I was only able to get to the National today even though it is 20 miles from my house. Next year I will hope to get to the show during the last two days when it is five hours away from home.
I stayed 4 1/2 hours and this is what I saw. Sure, I missed out on some good stuff since the show had been going on since Wednesday.
It seemed like many of the dealers who I see at the National, as well as at the other big Chicago shows, have the same Kellogg's cards as they had in the past.
I picked up a partial set of 1976 Kellogg's cards. It is only missing Carter and Bench. As usual, I cannot get a Bench from 1975 or 1976. Why did I buy this when I've already gotten a few of these. Yes, the first step is admitting you have a problem.
I rarely double-check my set needs before going to the show, but I did so today. I needed the 1980 Carews because most of mine are discolored on the back, probably due to the wrappers separating into two pieces.
I need the Munsons and Blyleven for sets. I need the 1974 Palmer and 1977 Fingers as upgrades since I usually see these cards with major cracks.
I couldn't resist some 1972 commons when they are $1. 1973 Pirates are difficult for me to find as well.
The Babe Ruth card is cracked but the price was right and it is Babe Ruth.
I don't need the Nolan Ryans, but I can hopefully use them to trade for the 1974 Ryans that I need.
I need the Bill Singer for my 1970 sets. I didn't need a reason the buy the Santo card.
What else did I see/did I not see on Sunday?
Sets
I saw a few 1970 Kellogg's baseball sets, with one being curled in plastic sheets. I saw one 1971 football set and no other sets older than 1976.
There were a few 1976-77 sets and a handful of them fro 1979-83. I didn't notice any newer ones. Prices were not cheap, which is why they were still available on Sunday.
Factory Sets
I saw some from 1979 and 1981. Not many of them around either.
Singles
I didn't find anyone who had lots of Kellogg's cards in their bargain boxes. I also only looked at a limited number of those boxes. I did see Kellogg's cards sprinkled around the show at more tables than usual. That at least led to more conversations with dealers than I usually have. That made the show fun for me.
I hoped to find more cards that I needed for sets, but many of the biggest stars from each set (Mays, Clemente, Ryan, etc) were priced higher than I was willing to pay. Not many of them were even around.
Miscellaneous
I saw no 1994 Clemente cards at all. That doesn't seem odd, except when comparing it to the 1968 Topps 3-D card that I saw two of together. FYI - the dealer had three of them and he sold one. The same dealer had a few other of the 1968 3-D cards.
I didn't see any advertising products or full cereal boxes. One dealer had the nicest cards cut from boxes and the color was the best I'd ever seen for these cards.
What did I miss on the other days? Did I miss anything today?