I attended my first National Sports Collector’s Convention last week in Cleveland, Ohio. I had an amazing time. I came away with some new friends, some great stories, and a nice stack of new cards. I also learned a lot about how to approach the show, both in terms of enjoying the spectacle, as well as navigating the show floor as a buyer. Although I am very pleased with how the show went overall, I will definitely do some things differently next year in Chicago. I hope this trip report will be both entertaining, and helpful to those of you haven’t been to a National yet, but plan to go in the future.
We arrived in Cleveland late on Tuesday night and checked into our airBNB in Lakewood, Ohio. We were still on Seattle time, so it took a little while to fall asleep, despite being worn out from the long day of travel. We spent Wednesday morning and afternoon checking out the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and after a late lunch, headed over to the IX Center for the show. The show was only open to the public from 4pm to 8pm on Wednesday.
My main motivation for wanting to attend the National was social. I wanted to meet some online friends in person, do some networking, and make some new friends. That being said, I was also really excited to be there as a collector. On the first day, my plan was to try and see as many booths as possible. The idea was I wanted to do my best to find the tough T206 backs (and other tougher issues on my want-list) before everybody else saw them. In hindsight, this wasn’t really the best idea. I did end up canvassing the show floor from one end to the other (hitting the last booth a few minutes before 8pm), but I won’t approach future Nationals in the same way for a few reasons. For one thing, though I thought I was visiting every booth, I realized over the next two days that I had actually missed quite a few tables (and possibly even entire aisles). Secondly, I wish I had slowed down and taken in the spectacle a little more. Because I was just looking to buy cards, I whizzed right on past the Auction House booths, which have the best eye candy on the entire show floor. More than anything, I regret it because I burned myself out a bit, and I got the false impression that I had seen everything, when I really hadn’t.
All that being said, I still had a blast the first day. It was pretty overwhelming to be somewhere in the middle of show floor, just surrounded by seemingly endless tables in every direction. In a typical local card show, it’s pretty cool to a couple of tables with pre-war. It was pretty incredible to get to browse through hundreds of such tables at the National.
Overall my first day was not super eventful. Of the three days that I attended, I actually bought the fewest cards on Day 1, despite seeing the most tables. Going into the show, the thought of doing a trip report hadn’t crossed my mind. I wish it had, as I would have taken a bunch more pictures. As I was making my way through the aisles, at about the halfway point, I look up and realize there’s a Ferris Wheel in the center of the IX Center!
After the show closed, and they herded us out the exits, I did my only bit of socializing that day. I had made a trade with a friend a couple weeks prior to the National, and we decided that rather than mailing the cards to each other, we’d just meet up at the show and make the swap. It was great meeting him in person, and the card I traded for was my favorite pickup from the show. Opinions are pretty well split on whether this card is a T206 or not, but in my humble opinion, it should be considered one.
After meeting up to trade, my wife and I had an amazing dinner at a Mexican place called Momacho. Highly recommended if you are ever in the area. After that excellent meal, it was back to the airBNB to get some shut-eye before getting back at it on Thursday morning.
