My National Experience...A Quarter Century in the Making!!

[Moyni]

I wanted to give a recap of my experience at the National. I apologize in advance if it is boring and/or long. I have already posted this on some other forums, but thought the Net54 folks would appreciate my pickups a little more.

The last National I attended was in 1990 in Arlington, Texas. I was a sophomore in high school and I was trying to buy as many Darryl Strawberry cards as I could. Oh how things have changed.

Fast forward to this year. My wife and I are here in Cleveland. I have a VIP Pass so we went to the Sneak Preview today. Here are my thoughts...

One of the first people I recognized upon getting to the convention center was Gilmore. He was standing outside and I went up and introduced myself. I got to meet several other FCB members and that was great. Gilmore and the whole FCB contingent were tremendously nice and gracious to me even though I was probably bugging the crap out of them.

As I walked into the hall, all I could think was, Holy @#$% this place is huge!!" It just goes on and on. Row after glorious row of cards, memorabilia, wax, supplies, etc. It is truly amazing. I knew that I needed a strategy quick because I only have Wednesday and Thursday at the show. I decided to make the goal of walking the entire floor this first day, take some notes and return to do a bulk of my buying tomorrow. That was blown up immediately.

My first purchase was a 1951 Bowman Yogi Berra PSA 4. I picked it up for $110. Not bottom dollar, but I was happy.



I then bought a couple of 2014 Allen & Ginter hobby boxes to open tomorrow for the Topps Wrapper Redemption. I paid $90 each. I also bought a 2014 Topps Factory Set to continue my Topps set run for $37. I have every Topps set since my birth year of 1973.

My wife was the first in line for the free Dale Murphy autograph at the FCB Booth. BTW, they have a ton of great cards available at their booth. The line for Dale Murphy quickly got to 100+. There was some limit on how many autos he would sign, but as the first ones, we were in no danger of getting shutout. Gilmore was even nice enough to get my wife a chair since we were waiting well over an hour. I ended up getting a full size bat signed for a friend and my wife got a 1980 Topps card signed for me. He was really nice and talkative even though he had already been signing in the VIP Room for over an hour.



With that done, I continued to tackle the goal of getting through the whole floor.

I added my first HOFer auto of the show. I bought an awesome Satchel Paige auto on his Redbirds business card for $190. I have wanted one of these for a long time and I was thrilled to get this.



I then got a PSA/DNA slabbed Dave Bancroft for $130. Followed shortly by a Leon Day auto GPC and Red Faber auto GPC for a total of $60. They are both JSA and that was a great deal.







I then picked up my second vintage card of the show. A 1954 Topps Ted Williams #250 PSA 2.5 for $100.



In between all of the purchases is a ton of walking and looking. It was great to see dealers that I was familiar with through auctions or ebay. I got to have some enjoyable conversations with the dealers and most were very gracious. I was shocked how much they were willing to haggle given that it was the first day. I didn't pay sticker price for a single thing I bought today.

I saved the best for last. The first day was about to shut down and as I was heading out the door, I revisited a booth I had seen earlier with some great HOFer auto pieces. One in particular captured my eye. After some negotiating which amounted to me spouting out a price, him countering and me walking away before he said, "Ok, I'll do it." It was a PSA/DNA slabbed GPC auto of Jackie Robinson. I paid a cool $1,000 for it. The signature is fantastic.




So, I am tired and overwhelmed. Ready to get some sleep and do it all again tomorrow.

[Moyni]

Ok. So day 2 is over and amazingly enough I got through the last day of my time here without spending every dollar in my wallet. Not that there isn't abundant opportunity to do so. Let me share my day today...

Got into the show and got in a little early thanks to a buddy of mine working the floor. Once inside I walked the floor a little bit, but the dealers were all just opening up. I was on the hunt for a card I had seen yesterday and hadn't pulled the trigger on. After sleeping on it I decided that I had to have it. The only problem was that I couldn't remember which booth it was!! I had even told myself to write the booth # down so that I would remember. Rookie mistake. After almost an hour of hunting around I found the booth and got the card.

It was a 1955 Bowman Mickey Mantle PSA 3. I paid $130 for it. Reasonable deal.



I then had just enough time to run over to the Topps booth to open my Ginter boxes that I had bought yesterday to get the Abreu and Tanaka Mini National Exclusives. I was first in line and literally the first one in the country to get those cards!! I also opened 6 packs of Series II in order to get the Ginter Mini Exclusives of Jeter and Manziel.

I took the Ginter boxes to the VIP Lounge and busted open the packs with my wife (more about her later). My hits from the Ginter were Tulowitzki full size relic, Pedro Alvarez full size relic, David Ortiz full size relic, Bourdain full size relic. I got two crappy autos. My best hit was an Anthony Rizzo Mini Cyan Printing Plate!! It was my first ever 1/1 to pull. Pretty cool.



Back to the floor to do some more buying...

I picked up a 1998 Donruss Significant Signatures Phil Rizzuto auto for $20, Dick Groat, Steve Garvey and Hank Sauer autos on cards for a total of $15 (These are for my MVP Auto collection).





I also got an SP Chirography Mike Piazza Auto /60 for $80.



My last auto purchase of the show was another HOFer I needed. I got a Billy Southworth 3x5 card for $180.



I turned my eye and wallet next towards filling some more holes in my vintage needs. There is so much vintage at the show it is ridiculous. It takes time to find cards I want at prices and grades I like and can afford. I made three more purchases and the last one is the best.

1911 T205 Gold Border Frank Chance PSA 4 - $160



1948 Leaf Honus Wagner PSA 4 - $110



And the first Ruth I have ever owned...1935 Goudey 4 in 1 Ruth/McManus/Brandt/Maranville. It is a PSA 2.5. I paid $420 for it. Another fair deal.



I was again exhausted and my feet were killing me from all of the walking. I went around and told Gilmore and some of the other dealers bye. Chris couldn't have been more gracious and talking with him in person made me really proud to be an FCB Member.

I also got to meet Josh and Ashley who run Zistle. We chatted for a long time about the hobby, their site and other stuff. It was really great to finally meet them too given how much of my time I have invested in their site. They were really awesome!!

Lastly, I want to do some bragging. My wife has almost zero interest in my hobby. She is sooooo patient with me all the time about cards. She walked with me on the floor both days, stood in lines, and pretty much let me go nuts enjoying my cardboard passion. She is definitely a first-ballot HOFer for me!!

Thanks again for reading this if you have made it this far.

I would love to hear any comments about my pickups!!

[buymycards]

Great story. Thanks for sharing.

[Econteachert205]

The Williams and mantle were good deals to be sure.

[tbob]

I always think it is great to read stories about collectors who find such excitement in the hobby and the shows. Thanks for posting.

[hangman62]

nice update and review

[Matvoo]

Nice and thanks for writing

[Donscards]

Originally Posted by Moyni

Ok. So day 2 is over and amazingly enough I got through the last day of my time here without spending every dollar in my wallet. Not that there isn't abundant opportunity to do so. Let me share my day today...

Got into the show and got in a little early thanks to a buddy of mine working the floor. Once inside I walked the floor a little bit, but the dealers were all just opening up. I was on the hunt for a card I had seen yesterday and hadn't pulled the trigger on. After sleeping on it I decided that I had to have it. The only problem was that I couldn't remember which booth it was!! I had even told myself to write the booth # down so that I would remember. Rookie mistake. After almost an hour of hunting around I found the booth and got the card.

It was a 1955 Bowman Mickey Mantle PSA 3. I paid $130 for it. Reasonable deal.



I then had just enough time to run over to the Topps booth to open my Ginter boxes that I had bought yesterday to get the Abreu and Tanaka Mini National Exclusives. I was first in line and literally the first one in the country to get those cards!! I also opened 6 packs of Series II in order to get the Ginter Mini Exclusives of Jeter and Manziel.

I took the Ginter boxes to the VIP Lounge and busted open the packs with my wife (more about her later). My hits from the Ginter were Tulowitzki full size relic, Pedro Alvarez full size relic, David Ortiz full size relic, Bourdain full size relic. I got two crappy autos. My best hit was an Anthony Rizzo Mini Cyan Printing Plate!! It was my first ever 1/1 to pull. Pretty cool.



Back to the floor to do some more buying...

I picked up a 1998 Donruss Significant Signatures Phil Rizzuto auto for $20, Dick Groat, Steve Garvey and Hank Sauer autos on cards for a total of $15 (These are for my MVP Auto collection).





I also got an SP Chirography Mike Piazza Auto /60 for $80.



My last auto purchase of the show was another HOFer I needed. I got a Billy Southworth 3x5 card for $180.



I turned my eye and wallet next towards filling some more holes in my vintage needs. There is so much vintage at the show it is ridiculous. It takes time to find cards I want at prices and grades I like and can afford. I made three more purchases and the last one is the best.

1911 T205 Gold Border Frank Chance PSA 4 - $160



1948 Leaf Honus Wagner PSA 4 - $110



And the first Ruth I have ever owned...1935 Goudey 4 in 1 Ruth/McManus/Brandt/Maranville. It is a PSA 2.5. I paid $420 for it. Another fair deal.



I was again exhausted and my feet were killing me from all of the walking. I went around and told Gilmore and some of the other dealers bye. Chris couldn't have been more gracious and talking with him in person made me really proud to be an FCB Member.

I also got to meet Josh and Ashley who run Zistle. We chatted for a long time about the hobby, their site and other stuff. It was really great to finally meet them too given how much of my time I have invested in their site. They were really awesome!!

Lastly, I want to do some bragging. My wife has almost zero interest in my hobby. She is sooooo patient with me all the time about cards. She walked with me on the floor both days, stood in lines, and pretty much let me go nuts enjoying my cardboard passion. She is definitely a first-ballot HOFer for me!!

Thanks again for reading this if you have made it this far.

I would love to hear any comments about my pickups!!

Great Babe Ruth card. U bought it from me. It was nice chatting with u and your wife. I am at the airport right now. Great 6 days but nice to be going home. Glad u like the card. Chicago next year. Don hontz