The significance of "The Nationals"

[Rob D.]

I guess you could call it the World Serie of sports collecting.

[HRBAKER]

It's where men (most nerds, some with poor hygiene) gather to buy and sell little pictures of other men, mostly dead.

Seriously, it's great fun and an absolute orgy of cards, memorabilia and other sports related collectibles. As mentioned bf the highlight for me is mostly meeting up annually with a great group of hobby friends.

[Jewish-collector]

The National is one of the great experiences in this hobby. The Net54 dinner is the highlight of the National !!! There are dealers who only do the National. They bring their best stuff to this show !!! I encourage any collector to go to this show every year !!!

I treat this show as a vacation. There's always plenty of activities to do in the evenings after the show each day. And to save on costs, I always drive (instead of flying) & usually stay at a lower end motel away from the event facility.

[travrosty]

Poor hygeine? Don't they have showers at these nationals?

[HRBAKER]

Originally Posted by travrosty

Poor hygeine? Don't they have showers at these nationals?

Sure they do, but it requires a choice to use them.

[cliftons8]

This will be my 22nd National. I am not a dealer, but a small time collector like many of you. I went to Atlanta in 1991 for my first, and have really enjoyed every one of them. If you enjoy this board or collecting, I really believe this is something you must attend. I have gone to most with Tom Boblitt and many with HR Baker. We all stay at the same hotel, eat our meals together, poke fun and truly have a good time. The National is something I look forward to each year soon after the previous one has passed. I have always loved baseball and collecting, but I think it has become much more than that at this point. This is a passion that very few of my every day friends and my family understand. At the National you can start up a conversation about baseball, especially old baseball with almost everyone you meet. I really enjoy being around that atmosphere. Sounds kind of sappy, hope I don't lose my man card over this.

Mike

[jcmtiger]

I have only attended 1 of the " New National Shows", it was in Cleveland. Anyway the original Nationals were held in the Detroit area years ago, Detroit, Troy and Plymouth Michigan. Great shows, nice drinks and snacks in suites in the hotel. I'm sure Leon's is party is much better, but these were great!!

Not sure if anyone on the Net54 site remembers these shows, but they were something else.

Joe

[cmcclelland]

It's a great experience if you have never been before. The only negative I would point out is that once you've been to several Nationals, you start to see a lot of the same inventory with the same dealers over and over again. Obviously, there is always some new material, but there is no doubt that a pretty good percentage of the material at the National (or any of the good vintage card show) is just the same "stale" material from the same dealers that just kind of makes its way around the circuit year after year. Once you've been to enough of these shows, it starts to kind of get old that you have to sift through all of the stale material to try to find the good fresh stuff. That said, if you can put up with that and just continue to dig and dig for the fresh material, you are sure to come away with some great finds.

[HexsHeroes]

Originally Posted by jcmtiger

I have only attended 1 of the " New National Shows", it was in Cleveland. Anyway the original Nationals were held in the Detroit area years ago, Detroit, Troy and Plymouth Michigan. Great shows, nice drinks and snacks in suites in the hotel. I'm sure Leon's is party is much better, but these were great!!

Not sure if anyone on the Net54 site remembers these shows, but they were something else.

Joe

I, too, went to several of the original Nationals held in Detroit/Troy/Plymouth Michigan, as well as many of the Jim Hawkin's sponsored shows too (no traditional Thanksgiving Black Friday shopping for me ). I miss those days. My count for new Nationals currently stands at five, but hoping to change that next year. Was just in Baltimore afew weeks ago. If only the Mrs. work conference at the Hyatt Regency had been held a month later, what a time I could have had.

[Bocabirdman]

Originally Posted by travrosty

Poor hygeine? Don't they have showers at these nationals?

Sure they do but you cannot flip through a box of 1939 Play Ball commons in the shower. What are you thinking man?

[travrosty]

the national can do a promotion, hand out autographed bars of soap at the front door.

i suppose if some of these grungier participants just turned their shirt inside out they could go 2 days and be okay.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by travrosty

the national can do a promotion, hand out autographed bars of soap at the front door.

i suppose if some of these grungier participants just turned their shirt inside out they could go 2 days and be okay.

Most attendees are actually clean and do take showers. I always take one before I go and at least one before I come back. See.....you just need to be around me on the first day or the last day. It's the several days in between that could be an issue.

I always describe the National as somewhat of a 5 day frat party for card collectors. I can't wait.