Saturday, August 11, 2012, Orland Park, IL -- During my 13 years of working as a newspaper reporter, I wrote thousands of articles covering every subject imaginable. Oddly, of everything I've written, nothing seems to have generated as much interest as this blog. Today at Orland, I was blown away by how many people commented on my bear encounter blog. I didn't think anyone was checking this website while I was on vacation. I only wrote the bear blog after I saw that 200-plus people were tooling around the site last Sunday!! It's taken quite a while, but I think I finally found an audience. Thanks everybody! This is very cool!! I may have to pull up some of old articles from the archives and post them here. There was some entertaining pieces, like the time I wrote about goat udders at the DuPage County Fair or the time when I visited every tavern on Milwaukee Avenue from Downtown Chicago all the way out to north suburban Libertyville (30 or 40 miles) and lived to write about it.
I have lots of good stuff for another day. This day, however, was my return to card shows after a rare two-week hiatus. I actually had a bad feeling about this show because the Saturday Orland show last month was real slow. First thing I noticed this morning when loading up my car was that the weather was perfect. I then thought we were doomed. Early on, it seemed that way as well. The joke all morning was, "When does the show start?" Today, it seemed like the show didn't start until close to noon. Other than Rick, all my early-morning regulars were AWOL. Did I smell or something today? Some guys completely blew me off. Weird!!
Luckily, I had a bunch of new customers today. A father and son team kicked things off with a purchase of my 1961 Topps Ron Santo and Billy Williams rookies. I just priced those cards for the show last night. Those cards never stick around long. A regular picked up some 1971s. A new customer picked up some 1961s, including a 1961 Nellie Fox All Star. Another new customer purchased some 1957 Topps football singles. My man Joey picked up some 1970 Topps. Chris pulled a pile of 1964 Topps and Philadelphia football cards.
Rick grabbed my 1975 Topps Minis Robin Yount rookie. A regular customer, who told me that he is a vendor at Wrigley and Comiskey-cellular, purchased a 1957 Topps Joe Collins and Lou Burdette. An autograph hound purchased some 1952 Bowmans. Those cards are pretty old, I'm not sure if he's trying to get them signed. Is anyone still alive from the 1952 Bowman set? A regular customer purchased some 1975s. New customer, Dan Taylor, made my day by purchasing all the 1953 Bowman Color cards from my binder. Dan also brought along some 1957-58 Topps basketball and some 1961-62 Fleer basketball to show off. Cool cards! In addition to those tough basketball cards, Dan pulled out a complete set of 1954 Bowmans. He sold Mark Smith some tough 1962 Post football. He used the money from the sale to Mark to purchase my Bowmans. Thanks Mark for helping me out!!
A regular then picked up some 1961 Topps. Northside Chuck, as opposed to Joliet Chuck, purchased a bunch of football cards. Will picked up some '62s and '61s. Andy, in town from Florida, picked up a bunch fillers from '54 Bowman, '52 Bowman, '63 Topps and some '72--73 Topps basketball. Burl, who I haven't seen in a quite a while picked up a nice pile of 1976 and 1972 Topps baseball. Burl is recovering from triple bypass surgery and I wish him well in his recovery.
On the buying front, I went in with a plan to purchase very little because I won some online auctions on Thursday and need to raise some funds to cover the purchases. Well, what's that old saying? "The best laid schemes of mice and men often go awry." This should be my theme when it comes to buying cards. I just can't refrain! If you notice I'm running a crazy number of eBay auctions this week, it's because I've got to raise some cash fast to pay a whole bunch of baseball card debts.
Anyway, I picked up a bunch of oddball stuff today like those RC Cola cans from the 1970s that have baseball players depicted on them. I picked up some 1962 statback Exhibits, commons mostly, but I love those things. Some 1969 Topps football poster inserts. A bunch of Kelloggs baseball cards from the late 1970s. A smattering of 1970's Hostess panels. A ton of 1976-77 Topps basketball. I picked up two different groupings from two different guys. How often does that happen? Some 1964 and 1971 Topps coins. Those baseball card discs from the 1970s. A pack of Harley Davidson cards from the 1990s (they came with the group of all this other stuff). A nice pile of 1969-70 and 1970-71 Topps basketball. A bunch of commons from the 1960s and a smattering of stars. I bought so much stuff, I can't remember everything.
Later on, a young guy showed up at my table with three 1962 Topps Mickey Mantles -- three, yes, three! They were battered and he wanted too much money. If I actually had any cash left in my pocket, I would have made an offer on those. I didn't have the money to see if he was firm on his pricing. All in all, I left the show with far more cards than I came there with. That's the thing with being a baseball card dealer... buying is just as important as selling. I really upped my inventory today!
A good day, I must say. I ended up selling a decent amount of cards after a slow start and picked up all sorts of stuff. Leaving the show was a little weird. The Civic Center worker, dubbed the "bald guy" by me, was in a frenzy. From 1:30 to 2 p.m., he must have walked by my table six or seven times. He was itching to take down the tables. Burl was my last customer today and he stuck around until 2 p.m. and I didn't get out of there until 3 p.m. It takes me a while to pack away all my stuff and load it into my car. Bald guy was telling people to "wrap it up." He also hid all the big carts, though Phylis was kind enough to sneak me one. Last summer, I blogged about a run-in I had with the Bald Guy. Noticing the Bald Guy's manic act today, Mark Smith tried to stir up some trouble by telling me Bald Guy said he was going to kick my ass if I didn't leave soon. Then Mark went and told the Bald Guy that I said I am waiting to fight him. If Mark is reading this blog, you left too early and missed a great fight. I poked out one of Bald Guy's eyes and he knocked out a few of my teeth. Big Brad joined in and tossed some tables while Bill Nest went all karate and landed a few flying kicks. *Disclaimer* Any on all attempts to report an actual account of the end of the show today has been purposely avoided. This portion of the blog is absolutely fictitious and any resemblance to actual events, occurring anywhere in the world, at any time in the history of mankind, is purely coincidental.
This Orland show is the first of a double bill weekend. Up tomorrow is Gonzaga. Looking forward to seeing all my Milwaukee peeps. In closing, as my cool friend Stats once said, "Peace Out!"
Pictured below are some of my pick-ups from today.
I have lots of good stuff for another day. This day, however, was my return to card shows after a rare two-week hiatus. I actually had a bad feeling about this show because the Saturday Orland show last month was real slow. First thing I noticed this morning when loading up my car was that the weather was perfect. I then thought we were doomed. Early on, it seemed that way as well. The joke all morning was, "When does the show start?" Today, it seemed like the show didn't start until close to noon. Other than Rick, all my early-morning regulars were AWOL. Did I smell or something today? Some guys completely blew me off. Weird!!
Luckily, I had a bunch of new customers today. A father and son team kicked things off with a purchase of my 1961 Topps Ron Santo and Billy Williams rookies. I just priced those cards for the show last night. Those cards never stick around long. A regular picked up some 1971s. A new customer picked up some 1961s, including a 1961 Nellie Fox All Star. Another new customer purchased some 1957 Topps football singles. My man Joey picked up some 1970 Topps. Chris pulled a pile of 1964 Topps and Philadelphia football cards.
Rick grabbed my 1975 Topps Minis Robin Yount rookie. A regular customer, who told me that he is a vendor at Wrigley and Comiskey-cellular, purchased a 1957 Topps Joe Collins and Lou Burdette. An autograph hound purchased some 1952 Bowmans. Those cards are pretty old, I'm not sure if he's trying to get them signed. Is anyone still alive from the 1952 Bowman set? A regular customer purchased some 1975s. New customer, Dan Taylor, made my day by purchasing all the 1953 Bowman Color cards from my binder. Dan also brought along some 1957-58 Topps basketball and some 1961-62 Fleer basketball to show off. Cool cards! In addition to those tough basketball cards, Dan pulled out a complete set of 1954 Bowmans. He sold Mark Smith some tough 1962 Post football. He used the money from the sale to Mark to purchase my Bowmans. Thanks Mark for helping me out!!
A regular then picked up some 1961 Topps. Northside Chuck, as opposed to Joliet Chuck, purchased a bunch of football cards. Will picked up some '62s and '61s. Andy, in town from Florida, picked up a bunch fillers from '54 Bowman, '52 Bowman, '63 Topps and some '72--73 Topps basketball. Burl, who I haven't seen in a quite a while picked up a nice pile of 1976 and 1972 Topps baseball. Burl is recovering from triple bypass surgery and I wish him well in his recovery.
On the buying front, I went in with a plan to purchase very little because I won some online auctions on Thursday and need to raise some funds to cover the purchases. Well, what's that old saying? "The best laid schemes of mice and men often go awry." This should be my theme when it comes to buying cards. I just can't refrain! If you notice I'm running a crazy number of eBay auctions this week, it's because I've got to raise some cash fast to pay a whole bunch of baseball card debts.
Anyway, I picked up a bunch of oddball stuff today like those RC Cola cans from the 1970s that have baseball players depicted on them. I picked up some 1962 statback Exhibits, commons mostly, but I love those things. Some 1969 Topps football poster inserts. A bunch of Kelloggs baseball cards from the late 1970s. A smattering of 1970's Hostess panels. A ton of 1976-77 Topps basketball. I picked up two different groupings from two different guys. How often does that happen? Some 1964 and 1971 Topps coins. Those baseball card discs from the 1970s. A pack of Harley Davidson cards from the 1990s (they came with the group of all this other stuff). A nice pile of 1969-70 and 1970-71 Topps basketball. A bunch of commons from the 1960s and a smattering of stars. I bought so much stuff, I can't remember everything.
Later on, a young guy showed up at my table with three 1962 Topps Mickey Mantles -- three, yes, three! They were battered and he wanted too much money. If I actually had any cash left in my pocket, I would have made an offer on those. I didn't have the money to see if he was firm on his pricing. All in all, I left the show with far more cards than I came there with. That's the thing with being a baseball card dealer... buying is just as important as selling. I really upped my inventory today!
A good day, I must say. I ended up selling a decent amount of cards after a slow start and picked up all sorts of stuff. Leaving the show was a little weird. The Civic Center worker, dubbed the "bald guy" by me, was in a frenzy. From 1:30 to 2 p.m., he must have walked by my table six or seven times. He was itching to take down the tables. Burl was my last customer today and he stuck around until 2 p.m. and I didn't get out of there until 3 p.m. It takes me a while to pack away all my stuff and load it into my car. Bald guy was telling people to "wrap it up." He also hid all the big carts, though Phylis was kind enough to sneak me one. Last summer, I blogged about a run-in I had with the Bald Guy. Noticing the Bald Guy's manic act today, Mark Smith tried to stir up some trouble by telling me Bald Guy said he was going to kick my ass if I didn't leave soon. Then Mark went and told the Bald Guy that I said I am waiting to fight him. If Mark is reading this blog, you left too early and missed a great fight. I poked out one of Bald Guy's eyes and he knocked out a few of my teeth. Big Brad joined in and tossed some tables while Bill Nest went all karate and landed a few flying kicks. *Disclaimer* Any on all attempts to report an actual account of the end of the show today has been purposely avoided. This portion of the blog is absolutely fictitious and any resemblance to actual events, occurring anywhere in the world, at any time in the history of mankind, is purely coincidental.
This Orland show is the first of a double bill weekend. Up tomorrow is Gonzaga. Looking forward to seeing all my Milwaukee peeps. In closing, as my cool friend Stats once said, "Peace Out!"
Pictured below are some of my pick-ups from today.
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