Thursday: The Table

I woke up feeling like I’d been beaten. I was so exhausted last night that I didn’t even have it in me to go out to dinner. Instead, I ate at the hotel and then hung out in the bar for a while before going to bed kind of early.

Today I covered the parts of the show that I was unable to see yesterday. The show used to be in one hall; it now covers the entire first floor and a part of the 2nd floor of the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center. I still haven’t been upstairs after two days, it is that big. The place is also packed. On Thursday. I cannot imagine the rugby scrum there will be on the weekend.

After a good bit of roaming during VIP hours, I found my first really good items of the day, a few postcards and photos for the ol’ PC. By 11:30 I was exhausted and had to go to the VIP lounge to get some time off my feet.

“Lounge” is a misnomer. It is a giant room with tables and chairs, About half are occupied by what amounts to a shadow card show. There are easily 100 people in there selling cards. I actually saw a few vintage card sellers in the mix. One actual dealer I spoke with about it was pissed, rightfully, given the amount he spent to be there above board only to be faced with a shadow card show all day and the trade nights every night. But not too pissed; nearly every dealer I encountered said that the cash flow was outstanding. This crazy thing of ours is an absolute beast. Standing around a church rec room 50 years ago with the other weirdos I would never have predicted anything like this.

I went to the lounge expecting water and coffee/tea, at least. Wrong. I get nothing…except an overpriced concessions stand outside. There are no water fountains at the convention center, either, so my choice is to hike back to my room and get a drink, suck bilge water from the bathroom sink like some dirtbag, or pay $5.50 plus tax for a 20-oz. bottle. I opt for the last choice. That’s what the extra $50 gets you for a VIP pass instead of an early entry pass without the VIP status.

Well, not exactly. The VIP thing does seem to generate floor access ahead of the early entry thing. At least, that is how the staff seems to interpret it. Both times so far I have been waived into the room slightly ahead of time while they hold the early entry people until the precise minute, so I guess I will buy it again just so I am not hassled.

They’ve done what they can to improve the show floor food. The horrid concessions stands have been supplemented by a number of food truck-style vendors. I saw credible tacos, Korean food, and sushi/poke. The sushi looked OK but if I don’t buy sushi at a gas station I am sure as hell not gonna eat fresh fish at a convention center. I eat a lot of Korean BBQ at home and what I saw and smelled was credible; unsurprising since I heard that stand’s staff speaking Korean. I’m gonna have that for lunch Friday. The tacos looked pretty good too. Of course, most of the fat-ass Americans waddled up to that stand and opted for the ‘walking taco’: a bag of Doritos with taco innards smothered in processed cheese goo ladled onto it from a vat. Looked like a full barf bag after a hard flight. Real classy…

After my break, I found “the table”. Every National it seems there is one table that is picking heaven. I found it in the afternoon. Tons of raw cards piled high and offered at discount prices, then discounted further at checkout. It was a hockey fight to get into the cards, and it was dog eat dog there. One guy tried to pull the box I was going through away from me. He knew I was going through it because he looked through the box next to it first. Sharp words were exchanged; in the end, the BB brain backed off and drawled “well shoot me” in an unmistakeable Southern accent. My reply was unprintable New York City foulness; my Cali veneer fades and the NYC boy comes out when I get pissed. No fight ensued, nor would one have; only an asshole gets into a fight over baseball cards. And gets thrown out of the show.

I spent all afternoon there buying inventory for my eBay store. I think (still have to assess it tomorrow morning) that I filled out at least two sets I wanted to finish for resale; I know I did at least one since I only needed five cards. Some of the items I found sell for as much as 10x what I was paying. It was crazy. The overall deal ended up 3x or thereabouts, possibly more if a few obscurities sell well, and I ended up with a foot-high stack of inventory. I am probably going to have to throw out or mail home my dirty clothes so I can take all of this stuff on the plane. And I only scratched the surface, so my first stop Friday is that table.

Come the evening I went with some friends over to the Chicago Dogs, an independent baseball team about a mile from the convention center. It was a lot of fun. Then back to the Hilton bar to close that. The picking is profitable, great fun and being at a card show is always better than working or being at home with the wife

doing chores Under Her Eye, but the camaraderie and friendships are the priceless things at these shows. I’ve known some of these guys 20 or more years, but owing to the pandemic and various other life events, I hadn’t seen many of them in person for six years. I won’t let that happen again. YOLO.

Back at you tomorrow with more highlights and lowlights.