There's nothing like a show

 

I hit the road for the fourth time in a week yesterday, wrapping up my vacation with a card show.

Interestingly, I did the exact same thing at this time last year, and just like last year, Angus, of Dawg Day Cards, joined me. It's the perfect way to finish off a vacation, because usually I'm in a downer mood that final day and a show is the perfect pick-me-up.

There's nothing like a card show. There's nothing like it to get your mind off of despair and drudgery and there's nothing like it for, well, a lot of things. 

Let's explore.

 

There's nothing like a card show to get you out of bed early

 

The show at the state fairgrounds has been starting and ending earlier than in the past. They also have that VIP thing now in which you can show up even earlier for whatever exclusives I don't care about enough to lose sleep for.

 

But since this show came during my vacation, there was no late-night shift the previous night. We could get started a whole hour earlier. It was kind of strange having that extra time once we got there, but useful, too, as we could roam the whole perimeter of the show at the beginning to devise a game-plan (it's a big building). It paid off right away as Angus spotted the above 1975 Hostess panel just the second table in, and the dealer immediately gave me half off.

 

It was the only Hostess I saw the entire show.

 

I made mental notes of at least six items that I wanted to return to once we completed our walk-through And I think I returned and bought five of them.

There's nothing like a card show to expose your out-of-date want lists

OK, this isn't a positive, it's pretty much the biggest disappointment of the show, but it's a lesson learned. I apparently haven't done a very good job keeping my blog want lists updated recently for my '69 and '70 Topps chases. I now have two want lists to update, with the TCDB lists, too. TCDB is my go-to want list these days, but sometimes I have issues calling up TCDB on my phone on site, so I rely on the NOC want lists. Big mistake this time.

The above three '69s and '70s were the only ones I actually needed.

These ones were all dupes. And not even upgradable dupes I don't think. Oof. ... The Frank Baker I can send to Johnny as I see it's on his want list. The others will be useful at some point, so not to worry, although I definitely could have used that cash for something else.

There's nothing like a card show to help you be content with "Plan B"

The main vintage guy I go to every time he's there is Gary. He was very busy this show and one look at the 1970 binder made me know he had nothing I could use. I wanted to ask if he had a Banks, Santo or Kaline (I asked another vintage dealer and he didn't), but there were a couple of guys occupying him.

But Gary's got a lot of stuff I like. I found a 1979 Topps football binder and pulled a couple stars above. I could have done a lot more damage with the set if I hadn't already blown some budget on those dupes earlier, but I'm happy I got one of the big rookies out of the way.

The other Plan B find at this dealer was a full playing card case of 1971 Laughlin Fleer World Series cards. There were actually two of them and I went through each to see which one had more cards I needed.

I love these so much. There are a few doubles here, but I can repurpose some to my Dodgers binders, and I know I can upgrade some that I have.

There's nothing like a card show dime box to keep you on your feet

There was only one dime box that we saw, and I found it pretty productive. It took me a long time to go through it and I didn't even get to every row as someone else was standing there. You have to have a lot of patience with these, especially when every other sport is mixed in. But I knew I was staying once I found a bunch of 2021 Chrome Platinum Anniversary in there.

I instinctively picked out mostly the legends players. I guess technically I want to complete this set, but I couldn't even build the enthusiasm to spend a dime on some of the lesser-known current players. But a dime for a card of Bob Gibson or Bob Feller is almost stealing.

There were a few Dodgers to fish out, too (along with a Ted Williams). Panini cards will keep dime boxes going to the end of time and it doesn't feel like anything special to find those. But I love discovering parallel Dodgers in these. Also, Cody Bellinger is officially a major dime box resident now.

There's nothing like a card show to remind you you're not done yet

There's always that certain point at a show where you think you've wrapped things up. You've seen all the tables, you might have some cash left, but your eyes are a bit tired (the lighting isn't the best in parts of the facility) and maybe it's time to quit.

But then Angus wanted to check one more table and that turned into a couple of tables. I tagged along, thinking I wouldn't buy anything. But this 1967 Tim McCarver was an easy buy, it was just staring at me. Then another table had 50-cent cards sorted by team. OK, I'll check that.

The Campanella mini goldie is covering up the Kershaw insert that I should've known I had already.

 

There's nothing like a card show with a friend to spot cards you might like

I already mentioned the Hostess panel Angus found. He also found this manu-patch thing. I've seen these online plenty and thought they were weird. Now that I have one in hand, it's ... still weird. 

There's nothing like a card show to hear cards speaking to you

I've known for a long time that the main Adrian Beltre rookie card is the only one of his rookie cards that I need. Lately I've been thinking I should finally get one.

Someone had this Beltre rookie displayed at the tail end of our walk through and I immediately turned around and got it. I could hear it calling to me, maybe Angus and the dealer could, too. It was loud! But now it's quietly happy.

 

Here is the other card that spoke to me. Gracious.

I have never owned a 1954 Red Heart card before, nor really searched out one. But there it was, sitting under glass, practically glowing. It's an almost perfect specimen, and cost less than a blaster -- the blaster prices from five years ago -- and then the dealer knocked 3 bucks off.

That was the find of the show for me and it wasn't anything on any "to-do" list that I brought with me.

 

 

There's nothing like a card show to make the drive time go by

If I'm going to a show by myself, I usually let music speed up the drive (I don't get to be one of those lucky people who can jump in the car and be at the show in 10 minutes). But traveling with a fellow collector makes the drive pass in nothing. Angus and I will talk about cards, sure, and card blogs and collectors. But there's also football and family and music and how life's going and all that. And before you know it, you're pulling into the show.

Plus, Angus always brings cards, which he doesn't need to do. I think I can use one or two of the cards above.

I know I can use this. Sure it's not the easiest to store (but I think it'll go in a one-pocket), but there's no way I'm tearing off that "win up to $1,000"in groceries" tag).

 

Angus also found a Cleveland Browns dupe that fits into my I Interviewed That Guy collection. And it's an autograph, too! Kevin Johnson played for Syracuse when I was covering the team. I don't know if it's worth pulling out the "Brush With Greatness" series for Johnson, I don't remember a ton about the interview, but it's now once of the fanciest cards in my Interview Subjects binder.

Once we got back in town, we stopped at Buffalo Wild Wings as usual. The early start meant we made it back before the 1 p.m. NFL games were done and the Browns were in the process of upsetting the 49ers. I got to watch Angus in agony for the final half. That game was wild (almost as wild as the Bills-Giants game I saw later that night).

So that was the latest October show, probably my favorite month for shows. I won't say it was the most successful -- too much dupe purchasing -- but considering how annoying and awful people act outside of a card show, it's nice to go into that cocoon for a few hours with people who know what's up.

Yeah, there's some weirdness at card shows, too, but ... look! Cards! There's nothing like them.