Endangered Species: The Sports Card Show
Gone are the days that the card collector living in any major metro area of the U.S. could count on a nearly weekly sports card show to pass the time. In the late 80’ss/early 90’s card boom era, I lived in a town of about 70,000 (at that time) in North Dakota. There was at least one card show per month, and many times there were two or more. I lived a good part of my early teen life around the schedules for such show, often times spending the better part of the weekend at the larger ones.
During the card boom, even a small town such as the one I grew up in, could support a 70+ table show. By contrast, in the current collecting climate, the shows around my present location of Boston routinely have under 40 tables.
But, alas, for the patient who can wait a few months in between quality collector shows, there are good options in most larger metro areas. On the east coast, there are yearly shows in the Boston area and in the New York area that are worth the wait. Below are some good resources to find shows in your area:
- Beckett Sports Card Calendar: the number one resource for a very long time.
- UpcomingShows.com (note that this one only shows events for the coming couple of weeks, with registration required for further information)
December 18th, 2008 at 2:44 pm
I have run into the same problem. I live in Miami FL and can’t find any card shows. My brothers are long time avid card traders but I am just getting started ( I was given a slew of cards from the 80’s and 90’s). How do I connect with other collectors? The Internet seems so chaotic and overwhelming. Are there chat rooms online that can connect me with other collectors who I can learn from and trade cards?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.