The show circuit circa 1993 revisited …

It would probably be revisionist history to suggest that the summer of 1993 was a favorite, but my tour around much of the Northeast and Midwest pretending to be a card dealer was a heckuva lot of fun, and so I resume the recollection from a previous blog.

Before I returned to the Polish Community Center at the end of July, I stopped by Johnstown, N.Y., for my 25th high school reunion, which doesn’t sound too bad now, as long as you don’t dwell on the fact that I am talking 16 years ago.

Then it was back to the Polish Community Center in Albany, a show I always liked and set up at several times that summer. This one didn’t yield as much in terms of sales, but I did buy quite a bit of stuff, though as noted previously, I probably overpaid.

The Albany show was right at the beginning of the racing session at nearby Saratoga Race Track (if you ever get a chance, you must go to Saratoga), and so virtually all the hotel rooms were filled even down to Albany. I ended up staying at a, uh, somewhat rustic facility, call it POOR to FAIR. In my humble room, I found $150 cash stuffed underneath a seat cushion, a handsome sum that I suspect was planted there in the middle of some kind of monetary transaction that took place in the room.

You don’t even have to ask: Of course, I did the right thing.

Then it was on to Stratford, Conn., a couple of weeks later for Mike Riccio’s great show, where I sold a 1954 Topps Lasorda rookie and a super 1955 Topps Yogi Berra, gave some of the proceeds back in buying the two 1960 Mantle cards (regular and All-Star) and then finished it off by selling a 1956 Topps Mantle for about $400 bucks. I wish I had that last one back, for those of you scoring at home.

A couple of weeks later, back to Albany and the Polish Community Center, where I suppose the high point (low point?) was overpaying for a 1969 Topps Reggie Jackson rookie card.

I’ll take care of the final leg of the trip in the next blog posting: by way of preview, it entailed shows in New Hampshire, Connecticut and on Long Island, plus a side trip to watch the wales on Cape Cod and then on to Philadelphia for my last Philly Show as a civilian.

If it weren’t for the IRS, I wouldn’t be able to come up with all these specifics.