T E X T A N D P H O T O S B Y R O S S F O R M A N
J
ohnny Xu will have an amazing story to tell
if he’s asked to write a “What I did over
summer break” term paper upon
returning to the University of
Washington for his senior year.
Especially if it’s for a business class.
The 22-year-old Xu was selling cards, mostly
graded cards and inserts, at the Tri-Star Collec-
tors Show held June 28-30 at the Sportsplex
in North Olmstead, Ohio. With one table,
few showcases and about 5,000 cards, Xu
was hoping to make $5,000.
Instead, he made about $12,000.
“I wasn’t expecting much from this
show, but it’s been great,” said Xu of
Pacific Data. “I did a lot more than
what I expected.”
Xu said baseball rookie cards were
the weekend’s top sellers, led by Adam
Dunn, Vladimir Guerrero, Sammy Sosa
and Barry Bonds. Also selling: Cleveland
Browns cards; vintage cards; and, surpris
ingly, Vince Carter. Plus, Xu sold numerous
patch cards. “The more color on the patch, the
better,” he said.
In addition, he bought at least 1,000 cards. Such as
an Ilya Kovalchuk SP Limited (8/25). He paid $50
and was selling it for $300.
“This was a great show,” Xu said. “It would have
been awesome if there had been air conditioning.”
Ah yes, air conditioning. Or lack thereof. The swel-
tering summer heat (upper 80s) turned the Sport-
splex into sauna-like conditions. Tri-Star provided
more than 600 bottles of iced water free of charge to
dealers. And there also were about 20 fans of various
sizes placed around the showroom, plus another 12
near the autograph area.
“I would like to be back in Cleveland and I believe
this building would be a positive building if there was
air conditioning for a summertime show,” said Tri-
Star’s Bobby Mintz, vice-president of operations. “In
the fall, I wouldn’t mind being in this building. And
yes, it does have total heat.
“When we look back on a show, we look at
all the positives and all the negatives.
then analyze the show so we can do a
better job the next time for our
customers because, if our customers
aren’t happy, we don’t have a busi-
ness,” Mintz said. “Our No. 1 goal is
customer satisfaction. We know
there were a lot of unhappy
customers at this show. But we will
change that in the future. Hopefully
those who were upset with the heat
lem will give us an opportunity to show we
can improve, that we do learn.
“I personally apologize to all those who endured
the heat problem. We will do better next time.
“That said, if you take the temperature issue out of
the equation, I was very pleased with the event over-
all.”
And why not. There was a loaded autograph lineup
and a steady flow of customers. About 3,000 attended
the three-day show.
Eddie George, the 1995 Heisman Trophy winner
from Ohio State, appeared to be the
most popular signer, penning his name
about 800 times. Other popular signers:
Bob Feller, Jack Lambert, Earl Campbell and Eric
Crouch.
Also appearing at the show: Ron Dayne, Howard
Joe Greene, L.C. Greenwood, Ernie
Holmes, Dwight White, Dan Hampton, Roy
Williams, Luis Gonzalez and Willie McCovey.
Plus current Indians Ryan Drese, David
Riske and Victor Martinez, along with
former major leaguers Pete Rose, George
Foster, Tony Perez and Ken Griffey Sr.
“A lot of the autograph guests did very
well,” Mintz said. “Victor Martinez probably
was the biggest surprise of the show. He was
a huge hit for free autographs.” It was
Martinez’ first formal public autographing
session, and he signed about 500 items.
“The fans’ anger with the
recent Indians’ trades might
have affected our show
attendance,” Mintz said. “The joke has
long been that there are more
signed by Bob
than items
that are not
signed by Bob
Feller. That said,
he still drew
incredibly well for
autographs. I like having
him at our shows. He was
one of the greatest pitchers of
time.
“Luis Gonzalez was
another autograph hit.
He met our expectation
(200) of what we wanted him to do to the public.
“Eddie George was, by far, the hit of the show. We
thought coming in he’d be a popular draw … and he
was.”
Williams, the 8th pick in the 2002 NFL Draft by
Dallas, signed about 700 items. “I was very
surprised how popular he was,” Mintz said.
“Earl Campbell was a big hit. So too were the
former Pittsburgh Steelers. I have nothing
but great things to say about the five Steelers
who were here. Lambert was, by far, the
biggest draw of them, followed by Joe Greene.
They are very easy to work with and they
understand the importance of the
collectibles business, what they all
mean to each other as a group. They are
very cognizant of the business, more so
than a lot of athletes.
“Pete Rose did well. Ron Dayne was a little disap-
pointing. He didn’t come close to meeting his
numbers for autograph sales. He signed about 200; I
thought he’d do a lot better.”
Mike Philpott of Home Run Sports (Burbank,
Calif.) said football packs were the weekend’s big sell-
ers, led by Score and Topps ($1 per pack). “Baseball
was not selling because I think people are worried
about a strike,” he said. “Topps Baseball shouldn’t be
$1 per pack, but I had to lower the price to $1 to try
and move it. In fact, I had to lower the price on every
baseball product.”
Philpott said Upper Deck Playmakers basketball
($1/pack) was the hottest release in the relatively
weak basketball card market.
Marty Davis of Marty’s Sportscard Exchange
(Ooltewah, Tenn.), meanwhile, had success with some
baseball releases. Such as Showcase ($85 per box),
Classics ($80) and Diamond Kings ($83), in that
order. He also said Elite ($69) and Topps ($42-$49)
were the strong football sellers.
“Basketball didn’t sell at all and hockey releases
were basically non-existent, to the point where I was
surprised how slow hockey sales and interest was,”
he said.
“Friday was slow, but Fridays are almost always
slow at all shows. Saturday was very good; there was
a good crowd. It hasn’t been bad overall at all, other
the heat.”
Mike Williamson of Bryan’s Collectibles
(Raymore, Mo.) said one of the biggest posi-
tives from the show was new Web site
(www.Cheapwax4u.com) customers he
obtained. More than usual, he said.
“We want the customers to be happy
with our service over the Internet, too, not
just at shows. That’s important,” he said.
Kyle Boetel of Kyle’s Sportscards
(Aurora, Colo.) said, “The traffic was
pretty good all weekend long, although
not all of it converted into sales. But good traffic
nonetheless.”
Boetel, who specializes in vintage cards and auto-
graphs, had very few autograph sales.
“What I experienced here was, there have been so
many great past shows in the Cleveland area that
the collectors are so advanced that they are now just
looking for the harder-to-find items that the dealers
just don’t come across. So, the sales were down
slightly, but it’s still an above-average show,” he said.
“The buying was terrific. There have been a number
of consecutive shows where the selling has been
strong, yet I haven’t been doing that good of a job
replenishing. But I really restocked here; I got more
than a shoebox full of high-grade cards, including
some star cards of Mickey Mantle and Ted Williams,
and other things that don’t normally make it to
shows anymore.”
Autograph signers a hot draw in Cleveland
•••
YOUR TURN
To contribute to this section, please send an
email to lehmanb@krause.com, write to Bert
Lehman, SCD, 700 E. State St., Iola, WI
54990,or call the SCD Hotline at
715-445-4612,ext. 789
REVIEW
ShowCircuit
•••
Eddie George
Jack Lambert
Luis Gonzalez
Roy Williams
69
S
CD