I mean selling as in actually having a table and selling shit.

Not just attending a show and trying to peddle shit up and down the floor.

Anybody ever been a baseball card dealer/vendor at a show?

Or hell, even owned a fucking baseball card shop?

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I’ve had a booth at a few shows. Foolishly, I only offered up ZZ Cards, so I didn’t make much money.

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-- source

A friend of mine does it all the time. He says if you want to sell $1000 worth of cards you have to bring about $100,000 worth of stock.

This guy was looking to liquidate a bunch of stuff to get some cash. So he had a decent day and sold around $700 worth of cards. But then he walked the show and ended up buying a lesser grade Mantle rookie card for $500. That's the thing about most of the guys that sell at these shows. They're collectors rather than real businessmen.

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Don't take it personally.

I need to try to get to one of these shows over the winter and get some of my autographs and memorabilia graded if they do it on site.
Would like to have paperwork with the big stuff I have so that if something happens to me my wife won't know what to do with it and
sell it for nothing or give it away.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

Used to be a big show attendee back in the 80's. That industry is dead. Most of my stuff 83-89 is worth less than what I paid for it. Plus so many of those players are tainted by roids....

But I still have my Fuck Face card.

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Hawaii (fuck) You

Looking back that was a crazy time wasn't it. I am glad I stayed away from all that purchasing. The male version of so many other collectible businesses. Plates and all that crap.

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If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.

I loved reading those Beckett books. Much like fantasy sports, the side benefit is you really get to know players that are on other teams.

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Hawaii (fuck) You

It's probably a better idea to sell shit to farmers, not card collectors.

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That is when I was really into cards as well. 85-90 or so. I still have the sets even though they aren't worth the cardboard they are printed on.
Used to buy the Beckett price guides and look up all kinds of stuff. You are right about knowing all of the players back then. I used to go through
and sort my cards all the time and read the backs. Also had sticker books with pictures of the players and stuff.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

fixed

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favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

I did a couple times,not baseball but Collectible card games like Magic but not that.Star Trek and stuff like that. My friends family used to have a shop in the Scottsdale shopping Mall that sold coins and cards.

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When I am stuck and need to figure something out I always remember the Immortal words of Socrates when he said:"I just drank what?"

I once helped Shakes sell stuff at a card show a long time ago. I remember he had a pretty good collection, but there was something sad about watching someone haggle over a Ruben Sierra rookie card.

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lol I don't even remember that. I had a table at a card show???



My dad probably has one of the nicest and largest private card collections in the USA. He started collecting as a kid and then his mom threw out all his cards when he got married. A few years later he got the itch and started over. It was already a massive collection with multiple Mickey Mantle rookies (Topps and Bowman) as well as some really cool odd ball stuff such as the famous Golden Dildo C3PO card, but then about 20 years ago he answered an ad in the paper and bought the entire inventory of a baseball card store from the owner's recent widow for $10,000. Had to rent a U-Haul and take two trips just to bring everything home.


Now, his study is full of cards and his entire basement has been set up with tables loaded with cards and merch from the store. The garage is stacked with boxes of card supplies like folders and plastic sheet etc. To this day he still hasn't sorted through everything in the collection. Pretty cool on Thanksgiving me and my brother will sneak down there and open up some unopened packs of hockey/basketball cards from the early 90s just for fun.


I think he's sold some cards on ebay, but he hasn't gotten a table at a show. At 75 I doubt he will ever go that route. He still goes and trades cards with other collectors. When he is in Wisconsin he'll drive over to some guy's house in Green Bay and they'll sit around a table trading 30s, 40's and 50s baseball cards.


And actually he just told me that if anyone is looking to sell their collections he is always looking to buy, but only stuff pre-1970.

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My dad claims to have had the Mickey Mantle Topps rookie card. That might be some of his folklore, though.

I have thousands of them, including dozens of sets, at my parents' house, but I collected in the early 90s. Those cards are all worthless because the market was saturated.

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Damn Shakes, that is awesome.

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Hawaii (fuck) You

That's like my buddy who has so much stuff he isn't even sure exactly where all of it is. He knows what he has, but it might take him a while to find a specific item. I think he sold a batch of cards for about $30,000 recently. Obviously, this wasn't stuff from the 90s. In addition to cards, this guy has a lot of signed balls.

I was talking to a guy at a Sox game a couple weeks ago who collects signed photos of all White Sox players. He tries to get entire sets from specific years with the guys in specific uniforms. He has every guy from the 1939 team in their home uniform except one obscure guy. It drives him crazy that he doesn't have that one.

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Don't take it personally.

My brother has been doing this on the side since the late 80s. He still sells a lot of Starting Lineup figures.

RFDC's brother in law needs to see this thread!

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Shakes,

Your dad sounds like a very cool guy!
















Are you adopted?

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favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

Every so often, jimmypasta hits just the right note to satisfy the funny bone.

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Wow...that is really cool.

Yeah.

He has finally given up on his dream of selling baseball cards. He has put all his cards in storage and now he has a new dream.

He writes and performs music now. Even though he has done nothing musically ever in his life. He owns a guitar tho. So I am sure this will be his big break. He posts on social media all the time now about the new song or riff that he is working on. I am sure you will be hearing about him soon...very soon.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

Is your bro in law Josh Rock?

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Agreed. Cards are basically worthless unless they are mid 70s or earlier, or autograph, relic, or jersey cards.

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@audioidkid

I actually have a box of unopened 91-92 Upper Deck hockey cards that I "borrowed" from my dad a couple years ago. Every once in a while me and my brother will each open a pack and see who got the better cards.

I used to have a nice collection. Started going to card shows in the 70s with my dad and he would always buy me one complete set at the show. Started with 77 Tops and probably ended around 84. On my own I put together a complete 75 and 76 set. Love that 75 set, such a cool unique looking card.

My cards are still at my parent's house in my old bedroom although I think my dad took out the valuable ones and locked them up with his valuable cards for safe keeping.

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TRUE CRAZY STORY ALERT!!!


When my younger brother was a freshman in high school or 8th grade (don't remember) he had a couple friends who came over and they suggested they play some kind of hide and seek. They used my dad's study as a base. When my brother was hiding the two kids pulled out their baseball card beckett book and went through my dad's cards and stole a bunch. They had planned this in advance. Idiots though, they left the closet a mess with some cards scattered. My dad realized what happened right away, called the parents and they gave all the cards back rather than go to jail.

After that my dad had a lock installed on the closet.

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Wow,that's lousy. Good thing your dad caught them.

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favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

When I was in my mid teens my dad walks into my room and gives me a notebook full of cards. Tells me to figure out what they are worth and we can sell them and split the proceeds. Get a Beckett football and baseball boom and start taking inventory. I can’t remember how much the collection ended up being “worth” but at the half way point it was well into six figures. I told him that and I believe the notebook now resides in a safety deposit box. I was going to buy myself a nice car too.

Went down in the basement after work. Have like three topps box sets a donruss and a couple hockey boxes. Also a box of individuals organized in some manner. Probably can get me a case of beer if I am luck for all of it.

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If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.

Is that AU (Gold) cards place in Skokie still around? Ya I use to collect lots in the 70s/80s. It was fun. I probably have some good stuff but not sure what happened to it.