Three cheers for three dealers

 

I went to the big card show at the state fairgrounds for the first time in almost a year yesterday.

 

Since I had completed 1970 Topps about a month ago, I didn't have a specific major quest for this show. But I knew there would be a lot available so I made some vague goals:

 

1. Finish the 2024 Topps flagship set

2. Focus on the Fleer Laughlin World Series cards

3. Upgrade a handful of 1970 Topps cards

4. Find some 9-pocket pages and maybe a binder

5. Find some more oddballs

 

Here is the progress report after going to the show:

 

1. Finish the 2024 Topps flagship set

✓ 2. Focus on the Fleer Laughlin World Series cards

3. Upgrade a handful of 1970 Topps cards

4. Find some 9-pocket pages and maybe a binder

✓ 5. Find some more oddballs

 

Pretty happy with that, although that's just 40 percent success. The only reason I put down pages/binder as a goal is because I knew I didn't have any real expensive goals and maybe I could fit that in. But of course I like too many cards.

 

Also, three dealers made sure only some of my goals happened -- because their other inventory was too good.

 

All three of these guys have been selling at shows since I started going to them again around 2006. If I have their names right, they are Gary, Charlie and Tom. Real veterans and as reliable as you could want in a dealer.

 

I usually go to Gary or Tom first, depending on what my strategy is. Since I was looking to get 2024 Topps out of the way first, I went to Tom, who deals in modern sets (mostly Topps and Bowman). I got to work in the 2024 Topps binder.

 

That's what I got from there. No, I didn't finish the set. But that's a post for tomorrow. I'm down to the final four cards. I'll write about that next post.

 

Tom always has some recent inserts available and I pulled these out. Unfortunately the Betts is a dupe (but of course I need plenty of the other '89-themed Dodgers). The Heritage Lou Brock allowed me to delete that from my ebay cart. Woo-hoo! (P.S. The Brock photo is not time-appropriate).

 

 

There was also a box of cheapie, 3-for-$1 autos. I definitely do not need another Dennis Santana autograph card, but this is probably his best one, so I have it. The third auto I got for someone else. Shhh, it's a secret.

Next, it was on to Gary's tables and zeroing in on the Laughlin World Series cards. I found them, though they were in a completely different spot in his vast binder displays. I found a decent selection of 1971s, which has been trailing my 1970 WS set.

The Ruth and Gehrig World Series cards cost a good $3 to $5 more than the other cards. Seems odd that drawings (not photos) of legendary players go for more, too. I think all these cards should be the same price, but I don't make the rules.

Didn't do quite as well with the 1971s as I had most of them. The 1933 has creasing that I didn't see, but it may not be enough for me to upgrade. I think the Hubbell is a dupe but my wants for this set are all wacked out so that could be wrong.

I then went to the 1970 Topps binder to find upgrades for the first- and second-series cards I needed. But I couldn't find a single one. Disheartened, I casually looked through the nearby 1969 Topps binder and pulled one card.

 

There's some excitement. This is the exact kind of card that caused me to look at the '69 set with disgust as a kid when I saw them for the first time.

I left Gary's station and then did a reverse tour through the tables I had walked past, scanning, scanning, scanning. It was pretty busy at the show, though not busy enough that you were battling bodies. I wondered what it would be like on the first Sunday of the NFL season. But no one seemed to mind missing games (dealers said traffic was good). I definitely didn't mind.

 

One younger dealer had a box of assorted card knick-knacks for cheap. This complete-set of the 1987 Donruss Pop-Ups stood out. It was a buck for the 20-card set. Give. It. To. Me.

I bought a pack of this stuff in 1987. I don't know why, I wasn't collecting then and in college. Maybe I spotted it on a trip home? Anyway, I totally remember the Ripken and the Whitey Herzog and this was my first up-close look at card stand-ups as I wasn't around for the '50s and '60s.

 

Now I gotta find pages.

 

Finances were still pretty good so I shot over to Charlie's table across the way. He's got a lot of the same stuff as Gary. I started at the end at some oddball binders.

 

I should know better than to be picking up Kellogg's cards in dim lighting and I knew they were off-condition as I was pulling them, but I still bought them. The Nolan and Torre condition doesn't bother me. The Tovar looks great. The Lolich had a few more crack lines than I thought. Oh well, still happy with it.

 

 

 I did grab this 1973 Kellogg's Palmer to take the edge off of judging lenticular quality. The '73s take a lot less head work.

 

I was not paying attention at all and excitedly added these discounted 1951 Bowman cards that I thought were half off. When the dealer was counting up my total (after, I might add a customer talked his ear off about Elroy Face in a conversation I thought would last until 6 p.m.), he named prices for the Bowmans that I thought was off and asked about them being half-off. He said, no, everything in the binder was 25% off and asked if I wanted them anymore. I said yes, but I should've said 'no" and picked up the 1977 Mike Schmidt cloth card I saw because I HAD THE BOWMAN'S ALREADY!

It's a shame I wasn't collecting in my 30s when I had a better brain.

Before that, I seized the 1969 Topps binder and probably had more success there than anywhere else, and I hadn't planned on adding any '69s at all!

 

The Fregosi and Mazeroski were once in my collection and I've been wanting them back for a looong time. Those two cards probably made me the happiest out of anything I got. 

 

The Johnstone is another one I've wanted for a long time. And check out those unchecked checklists!!

Last of the bunch. Some bespectacled rookies and an upgrade to my mangled Brooks Robinson All-Star (with the whited-out Hank Aaron in the background!)

While I was waiting for the Elroy Face conversation to end, I picked up the 1967 Topps binder just for fun, but found four cards I needed within the first few pages.

Good stuff! Boomer is an upgrade.

I didn't have much cash left after all that, so I ambled past tables to see if I could spend 5 dollars. Up front there's always a friendly older guy with lots of cheap cards. I've bought from him a bunch of times. His stuff was pretty picked-over by then. But he's a fun conversation so I didn't mind. I grabbed the Rod Carew at the top of the post and three other cards for trades.

 

And that was it!

 

Thanks to those three dealers, I was steered in the direction of stuff like 1969 Topps, Kellogg's cards, key inserts that I didn't have on my mind at all.

 

I sometimes get concerned about what things will be like when those guys retire because there were definitely a lot of tables with nothing but shiny Panini and boxes of new product and such. Hopefully the vintage stuff will be around for a good while.

 

Or, who knows, maybe I'll need to get behind a table.