CLEVELAND — The 2024 National Sports Collectors Convention is off and running at the I-X Center, and the team at cllct is on the ground to capture all the scenes from the world's biggest showcase of sports memorabilia.
If you're in Cleveland, swing by the cllct set just inside the entrance, and you'll get the chance to take your photo with a Mickey Mantle 1952 Topps card and a Michael Jordan 1986 Fleer rookie card.
Here are some of the highlights from the convention so far:
A longtime Type 1 photo collector
Though Type 1 photos might feel like a new trend, it’s old news for Kevin Lewis of Lewis Vintage Collectibles.
Lewis has been buying and selling Type 1s for 15 years. According to Lewis, the market has been exploding, with his profit margins rising as much as 50 percent year over year.
“Buying from auction houses selling on eBay, I’ve made a killing,” Lewis said, describing how he has made a living picking up items he feels are underpriced that he sells in his eBay store, where he’s able to make a profit thanks to a dedicated clientele.
For a long time, the market was powered by vintage baseball. Now, Lewis says it’s basketball, non-sports photos and more modern material that has been growing the fastest.
Four years ago, he was buying Michael Jordan rookie photos for $100.
Though this year wasn’t a great convention for Lewis sales-wise, he still managed to sell multiple pieces in the $5-$10k range, mostly of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Satchell Paige.
One of the most unique item at his booth is a Gehrig photo, dated to the 1930s.
A rare 'Biggie' ticket
Collector Tom Polifroni showed cllct what he believes to be the only Biggie Smalls autograph tied to a specific performance.
Signed on the reverse, the promotional flyer was handed out passed out in the Bahamas ahead of a show.
The best part?
They spelled his name wrong.
“Biggie Samll”
Last-minute discoveries from The National
Dealer: Greenie's Sports Cards
Booth number: 537
Michael Jordan scored a career-high 69 points on March 28, 1990, in a game against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Working for Cablevision at the time, dealer Kenny Roda was there and was able to get Jordan to sign his scoresheet from the game and the cover of his gameday program.
Steals and finds from Saturday
When the Basketball Hall of Fame decided to leave Springfield College in 1984, they left behind two signs.
The college was so upset at the Hall for leaving, the decision was made to dump the signs in the trash.
One was completely mangled.
A maintenance worker salvaged the other, however, placing it in a garage on campus where it would remain until 2004.
Years later, his son listed the sign on Craigslist. That’s when Miguel Rodriguez spotted it — but he was too late. The listing had expired.
Much to his delight, six months later he received a message from the seller, who had seen Rodriguez’s interest which had been recorded on the expired page.
Rodriguez was offered the sign for $100.
After some back and forth, they settled on $200 as long as Rodriguez went and picked up the sign personally.
Then began the hunt: Obtaining every signature of all living NBA Hall of Famers.
With the help of former Pristine Auctions employee Paulie Gesualdi, 14 legends have added their names so far.
The next Hall of Fame induction ceremony will be a major opportunity for Rodriguez, who will do his best to get the 90 Hall of Famers present at the ceremony to add their names.
Of course, his biggest target is Michael Jordan — though he knows that might be tough.
Dealer: The Golf Auction Auction
Booth number: 1006
The Golf Auction has been coming to The National for eight years. At the start, the golf-specialty house had to run raffles and other promotions to attract attention from largely disinterested crowds.
But times have changed.
The auction house, which comes to the show with the main goal of taking in consignments — as well as showing people that golf memorabilia is just as potent and appreciated as the other sports — has already taken in 75 items for its next auction as of Saturday afternoon.
The highlight is a three-card set from Upper Deck’s 2015 Master Collection, featuring autographed cards from Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Tiger Woods, numbered to 20 each.
Dealer: Main Event Sports Cards
Booth number: 1232
Mini golf bags aren't something you see every day, and they've been a hit for Main Event Sports Cards coming into Saturday.
Main Event bought 40 unsigned bags from a closeout sale and took them to a tournament to get autographed.
The bags are fully functional, and Main Event says even the players themselves were intrigued when signing them.
So far Main Event has sold bags signed by Jack Nicklaus, Jordan Spieth and Gary Player.
Dealer: Pubs and Stubs
Booth number: 1836
This booth was packed with exciting tickets and stubs, but one item stood out above the rest.
This press pass from Jackie Robinson's World Series debut belonged to Washington Post reporter Shirley Povich.
Known for his fantastic coverage of baseball, including years with Babe Ruth, Povich worked for the Post until his death at age 92.
Povich is also the father of famed TV host Maury Povich, who hosted the shown talk show "Maury" from 1991 to 2022.
Dealer: Best Authentics
Booth number: 1348
Are Funko Pops on the way out? According to Best Authentics, interest has fizzled with sales dropping from about 50 last year to just seven coming into Saturday.
Authentics has found success with Mike Tyson autographed boxing gloves — the booth has sold seven or eight for $95 each.
Ja Morant signed jerseys have been a hit too, selling out at $99 apiece.
The most intriguing item at the booth is a scoring sheet from 1962 featuring Wilt Chamberlain. Best Authentics was able to acquire within the last month before The National.
"The timing was incredible," they said.
Dealer: Steve Walden
Booth number: 1651
Walden has a variety of sports and non-sports cards plus plenty of authenticated autographs.
Among the autos are stars like Emmitt Smith and actors from The Sandlot. A card featuring Michael Scott, Dwight Schrute and Jim Halpert — mimicking the iconic Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Julius Erving 1980 Topps — is one of the cooler custom cards we've seen at the show so far.
Michael Rubin stops by cllct set
Fanatics CEO and founder Michael Rubin and Fanatics Collectibles CEO Mike Mahan visited with cllct's Darren Rovell on our set Friday afternoon.
They talked about Fanatics Fest, which be held next month in New York, along with how Fanatics has helped card shops across the country.
Autographs aplenty
The Tri-Star Autograph Pavilion was bustling on Day 2 as athletes and celebrities were signing memorabilia for fans.
Among those signing Friday were Roger Clemens, Bernard King, Gary Payton, Johnny Bench, Mike Schmidt, Emmitt Smith, Julius Erving and Reggie Jackson.
Our choice for the most unique item we saw signed: These three bottles of whisky, signed by Bench, the Hall of Fame catcher from "The Big Red Machine."
Oddball finds from The National on Friday
Dealer: Rockhurst Auctions
Booth number: 431
Rockhurst Auctions will be opening vintage packs at its booth today and tomorrow at 2 p.m.
Among the breaks are packs from Topps and Bowman products across the 1950s and 1960s.
Dealer: Ruthian Sports Cards
Booth number: 724
A piece you won’t see anywhere else hangs proudly atop the Ruthian Sports Cards booth: A street sign used in a commercial for the 2009 NBA All-Star Game in Phoenix.
It’s signed by Kobe Bryant, who would go on to win MVP during the game, and priced at $6,500.
The dealer purchased it along with a couple dozen other items almost two years ago.
But that’s not even the star of the booth, according to the dealer, who said collectors have been stopped dead in their tracks by a Houdini signed photograph (priced at $19,975). There are no recorded public sales of a Houdini-signed photograph of that size. PSA graded it a 10.
Dealer: Memory Lane
Booth number: 601
Made out of 14K gold, a SpongeBob SquarePants chain was commissioned by rapper Nelly for another artist. The chain is currently priced at $17,500.
Vendors and dealers at a glance Thursday
Dealer: BBCE
Booth number: 1642
BBCE’s booth featured two sealed wax boxes — a 1962 Topps Baseball 1st Series and a 1969 Topps Baseball Cello, priced at $395,000 and $265,000, respectively.
Two previous sales of unopened examples of 1962 Topps Baseball 1st Series boxes previously sold for $288,000 in May 2023 at Heritage. Last November, another sale reached $240,000.
Unopened examples of 1969 Topps Baseball Cello boxes do not appear in any public sales record, however, one box with 47 of 48 original packs sold for $117,000 at Heritage in February 2024.
Dealer: Greenie Sports Cards
Booth number 537
For many, The National is a trek. For Greenie Sports Cards, it’s more of a commute. The Cleveland-based company is set up at this year’s show like a local — wheeling and dealing their repertoire of cards (they specialize in 1990s inserts) while spotting familiar faces along the way.
“I’ve shaken a lot of hands,” said Steve Greenberg, owner of Greenie Sports Cards. Greenberg’s company is a presenting sponsor of the Great Lakes Collectors Convention and he has seen many of the dealers who typically set up at that show walking around this week.
Greenberg says the ultra-modern cards have been the hottest sellers for him so far, despite his selection of ‘90s inserts.
One of the more unique cards at his booth can be found at no other: NIL cards he created for NCAA basketball players Hannah Hidalgo, Destiny Leo and Reagan Bass. Greenberg also created an event back in March where he had the entire Notre Dame Women’s basketball team sign NIL cards, which he produced himself.
Over the last month, Greenberg says Sonia Citron has taken off — becoming one of his best-performing cards in the category on eBay.
Dealer name: Fanatics/Topps
Booth number: 5000
Few things are more popular than Topps Silver Packs at the National Convention, and this year’s line showed that nothing has changed.
This is also the first year that Topps has introduced a new solution for redemptions. Announced earlier this month, the Topps Exchange program will deliver one autograph per box for redemptions that are more than 100 days old.
Dealer name: Upper Deck
Booth number: 5008
Upper Deck’s main display this year features the Wayne Gretzky 40th Anniversary Collection, which celebrates his first Stanley Cup.
There is also a variety of Space Jam memorabilia for display featuring the cast of cartoons, LeBron James and game-used floor pieces.
Dealer name: Roger's Collectibles
Booth number: 836
If the election is decided by the biggest political collectibles booth at The National, Donald Trump is your next president.
Roger Hague of Roger's Collecibles has sold "two Biden autographs, two Kamalas and much more Trump."
Dealer name: AJF Sports cards
Booth number: 1145
Angelo from AJF Sports cards does a little bit of everything when it comes to sports cards. So far, his most popular items are no surprise: Jordan and LeBron.
But the dealer also has repacks on display, which, according to Angelo, are on the decline.
“They used to be way more popular a few years ago,” he said, explaining that big shows like The National are really the only places he still sees them do well.
Interestingly, he thinks there’s a geographic component to the demand.
“South of Virginia, they don’t sell well at all.”
Dealer name: PSA
Collectors immediately swarmed the PSA booth for a variety of reasons Thursday morning. In addition to on-site grading, PSA offers drop-off and crossover services this week. On-site grading with an end-of-day turnaround time is only available Thursday through Saturday.
There’s merch for the superfans to pick up if they are inspired by the hats and t-shirts.
PSA is also hosting a number of breaks Thursday, starting with Layton Sports Cards at 11 a.m. Collectors CEO Nat Turner will host a 90s Basketball Break at 1 p.m. and be followed by breaks with RealSportsCards and Dave & Adams to close out the day.
Dealer name: eBay
Booth number: 5042
eBay has a large activation centered around its eBay Live service, which will feature a number of breaks and star athletes like Roger Clemens and Reggie Jackson.
Adam Ireland, eBay’s new VP and GM of Global Collectibles, will be also be interviewed by cllct during the show.
Dealer name: Heritage
Booth number: 5040
One of the premier auction houses for sports memorabilia, Heritage arrived with the Babe Ruth “Called Shot” jersey, which has been one of the major talks of the show.
Beyond the Ruth jersey, Heritage has a large display of costumes from the Power Rangers show and a variety of other memorabilia.
Heritage is also offering free appraisals and accepting consignments for future auctions.
Dealer: Memory Lane
Booth: 601
JP Cohen, owner of Memory Lane is looking for $2.8 million for a Mickey Mantle 1952 Topps PSA 8.5. Another item on display is Charles Conlon's "Lou Gehrig Eyes" for $45,000.
Dealer: Autograph Authentication + Sales
Booth: 4000
Collectors can expect a range of sports cards — everything from ultra-modern to vintage across sports — as well as a selection of memorabilia such as signed jerseys, balls, magazines and more.
Carl Kahn, who previously worked as an authenticator for JSA, PSA and Beckett, came to his first National in 1992.
How has it changed?
“It’s become more corporate,” said Kahn, who described “little guys” like him (his booth has around $250,000 in inventory) having to compete against the larger dealers and auction houses.
Kahn says the Babe Ruth-signed bat has been the piece that collectors have ogled over the most. It’s priced at $25,000.
He had a few Soprano-related pieces, but they didn’t even last until the show opened.
“The dealers bought them.”
The collector: Andrew Sigerson
Item: Taylor Swift-signed drumhead from 2007
Price: $4,000
Sigerson is a major Taylor Swift and entertainment memorabilia collector and just picked up this drumhead signed and inscribed by Taylor Swift and dated 2007. He says it’s now one of the top Swift item in his collection, having purchased it from the Memory Lane booth in the first hours of The National.
“Anything this early and this unique - with inscription and full signature - is incredible,” said Sigerson, calling Swift “the Madonna of her era.”
Though signed albums and CDs from Swift are fairly common, Sigerson had never seen a Swift autograph on a drumhead, let alone one this early.
Sigerson also picked up a rare dual-autograph from Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe, which he first read about in our highlight of vendor Dan Wulkan from Memory Lane about what he planned on bringing to The National.
Aaaaaand they're off
The National 2024 is underway here in Cleveland and the gates officially open!
How you know you're at The National
Booth tour: An incredible Willie Mays rookie
Dealer Name: Robert Edward Auctions
Booth: #6032
With REA’s summer auction in full swing, the auction house is displaying some of its top items at its booth, highlighted by a PSA 8.5 example of Willie Mays’ 1951 Bowman rookie card. With only eight copies graded higher (and none graded a perfect 10), this marks the first time a card of its caliber has sold at public auction in more than 15 years. The current record for the card is held by a PSA 8 example, which sold for $338,400 in 2021. Bidding has already reached $268,019 with moe than two weeks remaining.
The auction house, best known for its specialization in vintage cards, is presenting a wide array of items for collectors ranging from an extraordinarily rare 1982 Time Magazine featuring Steve Jobs on the cover and autographed by the illusive signer himself, a Joe Burrow jersey from his break-out 2021 season and plenty more.
The Breakers are bustlin'
Just minutes into the convention, the energy was palpable in the Ripping Wax Break Case Pavilion.
A giant overhead bank of screens was tracking every pack and documenting all the best pulls.
Latest on the "crown jewel" of the show
The marquee item on the floor in Cleveland is definitely found at the Heritage Auctions display, where Babe Ruth's game-worn jersey, said to be from the "Called Shot" game in the 1932 World Series, could fetch a record price for any piece of sports memorabilia.
Flanked by a security guard, the Ruth jersey was in its own, standalone display case as collectors walked into the Heritage section of the floor.
In an exclusive report for cllct Wednesday, Darren Rovell detailed the latest on the photo-matching of the jersey to the historic moment.
Booth tour: Art + memorabilia
Dealer name: Murray Henderson Art
Booth number: 6051
Amid the countless stacks of sports cards and memorabilia, Henderson’s booth is a show-stopper. The artist’s display of paintings range from depictions of Michael Jordan’s iconic “Wings” photo to works featuring the likes of "Breaking Bad" anti-hero Walter White and everything in between — including Tupac, Honus Wagner and Luka Doncic.
But they’re more than just paintings: Henderson integrates real pieces of memorabilia into many of his most popular works, such as a Wayne Gretzky game-used stick or a pair of real 1985 Air Jordans.
His unique style is unmistakable, and in high demand, creating many of his pieces in extremely limited quantities.
The official National merch table is even selling his custom-designed T-shirts, created specifically for the 2024 National (limited edition).
U2's debut ticket ... at a high school!
Jason Smith from Cleveland prides himself on being the No. 1 ticket collector in the world for the band U2.
He displayed a ticket from the Irish rockers' earliest show — and when we say "early," we mean really, really early.
The ticket is for a show at Saint Fintan's High School in Sutton, North Dublin, on April 11, 1977, and it marked the band's debut before a paying audience.
Booth tour: That's entertainment
Dealer name: Andy Stoltz
Booth number: 2824
In what seems like an endless sea of sports cards and memorabilia, Andy Stoltz arrived in Cleveland with some of the best pop culture and entertainment items at the show.
From guitars signed by the cast of "Back to the Future" to jackets signed by the gang at "Sons of Anarchy," Stoltz’s All Sports Custom Framing has a variety of items that will make the typical collector stop.
His advice to sports fans getting into pop culture is pretty simple.
“Buy what you like, don’t buy what you think is going to be worth something,” Stoltz says. “Always look for something certified — make sure it’s PSA, JSA or Beckett — and try to educate yourself on what stuff looks like.”
Among Stoltz’s favorite items at his booth are photographs and documents related to former presidents John F. Kennedy and Teddy Rosevelt, as well as Queen Elizabeth.
Booth tour: A classic ad for tobacco cards
Dealer name: Jim Cassidy
Booth number: 1238
Vintage cards are everywhere at the National. You’ll even find pre-war and tobacco cards pretty easily, too. What isn’t super common, however, are tobacco card advertisements, and that’s what Jim Cassidy had that drew attention to his booth on Day 1.
Most associated with the T206 set, Sweet Caporal is one of the tobacco brands commonly displayed on the back — along with Piedmont and others. On sale for $500 Wednesday, Cassidy found a Sweet Caporal sign advertising the cigarettes (and some cards) from the early 1900s while shopping in an antique mall.
How many of those signs has he seen over the years?
“Maybe half a dozen,” Cassidy said.
Along with tobacco related items, Cassidy had a pair of Babe Ruth-branded underwear for sale. Originally produced around 1927, the garments aren’t incredibly rare, but they certainly aren’t something you see at the typical card show.
Even VIPs gotta wait
The doors opened for VIPs to get an early preview of the convention floor Wednesday around 3 p.m. ET, and the line to get into the VIP Lounge was filled with eager collectors, stretching out into the concourse.
The signed Jordans are here!
The secret-signing Michael Jordan cards on display at The National ???? pic.twitter.com/XwKOHxemgx
— cllct (@cllctMedia) July 24, 2024
Back in the spring, cllct reported the exclusive story of Michael Jordan's secret autograph signing and then we tracked the nine signed PSA 10 Jordan rookie cards when they showed up in the PSA data base.
Those attending the National got an in-person look at the autographed cards in a PSA Vault display on the convention floor.