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12-05-2011 I buy and sell baseball cards. To people who aren't in the hobby, that statement says a lot. But to those in the hobby, that's just the beginning. That alone doesn't tell you whether I'm a collector who sometimes trades/sells cards, or a dealer. You wouldn't know that I specialize in vintage cards. You also wouldn't know where all these transactions take place - shows, flea markets, online, mail order, or a shop. And even if you did know the basics of my business, you wouldn't know that yesterday's show at Two Hearts was one of the best shows I've ever had. But it was. The day started off just fine. There was promise of good attendance because the show featured some noteworthy autograph guests who were also inexpensive - Bill Madlock, Tom Henke, and newly-anointed Cardinal manager Mike Matheny. Also, the holiday season has a way of drawing more customers out. Whether it is people being in the mood to shop near Christmas, I'm not sure, but I did meet several people I hadn't seen at this show before. In addition to new customers, I also saw one regular customer who I hadn't seen or heard from in over a year! Ron, you son of a gun, I thought you were dead!! Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself. I woke up Sunday morning at a Hampton Inn (yes, that's where I remember going to sleep, thank goodness. It wasn't one of those nights!) and took advantage of their free breakfast. On a side note, it's too bad that Hampton Inns have become a little bit run down. When I was a youngster, it seemed like there was no higher luxury than staying at a Holiday Inn with a pool. As those became more and more dilapidated around the country (and as I started to realize Holiday Inns were never the titans of opulence), Hampton Inns seemed to fill that void as the moderately priced, clean, sorta upscale places to stay. Now Hamptons are starting to show their age. You know, a light bulb out here or there; the towels aren't as white and fluffy as you imagined...things like that. Carrying on, let's get back to breakfast. Pretty good stuff. Eggs and yogurt and biscuits and gravy. The eggs were typical hotel grainy-looking eggs - like a yellow sand castle that had recently been hit by high tide and was starting to crumble away - but actually tasted pretty good. Biscuits and gravy were good, and you can't go wrong with miniature peach yogurt cartons. Throw down a couple Solo cups of orange and cranberry juice (separately, not mixed), steal an apple for the road, and I'm good to go. Maybe I'm giving away the fact that I'm not a foodie, but I call that a satisfactory breakfast and a good way to start the day. With a stomach full of whatever that last paragraph said, I drove over to the show and got myself set up for the day. Fortunately, it was still shorts weather, even in December. Had to be close to 45-50 degrees even at 6:30 AM. The doors opened at 9 and I was immediately busy. As I mentioned, I had non-regulars, regulars, and even undeceased customers. Two things made this day great: 1) Pacing. The show hours are 9AM-3PM. A mere six hours to do my business (so to speak), which is just a hair longer than my drive to St Louis and back. That's the amount of time I have to make things happen, and the amount of time customers have to do the same. For anyone who hasn't been to this show, that's a busy time for me. Things happen. And this show was packed with customers almost all day (except from 2-3PM - almost everyone is gone by then). However, unlike November where I felt I was in a whirlwind all day and too rushed to talk to many people, yesterday I felt I was able to mingle a bit. I chatted with several customers about their holiday plans in a relaxed atmosphere. In fact, I even received an invite to see one customer's man cave. And believe me, I'm going to take him up on it; I saw pictures and the place looked amazing! 2) Sales. I've been buying a lot lately. A lot. New stuff, different stuff. High-end cards, scarce cards, cards I've never even owned before. Cool stuff. That makes my inventory great, but I also, unfortunately, need to sell something to keep Monster Cards chugging along. Out with the old and in with the, well..., in my case, more old. But you get the point. And sell I did. In those precious five hours I mentioned above when I need to make things happen, I came dangerously close to matching my sales total from four days at The National. That's crazy. Crazy good. And that's why my St Louis customers - you know who you are - are close to my heart and deserve a big thank you from me. My business would be a lot less exciting without your support. A few highlights from the sales end... I recently picked up 12 different 1887 Old Judge cards, all SGC graded. One customer bought 7 of these cards, and then purchased a T3 Turkey Red Frank Chance PSA 4 and a T206 Mathewson SGC 50 that had excellent color. He has a variety of cards and memorabilia from before the turn of the century. I also sold stacks of 50s/60s commons to some regulars, a Tom Seaver rookie to put the finishing touch on one customer's 1967 Topps set, and a bunch of '86 Fleer basketball singles to a guy getting back into the hobby after a hiatus of years and years. $1 and $2 cards sold well too. The Tom Seaver rookie I sold was one I had just purchased the previous Saturday in Orland Park at the very end of the show. That's a quick turnaround for a card, but during the show on Sunday I did one better. One customer sold me four cards - among them a '68 Topps Super Stars with Mantle. While that customer was still at my table, I sold that very card to another customer looking through my stars from 1968. It was a nice card too, probably NM condition with a ton of gloss and just the slightest nick on one border. Not only am I happy for turning a card so quickly, but I feel I gave both customers a fair deal. I gave $60 for the card and sold it for $100; I would say all parties would agree that was reasonable. In a flash, the show was over. It was time to say Merry Christmas to the other dealers, pack up, and go home. The trip back to Champaign went by quickly. I learned that I was lucky to miss the Bears game, as they lost to a horrible KC team in a matchup that featured both teams' backup QBs and RBs. Gross. Outside of that, I listened to some Adam Carolla podcasts, which always make the miles go by quickly. All in all, a great show, and I'm psyched to get back in January. Have fun! -T You can now find me all over the web:  Like Monster Cards on Facebook
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Inside My Brain