2018 Cleveland National Report - Sneak Peak, Round 2 and Round 3 is LIVE

[rainier2004]

Spent two days the show, thought it was great. Looked like lots of people, seems like attendance has been on the rise and will continue that way.
My observations were:
1. More FB and BB than I remember, I don't collect either but thought it was more prevalent than I have ever seen.
2. Less "crap" and non-card displays. I remember beanie babies and all sorts of odds and ends being sold at the show, seems to be less of that. Also, I noticed less memorabilia and art being sold. This show seems to have piles of cards and photos.
3. Tons or 50s and 60s per norm.
4. I thought there were some good deals to be had and did p/u a couple cards that are far from rare but was happy with my buys.
5. Lots of excitement among collectors.

[KMayUSA6060]

Originally Posted by rainier2004

Spent two days the show, thought it was great. Looked like lots of people, seems like attendance has been on the rise and will continue that way.
My observations were:
1. More FB and BB than I remember, I don't collect either but thought it was more prevalent than I have ever seen.
2. Less "crap" and non-card displays. I remember beanie babies and all sorts of odds and ends being sold at the show, seems to be less of that. Also, I noticed less memorabilia and art being sold. This show seems to have piles of cards and photos.
3. Tons or 50s and 60s per norm.
4. I thought there were some good deals to be had and did p/u a couple cards that are far from rare but was happy with my buys.
5. Lots of excitement among collectors.

I agree with the above bold. I had a blast yesterday, and came away with a helluva haul of Pre-War. A couple of notes I would like to add regarding the show...

1. Few dealers are as professional, genuine, and pleasant to speak with than Chris Bland and Michael Piech. I was surprised to see them both in the same space, and really enjoyed my conversations with them. There are lots of great dealers out there, but few compare to those two, and many dealers would do well to be more genuine and engaging with their customers. Also, Just Collect was TERRIFIC as well!

2. I can't believe TriStar or whoever runs the show is charging $10 to park PER DAY. I'm very jaded by that money gouging scheme, especially since the car show (held at the IX Center around March) is free parking. That's $10 yesterday that didn't go to dealers, and $10 on Saturday (if I choose to go now) that won't go to dealers. Multiply that by the thousands of people that will attend, and that's a lot of money not going to the dealers. It is a bit of a turnoff.

3. I really, really like this event in Cleveland (it has nothing to do with me living 45-50 minutes away ). The layout is terrific, very easy to navigate, and well organized. The only suggestion I would have is better markings on dealers' booths for their booth number.

[calvindog]

Originally Posted by KMayUSA6060

The only suggestion I would have is better markings on dealers' booths for their booth number.

Agreed, this would help a lot.

[buymycards]

Originally Posted by KMayUSA6060

I agree with the above bold. I had a blast yesterday, and came away with a helluva haul of Pre-War. A couple of notes I would like to add regarding the show...



2. I can't believe TriStar or whoever runs the show is charging $10 to park PER DAY. I'm very jaded by that money gouging scheme, especially since the car show (held at the IX Center around March) is free parking. That's $10 yesterday that didn't go to dealers, and $10 on Saturday (if I choose to go now) that won't go to dealers. Multiply that by the thousands of people that will attend, and that's a lot of money not going to the dealers. It is a bit of a turnoff.

If I remember correctly, parking at the Donald Stephens Center at the Chicago National was $20 per day.

I regret missing the National in Cleveland. I love going to the National, and my wife and I are already making plans to attend next years National in Chicago.

Rick

[KMayUSA6060]

Originally Posted by buymycards

If I remember correctly, parking at the Donald Stephens Center at the Chicago National was $20 per day.

I regret missing the National in Cleveland. I love going to the National, and my wife and I are already making plans to attend next years National in Chicago.

Rick

Does the Donald Stephens Center charge for every event?

[buymycards]

Originally Posted by KMayUSA6060

Does the Donald Stephens Center charge for every event?

I don't know. I have gone to card shows at that venue in the spring, in the fall, and at the National and they have always charged for parking. I'm guessing that they also charge for parking for antique shows, art shows, etc.

[kailes2872]

I was thinking about doing a new a new post but didn't want to muddy the waters. I made the decision on Wednesday to take the day off today and travel over to the National. I had low expectations and event though I took about a grand, I really didn't expect to find anything worth buying - since my want list was pretty short and the prices tend to be high.

The toll on 76/80 keeps going up. It was $7.45 to get back into Pennsylvania. plus the I-80 tolls. Couple that with $3.09 per gallon and it was probably $20 bucks just getting there and back.

The $10 parking seems to be over the top. I know that admission ($22) is paying a promoter versus paying the IX center but $32 before walking in the door was kind of a bummer.

But I digress... on with the show.

I have been to Cleveland in 2014 and AC in 2016. Both prior times I took the boys. Unfortunately today the 19 year old had to work and the 16 year old had band camp so it was a solo trip. I didn't think I would miss them as much as I did. They go for me, but, it is our thing and deep down, I think that they enjoy it. Without them, I went table to table very quickly without a plan or purpose.

My original intent was to just look at tables and make a note of anything that stood out. I then decided that my want list would consist of a '64 Topps Giant Set - even though they are readily available, I wanted to pull the trigger and get it into the collection. I was also looking at 74/75 and 73/74 Topps basketball. Again, a couple of low dollar sets that would continue to round out the collection. I was also hoping to find a '76 Topps Traded baseball - as I really need to get it to put it in the binder and I keep forgetting (If anyone has one, let me know).

I found a '64 Giant Set. It was $250. I looked at completed sales and it seemed high but I at least wanted to engage with the dealer. I stood there for about 5 minutes but the guy did not even look at me, despite no other customers. After a while, I just left the table and figured that I would make a note of the table and come back if it was the best that I found. I went to another table and they had an ungraded Giant set... for $1400. I passed.

I then went to a table where they had a bunch of sets listed. They had the Topps Giants listed for $185. I asked if I could see it. The lady, as she handed it to me, immediately said, we have some room in that if you like it. It looked nice, mid grade and she offered it for $170 so that was where we settled.

On the 14th or 15th row, I found a guy, Mike McKee, I believe. He had a going out of business sign and a sign that said make an offer on the entire table. He had both 74/75 and 73/74. Both were sharp. He had the older one for $175 and the newer one for $160. I asked if he would take $320 for both and he said yes. Of course, after he said yes, I wondered if he would take $300... such is life.

So, I was about 90 minutes in and only missing the '76 traded set which I couldn't find.

I spent the next 3-4 hours going to different tables. I met Evan at his table but Sean was already gone. I saw Kevin & Pat from Kevin Savage Cards. I saw Uncle Dick and Wayne from Shoebox Cards. I got the chance to meet Don from Don's Cards and saw all of those beautiful CJ's (oh...my...goodness...). I met Adam at the LOTG table and told him that my neighbor got food poisoning last week and immediately thought of his act (my buddy lost about 20 pounds - Adam's routine had that joke in it)...

At 3:30 Leighton from Just Collect did a break on a 20ct cello pack from '55 Bowman. In the break was a really nice Ernie Banks. Then, card 19 was the Mickey Mantle - pack fresh and 60/40 centered. It was really cool seeing that happen.

I was back in the car by 4:30 heading back home - happy that I made the decision to go. I have attached some of the picture highlights over the next couple of posts.

It was great meeting Net54 friends in person.

As my set run has gotten closer to complete, I have realized just what a large % of the material is 50's and 60's topps. Since I have almost all of it, I would scan quickly to the next table. Modern is not my thing, so I would natually be pulled to pre-war. I am still a couple years away from 52 Topps and 51 Bowman being finished so I won't be full on into pre-war until probably 2021 or 2022 - but I am getting excited about the prospect! I love looking at those '38 big head Goudey's. The CJs are so bright red. My favorite table had 3 complete Goudey sets, a 34, a 35, and a 36. Of all the prewar, I am probably the least interested in T206 (blasphemy, I know), but it is still nice to look at those familiar cards. For the folks that are all pre-war, all the time, I would guess that maybe 10% of the tables would have had your material. For those looking at thinly traded stuff - beyond the big pre-war sets, you might have had a half dozen tables that would interest you.

Pricing was such a wide swath. I could usually look at the price of a commonly traded card - a 33 Ruth, a Red Cobb, etc., and know right away if they had any interest in selling anything. A lot of times that answer was no - but a few tables had strong prices and were even willing to negotiate on top of that.

I probably won't be in Chicago next year, but AC is definitely a possibility in 2020.

Edit - I have about 10 more pictures but every time that I attempt to upload, it says upload failed. I even tried to rename them to a generic name to see if that was the reason. I would be happy to add more if anyone can coach me through it. Otherwise, I only have these 4 posted.

[whitehse]

Originally Posted by KMayUSA6060

Does the Donald Stephens Center charge for every event?

If you knew about the city of Rosemont you would know they are trying to find a way to charge for the air that you breathe. Yep....they charge for every event.

[Michael B]

Originally Posted by KMayUSA6060

Does the Donald Stephens Center charge for every event?

You do not need to park at the Stephens Center or at the parking garage across the street. The Rosemont subway station is about 1/3 mile north of the convention center on the same street. It is just north of Rte 190. Parking there was $7.00 all day (up to 14 hours). If you are in reasonable shape it is a less than 10 minute walk. The trick to parking there is to make absolutely sure of your space number. I remember pre-paying at a kiosk and you entered your space number. A local told me to pay with a credit card so you would get a receipt to prove payment. They check the spaces during the day and tow for non-paying parkers. From the CTA website:


Rosemont
5801 N. River Rd. •$7.00 for 0 to 14 hours
•$9.00 for 14 to 18 hours
•$13.00 for 18 to 24 hours
•Each additional 24 hours (or fraction thereof) $13.00
•Lost ticket: $39.00
750

[CurtisFlood]

Originally Posted by KMayUSA6060

Does the Donald Stephens Center charge for every event?

That parking venue is a cash cow for the owner. They just keep raising prices, I'll not miss them when I retire. They charge for every event I have attended, which includes the March and November Fanatics Shows and an occasional summer show.

[Michael B]

Originally Posted by CurtisFlood

That parking venue is a cash cow for the owner. They just keep raising prices, I'll not miss them when I retire. They charge for every event I have attended, which includes the March and November Fanatics Shows and an occasional summer show.

From my earlier post about parking in Chicago. I would suspect that all of the hotels charge more than this lot. If you are not comfortable parking there overnight you could move it, however for a full day at the show it is much cheaper. Well worth the walk though from what I saw some collectors could not make it. It would be a very good deal even for dealers.

You do not need to park at the Stephens Center or at the parking garage across the street. The Rosemont subway station is about 1/3 mile north of the convention center on the same street. It is just north of Rte 190. Parking there was $7.00 all day (up to 14 hours). If you are in reasonable shape it is a less than 10 minute walk. The trick to parking there is to make absolutely sure of your space number. I remember pre-paying at a kiosk and you entered your space number. A local told me to pay with a credit card so you would get a receipt to prove payment. They check the spaces during the day and tow for non-paying parkers. From the CTA website:


Rosemont
5801 N. River Rd. •$7.00 for 0 to 14 hours
•$9.00 for 14 to 18 hours
•$13.00 for 18 to 24 hours
•Each additional 24 hours (or fraction thereof) $13.00
•Lost ticket: $39.00
Capacity 750

[bounce]

OKAY GANG! Saturday was my last day at the show, so this will cover that and an overall wrap up.

By Saturday morning, I have to be honest - I was pretty sick of baseball cards and memorabilia. I don't know if it's just my age, or possibly coming down off the high of acquiring the T204 Ramly Walter Johnson and thinking no way there's an encore to that, but upon entering the show Saturday there was literally nothing else I was particularly interested in chasing. As it was, that actually worked out pretty well for me because one of my buddies was at the show and had several autograph guests that he wanted to me to help him with.

Here are a few pictures, in all I got to meet Roger Clemens, Rickey Henderson, Daryl Strawberry and Cal Ripken Jr.






Thanks to my efforts, my buddy gave me one of the Clemens autograph tickets. On short notice, I had to find something to get signed. Being from Houston, I actually have several items signed by him already but there was one in particular I've always wanted and this seemed to be the perfect setup to get it. The other one I've had in my collection for awhile, but this is the perfect complement to it. 1986 MLB All Star Programs - played right here in Houston, and Rocket was the MVP.


I did manage to look around some more, and ultimately decided I just couldn't pass up on a couple more items for my Presidential autograph collection. I got these from a dealer I've bought from now for the past four Nationals and done a couple other deals in between. He is someone I really have enjoyed getting to know because of these shows, and I can honestly say in the non-card and really non-sport space, he is one of the absolute best. He even said to me that he was disappointed that we hadn't actually done any business yet and was wondering if something was wrong. I told him of course not, I'd simply been noodling on several of the items trying to decide my course of action. We settled on prices on for these, and we will soon be discussing another couple items as well.

These are signed by Grover and Frances Cleveland, and Zachary Taylor.



As was the case Friday, I was even more of a wanderer on Saturday especially considering I was wearing down. But my eye was still pretty sharp, and I saw this sitting on one dealer's table who obviously didn't deal in unopened. Pretty sure he took as part of a trade, and I got what I felt like was a smoking hot deal on it. 1981 Topps Football wax box, BBCE wrapped.


Shortly before heading to the airport, I took one last run by the BBCE booth. I wanted to see the results of the 86 Fleer box break, and also just wanted to see what might be left in the cases. This one caught my eye. Just WOW!


And finally, dumbest thing I saw today. My buddy and I literally stood here for AT LEAST 5 minutes, but to no avail. No one ever showed up, no one yelled from a short space away to say "coming". An empty booth, with a free phone and lunch. I could say a lot of different things here, but I'm just going to be quiet and let you decide the word or phrase you'd use to describe this scene.

[CurtisFlood]

Originally Posted by Michael B

From my earlier post about parking in Chicago. I would suspect that all of the hotels charge more than this lot. If you are not comfortable parking there overnight you could move it, however for a full day at the show it is much cheaper. Well worth the walk though from what I saw some collectors could not make it. It would be a very good deal even for dealers.

You do not need to park at the Stephens Center or at the parking garage across the street. The Rosemont subway station is about 1/3 mile north of the convention center on the same street. It is just north of Rte 190. Parking there was $7.00 all day (up to 14 hours). If you are in reasonable shape it is a less than 10 minute walk. The trick to parking there is to make absolutely sure of your space number. I remember pre-paying at a kiosk and you entered your space number. A local told me to pay with a credit card so you would get a receipt to prove payment. They check the spaces during the day and tow for non-paying parkers. From the CTA website:


Rosemont
5801 N. River Rd. •$7.00 for 0 to 14 hours
•$9.00 for 14 to 18 hours
•$13.00 for 18 to 24 hours
•Each additional 24 hours (or fraction thereof) $13.00
•Lost ticket: $39.00
Capacity 750

The show gives dealers a good price on parking discount, we share rides daily from the hotel, and do everything we can to keep the parking costs as low as possible.

[KMayUSA6060]

Originally Posted by CurtisFlood

That parking venue is a cash cow for the owner. They just keep raising prices, I'll not miss them when I retire. They charge for every event I have attended, which includes the March and November Fanatics Shows and an occasional summer show.

Interesting. I do know with the IX Center, they don't charge for parking for the huge car show that takes place in March (as I've previously stated). THAT'S what irks me the most regarding the pay-to-park. Not to mention a multi-day parking pass isn't offered.


To weigh in on the National location, and I may be a homer, but I heard TONS of people rave about it being in Cleveland, and how underrated they found CLE to be. Ease of commuting, cost of living, etc.

[CurtisFlood]

Originally Posted by KMayUSA6060

Interesting. I do know with the IX Center, they don't charge for parking for the huge car show that takes place in March (as I've previously stated). THAT'S what irks me the most regarding the pay-to-park. Not to mention a multi-day parking pass isn't offered.


To weigh in on the National location, and I may be a homer, but I heard TONS of people rave about it being in Cleveland, and how underrated they found CLE to be. Ease of commuting, cost of living, etc.

To be honest I have loved every national I have set up at. I have enjoyed Cleveland the most, but Chicago, Baltimore, and Atlantic City are very good as well. I've done the most Nationals in Chicago, Cleveland next, and Baltimore twice. Atlantic City only once, but I may just decide to go again next time. I definitely want to go back to Cleveland one more time.

[Promethius88]

Originally Posted by buymycards

If I remember correctly, parking at the Donald Stephens Center at the Chicago National was $20 per day.

I regret missing the National in Cleveland. I love going to the National, and my wife and I are already making plans to attend next years National in Chicago.

Rick

I haven't been to a National in years and all the pictures and posts have got me excited about next year. Started looking at hotels already and hoping that the Hyatt across the street has free parking. Don't mind spending a little extra for the convenience if I get free parking!

[KMayUSA6060]

Originally Posted by buymycards

I don't know. I have gone to card shows at that venue in the spring, in the fall, and at the National and they have always charged for parking. I'm guessing that they also charge for parking for antique shows, art shows, etc.

Wouldn't surprise me. I just don't like that the IX Center doesn't charge for the car show, yet the National is $10 parking + ticket prices. No need to money gouge.

Originally Posted by Promethius88

I haven't been to a National in years and all the pictures and posts have got me excited about next year. Started looking at hotels already and hoping that the Hyatt across the street has free parking. Don't mind spending a little extra for the convenience if I get free parking!

I stayed at that Hyatt Regency for a conference in April. Gorgeous hotel. 70"+ flat screen in my room. Haha.