Sorry for the delay in getting this blog done. I've been experiencing some health issues. I'm still feeling lousy, hopefully I can right the ship soon.
Anyway, I spent the night before the Orland show hanging out with my childhood friend Adam, who was my main sportscard trading partner as a kid in the mid 1970s. We collected baseball, football, hockey and basketball cards back then. I think Adam's favorite was hockey. I loved baseball cards. For me, there was nothing better than pulling a Hank Aaron, Frank Robinson and an Al Kaline out of a 15-cent pack of cards.
Back in 1975 or 1976 I bought a 400 or 500 lot of 1968 Topps commons from Adam. Being a kid and not knowing any better, I drew on some of the cards in pen. On one particular card I drew antennas and a raygun on the player so he looked like a Martian. A year or so later, I sold the '68s at the local flea market. Recently, I bought a 400 lot of '68s from a guy off eBay. The seller was from the east coast. When the cards arrived, to my surprise, there was my Martian!
Waking up Sunday morning was tough but not really from drinking, just from going to sleep late. That alarm at 6 a.m. felt like running into a brick wall. I made it to Orland around 8:30 a.m. and it took me a very long time to set up. Today was the second of back to back weekends at Orland. Sales were a little down as anticipated. Prior to the show, I debated on skipping it for Serb Hall in Milwaukee but with Gonzaga scheduled for the next week, it would have essentially been a back to back there as well. I also debated on driving out to Columbus, OH, but in the end, I just wasn't interested in driving eight hours for a show this weekend. I am heading to Ohio next month for a pair of shows March 17 in Dayton and March 18 in Canton.
Back at Orland, Rick was my first customer today. He picked up a pile of stuff including some '70-71 Topps basketball and some '57 Topps football. Another early bird picked up some '74 Topps then decided to start the '70 Topps set. A while after he left, I noticed that he left some of his cards and his list at my table. I grabbed the list and cards and went looking for him but he was gone. Near the end of the show, he came back to my table with a frantic look. I handed him his list and cards. He decided to buy more cards. Guys regularly forget their lists at my table. I always hang on to them until they claim them.
Dave was out with the family. I got a kick out of his 2 year old son holding up a figure of a pirate and making pirate sounds. Dave picked up some '57 Topps football. TJ was a surprise visitor today and he picked up my '33 Goudey Tris Speaker, among others. Joel picked up some White Sox. Larry bought a '56 Topps team card. Denny grabbed some '65s. Tom found some cards in my dime box, which along with my 50-cent box, got a nice workout today. Another customer bought some '75 Topps Minis. A father and son team picked up a T206 common. My guy who collects NY Mets found a few cards. Another customer purchased my '53 Topps Satchel Paige. A new customer, who told me his is a filmmaker, purchased some '66 Topps. As usual, quite a few guys dinked trough my binders and pulled some cards. Quite a few regulars were absent today, though I did have some new customers. There were also a few empty dealer tables today. I nice crowd but oddly quiet.
On the buying front, I turned down some low grade stars. One guy wanted to trade me a '60 Topps Mantle/Boyer PSA 3 that looked like a PSA 1. I passed. I ended up buying a nice grouping of '52 Topps and '52 Bowmans.
Next up is Gonzaga. It seems like forever since I've been there and am looking forward to the show. I should have my '75 Topps binder ready to go and I already completed my '58 Topps footbal. I have had a major turnover in my display cases these past two months. i'm feverishly pricing star cards for Gonzaga. I'm looking forward to another terrific Gonzaga show!!
Anyway, I spent the night before the Orland show hanging out with my childhood friend Adam, who was my main sportscard trading partner as a kid in the mid 1970s. We collected baseball, football, hockey and basketball cards back then. I think Adam's favorite was hockey. I loved baseball cards. For me, there was nothing better than pulling a Hank Aaron, Frank Robinson and an Al Kaline out of a 15-cent pack of cards.
Back in 1975 or 1976 I bought a 400 or 500 lot of 1968 Topps commons from Adam. Being a kid and not knowing any better, I drew on some of the cards in pen. On one particular card I drew antennas and a raygun on the player so he looked like a Martian. A year or so later, I sold the '68s at the local flea market. Recently, I bought a 400 lot of '68s from a guy off eBay. The seller was from the east coast. When the cards arrived, to my surprise, there was my Martian!
Waking up Sunday morning was tough but not really from drinking, just from going to sleep late. That alarm at 6 a.m. felt like running into a brick wall. I made it to Orland around 8:30 a.m. and it took me a very long time to set up. Today was the second of back to back weekends at Orland. Sales were a little down as anticipated. Prior to the show, I debated on skipping it for Serb Hall in Milwaukee but with Gonzaga scheduled for the next week, it would have essentially been a back to back there as well. I also debated on driving out to Columbus, OH, but in the end, I just wasn't interested in driving eight hours for a show this weekend. I am heading to Ohio next month for a pair of shows March 17 in Dayton and March 18 in Canton.
Back at Orland, Rick was my first customer today. He picked up a pile of stuff including some '70-71 Topps basketball and some '57 Topps football. Another early bird picked up some '74 Topps then decided to start the '70 Topps set. A while after he left, I noticed that he left some of his cards and his list at my table. I grabbed the list and cards and went looking for him but he was gone. Near the end of the show, he came back to my table with a frantic look. I handed him his list and cards. He decided to buy more cards. Guys regularly forget their lists at my table. I always hang on to them until they claim them.
Dave was out with the family. I got a kick out of his 2 year old son holding up a figure of a pirate and making pirate sounds. Dave picked up some '57 Topps football. TJ was a surprise visitor today and he picked up my '33 Goudey Tris Speaker, among others. Joel picked up some White Sox. Larry bought a '56 Topps team card. Denny grabbed some '65s. Tom found some cards in my dime box, which along with my 50-cent box, got a nice workout today. Another customer bought some '75 Topps Minis. A father and son team picked up a T206 common. My guy who collects NY Mets found a few cards. Another customer purchased my '53 Topps Satchel Paige. A new customer, who told me his is a filmmaker, purchased some '66 Topps. As usual, quite a few guys dinked trough my binders and pulled some cards. Quite a few regulars were absent today, though I did have some new customers. There were also a few empty dealer tables today. I nice crowd but oddly quiet.
On the buying front, I turned down some low grade stars. One guy wanted to trade me a '60 Topps Mantle/Boyer PSA 3 that looked like a PSA 1. I passed. I ended up buying a nice grouping of '52 Topps and '52 Bowmans.
Next up is Gonzaga. It seems like forever since I've been there and am looking forward to the show. I should have my '75 Topps binder ready to go and I already completed my '58 Topps footbal. I have had a major turnover in my display cases these past two months. i'm feverishly pricing star cards for Gonzaga. I'm looking forward to another terrific Gonzaga show!!
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