Westport Sports Collectible and Autograph Convention - March, 2014

Yesterday I attended the Westport Sports Collectible and Autograph Convention in St. Louis.  This is the third show I've attended in the St. Louis area, second at the Westport, since moving back to the area.  I'm about an hour from the city and meet a buddy who lives there and we go together.  It is always a fun time.  I'm picky, and somewhat frugal, so I haven't gotten an autograph from any of those signing at the shows but I will when the right star is there.  I normally stick to cards and to picking up my favorite players or non-sports cards.   

My buddy is more of a collectibles guy who skews towards signed balls, signed jerseys, and art.  He has a man cave he's finished in the last year and has been decorating with lots of Cardinals memorabilia.  He has done a great job.  Yesterday he picked up a signed Stan Musial ball for a decent price.  I'm a trading card guy.  Sports on non-sports I'm all good.  There wasn't a ton of cards from the 70's to present so there weren't as many cards as usual that caught my attention.  I say that, but there was a guy with a nice collection of non-sports cards and sets but they were just out of my price range.  Cool stuff. 

Rarely see Buck Williams in this jersey. 

What sports cards they did have that caught my attention were more card boxes and wax packs than I'm used to seeing at the shows.  Always fun to pick these up when I can.  I grabbed a pack of the new Donruss baseball cards, a jumbo pack of the NBA Hoops, and a pack of NFL Panini contenders.  But my big haul came at a table that had boxes from the big four sports from the 1991-1993 timeframe for $3-$6.  I know none of the cards were worth much but those were great prices for boxes of cards and I couldn't pass it up.  I grabbed an Upper Deck Football, Upper Deck Basketball, Wild Card Football, and Topps Football box.  Sweet!  So last night was very fun opening all those packs.  I haven't done that for years and it was very exciting.  I'll follow up soon with posts on each box I opened.  I also grabbed some 2012-2013 Panini NBA Contenders singles for 25 cents each.  Buck Williams is one of my all-time favorite NBA players and I love the cards with retired players so I picked up a handful. 

Quick side note on the autograph thing.  I like autographs but usually only get them if I get the autograph in person.  To that end I only two that I remember.  One is Hank Aaron's on a Donruss puzzle but I actually had a friend take it to a show in St. Louis and get the autograph for me.  I also have the autograph of Martin Nodell, the artist of the original Green Lantern series.  I got his autograph in person at a comic book show in Kansas City in the early 1990's.  The autograph is on a card with the cover to one of his comics.  I'd love to get the autograph of some of my all-time favorite players but that is an expensive proposition.  Still I think I'll get some at some point.  More to come on that. 

To sum up.  Yesterday was a good time and I always enjoy seeing what is out there even if I wouldn't be considered a serious collector right now.  I'll probably do a post of my trip to the National Sports Collectors Convention back in the 90's.  My buddy Yaj and our friend B.K. went and it was a great time.  So I should have a few other posts hitting shortly as the ice and snow have me house bound.  Good times.