A Quick Post on my Haul From the National *UPDATED*

On a hot, humid Saturday I found myself with some free time before work. So I took the train up to Rosemont and popped into the National. Rule number 1 of the National – don't go if you only have 2 hours. You will be upset. Rule number 2 of the National – be prepared. I managed to break both rules, yet I still walked away with some new treats. In less than two hours I managed to pick up.

The boxes:

Stadium Club was one box I knew I was going to get. The Bowman was an impulse buy. I don't know why I buy Bowman, I'm not a speculator and I barely know players that have been in the league for five years yet alone prospects. My plans with that box – sort it and then forget about it for three years and then look and see if anyone panned out.

Ringside Boxing. Boxing cards from 1996. Soooo many doubles. But it was a fun break for $9.00.

The free card:

 A Kris Bryant/Jordan Speith Beckett Covers card. The guy said it was going for $25.00. That's nice.

The want list cards:

There was one guy that had a bunch of $.25 cards of sets that I was looking to close out. I managed to score 3 Topps Heritage cards and 1 1983 Topps before my self-imposed time limit was up. If I had all day to sort through the cards I would have probably cleaned up both sets, after all there was an open chair and no one crowding around.

From Scott:

My buddy Scott met me at the convention center for his first National. I feel kind of bad because I think I got him hooked on starting a Teddy Bridgewater card collection. Sorry about that. While I was sorting through the want list boxes he wandered off and came back with a Stamkos McFarlane I needed as well as a Ben Bishop figure (intact groin muscle variation).

From Sal:

Sal from Puck Junk was there and had a couple of Lightning cards for me. I believe the Lecavalier is the first The Cup card that I've ever gotten my hands on. No collection is complete without a Sal Berry Rookie. Sadly, since I was in a bit of a hurray I wasn't able to sit and chat with him for too long.

Random Purchases that I will probably sell on eBay

People love Cubs cards. I figure I can make a buck or two back flipping them even with all of the crazy costs involved. The Junior Lake was more for sentimental versions as he went to Baltimore in the annual Cubs/Orioles deadline trade. Chris Sale, because he's fun to watch.

**UPDATE**

I can't believe I forgot the greatest pick up of the whole trip!  For just $2.00 I am know the proud owner of.....

Yeah...he just hit a home run.

A signed postcard of Smokin' Joe O!  While Cal Ripken or Eddie Murray might have been the best player of my childhood, Orsulak was probably my favorite despite his relatively brief tenure with the club.  The guy I bought it from had about 15 in his binder...and yes I contemplated buying them all.

So it was a quick trip to the National. I doubt I'll go to Atlantic City for next years, but I'll definitely head back up to Rosemont the next time a show rolls in. Heck I might even ask for the entire day off.

My Favorite Card From The National

I promise you that there are only two more National posts left. Then we’ll return to the usual half-hearted hockey analysis that you‘ve grown to expect from this cozy spot on the internet! Today we’ll go with my favorite pickup from my weekend of card spending debauchery. Hint, it’s not even a sports card.

It is, however, my first ever authentic tobacco card. I think I’ve made it clear in previous posts that I don’t like the current infatuation with mini cards. Some collectors love them, which is cool, I just don’t happen to be one of them. As a matter of fact look for a post some time this week where I offer all of the mini cards I have for trade.

On the other hand I always wanted to own a real tobacco card from the turn of the century. At The National there were rows and rows of cards from the popular tobacco sets like Allen & Gineter. All were slabbed and selling for decent coin, and frankly I would rather spend my money on a 2005/06 Upper Deck Victory Peter Bondra

So I walked past those vintage dealers and settled into one of the endless number of quarter boxes. Finding 4 or 5 Murrays (Murraxen? Murrai?) I needed, I paid the dealer and was about to move on when I noticed he had some loose tobacco cards in a case. I asked to see the stack and flipped through them.

None of the cards he had were sports related, but there were some cool ones. The coolest, in my opinion, was this one.





Napoleon Leaves For Paris, 1812.

I had no idea what set this card was part of until I got home and did a little research. Apparently it was a 25 card series based around Napoleon’s exploits issued by John Player & Sons in 1915. From what I can find this set was issued in Great Britain.

I was hoping that it was a little older, as one of my goals is to have a card that is over 100 years old. Still, due to the decent condition of the card I’m not too upset. Oh and the fact that it only cost me $2.00. So yeah, not a bad investment as far as I’m concerned. Besides, 2015 isn’t that far away.

Will a pursue the other 24 cards in the set? Probably not. Will it start a new direction in my collecting? Probably not. Is it pretty cool to own? Yup.

Back to the Loot

It’s a rainy day here in the Windy City. After a day out in Oak Park I figure it’s time to get back to the haul from The National while I wait for dinner to arrive. The cards are sitting on my desk and need to be packed up in time for the move. So lets go ahead and take down the two big hits from my weekend excursion.




2002 Fleer Classic Cuts Eddie Murray Bat Relic. We know it’s real because Lloyd J Pawlak, Senior VP from Fleer/Skybox says so on the back. I like everything about the layout of the card except for the tiny picture of Murray’s face. Also, it would have been nice if they used the cartoon bird logo for the O’s.

That card was just the appetizer for the main course though.




2011 Topps Tribute Dual Relic # 03/75. It’s shiny, had two bat slivers and is the lowest serial numbered card in my collection (my $10 bid on the Lineage Canary 1/1 fell well short). There really isn’t anything I dislike about this card. From the shiny green background to the gold facsimile auto on the front everything ties together pretty nicely.

While no one is giving me there personal guarantee on the back of the card, Topps does “pledge to bring [me] closer to the game from the Past, Present, and Future.” I’m not sure how they’re going to bring me closer to the future, but hey it’s a nice thought.

There’s been a lot of internet talk lately about relics and their values. I think most of the world would agree that the single swatch jersey card can barely be considered a hit these days. The National was filled with dollar boxes full of these cards that people were skipping over like they were commons.

We can’t be that far away from Topps or Upper Deck releasing a 200 card set in which every base card has a piece of jersey on it. Heck, they could probably pull it off with a $4.99 per pack price.

Should the manufactures take a few years off from these single, white jersey cards that collectors are turning their noses up at? Perhaps by killing the supply completely the infatuation will return within a few years. That’s not to say they should do away with the jersey card altogether, just spice it up a bit. Multiple swatches, multiple colors, patches with dirt or grass on them, etc.

In the vein of a silk card, could they make an entire card out of a piece of the jersey? Imagine a swatch the size of a card with an action photo on the front and stats on the back. Frame it like the Ginter cards and that would make for a pretty sweet hit.

Sorry for the digression. For what it’s worth the Tribute joins my Murray rookie as the highest valued cards in the collection. So I’ve got that going for me.

The National, The 1980s, a Box, a Hit

The other box. If you’ve been paying attention you will remember that I mentioned that I purchased two boxes of cards while I was at The National last weekend. The first one was planned and has been reviewed already. The other box wasn’t planned, consider it my little miracle box.

Sal, master of all thinks hockey related, convinced me to pick up a box of In The Game’s Decades 1980s. A follow up to their highly successful Decades 1970s from last year, this product is littered with the stars from run and gun 1980s. I paid a little bit more than I normally comfortable for what is a box in name only. As in the cards
come in a cardboard box. For my investment of $90 –ish I could look forward to:

1 Decades Rookie Card
1 100 years of Hockey Cards
1 Non-Memrobilia Insert Card
3 Authentic Autograph cards
3 Authentic Game-Used Memorabilia Cards.

As a bonus, if I ripped the pack…err box at the ITG booth I would receive an exclusive 1/1 National only card and a ticket for a free autograph from 1980 Olympian Mark Wells.

So along with Sal and fellow hockey card blogger Tim from the Real DFG we sat down and opened up some high end hockey. What did I walk away with?

The Rookie Card –




Ron Hextall. He was one of the better goalies from an era that was known more its offense. The card itself isn’t very exciting with way more text then actual player photo. I think this is one of the drawbacks to ITG not having a NHL license. Which in and of itself is a travesty.

The 100 years of Hockey Cards




Guy Lafleur. A nice reprint of a tobacco card featuring the Hall of Fame Canadian

Non Memorabilia Insert –




Mike Vernon/Grant Fuhr Battle of Alberta. More head shots. I can’t imagine how hard it would be to put together a master set of this product.

Now we get to the fun stuff

Memorabilia Cards




Mike Bossy Game Used Jersey Black. If I’m not mistaken there are three levels to relic cards – Black, Silver and Gold. Speaking of Gold…..

The big hit of the box




Mario Lemieux Game Used Gold Jersey. To say that this is one of the better hits I could have pulled is an understatement. We think the jersey might be from the 90s though as that is the only one we can remember that had gray in it. Tim, a Penguins fan, also pulled a Lemieux Jersey card which made me feel better. I would have hated to think I bought a box that should have been his.

What about the redemption?



A Bernie Federko Game Used Silver Jersey with a pretty nifty seam running though it. As you can see (hopefully) on the lower left hand corner ITG stamped “1/1 The National Chicago” in gold lettering. Look at that 'stache and the hair. This is definately a 1980s card. Pretty sweet.

But wait you’re saying. Where are the autos? Where is the other memorabilia card. Holy crap, Justin G. did you get screwed. Well not really.

Let’s get one thing straight. Until ITG releases Decades 1990s I don’t have a dog in the fight. There are no Lightning players to be had in this set….at least while they were Lightning players. So it wasn’t hard to talk me out of a couple of the hits, which Sal did.

I traded the three autographs which if I remember were Kelly Hrudy, Billy Smith and someone else along with a quad memorabilia card of the Blackhawks to Sal for future considerations. One of those considerations are a Victor Hedman rookie patch card.

This isn’t a box I’ll be breaking too much more of. It’s a little out of my price range, and as I mentioned there isn’t too much I would consider valuable to my personal collection. However, I can definitely see the appeal, especially for people my age.

ITG does hockey right. To a collector who grew up with the sport in the 1980s to be able to get the high end inserts from their childhood heroes would be epic.

As usual, ITG knocked this one out of the park.

The National Loot Review Rolls On

Next up on the list of this weekend's card spending spree is the vintage portion of the collection. Something my collection severely lacks would be Orioles cards pre-1985. So one of my goals was to rectify that. I didn't go gung-ho, but did manage to pick up the below 7 cards. The average amount spent per card is $0.56.




In that photo you see are five 1960 Topps. They're in pretty decent condition with no major creases or blemishes. A little off-center here and there, but definitely worth the investment.

Hidden in the corner is a 1961 Dave Philley. The Philley and the 60 Arnie Portocarrero are both cards that I've briefly held onto electronically via Topps Diamond Giveaway, but have traded them away for other cards. So it was nice to actually get a hold of them.

The last card was one that I got almost as a throw in with a couple of cards that you'll see later. A 1968 Brooks Robinson Topps Game card. Poor Brooks is a Hit By Pitch.

A Quick Recap of The "Preview" Day at the National

I caught the Blue Line up to Rosemont to check out Day One (maybe Day -1 since things really got into swing on Thursday) of The National Sports Collectors Convention.

Enticed by the chance to get a couple of free autographs and the chance to see everything without a huge crowd I wandered into the convention center around 3.30p. A lot of folks were wandering around aimlessly until they herded all of us General Admission into line. Twenty minutes in line (mostly spent ignoring the folks talking politics) and they let us into the main floor.

A smart person would have studied the map to know where the autograph signings would be taking place, since the quicker I got in the line the less time standing would leave more time for spending. Luckily, I wandered around in the right direction and quickly found the Lee Smith line. He was signing for free courtesy of the fine folks from Freedom Cardboard. At that point it was about 40 folks deep and about 15 minutes before Smith was scheduled to sign.

I whipped out the iPad and checked to see if there was free wireless in the convention center - there wasn't. So I had to resort to reading a downloaded book. The iPad is perfect for The National. I have a book or two loaded on it for the train ride up and for killing time in line. I also have all of my want lists loaded on spreadsheets - no binders for this guy!

The line was across the aisle from the PSA authentication booth so I would occasionally pop my head up and check out what was getting authenticated. Mostly older cards, but one guy did have a sweet collage of an older White Sox team (circa 1919 I think) along with a piece of paper with some of the players autographs. Joe Jackson's was definitely on there.

We waited about 30 minutes or so before the line started moving. Apparently, Mr. Smith was a little late and they had forgotten pens for him to sign with. That was the bad news. The good news, once he started signing it went quickly and they even allowed us to get multiple items signed.

Once I was done with that I wandered over to the next autograph area to get Bill Madlock's signature resigned to the fact that I would be spending the next 30-45 minutes standing in line. How wrong I was. My wait had to have been less than 5 minutes. I love it when I expect the worst and it turns out to be not so bad.

One table over Olympian Dick Fosbury was signing....or should I say waiting to sign. No one was in his line which led to the following exchange between me and Mr. Madlock.

BM(to nobody in particular): "He's an Olympian, right? What's his name?"
Me (since no one else answered): "Dick Fosbury."
BM: "What's he famous for?"
Me: "The Fosbury Flop, you know, the first one to go over the high jummp bar backwards?"
BM: "Oh yeah"

After that it was off to check out some of the booths. As I meandered I ran into a guy in a Blackhawks jersey. The one and only Sal from Puck Junk was picking up some hockey stuff at a booth. We had pre-arranged a meeting either Wednesday or Saturday to exchange some cards (which we did).

He went his way and I went mine. Another 30 minutes or so of wandering and I was done. Total money spent: $8.00

The haul:




The free autographs. That's right I sacrificed a 1988 Donruss for Lee Smith's autograph. Unfortunately, I didn't have any cards with him in an O's uniform up here in the Chicago command center. I figured everyone would by handing Madlock Pittsburgh or Chicago stuff so I went in a different direction.




The free stuff from Sal. Way more than I expected. In exchange for some minis and an Eric Daze auto I received the following:

A Baltimore O's sticker - can't have too many!
2010-11 Donruss Press Proof Martin St Lous #85/100 - the back of the card said he's "far from over the hill"
2010-11 Boys of Winter Relic Teddy Purcell - nice swatch from the newly re-signed winger
2010-11 Artifacts Vincent Lecavalier #72/150. Two blue swatches from the Captain!

Thanks, Sal!

The cheap stuff:


Since I really didn't have anything better to do on a Wednesday afternoon

A couple of Kellog's 3D Eddie Murray cards. Two cards knocked off the want list for less than $1.00

The Big Purchase:




2010-11 Winter Warriors Vincent Lecavalier Relic. It cost a whopping $5.00 which is cheaper than I've seen it online.

Not pictures - a set of Crown's collection of Orioles that was released in 1991 at their gas stations or at selected games. I had them all when I was kid, but have since lost them.

There ya go...We'll see how Saturday goes.

The National

Yeah, I broke down and bought my ticket this afternoon. Looks like I'll be rolling up there on Wednesday and Saturday...now if I can just find a printer to actually print them out on.

Ticket bought - check
Ticket printed - working on it.
Want Lists created - check
Loaded onto iPad - check
Budget set in my mind - check
Realization that I will exceed said budget - check.
Disapproving eye roll and deep sigh from significant other - check.

Will this guy be at the National this year? Who know? Check out hiscolumn on the 2009 National ......