ANOTHER LONG AND RIDICULOUS ASSESSMENT OF A SHOW...but at least this one has a couple of photos!!
Caffeine required, massive amounts of caffeine. It's not my intention to put you to sleep, but your mattress is undoubtably gonna be calling to you.
Another semi-local show occurred yesterday, and I decided at the very last moment to make the drive to see some treasures, and here are some thoughts...
1. In Plain Sight
Not sure if it’s the way of card shows across the country now, but it seems the vast majority of the ones I’ve been to lately had the autograph guests tucked away out of public view in some sort of labyrinth, only visible to the attendees who paid the fees to have items signed and then they are led through a maze to go see
(and most likely be ignored by) the player in person.
The signer here was
Orlando Cepeda, and it was nice that he was right there in front of anyone who wanted to look. Here’s a zoomed in shot of him stylishly sipping a soda
(actually, since this is California, it is very likely something from Jamba Juice)...
orlandocepedasippingsoda01.jpg
If I read the faraway sign accurately, it cost $40 to get a card autographed. Didn’t talk to his point person, but as the photo indicates, there didn’t seem to be a lot of activity there. Could be wrong.
2. Swing And A Mislead
This
‘yute’ (random ‘My Cousin Vinny’ reference) walked up to a major vintage dealer’s
(large and brimming with activity) table to ask if he was interested in buying some very old cards. His curiosity peaked by the inquisitor’s steel case/safe, the dealer asked him what he had.
The reply was,
“Koufax, Mantle, Mays, Aaron, William, Campy, Berra and Clemente. All of the major guys.”
Everyone ‘round the table’s ears popped up
(mostly through the jealousy of, “How come this never happens to me??!!”) and the kid drew a captive audience. He remarked,
“I got these from my grandfather,” and that made everyone drool.
The mention of a grandfather means the 1950’s and earlier, right??!!
And now the big reveal...jimmying open his case, he pulled out a small stack of toploaders
(everyone’s heads excitedly leaned it to get a closer look), and what treasures did they hold?? A bunch of
lower grade 1975 Topps MVP cards!!!!!!! Technically, they do contain the players he mentioned, so he did speak the truth, but come on, man!!
Argh!! A collective sigh of
HUGE disappointment echoed through the venue, as this boy’s 15 minutes of fame vanished after a mere two minutes. What a let down to the collected collecting masses.
This is where it hurts me
(and probably MOST of us a bit). When someone mentions their grandfather’s cards, they are talking about the stuff he actually got from the packs he opened as a boy. This guy’s granddad was collecting
NOT in the 1950’s or 60’s, but in the mid-1970’s.
How the heck is that grandfather age now??? I need a nap.
In retrospect, the whole thing could’ve been avoided. I’m quite sure he also threw in the names
Groat, Jensen and Burroughs as he was rattling off players, so I guess we all should’ve known it was going to be a big fail.
3. Slight Uptick in Modern Dealers
The percentage of tables hawking modern cards seemingly went from last show’s 99.3% up to 99.7% now.
“Vintage?? We don’t need no stinkin’ vintage!!!”
4. Dead Centering
It’s often been mentioned how
Brooks Robinson has clearly been an
undervalued Hall of Famer forever. For the everyday collector, the want of his cards centers around a couple of standouts, like his
rookie card or the coveted and pricey 1967 high number.
Well, after his very recent passing, the number of
B-Robby cards sitting in display cases has grown doubly, triply exponentially. It seemed virtually every dealer had
Brooks Robinson cards occupying prominent positions in their cases, surrounded by the usual assortment of
Mantles, Mays, Aarons, Ryans and Clementes. And we’re not talking about the rare stuff, just the basic 1960s-70s cards.
Sometimes effective marketing is depressing.
5. Semi-Karma
We all know those sellers who couple their stupid pricing with an inability to ever stop talking as they push you to buy their stuff. One I’ve seen at every show I’ve attended out here was drastically different this time. Whenever I was in close proximity to his table, he sat silently with a styrofoam takeout container beside him. He didn’t appear sad or forlorn
(otherwise, I’d feel bad that maybe something bad happened in his life), but it seemed like he finally acknowledged
(Ha! No way!) that his loud and boisterous pestering of showgoers doesn’t actually work to create sales.
We’ll see what version of him shows up at the next show.
6. My Favorite Player is Cash
Glancing at a dealer’s table which ran the gamut from vintage to a ton of modern stuff, I was witness to something that completely sums up what modern era baseball card
‘collecting’ (purposeful air quotes) seems to have become.
A young guy - late teens, early 20’s - was surveying the table when the dealer, with a big smile on his face, asked,
“Hey, who’s your favorite player?” in an attempt to see if he could direct him towards some stuff and make some sales
(see 'Rapporical Question' in post #37). The ‘kid’ replied something to the effect of it was
Ohtani and
Trout (and then going into a lengthy soliloquy) explained that due to their injuries he wasn’t sure if selling their cards now would be the right move, because if they return and continue to be great, then their cards would increase nicely in value.
"Or do I assume that although all of their cards are dropping right now, I should still get out and limit my losses?" This went on for a while and there were multiple references to return-on-investment, and I swear he used the word
“commoditization.” At points he was pointing out sales of cards on his
iPad. On and on it went. He also mentioned
Pete Alonzo in the same vein, as well as other names who I am unfamiliar with, but assume are big stars
(I know nothing about today’s game).
Every word uttered was about the value of cards, the up and downs of the card market, and what his next moves should be.
When it finally ended, the dealer had a dumbfounded look on his face, so I leaned in to the ‘kid’ and explained,
“He asked you who your FAVORITE PLAYER is. Who do you like to watch?” After making a sort of scoffing noise, he looked around and replied,
“How am I supposed to answer that? I dunno.”
YOW-ZUH.
We all have a favorite player or players that are burned into our souls. These names are established when you’re a kid. My holy trinity is
Willie Mays, Dave Kingman and Reggie jackson. No thought required. You ask me who my favorite player is and their names immediately come out of my mouth. The friends I grew up with? The same thing, almost entirely
Mets and
Yankees, and nobody has to think about it.
“You know mine’s Doc Gooden.” “Graig Nettles for me.”
This ‘kid’s’ concept of
‘favorite’ only means who will return him the most profit on the sales of his cards. That’s it. No appreciation for the player himself, just his card prices. He couldn’t comprehend the base emotion of being a
red-blooded American with an all out love for a player. He’s probably never even stepped onto a diamond in his entire
(albeit short) life.
SMH.
7. Randomly Funny Moment
I finally got a tank top version of a baseball card shirt I created, so I broke it out for the show. As I approached a
Net54 member’s table, his mom
(who works the shows with him) smiled hugely at me and
(referring to my shirt) said,
“You’re a good boy to love your mother so much.” She was obviously very proud of me
(stay tuned, that changes) for wearing this garment...
tanktopbitchFRONT03.jpg
Having no choice, I humbly said,
“Lady, you really need to look at the back of it,” and proceeded to turn around to let her see it...
tanktopbitchBACK03.jpg
When I turned back around, the guy also working the table was guffawing
(it’s always nice to be appreciated), and the mom’s face was red with a bit of embarrassment, but smiling broadly as she proudly pointed at her son and said,
“Well, I never threw out any of his cards, look...” (as she 'presented' everything on the table) and crossed her arms in a happy triumph.
It was obvious that she wanted to laugh at the shirt, but chose to be more reserved.
We parted the bestest of friends.
8. Low-Grade Larceny?
We all hate
‘Highed Pricers’ (See what I did there? The prices are too high and they are hidden), who keep their price stickers out of sight
(my ‘Collectorism’ for this is Snakebelly Pricing). It usually leads to a look of shocking disbelief on your face after you ask him about a card, and he takes it out, looks at the sticker on the underside and reveals his
(larcenous) asking price.
There was a dealer who employed this method at his table, but the weirdness of it was his entire inventory was low grade cards. I don’t believe he had anything over a
PSA/SGC 2. And we’re
NOT talking about any
‘big money despite the grade’ 1950s Mantles and Robinsons, we're talking
1960s/70s ‘regular’ HOFers. They are basically 'valueless.'
If you’re set on way overcharging for cards in garbage shape, it may be time to find another vocation.
Until next time, my fellow collectors anti-snakebellyists!! 