2007 National Sports Collectors Convention Thread

[vintagebrett]

With about 2 weeks to go I thought I would start a thread to see who will be attending this years National in Cleveland, OH August 1-5.
http://www.nsccshow.com/

My little brother and I will be in attendance on Wednesday night and most of the day Thursday. We are staying the in the hotel that is closest to the I-X Center so we don't have to rent a car. If anyone else is going to be there those days, let me know and I can give you my cell phone number. I love going to the National - there is so much cool stuff to look at, even though most of it is waaaaaaaaaaaaaay out of my price range.

[vintagebrett]

No one else going beside burker72 and myself?

[vintagebrett]

Hello from Cleveland!

My brother and I successfully made it to Cleveland without any travel problems and eagerly awaited entrance to the show this evening. They let us in around 4:25 and we were off to the races. The show is laid out in a very logical manner so we started going down the rows.

Ok, you want to know about the gloves, don't you? Well, there is some nice stuff out there. A little less now because they are sitting in my backpack but there are still some nice pieces there. Prices are all over the place. Some cheap, some fair, some way high. Saw a couple crescent pads and one workman crescent. One of them I would have loved to buy but it wasn't in my budget. John Kanuit has a great setup and we did get one from him (more later). Herbert Thomas has some nice stuff, a lot of Nokona gloves.

So, what did I buy this evening? Tonight's haul was only 5 gloves but maybe some more tomorrow. Picked up two nice Wilsons = a 2020 Nelson Fox PM and a Christ Short A2271. Have never run across a Short before and it's a very high quality glove. Another find was a Ken Wel Harry Gumbert - large glove in decent shape but the price was right. Best finds - Reach split finger full web - great color, very soft, awesome - I think the model is 54L. Other best find, this one from John Kanuit, Alexander Taylor (not Alex!) buckle back 1B mitt - this one is going to crackofthebat. Here are some pics (sorry, have to do the best we can when we're on the road).





Here are some pics from Herbert Thomas's booth - he has some great Nokona gloves and this interesting Spalding/Rawlings Rocky Colavito glove - the front is Spalding and the back has a Rawlings tag.




Also in his booth, this great D&M white Ruth in excellent shape and an interesting Banner glove - look at the fingers - weird!




We'll be back tomorrow for some more fun. Looking forward to meeting burker72 tomorrow. Had the chance to meet Mike H tonight - great guy - nice meeting you Mike - hope you found some nice stuff.

[burker72]

I'm leaving Buffalo in a few minutes to head to Cleveland. Brett, leave some of the good ones for me.

[Bravosin99]

WOW!!! nice gloves Brett. The basemans glove is really sweet, nice shape.....How much was the sticker tag on the white Ruth 1" web?.....About what are the crescent pads going for out there?? Talk to you later...Josh

[Deacon]

Well it ended up where I got enough work done during the week to allow me to make the National on Friday. My wife and I are going to make a day trip, it's my birthday...maybe she'll buy me something nice....the white D&M Ruth or a crescent glove or a ring bat or a lemon peel ball or maybe a workmans glove. Maybe, because I happen to be fortunate enough to have a wife who is almost as passionate about this stuff as I am. Lucky me!!! thank you lord!!!

[BretMan]

I was hoping to make it up to Cleveland (Columbus is only two hours southwest of the I-X Center), but it looks like other obligations will keep me home this weekend.

Besides- you guys have already snatched up all the good gloves!

Thanks for the reports. They are appreciated!

[vintagebrett]

Back from Cleveland. Had a great time at the National on Wednesday and Thursday. Yesterday I was able to meet up with burker72, the master behind our Glove of the Week feature, and enjoyed talking to him. Also met up with Mike H again - great guy as well.

Saw a couple of gloves yesterday that I didn't see on Wednesday but didn't buy them (not enough cash!). One was a really nice white Victor full web glove - price tag was 450, guys said he would take 400. I was tempted but didn't pull the trigger. Brought burker72 over to see it but it was gone. Herbert Thomas pulled out some different gloves as well, including a Wilson Harry Heilman, Rogers Horsnby and a neat little full web with abestos lining - company tag said they were out of Toronto.

My favorite find of the week, which I forgot to mention yesterday, was a Sonnett volleyball. It is from the early 50's and is in great shape - pictures of this and some other things to come later today.

Can't wait for next year's show in Chicago!

[mjkm90]

Hi Brett. It was great to meet your brother and yourself at the show. I had a great time, enjoyed good conversation and picked up some pieces I am really enjoying. No leather, but a few pieces I'll post pics of soon. I thought the glove choices were a bit limited. Not bad for bats, balls and catchers gear however.

[vintagebrett]

I agree that the selection was a little limited in terms of gloves. However, after talking to some dealers and seeing some pictures on Carlton's website, I think that a lot of the gloves were sold before the general public arrived. One dealer I spoke to said he had sold a nice Winchester full web for $150 before the show opened.

There were some nice gloves that I really wished I could have purchased. The workman cresent I saw was great - it was priced at 2800 and was in awesome shape - I thought that price was a steal but I don't have that kind of money to spend on leather. The second day I saw a really nice white Victor full web that was gone when I went back to see it a second time. Price was 400. My favorite glove I saw that I couldn't buy was a Raywill Doak style glove with box. Price was 975. The white Ruth glove was 2500, which I thought was a good deal. Did see Dave Bushing looking at it so maybe he bought it and you'll have a chance to get it off the MEARS site. Herbert Thomas had some nice 50's and 60's Nokona gloves along with some gloves in boxes that were cool. Saw to pro model Rawlings gloves that both my brother and I really thought were great - one was an SP-B from the late 1980's - it had hardly been used by the pro who owned it - guy wanted 300 for it. The other one we saw was late 70's, early 80's - can't remember the model number - it was used by Buzz Capra I believe - cool little glove - 375.

Of course there was a lot of crap gloves to be had as well. burker72 commented on whether to let the person selling them know that no one was going to pay 75 bucks for each glove.

There were tons of nice bats to be had if that is your fancy - quite a few mushrooms, one ball balanced, lots of really early Spaldings, decal bats, etc. Herbert Thomas had a Victor that I thought about buying - thick and heavy, nice stampings. My brother did buy a bat -a game model Daisuke Matsusaka Red Sox bat that had been used by JD Drew.

I thought the crowd was rather sparse - it was easy to get around and you didn't have to wait until people moved to get at a booth. The two times I went to the Chicago show I had this problem.

Overall, had a great time. Next year it's in Chicago. My brother and I are planning to go again and drag my dad with us, whether he likes it or not.

[mjkm90]

Bob McCann purchased the Ruth. If it was a G41 it would have been a steal.

[Deacon]

Did make the day trip on Friday...7 hours on the road, but I'd do it again. It was my first National, saw alot of nice things and met a few nice people. Gloves were pretty much picked over, but a few nice ones still remained. If & when I were to go again, it will definately be the first day, so more choices would be available, but my wallet would need to be a liitle thicker
Since I do collect more than leather, I was able to pick up a couple of nice bats and an early ball. There were still plenty of bats around as well as some other nice vintage items...some a bit overpriced.
Some of the displays were nicely set up & organized, where others were a mess and you had to dig & squeeze thru to find anything.
Chicago may be a nice trip, but early & more than one day.

[stockbuddy]

Hi Guys, Thanks for sharing about the Nationals. I wish I could have gone to check things out but my schedule and the distance would not allow it. The Ruth Glove and the funky Banner glove are very cool ones.

It looks like some of you found some things other than leather and they too were very cool items to add to your collections.

Deacon, glad you picked up a couple of bats and an early ball to add to your collection Good for you.

Thanks again for taking time to share comments and pics of the stuff from Nationals.

Dave

[burker72]

I arrived in Cleveland at 11am on Thursday and finally found the convention center at almost 1pm. My directions from MapQuest and later the Marriot hotel led me to urban Cleveland and corn fields. Then, relying on the traditional gas station navigation system I found it.

I had the pleasure of meeting our forum founder, Brett, and his brother Travis. Brett was a great host trying to clue me in on some gloves that he had passed on.

I ended up buying two gloves. The first is a Ken Wel Bill Myers "524S" buckle back model. I don't see either a Bill Myers or a 524S model in the catalog source book. My guess is that the "S" is a designation for the short finger model, my favorite attribute of the glove. I bought the glove from John Kanuit of vintagesportscollectorsite.com. He had the nicest equipment/trophy site at the National.







The other glove I bought is an OK brand Peter Reiser "758" model. This glove is huge and soft. It has a bit of a water stain at the heel, but otherwise has a great look and feel. It has a word under the Reiser endorsement that I can't quite make out. It looks like "Chromemax", but I can't imagine what that means, or what it would have to do with a baseball glove. This is the glove that I love buying. On eBay you can't get the feel of the glove and I don't think pics do this one justice, and this one at $55 was worth every penny.

[BretMan]

The word really is "Chromemax" and it is a reference to the "chrome tanning" leather tanning process.

That's what it's a reference to, but I wonder why a glove maker would think that stamping it on a glove would make a buyer choose that particular model.

Then again, think of all the other glitzy marketing terms that have been stamped on gloves. L-Laced Heel? Flex-O-Matic Palm? Ristankor? Nylon Sewn?

Or, my favorite, "Pro Model" on a cheap, vinyl glove just big enough to fit a little kid!