Another double-bill weekend. This time it was Orland Park on Saturday and Serb Hall on Sunday.
After several subpar Orland shows, I was not all that interested in setting up at Saturday's show. My mood soured further when I observed a boat load of empty tables in the room shortly after arrival. Tom, the memorabilia dealer in the front room was not there. Vintage dealer Mike was not there. Modern card dealers Del and Jeff were not there. Wax dealer Betty was not there. Even the hot dog lady was not there! Doom and gloom set in early.
But I should know better. I have been setting up at shows long enough to know that sales are never consistent and a good show is just around the corner. On this cold January day, attendance was good and sales were tremendous! Dave was set up today but found time to pick up a couple of '59s from me. Rick bought my '56 Koufax and '60 Yaz rookie. A regular found some '62s. Another regular purchased quite a few '61s and '62s. I finally had some '72 high numbers for a customer who has been asking for them for quite a while. Gil bought some '67s. Another regular, who usually buys basketball, bought a nice pile of early '60s baseball. Chris found some cards in my dollar box. A new customer purchased quite a few cards from my 50-cent box. Tom Brown from Orlando was in town today. Tom, a great guy, comes up here every so often for work. He picked up a bunch of cards from the '70s at my table.
Joel picked up some White Sox cards from the 1950s. Will bought some '62s. Dennis cleared out my '65 binder and '65 stars from my display case. Dennis is a set builder and he starts most of his sets at my table. He has also completed some sets at my table as well. I sold some '65 Topps football to a regular. Gizmo made an appearance today. I think Mark Smith had called him prior to the show to get him to come out. I am deeply in Mark's debt because Gizmo went on a spending spree at my table picking up my '39 Play Ball DiMaggio rookie, '54 Bowman Mantle, '58 Mantle, '62 Mantle, '54, '56 and '57 Ted Williams, '54 Jackie Robinson, '57 Mantle/Berra and a '54 Mays.
On the buying front, I picked up some '55 Topps commons from Chuck. I purchased some '53 Bowman Color, '59 Topps high numbers and some '65 Topps football from Jim. I got about 150 '67s from Gil and a nice pile of cards from Dennis, including a '68 Clemente.
Overall, an absolutely terrific day. I could not be more pleased. I think I'm going to go on a little buying spree. I'm on the hunt for '54 and '55 Topps complete sets. You just can't beat the rookies from those sets. I'll let you know if I have any luck.
On Sunday, I had an uneventful ride to Milwaukee. There were quite a few police officers patrolling the highway. Luckily, I didn't get a ticket. Once at Serb Hall, I was met by some extreme cold. It was much colder in Milwaukee than Chicago today. I was freezing loading my stuff into the hall and it was cold in the room all day long.
As I was setting up, I heard Scotty, a modern card dealer, tell Bill, a local card shop owner, to be careful with his tables and that they'll fall down if he bumps them. A few minutes later, the legs on one of Bill's tables went out and thousands of cards in top loaders came tumbling down. It was painful to watch. Mark Smith and I helped Bill get the table back up but there was a large mess of cards below it. Scotty helped Bill pick up and sort the fallen cards. I also saw Jim Ziegert help out as well. I was actually impressed with how quickly the cards were sorted and placed back on the table.
The Serb Hall parking lot was jammed today. I think there were several events occuring at the hall simultaneously, including a toy car show in the hallway outside the baseball card show. I thought the toy show would bring in some extra sales but that was not the case. In fact, the lady running the toy show was real snotty when I walked by to use the bathroom which is located in the hallway. I ignored her. I wasn't about to pay her three bucks so I could use the bathroom.
Attendance at the card show was light but a few regulars thankfully showed up. It was nice seeing Mark, who I haven't seen in a while. Those slave-drivers at work have been keeping Mark away. Mark picked up a bunch of '56 Topps football, some '65 Topps football and some early '60s baseball. Another regular picked up some '61 and '75 Topps baseball. I sold quite a few cards out of my $1 box and my 50-cent box. A young autograph hound found quite a few cards to send out for autos. I sold some '53 Topps football cards to a new customer. Kevin picked up some '61 Golden Press. Quite a few guys dinked around my binders. I had a lot of people just breeze by my table. I'm guessing these people were from the toy show.
On the buying front, a customer who had emailed me prior to the show that he had some Aarons to sell did not show up. Another customer, who had emailed me a few weeks ago, was there and we discussed the Mantles he is trying to sell. He is much too high on the Mantles. A few guys told me they had some cards from the '70s that they wanted to sell. I turned them down because I have a very large inventory of '70s cards and don't need anymore. I suspect I have 50,000 cards or so from '70 to '79. I picked up a '61 Mays base card and a '61 Mays MVP from Bill. I picked up a bunch of stuff from Mark Smith. Thanks for the nice prices on the cards guys!!
Not much else doing at the show today. I enjoyed chatting with Mark and Jim early on and Mark Smith and Bill near the end of the show.
Next week is Gonzaga, my favorite show. I'm particularly excited about this show because I was just informed by the WSCA newsletter that I won a drawing for a free table at the next six shows!! YES!!!! Lots of love for the Gonzaga. All is good in the world of Fat Daddy's Sports!!!
Below are some photos from Sunday's Serb Hall show.
After several subpar Orland shows, I was not all that interested in setting up at Saturday's show. My mood soured further when I observed a boat load of empty tables in the room shortly after arrival. Tom, the memorabilia dealer in the front room was not there. Vintage dealer Mike was not there. Modern card dealers Del and Jeff were not there. Wax dealer Betty was not there. Even the hot dog lady was not there! Doom and gloom set in early.
But I should know better. I have been setting up at shows long enough to know that sales are never consistent and a good show is just around the corner. On this cold January day, attendance was good and sales were tremendous! Dave was set up today but found time to pick up a couple of '59s from me. Rick bought my '56 Koufax and '60 Yaz rookie. A regular found some '62s. Another regular purchased quite a few '61s and '62s. I finally had some '72 high numbers for a customer who has been asking for them for quite a while. Gil bought some '67s. Another regular, who usually buys basketball, bought a nice pile of early '60s baseball. Chris found some cards in my dollar box. A new customer purchased quite a few cards from my 50-cent box. Tom Brown from Orlando was in town today. Tom, a great guy, comes up here every so often for work. He picked up a bunch of cards from the '70s at my table.
Joel picked up some White Sox cards from the 1950s. Will bought some '62s. Dennis cleared out my '65 binder and '65 stars from my display case. Dennis is a set builder and he starts most of his sets at my table. He has also completed some sets at my table as well. I sold some '65 Topps football to a regular. Gizmo made an appearance today. I think Mark Smith had called him prior to the show to get him to come out. I am deeply in Mark's debt because Gizmo went on a spending spree at my table picking up my '39 Play Ball DiMaggio rookie, '54 Bowman Mantle, '58 Mantle, '62 Mantle, '54, '56 and '57 Ted Williams, '54 Jackie Robinson, '57 Mantle/Berra and a '54 Mays.
On the buying front, I picked up some '55 Topps commons from Chuck. I purchased some '53 Bowman Color, '59 Topps high numbers and some '65 Topps football from Jim. I got about 150 '67s from Gil and a nice pile of cards from Dennis, including a '68 Clemente.
Overall, an absolutely terrific day. I could not be more pleased. I think I'm going to go on a little buying spree. I'm on the hunt for '54 and '55 Topps complete sets. You just can't beat the rookies from those sets. I'll let you know if I have any luck.
On Sunday, I had an uneventful ride to Milwaukee. There were quite a few police officers patrolling the highway. Luckily, I didn't get a ticket. Once at Serb Hall, I was met by some extreme cold. It was much colder in Milwaukee than Chicago today. I was freezing loading my stuff into the hall and it was cold in the room all day long.
As I was setting up, I heard Scotty, a modern card dealer, tell Bill, a local card shop owner, to be careful with his tables and that they'll fall down if he bumps them. A few minutes later, the legs on one of Bill's tables went out and thousands of cards in top loaders came tumbling down. It was painful to watch. Mark Smith and I helped Bill get the table back up but there was a large mess of cards below it. Scotty helped Bill pick up and sort the fallen cards. I also saw Jim Ziegert help out as well. I was actually impressed with how quickly the cards were sorted and placed back on the table.
The Serb Hall parking lot was jammed today. I think there were several events occuring at the hall simultaneously, including a toy car show in the hallway outside the baseball card show. I thought the toy show would bring in some extra sales but that was not the case. In fact, the lady running the toy show was real snotty when I walked by to use the bathroom which is located in the hallway. I ignored her. I wasn't about to pay her three bucks so I could use the bathroom.
Attendance at the card show was light but a few regulars thankfully showed up. It was nice seeing Mark, who I haven't seen in a while. Those slave-drivers at work have been keeping Mark away. Mark picked up a bunch of '56 Topps football, some '65 Topps football and some early '60s baseball. Another regular picked up some '61 and '75 Topps baseball. I sold quite a few cards out of my $1 box and my 50-cent box. A young autograph hound found quite a few cards to send out for autos. I sold some '53 Topps football cards to a new customer. Kevin picked up some '61 Golden Press. Quite a few guys dinked around my binders. I had a lot of people just breeze by my table. I'm guessing these people were from the toy show.
On the buying front, a customer who had emailed me prior to the show that he had some Aarons to sell did not show up. Another customer, who had emailed me a few weeks ago, was there and we discussed the Mantles he is trying to sell. He is much too high on the Mantles. A few guys told me they had some cards from the '70s that they wanted to sell. I turned them down because I have a very large inventory of '70s cards and don't need anymore. I suspect I have 50,000 cards or so from '70 to '79. I picked up a '61 Mays base card and a '61 Mays MVP from Bill. I picked up a bunch of stuff from Mark Smith. Thanks for the nice prices on the cards guys!!
Not much else doing at the show today. I enjoyed chatting with Mark and Jim early on and Mark Smith and Bill near the end of the show.
Next week is Gonzaga, my favorite show. I'm particularly excited about this show because I was just informed by the WSCA newsletter that I won a drawing for a free table at the next six shows!! YES!!!! Lots of love for the Gonzaga. All is good in the world of Fat Daddy's Sports!!!
Below are some photos from Sunday's Serb Hall show.
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