My highlights (and lowlights) at the National:

carkim

My highlights (and lowlights) at the National:

HIGHLIGHTS:
What an experience at the Cleveland National for me this year. It was great to put faces-to-names after a few years of only knowing many of you by your log name on the boards. King Larry (the unofficial host of the national) was great. It was nice of Larry to coordinate trips to the ball yard and impromptu introductions with other collectors. Larry and I must have told the story how he came to be at the boards numerous times. And I enjoyed telling it every time.

Here’s the story:

During my 1972 Topps Baseball days (Fab Five), myself, Frank Bakka, and crew were battling hard to complete our sets. Suddenly out of nowhere enters the King. He is buying my doubles on eBay and is fighting Frank and I for some of the low pop cards that we need to complete our sets. The King stays in his castle and will not enter the Forum even though I pressure him on numerous occasions to do so. After keeping a low profile for a few months the King enters his new kingdom, and the rest is history.

I really enjoyed going to the Indians game, and had a chance to talk cards with gemmint. There is a wealth of information in that guys head…a true asset to the hobby! Griffins (Anthony) and his family are wonderful. Anthony is a class guy and I really enjoyed meeting him and his family. Actually I really enjoyed talking to everyone at the game, but one thing struck me that I will never forget. RustyWilly and DaveMRI even though they may not know it, were smiling from ear-to-ear every time I talked to them, or saw them around the IX Center. For Rusty, maybe it was because he will be married soon, but for Dave it seemed to be the sheer joy of the overall experience.

Before the Luncheon I got the chance to sit with Jack Craig (Remobolan) and talk about my favorite subject 1972 TOPPS FOOTBALL. Meeting everyone at the luncheon was fantastic. And when the luncheon was over I was able to open 2 series two 1972 Football packs given to me by King Larry. I got 3 cards graded from the packs and received:

#236 WAYNE MULLIGAN PSA 9
#254 JOHN HADL PSA 9
#256 DON HORN PSA 8

LOWLIGHTS:
The show didn’t yield many 1972 Football cards for me, only one upgrade so far (PSA 9 Staubach Super Bowl card).

I really wanted to shake hands with all the registry members, especially Jay Wolt of Quality Cards. Jay and I have been buying and selling from each other for a few years now and it looks like I will have to wait another year for my chance to meet him in person.

The real lowlight of the show was hearing about Rob McBride. My heart and prayers go out to you Rob. Get 100% Well Soon!!!

Carlos

Davemri

Carlos, Thanks for the kind words. I do have to admit, I had the time of my life. It was just awesome meeting all of you guys. I am currently working on getting my pictures on the forum. One of the pics is of you busting your 72 packs at the luncheon. Something I will never forget. Anyway, I'll post my pics shortly!!

dave

onegaucho

Keep the stories comin guys!

Thanks for the lead on the tickets too Carlos!

PS. Where's next year's national going to be?

carkim

Andy,

I hope Dean can help you out. He is a very nice guy with A LOT of tickets.


Dave,

I can't wait to see the photos




Carlos

Davemri

Carlos, Pics are now up!!


dave

qualitycards

CARLOS - I'm honored that my no-show at the luncheon made your lowlight list. I would have liked to hook up w/ you too!
I promised my boy we'd hit the R&R HOF, and we even went inside a WW II sub close to the Hall. Which the boy appreciated as he is Navy bound in 2 years. And if we made the luncheon and the HOF & sub afterwards our travel time would be tight, as he has to go to work on Sunday morning. I did meet a bunch of the board members like my tour guide Basilone, King Kellogg, Gaspipe, Cameo, Norty, Buckwheat (hope your feeling better), Putty, Tipem, Anthony Nex & family, Gemint, RobE & GoSoxBoSox which was indeed a pleasure as he had $ for me. I would have liked to hook up w/ a few more of the board members ...and of course the invisible man, Wayne Ellis, who slips by me every year...jay

NHLfightguy

Didn't make it this year, went to my first one last year. One of my highlights was a booth set up showing hockey fight video's. Were they there this year????? Also were there any of the new cooperstown collection mcfarlane figures for sale there yet. Wish I could have made it, any idea where next year's is??????

qualitycards

NHL, next year is Chicago, then Anaheim.
The McFarlane booth had a show special of LeBron & Iverson at $15 each, or the pair for $25. I didn't go too close to see what else they were selling. I saw a booth w/ a ton of video tapes and they had wrestling on, don't know if they had hockey as well....jay

RobE

It was enjoyable to be so far away from home and be stuck in a long line with Carlos.He really knows how to make the time go by when you're stuck somewhere.It's so great to see that he's doing well and beating the odds.I feel bad that Joe and I were in smoke at the bar when he came up to us in between cruising about the tables.


The lunch inn was great.I was shocked to see Jay was not present but glad we were able to run into eachother in person.Jay is just as funny in person as on the boards.His son is a great kid not to mention and likes aggressive music.

The biggest lowlight is not thinking when you ran into Buckwheat just like everyone else and finding out his fun came to a serious hault.The bright side to knowing what happened to him is that he saved his own life and pulled off making sure his father was going to be OK.I mean how can you not have a new found even more "deeper" respect for someone who has a heart attack and drives his own self to the hospital while more concerned about dear old dad.From experience,for me it was the other way around.My dad had a heart attack while I was in the drivers seat.

rustywilly

For Rusty, maybe it was because he will be married soon

Carlos - trust me, it was the show and all the great people I met. I'm scared to death about proposing. Thanks for a great experience!