Going to card shows in the 1970s

[TCMA]

And here’s the original card with the Dover reprint.

[Chris-Counts]

"On the other hand there were guys like Goodie Goldfadden..."

"To be fair on Goodie Goldfaden, he disliked ALL kids."

No doubt one of the hobby legends, Goodwin Goldfadden was truly one-of-a-kind. Yes, he definitely didn't like kids, and his wife, Esther, was as sweet as they come. I'll never forget my first and only trip to his shop. This was in about 1972, and I was maybe 11.

The shop itself was like an oversized shoebox, and barely wide enough for more than a few people. There was publications and cards packed everywhere. Goodwin seemed annoyed to be dealing with me, my 10-year-old brother and my dad. I pepped Goodwin with questions about cards. He seemed distracted and merely grunted in response. Finally, seemingly exasperated by having to put up with an inquisitive kid, he pulled out a shoebox of sharp-corned 1957 Topps cards and told us we could have anything in it for 15 cents per card.

Next half hour or so must have driven him crazy. By this time, my brother and I had only ever seen a couple cards so old, and beat-up ones at that. But these cards looked like they came straight out of the packs. I reacted like we had just struck gold.

We carefully rifled through the cards in box. Between oohs and ahs, I pulled out cards of players I was familiar with from reading about baseball history, like Vic Wertz, who hit the ball Mays famously caught. I pulled some Reds because I liked their jerseys, and I pulled some Dodgers because I loved the background shots of Ebbets Field. My eyes got big when I saw Don Drysdale's first-ever card, and I excitedly pulled it from the stack.

Despite our young age, we treated our cards well, so we were horrified by what came next. Once we handed Goodwin the cards we wanted, he counted them up. Besides calculating our tab, he nervously tapped the stack against the counter, sometimes hitting an edge square against the surface, and other times at an angle. The result was a stack of cards that went from ex-mt to vg-ex before our eyes. Years later, when I got older and he became friendly to me, he would do the same thing to my cards — or his. I sold him some Scrapps cards one time, and I swear the first thing he did was put creases in them. He seemed to be unaware of what he was doing. He was truly prehistoric when it came to grading.

I saw an ad in some publication for his business, ADCO Sports Book Exchange, from the late 1930s in Cleveland. I have no idea if he sold baseball cards then, but if he did, that likely would make him the inventor of the baseball card shop.

[jerrys]

Hey Mark, the Plymouth (MI) show in the 70s, hosted by Lloyd and Carol Toerpe, was as good or better than any. Hilton Hotel, hospitality room open nightly and free autographs. Not long after the Toerpe's hosted the second National they left show biz. They were into competitive dancing at one time perhaps they stayed with that.

[The-Cardfather]

I found this while going through some of my stuff.

(Note that "Ebbetts" is misspelled.)

[The-Cardfather]

This one too!

[ecRich]

I always looked forward to going to these shows.

[TCMA]

Program from the very first ASCCA show:

[Troy Kirk]

Mark Macrae had a great post in this thread about the card shows at Acalanes High School in Northern California in the 1970s. I went to the first show there in 1973 and all the subsequent shows there for the next few years. In 1975 I had a photography class in High School and I checked out one of the nice cameras and took some photos at one of the Acalanes shows that year. I just got a new scanner that lets me capture images of my black and white film strips, so I just got finished printing them all out. Some of them I have never looked at until now.

It looks like I took a lot of shots of my collecting buddies, but I also went around the room and took random shots of other collectors and dealers. Hopefully I caught Mark in at least one of the photos. I'll identify who I know, but I'm sure Mark can identify lots more collectors. If anyone can add identifications, I would enjoy learning who I caught that day.



1. Jim Horne is in the middle of this picture, above the guy leaning over.




2. Not many females in the room, so I took a picture of this girl who looked very bored.




3. My buddy Mark Larson, who used to write for Baseball Hobby News. He still collects cards.




4.



5.



6.




7. Back shots of Mark Larson and Rich Sawyer, my friends who were selling at this show. First show they ever sold at.




8. Looking at the camera is Dan Larson, Mark's younger brother. To his right with his back to the camera is Rich Sawyer.




9. I think that's Dick Dobbins standing in the left of this picture. Rich Sawyer and Mark Larson are sitting in the center of the picture. Dan Leader is bent over at their table looking at cards.




10.

[Troy Kirk]

11. Dan Leader bent over in front of table, Rich Sawyer and Mark Larson behind table.




12. Troy Kirk (me)




13. My pal Rich Sawyer, behind the cigar boxes.




14. Mark Larson seated in center of picture. Way back behind Mark at the back of the room, standing with a dark shirt and white name tag is John Spalding.



15. Rich Sawyer standing in middle of picture (white shirt and glasses).




16. Dan Leader reaching into his pocket for some money to buy some cards. John Spalding is standing at right edge of picture with checkered sport coat, dark shirt and white name tag.




17. Mark Larson looking at camera.




18.




19. Dan Larson




20. Rich Sawyer looking at camera.

[oaks1912]

Hi Troy,
Someone alerted me to this post and the great photos. Picture #1 shows Bill Weiss, in the center looking to the right (thin hair and wearing glasses). I cannot see the detail on the guy that you think is Jim Horne, but it sure looks close. If this was '75 I was in attendance....I don't see my picture, but I'm sure that quite a few of the attendees were not pictured... I set up the following year and continued to exhibit there until the final one in '82. My tables were located against the wall shown in image #1 , right under the basketball hoop. We used the bleachers to store complete sets. John & Barbara Spalding were set up right next to me, and Don & Scott Hazelwood were set up in the alcove just under the ventThere are very few pictures known from this era of the Northern California shows. Great memories...Thanks for sharing

[LuckyLarry]

How great are those pictures!

Larry

[lumberjack]

When I got back into collecting in the mid 1970s, there were regional shows. Cincinnati, Willow Grove, St.Louis, Cleveland, Detroit....SCD would review the shows, which were considered a big deal.

The Detroit show was never, in my time, held in Detroit. Troy and later Plymouth, Michigan hosted the Detroit shows. Charles Brooks would do shows at his store on the East Side of Detroit, but the decent shows were in the suburbs.

Detroit held an early National in 1982 or so. This was in the middle of one of our recessions (Paul Volker had just pulled the plug on money). I mention this because there was an auction on Friday night, the opening bids were very high and nobody would bid on the lots.

There were always a lot of veteran collectors, guys who had been doing this since the 1930s. That was pretty cool. Sellers would come from all around the midwest for these things. There was no Mr. Mint in those days, the closest thing to a high-profile dealer was probably George Lyons, who also wrote for SCD. I remember a guy from St. Louis (his name escapes me), who wore a replica uniform of the 1887 St. Louis Browns. It seems to me he glued 19th century cards to heavy stock so people could view them better. Can you believe that?

The scene was very laid back. It was a hobby for a short time. It makes me crazy when people use that term to describe what's going on today.
lumberjack

[ocjack]

A little bit later than the 70's, but the East Coast National was able to get Topps to reprint some of their cards for their show in 1991. And while it's a reprint, it's printed by Topps, so it's sort of, kind of a legitimate Topps card lol

[Mark]

I really enjoy this thread. Interesting stories and good memories. A couple of years ago, I found this nametag from my first card show. It was in Detroit, August 21-22, 1971. I think it was at a Holiday Inn somehwere in the Detroit area. I remember meeting Frank Nagy and talking to him about his Wagner t206. He told me that someone offered to trade him a station wagon for it earlier that day. It was a very exciting place for a kid like me, but I also remember that the selection of cards, sets, etc. was small compared to what we have now.

[ocjack]

And these from a San Diego show in 1982

[brewing]

Originally Posted by lumberjack

The Detroit show was never, in my time, held in Detroit. Troy and later Plymouth, Michigan hosted the Detroit shows. Charles Brooks would do shows at his store on the East Side of Detroit, but the decent shows were in the suburbs.

I believe 1982 was the first year I went to a show. I think it was in Troy. There was an ad in the Detroit News sports section and I begged my mom to take me.

There seemed be shows almost every weekend in the Detroit area from 82 till I left the area in 87.

[oaks1912]

Troy,
After showing the photos to two relatives, there is a good chance that the kid wearing the Goodyear jacket in pictures #2 & 20 is me. There isn't a clear shot of his face where I can be 100% sure, but I did have one of those Goodyear jackets when I was a teenager that I wore for about a year. I've always been a jeans and t-shirt kind of guy. I do not remember that specific t-shirt, but that was 45 years ago I would have been just shy of 14 years old. If you could get a close up on the cards in Rich's binder, I'd probably remember looking at those......... especially if they were Zeenuts.....