08/10/2026
Welcome back sports card freaks! Today, I’m going to share my recap on the National!
Easy start, if you haven’t been, you need to go. There are so many options to entertain yourself besides just checking out cards. Maybe autographs are your jam, there are different autograph people every day, every hour…or maybe you like sports artifacts. There are plenty of auction sites with memorabilia on display, Ruth, Jordan, Brady, Gehrig, plenty of stuff to check out and maybe hold, like a Ruth bat or a T206 card of Honus Wagner like Joe Kohls did! Maybe you like to interact with other collectors, each night has a trade night, or box breakers going full time during the show. There is a plethora of things to do. But for me, I’m all about the cards and searching for those deals. Within half an hour I had located the 55 Bowman Mantle and the Cy Young card. The Mantle I grabbed right away and the dealer had a nice raw Mays that was in the running as well. The Young card was something I wanted to look around a bit more for but as I left that table the seller cut his price. I knew I had a motivated seller with that, but I spent the next 3 hours scouring tables but after that time, I hadn’t found any challengers, and with that I swung back and made the easy deal.
Some of the comments I have heard is that dealers were way over priced and weren’t negotiating very well. That has always been the case, there are simply some dealers there that are there to show off their collections. They are usually easy to identify, they don’t price their cards and they don’t hop up when you approach their table. If you accept that some of the tables aren’t good to buy at, you can knock out a substantial percentage of the floor. You also have to accept that these dealers are there to make the most that they can and I feel like some of the people that were posting these complaints were people who were wanting to treat the show as if it was a wholesale dealer show. Imagine trying to open a store and using Walmart to buy your inventory and then complaining when they can’t make money. It’s as if they want the dealer to do all the work, but leave the profit for them. So, when I go to the show I am looking for A.) things that will be PC B.) things that might move better in this market than Chicago C.) cards that I think I already have a buyer for or D.) cards that will likely appreciate in value in the next 6 months that I can sit on for a bit for my profit. Anything outside of that is going to be tough to find decent margins.
This was the first year I went to multiple days, my 4th time to Chicago, and attended with Don Hosek. I walked onto the floor knowing where some dealers were already located and could walk straight to them. On day 2, I had a strong knowledge of the whole card floor. Don and I were blessed to have a support crew of our wives who staked a claim to some chairs on day 1. It gave us a good place to reconnect, stash some things, grab some refreshments, and get right back into it. On day 2 though they relocated to the lobby of the convention center. A solid decision, that will save us their ticket prices next year, but having these two there was a huge help!
Our day 1 was Friday and I thought through the first day that security was a little lax, not of the center itself but at the tables. No one was checking cash and cases were left unlocked and undermanned. As expected, that night on the news stories started to break about thefts from tables. Day 2, keys were being used and one table that I bought a few cards from had a security person sitting there the whole time. While out in the lobby, my wife who had secured a few chairs had my back pack sitting on one and a guy thought he would walk up and..Move it, or take it if no one balked. After all, it had my pickups from the show in it. She cast a glare at him that caused him to turn around and retreat with a scowl on his face, but I thought it was pretty ballsy to touch someone else’s packs, but there were stories going around of people having that done to them. As a dealer and a customer, you have to be security conscious.
I thought the show was run incredibly well and efficiently. If you saw videos of long lines, they weren’t exaggerated, but they weren’t too impactful either. Day 1 was nice and we took advantage of the Skywalk access which still had a long line, but not near what it was outside. Day 2 we had rain and guess where all those people on the street the day before went to? Up into the skywalk. I suspected that would be the case and we arrived at the center 15 minutes earlier, about 45 minutes before show time. 30 minutes later people from the show showed up towards the end of the line scanning ticket and giving wrist bands to allow you entrance…then 5 minutes later, they opened the doors for everyone and we ended up being on the floor 20 minutes before the doors were to open. Awesome!
Bathroom access this year was not a problem, I heard rumors that some women’s restrooms were converted to men’s rooms. I didn’t verify this, but never had more than a 5 minute wait at a men’s room.
The only place that really had a long line was Starbucks, which I don’t frequent.
I had a certificate I wanted to get through JSA, they told me that I would be better off emailing (which I had already done twice with no success) or calling. Imagine that, those are better options than talking to someone face to face. PSA also disappointed their masses pulling almost all same day grading after they took everyone’s money. I don’t get it, really. Your business model requires everyone to pay up front for services levels you have no intention of really adhering to. Just think about how much unearned income they have on the balance sheet at any time, it’s ungodly!
We didn’t make it to a trade night. We had hoped to, but after being on our feet and walking the floor for 9 hours, we were pretty much wiped out. The trade night would have probably been a good place to pick up some singles from non-dealers…but I also listened to people offering their cards to sell and when the dealer would decline, I would ask to look them over, but wasn’t able to make any deals though people were happy to show me. I may be more aggressive with that approach next year, not buy from the dealers, but from the sellers. The challenge is finding vintage sellers, but they are there and they are big time!
But don’t limit yourselves to the card show. We also took in a Yankees White Sox game, some shopping at the fashion mall across the street, some find dining in the nearby district, and hit a Voodoo Donuts in another district. Plenty to do in Chicago. I’ll definitely be back again next year with an even more refined approach. I have always brought back about half the cash I took, and hopefully next year I can find deals that eat into that even greater! For now…back to buying and selling!
