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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[Golfcollector]

I can’t remember the specific first show but my first venture into getting cards at a “show” was at the monthly Pershing Flea Market in Lincoln NE. (this would have been in the 1982-1985 range). This is where my hard earned lawn mowing money met its demise.

Most were guys that just were collectors and did stuff out of their homes and likely also set up at some shows as well. I remember one guy that had a bunch of complete sets (most were newer) he must have opened a ton of new product. I remember seeing 9 pocket pages full of Mantle cards from the 50’s and 60’s from another guy. He wanted to have Mantles. I was a Yaz collector in my lawn mowing days and I remember trading him a 66 Mantle for a 61,64,65,66 and 68 Yaz and thought that was a fantastic trade at the time. If memory serves me correct the high price guide value on the Mantle at the time was like $15 or $20.

Beckett Magazine first coming out, and being excited to be able to pick up Baseball Card News and Baseball Cards Magazine (which the only place I could find those at the time was at this flea market.) Perez Steele postcards being a big rage.

I remember one guy that was always set up on the middle of the West side – he hand binders full of T205’s , and T206’s , Mecca Double Folders, other older tobacco issues. I likely did not look at them too close because at the time, it was not important to me……I was too caught up in getting my Yaz collection completed and picking up cards of Mays and Aaron. If I only had spent more money on the older cards and not an 84 Fleer Set or those 83 Action All Stars!

[BuzzD]

I believe my first show was 1986 in Schenectady at a hockey rink. I went for a Mantle autograph for $11. While we were waiting in line, they upped the price to $15. We were really p.o. ed. Actually happened again same year when DiMaggio came to town. But got him to shake hands!

[JeremyW]

My first show was in the early-mid eighties. My dad, who has zero interest in baseball, took me. It was less than less than an hour away at a hotel banguet/convention room. Just to see that many cards in one room blew me away. I had been collecting cards of the future HOFs, in my mind, for some time. Seaver, Reggie, Nolan, Stargell, Yaz, Bench, Rose, & even Garvey. To see Mantle, Mays, Aaron, etc. was amazing. There was a '53 Topps Mays that looked "mint" to me for sale. I can't remember how much it was, but it was way out of my league.

Jay, I'm amazed that you started collecting baseball cards in '91. I would have guessed much earlier.

[oldjudge]

Like most, I collected as a kid. The early-1990s was my second stint. It coincided with my kids being old enough to collect with me.

[scgaynor]

My first card show was 1982 Oxon Hill Md. I don't remember what I bought, but I got Joe Dimaggio's autograph for $10 (he was the only signer at the show).

First show that I set up at was 1985 somewhere in Northern Virginia. I remember that I made just enough money to pay my table fee, and purchased a box of 1985 Donruss which had just come out and was super hot. My local card shop could not get their hands on any so I had to buy one at the show. It was selling for $25-30 a wax box, at a time when Topps and Fleer was like $10-15 a box.

[tedzan]

My teenage Daughters got me back into this hobby in the late 1970's. My first two BB card shows were small ones in New Jersey.
In the Spring of 1981, my first major show was the Willow Grove Show in Pennsylvania (at the George Washington Motor Lodge).

The best way to describe this Show is....it was absolutely SURREAL !





I acquired many cards that weekend to fill out my sets, and here are the two cards I remember the best....

My very 1st T206......





A 1949 LEAF color variation of Stan Musial for my LEAF set...…




TED Z

T206 Reference
.

[ullmandds]

I don't have a whole lots of specific memories from my first show(s)...but my dad took me...it was definitely in the northern nj area.

I DO remember being offered a beat up t206 white cap matty by someone just walking around the show...which I DID buy and was my first t206...it was $2.50.

At another early show I was offered a mayo lave cross by another person just walking around the show for a few bucks. I ALSO bought that...which turned out to be fake!!!!! It didn't/doesn't have a black back...a novice error!!!!

I still have both.

[Promethius88]

Some show at a hotel in Chicago in 1980. Just got my dad interested in cards, before it turned into a business for him a couple years later. Remembered getting the price guide and always watching he 52 Topps and the price in the guides had been going down. Always had been like $1500 low $3500 high. Anyhow, we ran across one that was mid grade and it was $700. Really wish we had picked it up. From what I remember, there was a room with auctions. We did get boxes of 52 Topps with lots of high numbers. I don't remember buying anything at tables at the time, but I remember going thru those 52's when we got home.

[The-Cardfather]

The year was 1976 or 1977, and I was 14 or 15 years old. I was attending one of the semi-annual card shows at the Roosevelt Hotel in Manhattan (New York City). It was late in the afternoon and I had developed a bad headache. I was sitting in the lobby, where they had plenty of plush chairs and sofas.

I probably had my face in my hands when I was approached by an older gentleman who inquired if I was okay. I told him that I had a bad headache. He asked if I was staying at the hotel. I explained that I had attended the card show and was waiting for my headache to subside before taking the subway home to Brooklyn. (I'm paraphrasing. I don't think I used the words "attended" or "subside" at age 15.) He asked if I had taken any aspirin, and I said that I had not. He then walked away, only to reappear within two minutes with aspirin and a paper cup of water. I took the aspirin and thanked him before he walked away.

A few months later, I attended a smaller card show. (I don't remember where.) I ran into the aforementioned gentleman there. Much to my surprise, he was signing autographs. His name was Cal Abrams - former Brooklyn Dodger.

[ALBB]

great topic great storys

mine was an mid 70s.. the hot thing was the error cards.. collectors would go nuts for error cards. I had very little money and would buy the rough shape Mays Mantle Aaron cards..probably a couple bucks each back then

[Buythatcard]

Back in 1970, my best friend's father bought and sold baseball cards. I told her that I still have all my cards from the mid 50's to early 60's (included many Mantle & Maris cards, since I was a big fan of them). There were over 1,000 cards. In addition, I had scorecards from Yankee & Met games, all their yearbooks, and many other publications.
She said that her father would like to come over and see my collection. Well, he came over and told me my whole collection was worth $250. Since his daughter was my best friend at the time, I trusted whatever he said. He offered to buy the whole collection on the spot and I said yes.
Shortly after this transaction, I heard that there was a card show at the local mall. Since, I never went to a card show before, I thought this would be cool to check out. There were about a dozen tables set up. Guess who had a table?
Yes, it was my friend's father who bought my collection. I went over to take a look and see what he was selling. The first thing I saw were all of my yearbooks. He had price tags on some of the yearbooks for as high as $250. I also saw many of my cards (recognized them due to tape and damage on some of them). He had high price tags on those also but I don't remember what the prices were.
I don't know whether he actually got any of those prices but I do know that he ripped me off big time.
That was my first card show and it certainly left a bad taste in my mouth. Almost 50 years later, I am still pissed off.

[The-Cardfather]

Originally Posted by Buythatcard

Back in 1970, my best friend's father bought and sold baseball cards. ..........he came over and told me my whole collection was worth $250. Since his daughter was my best friend at the time, I trusted whatever he said. He offered to buy the whole collection on the spot and I said yes. ...........I do know that he ripped me off big time. ........Almost 50 years later, I am still pissed off.

Some people just don't have a moral compass.

I'm wondering if you ever told your best friend about what her father did, and if so, what did she say/do?

[hysell]

1985 . In a Holiday Inn at kirksville Mo . I still have the papers photo of me at a table . There were just 3 to 5 dealers there, but they had over 20 tables . Most was older vintage cards in Baseball & football . I hadn't got back past my 1973 set , yet & was still working on my 1972 and 1971 near sets . I walked in with a 200 count box of all rookies {BASEBALL } , football had not taken off , yet , here . These would be rc's from 1977 to 1984 time span & had a few doubles of all the main players of that time & in all brands . I sold some & traded for a few Aaron"s, Mays and those types of players. I did vary well on both accounts .

[jakebeckleyoldeagleeye]

My first show (around 1978) I was collecting 1948 Leaf's thru the mail but picked up an ex. condition Joe DiMaggio for $20.

[Buythatcard]

Originally Posted by The Cardfather

Some people just don't have a moral compass.

I'm wondering if you ever told your best friend about what her father did, and if so, what did she say/do?

I told he but she was clueless. She turned out to be a pathological liar. She kept making up all sorts of lies so that people would like her.

[jmarascojr]

Early 90's in Rochester NY.

There were weekends when there'd be 2-3 shows going at the same time, it was a magnificent time

My dad would take me 1-2 a month, when he had me and I wasn't staying at my mom's.

Earliest memories....

Making late night runs for 1990 Score to finish our sets and also hopefully pull more of that super hot Eric Lindros RC

I remember going to a show in the early 90s where Jim Kelly was signing autographs.
He was running an hour late, so we left...
As we are leaving, we see a limo parked out front...
Driver tells us they'd been there for an hour but Kelly wasn't done with the groupie he had in there with him....

[Huck]

I am enjoying the stories

1981-82 - The VFW in Dale City, Virginia. I caught the advertisement in the local rag (Potomac News - now defunct I believe). I was feeling rather euphoric from finally completing the 726 cards in the 1981 set so the idea of an actual show sounded pretty cool. I had spent close to $100, in wax and frequenting one of the few baseball cards stores in the area (in Sprinfield, VA) in an effort to complete the 1981 set. So, I head over to the local VFW and walk into the show. I believe admission was free. The promoter had his own table, and I picked up my first T206 card (Hanifan Jersey City - $10). I had no clue what to buy, I was a current year new wax guy but I thought the card was cool. Picked up 1955 Topps cards of Jackie Robinson and Hank Aaron. Again, good price and name recognition and I didn't have a card of that age. I was not thinking about sharp corners and centering. The cards just struck a cord. Well, after those three purchases, I proceed to peruse the other tables. A sign screamed from one of the dealer tables "1981 Topps complete set collated - $19.00." Whhaaat? I just dropped close to $100 on wax and having to frequent the most dimly lit, dankest card store in the area in hopes of finding cards of Dennis Lamp, Kiko Garcia and Glenn Borgmann? I could have simply dropped $20 and been done? That was when I stopped buying wax and trying to putting together sets. I just bought the complete set outright. I saved money and it cut down on having hundreds of commons as well.

Wish I knew then, what I know now. Good times nonetheless.

[IndyDave]

My first card show was in the early 1970’s (either 72 or 73) in Grove City, Pennsylvania. There were a handful of sellers set up on card tables on the front porch and living room of hobbyist Bill MacTaggart. I was 13 or 14 at the time and had made contact with Bill through one of the newsletter publications of the day (that I found through the Sporting News). Bill invited my brother and I to his show and my parents drove us the hour from Youngstown Ohio.

I don’t remember much about that show other than seeing just all the old cards (my collection started with 1966 Topps bought by my grandfather for me). Bill rented a hall in town the next year and my brother and I set up at those shows for several years. My dad built us some boxes (like today’s 3200 count boxes) out of wood for our set ups to sell our duplicates We also set up at Jim Borgen’s shows at the McKinley Memorial in Niles Ohio for several years.

In 1974 or 75 my parents took us to the show at the Troy Hilton. I remember a dealer talking me in to buying a brick of 1958 Topps with Hank Aaron on top for $10. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to buy it. I did. Probably 50 or so cards in the brick, wrapped in Saran Wrap.

I still correspond regularly with Bill MacTaggart, who is in his early 70’s now. I haven’t seen Bill for 35 years or so - but we trade letters and Christmas cards.

[Vintagecatcher]

Unfortunately, I'm not sure when I started going to card shows..late 80's early 90's.

I remember buying my first pre-war card in an antique shop in Vermont. It was a T201...either Dooin or McLean.

I grew up in the Worcester, MA area and I remember checking out the Rotman Collectibles Auctions which really got me interested in pre-war.

My early memories include going to shows at BC High, Bishop Guertin, Hall's Peabody shows at the Holiday Inn, and shows in Marlboro, MA trade center.

Subscribed to SCD back in the day as well as Lew Lipset's Four Base Hits Catalog and Larry Fritsch's one of a kind catalog.

The days before eBay and slabbing were wonderful!

Patrick

[skil55voy]

Grew up in Detroit. However, my first show was in Baltimore in 1979. I was stationed at Fort Meade. I had met Denny Eckes in his print shop in Laurel. (He had teamed with Jim Beckett to produce the first Sport Americana price guide and gave me a copy gratis) He told me about a show that he and Nick Schoff and Bill Scott were putting on. Great show. Spent a few Saturdays after that in Schoff and Scott's card shop.

[jchcollins]

The first large shows I remember attending were in Charlotte, NC - probably along about 1988-90. The auto guests were always the draw, and the reason us kids could get our parents to take us. I remember getting sigs from Duke Snider, Bob Feller, and later - Mark Grace who was in his first few seasons with the Cubs. Snider and Feller were both very nice to me as about a 12-13 year old kid. I remember I had purchased at the show a pretty beat-up '56 Topps Snider, and wanted the Duke to personalize it to me, but he talked me into personalizing a litho print instead, with the idea that if he wrote my name on his card, it would be worth less later and I might have trouble getting rid of it. (This little curiosity intrigues me 3 decades on - why did the Duke care what I did with the card, and the fact that it was already beat to hell seemingly didn't bother him, lol...). Feller I remember I had a picture signed, and he spent a few minutes to tell me that picture was from spring training, 1951 or whenever and you could tell because of the details on the uni he had on in the picture. I've never been much of an auto collector (though I'm getting back into it some now in my early 40's...) and sadly I did not keep the Snider or Feller autos over the years - I think I sold them in the early days of eBay, probably to get more money to spend on cards. In terms of cards I remember from these shows - usually held in the fall, they were often a good time to pickup the Topps Traded set if it had come out. One of them must have been in '89 because I remember the hot hot card at that particular show was the '89 Upper Deck Jerome Walton...NOT ironically, the Griffey Jr. Griffey soon surpassed Walton, the '89 NL ROY and he of 30-game hit streak fame that season - but at least at the time, Walton was more popular. Every dealer was being asked if they had the card, and some people were buying up as many of them as they could. I think his UD card was $15, Griffey's at the time was $8 or $10. I should have stocked up, LOL. At one show, I remember buying a '52 Bowman Warren Spahn for around $30, and thinking it was in incredible shape for the price. Only after I got home did I notice, in small neat letters, a stamp for "1952" had been applied to the back. The dealer of course had never mentioned it. Oh well, I loved the card anyway. Other random scores at shows like this I remember over the years were an '83 Topps Ryne Sandberg rookie, and I think the '78 Molitor / Trammel RC. I did have some more "major" cards in my collection at the time as a kid - including a '56 Mantle and Ted Williams - but those for whatever reason had seemed to come mainly from local card shops. I think probably because at the shows, after I spent money to get an autograph and a traded set - I was usually pretty broke in the days of being a teenager, but before I really had a job or steady source of income short of going through a hell of begging with my mother. (This tactic had worked well to get me things like a '58 Mantle Aaron, a '54 Bowman Campanella, and a '66 Koufax a few years earlier when I first found out about old cards). Also at one card show, I caught my first glimpse of a '52 Topps #311 in the flesh at one table - the dealer had it in one of those inch-thick lucite slabs. I don't recall specifically how nice it was, probably mid-grade - but the price tag was $5k something. Geez if we had only known how much Mantle would continue to skyrocket. No way my father was spending that much money on a baseball card back in the early 1990's, lol. "Are you crazy son, we are going to pay our MORTGAGE instead..."

Good memories of the time, the love of my parents, and good friends who would accompany me to shows. Thanks for starting this thread!

[yanks87]

My first show was at the Sheraton in Ithaca, NY. Back in those days, it was a lot of cases and binders. I was hell bent on collecting all the cards of my favorite Yankee, Dave Winfield. The first show I went to was also special, because it was my first time meeting a Major League player, Jim Eppard. I went through all my cards, and found that I had two of his '89 Topps from his time with the Angels. I was SO excited, it was a rainy Saturday, and my mom dropped me at the front door, saying that she would wait while I ran in and did a quick loop and got my autograph. I flew through the show, maybe bought a '78 Winfield, and went over and met Mr. Eppard. I was so nervous as I handed over my $5 for a photo for him to sign. "What's your name?" He asked reaching for the photo, "Hello sir, my name is Brian, thank you for signing this." He grabbed the cards from my shaking hands, signed it all and stated "Sure thing kid." I was on cloud nine as I ran to the car. Still shaking I pulled the photo out to show my mom the prize I had just scored. Delight turned to udder disgust.

"TO BRAIN, BEST WISHES - Jim Eppard" Read the inscription

I was crushed. I still have it, but so began the end of collecting anything signed by anyone. Never bought an autograph since, never asked for an autograph since. Though it did make for a good story.

[justrun7]

Back in the 1990's my dad used to set up at the Fort Washington show. In the late 90's or early 2000's he stopped setting up as I was getting older and he started bringing me up with him for the day on Saturday's. I loved seeing all of the old and new cards and memorabilia. My dad would give me $20 or so for the show and I would buy as many cheap auto and jersey cards as I could because vintage cards just seemed too expensive. As we were leaving, I found a 1975 Topps Bob Gibson card in the parking lot next to our car. I could not believe it! A vintage card of a Hall of Famer! I felt like I hit the jackpot. My dad shared in my excitement, even though he knew it wasn't a valuable card. As my collection has grown, shrunk, and grown again, this was one of the cards I made sure that I will never get rid of. I even had is slabbed by PSA just to make sure that it would never get mixed in accidentally with cards I may sell one day.

[rats60]

The first "card show" was held a few miles from my house, but I never heard about it. I had to wait until 1979 to go to a show at a small hotel. I was buying high number 1961s and mid-series 1963s trying to finish my Topps set run back to 1958.

[mantleman]

Not too many big card shows up here in Canada but I remember going to Florida every year to watch Spring Training.

One time that stands out in my mind was in the late 1980's my grandfather drove us to a card store in Tarpon Springs, Florida and the store was closed because Ted Williams was inside doing a private signing. I remember spending almost an hour peeking through the window watching him sign boxes of balls and bats.

He never batted an eye at me peering through the window. But I remember how tall and towering he was, as I was probably only 12 or 13 at the time.

I knew it was a big deal because my grandfather was "in awe" of seeing one of his childhood heroes as well.

Andy

[ksfarmboy]

Mine was in Wichita in 1977. Worked at a card shop as a kid and the owner put on a show at a local school. I remember buying a 1955 All American Knute Rockne for $5 during a break from running the shops tables. Fun times and I even made it on the local news.

[stlcardsfan]

My earliest memory was my Mom taking me to a show in about 1976 or 1977. It was either in Collinsville or Edwardsville, IL, can't remember for sure. I was 10 years old and we were working on a 1972 complete set. I bought the 2nd series from 1972 from vending. I vividly remember the curl and pristine condition of the cards. For some reason the Chris Chambliss All Star Rookie card stands out.

Also, a friend of mine from my baseball team at the time collected cards. His mom went with us, although for reasons I can't remember he didn't go. They were working on a Hank Aaron run and she bought the RC that day. It was extremely low grade and I remember thinking I wouldn't want that card but I would certainly take it today!

[Ben Yourg]

About 25 years ago,my wife and I were doing a card show,
in Boca Raton,Fl.
We had a few "Yankee" cards,in the case.
An older lady came over,and looked at the "Whitey Ford" card.
There was a friend with her ,who told me she was "Whitey's",Mother.
She said yes,and got a bang,out of seeing the card in my case.

[The-Cardfather]

Originally Posted by yanks87

"TO BRAIN, BEST WISHES - Jim Eppard" Read the inscription

Maybe you could sell it to this guy......

[yanks87]

he'd appreciate that for sure!