Going to card shows in the 1970s

[1963Topps Set]

I started my interest in baseball cards in 1971 at age 8. Because vintage cards were coming on the school playground, I developed an avid interest in them during the 1970s. By the mid 1970s I was going to shows (with my parents of course) Usually I would go to a show at the District 65th Center in lower Manhattan - a few blocks where my father worked. They had a show there every second Friday of the month. I am amazed I still have this ticket from a show I went to in 1977. It was a much different world back then. I just wish I had the knowledge and $$$$ back then I do now! But no regrets. By the time I stopped in 1981, I had a pretty good developed vintage collection. How many others on this forum went to shows back then. How was it like for you?

[ALBB]

wow, pretty cool, the shows I recall going to back then...they never gave you admission tixs...simple pay your buck..and walk in

[moeson]

Tom, my father owned a flower shop on 8th street, a block away. I have so many great memories of those shows, including Bruce Yeko (Wholesale Cards) having a pile of Mantle Red Hearts at $1 per! I remember them being held twice a year. I still have the promo buttons.

[KCRfan1]

I loved it, and what a magical time the shows were. Mega shows are what I remember. In the KC area, the yearly show was held at the Overland Park Convention Center, and it was full. There had to have been 200 tables +. Dealers from across the country. If memory serves me correct, this was around 1977 thru 1981? Perhaps someone in KC can be more specific with the dates than I. Thanks for jogging my memory and recalling a fun adventure for me at the OPCC.

[moeson]

SSCCA.jpg

[1963Topps Set]

Nice. I recall going to the shows and cards would either be in regular boxes or just sprawled on a table. I found a 1959 Topps Bill Hall laying on the floor. It became mine. I know Hall is a common, but something like that NEVER happens today. Everything was raw, no grading companies. I paid $2.50 for my 1959 Topps Mickey Mantle, a buck for a 1956 Topps Hank Aaron, etc.. Some guy was selling unopened packs of 1955 Bowman for $5.00 a pack. Like I said, I wish I had the $$$ back then I do now.

[GasHouseGang]

Originally Posted by KCRfan1

I loved it, and what a magical time the shows were. Mega shows are what I remember. In the KC area, the yearly show was held at the Overland Park Convention Center, and it was full. There had to have been 200 tables +. Dealers from across the country. If memory serves me correct, this was around 1977 thru 1981? Perhaps someone in KC can be more specific with the dates than I. Thanks for jogging my memory and recalling a fun adventure for me at the OPCC.

I went to one of those shows around 1980 or 1981. I just remember it was SO BIG! Or at least it was to someone who had never been to a card show before. I don't remember that much about it, except that I wished I had more money. It seemed like every card you had ever heard of or seen in a price guide was available if you just had the cash. I think I just concentrated on filling in some of the holes in the sets I was working on (1970-1973). I wish I would have splurged for a good Mantle or Cobb instead.

[moeson]

The first ASCA show was held in May 1973, hosted by the Gallagher brothers (Paul and Mike), Mike Aronstein (TCMA) and Bruce Yeko ( Wholesale Cards). Here's an admission ticket from a 1974 show:

[mortimer brewster]

The first show I went to was in the summer of 1978. Holiday Inn at the the Buffalo NY Airport. Combination cards and comics. I remember buying a brick of 300 1967 Topps cards with Whitey Ford on the top and Bob Gibson on the bottom for 18 bucks. Cards were in great shape. I'm still trying to complete the set.

Cards were super cheap back then, but of course I was a teenager making $2.30 an hour.

[jchcollins]

This is the kind of stuff I fantasize about having a time machine and being able to go back to. I was born in '77 and started collecting from wax around 1986, so by the time I started going to shows a year or so later, the hobby was already very self-conscious and things had become relatively expensive. Many dealers in the 80's didn't give kids the time of day, and could care less if you were interested in vintage cards. I did build a respectible mid-grade vintage collection despite all this with the funds I was able to scrounge together. A hell of begging with my mother also usually paid dividends, but...

I read about people buying Mantles for a few bucks and just drool. I would have so eaten that up.

[Chris Counts]

I went to my first card show in Anaheim, CA in 1973. The first table I stepped up to had a shoebox full of t206s in ex-mt and better. None were even in plastic sleeves — in fact, I'm pretty sure they hadn't been invented. The T206s were $1 for commons and $3 for HOfers. I was 12 at the time. I picked up a Chase, a Three-Fingered Brown and a Lajoie. Everboy else I met at the show seemed entirely focused on 1950s cards, with Mantle being the object of everybody's obsession. The 1950s hot dogs cards seemed were highly sought after. Few collectors seemed interested in pre-war cards.

In '75 or '76, I went to a show in Pontiac, MI. Just like I did at the Anaheim show a couple years earlier, I spent all my money at the first table, which included a shoebox filled with 1953 Bowman stars that looked like they had just been pulled from packs. At one point, I held up a thick stack of Mantles and admired how sharp all their corners were. I bought one for $11.

About this time I started attending the Southern California card club shows in Orange county, first at the Walton School in Garden Grove, and later at the Fountain Valley Recreation Center. I recall many of the regulars, including the president, Clay Hill, Steve Brunner, Gavin Riley, Tony Galovich, Mike Berkus, Wes Schleiger and others. What a glorious time that was!

[Joe Hunter]

Lou, I too, have very fond memories of the early shows in Overland Park. I believe they started around 1979 or '80 and continued thru the very early '90's. These shows were promoted by Jim Cumpton and John Mailen. John had one of the first baseball card stores in the KC area. The first several shows were held at the old Glenwood Theatre in Overland Park. Due to the huge crowds the show attracted, it was moved to the OP International Trade Center, more commonly referred to as the Merchandise Mart, where it remained for the balance of the show's run. As you mentioned, the crowds were amazing and Jim and John were able to bring in all the superstars for autographs. This was where I got my first in person Mantle signed ball for the outrageous price of $35! The show was always the highlight of the summer for me.

[JollyElm]

You know what's weird? We all wish we could go back in time and snap up all of these great and valuable cards at ridiculously cheap prices...but couldn't the same be said of everything we see nowadays at card shows? (Yes, I realize it's not a true comparison due to basic economic factors, etc.) When I'm walking the floor, I just scoff at the stupid prices I see at the tables, but would it be wise to overpay and scoop up whatever I could now, because a lot of this stuff is going to be 'worth' tremendously more in the future?? In the old days, you could grab up Mantles for a couple of bucks apiece (which was probably considered outrageous back then). Would it be wise to overspend today and build up your collection of Mantles, knowing the values are going to continue to rise?? For me the answer is a definite no (I have to find serious value), but it is certainly a curious thing to think about.

[topcat61]

Originally Posted by jchcollins

This is the kind of stuff I fantasize about having a time machine and being able to go back to. I was born in '77 and started collecting from wax around 1986, so by the time I started going to shows a year or so later, the hobby was already very self-conscious and things had become relatively expensive. Many dealers in the 80's didn't give kids the time of day, and could care less if you were interested in vintage cards. I did build a respectible mid-grade vintage collection despite all this with the funds I was able to scrounge together. A hell of begging with my mother also usually paid dividends, but...

I read about people buying Mantles for a few bucks and just drool. I would have so eaten that up.

I'm the same age as John and started collecting in '84 but I remember hearing all these amazing stories about how cheap vintage cards were selling for. By the time I started collecting vintage and going to shows in 1994, prices were through the roof. I think it stated hitting around 1978 when Beckett Americana came out and certainly when the monthly price guide hit shelves in late 1984. Kinda wish we went back to the 70's card show days cause it's too crazy now.

If I had a time machine, I wouldnt go back just for the cards, but for the publications and I'd really want to meet some of the Hobby pioneers around back then and hear their stories. I always wanted to meet Lionel Carter and Frank Nagy. I think that would've been neat.

[The-Cardfather]

Originally Posted by 1963Topps Set

..........By the mid 1970s I was going to shows (with my parents of course) Usually I would go to a show at the District 65th Center in lower Manhattan - a few blocks where my father worked. They had a show there every second Friday of the month. How many others on this forum went to shows back then. How was it like for you?

Tom -

I'm not sure if this is the same show or not; but around 1975 or so (when I was 13 years-old), I used to go to a monthly mini-show at the Cooper Union in Manhattan. I believe that it was run by the Gallagher brothers (Paul & ?). I bought a ton of vintage cards at dirt cheap prices back then. Unless the card was in really bad shape, I really didn't pay much attention to the condition of a card back then. (Who knew?)

I remember always being very happy on my subway ride home to Brooklyn. I couldn't wait to get home to ogle the latest additions to my collection. Although those memories are from nearly 45 years ago, they're as fresh as if they happened last week.

[1963Topps Set]

Originally Posted by The Cardfather

Tom -

I'm not sure if this is the same show or not; but around 1975 or so (when I was 13 years-old), I used to go to a monthly mini-show at the Cooper Union in Manhattan. I believe that it was run by the Gallagher brothers (Paul & ?). I bought a ton of vintage cards at dirt cheap prices back then. Unless the card was in really bad shape, I really didn't pay much attention to the condition of a card back then. (Who knew?)

I remember always being very happy on my subway ride home to Brooklyn. I couldn't wait to get home to ogle the latest additions to my collection. Although those memories are from nearly 45 years ago, they're as fresh as if they happened last week.

I think you are correct. I recall the show being on Astor Place. I don't recall who ran it or the dealers themselves, I was just a kid at the time and just looking for cards. I picked up Roberto Clemente 1958, 1959, 1961, etc.. VERY cheaply. I lived in Queens and also enjoyed the ride home on the subway. Plus it was way before 9/11 when going into the city was exciting too!

P. S. Love your name cardfather!

[Exhibitman]

My first show:



I recall that the admission tickets were stamped Yankees playoff phantoms. I used that show to finish my Willie Mays Topps run, with a 1952 and 1953 that cost me $45. I had to borrow most of the money from my father because my savings had run out. My mother just about killed him for indulging me.

Once I got to LA in 1977 it was card shows in abundance as the card clubs started up. I was in the West Coast Card Club and set up at the monthly shows for a few bucks. I might make a whole $75 in a night. It was great. I got these cards in a live auction at one of the shows:


I also ended up the winner of a 1952 Bowman Mantle for $3.25.

I remember turning down Cobb signed checks for $50. Passing by tables stacked with Zeenuts and Home Run Kisses, I mean hundreds of them. Most of my time was spent at the $1 or $2 boxes fishing out cards like this:



Had it signed years later.

I was a kid. I got a meager allowance that went mostly for Topps packs and the occasional birthday or Hanukkah money that went to save for cards. I started dealing to make enough to pay for more cards. My costs were nil; those were the days when my parents' friends would hear I was a collector and simply handed me shoeboxes of cards from their adult kids. It was toys, junk.

By the time I was 12 or 13 my parents would take me to the show, drop me off, and come back whenever. There was a big show in Anaheim every year that Mike Berkus ran, usually on Thanksgiving and Memorial Day weekends. My parents would take my sister to Disneyland for the day and drop me at the show.

[Baseballcrazy62]

Bought a group of hobby publications in an auction late last year. I had recently lost my Dad and he and I had been going to shows since the early 70’s. I almost fell out of my chair when I started going through them. I couldn’t believe what I was looking at. It was my dad standing next to Gates Brown at a Charlie Brooks show. I am not going to lie. I shed a few tears while I stared at that photo. Great memories of those early days. Apologies to those who have heard the story before but when I saw the thread I couldn’t resist retelling it.

[1963Topps Set]

This story is new to me, thanks for sharing!

[Mark70Z]

Originally Posted by Baseballcrazy62

Bought a group of hobby publications in an auction late last year. I had recently lost my Dad and he and I had been going to shows since the early 70’s. I almost fell out of my chair when I started going through them. I couldn’t believe what I was looking at. It was my dad standing next to Gates Brown at a Charlie Brooks show. I am not going to lie. I shed a few tears while I stared at that photo. Great memories of those early days. Apologies to those who have heard the story before but when I saw the thread I couldn’t resist retelling it.

That’s a great father/son memory and a picture to go along. Thanks for sharing the story with us.

[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.

[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]

Here’s a shot of the card in a newspaper article promoting the September 1973 ASCCA show. It’s missing three borders and sitting on top of another card here:




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[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!

[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.

[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