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blanning71
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OK folks, this is going to be a really long thread and I have a ton of pictures to share. So bare with me and take a look at what I saw during our stay last week.
The National just flat out rocked. I was more than amazed at the size of the convention center. It used to be an old tank factory back during the World Wars. Later it became a plane factory for military bombers. The end of the building still fold up so that a plane can be rolled into/out of the hangar. Here are a few pics of the building and what it looked like on the inside...
"Looking down through the corporate area from our booth"
"View from the "Food Court" area of the expo floor"
"Looking in one direction of the Show Floor. Cards galore"
During the show we had some cool contests. One of the ones we did was called "Show 'em to me!"...........no no, not that type of game, as it probably would have made me throw up in my mouth whatwith all the white chalky sweatstained dudes there.....but rather a contest to see some of the rarest stuff that someone could bring to our table. Here are some pics of the cards people dragged over.
"Williams/DiMaggio/Mantle Topps TT 3x Jersey card 1/1"
"2001 SP Authentic Tiger Woods Superstars GOLD auto RC /100--SUPER HIGH DOLLAR"
"Michael Jordan Exquisite Patch auto"
"Haray Caray Prime Cuts cut Signature"
"Matt Ryan Exquisite RC Patch Auto /25 variation"
"Jimmy Hoffa Mystery Cuts 1/1 cut sig--SWEET!"
"Former Secretary of the Treasury--our resident historian Mox said this guy's sig was on some dollars"
"Yeah its a 1/1 musician I've never heard of, its not really exciting, but the girl that brought it over was hot and she wanted to show it off to us. I obliged whilst gettin an eyeful!"
"Eliphalet Remington(gun Pioneer) cut sig! NICE"
It was some amazing stuff!
Next, I will showcase some of the cards and stuff that I saw while walking the floor. I must say that it was absolutely amazing. The convention floor was literally a museum of all kinds of memorabilia from socks to jerseys. Here are some photos I took along the way:
"Ruth/Gehrig dual ball"
"Cobb/Foxx/Speaker signed ball"
"Walter Johnson signed ball"
"Honus Wagner signed ball"
and speaking of Honus...............
"The Holy Grail"
Did someone say super rare cards?
and for the granddaddys of them all.................
Next we have a card that was picked up by someone you all know. It is a very very nice piece!!
We got the opportunity to meet some figureheads in the hobby and have interviews with them. We got nearly all of the major manufacturers on film, with Upper Deck, Razor, Panini, being very supportive of what we were doing. I have to admit that Scott Prucha was my favorite of all the guys we met from the MFG's. He had a ton of energy, and was very nice to everyone. I also got to meet Mike Payne, the baseball brand manager for Panini and had a great conversation with him. He was a very cool guy to talk shop with.
Here are some photos from the interviews..........
Adam from Dave and Adams card world.
Scott Prucha from Panini America
Dr. Brian Price from ITG/Sportkings
Artist Brian Kong
Brian Gray from Razor
and I'm sure what was the ULTIMATE part of the entire week for many of you......the Benchwarmers Girl interview!!!
Lisa Gleave
Here were some of the celebs we saw during the week! The highlight for me was meeting Tyler Hansbrough and Blake Griffin and getting their autographs!
Andre Thornton and Lil Papi!
Hansbrough signing for me.
Blake Griffin signing.
and for those of you that love the iconic holiday movie "A Christmas Story" you will like the next pic. The house the movie was filmed at is in Cleveland and Ken and I had hoped to make it there. Well, while we didn't get to go, this was just as cool. I was chatting with the Benchwarmers Girl, I saw a face I had seen in Beckett before. It was Scotty Schwartz. He played Flick in the movie(the kid that stuck his tongue to the flagpole). I asked him for his autograph and a picture. He obliged and we chatted about the movie for a few moments!
Here are some other pics from the show and the Cleveland area. Enjoy.
This was Beefy's plane flying over us as we drove into Cleveland on Tuesday! LOL. Yes it has been verified and it really WAS his plane.
I will update later and answer any questions you all might have. Thanks for looking.......Oh yeah, I guess its a little late for the no 56k tag huh?
The National just flat out rocked. I was more than amazed at the size of the convention center. It used to be an old tank factory back during the World Wars. Later it became a plane factory for military bombers. The end of the building still fold up so that a plane can be rolled into/out of the hangar. Here are a few pics of the building and what it looked like on the inside...
"Looking down through the corporate area from our booth"
"View from the "Food Court" area of the expo floor"
"Looking in one direction of the Show Floor. Cards galore"
During the show we had some cool contests. One of the ones we did was called "Show 'em to me!"...........no no, not that type of game, as it probably would have made me throw up in my mouth whatwith all the white chalky sweatstained dudes there.....but rather a contest to see some of the rarest stuff that someone could bring to our table. Here are some pics of the cards people dragged over.
"Williams/DiMaggio/Mantle Topps TT 3x Jersey card 1/1"
"2001 SP Authentic Tiger Woods Superstars GOLD auto RC /100--SUPER HIGH DOLLAR"
"Michael Jordan Exquisite Patch auto"
"Haray Caray Prime Cuts cut Signature"
"Matt Ryan Exquisite RC Patch Auto /25 variation"
"Jimmy Hoffa Mystery Cuts 1/1 cut sig--SWEET!"
"Former Secretary of the Treasury--our resident historian Mox said this guy's sig was on some dollars"
"Yeah its a 1/1 musician I've never heard of, its not really exciting, but the girl that brought it over was hot and she wanted to show it off to us. I obliged whilst gettin an eyeful!"
"Eliphalet Remington(gun Pioneer) cut sig! NICE"
It was some amazing stuff!
Next, I will showcase some of the cards and stuff that I saw while walking the floor. I must say that it was absolutely amazing. The convention floor was literally a museum of all kinds of memorabilia from socks to jerseys. Here are some photos I took along the way:
"Ruth/Gehrig dual ball"
"Cobb/Foxx/Speaker signed ball"
"Walter Johnson signed ball"
"Honus Wagner signed ball"
and speaking of Honus...............
"The Holy Grail"
Did someone say super rare cards?
and for the granddaddys of them all.................
Next we have a card that was picked up by someone you all know. It is a very very nice piece!!
We got the opportunity to meet some figureheads in the hobby and have interviews with them. We got nearly all of the major manufacturers on film, with Upper Deck, Razor, Panini, being very supportive of what we were doing. I have to admit that Scott Prucha was my favorite of all the guys we met from the MFG's. He had a ton of energy, and was very nice to everyone. I also got to meet Mike Payne, the baseball brand manager for Panini and had a great conversation with him. He was a very cool guy to talk shop with.
Here are some photos from the interviews..........
Adam from Dave and Adams card world.
Scott Prucha from Panini America
Dr. Brian Price from ITG/Sportkings
Artist Brian Kong
Brian Gray from Razor
and I'm sure what was the ULTIMATE part of the entire week for many of you......the Benchwarmers Girl interview!!!
Lisa Gleave
Here were some of the celebs we saw during the week! The highlight for me was meeting Tyler Hansbrough and Blake Griffin and getting their autographs!
Andre Thornton and Lil Papi!
Hansbrough signing for me.
Blake Griffin signing.
and for those of you that love the iconic holiday movie "A Christmas Story" you will like the next pic. The house the movie was filmed at is in Cleveland and Ken and I had hoped to make it there. Well, while we didn't get to go, this was just as cool. I was chatting with the Benchwarmers Girl, I saw a face I had seen in Beckett before. It was Scotty Schwartz. He played Flick in the movie(the kid that stuck his tongue to the flagpole). I asked him for his autograph and a picture. He obliged and we chatted about the movie for a few moments!
Here are some other pics from the show and the Cleveland area. Enjoy.
This was Beefy's plane flying over us as we drove into Cleveland on Tuesday! LOL. Yes it has been verified and it really WAS his plane.
I will update later and answer any questions you all might have. Thanks for looking.......Oh yeah, I guess its a little late for the no 56k tag huh?
