks at the WSCA do a tremendous job with their annual food drive and always have gifts for the kids. I just received the WSCA newsletter and saw that Denny McLain will be signing autographs at the January Gonzaga show.

A huge thank you to everyone who came out to my show on Saturday along with those that bought cards from me on Sunday in Madison. I'm looking forward to another great Gonzaga show on Sunday!!

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Moeller High School 2015 Thanksgiving Show Report

12/2/2015

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One of the great things about the modern internet age is that I can find photos and information about baseball card shows across the country at a click of a mouse. I have virtually staked out shows all over the country that I would like to attend. One of these shows is the Moeller High School show in Cincinnati. While I have never been to this show, I always found it interesting largely because Moeller is the high school where Ken Griffey Jr. and Barry Larkin attended. The main reason I have never attended the Moeller Thanksgiving show is that I would have to leave for Cincinnati ON Thanksgiving!

This past September, I decided to commit to setting up at the Moeller Thanksgiving show. I reserved one table at a pricey $250. I made hotel reservations at the Comfort Suites Hotel near the Kings Island amusement park via hotels.com. My folks came and picked up my kids for Thanksgiving dinner. I ate Thanksgiving dinner with my wife then loaded the car and drove six hours to Cincinnati. There was not much traffic and it was a pretty easy drive.

I awoke early on Black Friday and my trusty GPS placed me safely at Moeller around 8 a.m. Load in was a little tough. One dealer pulled up to the lone garage entry-way into the field house, the building that houses the show. I had a tough time wheeling my cart around him and over a speed bump. All the other dealers parked far enough away from the garage so not to block it. There is always one guy who lacks any semblance of courtesy.

With just one table, I did not bring a whole lot of stuff to Cincinnati and was able to get my wares in with just a couple of trips to the car. I placed most of my baseball binders on the table. I set up two card tables behind the binders and placed three display cases on them. I had some extra room on the card tables and threw down some publications. I also had some space for my 50-cent box out front. This is largely my old Sun-Times set up before I hooked up with Dave and Bob some 15 years ago.

After set-up, I found myself with a good hour or so to kill before the show started. I decided to drive around the area to find some food and coffee. I quickly learned that Moeller High School is located on the edge of Cincinnati next to the beautiful town of Montgomery which reminded me of Long Grove, Illinois, with a historic downtown and lots of shopping and restaurants. I decided to try the European Cafe. I ordered eggs, sausage, hash browns and coffee. All were very good and inexpensive! The sausage came in patties. I am usually not a big fan of the sausage patty, I prefer the link, but these were quite tasty.

Back at the show, my table was sandwiched between two very nice dealers. One was local and had a tremendous vintage baseball set up. I have seen him at the Sun-Times show. My other neighbor, who is from Pennsylvania, specializes in vintage football cards. I have also seen him at the Sun-Times show. There were quite a few familiar faces amongst the ranks of dealers like Paul, who I think is from Cleveland, JD, Chapell Cards, and Wayne Johnson from Indiana. Baggers Auctions was set up along one wall. SCG had a table. Phil from St. Louis made a rare appearance outside of Missouri. There was also a Michigan dealer who specializes in cheapy boxes who I have seen around at various shows. There were many more familiar faces from the Sun-Times show. All in all, an impressive group of dealers with tremendous inventory... at reasonable prices! Pictured below are some photos from set-up time, before the show opened to the public.

There was one guy who had his own grading company -- On The Spot Grading. He had a bright orange contraption behind his tables labeled "Top Secret" where he noisily slabbed cards throughout the show. Not to diss the guy or anything, but a slab from On The Spot Grading does not increase the value of your cards like PSA and SCG. So I am not sure why anyone would spend the money to have their cards graded by this guy? I thought it was kind of odd. Also, I'm pretty sure Ernest T. Bass was hanging out there and I heard this manic cackle emanating from the booth throughout the show. It was a little weird.

The show officially opened at 10 a.m. There weren't a whole lot of people in the room until noon. I was pleasantly surprised to see Craig Lane, who I met through Mark Smith several years ago. When he wasn't digging through cheapy boxes for cards to send out for signatures, Craig spent much of the show hanging out with me. Craig is a super guy and I really enjoyed his company all weekend.

About the middle of the day, I had a rush of customers and was struggling to help everyone at once. I had a flurry of sales. I had a Mint 1970 Topps Johnny Bench and a Mint Nolan Ryan that a customer snapped up. I sold some 1960 Topps to another customer. My newly-made Reds binder saw some action. I sold some publications and some cards out of my 50-cent box. With regularity, guys were searching all my binders for Reds.

The room was jam-packed until about 3 p.m. Dave Concepcion and some other Reds players from the 1980s and 1990s were signing autographs. There was a decent line for the autos.

There was a vintage dealer across from me that had a really nice inventory and a bunch of discount boxes. He was swamped with customers. Discount boxes seemed to be the theme for this show and all the boxes drew crowds. I think the coolest table was the one that had a huge mound of old baseball mitts. I should have bought some but I could not bring myself to pull the trigger.

The guy who bought the '70 Bench and Ryan came back with his 1970 doubles and offered them to me at a nice price. Another customer had a box of 1960 Topps baseball. I cherry picked a Koufax and a Clemente. I should have bought them all. I also picked up a 1934 Goudey Paul Waner from him. I was very happy with my purchases. I did not expect to buy anything at this show.

Another pleasant surprise was the concession stand. As you all know, I am a big fan of the show concession stand. This one was serving up some delicious pulled-pork sandwiches of which I dined upon all weekend. I was a little bummed that they did not have fresh coffee, instead they had instant -- yuck!

Another bummer was the fieldhouse bathrooms -- ugh! There were some big dudes at this show with serious bowel movements and NO ventilation in that bathroom. Oh, it was hell in there.

We also had to deal with the ping sound from aluminum bats in batting cages up on a loft above the show. The high school kids were there all day every day taking batting practice. This was quite an environment!

When the show ended at 8 p.m. on Friday, I was tired and hungry. I dined on some prime rib at the Outback Steakhouse, located across from my hotel. I also enjoyed a Sam Adams Seasonal served in a HUGE mug. I just wanted one glass of beer because it's not so good for my diabetes. I think you could fit three beers in that mug. A few mugs and they would have had to carry me out of the place. Oh, that Sam Adams Seasonal is a delicious beer. I could have sat there all night drinking that stuff. Instead, I went back to the room and enjoyed some cable TV and fell asleep.

Unfortunately, I had to wake up regularly to relive some of that beer from my system and did not sleep very well. I stumbled down to the lobby on Saturday morning for the free hotel breakfast. They had that hotel boiled or steamed bacon. If it was up to me, it would be against the law to cook bacon any other way than fried. Though, I ate it along with some sausage, a hard-boiled egg and a danish. The hotel coffee wasn't too bad either.

I hit Saxby's Coffee in Montgomery on my way to the show. Some pretty good coffee. I also picked up a chocolate chip muffin that was quite good.

There was another nice crowd at the show on Saturday. George Foster and Dave Parker were there signing autographs. I only had one decent sale when I sold my T206 Ed Reulbach Tolstoy back. Overall, I had quite a large number sales on Saturday but they were all for low-dollar amounts and did not really add up. So I bought some cards from the dime box guy and I picked up some cards from Baggers -- a nice haul.

After the show, Craig took me to the Montgomery Inn, a huge restaurant/sports bar with tons of memorabilia on the walls. Across from our table were two framed Pete Rose jerseys. We went with some wings and chips/pork appetizers that were really good. We were joined by Craig's son Brian who lives in Cincinnati. Like his father, he is a super nice and intelligent guy. For my main course, I went with the ribs which were quite good. The Montgomery Inn gets five stars from me and I hope to be back.

I slept much better Saturday night and was up early on Sunday. I went with waffles at the hotel breakfast. I decided to take the long route to Moeller High School. I saw a Speedway with gas for just $1.69. I also found a Starbucks.

There was not much of a crowd at the show on Sunday but I had some nice sales. I sold my 1962 Topps stamp set to one customer. Then Terry, who follows this blog and whom I met at Sharonville back in January, purchased my 1960 Topps Willie McCovey rookie. Thanks Terry!

I spent most of Sunday morning buying cards. I vacuumed up some late '60s and early '70s hockey from one dealer. I bought some nice stuff from the dealer across the way. I also picked up some 1964 Topps football from two other dealers. There were some great prices on cards throughout the entire room. I could have easily bought more cards but I forced myself to stop so I could bring home some money.

I decided to pack up at noon, knowing I had a six-hour drive ahead of me. I was on the road by 1:15 p.m. I didn't drive all that far before I stopped off at Skyline Chili, based on Terry's recommendation. Oh my, Skyline is awesome! I had an amazingly delicious bowl of chili. Skyline serves its chili several different ways. You can get it atop spaghetti. It also comes served on a hot dog... more like a hot dog that is served caked in chili with a HUGE mound of shredded cheddar cheese on top. Oh my! They also serve it inside a tortilla. I need to come back and try that chili dog.

Heavy traffic all the way to Chicago. I made it home around 6:30 p.m. Whew! That concludes two 3-day shows on back to back weekends. Man, am I tired! Though, the dealer next to me at Moeller also was set up at the Sun-Times and he is heading to Philadelphia for a three-day show next weekend -- that's something! I, on the other hand, am setting up at my Clarion show on Saturday (December 5) and in Madison on Sunday, December 6. No rest for the weary. Did I ever tell you I have a baseball card addiction? Maybe it is more like baseball card OCD... I just have to attend shows each weekend.

I seem to be getting more calls and emails than usual for my Clarion show this Saturday. I hope the buzz is a sign of good things this weekend. I have some new dealers. Come on out and see us Saturday at the Clarion, 5311 S. Howell, Milwaukee. I plan on having some 1961 Post baseball priced and ready to go!!!

Pictured below are more Moeller show photos and some images of my purchases.

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Farewell 2015, Hello 2016... 1st show of the year set for﻿ Sunday, January 3, 2016, at the Clarion in Milwaukee!

Oddly warm day for the middle of December

Fog Doesn't Deter Baseball Card Addicts

Moeller High School 2015 Thanksgiving Show Report

Tony Gordon

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Farewell 2015, Hello 2016... 1st show of the year set for Sunday, January 3, 2016, at the Clarion in Milwaukee!