COURTESY OF SPORTS COLLECTORS DIGEST * OCTOBER 11, 2002                

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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 H er business card could say, “President,” but instead, Robin Lee’s self appointed title is “Girl- Jock in Charge.” She runs Girl-Jocks.com, the women’s sports specialist. Meaning, she sells memorabilia from the WNBA, the WUSA and various other female pro athletes, along with select male memorabilia. At Tri-Star Productions’ 15th-annual Labor Day Weekend Collectors Show, planned to have about 10 or 12 female players — yeah, let me repeat, female players — from the Independent Women League (IWFL) attend and sign booth. Well, on Saturday of the show, it actually was a female football free-for-all. More than 50 players attended, each wearing her jersey and, whenever asked, obliging an autograph request. Players from four Bay Area teams — the Oakland Banshees, San Francisco StingRayz, Sacramento Sirens and Santa Rosa Scorchers — appeared, wearing their jerseys, of course, with their names on the back. “Saturday was a blast,” Lee said. “All of the players were happy to be here. We just wanted to be seen and let it be known that there is women’s football.” What’s next, women’s football cards? Lee certainly wouldn’t mind. “They play because they love the game, that’s it. They don’t get paid and they have to pay for everything,” she said. “The women’s memorabilia market is great, absolutely great, even though you’d never know it because you don’t see anyone doing it. Those who collect women’s sports memorabilia are passionate about their players, the teams and their sports. They’re very loyal.” Lee’s booth at the Tri-Star show — ironically directly across from the Bench Warmers 2002 booth, where several scantily-clad, silicone-enhanced female models posed for pictures and signed auto- graphs — was about only 50 percent women’s memorabilia. But the women’s memorabilia that she had sold, such as three WNBA bobbing head dolls. “I could have sold a dozen more, if I had ’em,” Lee said. She also offered t-shirts and hats ($15 apiece) from select IWFL teams. “I’m surprised there isn’t more women’s memora- bilia out there. I’m asked for the stuff all the time,” she said. Tri-Star’s annual four-day, end-of-summer extrav- aganza attracted more than 3,000 fans. Johnny Bench, Pete Rose, Tim Brown, Mark Mulder, Joe Morgan, Willie McCovey and Torii Hunter headlined the autograph guest list. “Overall, the show was very good,” said Roger Neufeldt, owner of Sports Memories (Norman, Okla.). “Sure, I’ve seen it more robust back in the hobby’s heyday in the high economic times, but for the times and everything considered, we’re very pleased. “There’s no question that graded cards from the ’50s and ’60s have hot. Sets (from those eras) have been even hotter. I also did exceptionally well with 1948-50 Bowmans, and ’52 Topps. One customer, in fact, purchased every ’48 Bowman that I had. That, of course, was a nice sale.” Another nice sale: about 120 cards from 1950. Neufeldt also noted that ’40s and ’50s publi cations, such as game programs, did very well. “I had greater sales than at Tri-Star’s Memorial Day weekend show,” Neufeldt said. So did Rich Gove of Rich Gove Collectibles (Deer Park, Texas). “The traffic was moderate-to- heavy, but people have been buying. They’ve actually put their hands in their pockets and pulled their wallets out. The lookers don’t seem to be here as much as they usually are,” Gove said. “It definitely was a good show, better than I expected, based on a couple of things. First off, of course, the economy, which has hit every- one. Second, coming off a lackluster Tri-Star show at the Cow Palace in May, I didn’t know what to expect with this event. But I’m very pleasantly surprised. a real good job of bringing people in. the radio and reading the papers here ve heard and seen advertising which I’m helped. I’m ahead of my Labor Day 2001 totals and way ahead of Memorial Day 2002 totals. “Aside from The National because you can’t, or shouldn’t, compare that with other shows, I’m running just behind SportsFest. And that’s saying a lot because SportsFest is a big show. “I would put this show among the top shows I’ve done all year.” Hegwood of J&J Sports Cards (Rock Ga.) also was quite pleased. Or should I surprised. the first time we were here and we really what to expect, but the turnout was great,” he said. “They’re very nice people, very nice collectors, especially since, they’re buying. This defi- nitely has been a buying show. And that’s a good sign for the hobby.” Hegwood has had three consecutive strong shows over the past month or so - World Class Productions’ Cincinnati show, The National and Tri-Star’s San Francisco gala. Why? “Because it seems like more and more new collec- tors are starting to come into the hobby. Baseball has had an exciting season. Football has a real fine rookie crop coming in. Basketball looks like it is going to sell well, especially thanks to Yao Ming,” he said. “This show definitely ranks among the top 10 shows of all-time. The hobby has a lot going for it here in the Bay Area. The Giants and (Barry) Bonds are hot. The A’s are in the middle of an incredible run. The Raiders and 49ers always are popular. There are four teams that they are extremely proud of, and they definitely support each one. “And as the pro teams go, so goes the hobby.” Football was the top seller, Hegwood said, including 2001 releases. “Football stuff is really going great, especially Playoff Contenders with three autographs per box and SPx Authentic, when we could find it,” he said. “The ’01 football was absolutely going through the roof.” Also hot in San Francisco: •Donruss Classics 2002 ($95) •Donruss 2002 ($39) •Fleer Football ($65). “This stuff really ran off the board” •Fleer Ultra ($65) •Topps Chrome ($75). “This was a great seller here” •Pacific Private Stock Reserve ($79) The distaff side bolsters Tri-Star Labor Day show ShowCircuit ••• REVIEW The Independent Women’s Football League came to the show in force, 50 players from four Bay Area teams posed in uniform. Torii Hunter Joe Morgan Tim Brown Dave Parker Willie McCovey 77 S CD