Going to card shows in the 1970s

[The-Cardfather]

This one too!

[TCMA]

Program from the very first ASCCA show:

[topcat61]

Originally Posted by jchcollins

This is the kind of stuff I fantasize about having a time machine and being able to go back to. I was born in '77 and started collecting from wax around 1986, so by the time I started going to shows a year or so later, the hobby was already very self-conscious and things had become relatively expensive. Many dealers in the 80's didn't give kids the time of day, and could care less if you were interested in vintage cards. I did build a respectible mid-grade vintage collection despite all this with the funds I was able to scrounge together. A hell of begging with my mother also usually paid dividends, but...

I read about people buying Mantles for a few bucks and just drool. I would have so eaten that up.

I'm the same age as John and started collecting in '84 but I remember hearing all these amazing stories about how cheap vintage cards were selling for. By the time I started collecting vintage and going to shows in 1994, prices were through the roof. I think it stated hitting around 1978 when Beckett Americana came out and certainly when the monthly price guide hit shelves in late 1984. Kinda wish we went back to the 70's card show days cause it's too crazy now.

If I had a time machine, I wouldnt go back just for the cards, but for the publications and I'd really want to meet some of the Hobby pioneers around back then and hear their stories. I always wanted to meet Lionel Carter and Frank Nagy. I think that would've been neat.

[Troy Kirk]

Mark Macrae had a great post in this thread about the card shows at Acalanes High School in Northern California in the 1970s. I went to the first show there in 1973 and all the subsequent shows there for the next few years. In 1975 I had a photography class in High School and I checked out one of the nice cameras and took some photos at one of the Acalanes shows that year. I just got a new scanner that lets me capture images of my black and white film strips, so I just got finished printing them all out. Some of them I have never looked at until now.

It looks like I took a lot of shots of my collecting buddies, but I also went around the room and took random shots of other collectors and dealers. Hopefully I caught Mark in at least one of the photos. I'll identify who I know, but I'm sure Mark can identify lots more collectors. If anyone can add identifications, I would enjoy learning who I caught that day.



1. Jim Horne is in the middle of this picture, above the guy leaning over.




2. Not many females in the room, so I took a picture of this girl who looked very bored.




3. My buddy Mark Larson, who used to write for Baseball Hobby News. He still collects cards.




4.



5.



6.




7. Back shots of Mark Larson and Rich Sawyer, my friends who were selling at this show. First show they ever sold at.




8. Looking at the camera is Dan Larson, Mark's younger brother. To his right with his back to the camera is Rich Sawyer.




9. I think that's Dick Dobbins standing in the left of this picture. Rich Sawyer and Mark Larson are sitting in the center of the picture. Dan Leader is bent over at their table looking at cards.




10.

[Troy Kirk]

11. Dan Leader bent over in front of table, Rich Sawyer and Mark Larson behind table.




12. Troy Kirk (me)




13. My pal Rich Sawyer, behind the cigar boxes.




14. Mark Larson seated in center of picture. Way back behind Mark at the back of the room, standing with a dark shirt and white name tag is John Spalding.



15. Rich Sawyer standing in middle of picture (white shirt and glasses).




16. Dan Leader reaching into his pocket for some money to buy some cards. John Spalding is standing at right edge of picture with checkered sport coat, dark shirt and white name tag.




17. Mark Larson looking at camera.




18.




19. Dan Larson




20. Rich Sawyer looking at camera.

[oaks1912]

Hi Troy,
Someone alerted me to this post and the great photos. Picture #1 shows Bill Weiss, in the center looking to the right (thin hair and wearing glasses). I cannot see the detail on the guy that you think is Jim Horne, but it sure looks close. If this was '75 I was in attendance....I don't see my picture, but I'm sure that quite a few of the attendees were not pictured... I set up the following year and continued to exhibit there until the final one in '82. My tables were located against the wall shown in image #1 , right under the basketball hoop. We used the bleachers to store complete sets. John & Barbara Spalding were set up right next to me, and Don & Scott Hazelwood were set up in the alcove just under the ventThere are very few pictures known from this era of the Northern California shows. Great memories...Thanks for sharing

[LuckyLarry]

How great are those pictures!

Larry

[oaks1912]

Follow up from last night. I checked the first Northern California Collector's Directory, compiled in '74 and released in early 1975. I found Mark Larson & Rich Sawyer listed. Also found Jerry Stone (who posted earlier). Maybe you didn't sign up as it was optional. Attached is my table confirmation postcard from the 1979 Acalanes show. Dobbins asked me to bring along a Pete Rose bat. It was probably worth about $25 in trade then

[slantycouch]

Troy - these photos are incredible!

I passed photo #6 and my brain instinctively said "oh, she's probably looking at Facebook on her phone..." ha!

[oaks1912]

Troy...you are listed in the 1977 directory.... Below is the souvenir from the 1975 Acalanes show. Do you still have yours?

[GasHouseGang]

What strikes me most about those photos, is how few "old guys" there are at that show. Now it seems the show photos are dominated by the people that were kids in those photos. There just aren't nearly as many young people collecting as there used to be I guess. That was around the time I started collecting myself, and there seemed to be lots of friends my same age that were into it back then. Just an observation.

[icollectDCsports]

Those photos are so great. Thank you for posting them.

[nolemmings]

Originally Posted by icollectDCsports

Those photos are so great. Thank you for posting them.

+1. I'm trying to figure out what was for sale in the pics. It looks from photo #13 that a 1972 Frank Robinson is in the middle of the sheet, with maybe a 1967 Robby next to him. That might be a '74 Aaron Special below the '72 Robby, and the '72 card to the left looks familiar but I can't place it. BTW, maybe it was because I lived in pastoral, time moved slowly Minnesota at the time, but we did not have vinyl/plastic sheets for cards in 1975. Do you recall when you first saw them?

[Seven]

Originally Posted by GasHouseGang

What strikes me most about those photos, is how few "old guys" there are at that show. Now it seems the show photos are dominated by the people that were kids in those photos. There just aren't nearly as many young people collecting as there used to be I guess. That was around the time I started collecting myself, and there seemed to be lots of friends my same age that were into it back then. Just an observation.

To piggyback off this, as someone whose recently gotten back into the hobby, I was pretty amazed by the positive reception I was given by many of the older folks when It came to walking into shows or stores. I fondly remember talking with a group of older gentleman a few months ago about some of the early 50's topps set and they seemed really excited that someone younger was so interested. As a side note I was really looking forward to going to Wildwood this summer for the Show that they have at their convention center, doesn't look like that's going to be the case though.

[Yoda]

Originally Posted by 1963Topps Set

Is the 1969 Topps Mickey Mantle the white letter variation?

Spoken like a true collector.

[lumberjack]

When I got back into collecting in the mid 1970s, there were regional shows. Cincinnati, Willow Grove, St.Louis, Cleveland, Detroit....SCD would review the shows, which were considered a big deal.

The Detroit show was never, in my time, held in Detroit. Troy and later Plymouth, Michigan hosted the Detroit shows. Charles Brooks would do shows at his store on the East Side of Detroit, but the decent shows were in the suburbs.

Detroit held an early National in 1982 or so. This was in the middle of one of our recessions (Paul Volker had just pulled the plug on money). I mention this because there was an auction on Friday night, the opening bids were very high and nobody would bid on the lots.

There were always a lot of veteran collectors, guys who had been doing this since the 1930s. That was pretty cool. Sellers would come from all around the midwest for these things. There was no Mr. Mint in those days, the closest thing to a high-profile dealer was probably George Lyons, who also wrote for SCD. I remember a guy from St. Louis (his name escapes me), who wore a replica uniform of the 1887 St. Louis Browns. It seems to me he glued 19th century cards to heavy stock so people could view them better. Can you believe that?

The scene was very laid back. It was a hobby for a short time. It makes me crazy when people use that term to describe what's going on today.
lumberjack

[ocjack]

A little bit later than the 70's, but the East Coast National was able to get Topps to reprint some of their cards for their show in 1991. And while it's a reprint, it's printed by Topps, so it's sort of, kind of a legitimate Topps card lol

[Mark]

I really enjoy this thread. Interesting stories and good memories. A couple of years ago, I found this nametag from my first card show. It was in Detroit, August 21-22, 1971. I think it was at a Holiday Inn somehwere in the Detroit area. I remember meeting Frank Nagy and talking to him about his Wagner t206. He told me that someone offered to trade him a station wagon for it earlier that day. It was a very exciting place for a kid like me, but I also remember that the selection of cards, sets, etc. was small compared to what we have now.

[ocjack]

And these from a San Diego show in 1982

[TCMA]

Here's a piece I wrote for the SABR Baseball Cards Committee blog a few weeks back. All about some of the earliest conventions:

https://sabrbaseballcards.blog/2020/...ars-ago-today/

[Troy Kirk]

I'm bummed that you can't find yourself in one of the pictures, Mark, I was really hoping you were in there. I wish I had taken more pictures. I have no idea why I wasn't in the directory, I was at the very first show and all of the others for the first few years at least. I don't remember the souvenir cards, but who knows, they may pop up in one of the boxes I've been opening lately. I do think I have some type of map of the bay area with collectors names showing in the areas where they lived.

[Beansballcardblog]

I'm younger than most that have posted (born in 1979, collecting since '87), but love hearing about hobby history. Thanks to all that posted, this was a truly enjoyable read.

-kin

[Exhibitman]

Originally Posted by GasHouseGang

What strikes me most about those photos, is how few "old guys" there are at that show. Now it seems the show photos are dominated by the people that were kids in those photos. There just aren't nearly as many young people collecting as there used to be I guess. That was around the time I started collecting myself, and there seemed to be lots of friends my same age that were into it back then. Just an observation.

Context is everything. Back in the day shows were local or regional events, cheap to attend and set up at (I think my first table when i was 12 or 13 was ten bucks and I made all of $75 for the night selling postwar Topps cards), and cards were generally cheap. Kid-friendly. Not so much now. Doesn't mean kids aren't collecting, just that they aren't coming to the National or giant regional shows. Also, the kids tend to stick to the new wax (well, plastic) pack and pack busting areas at the big shows. Not much interest in 100 year old cards of dead guys, unless they are nerds like I was (am)...

[Exhibitman]

Originally Posted by MooseDog

This might be a weird perspective but my best memories of those shows from my teenage self was the way I was treated with kindness and respect by men such as Dick Dobbins, Steve Brunner, Will Davis, Doug McWilliams, Nick Peters, Richard Masson, Stan Marks, and dozens of others.

I can honestly say that my interactions with them helped me greatly in learning how to treat others.

On the other hand there were guys like Goodie Goldfadden...

Me too! it was my first experience of being taken seriously by adults.

[MooseDog]

Troy -

Thanks so much for posting those pictures. Great memories. The photography has a great 1970s vibe, (Kodak Tri-X 400 if you know what I mean)...good stuff!

I am either in #8 (white tee shirt center) or on the right in #9. Not sure which. The person in #9 is wearing a real shirt with a collar, which means it likely isn't me, but the hair looks familar!

I had really bad hair

The gentleman in #9 is not Dobbins, unfortunately I don't see him in any of the pics. Dick was just an awesome person.

[brewing]

Originally Posted by lumberjack

The Detroit show was never, in my time, held in Detroit. Troy and later Plymouth, Michigan hosted the Detroit shows. Charles Brooks would do shows at his store on the East Side of Detroit, but the decent shows were in the suburbs.

I believe 1982 was the first year I went to a show. I think it was in Troy. There was an ad in the Detroit News sports section and I begged my mom to take me.

There seemed be shows almost every weekend in the Detroit area from 82 till I left the area in 87.

[ecRich]

I always looked forward to going to these shows.

[oaks1912]

Troy,
After showing the photos to two relatives, there is a good chance that the kid wearing the Goodyear jacket in pictures #2 & 20 is me. There isn't a clear shot of his face where I can be 100% sure, but I did have one of those Goodyear jackets when I was a teenager that I wore for about a year. I've always been a jeans and t-shirt kind of guy. I do not remember that specific t-shirt, but that was 45 years ago I would have been just shy of 14 years old. If you could get a close up on the cards in Rich's binder, I'd probably remember looking at those......... especially if they were Zeenuts.....

[Seven]

Reading through this thread is fascinating. Really Makes me wish I was born a few decades earlier! Can't wait to start going to shows again once the pandemic is over.