This weekend is the White Plains card show at the Westchester County Center, and I decided to go today in spite of itching all night last night wanting to go. I only wanted to go last night because I feel like if you get there when it first opens there are more cards to choose from. Yes, I know how dumb it sounds. At any rate I went this morning at about 11ish with a mission and my checklists.
This show is alot of local dealers from the NY/NJ area and is mostly the same people every time so I have my "people" that I like to deal with in there. When I first walked in I meandered over to the hobby boxes because I haven't seen one in months since there are no hobby stores here and the guy running the tables asked me how I like my new bleacher seats, and what do I think about the Yankees, etc. He was like see, I remember you. I suppose when it is usually just me and Sooz as the only females at these things it's probably fairly easy. I didn't buy anything there because I was budgeting to be able to get my O-Pee-Chee singles, some Pujols stuff, and my supplies. I left there and the first case I happened to peek in had a Pujols 2001 Fleer Tradition card that I have had my eye on for some time, but never could win it on eBay for a reasonable price. I asked the dude how much, and he went and grabbed Beckett... I told him to forget it if he was going to use that, and he replied don't worry it's just a guide. Really? I'm glad someone other than me knows that. It books for $50/$60 (don't remember, don't care), he offered it to me for $20. Now you want to know if I bought it right? Duh. If it was the only card I was going to leave with I would have been happy.
Now I found myself at a table run by a little old man selling his Pujols cards for a buck each. I gathered a couple that were not on my checklist, plus a surprise for Sooz (which she can put by her pillow) and continued on. Mind you I had browsed cases between purchases and did not see a single Cano autograph, nor did anyone I asked have an Adam Lind or want my Tulo auto's.
Next stop was Rookies & Stars table, who also sells on eBay and through his own site. Over the years I have purchased many, many things from this guy both on eBay and at this show so I picked up some 2009 Legendary Cuts base cards, a Joba Bowman '09 gold, Jeter Bowman '09, and a random Jeter because I needed one more card and there were no Pujols left that I needed from there. I spoke briefly with the owner about eBay and such, and he said he has been pretty slow on eBay recently and has really had it with their fees. Agreed on both accounts.
I decided to hit up this other vendor that I have bought stuff from in the past and he had a sweet Pujols card serial numbered 19/20. I was like thanks for teasing me but I'm looking for like dollar cards. He laughed, so I figured I would try one more time to get rid of my friggin Tulo auto's and jackpot. He borrowed a Beckett (works to my advantage here), and saw that one booked for $30, and the other for about the same I believe. The card I was trying to trade for was marked $100. I traded 2 useless Tulo auto's and a couple of bucks and left with the Pujols. Now, some of you may think that's alot for it but I paid I believe $6 bucks for the M&M Tulo auto, and the 2007 Chrome /199 auto came out of a blaster. I wish I had brought my SPx Tulo, but I forgot it at home. I'm more than pleased with that card for what I got it for, and I picked up a Russ Martin 2009 Topps Chrome blue refractor here as well.
More meandering around trying to see if anyone has a cool Cano auto, and I honestly only saw Stadium Club which I have. Plenty of '09 Topps Chrome auto's floating around the show. The next place I stopped to look at the guy was like, "hey, you collect Pujols right? I havea printing plate here." Whoa. Third person who knew who I collected without me even opening my mouth. Same guy was also asking me where my friend who collects Jeter is because he had a ton of them in a box. He was all ready to suck the cash from Sooz's wallet, only her and her wallet were home safe from his wrath. While walking around waiting for him to find his Pujols cards I got a Twitter message from Chris Harris of Stale Gum saying he would be there in a half hour or so, I read it about a half hour after he sent it since I never feel my phone vibrate. So I sent Chris a message back with my number so he could call me when he got there and picked up this while I waited (I like bargains):
I picked up one Pujols from that dude and then spoke to Chris. We touched base, and the next thing I know someone is standing next to me asking me if I want any WNBA cards. Chris and I traded some cards we had for each other, and then we had an incident with a vendor. This story will be saved for a later date because the reason we had a little tiff with the vendor was over the integrity of a card that will end up being my Christmas gift. Bottom line was that the vendor tried saying that Chris didn't know shit about cards because we were talking about how some Sweet Spot auto's fade, and the guy said no. Clearly he hasn't opened any in the last year or two, however the card in question was from 2005. Story for another day, like say December 26th.
Next stop was TNT cards from eBay. I figured he must have OPC singles since no one else did and he told me quite an interesting little story. Apparently he never got the remainder of his shipment, nor did many other dealers because of the law suit over the product. He broke 3 cases, and is selling his singles on eBay but did not bring them (read: Marie very annoyed). He was telling me that the OPC singles are hot sellers because no one else has them. Great, but if they are so hot why not bring them here and not pay the eBay fees? What do I know. I ended up grabbing some of the 2009 Ginter cards I had wanted, and got some for Sooz also. Ironically, I thought I had the Pujols base so I picked up everything but that. Anyone wanna send that my way? =)
I decided to hit up one last vendor before grabbing my supplies and hitting the diner, and he had a sweet Pujols card serial numbered 19/20. I was like thanks for teasing me but I'm looking for like dollar cards. He laughed, so I figured I would try one more time to get rid of my friggin Tulo auto's and jackpot. He borrowed a Beckett (works to my advantage here), and saw that one booked for $30, and the other for about the same I believe. The card I was trying to trade for was marked $100. I traded 2 useless Tulo auto's and a couple of bucks and left with the Pujols. Now, some of you may think that's alot for it but I paid I believe $6 bucks for the M&M Tulo auto, and the 2007 Chrome /199 auto came out of a blaster. I wish I had brought my SPx Tulo, but I forgot it at home. I'm more than pleased with that card for $25, and I picked up a Russ Martin 2009 Topps Chrome blue refractor here as well.
I was sidetracked on my way to get my binders when I saw a Pujols/Smith dual gu jersey card from '09 Legendary Cuts. Sidetracked long enough to hear $15 for the Pujols/Smith and discover a Cano/Nettles for $5.
I went to my supply friends who are awesome by the way and they will ship anywhere so I would be happy to pass along their info to anyone who would like to buy stuff. They charge only what it costs to ship and they have everything, and more importantly they are the nicest people. I grabbed my binders and 9 pocket sheets and hit the road.
I spent about 2 hours milling around looking and talking to people. My mom took a ride with me and helped me rummage through the boxes that Pujols was not already seperated. All in all it was a good day, and one that is good for one day a year. Too many of these shows and I will be washing the neighborhoods cars for cards. While the shows are fun to go to, they are best far and few in between right now. Plenty of good guys at these shows that are reasonable with their pricing, and then there is always one guy who thinks he needs to tell me how good Pujols is so he's charging $2 or $3 per base card. I really had no idea how great Pujols is, so it's nice to have people explain it to me.
For anyone interested in going to the show, the hours are posted a few posts back. And a heads up.... Nolan Ryan will be signing on Sunday in case anyone is interested.
