Our Baltimore National Convention Thread

[rainman67ko]

Brandon and I are starting our vacation just ahead of the rest of the clan. If you don't know me, I have 5 boys, ages 16,17,19, and 21 and then Brandon who is almost 8. He is the collector (along with me and my money) ...so we decide to live it up at the Nationals in Baltimore this year for a couple of days before heading to the Jersey Shore (no not Seaside Heights fist pumpers) LBI as we do every year. We left the house this morning for a dentist appointment for Brandon that turned from Routine to Root Canal in 30 minutes. He was pretty uncomfortable when we started the 4 hour drive to Baltimore but the antibiotics started to kick in and he slept for about 1/2 of it. He busted his front teeth out (looking like Matt Cooke) in March and its been a saga ever since.

After checking in we went to the convention center and entered the pre show session. Wow!!! Name it and it was probably there. I have been collecting for 35+ years and this was the biggest show I have ever been to. The regional at Robert Morris in Pittsburgh is about 1/10th the scale of what we saw here. That's no knock on J.Paul Sports just an observation of shear magnitude. This show is huge.

We started to look for the SCF and Cards by the box booths. We where checking things out along the way. Very VERY cool stuff.

Panini has some samples they are giving out with purchases. Garth (Postman) was buying some basketball and gave a sample Crosby to Brandon. Being a cute kid Brandon suckered another pack out of the rep before long and pulled another Sid! It's a pretty nice card. Lots of shiny silver area...




Not to be outdone Brandon was treated to an nice one from the Upper Deck guys today. He was asked who his favorite player was (he was wearing his Pens hat - go figure) and he said "Sidney Crosby". When asked "Crosby or Malkin?" he replied "Crosby" again. The rep disappeared into a locker and came out with this nice 1/1 Crosby Magenta Printing Plate from the 2009 UD 20th anniversary set.



No freebies for me. I did pull an H&P Angelo Esposito Auto out of 2007-08 ITG.








Brandon also pulled these out of a WWE box... he loves WWE Raw!





Having fun, enjoying the time with Brandon and some SCF friends old and new. We had dinner with Garth (Postman - visiting here from Australia) and what a great guy he is. We met Tony and Don along with Dan -(Gladdyontherise) and Rich - (dcfdfireman) and they have a nice spot for sure. We did not rip or buy a lot here yet, just taking it in and enjoying the start to our vacation. We sent Mom a bunch of pics of the jacuzzi suite and the harbor LOL! Just like Zack and Cody ha ha... Tomorrow it's the pool, the National Aquarium and then lunch and the show! Maybe the O's game later on.

Thanks for the read...

Kevin

[MasonRaymond0320]

Nice. Glad you and Brandon had fun :)

wanna meet in the live chat tomorrow night? Can't do it tonight because I just got back from relatives place, and am really tired :(

but wow! I'm loving that Esposito card. Very nice that Brandon got a free 1/1 of Crosby :D

but I'm very happy that you had fun.

And I'm still jealous that u get to go

I'll be keeping you 2 in mind while I'm stuck at home tomorrow haha

[Pheebs888]

Sounds like a good first day Kevin! I was there (Cleveland) last year and it really was a lot of fun! Might try and be there in Chicago next year if I dont hit the Toronto spring expo instead.

[Captngeetch]

Nice ! mental note to self....bring my daughter next year. Have fun in LBI...the rest of my brood is headed down to our place in Cape May come thursday...I get to stay home in the peace and quiet and feed the dog and cat

[hossa18sens]

Great read.

Glad you are having a blast and I hope the toothless one is feeling ok lol

Congrats and good luck on the next go round

[hossa18sens]

Nice ! mental note to self....bring my daughter next year

That is just what I was thinking

[rainman67ko]

So day 2 started off well enough. We met Garth at the show and headed over to the Aquarium at around 10:30. He was knee deep in Jermaine O'Neal cards and searching bargain boxes for more hits for his PC.

We toured the aquarium, saw the sharks and rays among the other aquatic life, and headed for a quick lunch at the Spanish Tapas on the harbor.



You can see Brandon is feeling great and showing off the reconstructed choppers!


Then Back to the show where we picked up a few boxes, a couple of baseball jerseys, some Press Pass T-shirts, and then hunted for the singles. Afterwards we grabbed a burrito by Camden Yards, debated going to the game but since it was not the Yanks or Bucco's we opted for a nap and then hit the pool.
Brandon was pretty smoked with all the walking and admittedly I wanted the nap

Here are our pulls and picks and photos from our last day of the show.



Brandon's Wrestling collection got a huge lift today with a Kurt Angle Event Worn card and a couple more autos. I must say Miss Lacey von Erich is very pretty. He also pulled this blue printing plate (still sticky with ink!) from the TNA box.




The Two Headed Monster in silver and gold...




The 2 Penguins RC's we pulled among others from our box of 2010-11 Victory. Nice product and we'll tackle this set this fall.

Now for the Steeler's -



Rocky Bleier and Franco Harris Auto's


And in hopes of another WS Championship we picked up our first auto of the captain. It is a very clean card...



This was such a great getaway. We enjoyed the city, the food, and the people we met here. And we definitely got to see some of the best this hobby has to offer displayed at this convention. We just missed a nice Patrick Kane Hot Prospects Auto Patch RC at Don and Tony's SCF table but the owner is a member here and I'll try to hunt it down with a trade in the coming months. There is so much to take in at this event I will tell you that 2 days is not enough. And by all means bring your traders as we saw a lot of this going on. We will return to Pittsburgh tomorrow and then head to the beach for the week on Saturday. We are already considering our next National Convention trip for next year or the year after.

Thanks for the comments and the read -

Kevin and Brandon

[MasonRaymond0320]

Nice! Glad you and Brandon had fun :)

I was thinkin bout you guys while I was on SCF today

Good luck tomorrow!

Andrew

[Pheebs888]

Looks like you had a very good time Kevin! Hopefully I can make it to Chicago next year

[Wingsfan-13]

Very cool. Looks like you had a good time Kevin. Have fun at LBI, glad your NOT going to seaside...LOL (I'm from Point Pleasant so I love the Sleeze-side reference!)