RSSHaving Fun At The National Sports Card Convention
Aug 10
The Goodman File Nation Sports Card Convention No Comments
(Continued from yesterday’s article)
I awoke early for the 2nd day of the National Sportscard convention. I was not one of the folks that ponied up the extra money to get the early pass so I had to wait until 10 AM to get into the show.
I grabbed a quick and tasty bagel sandwich at the Aloft Hotel lobby and then made the block and a half walk to the Rosemont Convention Center. The lines were already about 700 people deep to get into the show.
I felt less hurried and much more refreshed than I had in my hastened arrival the day before. I had eight full hours to check out the merchandise and a lot of money burning a hole in my pocket.
One of the first stops I made was this booth that had a bunch of Heartland Figurines, various ceramics, and BOBBLEHEADS! And I mean Hundreds of them. Must have been tough to get those all to Chicago but the display was quite nice
One of the next stops I made was a booth that had a bunch of vintage pennants. I am sure these are expensive as the material they are made out of is cheaper, and the fact is most were likely tacked to a young boys wall many moons ago. This booth had this unique “pinwheel” type of display of pennants but I could not figure out what they all had in common. Still a cool piece and I snapped a photo of it
Platinum Promotions had an impressive display of Hockey Cards – mostly graded by authentication services. I am not a hockey guy, but if you were this was probably like visiting Mecca.
Speaking of authentications services, I visited the Professional Sportscard Authenticators Booth ( PSA) I get most of my golf cards encapsulated by these folks. They only do a handful of shows that are on site grading, and the joint was jumping. They offer show specials which some folks like to take advantage of. One person I ran into even brought 200+ cards from England to get the same day service ( that is like $5K in grading fees alone) because in the long run it would save him a lot of money versus having it shipped through customs.
I took a photo of this guy but I did not get a business card or anything, so if anyone else was there and can identify this persons business that would be great. He had a small albeit famous photo of Ty cobb sliding hard into 3rd base. He was doing a airbrushed rendition of the photo on a massive canvas. When I first walked by I thought it was just a blow up poster of the photo until I saw him working on it. He said it only cost 25….I am assuming thousand. It was mega cool and one of the nicest things I saw at the show.
And in case you are wondering I did spend a little money at the national. I bought a few Nebraska related football cards for a buddy back in Nebraska, I also picked up a few newer golf cards including a SP Game Used Phil Mickelson Rookie Autographed card numbered to 250, a 1948 Kellogg’s Pep Cereal Sam Snead Rookie card, and a vintage Bobby Jones Men of America Booklet. Here is a photo of what one looks like, although mine is in basically perfect shape, and the dealer even cut me $25 off of his asking price!
I wrapped up my show experience and waited seemingly forever for a cab to take me back to the airport. I was not flying back out to Omaha for a few hours so just enough time to grab something to eat and a beverage (or two) in the airport lounge!
Overall it was a great time in Chicago, and I look forward to when Goodman Jr. is old enough that he can go with dad on one of these trips.
Until next time…Stay Classy Chicago!