In 1978 I was 12 years old and a card-carrying member of the Chicagoland Sports Collectors Association which put on three shows a year at the Hillside Holiday Inn. For reference, Hillside is southeast of Rosemont. Those Hillside shows were a frenzy. It was jam-packed with people and very difficult to get to the dealer tables. I never made it to each table because of the crowds. The majority of dealers had their cards in binders. There were no display cases, no top loaders or card savers.
Cards were CHEAP! I was initially fascinated with 1956 Topps and was able to purchase each star, except Mantle, for around $20 each. In March of 1979, I got my first job with the sole purpose to raise funds to buy sports cards. I bought a lot of stuff through SCD. There were also more shows in 1979 and me and my friends would take the train from the suburbs to Downtown Chicago for shows. As the 1980's hit, card shops started to open. The ones located up north where I lived were very expensive and I continued to buy out of SCD and go to shows. By the end of the 1980's there were five or six shows on each Saturday and Sunday in the Chicago area. Now you'll find just two or three a month in the Chicago area with the show in south suburban Orland Park coming the closest to those old Hillside shows.
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