I spend beautiful, sunny weekends going to card shows

It was a beautiful weekend. Some people might spend these gorgeous days going for walks or having a picnic.

I go to card shows.

I learned about what I thought might be a card show on Saturday. I saw a listing that said it was supposed to have 200 tables. My eyes lit up. The show was about an hour from NYC, so I was little surprised I never heard of it. A quick Google search turned up what it really was – an autograph show.

Saturday’s show was filled with football guests: Terry Bradshaw, Cam Newton, Jack Lambert, Joe Greene, Jim Brown, Bo Jackson, Jamaal Charles, Matt Stafford, Eddie Lacy and more. Impressive.

And out of my price range.

A Bradshaw autograph was at least $175 for a flat or mini-helmet. A helmet, football or jersey autograph was $195.

Sunday’s show had a few different sports figures including basketball’s Trey Burke, football’s Ryan Tannehill and Eli Manning ($250 for a helmet!) and a couple of baseball players.

One of the baseball players caught my eye – Yangervis Solarte.

I know. I know. Solarte has been stuck in the minors for eight years and is 26 years old now. He’s starting for the Yankees right now, but has been a lot of fun. I’ve enjoyed watching him play and Solarte’s signing fee was right in my budget – $35.

I picked up an MLB baseball on Saturday and brought it to the show. Just one autograph for me, although there were people on line who were getting multiple signatures on bats, balls, and pictures. The short-term investment could work in their favor.

Since Solarte hasn’t had anything on the market – no cards or autographed items – the ones that have popped up on eBay recently have sold between $100 and $150. Of course, since he had what is probably his first public signing, more of these items have now showed up on eBay, likely to soften the market slightly.

But the only thing that will hurt Solarte’s market is if (and it will likely happen) he comes back down to earth. Solarte is batting .301 with .400 OBP and .852 OPS. However, Solarte is 2-for-19 over his last five games. He was a late scratch from Sunday’s game against Anaheim with a sore shoulder.

Whoops! I hope it wasn’t from signing too much.