National Pullskies!! My 2nd day adventures at NSCC

My first day at The National was an amazing experience, but my second day was equally amazing if not better.  This time I got to bring my arm candy AKA Mrs. Basic Woogenomics and was able to baptise her in the same way I was on my first day.  Her first reaction when we got inside the convention center said it all... "Wow, I had no idea it would be this big..." (feel free to make some puns... i put it on the tee)

My wife used to play Volleyball back in the day (which was my initial attraction as she looked amazing in those skin tight shorts they call a uniform) and actually played a tournament at the Convention Center, but she said it was almost unrecognizable with all of the vendors and displays. 

Again we went on Saturday to just walk around and had no real objectives.  Earlier in the day I got a text from Eutaw Street Cardboard asking me my advice on which box he should buy between Bowman Platinum, Gypsy Queen, or Allen and Gintner.  I advised him to go with Gypsy Queen and was curious to see what he went with when I got there.  Before meeting up with him the wifey and I walked around and looked at all the displays.  We saw the early 1920's Babe Ruth Jersey that recently sold for an astonishing 4.4 million dollars, and I showed her the Conlon photos as she is a photography fan and would appreciate the iconic images.

Aside from my card collecting I'm also an avid Antiques Road Show fan and we actually got to go when they came to Baltimore a few years ago (also at the Convention Center) and we had seen the episode of the gentleman who brought in the Minor League Giants uniform worn by Willie Mays.  The guy had bought it for less than $100 and was able to identify it through some old photos.

Well he has apparently decided to sell it...

Seeing it in person was simply amazing... also cut off in the picture is a game used Stan Musial uniform.

We continued to walk around and I saw one of the coolest cards I'd love to own one day.  It was one of the new 1/1 Bat Knob cards from Tier 1 of my boy hood hero and had just been acquired by a company who was only buying.  I believe this will be reinserted in to an upcoming product as a redemption.

Ivan Rodriguez 1/1 Bat Knob 2012 Topps Tier 1

Along the way we also found some more of my Lost Cards, but I didn't bring anything to trade and honestly these were out of my price range anyway.... (although the wife did insist we buy back the Mantle, but I declined as I thought it was priced a little too high)

2000 Fleer Tradition Update Mantle Pieces

BV is $100 mint... this dude was dreaming!

I also saw another Lost Card from the same dealer, but mine was a black ink version.

Not sure who'd pay $350 for a Sweet Spot Auto of Derek Jeter... knock $100 off and you have a competitive price for sure.

After looking around I took the wife towards the back of the Convention Center where the Corporate booths were and along the way took her by the dealer that I pulled my trade off with to show her some of his stuff.  Check out some of my cards in action already!!!

Hopefully some collectors see my former cards and take them home to be enjoyed as much as I had enjoyed them!  This lot was on the open table, but a few of mine made it in to his nicer cases!

Sorry it's a little blurry, but that's my Jenkins Card

As well as my Trumbo auto.  I believe someone had already scooped up the Santo auto!

After saying goodbye to these old friends we went to the back and ran in to Kirk who instead of getting a box acquired about 3 tough autos he needed.  Check out his blog as I'm sure he'll update us all and I surely don't want to steal his thunder.

When I bumped in to Kirk we actually saw another co worker of ours who had just got some stuff signed by Doc Gooden!  He was signing for free and was apparently very nice.  Well as we were talking with my friend Ray apparently Mr. Gooden was leaving and after we said goodbye to Ray and Kirk we turned around to head the other direction and my wife actually bumped right in to him.  We are a very short couple so I'm pretty sure my wife's nose slammed in to Gooden's naval! lol

I just said "Excuse me sir" as I stepped around him and Doc just looked down at me and said "Hey, no problem."  After that I pulled my wife aside and said do you have any idea who you just ran in to... and she of course said No, so I had to drop some knowledge on her real quick...

3x World Series Champ, NL Rookie of the Year, NL Cy Young winner, and pitched a No No.

She said... "I thought he smelled like World Series"... I think I almost pee'd myself.

We walked around a little more and actually saw Kevin "Big Sexy" Nash signing some stuff.   One of my favorite Pro Wrestlers growing up. 

Eventually my wife said "Soooo are we going to buy anything???"

SAY NO MORE!

We then went in to buying mode and attempted to try and find the best products for the best price.  We actually went by this booth for a company called Historic Autographs and they filled us in on there history and what they're all about.  Basically they've been around for only 2 years and are getting ready to debut a product that will have 2 different Joe Jackson cut signatures which they had on display at The National.  I was intrigued but the wife was more so...

We finally decided to buy from the Blow Out Cards booth since they appeared to have some of the most competitive prices.  The first product we bought was another box of Tier 1, this time the 2012 edition.  This is how we did.

Our box of 2012 Topps Tier 1 (plus free schwag bag)

Jay Bruce dual jersey /50

Joel Hanrahan Auto /399

and lastly

Hisashi Iwakuma Elevated Ink /250

(Still new to the majors... If he blows up then I've got a nice RC auto)

Then we went ahead and picked up a box of Historic Autographs "Legends of the Hall 2012"

This product had two perks.  First off you are guaranteed a HOF autograph in every box.  That's it.  Its just basically a signed post card sized HOF auto and they all come graded.

Secondly, If we bought this box from Blow Out Cards then we would also automatically get a free redemption for either a Monte Irvin or Bob Feller auto.  I loved the interviews of Bob Feller from Ken Burns documentary and decided that I would pick up his auto.  So we bought this box and went back to there corporate booth and got our auto!

I know it's only an index card, but I'll get a nice portrait of Feller and frame them together for the Cave!  Then we went ahead and busted the box and at first I didn't realize what a nice pull I had... but it's actually the nicest auto pull for thus far!

Jim "Catfish" Hunter auto on a Dick Perez portrait. 

Catfish was a helluva pitcher winning 5 World Series, 8 All Star appearances, Won the Cy Young Award in 74, and pitched a Perfect Game (9th in MLB history), and had his number retired by the Oakland A's.  Sadly Jim passed away in 1999 while suffering from the effects of ALS.

Here is the real perk of this pull!

Numbered 1/4!! and graded a Mint 9!  A most excellent pull!!!

This just about wrapped up my time at The National and to finish off the day I took my wife out to dinner in Baltimore for Restaurant Week!  However we made one more small purchase on the way out.  It was only $3 and I couldn't pass it up.  Check it out!

An great photo of The Bambino taking a hack and a pull from his stogy at the same time!  The man could play and party!  This will soon be up in The Cave as well!

All in all I had a blast at The National and will be sure to go back when it comes to town again in a few years!

Thanks for reading!

Till next time...