I walked into the room at the Radisson in Schaumburg a little later than usual because I had a tough time getting going. The dealer set up next to me had placed a bunch of his merchandise on my table. One of his customers was looking through a box of cards on my table and had cards spread out. I brought in one of two loads from my car and kindly informed the dealer and his customer that I would need the space shortly. The dealer pulled off some of his stuff but not all of it. On the way out to get my second load, I told the show promoter Fred Copp that I was a little disturbed that the dealer next to me had not moved all his stuff off of my table. I must have been a little loud because when I brought the rest of my stuff in, the guy had moved his junk. Though he had a stack of five banker boxes up against one of my display cases. I had to move the boxes to be able to put cards into my display case. The guy mumbled something at me while I moved his boxes. I ignored him.
Action at my table was fairly steady. Big John started out my day picking up a few cards for sets he is building. I made a nice sale to Tom of some 58s and 59s. Jim Goodfriend purchased a bunch of 1977 Topps commons. Quite a few guys dinked around in my binders and the sales began to add up. Several guys picked up cards to send out to get signed. The day brightened significantly when I sold a 1948 Bowman Stan Musial rookie to a customer I have seen at Orland but never at Schaumburg. So with money in my pocket, I went on a spending spree. I picked up a box of mixed vintage from another dealer, a pair of Tommy John rookies and a Dave McNally rookie from one customer and a 1955 Topps Al Kaline, Eddie Mathews and a few commons from another customer. Nice haul. I offered $150 to a guy who showed up at my table with a binder of cards. The cards were off grade and featured mostly Cubs and a few other stars. About half the binder was vintage and the other half was reprints. I figured the binder was worth about $200. The guy tells me other dealers offered him $2,000. I said no way. He showed me fliers from two dealers that I know, smart dealers who would never spend $2,000 on $200 worth of cards. When I asked the guy why he didn't take the 2,000 from the other dealers, he said they didn't have the money on them. I kindly thanked him for showing me the cards and he left the room. Overall, a good day, one of my better Schaumburg shows.