I had an extra three bins of cards with me today because I had an extra table yesterday in Orland and didn't unpack the car. Lo and behold, Keith gave me an extra table today at Gonzaga. Ken, a vintage dealer who normally sets up next to me, didn't make it and Keith had some cancellations. So four tables yesterday and a whopping five tables today. It was tough to cover all those tables. I also had a super moron modern card seller behind me. The guy placed a card table behind his single table and took up most of the space between our tables. I was going to say something to him but I figured as long as I have enough room to walk by, then I'll just deal with the inconvenience of practically no space behind one of my tables. However, at one point, the numbnut pulled up a chair and sat down at the card table, essentially blocking me from three of my tables. So I asked him to place his chair on the side of his card table so I can walk by. He had a partner with him who gave me a look. WTF? I have five tables, pay $100 in fees, you have one table pay $25 (actually split between two guys, so 12 bucks a piece). All I want is a path behind my tables so I can help customers with items on each of my tables. I've never seen this idiot before. He has long hair and a beard. If he had said anything to me, this could have escalated. I have no patience for douchebags.
Numbnuts and douchebags aside, I had a really good show. Former Brewer Charlie Moore walked in while I was setting up. He kind of looks like a truck driver and is much smaller than I had pictured. He looks like a big guy on his baseball cards. I wanted to get his auto but I was too busy to leave my table.
Mark is always the first guy at my table at Gonzaga. He likes oddball cards, inserts and non-sports. I had some '62 Post for him to peruse. I also picked up some non-sports at the National for him. After Mark paid for his cards the room started to fill up. Quite a few folks were bunched near the front stage for the auction. Luckily the auction went quick today because it can be a real distraction. The noise makes it tough to communicate with my customers. One of my best customers at Gonzaga is Gary. Unfortunately, he doesn't always buy from me but when he does, he has no problem throwing down $300 or $400. I sold him a bunch of stuff today including a '53 Topps Campanella, a '56 Topps Aaron, a '59 Topps Koufax, a '60 Topps Aaron and a pile of '58 Topps commons. Jim picked up a 53 Topps Ralph Kiner. Jason picked up a '39 Play Ball Elden Auker and some '62 Post. Another good customer picked up a big pile of '59s, '60s and '61 Topps commons. Tom bought my entire 50-cent box. Larry picked up my graded '52 Topps Chico Carrasquel. There is an uncle and nephew team that regularly stop by my table, both guys bought their amount of cards. I sold quite a bit of '70s basketball. I sold some '70s baseball to one customer and '70s football to another. I also sold some Babe Ruth posters and some unopened packs of 1986 Fleer. I made some sales out of my dime box. One customer was looking for Pittsburgh Pirates cards and he found some. Another guy bought a '58 Topps Johnny Logan. Quite a few guys bought cards out of my binders.
A lot of my customers assume I'm a big Cubs fan because I'm from Chicago. I'm actually more of a White Sox fan but these guys always want to talk about the Cubs. I haven't watched a single Cubs game this whole season. The Cubs are awful, I'm just not into them at all right now. I just didn't have much to say when were asking my opinion about things affecting the Cubs. I'd much rather talk about the White Sox but these guys just want to talk about the Cubs.
Not much doing on the buying front today. A vintage dealer, Jerry, approached me while I was setting up and said he had some cards for me and to come by his table when I had a chance. An hour or so into the show, I went by his table and he told me he sold the cards. I'm just wondering why he bothered to offer them to me. I had thought he was holding them for me. Another regular, whose cards are overpriced, offered me some stuff but I took a pass. No other cards were brought to my table. I looked at Bill's table at the end of the show but nothing jumped out at me. A dealer near the food stand had some strip cards from the 1920s. They were cool but priced a little high. It was actually nice going home with money in my pocket for once.
The hall started to clear out around 11 a.m because the first place Brewers were playing the Pirates. It seemed like most everybody at the show was going to the game. I flipped on the Brewer game on the radio during my drive home. I love listening to Bob Uecker. He is clearly the best announcer in sports. His play-by-play reminds me of the announcers of old. Also, when he is in the mood, he is unbelievably funny. Today he had Robin Yount sit in for three or four innings and I wish I had a copy of the broadcast, it was classic. Yount started telling Uecker how he has been to four cities in the past five days. Uecker responds: "So Robin, tell me, what does your parole officer do while you're gone?" Yount was speechless. Uecker asked Yount about the recent ceremonies in Cooperstown for Bert Blyleven and Robbie Alomar. Yount said Blyleven is a nut and seemed to allude that some heavy drinking was done in Cooperstown. Uecker then says: "So Robin, remember the time when you drove your Corvette around the Milwaukee Motor Speedway when it was closed at 1 a.m. in the morning."
Yount: It wasn't closed.
Uecker: Well I suppose it was easy to open the gates when you sped through them.
They had some serious moments too. Both guys talked about how they were teammates at one time with Robbie Alomar's father Santos. Yount recalled seeing Robbie and his brother Sandy in the locker room when they were tots.
Yount: When I started to play against them in the late 1980s, I knew it was time to retire.
When the Brewers' Craig Counsel came to bat, they mentioned how they knew him too when he was a kid. Apparently, Counsel's father worked for the Brewers. Yount recalled hitting ground balls to Counsel when he was a youngster. Yount was in Milwaukee raising funds for youth baseball. I always liked him as a player and after hearing his interview with Uecker, I have all the more respect for him. And for Uecker, he's simply the best. I can't wait to go back up to Milwaukee for the September Gonzaga show. I'm skipping Serb Hall this month. I need to take a break next weekend. So my next show will be Orland in two weeks. I'm hoping to have my '56 and '57 Topps binders reloaded for the Orland show. I'll probably have a blog or two and some random baseball card issues before the Orland show.
Numbnuts and douchebags aside, I had a really good show. Former Brewer Charlie Moore walked in while I was setting up. He kind of looks like a truck driver and is much smaller than I had pictured. He looks like a big guy on his baseball cards. I wanted to get his auto but I was too busy to leave my table.
Mark is always the first guy at my table at Gonzaga. He likes oddball cards, inserts and non-sports. I had some '62 Post for him to peruse. I also picked up some non-sports at the National for him. After Mark paid for his cards the room started to fill up. Quite a few folks were bunched near the front stage for the auction. Luckily the auction went quick today because it can be a real distraction. The noise makes it tough to communicate with my customers. One of my best customers at Gonzaga is Gary. Unfortunately, he doesn't always buy from me but when he does, he has no problem throwing down $300 or $400. I sold him a bunch of stuff today including a '53 Topps Campanella, a '56 Topps Aaron, a '59 Topps Koufax, a '60 Topps Aaron and a pile of '58 Topps commons. Jim picked up a 53 Topps Ralph Kiner. Jason picked up a '39 Play Ball Elden Auker and some '62 Post. Another good customer picked up a big pile of '59s, '60s and '61 Topps commons. Tom bought my entire 50-cent box. Larry picked up my graded '52 Topps Chico Carrasquel. There is an uncle and nephew team that regularly stop by my table, both guys bought their amount of cards. I sold quite a bit of '70s basketball. I sold some '70s baseball to one customer and '70s football to another. I also sold some Babe Ruth posters and some unopened packs of 1986 Fleer. I made some sales out of my dime box. One customer was looking for Pittsburgh Pirates cards and he found some. Another guy bought a '58 Topps Johnny Logan. Quite a few guys bought cards out of my binders.
A lot of my customers assume I'm a big Cubs fan because I'm from Chicago. I'm actually more of a White Sox fan but these guys always want to talk about the Cubs. I haven't watched a single Cubs game this whole season. The Cubs are awful, I'm just not into them at all right now. I just didn't have much to say when were asking my opinion about things affecting the Cubs. I'd much rather talk about the White Sox but these guys just want to talk about the Cubs.
Not much doing on the buying front today. A vintage dealer, Jerry, approached me while I was setting up and said he had some cards for me and to come by his table when I had a chance. An hour or so into the show, I went by his table and he told me he sold the cards. I'm just wondering why he bothered to offer them to me. I had thought he was holding them for me. Another regular, whose cards are overpriced, offered me some stuff but I took a pass. No other cards were brought to my table. I looked at Bill's table at the end of the show but nothing jumped out at me. A dealer near the food stand had some strip cards from the 1920s. They were cool but priced a little high. It was actually nice going home with money in my pocket for once.
The hall started to clear out around 11 a.m because the first place Brewers were playing the Pirates. It seemed like most everybody at the show was going to the game. I flipped on the Brewer game on the radio during my drive home. I love listening to Bob Uecker. He is clearly the best announcer in sports. His play-by-play reminds me of the announcers of old. Also, when he is in the mood, he is unbelievably funny. Today he had Robin Yount sit in for three or four innings and I wish I had a copy of the broadcast, it was classic. Yount started telling Uecker how he has been to four cities in the past five days. Uecker responds: "So Robin, tell me, what does your parole officer do while you're gone?" Yount was speechless. Uecker asked Yount about the recent ceremonies in Cooperstown for Bert Blyleven and Robbie Alomar. Yount said Blyleven is a nut and seemed to allude that some heavy drinking was done in Cooperstown. Uecker then says: "So Robin, remember the time when you drove your Corvette around the Milwaukee Motor Speedway when it was closed at 1 a.m. in the morning."
Yount: It wasn't closed.
Uecker: Well I suppose it was easy to open the gates when you sped through them.
They had some serious moments too. Both guys talked about how they were teammates at one time with Robbie Alomar's father Santos. Yount recalled seeing Robbie and his brother Sandy in the locker room when they were tots.
Yount: When I started to play against them in the late 1980s, I knew it was time to retire.
When the Brewers' Craig Counsel came to bat, they mentioned how they knew him too when he was a kid. Apparently, Counsel's father worked for the Brewers. Yount recalled hitting ground balls to Counsel when he was a youngster. Yount was in Milwaukee raising funds for youth baseball. I always liked him as a player and after hearing his interview with Uecker, I have all the more respect for him. And for Uecker, he's simply the best. I can't wait to go back up to Milwaukee for the September Gonzaga show. I'm skipping Serb Hall this month. I need to take a break next weekend. So my next show will be Orland in two weeks. I'm hoping to have my '56 and '57 Topps binders reloaded for the Orland show. I'll probably have a blog or two and some random baseball card issues before the Orland show.
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