In the late 1970s when I was in high school, I had a table with two collecting friends at a small, monthly show at the Nazir Grotto Hall in Canton, Ohio. One Sunday as we were setting up our stuff, we noticed an older gentleman who we'd not seen at the show before talking with the promoter. The only thing the new guy was carrying was a briefcase.
After he paid his table fee, he walked over to his spot, sat down, opened the briefcase and removed two things: a homemade sign that read "Autographs $3" and a stack of 8 x 10 photos. It was Bob Feller, and he did enough business that day to return the next month.
This is a blog entry I wrote for Mike DeNero's Vintage Sportscards about how much fun those smaller, local shows were:
http://mdsportscards.blogspot.com/20...gust-2010.html