Another National First Timer
graygator
Posts: 486 ✭✭✭✭✭
I was at my first National all day Friday and the morning Saturday. It was a last minute call, and everything came together in the last week, including selling a bunch of stuff, to enable me to go. Everyone who has posted so far has done an excellent job capturing the scene, including great photos, so I'll focus more on my personal experience.
First off, all of the advice given on this board over the years for navigating the National was good advice. Of course, I immediately failed to heed it.
Before the show I made my want list: finish off my 1973 set (ungraded) with the remaining 15 high numbers and find 3 lower grade t206 HOFers: Johnson (Hands at Chest), Lajoie (with Bat), and Eddie Collins. I also mapped out a few booths I wanted to hit early on to say hello to folks before it got busy. I had my backpack, my snack bars, my water, and my sneakers. So far so good.
As soon as the doors opened to the general admission ticket holders, I went by Don Hontz's booth to see what t206's he brought and say hello, then I went to the corner of the floor where Jeff from Card Country, Mike from Jax Sports Cards, and Eddie from Showtime (another Jax shop) were within 3 or four booths of each other to greet all of them. On the way, I saw a table of vintage Topps singles for set builders and thought "I'll hit that as soon as I'm done" for my 1973 set. After making the rounds to those tables I went to find that booth and COULD NOT FIND IT. The advice to write down where something is when you see it is gold. I did that the rest of the show.
I decided to just start at one end and walk the show to see what was out there, and stop for the 73s when I saw a table with vintage commons. The first table I found had none of the high numbers I needed. At the second, I knocked off all but one. As I continued up and down the rows, I found the table I had been looking for 2.5 hours earlier, and they had the last card I needed. Goal one complete.
After walking most of the show, I had noted one Lajoie that was the right grade, eye appeal, and close to the right price. There were a ton of t206s on the floor, but most were higher grade and out of my budget, and the portraits are very popular, so dealers seemed to have stocked up on those. I like the shots with some baseball in them, but they were fewer and farther between. I hadn't seen a Johnson I liked yet. I had also made notes of several cards that were not on my goal list but that were interesting and that I thought of as backups if I didn't find what I was looking for. I decided stick to my goals and went and negotiated for the Lajoie, and was able to land it a price that I was comfortable with.
Next I was able to meet Dan (skrezyna23) and say hello and walk around a bit. I also got to meet and talk briefly with Keith (KendallCat). If I go again I will go with someone else. There’s just too much to see and having another pair of eyes to point out cool stuff would definitely be better, and it's always good to have someone to chat with.
Just before meeting Keith, at a booth I had already visited, I found a Johnson I liked, and was able to come away with it:
The show is not just overwhelming from a number of dealers and variety of stuff perspective, but also at individual dealer tables. I’m used to being able to judge and find what I need at a glance at our local show, but when tables have hundreds of graded cards and thousands of ungraded, it’s hard not to miss what you are looking for even when you are at the right table. I missed the Johnson the first time and was lucky to happen by that table again. I learned that if you see a table with cards of the era you are looking for, you just have to ask if they have what you want. That can be difficult at busy tables, and you feel like you don't want to wait because there's so much to see, but it's worth it to stick it out and ask because your eyes just can't process everything on any given table.
I never did find an Eddie Collins in my budget that I liked. But I found something better in the late afternoon, at a table I missed earlier. I went back this morning and was able to land this sweet Ray Dandridge. I figure a rare card like this is exactly the kind of thing you ought to buy at a National.
After landing the Dandridge, I took in the auction house booths, which really do have incredible stuff, as everyone has said. In all, it was a really great time and very nice to go enjoy this great hobby.
Comments
Great commentary
Dan (skrezyna23) Old friend and teammate of mine, great guy
Doug
Indeed. And he has the coolest collection of Korean baseball cards out there!