Fri-Sun, May 16-18, 2025, Wisconsin Card Show, Baird Center, Milwaukee
Initially, I intended to set up this month at the Detroit Sports Spectacular but when I learned about the three-day Wisconsin Card Show, I decided that an hour drive to Milwaukee beats a five-hour drive to Detroit. I'll hit that Detroit show one of these days. Oddly enough, I saw Shannon, who runs the Detroit and Chicago Sports Spectaculars, at the Milwaukee Show. I almost asked her for tables because the Detroit show is at the end of the month but, man, I am just not feeling that drive.
I had two 8-foot tables to fill at the Wisconsin Card Show. I decided to bring the same stuff I brought out to Kane County last week. After selling a bunch of slabs in Kane, I priced up a bunch more for the Wisconsin show, largely made up of 1955 Bowman football.
Like all three-day shows, load in is always difficult. Dealers only had 15 minutes to park at an almost hidden loading dock and load in. Needless to say, it was a little stressful because once you had your stuff on your cart, you had to take a service elevator up to the fourth floor, weave your way through a kitchen area and into the show room and back.
I was happy to see Greg from Waukesha Sports who was set up outside the kitchen. Greg is my neighbor at the Chicago Sports Spectacular. I may not set up at the November Sports Spectacular as table fee has gone up once again. I gotta think about that one.
After completing load in, I had to find parking. Lorena from Lake Country Cards, one of the promoters of the Wisconsin Card Show along with Swarmm Events and Waukesha Sports, was kind enough to provide a parking discount for the venue's lot along with another nearby lot. Problem for me was that I could not find the packet she emailed to vendors with the parking info so I ended up driving around. I stopped at two different parking lots, each wanted $30 to park. I found one about four blocks away for $20. Next time I'm taping the parking info to my steering wheel! I would have saved a good 40 bucks if I used the discounted parking. Ugh!
Anyway, the room housing the show looked like a fancy Vegas casino -- it was cool! One of the best rooms I have ever seen for a card show. Tons of room! Nice wide aisles. I had a ton of space in my pod. I could really spread out.
I was happy to see that I was located next to Nelson and Michael. There were several other younger dealers in the pod who I did not know. One sold Pokemon while the others sold modern sports. All seemed like good guys. Oh, it makes such a huge difference when everyone in the pod is kind and respectful and do not pinch more than their fair share of the space. If anything, I probably took up most of the space and nobody seemed to care.
I arrived a little late, around 2 p.m., on Friday, so there were customers hovering over me as I loaded my display cases -- which I absolutely hate. As you know, I do not like to be bothered while setting up. I just want to get everything set up first before customers ask to see cards because, otherwise, I lose out on sales by not having all of my wares out. No luck. Next time I am arriving early!!
With so many people hovering over me while setting up and asking to see cards long before I completed set up, I thought I might be in for a very good day. Frustratingly, all these people did not buy anything! If you are not going to purchase anything, then stand back and let me finish setting up!!
Oddly enough, once I completed set up, a lot less people came around to view my display cases. In fact, the first day seemed lightly attended. I found myself staring off into space early on. My stomach began to rumble and I found a food booth called Cocina Filipina. I ordered a chicken bowl which contained some mildly spiced chicken over rice. They also had Diet Mountain Dew. Woot! The food was a little pricey but absolutely delicious.
After dinner, still not much action at my tables so I decided to walk around. I saw a lot of vendors who set up at my Oak Creek show. So many that Andrew spotted me and said "Welcome to your show!" It is always great see all these guys like Scotty P., Scott and Jim Z., Andrew and Gary, Mike M., Eric U., J.R., Boonie, Matt and Andy M., Tyler, Jorden C., Tommy and Frank C., and Aaron R.
Even though people complained to me all weekend that there was not much vintage at this show, I, on the other hand, thought I saw a decent amount of vintage spread out throughout the show. I was one of three dealers that were all vintage. The others were Mike Meyer, who was set up in the hallway, and Scott Z. But many other dealers had a decent amount of vintage mixed in with modern like LCC, J.R., Eric, Tommy, Matt and quite a few of the younger modern dealers. One of these young modern dealers had a 1955 Bowman Hank Aaron in his display case that I should have snagged. Tyler ended up getting it along with a bunch of other Aarons. You snooze, you lose!
Anyway, sales were awfully slow Friday. Purchases, on the other hand, were pretty good. A near 1968 Topps Game set walked up and I purchased it for a song! A few other odds and ends trickled in as well.
The show ended at 8 p.m. There was a lot of security at the show, so I was not too concerned about leaving my cards there overnight.
I had the option of spending the night in Milwaukee at my buddy George's house. Thanks George! But I decided to drive home because I wanted to grab more stuff as the dealer next me did not show up. Traffic was nice and light on the drive home.
Thankfully, I did not need to arrive all that early on Saturday as the show opened to VIPs at 9:30 a.m. My son Kolby decided to accompany me to the show. Woot! We arrived around 8:45 a.m. I debated on stopping for breakfast but was not sure we had enough time. Well, things were slow early on and we could have stopped!
Around 10 a.m., things picked up and the hoards arrived. Excellent attendance on Saturday. There were large lines for autographs all day long. A steady flow of customers funneled by my tables and sales were excellent. I had nine display cases and sold cards out of eight of them.
Another good day of buying as well. A customer, who drove up from Peoria, Illinois, sold me a 1957 Topps Eddie Mathews, an Early Wynn, and a 1973 Topps Dwight Evans rookie. Scott Z. sent over a guy selling a matchbook from the 1940's with some random player pictured. I purchased it.
As usual, a ton of guys selling junk era cards. No thank you! I had to constantly tell guys, and kids, that I only purchase old, old cards -- 1989 Upper Deck is not old enough!
I gotta talk about this one numbnut who was selling some printing plates from some random Topps issue from, I think, 2003. He thought they were worth a million dollars. I told him that if he had a printing plate of a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle, then he would have something worth a million dollars but not some random 2003 issue that nobody cares about. I would value the 2003 printing plates at 50 bucks.
While I did not enjoy all the junk coming to my tables, I did enjoy some excellent conversations all weekend. It was cool to meet Kyle, who came up to my table with a Mickey Mantle autographed ball for sale. Kyle currently lives in Green Bay but grew up in my hometown of Northbrook, Illinois, and we attended the same high school. I graduated in 1985. Kyle graduated in 1991.
I also spotted Milwaukee Bucks power forward Taurean Prince at the show. He collects cards! He was there all weekend and spent a ton of time at the dealer across from me and with some of the young guys in my pod. He seemed like a great guy and was gracious as fans stopped him for photos.
As usual, hunger eventually took over. For lunch, Kolby had a hot dog which looked fairly decent but I have a hard time eating hot dogs when all the proper fixings are not provided. All they had was mustard and relish. I went back to Cocina Filipina and tried the spicy chicken bowl -- oh, my, so, so, good!
After the show, Kolby and I dined nearby at the King and I Thai Restaurant. We both ordered Pad Thai, called Pud Thai at this restaurant. Kolby ordered his spicy while I ordered mine mild. Mine came spicy. It was delicious but way too much heat for me. I had difficulty eating it. Our waiter was kind of silly and I almost think he gave me the spicy on purpose and got a good laugh watching me try to eat it.
We had an easy drive home. Traffic was light again.
No Kolby on Sunday, just me. Once again I arrived at the venue around 8:45 a.m. I would have stopped for breakfast but was not hungry this morning.
My morning routine at multi-day shows consists of filling all the holes in my display cases from the previous day sales. Unfortunately, I did not have too many extra items to fill the space. After some figuring, I was able to get it done.
Seemed like the large crowds on Saturday were there for Jackson Churio's autograph. I figured large crowds would attend Sunday because signers included Robin Yount, Paul Molitor, Rollie Fingers and Ted Simmons. We ended up with a surprisingly light crowd. As a result, sales were light as well.
I had some nice buys, though. Eric sold me a nice grouping of 1969-70 Topps basketball. A regular, who I have known for years, but, of course, can't remember his name, sold me a 1954 Topps Bob Buhl SGC 4.
While I was negotiating with the regular, and distracted, a guy sat down in front of my dollar box and was there for a good half hour, then he took off with a pile of cards and did not pay for them. Last time I brought out the dollar box, at the Valpo show, I had cards stolen as well. I don't think I am going to bring out the dollar box any more as people just steal from me every time I have it out. Sad.
Theft aside, I had to fill my tummy once again. On the way in on Sunday morning, I observed some food booths at the volleyball tournament that was being held on the floor below the card show. I stopped there early for coffee then came back for some orange chicken at an Asian food booth. The orange chicken was very good but the portion was small for the price. I was soon hungry afterwards and purchased a bratwurst from the market stand at the card show. I was happy to see that they had fresh sauerkraut to accompany the brat which was very tasty.
Load out was a little difficult. I did not want to leave my cards unattended while I went to fetch my car so I carted my bins about four blocks to the parking garage. Once back to the venue, the guard would not let me drive up to the loading dock. He said there were too many vendors already up there so I had to sit and wait.
Once back into the show, there were many more obstacles as the kitchen staff and various vendors blocked the path from my booth to the service elevator. Ugh! A big thank you to Tom from Real Sports for holding my cart so it did not slide down the loading ramp while I loaded my car.
Another easy drive home.
My overall thoughts on the show: I really liked it. I thought it was well run. I will definitely set up again! A huge thank you for Lorena for taking such good care of me all weekend! I love LCC!
Next up for me is the Peru Mall show which I just booked for Saturday, May 24, 2025. Then on Sunday is the mighty Orland Park show on May 25, 2025. I am back to binders this weekend. New for Saturday is binder one of two of 1969 Topps baseball. I also priced up some 1966 Coke Bottle Cap Packers. I am probably going to also bring out some vintage groupings and lots to Orland.
Next Oak Creek show is June 7. Hope to see you this weekend!
Below are a few more photos from the Wisconsin show this past weekend.
Initially, I intended to set up this month at the Detroit Sports Spectacular but when I learned about the three-day Wisconsin Card Show, I decided that an hour drive to Milwaukee beats a five-hour drive to Detroit. I'll hit that Detroit show one of these days. Oddly enough, I saw Shannon, who runs the Detroit and Chicago Sports Spectaculars, at the Milwaukee Show. I almost asked her for tables because the Detroit show is at the end of the month but, man, I am just not feeling that drive.
I had two 8-foot tables to fill at the Wisconsin Card Show. I decided to bring the same stuff I brought out to Kane County last week. After selling a bunch of slabs in Kane, I priced up a bunch more for the Wisconsin show, largely made up of 1955 Bowman football.
Like all three-day shows, load in is always difficult. Dealers only had 15 minutes to park at an almost hidden loading dock and load in. Needless to say, it was a little stressful because once you had your stuff on your cart, you had to take a service elevator up to the fourth floor, weave your way through a kitchen area and into the show room and back.
I was happy to see Greg from Waukesha Sports who was set up outside the kitchen. Greg is my neighbor at the Chicago Sports Spectacular. I may not set up at the November Sports Spectacular as table fee has gone up once again. I gotta think about that one.
After completing load in, I had to find parking. Lorena from Lake Country Cards, one of the promoters of the Wisconsin Card Show along with Swarmm Events and Waukesha Sports, was kind enough to provide a parking discount for the venue's lot along with another nearby lot. Problem for me was that I could not find the packet she emailed to vendors with the parking info so I ended up driving around. I stopped at two different parking lots, each wanted $30 to park. I found one about four blocks away for $20. Next time I'm taping the parking info to my steering wheel! I would have saved a good 40 bucks if I used the discounted parking. Ugh!
Anyway, the room housing the show looked like a fancy Vegas casino -- it was cool! One of the best rooms I have ever seen for a card show. Tons of room! Nice wide aisles. I had a ton of space in my pod. I could really spread out.
I was happy to see that I was located next to Nelson and Michael. There were several other younger dealers in the pod who I did not know. One sold Pokemon while the others sold modern sports. All seemed like good guys. Oh, it makes such a huge difference when everyone in the pod is kind and respectful and do not pinch more than their fair share of the space. If anything, I probably took up most of the space and nobody seemed to care.
I arrived a little late, around 2 p.m., on Friday, so there were customers hovering over me as I loaded my display cases -- which I absolutely hate. As you know, I do not like to be bothered while setting up. I just want to get everything set up first before customers ask to see cards because, otherwise, I lose out on sales by not having all of my wares out. No luck. Next time I am arriving early!!
With so many people hovering over me while setting up and asking to see cards long before I completed set up, I thought I might be in for a very good day. Frustratingly, all these people did not buy anything! If you are not going to purchase anything, then stand back and let me finish setting up!!
Oddly enough, once I completed set up, a lot less people came around to view my display cases. In fact, the first day seemed lightly attended. I found myself staring off into space early on. My stomach began to rumble and I found a food booth called Cocina Filipina. I ordered a chicken bowl which contained some mildly spiced chicken over rice. They also had Diet Mountain Dew. Woot! The food was a little pricey but absolutely delicious.
After dinner, still not much action at my tables so I decided to walk around. I saw a lot of vendors who set up at my Oak Creek show. So many that Andrew spotted me and said "Welcome to your show!" It is always great see all these guys like Scotty P., Scott and Jim Z., Andrew and Gary, Mike M., Eric U., J.R., Boonie, Matt and Andy M., Tyler, Jorden C., Tommy and Frank C., and Aaron R.
Even though people complained to me all weekend that there was not much vintage at this show, I, on the other hand, thought I saw a decent amount of vintage spread out throughout the show. I was one of three dealers that were all vintage. The others were Mike Meyer, who was set up in the hallway, and Scott Z. But many other dealers had a decent amount of vintage mixed in with modern like LCC, J.R., Eric, Tommy, Matt and quite a few of the younger modern dealers. One of these young modern dealers had a 1955 Bowman Hank Aaron in his display case that I should have snagged. Tyler ended up getting it along with a bunch of other Aarons. You snooze, you lose!
Anyway, sales were awfully slow Friday. Purchases, on the other hand, were pretty good. A near 1968 Topps Game set walked up and I purchased it for a song! A few other odds and ends trickled in as well.
The show ended at 8 p.m. There was a lot of security at the show, so I was not too concerned about leaving my cards there overnight.
I had the option of spending the night in Milwaukee at my buddy George's house. Thanks George! But I decided to drive home because I wanted to grab more stuff as the dealer next me did not show up. Traffic was nice and light on the drive home.
Thankfully, I did not need to arrive all that early on Saturday as the show opened to VIPs at 9:30 a.m. My son Kolby decided to accompany me to the show. Woot! We arrived around 8:45 a.m. I debated on stopping for breakfast but was not sure we had enough time. Well, things were slow early on and we could have stopped!
Around 10 a.m., things picked up and the hoards arrived. Excellent attendance on Saturday. There were large lines for autographs all day long. A steady flow of customers funneled by my tables and sales were excellent. I had nine display cases and sold cards out of eight of them.
Another good day of buying as well. A customer, who drove up from Peoria, Illinois, sold me a 1957 Topps Eddie Mathews, an Early Wynn, and a 1973 Topps Dwight Evans rookie. Scott Z. sent over a guy selling a matchbook from the 1940's with some random player pictured. I purchased it.
As usual, a ton of guys selling junk era cards. No thank you! I had to constantly tell guys, and kids, that I only purchase old, old cards -- 1989 Upper Deck is not old enough!
I gotta talk about this one numbnut who was selling some printing plates from some random Topps issue from, I think, 2003. He thought they were worth a million dollars. I told him that if he had a printing plate of a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle, then he would have something worth a million dollars but not some random 2003 issue that nobody cares about. I would value the 2003 printing plates at 50 bucks.
While I did not enjoy all the junk coming to my tables, I did enjoy some excellent conversations all weekend. It was cool to meet Kyle, who came up to my table with a Mickey Mantle autographed ball for sale. Kyle currently lives in Green Bay but grew up in my hometown of Northbrook, Illinois, and we attended the same high school. I graduated in 1985. Kyle graduated in 1991.
I also spotted Milwaukee Bucks power forward Taurean Prince at the show. He collects cards! He was there all weekend and spent a ton of time at the dealer across from me and with some of the young guys in my pod. He seemed like a great guy and was gracious as fans stopped him for photos.
As usual, hunger eventually took over. For lunch, Kolby had a hot dog which looked fairly decent but I have a hard time eating hot dogs when all the proper fixings are not provided. All they had was mustard and relish. I went back to Cocina Filipina and tried the spicy chicken bowl -- oh, my, so, so, good!
After the show, Kolby and I dined nearby at the King and I Thai Restaurant. We both ordered Pad Thai, called Pud Thai at this restaurant. Kolby ordered his spicy while I ordered mine mild. Mine came spicy. It was delicious but way too much heat for me. I had difficulty eating it. Our waiter was kind of silly and I almost think he gave me the spicy on purpose and got a good laugh watching me try to eat it.
We had an easy drive home. Traffic was light again.
No Kolby on Sunday, just me. Once again I arrived at the venue around 8:45 a.m. I would have stopped for breakfast but was not hungry this morning.
My morning routine at multi-day shows consists of filling all the holes in my display cases from the previous day sales. Unfortunately, I did not have too many extra items to fill the space. After some figuring, I was able to get it done.
Seemed like the large crowds on Saturday were there for Jackson Churio's autograph. I figured large crowds would attend Sunday because signers included Robin Yount, Paul Molitor, Rollie Fingers and Ted Simmons. We ended up with a surprisingly light crowd. As a result, sales were light as well.
I had some nice buys, though. Eric sold me a nice grouping of 1969-70 Topps basketball. A regular, who I have known for years, but, of course, can't remember his name, sold me a 1954 Topps Bob Buhl SGC 4.
While I was negotiating with the regular, and distracted, a guy sat down in front of my dollar box and was there for a good half hour, then he took off with a pile of cards and did not pay for them. Last time I brought out the dollar box, at the Valpo show, I had cards stolen as well. I don't think I am going to bring out the dollar box any more as people just steal from me every time I have it out. Sad.
Theft aside, I had to fill my tummy once again. On the way in on Sunday morning, I observed some food booths at the volleyball tournament that was being held on the floor below the card show. I stopped there early for coffee then came back for some orange chicken at an Asian food booth. The orange chicken was very good but the portion was small for the price. I was soon hungry afterwards and purchased a bratwurst from the market stand at the card show. I was happy to see that they had fresh sauerkraut to accompany the brat which was very tasty.
Load out was a little difficult. I did not want to leave my cards unattended while I went to fetch my car so I carted my bins about four blocks to the parking garage. Once back to the venue, the guard would not let me drive up to the loading dock. He said there were too many vendors already up there so I had to sit and wait.
Once back into the show, there were many more obstacles as the kitchen staff and various vendors blocked the path from my booth to the service elevator. Ugh! A big thank you to Tom from Real Sports for holding my cart so it did not slide down the loading ramp while I loaded my car.
Another easy drive home.
My overall thoughts on the show: I really liked it. I thought it was well run. I will definitely set up again! A huge thank you for Lorena for taking such good care of me all weekend! I love LCC!
Next up for me is the Peru Mall show which I just booked for Saturday, May 24, 2025. Then on Sunday is the mighty Orland Park show on May 25, 2025. I am back to binders this weekend. New for Saturday is binder one of two of 1969 Topps baseball. I also priced up some 1966 Coke Bottle Cap Packers. I am probably going to also bring out some vintage groupings and lots to Orland.
Next Oak Creek show is June 7. Hope to see you this weekend!
Below are a few more photos from the Wisconsin show this past weekend.
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