It's taking over

 

I found out about a monthly card show in town just coming up on three years now, and already I'm wondering how soon it will be before there's nothing there for me anymore.

 

I went this past weekend fully aware that I'd see more tables dedicated to TCG stuff. When I walked in I thought I would try to count how many tables were selling Pokemon/Magic/Yu Gi Oh and how many were selling cards of actual humans. But after spotting the three tables to my immediate right all selling it and knowing the table to my immediate left always sold it, I gave up on that and tried to focus on someone, anyone selling something I could use.

 

It's pretty clear that kind of dealer is taking over this show. Without doing the count, I'd guess that at least half of the tables were TCG this time. Then, out of the other half that's sports cards, cross off the dealers focusing only on graded stock and also the dealer or two selling nothing but boxes they got through a month's worth of retail buys and there wasn't much left.

 

What keeps me going each month is the three dealers who set up close to the entrance. They are the only ones who consistently offer vintage of the non-slabbed variety. You'll see a vintage card here or there at this show, but this three-table spot is the only one where their wares are all vintage. That used to be the way every time you went to a show. Now it's the exception? Oh, I don't like this at all.

 

Still I decided to start from the other side of the room and find someone with some discount boxes. I failed. I did stop at a table with some $1 and $2 boxes later on, it's the cheapest I could find. I pulled $15 worth of cards from the dollar box (they wound up being 67 cents apiece).

 

The cards I bought there of other teams -- but saving for fellow traders -- were more interesting. Not a lot of great Dodgers for my collection in there. The Mookie Betts was the exception. It completed my 2024 1989 All-Star Dodgers team set.

 

 

And I got lucky and didn't already own this 2024 Chrome prism Kershaw card. I stared at it wondering but I don't know how I expect my brain to retain whether I have the prism or the refractor or the xrefractor.

 

But that was it for any other table. My co-worker hasn't been around the last two shows and even the other guy who used to work with me who would display a bunch of '60s, '70s and '80s cards was missing.

 

So the vintage trio was it ... again.

 

 

I started with my usual spot -- the discounted '50s-'80s cards, arranged by decade. It was difficult to focus because there was a collector behind me who was reaching across my arm for another column to look at -- he did this two or three times and I started getting anxious. No idea why he couldn't wait until I left -- I'm not going to buy ALL the cards, dude.

 

I was a little rattled but did keep enough focus to walk away with with this fantastic Tiger Twirlers card. All Don Mossi cards are great, but when he gets around his teammates, that's when you realize how special he was.

 

 

I added this card, too. Yeah, I owned the '69 Brooks Robinson already, picked it up three years ago, but that one shows a penciled "4" on his shoulder, so this is cleaner and was very cheap for one of his cards, too.

 

I couldn't wait to get away from the guy crowding me out, so I shifted over to the glass tables and stared at the fancy cards. This is the same table and dealer that sold me the 1952 Topps Duke Snider back in the spring. So, why not, let's get another vintage Duke!

 

 

This is one of the three high-number 1955 Topps Dodgers that I needed. Snider, in fact, is the last card in the set. All those signs of wear (or general shoddy cutting) is what allowed me to pick up this card.

 

So, yeah, even though I see signs all around me that this show may not be long for my world, I'm not there yet.