Waking up this morning wasn't as easy as yesterday. I didn't pop out of bed. Though, I was still pumped for another day of the National. It just took me a little longer to get going. I had all these grand plans of stuff I was going to get done before I went to the Stephens Center -- nope, didn't get anything done. My ride to Rosemont was smooth once again. Though, I heard stories all day long about traffic tie ups in the area due to the opening of a new "high-end" outlet mall. Can someone please explain to me how "high-end" and "outlet" somehow go together?
Anyway, I walked in and stopped and chatted with dealer Mark Smith. Mark is one of my heroes. He sets up at shows all over the Midwest on most every weekend. I tried driving to out-of-own shows last year. While I enjoyed the shows themselves, I didn't like all the driving. Mark puts in a lot of hours on the road and is still able to bring a smile at each show. Mark and I both thought the crowd was a little light yesterday. Well, today was the exact opposite. Someone opened the flood gates. The show was crowded from start to finish. It was great to see the crowds fill that huge room.
My tablemate Dave was busy all day. My other tablemates Scott and Tony seemed to have their moments where they were very busy. The morning was a little slow for me. I lot of windowshoppers. Around 11 a.m., it seemed to pick up for me and I was busy the rest of the day. After just two days at the National, I've already surpassed my sales totals for three days at the Sun-Times show this past March. Which solidifies what I already knew -- Sun-Times bad, National good. Dave and I are talking about setting up at the National in Cleveland next year.
I sold a ton of stuff today. A big thank you to TJ, Andy, Willie, my new friend John from Ohio, one of my regular autograph hounds from Milwaukee, and many others for purchasing cards. I sold a 1933 Goudey Lloyd Waner, some '53 Bowman Colors, a large pile of '74 Topps football, a couple of Fran Tarkentons from the 1960s, my Ditka rookie, a 1952 Topps Ted Kluszewski, a 1961 Topps Frank Robinson, some '75 baseball, and all sorts of stuff out of my baseball binders from the 1950s and 1960s. The cheapy boxes also got a workout today. A lot of cards went out the door today. Too many for me to remember.
A bunch of stuff came in, as well. I picked up a nice grouping of 1956 Topps commons, some 1964 Topps commons, some 1953 Topps high numbers, and near sets of 1966 and 1967 Philadelphia football.
A few observations from the show today. The Topps and Upper Deck booths were mobscenes when I walked by. The girth factor was extremely high all day long. Bill Simmons from ESPN stopped in front of my table and held up some poster he just purchased while his buddy snapped a photo. I was too slow to jump behind the photo and get my ugly mug on the Grantland blog.
After the show today, the other Tony and I went to the Old Warsaw Polish buffet on Lawrence and Harlem. This is one of my old haunts and it was great to be back there. The food is just as good as I remember. I also took the other Tony for a little tour around the old hood. I gotta say that I do miss that part of town. I think I have to make this a regular event at all the Rosemont shows -- hitting some of the great restaurants on Harlem. Well, day three is waiting right around the corner. I don't have any photos from the show today because my cell phone didn't seem to be working right. I'll try and get some photos tomorrow. If you're heading to the National, find me in booth 305. See you tomorrow!
Anyway, I walked in and stopped and chatted with dealer Mark Smith. Mark is one of my heroes. He sets up at shows all over the Midwest on most every weekend. I tried driving to out-of-own shows last year. While I enjoyed the shows themselves, I didn't like all the driving. Mark puts in a lot of hours on the road and is still able to bring a smile at each show. Mark and I both thought the crowd was a little light yesterday. Well, today was the exact opposite. Someone opened the flood gates. The show was crowded from start to finish. It was great to see the crowds fill that huge room.
My tablemate Dave was busy all day. My other tablemates Scott and Tony seemed to have their moments where they were very busy. The morning was a little slow for me. I lot of windowshoppers. Around 11 a.m., it seemed to pick up for me and I was busy the rest of the day. After just two days at the National, I've already surpassed my sales totals for three days at the Sun-Times show this past March. Which solidifies what I already knew -- Sun-Times bad, National good. Dave and I are talking about setting up at the National in Cleveland next year.
I sold a ton of stuff today. A big thank you to TJ, Andy, Willie, my new friend John from Ohio, one of my regular autograph hounds from Milwaukee, and many others for purchasing cards. I sold a 1933 Goudey Lloyd Waner, some '53 Bowman Colors, a large pile of '74 Topps football, a couple of Fran Tarkentons from the 1960s, my Ditka rookie, a 1952 Topps Ted Kluszewski, a 1961 Topps Frank Robinson, some '75 baseball, and all sorts of stuff out of my baseball binders from the 1950s and 1960s. The cheapy boxes also got a workout today. A lot of cards went out the door today. Too many for me to remember.
A bunch of stuff came in, as well. I picked up a nice grouping of 1956 Topps commons, some 1964 Topps commons, some 1953 Topps high numbers, and near sets of 1966 and 1967 Philadelphia football.
A few observations from the show today. The Topps and Upper Deck booths were mobscenes when I walked by. The girth factor was extremely high all day long. Bill Simmons from ESPN stopped in front of my table and held up some poster he just purchased while his buddy snapped a photo. I was too slow to jump behind the photo and get my ugly mug on the Grantland blog.
After the show today, the other Tony and I went to the Old Warsaw Polish buffet on Lawrence and Harlem. This is one of my old haunts and it was great to be back there. The food is just as good as I remember. I also took the other Tony for a little tour around the old hood. I gotta say that I do miss that part of town. I think I have to make this a regular event at all the Rosemont shows -- hitting some of the great restaurants on Harlem. Well, day three is waiting right around the corner. I don't have any photos from the show today because my cell phone didn't seem to be working right. I'll try and get some photos tomorrow. If you're heading to the National, find me in booth 305. See you tomorrow!
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