One of my favorite card shows on the calendar is an event that is held a few times each year in the Chicago suburb of Rosement, Ill.
It has been going strong for decades and draws in hundreds of sports card and memorabilia dealers from across the country in addition to a great list of athletes and celebrities for autograph signings.
I try to limit my sports card fandom to one or two columns per year on these pages and that side of me typically comes out when I visit one of these big events.
By my unofficial count, this is roughly the 20th year in which I have been to attend the Chicago Sports Spectacular — a sports card and collectables convention that truly lives up to that spectacular title even though it used to have a different name years ago when it was promoted by the Chicago Sun Times — and I did a little reflecting on the way to and from the Windy City over the weekend.
The event is held at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center and is held three times each year, except for the years in which the facility hosts the National Sports Collectors Convention (which will be the case each of the next three years).
As a result of both card shows occurring at the same venue, I will admit that some of the memories kind of blend together. The National is the bigger show of the two, but both events are by far the biggest that are regularly held in the region. I will share a few memories from past shows, but I may be confusing which things happened at which event.
Before taking a look back, I will start with a few observations from the most recent Spectacular.
I will begin with a shout out to my friend Jim Miller, who I occasionally talk with about wrestling. While he was able to watch people in the ring that I have only heard about, I was on the search for booths that had some wrestling items. There is not a large percentage of dealers that offer wrestling, although that number has grown over the past several years, and the items for sale range from cards to toys to autographed items.
Ultimately, I did not end up purchasing anything representing the heroes of the squared circle, but I did come close to buying a stack of autographed cards. The stars in question featured some of my favorites, Kurt Angle, Diamond Dallas Page, Haku, Jimmy Hart and “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase, but we could not agree to a price for the stack.
That happens sometimes, but it was still really neat to see that collection.
An item that definitely got my attention was a turnbuckle pad that was autographed by Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan. If you are a fan of wrestling, I don’t need to explain why that is a really cool piece of memorabilia. If you aren’t, I will simply say they were two of the best to ever get in a ring or do an interview. I did not ask for a price — I am not sure I could have afforded to hear the quote, let alone buy the item — but that might be something I may have to try and replicate myself.
I have seen many collectors with wrestling belts that are signed, but I have not seen many turnbuckle pads through the years, so that might be more challenging. However, both wrestlers do autograph signings on a fairly regular basis, and while they are not cheap signatures to acquire, it is theoretically possible.
That also made me think about what my top 10 desired autographs list would look like. There are a variety of names that many collectors would probably name, such as Michael Jordan, but one item that I always have had at the top of my list is having an autographed Austin 3:16 shirt signed by “Stone Cold” Steve Austin. Unfortunately, he does very few autograph appearances and to my knowledge has never done a signing within a reasonable distance.
OK, I am done discussing wrestling. One thing that I did not see as much of at this show was Jordan autographs. I told a friend a story over the weekend that I regret I had was not purchasing an item at one of the first shows I attended. I believe the price tag was a bit north of $1,000, but it was an item that I thought was really neat and I have not seen it at a show since.
It was a framed piece that featured a replica of banners that hang in the United Center for the six championships he won in his career. It was signed by Jordan and authenticated by Upper Deck.
Short of getting the autograph myself, which there is no chance of, that is probably the safest bet to get his signature, and that product is definitely the item I would want signed by Jordan.
In reality, there was little chance that I would have coughed up that much cash for the piece if I had it at the time — to be honest, I also probably wouldn’t now, either, even though it’s probably worth double or triple the amount today — but if I were going to save up for something big, that would probably be the item.
Enough about the things I didn’t buy, let’s move on to something I did purchase. Unlike many who attended the show, the most expensive addition to my collection cost $8, when I picked up an autographed card of Brewers prospect Cooper Pratt.
As I have mentioned before, I sit at the lowest end of the low-end collectors. As a result, the vast majority of my pickups cost less than $1.
One thing that I am working on is building a 1985 Topps baseball set. There really is no significance to that pursuit, I just have always liked the design.
The fun of the hobby is that you can choose to collect whatever you want and go about it in any fashion. While I could purchase the entire set, I wanted to do it in a different manner. It is part thrill of the chase and partly a collective effort, as I buy some of the cards here and there, trade for others and some have been donated by friends.
That is one of the things I enjoy most about attending these shows. You meet people from everywhere geographically and from all walks of life. All weekend I heard people say variations of the phrase that the hobby is not about the cards, it’s about the people.
That is definitely true. I went to the show with a big batch of cards to give to friends I have made through the years. My friend Doug and his daughter collect Kris Bryant cards, so I like looking for cool cards of the former Chicago Cub and current Colorado Rockies player to give to them to help their collection grow. Earlier this year, my friend Beau collected his one millionth Cubs card — yes, you read that right — but I had an autographed card to give him this weekend that he did not have. In return, I got a handful of cards of Ronnie Lott, the Hall of Fame safety known best for his time with the San Francisco 49ers.
Speaking of Lott, I had the opportunity to get his autograph at the Spectacular several years ago. He is one of my five favorite football players ever, so that is one memory that stands out.
That was the year in which many of the players who were among the top players in my favorite video game — Tecmo Super Bowl — and they appeared at the same convention. I wrote about that at the time, but it was really fun meeting players such as Lott, Lawrence Taylor and Randall Cunningham (better known to video gamers as QB Eagles).
I could go on and on, but I will close with a story from the end of the show. The parking structure across the street from the convention center is massive. Normally, I am able to park within a short distance from the elevators, but every once in a while I have to park a few football fields away. Many years ago, my friend Jerry and I lived out a scene of “Dude, Where’s My Car?” and I got a chance to relive that experience over the weekend.
Before you ask, yes I did know the general location of where I parked — I always either take a photo or text the spot to myself when parking in unfamiliar areas — but it is not as simple as knowing the vehicle was in 2D orange. For some reason, there is row after row of each number-letter-color combination.
Fortunately, this was not quite as bad as when my friends Tom, Tyler and I participated in a 30-minute scavenger hunt for the car at Great America, but it was not really enjoyable walking up and down row after row searching for a vehicle while carrying a box of cards and a couple dozen packs of toploaders.
At least I can navigate the drive back to Wisconsin these days, unlike one of the first times Jerry and I went to the show and drove through the O’Hare Airport loop repeatedly (it was like we were the Griswolds in European Vacation — look, there’s Big Ben!).
Again, a lot of the fun is the memories, the good, the bad and the ones captured on cardboard.
