What Are Your Earliest Card Show Memories?

[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!