I've been going to the card shows at the New York State Fairgrounds since before I started this blog. My guess on the year I first went is possibly 2007, maybe 2006. I wasn't seriously back into the hobby until then.
For many of the years that I attended, the shows were in the Horticultural Building, which I think is the biggest building at the fairgrounds (I only go to the fairgrounds for card shows, have never been to the state fair).
That building can fill a whole bunch of tables and it feels like home to me. But for a number of years now -- I'd say a good decade, it's been in the smaller Science & Industry Building -- which is around the corner. I sound like I know what I'm talking about here, but I don't have a good handle on the names of these buildings, as Angus of Dawg Day Cards found out Saturday when we drove to the show.
We got an earlier start than we usually do. The show was closing an hour earlier, at 3 p.m., because the building was hosting a pro wrestling show at 5. I certainly didn't want to get mixed up in that scene, so I suggested an earlier start time. Angus was right on it. Even though he drove from Canada, he was ready to meet me at 9 a.m. Sadly, this night owl wasn't ready. I got there just after 9:30, which is pretty good for me! We were off for our hour trip down to the fairgrounds before 10.
Before the drive, Angus blessed me with a bunch of goodies as he often does. These had been building up for a year as that's how long it had been since we met up for a show. I'll show that stuff off now.
Here's a nice addition to the 1978 O-Pee-Chee cards he gave me the last time. All of these fill holes as I get closer to finishing this off. Big, big names here. The best names, really.
I also received some 1983 OPC cards as Angus had given me a good portion of the set previously. I think I must have picked up some of these since then as the only ones I'm sure that I needed are the Dave Stieb and the Rollie Fingers Super Veteran, but I haven't double-checked yet.
More Canadian goodness. I love these 1992 Nabisco Blue Jays/Expos cards. I picked up a handful not long ago. This kind of comic art with the info boxes is just my style.
Without a doubt my favorites of the cards Angus gave me. All of these are O-Pee-Chee and most of them I needed. The handful of ones I own will just be moved over to the main OPC set chase.
I was on a big pursuit of vintage OPC Dodgers the first half of this year but it tailed off for other pursuits. I need to get back to that obsession.
None of these cards, however, explained the long box stuffed full of cards Angus handed me. No, for that, I need to show you the two complete sets he put in there.
This is a complete 1988 OPC set. Wow. Angus joked about me finding space for these cards, and, yes, any new set that I receive must stand in a line to gain entry. This is why I'm downsizing some stuff. But even so, it's possible I can fit this set in my 1988 Topps binder, as I've done that with a couple other OPC sets.
1988 OPC is the moment when OPC became a little less fun. Although the "Now With ..." type is always great, prior to '88, players who changed teams were displayed with their new team in both the graphic team name and the design. For instance, Chili Davis' card here should say "Angels" in red, and the name ribbon should be blue, just like the Angels cards are. This was the mind-blowing aspect for OPC for me.
But the set did showcase separate draft pick cards for the Expos' and Blue Jays' respective No. 1 and No. 2 picks for 1987. And I've finally got that Delino DeShields card that I've seen on the blogs forever.
Another tell-tale sign of O-Pee-Chee-ness: miscuts. There were several in the set.
The other large complete set that Angus included is related to my interest in music cards.
It's the 1991 Brockum Rock Cards, of course! These things were everywhere, as they should be, being from 1991. A lot of these have trickled into my collection over the years. The theme doesn't fit my style of music. I never got into hair metal or heavy metal. Many of the musicians featured I've never heard of. I recall mining what I had from this set for the AC/DC cards. An oldster like me is most interested in Stevie Ray Vaughan and some of the older guys, David Lee Roth, Alice Cooper and the guys from Yes.
Some of the inserts. I didn't get into the Grateful Dead either and the heavy metal posters are too deranged.
These are cool. They are promos from the set. Angus said the Axl Rose card goes for a few cents.
More music cards. The '80s! Here we go. Not all my bands but I got the REM card (which I failed to show) and there are a couple of acts here I liked back in the day (Durand Duran, Howard Jones). I don't know what Deep Purple is doing with the rest of this checklist.
Angus also handed me a Christmas card that contained six oversized Mike Piazza cards from the late 1990s. I needed these four!!
It also contained some Stadium Club master photo inserts from 2022! I owned the Mookie but the other two were new!!
Angus provided a few other items, too, but I haven't even gotten to the card show yet and I'm probably losing people. So, please, drive down with me to the show. The weather was great (the way back was a little messy near the end but not bad).
There were a lot more cars than I was used to and it took me a bit to find a parking spot. We then walked to what I thought was the show venue. I walked up the steps and the door was locked, no one around. Oops. Force of habit. That's not the Horticultural Building! Here, let's look at map:
No. 10 is where we should have gone and we parked directly in front of it, too. But we went to No. 5 instead. Oh well, it was breaking me in for all the walking I'd do at the show!
Here's another look at the venue. Very spacious, definitely not like the monthly show that I go to where you can barely get two people down a row side-by-side. Also, this show was able to offer Pokemon and Magic dealers without them overwhelming everything else (they have their own show on a separate date anyway). They were positioned in a specific area of the building. Also there were a few toy tables and those were all in one spot, too.
The whole rest was sports cards and memorabilia. I stopped at the table you see here with the two ladies and the guy. I'll get to them in a minute.
I recognized the wares at the second table we came to after walking in the door. They were the cards that my former co-worker Corey, who passed away in September, would sell at the shows I attended. I saw his longtime girlfriend there -- she was at most of the shows with him -- and a younger man I didn't recognize who was doing most of the selling. I think he was Corey's son, who I never met.
The girlfriend said "hi" right away and then gestured to the cards on the tables. "This was all his stuff," she said. I knew. I also knew I'd have to buy some cards right then and there (I normally like to do a tour first).
I looked through a $2 box and bought all of the above cards, which were marked down. He had a ton of stuff and I wished right then that I had brought more money so I could make a dent. There were a couple of cards on display there that have been available show after show but I never could afford it. I hope they're selling again at the next show.
After saying goodbye I tagged with Angus a little. He had found a dealer from Buffalo with a lot of Bills stuff. I looked around at a bunch of it, but I spend a lot less time at tables than Angus does and I started wandering as I tend to do.
Shortly, I found myself in the main center of the building at the table I mentioned before, with the one guy and two women, I'm guessing one was his wife and another the wife's friend or a sister or something. They were quite friendly. They had binders sets to page through -- my kind of stuff. Though I hadn't planned on doing any big set-chasing, I guess it's just in my blood. I immediately found the 1967 Topps binder.
All of the cards were marked 4 bucks, which suited me. I turned to the 300s, which is where most of my wants start. I was pleased with myself because I finally figured out to access my TCDB wants on my phone, but they betrayed me with the top three cards -- I have them already. The rest though were needs or are fantastic upgrades.
Some more and I had gotten into the 500s, where I need so many cards. Still 4 bucks! I paid up and was on my way.
I toured the back end of the place and then up the other side and turned right. That's where I saw my favorite dealer Gary, who has helped me complete a number of vintage sets -- 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972 and 1973.
Again, no real set quests to pursue so I grabbed an oddball binder hoping to find Kellogg's or Hostess. Like the last time, I did find a bunch of 1976 Hostess, which I've already completed. But nothing else! Oh well, let me see the 1967 binder.
I found three more semi-highs that I needed -- that Bobby Wine card was my most expensive purchase of the day. I handed them to Gary and muttered something about my impossible set chase.
He immediately said that he recommends that those collectors who want to complete the 1967 Topps set just buy the whole thing because it's cheaper than chasing it for years and years. He had a point but I explained I'm already over 80 percent finished with the set. That caused him to wonder why I was even interested in the cards. "Did you collect them when you were young," he asked, not really believing I was that old.
No, I said, but the 1967 Topps cards were the first "old" cards I ever knew, having seen a Joe Moeller and a Bob Bruce that eventually made their way into the collection.
That led to a discussion on what "old" is and Gary glanced around at all the younger people at the show. He said that someone recently came up to him and said they were looking for a really "old" set. When he asked what it was in an attempt to help, the person said "1989 Upper Deck." But for a lot of people there, 1989 was years before they were born, like say, the 1956 Topps set is for me.
On that happy note I went to the next table over, to Tom, whose table I've frequented many times. I sought out his 2025 Heritage binder immediately. I was surprised to find five short-prints I needed.
Nothing exciting but CROSS THEM OFF THE LIST!! I believe I'm around 15 cards away from finishing the set. The final biggies left, I think, are Pete Crow-Armstrong and Anthony Volpe. I doubt I'll complete it before the year is out, but I always need something to make January exciting and this is just the candidate.
From there I wandered into the opposite wing, which was all fantasy stuff (get me out!). I looked longingly at the seats in the cafe where I wanted to sit. I then went to find Angus, who was back near the center of the show. He had found a table that I had been to. The guy had a bunch of good stuff including a bin of discounted goodness. I spotted a box of 1998 Fleer Tradition Update. But I had all the Dodgers (I think Angus might have bought this). I also looked at several Watertown Indians minor league sets, which probably include some guys I've talked to, but I passed.
Somehow, Angus found some stuff there that I had missed and was nice enough to add it to what he was buying.
A Clayton Kershaw box-topper from Allen & Ginter.
And a couple of Mookie purple parallels from Heritage. Super nice.
Angus said that a dealer on the opposite side of the table we were at had a Steve Garvey Crane disc. I have that already, but when I took off on Angus again, I realized the dealer is the guy I frequent all the time at the monthly show.
I had very little cash left but I selected a few cards.
I added the Drysdale because the one I've had in the team set forever contains a small corner crease. The other two regular vintage cards are a lot of fun. I love the Reds cards in the 1965 Topps set and Ruiz is a high number.
The two deckle edge cards help me on my new chase of that set.
So I was flat out of money at that point, which came up to bite me not even 20 minutes later when I discovered the table of dealer Dave, who I've gone to many times. He has a binder with Kellogg's cards. He had them again Saturday. But I couldn't buy any.
Later, Angus spotted a guy at the corner opposite the restaurant. There were 50-cent boxes separated by team, MLB, NFL, probably other stuff, too. I had looked through the Dodgers but had most of them. But when Angus was looking at Browns, I realized there was a whole other row of nothing but 2025 Topps inserts and parallels that apparently were 50 cents, too! There were Dodgers in there! Ugh.
I might've slipped this card into the Browns stack.
That was basically it for me for the show, I walked to the opposite end so Angus could check out another table and then we left. I didn't bring as much cash as I usually do, I think it was mostly because there is so much going on in life right now (why does the weather think it's January already?) that I withdrew the amount that would be the easiest and cause the least harm. No time to think about it.
We headed back north and stopped at Wild Wings to recount our purchases and discuss the hobby and life. Always fun.
Oh, and a few more things from Angus because I should really show it all:
It was a full day. I spent three hours at the show, which is longer than I usually do. And since I got up so early (I had worked until 12:30 a.m. the previous night), I was pretty tired when I finally got home.
Not tired enough to catalog all my new stuff that evening though.
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