Home Trading Cards & Memorabilia Forum

2019 National It's Gone In A Blink Of An Eye

BPorter26BPorter26 Posts: 3,499 ✭✭✭✭✭

This was my 8th National in the last 12 years. It's always great catching up with fellow collectors who you call close and dear friends now at the show. I have very little pictures of the show it self, but it's been illustrated very well from other board members. I arrived Wednesday morning and left a little after 4PM on Friday. To be honest three days is enough for me, by the time I got home around 11:30 eastern time my feet were still barking from all the walking I did. From what my phone registered I walked over 17 miles in 3 days. Here's a few of my thoughts about the show. I'll break it down my categories, but I can tell you there is absolutely nothing wrong with this hobby even with the trimming scandal that's going on. I couldn't believe how busy it was on Thursday and Friday. It truly felt like a Saturday on both days. The one thing I thought was cool as I was waiting to pickup an item from PSA on Friday around 3:30 I saw Rex Ryan who was at the PSA counter putting together a sub. He was wearing a Lance Lynn Texas Ranger jersey as well as a Rangers hat. I said hello to him and he said hi back. He seemed okay. I thought I would share that story. Here's my observation:

UNOPEN
There was a lot of it throughout the entire show and of course the leader of unopen is BBCE. They had a ton of nice items at their booth. I can tell you within the first few mins of the show opening on Wednesday afternoon a gentleman came by and bought all of the 84 Donruss baseball BBCE had. I believe it was 5 boxes. I was told that BBCE sold 2 boxes of 86 Fleer basketball and someone purchased a Frankenstein box from another vendor. Apparently he decided to rip the Frankstein box and pulled 4 MJ's. I thought that was pretty sweet hearing that he pulled those MJ's out of a Frankenstein box. Its such a huge gamble. Kurt and Brandon from "Ripping Vintage Packs" had beautiful stuff as well. They had a gorgeous 1973 Topps Cello PSA pack with Roberto Clemente on the back, A ton of 1975 racks. Kurt and Brandon couldn't have been any nicer. It seemed like that was the place to hang out. There was another dealer that had 6 or 7 packs of 1961 Fleer basketball. His price range was $1900 up to $3K. There was a lot of dealers with unopen this year. I can tell you unopen is alive and well.

_Vintage Cards _
There was a lot, I felt there was more raw this year then any other year, maybe I'm wrong, but it just felt like it. As far as high end cards there wasn't truly a ton that I saw. I saw more mid grade cards then anything else, but I wasn't looking for anything in particular. The auction houses did have the high end cards, but those were not for sale. It was a sneak preview of those cards for the upcoming auction they were having.

_The 80's _
As a kid that grew up in the 80's it's been always tough to find those cards at a show if it's not 1986 Fleer basketball. I saw a lot of 80's cards at this years National. There was still a lot of 86 Fleer basketball, but it was nice to see 80's baseball. The only issue there wasn't a lot of PSA 10's but a lot of 8's and 9's which was a little surprising. We saw one dealer who had (9) 1989 UD Ken Griffey Jr's PSA 10 asking $475 which is a great price for that card. We walked back over on Thursday he was down to one, which truly did not surprise me. There was at least a hand full of the Billy Ripken 89 FF card in a PSA 10, but as far as Clemens, Puckett, Ripken, Boggs, Sandberg, Henderson, Bonds and Mattingly I didn't see any 10's. The only PSA 10 I saw was 1983 Topps Tony Gwynn and the dealer had it priced very well.

_Shinny Cards _
The younger dealers had a ton of the "Chrome Era" all in BGS. They had all the prospects in baseball with a sprinkle of football & basketball. As far as new stuff I didn't see a lot of Cody Bellinger or Christian Yelich, but I did see a lot of Mike Trout. I saw a couple of his 2009 Bowman Chrome but saw a ton of 2011 Topps Update. Gary Vaynerchuck had a table. He had one case that was a strictly a buying case. It read "NOT FOR SALE BUY BUYING THESE" He had stacks of 86 Jordan, 80- Bird Magic - 13-Giannis and 18-Lucca to name a few in this buying case. His table had great stuff. He was the 3rd person who had a buying case set up like that. I found that very interesting.

PSA
PSA was busy from the start of Wednesday and was even busier by the time I left on Friday. I don't think people are worried about the hobby. It's all most like the quote in** BOYZ IN THE HOOD** " Even they don't know, don't show or don't care what happens in the hobby" I can tell you the people working for PSA did a hell of a job getting the lines moving as well as doing it with a smile. There was a few unhappy people waiting for their stuff, because it did take more than the 2 hour service that PSA advertised. If I had a pull a negative from PSA that was it. To their defense they were pumping out cards left and right for people.

_Autographed Pavilion _**
Tristar area was a complete mob scene. There was a ton of folks getting autographs. The prices were a little nuts for certain players. The athletes that I encountered as well as my friends encountered said each one was super nice. The only one I thought that could have been a little nicer was Howie Long. He wasn't a true dick, but he was on that boarder line of being one. The three I interacted with (Rod Carew, Eric Dickerson & Dwight Gooden) they all went up a notch in my book.

Overall the show was a success and I'm sure today and Sunday it will be even better. I believe this "Issue" is just a small blip on the radar and this will pass, but you still have to be mine full of what you are purchasing. Do your research first.

Here's a few pics of the show as well of my pickups. I'm building a basketball pack run from 1978-1989 I was able to pickup the 1980 and 1986 packs from BBCE. I also had Steve wrap a few boxes (82 & 85 Fleer) for me as well as a 1989 Fleer rack of Jordan showing. I purchased the Fleer box at the show as well as a 1987 OPC baseball box. I bought one graded card the entire show a 1986 Fleer Manute Bol PSA 9. I picked up 3 raw cards. One was unique a 1989 Sample Poster card of Isiah Thomas.

Dennis Rodman

PSA Booth

Kurt and Brandon's Booth

A guy was wearing this shirt throughout the day. He even went by the PWCC booth. I'm not sure what happen. I do know that PWCC had security guards at their booth this year,

More of Kurt and Brando's booth

Rod Carew

3rd pick from Kurt and Brandon's Booth "Ripping Vintage Packs"

Dwight Gooden

4th pic from Kurt & Brandon

Here's a few of my pickups.


"EVERYBODY LOVE EVERYBODY IT SAYS IT RIGHT THERE ON THE WALL" - JACKIE MOON

Comments

  • demondeacsdemondeacs Posts: 113 ✭✭✭

    I had no idea that Rex Ryan was a card collector or a PSA submitter. Hope he doesn't get the grader of death! :)

  • Stone193Stone193 Posts: 24,351 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Enjoyed reading Bobby.

    Sure feel like I missed out this year.

    Congratulations on your pickups.

    Those packs look really clean too.

    I'm sure the 92/3F Bkb set you back a ton!

    Mike
  • softparadesoftparade Posts: 9,267 ✭✭✭✭✭

    ‘84 Donruss!

    ISO 1978 Topps Baseball in NM-MT High Grade Raw 3, 100, 103, 302, 347, 376, 416, 466, 481, 487, 509, 534, 540, 554, 579, 580, 622, 642, 673, 724__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ISO 1978 O-Pee-Chee in NM-MT High Grade Raw12, 21, 29, 38, 49, 65, 69, 73, 74, 81, 95, 100, 104, 110, 115, 122, 132, 133, 135, 140, 142, 151, 153, 155, 160, 161, 167, 168, 172, 179, 181, 196, 200, 204, 210, 224, 231, 240

  • doubledragondoubledragon Posts: 22,530 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited August 3, 2019 2:25PM

    I just about fell out of my chair when I saw that picture of the PWCC shirt. Also, I wonder what Howie Long's attitude problem is all about? I really enjoyed every word of this. Thanks for posting all of this. Great stuff.

  • robert67robert67 Posts: 1,336 ✭✭✭✭
    edited August 3, 2019 3:35PM

    Great recap of your show experience.

    I appreciate you for taking the time to do this.

    Reading the recaps I, like Mike, sure feel like I am missing out.

    Always next year, I guess,

    Glad to see Rod Carew looking good and seemingly in good spirits.

  • 1957Braves1957Braves Posts: 318 ✭✭✭

    I saw Rex Ryan today in a Rizzo Jersey. He pealed off a grand for one card like it was no big deal. He dropped it right after he bought it, so I don’t know what card it was.

  • doubledragondoubledragon Posts: 22,530 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited August 3, 2019 4:04PM

    I hope I can someday go to a National. For now, Ebay will have to be my National. Ebay is so lonely. There's Nobody to talk to on Ebay.

  • SidePocketSidePocket Posts: 2,901 ✭✭✭

    Great post, thanks for the update!

    "Molon Labe"

  • grote15grote15 Posts: 29,480 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Thanks for sharing the post and pics, Bobby! Hope to meet up with you next year!



    Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
  • doubledragondoubledragon Posts: 22,530 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @1957Braves said:

    @doubledragon said:
    I hope I can someday go to a National. For now, Ebay will have to be my National. Ebay is so lonely. There's Nobody to talk to on Ebay.

    The National is exactly like eBay, only more expensive, more walking, and more wives looking as miserable as possible while doing said walking with their lesser halves, calculating the “you owe me points” in their heads.

    Yeah, and the food is expensive too. A burger and fries there is like $75.00, at least if I'm on Ebay I can get up and fix a turkey sandwhich for free.

  • 1957Braves1957Braves Posts: 318 ✭✭✭

    @doubledragon said:

    @1957Braves said:

    @doubledragon said:
    I hope I can someday go to a National. For now, Ebay will have to be my National. Ebay is so lonely. There's Nobody to talk to on Ebay.

    The National is exactly like eBay, only more expensive, more walking, and more wives looking as miserable as possible while doing said walking with their lesser halves, calculating the “you owe me points” in their heads.

    Yeah, and the food is expensive too. A burger and fries there is like $75.00, at least if I'm on Ebay I can get up and fix a turkey sandwhich for free.

    Agreed. Food is expensive and yucky. I’d rather buy three boxes of 1988 Topps and eat the gum for lunch. Much less likely to develop stomach problems.

  • doubledragondoubledragon Posts: 22,530 ✭✭✭✭✭

    These National threads have been great though. I wonder if anyone will buy the 1952 Topps unopened going for $575,000.

  • 1957Braves1957Braves Posts: 318 ✭✭✭

    @doubledragon said:
    These National threads have been great though. I wonder if anyone will buy the 1952 Topps unopened going for $575,000.

    I though they were using the European style of numbers, where commas equal our decimal points, then accidentally put an extra zero. I offered $500 and was declined.

  • doubledragondoubledragon Posts: 22,530 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @1957Braves said:

    @doubledragon said:
    These National threads have been great though. I wonder if anyone will buy the 1952 Topps unopened going for $575,000.

    I though they were using the European style of numbers, where commas equal our decimal points, then accidentally put an extra zero. I offered $500 and was declined.

    I could buy a nice house for $575,000. Eight packs of unopened 1952 Topps. Unbelievable.

  • BaltimoreYankeeBaltimoreYankee Posts: 2,894 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Thanks for the recap and pix! I look forward to being back at the National next year when it's back on the East Coast.

    Daniel
  • softparadesoftparade Posts: 9,267 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @doubledragon said:
    I hope I can someday go to a National. For now, Ebay will have to be my National. Ebay is so lonely. There's Nobody to talk to on Ebay.

    FB groups broski. I was a skeptic and completely wrong.

    ISO 1978 Topps Baseball in NM-MT High Grade Raw 3, 100, 103, 302, 347, 376, 416, 466, 481, 487, 509, 534, 540, 554, 579, 580, 622, 642, 673, 724__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ISO 1978 O-Pee-Chee in NM-MT High Grade Raw12, 21, 29, 38, 49, 65, 69, 73, 74, 81, 95, 100, 104, 110, 115, 122, 132, 133, 135, 140, 142, 151, 153, 155, 160, 161, 167, 168, 172, 179, 181, 196, 200, 204, 210, 224, 231, 240

  • Thanks for a great recap!

  • Gemyanks10Gemyanks10 Posts: 1,164 ✭✭✭

    Vintage Wax and Packs - the best group out there

    Always looking for OPC "tape intact" baseball wax boxes, and 1984 OPC baseball PSA 10's for my set. Please PM or email me if you have any available.
  • KendallCatKendallCat Posts: 2,966 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @grote15 said:
    Thanks for sharing the post and pics, Bobby! Hope to meet up with you next year!

    Tim - you and Mike(Stone) better make your plans now to be there 😉 Compared to previous Nationals this one was really good. Tons of people every day, lots of good stuff for everyone - vintage, unopened old and new, bright and shiny refractors of Acuna, Guerrero, Trout.... Food seemed better this year at the venue, no WiFi issues.... only thing missing was Mike leading the group meetings at BBCE for product breaks and was sorely missed. Need you there next year big man - truly not the same without you.

    Only thing I would suggest is to have more chairs and tables by the food area. The one by PSA is great, and if they had more places with tables and chairs where you can sit and look at your stuff for a second and get off your feet like Cleveland does that would be the icing on the cake. Outside of that it was awesome! Gibson’s was also the bomb and we ate there Thursday and Friday - went with a big group of board members on Thursday and had a great time, and took the boys Friday and they love the place. On the drive home they asked if we could stop at Ruth’s Chris for dinner so they could have steak 3 nights in a row 😂

    Hope everyone found what they wanted and had a great show, and really enjoyed meeting some great new collectors like greygator and Promethius as well as old ones - MarsAttacks, sdub, Cpamike, Kurt and Brandon from Rippin Wax. Jeff and Brady were great as always and helped the boys find some great stuff - I have a pair of 14 year olds leaving with Mantle and Mays cards and could not be happier. Brady made Keith Jr a Cracker Jack and T206 man now - that is all he has talked about since the show and he is constantly looking on eBay for T206’s - specifically Mathewson dark hat cards! Amazing what a little bit of kindness and generosity can do for young collectors. Thank you again for making him one happy collector.

    The guys at REA and Heritage were super nice, and always enjoy seeing them - Dean and Calvin were super helpful at REA and just great guys to deal with. Already counting down to next year, and ripping some new Bowman tonight with the wife and Jr in the man cave. See everyone next year!

    KC

    More pictures later today.

  • BPorter26BPorter26 Posts: 3,499 ✭✭✭✭✭

    KC it’s a shame we didn’t get a chance to meet. It seemed like I was always bouncing back to BBCE throughout my 3 days. I think they have the best set up. & booth.

    Here’s one of the unique basketball cards I picked up at the National that I didn’t add with my original post. Here it is.

    .

    "EVERYBODY LOVE EVERYBODY IT SAYS IT RIGHT THERE ON THE WALL" - JACKIE MOON
  • bosoxphanbosoxphan Posts: 107 ✭✭

    And to wrap it up, the FBI showed up with subpoenas.

  • CoarsegoldCoarsegold Posts: 132 ✭✭✭

    @bosoxphan said:
    And to wrap it up, the FBI showed up with subpoenas.

    That should make for a long trip home.

  • eliteco3eliteco3 Posts: 25 ✭✭

    end of the line for PWCC good riddance

    A proud collector of PSA products and avid hobby fan
  • doubledragondoubledragon Posts: 22,530 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Well, I have enjoyed these National threads a lot. They have provided me an awesome escape from my normal everyday life for the past few days. I'm going to miss these National threads. Now it's back to my normal life of being hit with a fly swatter by my wife.

  • mknezmknez Posts: 1,991 ✭✭✭

    Bobby,
    It was great catching up with you and the guys!

    ------
    stupid print dots

  • baseballfanbaseballfan Posts: 5,450 ✭✭✭

    love these threads

    nice haul

    Fred

    collecting RAW Topps baseball cards 1952 Highs to 1972. looking for collector grade (somewhere between psa 4-7 condition). let me know what you have, I'll take it, I want to finish sets, I must have something you can use for trade.

    looking for Topps 71-72 hi's-62-53-54-55-59, I have these sets started

  • RookieHOFersRookieHOFers Posts: 733 ✭✭✭

    Bobby, Had a blast as usual! Great pickups on those packs. The auto's were such a great time, I am glad we could do that and those guys were so cool!

    Matt
    I collect: 80’s Rookies and 86 Fleer Basketball
  • ElvisPElvisP Posts: 1,052 ✭✭✭

    Thanks for the great report. In a couple of your pics it looks like nobody is there. Were they taken before the show opened? Still say the Jordan is over-priced. Just too many of them. When dealers have stacks of them that tells you something, plus there is still a lot of unopened.

  • AhmanfanAhmanfan Posts: 4,353 ✭✭✭✭
    edited August 6, 2019 7:15AM

    I think 61 fleer basketball packs for 2-3k seems like a steal. Iconic set. Tiny set, ton of big name HOF RC’s, and there is no way there are many packs left out there. What am I missing on that?

    Collecting
    HOF SIGNED FOOTBALL RCS
  • thunderdanthunderdan Posts: 3,036 ✭✭✭

    I found out that Dennis Rodman has sores on his hands.

    image


  • KendallCatKendallCat Posts: 2,966 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @Ahmanfan said:
    I think 61 fleer basketball packs for 2-3k seems like a steal. Iconic set. Tiny set, ton of big name HOF RC’s, and there is no way there are many packs left out there. What am I missing on that?

    I agree. I think unopened as a whole has a lot of room to run. I was going through photos from past Nationals from 2015-now, and I have photos and prices of BBCE items from each year. Will post them in a thread in the next day or two for the board.

    KC

  • Stone193Stone193 Posts: 24,351 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited August 6, 2019 8:09PM

    @KendallCat said:

    @Ahmanfan said:
    I think 61 fleer basketball packs for 2-3k seems like a steal. Iconic set. Tiny set, ton of big name HOF RC’s, and there is no way there are many packs left out there. What am I missing on that?

    I agree. I think unopened as a whole has a lot of room to run. I was going through photos from past Nationals from 2015-now, and I have photos and prices of BBCE items from each year. Will post them in a thread in the next day or two for the board.

    KC

    I'm impressed with how much some wax rebounded - not sure if that's across the board?

    edit: Keith - remember a few years ago we did a 79T box rip at the National? Pat charged us somewhere around 30 bucks a pack for the box - here's the asking right now:

    Mike
  • KendallCatKendallCat Posts: 2,966 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I remember it. Still waiting for my Ozzie to pop. Still mad at Dave Winfield for impersonating him in my pack and we all thought I pulled the Ozzie RC. 😄 next year you are the ring leader for the rips at BBCE.

    KC

  • KendallCatKendallCat Posts: 2,966 ✭✭✭✭✭

    This would have been a tough box to buy and not open 😳

  • Stone193Stone193 Posts: 24,351 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @KendallCat said:
    I remember it. Still waiting for my Ozzie to pop. Still mad at Dave Winfield for impersonating him in my pack and we all thought I pulled the Ozzie RC. 😄 next year you are the ring leader for the rips at BBCE.

    KC

    Oh...

    We covered the "agony" and the "ecstasy buddy."

    Mike
  • KendallCatKendallCat Posts: 2,966 ✭✭✭✭✭

    With those camera skills you should be doing weddings and bar mitzvahs Mike 😂

    KC

  • Stone193Stone193 Posts: 24,351 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @KendallCat said:
    With those camera skills you should be doing weddings and bar mitzvahs Mike 😂

    KC

    Now that's funny.

    Mike
  • PatsGuy5000PatsGuy5000 Posts: 671 ✭✭✭

    Thanks for sharing, glad the hobby seems strong even with the issues going on.

  • BLUEJAYWAYBLUEJAYWAY Posts: 7,940 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Enjoyed the report.

    Successful transactions:Tookybandit. "Everyone is equal, some are more equal than others".
  • My first national. Wow, big place and cards galore. Must have looked at most tables many times over 3 days. As a very specific Johnny Bench (card only collector) I did not find as much as I had hoped. Most of the cards I am looking for are in personal collections and not for sale. Made some unexpected pickups with 74 Topps Puzzle, both paper and card stock proofs of same. 73 Topps Candy Lid Proof, 68-70 Kenwood and 74 Deckle Edge (undeckled, white back proof). Met a few other Bench collectors. Overall a great trip.

Sign In or Register to comment.