Friday national

[conor912]

Originally Posted by raulus

Sucks to be me.

I always miss out on the best shows.

I guess there’s always next year!

You and I must be reading different threads.

[jimtodd]

Honestly, I had heard so much complaining, that I was dreading going today, but I've gotta say I was really impressed and had a fantastic time.
I got there around noon, and yes, had to park in the grass lot, but didn't have to pay for parking and after I got inside, I walked right in with no lines.
Its huge.
There was more vintage by percentage than I've personally ever seen in the past other shows (except Strongsville). The hobby is definitely not dying, and neither is vintage.
People are buying up vintage everywhere (albeit at 60-70%) and I was able to make a deal for some of my cards, and I bought a nice 1933 Delong Klein.
There was a ton of space in the isles between vendors.
It was much cooler in there for there being that many people.
The food trucks and drink stands throughout were really useful, as well as a lot of seats to sit down when you've been walking too much.
I didn't pay for autos but got to at least see Johnny bench, Dr. J, and Dennis Rodman, as well as several vintage baseball you-tubers.
I timed myself from the time I got in line for the bathroom, to when I left the bathroom, and it was 8 minutes. Not too bad considering the amount of people and how much people were complaining about it. I've seen worse in airports.
I for one, had a great time.

[vintagerookies51]

Cons- autograph pavilion was ran pretty poorly, my first one was cancelled 10 minutes before the scheduled time. Second one they went out of order and ended up being about 45 minutes later than the posted time. Extremely long lines for a lot of things - PSA pickup, food, etc… and I have no idea why they felt they needed to start a giant line outside to get through one set of doors when there were 20 doors that you could just easily walk into with no one stopping you.

Pros- met a lot of great people, some booths were willing to pay some fair prices for some cards I was looking to unload, really cool items on display especially in the Heritage/REA auctions

[IndyDave]

Friday was my third and last day at the National.

I was impressed with the changes made today to eliminate the issues from the first two days.

They did not charge for parking. That really helped make the entry process faster. I had heard Thursday afternoon that the had stopped charging for parking. Amazed that they filled all the lots.

They opened up access to the west side to use those restrooms. I did not use them but did walk back there for a bit. The west side has no permanent tenants and it looks like it could be used. I asked security if we could exit via the west and was told no.

My wait for the restrooms by the food court was five minutes both times I used and had no wait for the lower level restrooms

I got lunch about 1130 and had no line at the pasta station. Talking to the workers they said the head chef was not prepared Thursday and they had a lot more food ready Friday. One of the drink stations ran out of water. They had a Pepsi truck delivery mid afternoon to restock.


It was a different show for me. I bought a lot of raw vintage, mostly football and non-sports. I have about 270 items - cards, posters, ticket stubs and super balls. The most expensive card I bought was $40. Just the way things went.

Quite a bit of discounting on my items. One dealer asked me what I thought was fair when I bought 18 cards that were $20 each, 7 for $100. I suggested $250. He said how about $220. Deal.

My one disappointment was a lack of regional / food issues like Kahn’s, Sugardale, Hostess panels , Hires, etc

I am coming home with a lot more cash than I expected. I didn’t have many high end items that I was looking for and I struck out on those.

Overall a good experience that got better.

If you’re a vintage collector, stay in the main room where you walk in. The left room has done vintage but a lot more new shiny stuff

[darkhorse9]

For some reason it was really hard to get my bearings straight. I seemed to wander back around the same tables over and over I spent well over half the day not realizing there was a whole second room of dealers .
There was one casualty when a veteran patron fainted and slammed his head on the concrete. Although it's hard to tell but I think he,'ll be okay. Medical personnel were on him quickly.

[bxb]

I've never been to a National.

After reading this thread, I doubt I will.

To paraphrase Yogi, I predict nobody will be going anymore, it's too crowded!

[Spike]

While a handful of show tables remain that reward searching, they're a vanishing breed (RIP Chandy Greenholt). This group of cards came from a dealer with about 20 3200-count boxes, mixed sports and eras, priced $1 each. Took about two hours to find 80 vintage cards worth pulling. Most of my actual cheap wantlist hits are to 1970 Kellogg's. Dealers otherwse pricing high to match demand and I assume they're getting it!

[LEHR]

Last year in Chicago was my first National since 2004 as this is always a busy time of year for me. I had a great time, met some great people, and had planned to go again this year but had to cancel those plans a couple weeks ago due to work obligations. After reading all the show reports and watching several YouTube videos the last couple of days I feel much better now about not making the show this year.
My perks for missing the show: I saved $2k in travel expenses, instead of dealing with all the headaches listed above I was able to drive straight into my garage last night and park for free, had piping hot pizza for dinner and a visit from my sister-in-laws family with our four cute nieces, the AC was great in our house, there were plenty of bathrooms with no lines, not a Pelican case in sight, and as far as new cards go I'm positive REA will fill that void in about 16 days.

There's always a bright side to every situation.