What Are Your Earliest Card Show Memories?

[DeanH3]

Once I got my license in the summer of '85, a buddy and I hit as many local Bay Area shows as we could. I remember buying many 60's Mantles and any other 50's-60's HOFer's I could find.

Just today I was going through a box of old family photos with my 6 year old daughter and ran across this. Made me chuckle and think of this thread. If I remember correctly, I picked up a really nice '56 Koufax and '56 Clemente. I had them graded by PSA a few years later and both graded an 8. I thought I hit the jackpot back then.

[skelly]

I guess my two main memories ( we're talking about 1987-1989ish ) would be that you really didn't see much as far as 50's-60's football and hockey. I remember someone had bowman football cards and I was just in awe of them. The other thing was if you saw something it seemed like you should buy it immediately back then. Stuff would sell quick. Today, yes deals are done, but a table's inventory doesn't seem to change much throughout the day. Back then, dealers seemed to be in a perpetual pattern of selling and restocking on the fly as the day would go on.

[CurtisFlood]

Originally Posted by skelly

I guess my two main memories ( we're talking about 1987-1989ish ) would be that you really didn't see much as far as 50's-60's football and hockey. I remember someone had bowman football cards and I was just in awe of them. The other thing was if you saw something it seemed like you should buy it immediately back then. Stuff would sell quick. Today, yes deals are done, but a table's inventory doesn't seem to change much throughout the day. Back then, dealers seemed to be in a perpetual pattern of selling and restocking on the fly as the day would go on.

That is correct. I remember people watching me make a purchase from a walk up, then approaching to see what I had put in my cases. Many times they would say: I'll take that one. They were like vultures circling a kill! Fun times.

[TCMA]

My first card show related memory was posing for the program cover of the 1984 National with my cousin in my back yard. Don't remember if I was actually at the show or not. I was 6 years old.

That's me on the left:

[Goodsport40]

My first show was at a very small mall in my hometown.

I remember buying a Post Yogi Berra because my Dad told me about him. Wish I had kept that one.

I also remember buying packs of 1981 Fleer(!) They were all the rage. Good times.

[PowderedH2O]

I was 16 (in 1981-82 era) and I lived in the New Orleans suburbs. There was a card show announced and I was working at Wendy's and I had some money saved up. I was thrilled!!! I walked around the room (30 dealers?) and found a guy selling 50's cards. So, I started talking to him and asked to see some of the cards. He basically told me to pound sand and he didn't have time to waste with a teenager. I went to other dealers and eventually bought both 1954 Topps Ted Williams, a 1955 Ted Williams, 1960-1964 Yastrzemskis, and a few other star cards from the 50's and 60's. Overall, I had a great time, but the first card show dealer I ever spoke to was a jerk. Alas, he would not be the last.

[Leon]

As stated, but to elaborate a bit....I don't remember going to shows in the 1960s-1970s as a kid. When I went to a small, local show in about 1994-1995, in Dallas I was hooked. I saw beat up cards of players that were my boyhood idols for sale. I started collecting HOF rookies (and stopped unfortunately)....and progressed back to pre-war from there.

[Tony Gordon]

In 1978, I was 12, subscribed to SCD and was a card-carrying member of the Chicagoland Sports Collectors Association (long defunct). At the time, the CSCA put on three shows a year at a Holiday Inn in Hillside, Illinois. There was always a free autograph guest like a Minnie Minoso or an Orlando Cepeda. As soon as we got there, I would split from my dad who would spend the day in the dime boxes purchasing piles of Gene Woodlings and Walt Dropos. I would look for a card to get signed and get an auto. I would then purchase a few 8 and 9 pocket sheets and try and fill them with HOFers and stars from the 40 bucks my dad would give me. The room was always packed and it was tough to get at the tables. Cards were CHEAP back then. I always went home with a few Clementes and Aarons. After the show, we would drive to Downtown Chicago where my dad worked. On the drive he would tell me about the players he purchased, having seen them all when he was a beer vendor at both Wrigley and Comiskey from 1952 to 1962. The only drawback was I would have to spend hours sitting in my dad's office after the show while he worked all afternoon.

[oaks1912]

The shows in the Bay Area were among the best in the hobby in the early to mid 70’s. I attended my first around 1974, after meeting Jim Horne at a local flea market , where he told me about the first show in ’73 . Acalanes High School in Lafayette, St Alberts in Palo Alto, Bellarmine Prep in San Jose, the Veterans Hall in Santa Rosa and Sunset High School in Hayward were among the many locations. Usually 50-100 tables in size, most were on a Saturday and the advanced collectors of the day... Dick Dobbins, Jim Horne, John Spalding, Bill Weiss, Lou Chericoni, Don Hazelwood, Doug McWilliams, George Callahan, Don McPherson, and others were not only in attendance, they were very helpful to younger collectors. The first show I displayed at in 1976 cost $5 for the table. Plastic sheets were not popular (tough to find as well) and most people just put stacks of cards out on their tables. T-206’s and beat up Zeenuts were plentiful and under $1, Obaks and caramel cards (E-120/121) were a few bucks each, superstars of the 60’s were a dime to a quarter each (Mantle, Mays, Aaron) and flannel uniforms were $25-50 each. Still a lot of money for a teenager. Many long term friendships were forged during those years as well.

[Leon]

Just browsing around and saw an old thread....and saw Dick Dobbins' name mentioned so thought a card might be apropos.

[thatkidfromjerrymaguire]

Fun thread...I'm sure there are lots of new members here (like myself) that haven't seen this older thread.

I don't have an overly exciting story, but my first card shows in my memory were during the bubble years in the mid to late 1980's.

I grew up in Salina, KS (fairly small town about a three hour drive away from KC) but occasionally there would be someone at a local show signing autographs. At my first show, it was Danny Tartabull. If you were a Royals fan in the 80's, you remember him. I think he went on to play with the Yankees too.

I still have my 1987 Topps card that was signed by him that day.

My second memorable experience that same year was my dad taking me to a live auction at the 4H hall in town. I remember having some money and bidding on a 1986 Donruss Rookies set. I was in a bidding war with some older guy across the room and the price got past my budget and I was ready to admit defeat...but my dad put in a few extra bids and we won the set (dad covered the amount over what I had). I remember being thrilled at the excitement of that live auction. Dad passed a few years ago, but that's a cherished memory.

I love this hobby.

[basesareempty]

1983? Pikesville Armory Show in Baltimore. I was 13 and couldn’t believe all the cards and dealers. My big purchase that day was a 1978 Topps baseball vending box. I remember I got the Murray and used this as a starter set to put together the 78 set. It was here that I met Dan McKee’s father. I was in awe of the cards he had and even though I wasn’t collecting pre war cards at the time he was willing to show me cards and talked to me about cards. I ended up buying a low grade 1935 Goudey 4 in 1 Jimmy Foxx from him because I knew Foxx was from Maryland. I would see him at other area shows and I always made it a point to stop and say hello.He was always nice to me and I always remember that. He was a credit to the hobby.

[darwinbulldog]

Spring of 1986 at a Holiday Inn in Metairie, LA. Bought a 1972 Kellogg's Ty Cobb, a 1986 Fleer Baseball's Best Will Clark, and a pack of 1986 Donruss. Didn't pull any stars from that pack, but it was exciting to more than quadruple the number of cards in my collection with that one purchase. Probably should have stopped buying new wax packs then and there, but that habit continued for longer than I'd care to admit.

[nickedson]

A month after graduating from high school in 1972, I set up at the Midwest Sports Collectors Convention in Troy run by Lloyd and Carol Toerpe. What an experience! I talked to a ton of hobby "big names" that I had read about in The Sports Hobbyist like Frank Nagy, Don Steinbach and many others. We all carried our checklist books around since we were all collectors. We sold our doubles and cards we didn't want anymore in order to complete our sets. I had just started working on a 1952 Bowman set and Don Steinbach offered me 125 different in EX-MT condition for $75. I bought them... and them he came back with the '52 Bowman Mantle and Mays cards for $15 each. I thought about a half hour about it, then went back and bought them. On Saturday, Ernie Harwell made a visit and we put our covers on our tables while Ernie talked and then we did a Q&A. It was one of the greatest weekends of my life and helped launch a lifelong journey that goes on to this day!

[oldjudge]

The first card show I remember going to was the Greater Boston Show in probably 1991. At the time I was collecting football cards, no baseball, with my two sons. I had gone up to the Boston area with a curling team to compete in a local bonspiel. We had the afternoon off and one of the guys on the team, Ed Morley, who was a big Detroit (and Old Judge) collector and wanted to go to the show, so I tagged along. I remember that he dragged me over to a table that had a lot of Old Judges and told me I should consider buying some of them. My first reaction was, after my experience with all the colorful football cards, that they were really ugly. I did not buy any at the time. However, I guess that subliminally I was bitten and that show had a significant impact on my life thereafter.
I also remember a White Plains show where Ron Vitro sold me a group of ten Old Judge HOF cabinets. Ron at that time used to have great 19th century material. For those who don’t know Ron he is also one of the nicest guys anywhere.