15 Lessons Learned at The National Sports Card Convention!
The National Sports Card Convention is a once-in-a-lifetime trip for many people, but the MJ Family Time Cards crew checked it out and shared their thoughts!
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This is the FREE version of the “Happy Hobby Sports Cards” Newsletter, with the PAID version coming again next week.
⚾WHAT WE LEARNED AT THE NATIONAL SPORTS CARD CONVENTION
Once again, Happy Hobbyist Josh Scarberry, from MJ Family Time Cards YouTube Channel, shares his thoughts on his family’s trip to The National Sports Card Convention in late July.
This follow-up article was more difficult to write than the article we wrote in preparation for The National, simply because there was just so much to try to summarize concisely.
Our whole family had and an incredible time it and we are planning to attend next year’s show in Chicago, God willing. Past attendees we met acknowledged some things which were not as good as other shows, but we have nothing to compare to since it was our first.
Packed For Packs
The show was extremely crowded. Pretty much every day, it was shoulder to shoulder everywhere on the showroom floor, and the bathroom lines were long, as well as the food lines. Comfy shoes are a must, as are snacks and drinks for all future shows.
The Internet was not good, so having an idea of comps for cards you want available would be wise.
Fellow collectors and attendees were just excellent -- friendly and interactive.
The floor was packed, and I pulled my daughter around in a wagon most of the show and never had any issues or complaints. People were very courteous and made some funny jokes about her comfort. This to me speaks volumes about the atmosphere.
I am sure there were stories or bad moments for some people, but from our perspective, we didn’t experience anything bad.
What a Happy Hobby! Sports Cards Show Stoppers!
Randomly, a man passed us in the main showroom aisle and gave Micah a Mar Jon Beauchamp RPA and gave Micah’s sister a Jalen Duran RPA for no apparent reason! But we were thankful!
Vendors were reasonably priced. You’ll find high- and low-priced vendors at all shows, but nearly everyone we bought from cut us some deals on top of what price was listed. They either gave us a discount for a lot of cards purchased or they were willing to negotiate on singles.
Of course, we didn’t talk to every vendor, nor did we negotiate on higher priced cards, but we did buy from the value box tables, which was a very favorable experience.
The National is an experience -- you go for cards, but it has so much more, like tons of interactive activities and freebies available.
Cardcollector2 had a claw machine you could try once daily for free to win things like boxes of cards, stickers and Zion cases.
Micah won an autographed poster of Quinton Byfield (LA Kings) in a Packman giveaway. Free stickers, T-shirts, supplies, memorabilia and cards were part of the tons of giveaways.
I would encourage anyone attending to try to go multiple days because there is so much to do. You could walk around most of the day and not even look at cards because there are so many different things to do and see.
The large auction houses brought some of the most amazing memorabilia I have ever seen. Autographed game-used jerseys, sealed boxes, packs and so much more.
TAG Grading had a cool custom card slab, which you had to pay for, but turned out great. Whatnot had a free PSA Slab custom card, which was super cool, too.
Checking My Checklist
We set out with a list of what we wanted to look for and for the most part we covered all we had. My biggest miss was when I looked at various Prizm Wembanyama RCs while searching for Micah’s Jerry West search. I left the table with a great quoted price of $40, but I couldn’t find it again later.
Outside of that miss, I didn’t feel bad or pressured to just buy anything. Micah picked up a SGC 4 1969 Topps Jerry West card and got it under recent comps. It was his first big purchase anywhere and we were very happy for him.
We saw cards valued in the millions to tables full of 10-cent and quarter boxes from every major sport and many non-sport cards. I just enjoy looking at cards, so seeing all those cards was super fun.
Had we invested more time in value boxes, which are all some booths had, we would never have gone around the whole showroom. I tried to look at every booth, and I know I missed some.
The time flies each day, as you try to find things on your list.
Looking Ahead to Future Shows
In preparation, next time, I would have a list of cards you want with recent comps. This will help you be more efficient at tables. I really appreciated vendors who had their value boxes organized by player or team, which also helps when you’re looking for cards.
The show piqued my wife’s interest in collecting, and in seeing so many vintage basketball cards, I started looking at graded copies for future purchases.
All the major wax dealers were there, including DA Card World, Steel City, Blowout Cards, and Baseball Card Exchange to name a few. Many of them had deals available and a lot of sealed purchases, included redemption for Topps and Panini National packs. We looked for wax, but didn’t purchase any, even though there were many good deals.
Any card collector should try to go to The National at least once. It’s clearly a big investment, with tickets, hotel and travel costs, but it is an amazing experience.
We just enjoyed each day, and we didn’t try to pressure ourselves trying to cover every square inch, which + would definitely require all five days of the show. We just wanted to have fun and enjoy the hobby -- and that’s what we did.
I would be happy to try and answer questions Happy Hobbyists might have regarding the show. I know this follow up couldn’t cover everything from The National, but I hope it gave you a good idea of how awesome it was.
Below are the links to various videos we posted, as we tried to cover each day.
⚾ 🏀 🏈🏒GEMRATE SHARES PSA’s TOP 10 MOST-GRADED CARDS IN JULY
Gemrate.com continues to inform the industry with great, in-depth stats, data-mining the major sports card grading services. Here are the 10 most-graded athletes at PSA in the month of June 2024:
🏀2023 Panini Prizm Victor Wembanyama #136 – View his cards on eBay!
🏀2023 Panini Select Victor Wembanyama Blue #87 – View his cards on eBay!
🏀2023 Panini Prizm Monopoly Victor Wembanyama #81 – View his cards on eBay!
🏀2020 Panini Prizm Anthony Edwards #258 – View his cards on eBay!
🏀2023 Panini Donruss Victor Wembanyama #220 – View his cards on eBay!
⚾2023 Bowman Draft Paul Skenes #BD14 – View his cards on eBay!
🏒2023 Upper Deck Connor Bedard #451 – View his cards on eBay!
🏈 2023 Panini Prizm C.J. Stroud #339 – View his cards on eBay!
🏈 2023 Donruss Optic C.J. Stroud #244 – View his cards on eBay!
⚾1989 Upper Deck Ken Griffey Jr Star Rookie #1 – View his cards on eBay!
It makes sense that Wemby and Stroud have multiple cards in the Top 10, mostly because they are so brand new, and so historically impressive. I was surprised to see the Ant-Man on the list, but then his play in the NBA Playoffs and his hype for the Olympics brings more attention to his main rookie card.
Can you believe Griffey’s rookie card is still up there? This is, by far, the most graded card of any card in history, and they’re still coming in! I wonder how many of these are re-subs of cards people think were graded too low.
Also, it’s great to see Skenes on this list, considering he’s a pitcher! He has NL Rookie of the Year potential, and he’s even getting some NL Cy Young heat lately! Patrick Imhoff wrote a nice piece on Skenes earlier this year that talks about some great Skenes card options!
Finally, how awesome is it to see more Bedard rookie cards getting graded – just because I don’t have one yet, and this increase in population has to be driving the price down some! Maybe I can get one!
🏈🏒Remembering the Best Rookie Cards From 1997 in Each Sport⚾🏀
In 1997, the world loved two songs (,“Candle in the Wind” and “I’ll Be Missing You”) in memory of two beloved celebrities who passed that year Rose was hogging all the driftwood on “Titanic,” Thursday was truly “Must-See TV” with Friends, Seinfeld and ER, and Brett Favre’s Packers, Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls, Steve Yzerman’s Detroit Red Wings and the underdog Florida Marlins brought home championship trophies. Here are your top sports rookie cards from 1997!
Baseball:
Lance Berkman (dual RC) – 246 – View on eBay!’
Mariano Rivera (first solo card) (HOF) -256 – View on eBay!
David Ortiz (multi-RC) (HOF) – 257 – View on eBay!
Basketball:
Tim Duncan (No. 1 Pick, ROY, HOF) No. 115 – View on eBay!
Tracy McGrady (HOF) No. 125 – View on eBay!
Football:
Rodney Harrison No. 87 – View on eBay!
Ray Lewis (HOF) No. 239 – View on eBay!
Orlando Pace (HOF) No. 400 – View on eBay!
Walter Jones (HOF) No. 403 – View on eBay!
Tony Gonzalez (HOF) No. 414 – View on eBay!
Warrick Dunn No. 415 – View on eBay!
Hockey:
Marian Hossa (HOF) 326 – View on eBay!
⚾HAPPY HOBBY UNIVERSE UPDATES
This is where we share some of the interesting things that have happened with our Happy Hobby universe in the past couple weeks, from our YouTube channel to the podcast, from the website to the newsletter, and from all our social channels!
We announced our latest giveaway winner (free Vaulted Air Display for graded cards) this week – did you win?
Also, don’t forget about our latest giveaway, a brand new Graded Card Case from OnlyGreats.com! Watch the video to see what you need to do to be eligible (like, subscribe, etc.).
I wrote up a piece on DavidGonos.com on Dream Team Rookie Cards We All Want! How many do you have?
Our 3 Most Popular Videos in July
11 Best Rookies From 2024 Topps Series 2 Baseball
Sweet Sports Card Toploader Binders! Card Supplies
How To Submit Cards To SGC For Grading!
Our 3 Most Popular Articles in July
11 Best Rookies From 2024 Topps Series 2 Baseball
Who are the Best Rookies From Each Topps Baseball Set?
Ranking the 21 Best Topps Chrome Rookie Cards
Our 3 Most Popular Podcasts in July
11 Tips For Collecting Sports Cards on a Budget!
9 Great Rookie NBA Cards That Never Were!
Top 25 Most Graded Athletes of All Time!
Upcoming!
Next week, we discuss how Fantasy Sports can improve your sports card collection!
Consider becoming a paid subscriber for $6 per month, or $60 per year (20% discount from monthly!). Get into the “Paid Sub” group early and get to know the other subscribers in the chat! As a group, we’ll work to help you improve your collection on a limited budget!
Let us know if you have any ideas for the podcast and/or the newsletter!
Have a Happy Hobby!
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The Dandy Dozen Video Series – Best Players to Collect in Each Sport, in Each Era!
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Podcast Music: "I dunno" by grapes - 2008 - Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution (3.0)
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We did not purchase any of the bigger cards on day 1 but even on day 1 we purchased from 3 vendors all 3 cut us deals. (Value boxes) even without asking. Day 1 was the least crowded of the 3 but every table was booming. But i can say each day at tables i spent time at people we’re negotiating. There were 3 tables i went to each day to see if they put out new inventory and some did. Where we bought stuff i will say things were fairly priced but even then people cut some deals.
Josh, just curious if you thought you found better deals on day 1 or on the last day of the show. I see the benefit of Day 1 shopping as there being more inventory, however, on the later days do vendors offer better deals to try and move cards.