100 Days of Barry Larkin

[OhioLawyerF5]

Originally Posted by todeen

I actually don't know what SCAI is. I figured these were released in packs. Is SCAI a forerunner of the National? Or is/was it regional, more like the West Coast National?



1993 Topps Finest was another set that premiered before I had ever been to a card shop. I started going to card shops around 1995. I was caught up by Nomo-Mania and Mike Piazza. When I walked into the card shop I was looking at cards in cases, not in boxes.

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SCAI was the Sports Collectibles Association International, which was a short-lived Hobby trade group that formed in the early 90s by noted Hobby dealer Kit Young. By the mid-90s, the organization dissolved, and Young went on to found what is now the Collectibles Industry Summit. The National is more of a giant card show for consumers. Wheras SCAI and the Industry Summit are more like trade shows for dealers in the industry more than the individual collector.

Pinnacle was at the SCAI in 1993 trying to promote their new dufex cards, so they gave out boxed sets of the Cooperstown Collection in dufex to the dealers there. I believe there were a total of 1000 sets produced, but you don't seem to see that many around these days.

I lived in a very small town in 1993. We had a grocery store that had a small card display case run by the owner's son. Then, all of a sudden, a lady opened a full-fledged card shop across the street. It instantly became the hot spot for all the boys in the neighborhood to hangout, my brother and I included.

[todeen]

Originally Posted by OhioLawyerF5

SCAI was the Sports Collectibles Association International, which was a short-lived Hobby trade group that formed in the early 90s by noted Hobby dealer Kit Young. By the mid-90s, the organization dissolved, and Young went on to found what is now the Collectibles Industry Summit. The National is more of a giant card show for consumers. Wheras SCAI and the Industry Summit are more like trade shows for dealers in the industry more than the individual collector.

Pinnacle was at the SCAI in 1993 trying to promote their new dufex cards, so they gave out boxed sets of the Cooperstown Collection in dufex to the dealers there. I believe there were a total of 1000 sets produced, but you don't seem to see that many around these days.

I lived in a very small town in 1993. We had a grocery store that had a small card display case run by the owner's son. Then, all of a sudden, a lady opened a full-fledged card shop across the street. It instantly became the hot spot for all the boys in the neighborhood to hangout, my brother and I included.

I grew up in Billings, Montana, population 81k people. I was buying cards at the grocery store chain called Buttrey's. It's since been bought by Albertsons, I'm not sure it's still around. About 1995, I found two card shops in town and those were life changing compared to a 75-cent pack going through the checkout line. The better of the two was a dimly lit double wide (or small house) that was filled full.

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