FAT DADDY'S SPORTS
  • HOME
    • BIO
    • Reach Me
  • CARD SHOWS
    • Gonzaga >
      • Photos
    • MY SHOW! >
      • Smith & Gordon Show Photos 2014
      • 2015 Photos
      • 2016 Photos
  • STORE
    • eBay
  • PHOTOS
    • Card Show Photos >
      • 2012 Card Show Photos
      • 2013 Card Show Photos
    • Recent Pick-Ups >
      • Page 2
  • BLOG
  • LINKS
    • YouTube
  • STUFF
    • ARTICLES
    • BOOK REVIEWS
  • FAQ
  • BUYING

On The Road Again!

1/28/2015

4 Comments

 
I set out for Indianapolis on the afternoon of Friday, January 23, 2015. For some reason, I thought it would be a four-hour drive from the northern suburbs of Chicago but I made it to Indy in three. First item on my agenda upon arrival was food. I drove around the western part of Indy for a while looking for a Ma & Pa type restaurant. All the chains were well represented. I observed that most every strip mall was named after some aspect of automobile racing which makes sense since I was in the home of the Indy 500. I ended up at the "Number One Chinese Restaurant" where I dined on beef and broccoli, fried rice and an egg roll. The portions were large and the price was just $8. Number One Chinese Restaurant reminded me of a place that used to be by Wrigley Field called Mr. Chop Suey where they had the same deal for around $5 back in the mid-1980s. Mr. Chop Suey is long gone. I think it is a tavern now. When I was in high school and into my first few years of college, I was a regular at Mr. Chop Suey.

Located across from Number One Chinese Restaurant is the Dollar Inn Hotel. I Googled the Dollar Inn from my cell phone and read several reviews that complained of bed bugs. I then Googled Motel 6 and learned that there were some up north. Motel 6 is my go to motel because they are usually cheap and clean. After a short drive, I easily found a Motel 6 that seemed to be in a nice part of town. Lying in the motel bed reading Facebook on my iPhone, I saw a post that Ernie Banks had died. I was heartbroken. Ernie was a hero in my house growing up. My dad was a beer and hot dog vendor at Wrigley Field during the first half of Ernie's career. So dad watched most every game Ernie ever played and stories about Ernie's greatness permeated many childhood dinners and road trips. Dad is coming in from Florida to attend Ernie's funeral.

I was about five years old when Ernie retired from baseball and I don't remember watching him play. I do remember him as a fixture at Wrigley Field throughout the 1970s, a decade where I attended dozens of games every summer. I remember Ernie out front on the corner of Clark & Addison greeting fans. In the summer of 1975, I went to Wrigley with a youth group for a tour of the field. To my surprise, our tour guide was Ernie Banks. About two dozen or so kids followed Ernie through the stadium and out onto the field. He took us to the outfield where we touched the ivy. It was an awesome day.

I appreciated Ernie Banks for what he did on the field as a player and how he carried himself as a human being. I don't think there will every be as great an ambassador for the Cubs or major league baseball as Ernie Banks. RIP Ernie.

I can't think of a better way to celebrate the life of Ernie Banks than to swap stories with fellow baseball fanatics at a card show. I was up bright and early on Saturday, January 24, 2015, for the Fishers American Legion Post Baseball Card Show. The show starts at 8 a.m. I like to show up an hour early for set up so I woke up at 5:30 a.m. which was really 4:30 a.m. because Indy is an hour ahead. As my regular readers know, I don't do mornings well and was slow going on this particular morning.

I had taken all my cards out my car and brought them up to the room the night before for safe keeping. So I had to reload the car in the morning. I then tried to plug the address for the Fishers American Legion Post into my GPS. The street would not show up! Slight panic set in until I Googled Fishers American Legion Post and learned it was in a town called Fishers and not located in Indy proper. The listing in Beckett stated the show was located in Indianapolis. I had about a 20-minute ride to the show.

Once at the American Legion Post, I was greeted by modern card dealer extraordinaire John Dobiecki. John lives in northern Indiana and I regularly see him at shows in the Chicago-Milwaukee corridor. I saw my name on two tables next to John and loaded in. Set up across from me was another dealer I know from the Orland shows Juan Ruiz, who also lives in Indiana. I always thought Juan was a modern card dealer but he had some vintage items on his table at this show. Set up next to John was another dealer I know from southern Indiana but his name escapes me. I ended up buying some cards from him.

Picture
The room at the American Legion Post, pictured above and below, is good sized. I'd say 40 tables or so. Jeff Meyrose, the promoter, had a bunch of tables at the front with both modern and vintage. Jeff treated me real well and made me feel at home. There was also one wax dealer. A few guys with flea market-type set ups. A few other guys with smatterings of vintage and the rest was the shiny stuff. This show gave me a flashback to the early 1990s when I used to regularly set up at VFW shows. It has been a long time since I have set up at a VFW or at an American Legion post. The Fishers American Legion Post is heads above the others. I remember one VFW back in the day where the show was housed in the basement and you had to carry all your stuff down a flight of stairs. At Fishers, I was able to park in back and load in on a ramp. My tables were right by the back door. 

The best part of the Fishers America Legion Post is the bar/restaurant which was open during the show and serving breakfast! YES!!! I was starving and in desperate need of coffee. For five bucks I got a gianormous plate of pancakes with thick meaty bacon and a large cup of coffee. Oh man. That bacon was about the best I ever had. It wasn't that fatty type you get at Jewel grocery store in the Chicago area. I couldn't even finish those pancakes. I made sure I tipped the friendly bartender and got bottomless cups of coffee the rest of the day.

Once set up, I was greeted by an old codger racing around the room in one of those motorized scooters. He thumbed through a couple binders and asked if I had a '68 Ryan and a '68 Mantle, Mays, Killebrew combo card. I had the combo card and showed it to him. It high books at $150. Mine was off grade and I priced it at $40. He sort of demanded I sell it to him at $20. I offered $30. He went into a rant stating how he has been doing this for 40 years and only pays $20. I responded that I too have been doing this for 40 years and I only sell the card for $30. He zoomed away at about 2 miles per hour.

Speedy Gonzales came back about an hour later and was much nicer this time around. He told me how he used to set up at shows regularly. His main thing was plaques. I remember back in the late 1980s and early 1990s there were always a few guys set up with nothing but plaques on their tables. They would make these things in their garage by cutting up some wood into squares, they stained the squares, slapped on a name plate and a card in a top loader and attempted to sell the plaques for $15 to $20 each. My new friend, I think he said his name was something like Big Daddy Dave, stopped setting up at shows at one point and wholesaled out his plaques to dealers until the craze ended. I think I've seen someone with a table full of plaques just once in the last 20 years which occurred about three years ago at the Serb Hall show in Milwaukee. I ended up selling Big Daddy Dave the combo card for $25.

Picture
My second customer of the day was the dealer set up across from me and Juan. He looked through a bunch of stuff, asked for prices on a lot of stuff. It was obvious he was looking for cards at the cheapest possible price. We were able to cut a deal on all my 1951 Topps Red Backs. Next, I had a guy in his early 20s purchase my 1969 Topps Ted Williams.

The room filled up pretty quickly. What stood out the most was the fact there were so many kids in the room. It was nice to see. I set up at many shows where at age 48, I'm the youngest guy by 20 years. Another thing about this show is that most of the customers were very friendly and eager for conversation.

I got to talking to one customer who purchased some commons from the 1960s and my 1962 Post Orlando Cepeda. Like most Hoosiers, he is a big college basketball fan. He told me that his favorite college basketball player was Rick Mount from nearby Lebanon, Indiana, and a star at Purdue from 1966 to 1970.  He told me Mount was the purest shooter in college history. Mount never played in the NBA. Instead he went with the hometown Indiana Pacers of the ABA where he was a member of the 1972 Championship team. He was a pretty decent player in the ABA where he starred for five years. A shoulder injury stymied his career.

My next customer pulled out a large pile of 1971 Topps baseball and also purchased my '71 Clemente. A customer from Fort Wayne purchased my 1954 Bowman Mickey Mantle and the day got rolling. I was busy all day. A few guys balked at my prices. I know my prices are fair and I'm not going to give my stuff away. I think next time I'll make sure I have a cheapy box or two for these guys.

Another customer purchased a bunch of 1964 Topps baseball. I sold my 1972 Topps Roberto Clemente In Action card to a customer who stopped to chat for a while. He told me he is selling off most of his post-War collection and starting to buy pre-War cards heavily. He showed me a picture on his phone of a beautiful T206 Walter Johnson. Then there was a guy I met last weekend in Fort Wayne who purchased all of my 1953 Bowman baseball out of my binder. A guy who said he collects oddball stuff purchased a 1972 Kelloggs Pete Rose and '72 Kelloggs Nolan Ryan. I sold my 1963 Bazooka All-Time Greats Christy Mathewson to a customer who said former major league pitcher Ewell Blackwell was his great uncle. Blackwell played for the Reds in the 1940s and 1950s. He also spent a couple years with the Yankees in the early 1950s. The customer said his grandmother has a large collection of Blackwell autographed items. No game-used items. He wasn't sure if anyone in his family had Blackwell's contract with the Yankees.

An older gentleman wearing Colts cap purchased some 1960s Topps and 1952 Bowman baseball. I observed that quite a few guys showed up at my table with lists in hand which is what I like to see. Overall, I had a really nice day. On the buying front, only one guy showed up at my table with some stuff. He had large quantities of 1974 and 1975 Topps football. He wanted to trade not sell. I declined. I don't want to give up my Mantles for a bunch common football cards from the mid-1970s which I already have in large quantity back home in the card bunker.

I really liked this show. I reserved two tables for the April 18th show where Carl Erskine will be signing. I'd come back sooner but I already booked other shows. I was second to last to load out. The last dealer left in the room was John. Jeff's wife and kids helped John load out. I think John had a real good day as well. He said he bought a lot of cards so he wasn't taking much cash home.

I got into my car and set the GPS for the Sharonville Holiday Inn in Cincinnati. It was an absolutely beautiful day, pictured below. The sun was out and the drive was quick and pleasant. I did not know that Cincinnati was so hilly. I love seeing hills since I live in flat country. The Holiday Inn was smack dab on the side of a large hill. Across the street was a Motel 6 where I spent the night.

Picture
It was a good thing that I stopped at McDonald's before the show on Sunday, January 25, 2015, because there was no food or coffee at the Holiday Inn. Even the Motel 6 had free coffee. C'mon Holiday Inn! There were some vending machines and I was able to feed my caffeine addiction with a diet Dr. Pepper.

The Sharonville Show was a flashback to shows from the 1980s. The room was huge. There may have been 100 tables or so largely filled with vintage cards. I was intimidated right when I stepped foot into the room, especially when I saw the guy's table next to me who had 10 Pete Rose Rookies in one of his cases, pictured below. There was some power in that room. I initially was going to put out four display cases and fill up the rest of my space with binders. I had two 6-foot tables. For some reason, I assumed I would be getting 8-footers. Twelve feet of space is not much. I decided to put out three display cases, all of my baseball binders and two football binders.

Picture
I had a couple sales early on and thought maybe I would do okay but sales were hard to come by most of the day. A big thank you to Terry, a Cincinnati resident and regular reader of this blog, who purchased a bunch of cards including a 1958 Topps Don Drysdale. There is nothing like a friendly face to welcome you to a new show. My next customer Rich purchased a bunch of 1978 Topps baseball. Quite a few guys were working on Reds team sets and I sold quite a few Reds throughout the day, all years. A wonderful older couple came by and purchased some 1958 Topps baseball commons as upgrades. John, who attended the show with his young son, purchased a bunch of 1939 Play Balls. Another customer purchased some commons from the 1960s and showed me some photos of his buddy's collection. He said he is no longer allowed to look at the collection in person because a few seem to go missing every time he views them.

In general, it was pretty quiet at my tables. It felt like a Sun-Times show where people just walked on by. Actually, a few customers recognized me from the Sun-Times show which was pretty cool. I spent a lot of time talking to the dealer next to me, whose name escapes me. But what a super nice guy. He doesn't do a whole lot of shows because he has a farm north of Indianapolis and said his cows are a lot of work. I also spent much of the day hanging out with my friend Tony Schaefer who was set up just down the aisle. Tony was on the second leg of an Ohio trip. Read his blog here. Tony always purchases some cards from me which I appreciate. We made plans to hang out before the St. Louis show on February 8, 2015.

A few guys offered cards to sell. One older customer who looked a lot like Casey Stengel had a binder of Reds cards from the 1950s and 1960s but his prices were too high. Another guy had some Reds team issued cards from 1938. I have never seen these cards before. They look like a cross between 1952 Berk Ross and 1949 Bowman. They are cool. He wanted to sell the whole stack. I asked if I could buy one or two cards. I didn't want to buy the whole stack because I knew absolutely nothing about these cards. From a dealer's perspective, I need to know how much I can sell them for before I place an offer. The only way to learn how they sell is to buy a few but I was not going to buy the whole stack. At least one other customer came around looking for these cards. So I think these are something that will sell in Cincinnati but I do not know if I can move them in the shows I do outside of Cincinnati. I would like to pick up a few of these things down the road. Like I said, I thought they were pretty cool.

Picture
Overall, not a very good day in Cincinnati. I thought my sales would be a lot better. Though, I really like this show based on its size and the amount of excellent inventory in the room. See the photos immediately above and below. Adam the promoter is also a super nice guy. So I will give this one another shot down the road. There are some shows where you need to build a rapport with the customers by setting up a few times before you can expect a decent show -- this looks like one of those shows. I think next time I will but together a display case of Reds cards. This is also a place where I might want to try a cheapy box. Setting up at shows is a constant trial and error. Just when I think I have it figured out, I learn that I really don't and have to change it up.

Next weekend, I'm heading back up the Holland, Michigan, for the Holland Civic Center show on Saturday, January 31, 2015. I was impressed with this show last time where I only had one table. Mark Smith was kind enough to give me his booth this time around because he is setting up in Detroit. So I am going to bring out the whole kit and caboodle for this one because I have a ton of space. I am going to have all nine display cases out and all of my binders. I am also going to see what I can dig up in the next couple of days like some complete sets from the 1970s. I am really looking forward to this show... especially the concession stand which is the best around!

On Super Bowl Sunday, February 1, 2015, I am setting up at the Schaumburg Show where the hotel has once again changed its name -- it is now a Wyndham Garden. I consider the Schaumburg Show my home base and it will be nice to be back home after all these travels. I just finished up a new 1973 Topps baseball binder along with a reload of 1972-73 Topps hockey. I am going to start work on a new 1974 Topps baseball binder but I don't think I will have it done by the weekend. There are just too many cards in that 1974 set. I also include the Traded set.

I really enjoyed myself this past weekend. I met a ton of new people and really appreciated all the good conversation and hope to see you folks again real soon. Thanks everybody!
Picture
4 Comments
Mike
1/28/2015 06:03:58 am

What a great read about your show dealings.I love to check out your blog every week after you do shows.I miss doing shows every weekend like you do but shows around Northern Va are almost dead now! Miss the good ole days.I`ll set up again someday soon hopefully.As always good luck at your next show.Mike!

Reply
Tony
1/28/2015 06:35:08 am

Thanks Mike!

Reply
Mark Swokowski
1/28/2015 09:57:03 pm

When the Braves left Milwaukee in 1966 my brother and I became Cubs fans. My dad had installed a monstrosity of an antenna which allowed us to watch WGN from West Allis, WI. The fuzzy black and white image only led to the charm and made us the envy of the neighborhood kids. We loved Santo, Williams, Jenkins, etc. but Ernie Banks was always our favorite. On opening day April 8th 1969, our best friend Dan Maguire trumped us, and lucked into box seat tickets against the Phillies. Our hero, Banks blasted two homers in that game but the Phillies tied it up. The game went into extra innings until the Phillies took a 6-5 lead in the top of the 11th. Banks led off the 11th but stuck out. We figured it was over. After a single, Willie Smith pinch hit for Hickman and homered to right for a walk off homer and a 7-6 win. Our friend Dan Maguire jumped the fence and ran on to the field, along with a dugout full of Cubs. In the chaos that followed, he made it all the way to third base. He was actually able to shake Willie Smith’s hand between 3rd and home, before being pushed away by the third base coach. What makes this story interesting is the next day, he made the front page of the Chicago Tribune shaking Smith’s hand. He called the Tribune and asked if they would send him a copy of the picture. They eventually sent him a nice glossy copy along with a note that he owed them $50. They hounded him for months seeking the payment until they realized there was no hope in ever getting their money.

Reply
Tony
1/28/2015 11:08:33 pm

Mark, thanks for sharing. What a neat story!

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Tony Gordon

    Vintage Sports Cards Addict

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    October 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    February 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.