reports from the 2017 National

[mechanicalman]

I spent the better part of the day there Wednesday. I understand you can generally buy more cards at "reasonable" prices through eBay and auctions, but I just love the National. It's the one day a year I feel like a kid again. I learned a couple years ago not to bring a want list because I could never check any boxes and often bought stuff I never knew I wanted. So I went with a little bit of cash and an open mind.

I also went with the intention of meeting more board members and had a great time meeting dudes like Corey (Addie Joss) and Chris (the-Illini). I found the collector dudes like these to have nice cards at reasonable prices. I was fortunate Chris was willing to part with a nice Goudey Ruth 181.

At the Mile High booth, there was a case with 4-5 cards in it including a PSA 7 E-90-1 Cy Young that I swore I had seen before. Beautiful as it was, it was a bit out of my price range, so I ended up buying the card next to it, a 33 Ruth 144 PSA 2.5 that, again, was vaguely familiar to me. Bought it from some dude named Leon. Really good guy.

I agree with an earlier sentiment that one of the best booths with cards for sale is Luckiest Man and Card Country. Brady and Jeff have great eyes for cards so there is some really good quality stuff there.

All in all, just looking at the eye candy and meeting some good dudes was worth the trip. Bringing some extra cardboard home was icing on the cake.

[whitehse]

This may not be the place to ask and I might be a bit late but for the first time ever, I cannot make it to the Chicago National. UGH

My ask is that if anyone gets there early tomorrow and gets to the Baseball Card Exchange booth in the corporate area if yo could please pick me up two Don Mattingly 1984 Donruss rookies which they have them on sale while supplies last for five bucks. I know these are not pre war but I can use them for my sets. And if you get there early and happen to see that they have some Aparicio Perez Steele autos for 5 bucks (or was it ten..not sure) please pick one or two up for me. I Will paypal money right away.

Thank you!!

[LuckyLarry]

It seemed like the show was crowded all day today. Mostly I shopped for bargain cards to re supply my doubles box, but I did purchase the final (of four) Babe Ruth card 1935 Goudey (master set) from Net 54 member Don Hotz at a good price. '62 Topps football bucks, more hits 33 and 34 Goudey baseball, also more non sports hits today as well.
I got one free autograph Ron Dayne but the autograph area was really too busy today to attempt more.
We all had a great time after the show at the OBC Swap session.
The plan is a 1/2 day at the show tomorrow and fly home with a 6pm departure!
Larry

Sent from my iPhone

[kmac32]

Just got to mom and dad's home from the National. Had an awesome time hunting. Bumped 1 card off of my T205 Cubs reverse list in a trade, traded for. Minor league T205, bought a Minor league T205 card to start my next project, go my T205 AB slabbed by SGC after they failed to do what I requested when I sent in and had explained to them that an A grade is fine for my needs, consigned my W572 strip set to Heritage, and met lots of board members at the banquet and on the show floor.

Went with 9 Slabbed T205 cards for Trade bait and am returning with only 2 of the original group. Who says you can't trade at the National? I did well and the dealers did well so it was a win win deal for me. Wish I could have done that well with Ebay. LOL

This was my 4th National and probably my best National. The friday and Saturday trip worked well for me and it helped break up a week long trip seeing family. Also caught up with some old friends on the way up, had dinner with a fantasy camp friend this afternoon, and having breakfast with another fantasy camp friend in the morning.

I hope everyone had as good of a week as me.

Ken

[Tennis13]

I went to the National with my dad. It feels like an annual tradition we started in 2014, yet somehow this is only the second time we did it. Last two years were some extenuating circumstances.

Back in the early 1990s, my dad bought some 33 Goudeys that sort of kicked off our hunt to complete the set. I had the great idea of getting them graded this year. So there we went to SGC with a handful of 33 Goudeys and some 1950s cards and 2 Michael Jordan rookies that he bought in like 1992.(sticker and regular issued card)

I always give my dad a ton of credit on the Jordan. He is a doctor, and as the Hollywood guys say, find doctors and dentists if you need to fund a movie, because they have lots of money and are the worst businessmen. But my dad, man, back in 1992 he bought that Jordan from Jack's Baseball Cards in Clearwater, Florida. Jack smoked like a chimney, and has to be dead by now, but I spent many an afternoon at that joint drooling over cards I could never buy on my own. My dad had the same problem, but he could afford the cards. He spent $125 on the card and didn't tell a soul. I swear I didnt know about it til we went to the safe deposit box when I was visiting from college in like 1999. He slyly pulled the card aside and I was so impressed he had the guts to buy it and not tell my mom. After all, it made up for the $125 he spent on my 1986 Donruss Jose Canseco for Christmas in 1992 or so. I still hear about that wasted money to this day.

Anyway, I stop by the SGC booth to pick up our cards, and we got some good grades on the Goudeys. Not like amazing, but slightly better than I thought on a few of them.

The Jordan: a fake! All the way back from 1992. Now my best crafty businessman dad story is yet another strike against him. I would bet I hear about that card everytime I see him for the rest of his life.

Ha, oh well. I don't like the card at all---seems they are everywhere and it never strikes my fancy. But I know it struck him through the heart like a dagger. I had prepared him based on the eye test for a 7 at best---it was nowhere near a 10--, so it wasnt the end of the world to me. I told him there's no way Jack knew, at least I don't think so. Back in the early 90s, no 65 year-old local card shop owner knew, because things were evolving so fast then before the crash.

So I bought him a 1953 Jackie Robinson because that was all he talked about in 2014 and this show he kept hunting them. We also bought a Carl Hubbell 1933 Goudey from the same guy.

[wondo]

I came to the 2017 National as a "Dealer" for the first time. Actually, I was helping my friends, Glyn Parson and his dad, at their double booth. I had a couple of cases to display my museum priced collection. I did sell a couple of cards, but my intention was to go and participate.

I gotta tell ya, it was more fun behind the table and occasionally walking the floor than it was just canvassing the entire National setup non-stop (as I had done in previous years). I met a huge cross section of folks (some great, some sad) and enjoyed the hustle and bustle of working the table, although my body paid the price. Anyone who criticizes dealers for sitting down and taking a load off while behind the tables should try it sometime.

Bought a few T202s from John Goodman including a rare back Factory 10 black Cobb, submitted to PSA (nightmare lines), met some board members (Val, Schwartz, Lee Behrens, Leon, Adam, etc.) and generally survived the National "food" served at the snack bars and restaurant.

Had a great time - thanks, Glyn!

[buymycards]

My wife and I were at the National all day on Thursday and all day on Friday. We stayed until the closing bell on both days. My wife is a saint!

I have to say that I enjoyed every minute. The cards were awesome, most of the dealers were friendly and I was able to find a couple of cards for my collection.

We were able to see the Ty Cobb w/Cobb back that was on sale for 1.2 million. I thought about buying it, but was about 1.19 million short on funds. I bought a nice Weil baking card from Ed Hans, and I met Ted Z for the first time, which resulted in two separate, delightful conversations. I regret passing up a low grade T213-2 Cobb for $950, and I can't remember the name of the dealer who had it in his showcase.

There were 1000's of T206's available. I tried to get a rough count on the T206's in Levi's showcases, and a rough guess would be 1200-1500 cards.

There were 100's of T206 Cobbs, and 100's of 1933 Goudey Ruth cards. It is hard to believe that the prices don't come down when so many are available. I saw more 1952 Mantles than I had seen in previous years. Many dealers had one sitting in the middle of their showcase.

I generally start the show by go to the back of the room and looking at the tables of some of the smaller, non-corporate dealers. They are mostly easier to talk to and some nice deals are available. They come to sell cards, not just display them and talk to their friends. I went to Tony Gordons table, which was way back in the corner. He was close to the Topp's area, which was noisy all day long. I'm glad that I didn't have to listen to that noise all day.

The show was smaller than it was 2 years ago. There was a large area of the convention center floor that was unused and cordoned off by a curtain. I

There is one thing that amazed me. There were dozens of tables that were filled with box after box of 10 cent cards, or 25 cent, 50 cent, and $1 cards. These tables were always packed with people going through the boxes. It was difficult to get near the tables to take a look through the boxes. It is hard to believe that someone can pay their show expenses by selling 10 cent cards, but there were a lot of people giving it a try.

The dealers that specialized in modern cards, especially autographed cards, seemed to be busy all day long. Many of their tables were packed with customers, and these dealers seemed to be focused on selling. I can't tell you how often I went to a vintage dealers table and the dealer was chatting with a buddy and didn't care that he had customers at his table. Also, there are still a lot of dealers who aren't pricing their cards, so, unless they have something that I really want to look at, I just walk past their tables.

Like I said earlier, I enjoyed every minute. We had a free shuttle from our hotel to the convention center and back, and we used Uber every evening to take us to a restaurant and another Uber to bring us back to the hotel. Another thing that we did differently this year, to avoid the traffic congestion in Chicago, is that we got on the Metra train in Harvard and took the train to a station that was 2 miles from our hotel, then used Uber to get the to hotel.
It was cheaper to take the train and use Uber than it is to drive down down the tollway and pay for tolls and gas.

My only regret is that I was only able to stay for 2 days. I have never been to Cleveland, but I am thinking seriously about going next year.

Rick