My 2018 NSCC Recap

[ThoseBackPages]

The Show was back in The Land this year, as the natives like to call it. Cleveland is interesting. This was my second time there (the other being for The
Show back in 2014). Due to certain things not card related (really), this year was much more enjoyable as far as being outside of the convention center goes

the IX Center is HUGE! Everything is well laid out and spaced out, plenty of room for everybody. i never felt that anything was CROWDED (in a good way)

like most others, i am not able to sleep the night before attending the show (im not alone here, right??!!?! lol), that means if i am attending wednesday,
tuesday night is a "no sleep" night. this year was no different. having planned on attending this years show from Tuesday through Sunday, that meant
that Monday night, there would be no sleep. its not a HUGE deal for me, as i am a night person in general.

i drove this year (as i did in 2014) because Cleveland is close enough to do so (about 8 hours), and it saves on plane fare, etc.

as has been the case for many years now, i room with one of the best friends i have, Dustin. if you've had the pleasure of meeting him, you'll know what
i mean. Kirk, the Third Amigo of our group, was unable to attend this year. ENJOY the pull out couch, KIRK! (inside joke, sorry)

The drive was relatively easy, as its pretty much.... get off Long Island, and take I-80 all the way to Cleveland lol

Got there a little while before Dustin's plane arrived (the plan was to pick him up at the airport), so i killed time in the local WM (their card section sucked, shocker)
and before you know it, picked him up from the airport and a quick call to the hotel confirmed that the room was ready, so we dropped our stuff off there and then
headed to the IX center to pick up our badges and have a look around.

Tuesdays are generally quiet, as most dealers are setting up or not even there yet. you get to see the lay of the land, stretch your legs and see some of the
people that you see annually (or avoid, if they are not to your liking). Nothing was purchased, as most were not set up, and they booted everyone out at
about 4:30 i think it was. The best thing about Tuesday was that PSA WAS accepting submissions, which is fantastic, since it means being "at the front of the line"
when it comes to getting your slabs back from them (for the most part)

my plan this year was since i was not submitting any raw cards for slabbing, i would take the opportunity since i drove (have more space to carry) to have some
of my top slabs re-holdered in the new Lighthouse Flips. i know, i know, what a racket PSA has going, having us basically pay them to do nothing but re-holder
something that they were paid originally to do so! it is what it is, and IMO the new holders and flip make the cards look that much better (yea, i get that its
difficult to understand that)

So, with PSA accepting subs that afternoon, i was fortunate to get mine in! With that accomplished, i did some more looking around on the floor for some
cheap & SHINEY Jeters & Jordans, but to no avail.

Wednesday: up and ready! early to the floor. Dealers get in early each morning. this has its advantages. After looking (pretty much in vein) for more
SHINEY J&Js, i was able to land a handful of MJs and a few Jeters, but overall i think that not a lot of dealers had them available. i know for a fact that
i missed some, as i saw the same guy a few stops along the way (turned out to be Evan Mathis' brother, as i learned later in the week!)

my one "big score" on wednesday (and for the whole show as it turned out) was as i was browsing.... saw a sign that said " 3/$1 packs!" and there were
about 6 5-row monster boxes of them. i rarely pay these any mind, as they are usually filled with 88D & 91 UD packs and the like. well, in the corner
of one of the boxes, were two SHINEY packs. REALLY shiny! i pulled them out to see what they were. Two packs of 1999 MLB Hobby Topps Gold Label!
i took them out and asked the man behind the table if these packs (pointing to the boxes) were all 3/$1. sure enough he told me they were. they had
just bought out another store, and he had tons of loose packs to move, and this was the show to do it at. just before i got there, someone had taken
about 9 boxes of NBA packs! BUMMER! ha

well, i looked through what was there of the other three sports, and wound up finding 72 packs of random goodness!!! they also had a pile of sealed boxes,
your random assortment of this and that, mostly junk, but you never know, so you have to look! i saw a box of 1992 Donruss The Rookies' wax box with
a price sticker of $7 on it. SOLD! Yes please! They also had some other boxes on a "back wall" type of display, so i enquired on how much the 1995
SP MLB Box was ($20), yes please! as well as a 94/5 SP NBA box ($20) YES PLEASE! after grabbing those, i looked at the pile of boxes again and
sure enough, saw a box of 1996 MLB Circa with a $15 price tag on it. i dont know much about the product, but i know its gotta be "worth" $15 at least, right?
i'll take that too i tell the man. Then he tells me that the boxes in that pile are as marked, or 3/$20! my two boxes came out to $22 so he said i might
as well find another box AND take $2 off! i somehow missed a hobby box of 1996 Studio! incredible to get those three boxes for $20!

Those guys were incredible! so, for $84 here was my "big score" of the show







The rest of the day was spent telling everyone that would listen about my haul, and to tell them to definitely check them out. and many friends did, finding their own goodies!


Thursday: Thursday was a pretty slow, relaxing day. my PSA re-holders were done, and i was starting to see many people, which made me happy

Coming to the realization that there were probably not going to be many things for me to pick up, and not wanting to steer off focus, it was a decent feeling.
there was still optimism that i would find some stuff though. thats the thing about the show, you think youre going to find everything under the sun, you dont, but then out of the blue, you find stuff you either missed, the dealer(s) picked up during the show, or just a bunch of other things! you never know!

i was able to find 10 Sweet Jeets in a 50 cent box, which was cool. picking them up there is much better then on ebay, which i probably wouldnt do.

then i ran into a Blowout Legend. Kiki was there again from Germany!



i saw him and another legendary BO member (Justin) complete an amazing trade at the show last year, but didnt know who they were at the time! LOL
it was so great to introduce myself and have a nice small chat Kiki's 2017 NSCC recap thread is a MUST READ! if youve not done so, please do so,
its what this hobby is all about.


Friday: Friday's at the show are for the PSA luncheon and the Topps Q&A evening event

The PSA event was at 11:30, so that doesnt leave a whole lotta time for floor browsing/people mingling. i was able to do some of both before heading
down to the lower level for the PSA luncheon. it was a nice time, there were some presentations, some talk about how the company is doing and
things of that nature. there's a new CEO, so he introduced himself, and a friend of mine was inducted into the PSA Collectors HOF! Congrats Logan,
you are a great person and its my pleasure to call you a friend!

The Topps Q&A was at 5:30, so it was a great way to wrap up the show on Friday. Finger foods were provided, questions asked, some answered, some
not. par for the course! on the way out, Topps provided all that attended a special autographed card, made only for the event. its pretty much themed
on which city the show is in that year, so this year was The Indians Francisco Lindor!



(PSA handed out the Rico slab and a nice themed book to all attendees, Rico also told some cool stories at the luncheon)

after the luncheon and before the Q&A, there was more time to spend on the show floor. more people to meet and more cards to browse!

at about 5pm, i saw a dealer that was ALLLLLLL JETER!!!!! it was day three and i had not run into him before! (see what i mean about the size
of the show) His name is John and i am oh so glad that i ran into him. years back i ran into him and he remembered me! we spoke for a bit,
but as it was after 5pm (Q&A was at 5:30) i picked up some slabs and told him i would certainly see him tomorrow!




Saturday: The days by this point, start running together. youre excited because its saturday, but youre also a bit sad because you know the next day
is sunday.

with things being so crazy, i decided saturday morning was the time to do my annual Wallet Card Search.



Sadly, the 620 still eludes me. will try again in 2019!



the highlight of saturday was easily (besides meeting friends new and old, that is ALWAYS a highlight) being involved in a high high HIGH end
card trade transaction. half a million dollars worth, for less then 20 cards total! i wont go into details, as none of the cards were mine, but
lets just say it involved THE single best Tom Brady card in existence! that was a real pleasure to be a part of.


Sunday: Sundays are, for me, the worst. the show is coming to a close, and worse yet, friends are, or have already, headed back home

i dropped Dustin off at the airport in the morning and headed to the show for a final go around, say my goodbyes, and to see if there were any wax deals to be had

Sadly, the Big Boys that deal in the wax variety didnt feel the need to slash prices like they have in years past. i guess business is going well for them!

and with that, the show was over, and it was time to exit for the final time in 2018.

goodbye Ferris Wheel!





Heres some more eye candy i saw during the week







[


Here is a (crappy) group pic of my haul!

[



Thanks for the long read! i hope to see/meet you next year in Chicago!

-Eric

[19royaldecker87]

looks like you had a very good time!, nice haul on all that wax. i cant wait for chicago next year as it will be my 1st national.

[notoriousrmb]

Love reading these write ups, and I can't agree more that the best part of these shows are finally meeting up with people you rarely, if ever, see throughout the year!

[AlabamaSlamma]

Love it love it love it.

Kiki and I made another swap this year. You missed out!

[smalltown]

Nice write up. I would've been all over those boxes and packs too. So much fun.

[notfast]

Originally Posted by ThoseBackPages

my one "big score" on wednesday (and for the whole show as it turned out) was as i was browsing.... saw a sign that said " 3/$1 packs!" and there were
about 6 5-row monster boxes of them. i rarely pay these any mind, as they are usually filled with 88D & 91 UD packs and the like. well, in the corner
of one of the boxes, were two SHINEY packs. REALLY shiny! i pulled them out to see what they were. Two packs of 1999 MLB Hobby Topps Gold Label!
i took them out and asked the man behind the table if these packs (pointing to the boxes) were all 3/$1. sure enough he told me they were. they had
just bought out another store, and he had tons of loose packs to move, and this was the show to do it at. just before i got there, someone had taken
about 9 boxes of NBA packs! BUMMER! ha

well, i looked through what was there of the other three sports, and wound up finding 72 packs of random goodness!!! they also had a pile of sealed boxes,
your random assortment of this and that, mostly junk, but you never know, so you have to look! i saw a box of 1992 Donruss The Rookies' wax box with
a price sticker of $7 on it. SOLD! Yes please! They also had some other boxes on a "back wall" type of display, so i enquired on how much the 1995
SP MLB Box was ($20), yes please! as well as a 94/5 SP NBA box ($20) YES PLEASE! after grabbing those, i looked at the pile of boxes again and
sure enough, saw a box of 1996 MLB Circa with a $15 price tag on it. i dont know much about the product, but i know its gotta be "worth" $15 at least, right?
i'll take that too i tell the man. Then he tells me that the boxes in that pile are as marked, or 3/$20! my two boxes came out to $22 so he said i might
as well find another box AND take $2 off! i somehow missed a hobby box of 1996 Studio! incredible to get those three boxes for $20!

Those guys were incredible! so, for $84 here was my "big score" of the show

Glad you enjoyed that stuff! I am the hired help at the booth but the 3 for $20 box was my idea (To get people to buy 3 instead of stopping at 1 or two) -- We sold 900+ packs to one person early in the day and then ended up blowing the packs out towards the end of day Sunday.

They were a HUGE hit. I think we will try to do something similar next year as well.

Let me know if you pulled anything cool. The guys at the shop would love to hear it.

[Moyni]

Great recap and I want to give you props for helping me secure this sucker...



Thanks Eric. You are awesome!!

[byronscott4ever]

Cheap wax and packs—a must have!

[blackbears86]

Great re-cap TBP!!!!! Love the pics too!!!!

Please update us if you bust those boxes!

[D3A3L3E3]

Thanks for the great write up, E! Made me feel like I was there. Someday.....

[Big35Hurt]

MEGA boring!

Ok not really. This was a solid write up. Glad we were able to meet up again and to hear your story about the favorite Gooden card. I'm sure we'll see each other in Chicago next year!

[tim carroll]

Enjoyed meeting and talking with you, Eric!

[LVDan]

Great write up and nice score on the budget wax!!


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[RiceBondsMT2Yng]

Enjoyed the recap and pics, nice job. Where did you see that J.Ray error card btw? I'm sad I missed it.

[Orndorff24a]

What’s the story on the 1988 Bo PSA 1? Evans first card?

[jjeanius]

Not horrible

[Gmrson]

Great write up and pics, thanks for sharing!


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[Neal]

nice write up TBH and thanks for sharing!

[ThoseBackPages]

Thanks for the kind words fellas, i really appreciate it.

man, i cannot believe its been 9 days since the show ended already

Originally Posted by Orndorff24a

What’s the story on the 1988 Bo PSA 1? Evans first card?

yep!