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Randy Shields
Well-known member
First of all I want to sincerely Thank TonyH and my buddy Jantz for making this years National a laugh a minute. Jantz (T206524) is a longtime friend of mine who traveled with me splitting Hotel and Travel expenses. Jantz didn't set up but rather devoured the place in search of his unending quest for the infamous T206 set. He also collects old photographs among other things vintage.
Tony (TonyH) split the Promenade booth with me and all 3 of us had a fantastic time.
It was great to see Chris, Brian, John, Mike, and Ken again. All great guys in person. It was also a pleasure to meet Jim (BowmanChromeAddict), Tim (phillyfan0417), Andrew (All In Cards), Josh (Treadmhigh), and Tom (Johan Santana 57), Don (Big Mac McGwire). I also met a few other members, but must apologize for not remembering they're usernames. Also, I hope I'm not leaving anyone else out. If I did I apologize.
I was disappointed that I didn't have a chance to meet some of the other guys though, but I always try and stay close to home (booth) for obvious reasons.
The upside of this years show for me this year other than meeting and seeing the guys again was from a seller's vantagepoint. I did very well last year in Cleveland but I did much better this year in Baltimore. The most popular requests for me were Jeter auto's, Posey, Domonic, Strasburg, Bryce, 2010 Bowman, Mooooose-takas, Votto, Stanton, '08, '09 BDB wax, and Longoria.
The downside for me I'd have to say were the cards being offered to me. Most of what was being offered was nice, BUT it was being offered at or above Ebay prices. Tony experienced this as well. This continued for the first 4 days until Sunday when I was actually able to pick up some cards for some decent prices with a bit of leway to move.
Set-up for this show was a bit of a bear. There was no AC on and we had to cart everything from the front of the room to nearly the very back, as I was set up between the Corporate area and the Autograph pavilion. Move-out was sweet as we could drive in and right to our booths. (Why they didn't let us do that in the first place is beyond me).
I spoke with one of the show's organizers on Friday and he told me that attendance was up from Cleveland last year. I was surprised to hear this as I thought attendance last year was good. Food prices were high, but not as high as Cleveland so I was told.
The show was made up of perhaps 85% Vintage which is common for the National and there was a great deal of awesome items to see--although I saw very little of it.
Strasburg Heritage cards drew out the worst in people from what I heard and there was talk of a fistfight as well.
I submitted some cards to BGS for the RCR and was pleasantly surprised. So those surprises went home to Texas.
So on to the pictures. I didn't get a lot as Wes did, but I'll show what I have.
Thes are some pic's of the inner harbour which was a really nice place to hang out:
My spot in the CC:
Pics of my most prized possesion, a 8X10 glossy '52 Topps blowup signed in blue sharpie by The Mick:
And my fellow cronies from r/l Tony, Jantz, and myself courtesy of Andrew:
Just a couple of pics from displays and my attempts to get a feel for the National holding my camera up:
Entrance:
Now while at the show I couldn't help but notice a rather large orange hat overtop of the crowd and heading towards our booth. I turned to Tony and said "Tony, There's a new Sheriff in town!" Pictures really do speak a thousand words:
Now the fact that Brian's face was expressionless along with the fact that he was conversing as if nothing was going on made this moment priceless and quite hilarious!! Probably my best laugh at the show! :lol:
End of the show pic's with the boys who were still there on Sunday (along with "The Hat")
Andrew, Chris, Brian, Ken, myself courtesy of Mrs. Gilmore:
Oh, and last but not least. Friday while hanging out at our booth, I saw this very pretty girl and a very tall tatoo'd man accompanying her. I said Hi how are you and she said fine. Her man/boyfrien/bodyguard-? commented on my LeBron James autographed photo that I have from a high school signing that he did.
When they walked away my buddy Jantz said "That was Jesse Jane!" I said really? He said "That was Jesse Jane!" So I looked around, found a few index cards, grabbed a blue sharpie, and headed out of my booth. I caught up with the 3 of them--another male had joined them. So I asked him: "Do you have any idea if that is Jesse Jane?" To which he replied "Yeah, I have an idea."
Then he said "Yea, it is" That's all I needed to hear.
I went straight over, said "Hi, nice to meet you", and asked if I could get her autograph. She said "SURE" and signed an index card. I then told her I had a couple of friends in my booth and could she sign 1 for them as well and she said "Sure, N0 Problem."
The results:
--WES, pm me your addy as one of the guys didn't want his autograph. It's yours. It will look good with the 8X10 you will have made!
I then went back to the booth and proceeded to tell Tony and Jantz that it wasn't her and how embarrising it is to approach someone who isn't who you think they are. That didn't really work so I threw down they're autographs.
Then I had this idea of grabbing my camera and going back for more. I stopped by the FCB booth, but Tim was the only one there. I pointed her out to him and went in for the kill. I stopped her and said that this would be the last time I would bother her and asked if I could get a picture. In her extremely accomodating and fan friendly voice she said "Sure, absolutely."
That resulted in my last picture here which I immediately went back to show Tim and then back to show Jantz and Tony:
-My ribs were a little sore after bumping into her, uhm, generosities!
Well that's about it. Thanks to all the FCB gang for being Classy, Great guys and Thanks to all of you for looking. Look out Chicago 2011, here we come!
Cheers!
Tony (TonyH) split the Promenade booth with me and all 3 of us had a fantastic time.
It was great to see Chris, Brian, John, Mike, and Ken again. All great guys in person. It was also a pleasure to meet Jim (BowmanChromeAddict), Tim (phillyfan0417), Andrew (All In Cards), Josh (Treadmhigh), and Tom (Johan Santana 57), Don (Big Mac McGwire). I also met a few other members, but must apologize for not remembering they're usernames. Also, I hope I'm not leaving anyone else out. If I did I apologize.
I was disappointed that I didn't have a chance to meet some of the other guys though, but I always try and stay close to home (booth) for obvious reasons.
The upside of this years show for me this year other than meeting and seeing the guys again was from a seller's vantagepoint. I did very well last year in Cleveland but I did much better this year in Baltimore. The most popular requests for me were Jeter auto's, Posey, Domonic, Strasburg, Bryce, 2010 Bowman, Mooooose-takas, Votto, Stanton, '08, '09 BDB wax, and Longoria.
The downside for me I'd have to say were the cards being offered to me. Most of what was being offered was nice, BUT it was being offered at or above Ebay prices. Tony experienced this as well. This continued for the first 4 days until Sunday when I was actually able to pick up some cards for some decent prices with a bit of leway to move.
Set-up for this show was a bit of a bear. There was no AC on and we had to cart everything from the front of the room to nearly the very back, as I was set up between the Corporate area and the Autograph pavilion. Move-out was sweet as we could drive in and right to our booths. (Why they didn't let us do that in the first place is beyond me).
I spoke with one of the show's organizers on Friday and he told me that attendance was up from Cleveland last year. I was surprised to hear this as I thought attendance last year was good. Food prices were high, but not as high as Cleveland so I was told.
The show was made up of perhaps 85% Vintage which is common for the National and there was a great deal of awesome items to see--although I saw very little of it.
Strasburg Heritage cards drew out the worst in people from what I heard and there was talk of a fistfight as well.
I submitted some cards to BGS for the RCR and was pleasantly surprised. So those surprises went home to Texas.
So on to the pictures. I didn't get a lot as Wes did, but I'll show what I have.
Thes are some pic's of the inner harbour which was a really nice place to hang out:
My spot in the CC:
Pics of my most prized possesion, a 8X10 glossy '52 Topps blowup signed in blue sharpie by The Mick:
And my fellow cronies from r/l Tony, Jantz, and myself courtesy of Andrew:
Just a couple of pics from displays and my attempts to get a feel for the National holding my camera up:
Entrance:
Now while at the show I couldn't help but notice a rather large orange hat overtop of the crowd and heading towards our booth. I turned to Tony and said "Tony, There's a new Sheriff in town!" Pictures really do speak a thousand words:
Now the fact that Brian's face was expressionless along with the fact that he was conversing as if nothing was going on made this moment priceless and quite hilarious!! Probably my best laugh at the show! :lol:
End of the show pic's with the boys who were still there on Sunday (along with "The Hat")
Andrew, Chris, Brian, Ken, myself courtesy of Mrs. Gilmore:
Oh, and last but not least. Friday while hanging out at our booth, I saw this very pretty girl and a very tall tatoo'd man accompanying her. I said Hi how are you and she said fine. Her man/boyfrien/bodyguard-? commented on my LeBron James autographed photo that I have from a high school signing that he did.
When they walked away my buddy Jantz said "That was Jesse Jane!" I said really? He said "That was Jesse Jane!" So I looked around, found a few index cards, grabbed a blue sharpie, and headed out of my booth. I caught up with the 3 of them--another male had joined them. So I asked him: "Do you have any idea if that is Jesse Jane?" To which he replied "Yeah, I have an idea."
Then he said "Yea, it is" That's all I needed to hear.
I went straight over, said "Hi, nice to meet you", and asked if I could get her autograph. She said "SURE" and signed an index card. I then told her I had a couple of friends in my booth and could she sign 1 for them as well and she said "Sure, N0 Problem."
The results:
--WES, pm me your addy as one of the guys didn't want his autograph. It's yours. It will look good with the 8X10 you will have made!
I then went back to the booth and proceeded to tell Tony and Jantz that it wasn't her and how embarrising it is to approach someone who isn't who you think they are. That didn't really work so I threw down they're autographs.
Then I had this idea of grabbing my camera and going back for more. I stopped by the FCB booth, but Tim was the only one there. I pointed her out to him and went in for the kill. I stopped her and said that this would be the last time I would bother her and asked if I could get a picture. In her extremely accomodating and fan friendly voice she said "Sure, absolutely."
That resulted in my last picture here which I immediately went back to show Tim and then back to show Jantz and Tony:
-My ribs were a little sore after bumping into her, uhm, generosities!
Well that's about it. Thanks to all the FCB gang for being Classy, Great guys and Thanks to all of you for looking. Look out Chicago 2011, here we come!
Cheers!
