Saturday, December 21, 2024, Machinists Hall, St. Louis, MO

 I have a long history with St. Louis. Growing up in the early 1970's, my family took a road trip to St. Louis every summer to visit Six Flags Amusement Park, about a five-hour drive from my boyhood home in Northbrook, Illinois. We would do the whole town, Grant's Farm, the Zoo and more. I always looked forward to those trips which stopped when Great America Amusement Park opened in nearby Gurnee, Illinois.

I went to St. Louis once in the 1980's to go to a Cardinals game. I also went once in the 1990's to do some research on Harry Caray for an article I was writing for the old Barfly Newspaper. About 15 years ago or so, I started to go back regularly to set up at card shows.

My good friend Tony Schaefer introduced me to the shows at the Two Hearts Banquet Hall. I would set up next to Tony who knew everyone there and would send them over to me. I ended up having really good shows. I also enjoyed the concession stand at Two Hearts which was excellent. I got to know quite a few people in St. Louis.

Unfortunately, Two Hearts closed and the show moved to the Orlando Gardens which is actually a nicer venue but sales started to slide. I then tried the Machinists Hall shows. I had a few decent ones then a few bombs and I stopped setting up in St. Louis.

I am pretty sure that the last time I was set up in St. Louis, the Rams were still in town. I remember quite a few Rams jerseys at the shows. Now everyone is sporting Chiefs jerseys. I had been meaning to get back to St. Louis but could not find a date that worked until this past Saturday.

I hit the road Friday afternoon and was stuck in traffic in the Chicago area for a good two hours. Traffic did not clear up until well past Joliet. Man, that was a long drive to St. Louis!

I found a hotel near the Hall and slept terribly. For some reason, I could not stay asleep. Ugh! I got my groggy self together and hit a Bob Evans on my way to the Hall. I arrived at Bob Evans around 7 a.m. and nobody was there. Weird. I've eaten at Bob Evans all over the country and there is always a crowd in there. I was a little concerned but the meal turned out just fine.

At Machinists Hall, I was greeted by promoter Ron Estes, one of the nicest guys you will ever meet and also a great vintage sports card dealer. Ron directed me to my tables, located in a part of the room that was not open during the other shows I did there back in the day. This part of the room was also poorly lit, which was a bummer.

I was set up by 8:30 a.m. and tired as hell. There was a pop machine out in the lobby and I started drinking Diet Mountain Dew to boost me up. I was a little concerned because there was not a whole lot of people in the room early. I was too tired to walk around and check out the other tables, which is what I usually do when things are slow. I figured I would take a walk later in the afternoon, after a few Mountain Dews.

Not much happening for me during the first hour. I started to think I would have another bomb but then older guys with lists started to line my tables. I was then swamped with set builders until 3 p.m.! I never did get a chance to walk around!!

Wow! My people!! You're here!!

Oddly, I did not know anyone in the room other than Ron. All those characters I used to know in St. Louis were not around. In their place was a steady stream of set builders which was okay with me. I sold a ton of cards! Some guys spent hours at my tables pulling stacks of cards from the binders. Well, that 1960 Topps baseball binder was full at the start of the show -- not so much after.

What a nice group of people! I enjoyed talking with all these set builders all day long!! Earlier that morning, I was thinking that I won't be coming back to St. Louis in quite some time. Well, that has changed. I'm coming back as soon as I can!!

I had a tremendous day!!

However, I did not buy anything. A few guys wanted to trade. As you know, I don't trade. 

I was tired when the show ended but in a great mood. I had a much easier drive home.

St. Louis, I love you! I will be back soon!!!

Next up for me is the always solid Madison show on Saturday, December 28. Then Sunday, I am heading back to Joliet. Last time in Joliet, I brought out display cases and had a tremendous show but I am bringing out binders this time and am not confident I will do as well.

The next Oak Creek show is January 4, 2025. As usual, tables are sold out. I am way overbooked and need some guys to cancel! Looks like I am going to have to tell some of the new dealers they cannot set up this month -- I hate doing that!! Ugh!

Anyway, I am working on 1973-74 Topps basketball and hope to have it ready to go Saturday in Madison. See you then!

Sunday, December 15, 2024, Civic Center, Orland Park, IL

So I poisoned myself on the night before the show. I found this recipe online for some beef stew that called for chopping up raw steak. Well, I guess I did not clean up well enough after chopping up the steak and got some bacteria into my body. Whoo boy! I spent all night and all morning on the pot.

I almost skipped the show but I had done a lot of prep work and I hate skipping shows! I bathed, felt a little better. I then squeezed my butt cheeks and loaded the car. I was really dehydrated but did not drink any water because every time I drank, I had to run to the pot.

I brought a couple of bottles of water with me but did not dare drink them just yet. My mouth was so dry! I felt like I had just spent days wandering the desert. I pulled into the Walgreens next to the Civic Center and purchased some Imodium which did the trick. I made it throughout the day without having to race to the bathroom. Though, I was awfully weak and my pal Will had to cover my tables much of the day. Thank you Will!!! 

Figures that I would have a monster day when I could barely stand. Nice crowd early and sales were fast and furious. I brought out 11 display cases because I didn't have anything new in the binders. A few guys were disappointed that I did not bring the binders. Sorry! I also forgot to bring several special requests. I was lucky just to get out of the house!

I sold some big cards that really hurt letting go like a 1957 Topps Sandy Koufax and a 1964 Topps Pete Rose. Pat was the big winner today. He purchased the Koufax and the Rose. Gil purchased a pile of 1971 Topps baseball star cards including a Mays. Rick purchased a pile of stuff, mostly 1959 Topps baseball. I sold a few hockey cards along with some 1934 Goudeys, and a 1934-36 Diamond Star. I can't even remember everything I sold. Sales came fast and furious. One of my best days of the year in Orland. Woot!

On the buying front -- nada. Not much offered to me today, even though I had money to spend. 

I was hurtin' too much to hit the sub shop after the show with Will and Joe. Hopefully, I'll get my act together next month!! Next Orland show is January 19. I will be bringing binders to that one.

Next up for me is my long-awaited return to Machinist Hall in St. Louis. There was a time when St. Louis shows were awesome, long before the Pandemic. For some unknown reason my sales started to die so I stopped going there. I have been wanting to give it another try and finally found a free date to do so this coming Saturday, December 21, 2024. Can't wait! I love St. Louis. It is one of my favorite cities. Great food, drink, baseball history, Six Flags. If you have never been to St. Louis, I recommend finding some time to take a trip there because it has all sorts of cool history stuff like Grant's Farm, a great zoo, awesome children's museum and more. Should be a fun time this weekend!

The next Oak Creek show is Saturday, January 4, 2025. I am dealing with quite a dilemma. I had 13 regular dealers skip the last show, so I added 13 new dealers off the waiting list. Well, I now have 26 dealers for just 13 spots in January. If I don't get some cancellations, quite a few regulars and some of the new guys are not going to be able to set up in January. Ugh!

Anyway, I am happy to report that my digestive system is now functioning normally and I should be at full strength for St. Louis. Hope to see you there!!

Pictured above are my pals Rick and Will probably discussing the current state of affairs of the White Sox or Blackhawks. I love these guys. I have been lucky enough to hang out with them just about every month in Orland for the past 25 years!

I can't seem to keep up with the blog, sorry guys. I have been spending my free time furiously attempting to reload my binders. Sales have generally been pretty good, especially vintage football. I have recently reloaded 1958, 1959 and 1960 Topps football along with 1960 Fleer football and hardly have any left. The dilemma now is do I go back and reload 1958 or move on and load up 1961? In general, my football binders are empty.

Anyway, here is a long but exciting recap of what I have been up to:

I was set up Sunday, November 17, 2024, in Orland Park. The show was well attended. Sales were okay. I purchased some 1930's hockey cards from Willie that are very cool. I also picked up a bunch of stuff from Walt. Jim offered me a nice stack of cards from the 1970's which I turned down. I have a huge inventory of 1970's cards right now and will only purchase more if they are dirt cheap or come in a lot with some older cards that I need. Steve Trout stopped by my table. I love how he is a regular visitor to this show. I'll be setting up again in Orland this Sunday, December 15, 2024. The kind folks that run this show are doing a toy drive and will have Santa available for photos. I am leaning towards bringing out display cases. I've priced a bunch of new stuff since the Sports Spectacular and don't have any binders reloaded since last week in Oak Creek. I am currently working on reloading my 1960 Topps baseball binder but don't think I'll have it done by Sunday.

After Orland, I spent all week pricing cards for the Chicago Sports Spectacular which was held November 22 through 24, 2024, at the Donald A. Stephens Center in Rosemont, IL. So, the worst show for load in and load out somehow has gotten even worse. It is so bad that I am fairly certain someone is going to get seriously injured.

The problem started after the Pandemic when demand for tables at this show, and most shows, went through the roof. So they expanded the show but in the process took away half of the loading space. Where you once could fit 60 or 70 vehicles, now only fits 20 or 30 which is a complete cluster$&#@ when hundreds of dealers are converging on the space at once.

With so many people in such a small space, you can't see other dealers pulling in or out or walking around. It is so scary. I was terrified I was going to strike someone's car or even worse a person with my vehicle. 

This is a tragedy waiting to happen. These folks need to get this straightened out. One suggestion I have is to allow dealers to load in and out through the front circle drive.

Anyway, I arrived Thursday around 3 p.m. and was directed to a hazardous location blocked in the front by a dealer booth, blocked on my left by another dealer's vehicle, and blocked on my right by a steady stream of dealers pushing carts filled with cards and display cases. It sucked! I had two perilous trips to my booth. I set it up as quickly as I could then got out there without somehow killing anyone or smashing into another car. Not a good experience for someone with high blood pressure!

I returned Friday around noon and spent a couple hours loading up my display cases. Once again I was in a new location, by my request. I have been setting up at this show since the late 1990's and have been all over the room during that time. I have never set up in this row but have set up behind it. I was next to the jersey guy from Jersey -- Paul. What a great guy! Paul kept offering to help me set up. I had fun goofing around with him all weekend. One of his employees made some chocolate chip cookies that were out of this world. Paul kept feeding them to me all weekend.

One of the perks of setting up next to Paul is that his booth goes extremely deep, so I was able to spread my booth way back. I placed the 8-foot table, provided by the promoters, back a good 14 to 16 feet. Then I was able to run two 6-foot tables along the opposite side of Paul, along a booth manned by Greg from Waukesha Sports. I then placed a thin 4-foot table up against Paul's set up. I had a really nice little walk-in space.

Both Paul and Greg expressed their happiness that I was their new neighbor and they liked my set up. Apparently, the previous neighbor only used the 8-foot table and did not create a walk-in booth and expected Paul and Greg to provide him an entrance to the space behind his table by reducing the size of their booths. It don't work that way! I know, like I said, I've been there since the 1990's. You get 8-feet of frontage. You want an entrance into your booth, you provide the space, not your neighbors. I've had neighbors bitch to me about this in the past claiming I pinched their space by not providing an entrance -- which is complete BS because all you get is 8-feet of frontage per booth. Your neighbor is not required to shrink their booth and give you extra space. You get some real dickheads at this show. As a result, as thankful as Paul and Greg were that I was their neighbor, I was just as thankful that they were my neighbors. We had a great time and they took care of me and watched my booth so I could take bathroom breaks. Thanks guys!

I was able to place out 13 display cases. No binders. I don't bring binders to Rosemont after one was stolen at the 2010 National. I also keep my display cases locked the whole show. There are too many thieves here and they will go right into unlocked display cases. Quite a few cards were stolen at this past show. Dealers, you gotta keep those cases locked!

Thefts aside, prior to the show, I was worried I would not have enough cards to fill 13 display cases so I really hustled pricing cards. Turns out, I had way too many cards and was unable to place out a large amount of them. I feel like I lost sales because I could not get all of my cards out. For the March show, I am going to leave some of this stuff at home like my Exhibit cards, which sold great at the National but not here. The Exhibits take up a full display case.

Overall, sales were much slower than the March show -- which happens here. My sales at the Sports Spectacular are sooo inconsistent. I never know how it is going to go. I thought attendance was excellent. Maybe one of the best attended Sports Spectaculars ever. A lot of folks did not walk into my booth, they just walked by. I have always felt like a lot of those that attend this show do not collect cards but are there for the autographs or for man-cave items. My neighbor Greg who had two or three spaces filled with memorabilia and man-cave stuff did really well. Though, Paul, on the other side was disappointed as well with his sales. Regardless, he seemed pretty busy to me.

On the buying front, one of my best Sports Spectaculars in a while. I purchased a nice stack of 1959 Fleer Ted Williams cards which I really needed. I also purchased a stack of graded cards including a 1960 Topps Warren Spahn along with some other odds and ends.

On Sunday, I turned in my contract for the March show where I will be in the same spot between Paul and Greg. I might just load in from the parking garage because it is just too freakin' scary to load in from the poorly designated loading area.

I was totally exhausted after the Sports Spectacular and had a rough week but found time to finish reloading my 1959 Topps baseball binder in time for the Madison show on November 30, 2024.

As tired as I was, I found the energy to put together Thanksgiving for my family. Both my wife and daughter worked on Thanksgiving, so it was up to me to pick up my son from the train station and procure our dinner from Whole Foods with some supplements from Heinen's and Sunset Foods. I don't cook for Thanksgiving. I purchase precooked stuff and heat it up.

I was still heating up the food when my folks arrived. The boy went and picked up the girl from work. Lisa arrived later and we had a really nice Thanksgiving dinner. Hope yours was nice as well!

Then on Saturday, I mistakenly set my alarm for 5:30 p.m. instead of 5:30 a.m. I woke up at 6:47 a.m. in a panic. I did not have time to bathe so I threw on some cologne and extra deodorant. Hope I didn't stink at the Madison show!

Madison is a two-hour drive from my house. I arrived there just before the show opened at 9 a.m. There was already a crowd in the room. I had to hustle loading in then setting up my binders. Sorry if I was rude to anyone but I was not ready to chat at that moment. I needed to set up! I was able to get it done quickly but had no time to get any coffee from the faux Starbucks in the hotel lobby. Ugh! I can't function without coffee. Thankfully, one of my regular customers went and got me a cup of coffee. Thank you!!!

Unlike the Sports Spectacular where there is no pattern whatsoever to my sales, the Madison show is always consistent. I get a nice group of set builders in the morning then not much action in the afternoon. The rest of the day went according to plan. Sales were good but not quite as good as October where I totally rocked it. On the buying front, nada. I was offered some 1980's and 1990's cards. No thank you.

I was absolutely starving when I left the show. Normally, I arrive early enough to purchase some breakfast at the faux Starbucks. Not this morning. I hustled my way out of the show around 2 p.m. and headed straight for the Golden Corral in Janesville. I absolutely love the Golden Corral while my wife and kids hate it. So I can only go there when they are not with me. I had a wonderful meal, as usual. Located next to the Golden Corral is a gas station with some of the best prices around. I filled up and had a pleasant ride home.

No rest for the weary! I had to work my tail off to prepare for the December 7th Oak Creek show. I had 13 of my regular dealers take the month off, so I had to fill their spots from my waiting list. I have to contact two or three people on the waiting list to get just one to commit. It always boggles my mind when I leave a message for someone on the list and they don't bother to respond. 

I worked all week on getting the right amount of dealers. I had a few cancellations during the week, including a couple on the night before the show. Ugh! Then there were the cancellations on the morning of the show which always drives me nuts. I had one guy show up looking for some space and was able to plug him in the gym. Dealers who are not regulars at this show and are looking for space --- arrive at 9 a.m. with your stuff, I will more than likely have a spot for you. At least there were not any cold no-shows. I had four dealers contact me that morning stating they were unable to attend. I was able to fill one of the spots but the other three went empty -- which drives me nuts when I have more than 125 people on my waiting list!!!

So I had a whole bunch of new dealers which is always interesting. I could not leave my tables to see what they had. All the new dealers did real well. We had 1,095 through the door, one of our best attended shows of the year! All the new dealers want to come back. Unfortunately, with 13 regulars returning, I don't think I will have space for them. Sorry guys!

I had a great day! Sales were excellent. Buys were fantastic. I purchased a box of 1959 Topps baseball commons. Then one of my dealers in the Chapel directed a guy to me who was selling cards that had belonged to his brother, who had recently passed away. I don't know who directed the guy to me but I am in your debt. I purchased a nice pile of stuff that included a 1956 Topps Willie Mays, Ernie Banks and Al Kaline. Good stuff!

The best part of the show was that I got to spend all day with former Brewers pitcher Don August. I love that guy. He could not be any nicer and any more entertaining. We had a steady stream of folks looking for his autograph and purchasing his book. I loved watching him give pitching pointers to kids. I also thoroughly enjoyed his endless stories. He told me George Brett was the toughest hitter he went up against. He also had many stories of adventures playing overseas in Taiwan and Italy -- you'll find these stories in his book!

Man, what a fun day!!!

Next Oak Creek show is January 4, 2025. Next show for me is this Sunday in Orland. Hope to see you there!!!

​Now for some photos:

That's Paul from Jersey in the gray hoodie. I really enjoyed setting up next to him at the Sports Spectacular. 

Nobody in my booth. I watched my neighbor Greg make sales all weekend. Though, I don't think he sold any of those 1989 Topps sets.

Nice crowd at the November Madison show.

Excellent crowd in Oak Creek on December 7.

Me, Don August and my empty football binders.

One of the pulls from a free pack I gave away in Oak Creek.

Another free pack pull.