Going to card shows in the 1970s

[TCMA]

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[Leon]

Originally Posted by TCMA

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Very cool pins. This thread was moved from the Postwar side to get a few more views. I personally didn't go to shows back when I was a kid in the 60s-70s. I love reading about how they were though.

[TCMA]

Here's a link to a video on the May 1978 ASCCA show. Watch for my dad at the very end talking about his Wagner. I was born 9 days after the December 1978 ASCCA show :

https://www.facebook.com/tcmaltd/vid...4894605523526/

[TCMA]

BTW, the Wagner card shown in that video is the Dover reprint, which was based on my dad's card.

[perezfan]

What a great thread...

Wish I could contribute, but the earliest show I can recall is the late '80s monthly card show held at the Scottish Rite Center in Mission Valley (Hotel Circle, San Diego). It was rather small in comparison to a National, but was such an exciting time to be a collector. Got to meet Tony Gwynn (RIP) a few times, and he was as friendly, nice and humble a celebrity as you'll ever meet.

On a separate note... It's so refreshing to read through a thread with true long-time collectors contributing. No images of bar codes or phony contrived slabs holding trimmed/colored cards. Gotta love the early days before TPGs came along and corrupted/tainted our hobby.

[oaks1912]

Growing up in the Bay Area of the 1970's, I always felt it was a great place to be a younger collector. We had numerous advanced guys that treated the kids (me ) fairly and taught us a lot on collecting and trading. From Jim Horne, who was the first serious collector I met to Dick Dobbins, John Spalding, Bill Weiss Don McPherson, Don Hazelwood, Lou CHericoni, Doug McWilliams, George Callahan, Barry Colla, and many others. We had at least four local shows per year. and all were one day shows. The emphasis was material released in our region or featuring local teams / leagues. The PCL was dominant at that time, though there were enough major league issues to keep collectors busy. At Dick Dobbins' Acalanes show (1973-1982) a souvenir would be issued most of the time (Including this 1976 unissued card of Dolph Camilli). Ironically I had coffee earlier today with legendary, though retired, collector Dwight Chapin & we talked about a lot of great names we both interacted with in the past.The few bad apples were identified quickly and surprising for old-school technology, word spread quicker about them than in today's internet world. The shows from that era will always remain among my favorite, not just for the material acquired, but for the decades long friendships that formed then.

[mr2686]

Originally Posted by perezfan

What a great thread...

Wish I could contribute, but the earliest show I can recall is the late '80s monthly card show held at the Scottish Rite Center in Mission Valley (Hotel Circle, San Diego). It was rather small in comparison to a National, but was such an exciting time to be a collector. Got to meet Tony Gwynn (RIP) a few times, and he was as friendly, nice and humble a celebrity as you'll ever meet.

On a separate note... It's so refreshing to read through a thread with true long-time collectors contributing. No images of bar codes or phony contrived slabs holding trimmed/colored cards. Gotta love the early days before TPGs came along and corrupted/tainted our hobby.

I went to a few of those shows, also got my first Tony Gwynn there as well. Fun times...simpler times.

[cardsagain74]

The "what if I bought all those for $5 each in the past" scenario happened in just a few years for me. I was an 80s kid and starting getting into the business in '88 (after somehow bumping into how much my "old" early-mid 80s cards had really started to go up.) It was during that very short period of time when the junk boom had just begun, but people didn't care about any sport but baseball quite yet.

Three or four years later those Michael Jordan rookies (that just gathered dust in the cases at that first show with $4 price tags) were selling for 400. Similar explosions with Montana ,Gretzky, Lemieux, and so on.

Not what I expected to already have a "what if" story like that by just age 18

[Arsenal83]

Originally Posted by TCMA

BTW, the Wagner card shown in that video is the Dover reprint, which was based on my dad's card.

Does your dad still own the Wagner or was it sold?

[TCMA]

Originally Posted by Arsenal83

Does your dad still own the Wagner or was it sold?

He had that on for a few years but it was sold in the 70’s when he picked up another Wagner.


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