Reminiscing...Spring Garden, Willow Grove, Ocean City, Fort Washington, Reading Shows

[Jay Wolt]

Ted brings back alot of memories

[glynparson]

I set up, with my Dad at all of those but the Spring Garden Shows. Miss those old shows. Some of the stuff that was for sale at those shows was mind blowing. Some of the walk ins were unbelievable not to mention some of the invetory brought to the show by dealers. I was lucky enough to have gotten to set up at the last two or three Willow Grove Shows. I still remember Kevin getting a piece of the carpet. Those Old Willow Grove shows are one of the main reasons I love cards as much as i do.

[sb1]

Quite a few no longer with us, remember so many of them well.

[tedzan]

I started collecting Sportscards again in 1977. My first Willow Grove Show was in March 1981. I'll never forget that Show.
It felt like I was in the "big time" in this hobby.

On display here are my first two purchases at this show.





The light blue Musial in the middle





TED Z

T206 Reference
.

[WillowGrove]

I grew up with parents who collected antiques, so I was dragged to all these antique shows and auctions so I started collecting vintage baseball cards. When it came time for this show, my parents were more than happy to drive me the 2 hours or so from Brooklyn to the GW Motor Lodge.


The night before these shows I remember my mind would be swimming with dreams of baseball cards. I could barely sleep I was so excited.

We would get there when the show opened, they'd give me $20 and then take off and go to flea markets and antique shows.

I remember picking up my 34 Goudey Appling and Gehringer for $3.50 each but I left the Hank Greenberg there since it was 6 bucks. Too much. I also remember getting a Bob Gibson rookie for 50 cents (35 years later it graded a 4) and 59 Kaline for a dime. I'm thinking this was a 1977 show. Which was also the show I saw 1971 Topps High Number Ron Swoboda for the first time.

Do you remember when you saw a specific card for the very first time?

I remember many of the dealer names from TTS's and then SCD but one dealer memory I had from the actual show was that Irv Lerner had a table in the back, and I checked the chart and my 40 year old memory was correct.

Ted, Tom Reid gave me some advice at the NYC show at the Roosevelt Hotel. I showed him the 33 Maranville I bought for a dollar. and she said, "that's okay, but don't by cards with writing on them." I hadn't realized that someone wrote 'Boston Braves" on the FRONT of the card.

Great thread.

[aconte]

Fun read! Thanks for sharing all this Ted.

Brings back memories when I was a teenager. The Motor Lodge was my
first show.

Tony

[tedzan]

Thanks guys

There are many more stories to tell....but, I'm hoping more Net54er's will chime in with their personal stories.



TED Z

T206 Reference
.