The adventures of a sports card rookie at the Dallas Card Show

Since its first event in 2019, the Dallas Card Show has continued to bring its rapidly growing card and sports memorabilia show to Allen, Texas. 

The show has gained a solid reputation among card collectors and sports memorabilia influencers over the past several years. In March 2021, the bi-monthly show saw its highest attendance to date, with crowds topping 3,000 people per day. 

Since its inception, the show has expanded to include several nascent categories, including video games, toys, action figures, TCG (Magic the Gathering, Yu-Gi-Oh, Pokémon, etc.), and comics.

Show Calendar: Find a card show near you 

The September 2023 event was my first-ever card show, and I approached the experience with a mixture of excitement and trepidation. I worried that my inexperience would affect my ability to enjoy the show and interact with the vendors and collectors.

Although I have collected many things, none of them include sports collectibles — not because I don’t love sports. I am a proud Texas Rangers fan and a self-respecting Cowboys fan who loves her team but regards its management with not just a small amount of contempt (a malady many Texans suffer from). But I’ve never collected any sort of sports memorabilia other than the odd jersey or snapback cap.

Needless to say, I worried for nothing.

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My first impression when I rounded the corner to walk into the hotel lobby was astonishment. The sights and sounds were initially overwhelming, and I didn’t know where to start or what to look at first. So, I decided to rely on the known and headed over to the display at Heritage Auctions. 

There, I met the Consignment Director, Jeremy Allen. He was kind enough to take a few moments to talk to me about what’s going on at Heritage, the show, and the emergent collectibles categories that have found a home in a substantial number of the country’s card shows.

I knew that Heritage was the largest auction house in America. But, according to Allen, they now have 12 offices worldwide, with an office opening in Japan. They employ 150 experts in 50 different categories, running approximately 50 auctions a week, which is astounding.

The Heritage display featured many non-sports-related pop culture collectibles, including the Holy Grail of Pokémon cards, an extremely rare Pikachu Illustrator card. Apparently, only three copies have been graded Gem Mint 10, and this is the only card to bear the pen symbol in the bottom right corner and the word “Illustrator” at the top. Allen explained that many of these categories, such as Pokémon, Mario, and Star Wars, continue to engage with younger collectors by releasing new movies, games, action figures, etc. This keeps the pop culture collector base intact and growing.

Also See: What collectors were getting graded at The National 

The last case we viewed was the ultimate cherry on the sundae. It featured an absolutely stunning 1914 Boston Garter-Color SGC-graded complete set. These cards were meant to be displayed in the windows of clothiers carrying the Boston Garters product (an invention rendered obsolete by the elasticized sock). It is believed that fewer than 50 examples of these cards exist today. If you’ve dreamed of owning one (or all), head to Heritage for more information. 

After taking up too much of Allen's time (he was far too polite to say so), I headed into the first hall to see what I could see. So many people! So many vendors! I really didn’t know where to begin. I wandered up and down aisles featuring so much sports memorabilia eye-candy that I felt like my head was on a swivel.

I walked over to the Pike’s Peak Sports Cards (Colorado Springs, CO) table, where owner Brandt Benner seemed to be doing a fairly brisk business. I asked him for his thoughts on the show, and he told me that he’s been doing this show since it began. He likes coming to Dallas because the traffic is always good, and the vendor numbers seem to be growing. He sets up at this show three to four times a year in addition to several others. 

While he primarily features sports cards, he also dabbles in Marvel and Pokémon. According to Benner, buyers at this show are generally serious about purchasing and tend to scour the halls for specific cards the moment they arrive. Once that mission is accomplished, they stroll through the vendors more leisurely.

After speaking with Benner, I talked to a customer who was avidly perusing one of his collections. Matt Roemer typically collects graded cards from the 1990s. He has purchased cards from Benner in the past and counts on him to have the ’90s cards others may not. Roemer makes it a point to come to the Dallas Show about twice a year to add to his collection — not a terribly difficult commute for him because he lives in Plano, Texas, just down the road from Allen. He brought a friend who was attending his first card show. He looked as dazed as I felt. They were both eager to continue their search, although I had a feeling that Roemer would be back to pick up the card he’d been eyeballing since I walked up to the table.

I spoke to several vendors as I made my way down the rows, and they all seemed happy with the show’s attendance. All were selling (and buying), but the types of cards seemed to vary. Many were selling mainly football cards (which seems reasonable given that football season began last week). But for Jay of Porzingis Collectors, basketball cards were moving very well. He told me that while Thursday and Friday had started off slowly for him, Saturday was quite busy — as the growing crowd of customers waiting for me to finish talking to him attested. I thought it prudent to move on and leave him to actual money-making.

One of my favorite moments of the show was watching two brothers, 11-year-old Adam and 12-year-old Liam from Waco, Texas, wrangle card prices while dad Jon oversaw the negotiations. Adam has been collecting for only a few months, while Liam has been collecting for about a year and a half. This was Adam’s first card show and Liam’s first Dallas show. They came to the show to sell cards rather than collect. Adam told me he had already made $230 by the time I caught up to them. 

When they are collecting, rather than selling, they both prefer to collect basketball and football cards. Their collective opinion is that baseball cards have been overprinted, the market is saturated, and their baseball cards lose value. I found them both charming and slightly intimidating — they have astute heads for business and certainly seem to have done their research. Collectors should be confident, knowing that the hobby is passing through the generations to young people like these brothers.

They are both seeking football cards to add to their collections but are eagerly awaiting basketball season. They told me that they like to collect new releases or “the really old” stuff, which, to them, means the ’80s and ’90s cards (we had a little discussion about what constitutes “old”). Regardless, Adam and Liam were excited to be interviewed. I’ll be emailing dad, Jon, to let him know when his boys can see themselves in Sports Collectors Digest.

By now, I was getting hungry and decided to find my way down to the restaurant for a bite. Before I could make it halfway down the hall, I was immediately drawn to an eye-catching display of Patrick Mahomes memorabilia. Being an East Texas girl, I couldn’t just walk on by (could I?), so I made my way over to Randy Cook Sports Collectibles out of Lee’s Summit, Mo., to ask for permission to photograph it. As it turned out, Cook is a longtime Sports Collectors Digest fan. I told him of my rookie show status, and he gave me a big grin. He opened the case in front of us and pointed to a baseball. “This game ball was signed by Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig,” he said. Wow. I was amazed at the piece of history right before my eyes and beginning to feel like I had accidentally stumbled into a sports memorabilia museum.

He told me he does the Dallas show four to five times a year. We chatted a bit about the cost of doing these types of shows (it’s a lot of expenses that those of us who do not vend probably never consider). But he left me with a big smile and these parting words, “We’ve made a lot of people happy today.” What more could you ask?

As I walked on, I was sure my stomach thought I was on a hunger strike, so I went off to the restaurant. I sat down at the bar; moments later, a gentleman sat beside me. Of course, being me, I initiated a conversation with him. Paul J. Baldwin came to the Dallas show from Houston, which he has done for nearly every show for the last two years. Baldwin is both a seller and a collector, although not a vendor at the show. He believes the Dallas Card Show is one of the best in the world. However, he admits that his proximity to the show may exert a bit of bias.

He went to the National Sports Collectors Convention for the first time this year, and while he found it impressive, he said that had it been his first card show, he would have been completely overwhelmed. He prefers the manageability and convenience of Dallas. He told me he found vendors here eager to buy and sell for decent prices. 

“In fact,” he said, “there are many people who skip the show entirely and come after it closes to trade.” One of his favorite aspects of the Dallas show is the after-hours Trade Night, he said. Although there is only one official trade night, trading/buying/selling happens every night after the show closes.

I asked him if he had found anything he was excited about this time. He showed me an autographed 2021 Trevor Lawrence Gold Huddle rookie card with a PSA 10 grade. Apparently, only ten copies are known to exist, and this is the highest-graded card of the bunch. He’s not selfish, though, y’all. He’s willing to part with this beauty for a mere $20,000. His email, if you are interested, is his name (middle initial included, plus jr) at that Google-based email service.

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After lunch arrived, Baldwin introduced me to Diego Pasca. I’ve determined that everybody at this show knows everybody else. The card-collecting world seems to be a tight-knit community. He explained that Pasca would be a great interview because he has a rags-to-riches collecting story. I’m a sucker for a Cinderella story, so I inhaled my quesadilla and sat down with him.

Pasca is the owner of Sin Bin Breaks. He is both a collector and a seller. It is easy to see that he is passionate about collecting, selling, and sharing with his community. I knew very little about these types of collectibles going in. Pasca took time to walk me through some basics and give me a better understanding of the hobby.

This former high school English teacher was a lifelong collector growing up. He moved to New York from Italy as a child. His father took him to Islanders and Yankees games, and he was hooked on the games and the memorabilia that went along with them. He told me that autographs were the easiest to obtain. In addition to hanging around with his dad before games to speak with the players, his father also owned a restaurant in New York that was quite popular with the athletes. Many of his happiest memories center around that time.

He went from collector to seller when COVID hit. Bored from sitting at home, he decided to see if he could make money selling. He built up his company by selling trading cards of all kinds. A year later, he gave up teaching and devoted all his time to this venture. Three years later, he heads a vast card/collectibles community on Discord and provides group breaks to collectors all over the U.S. and Canada on Twitch. He travels the country to various shows and makes the kind of living he only dreamed of as a teacher.

His favorite card he’s picked up at the show thus far is a Steph Curry paper rookie card graded BGS 9.5. He believes Curry could be just as iconic in 10 or 15 years as he is today. As Curry rises, so will the card’s demand and value. The current market price, he said, is about $2,000. If it were graded a 10, it would go for much more.

Also See: Wisconsin card show a hit thanks to Salvation Army 

He had some sage advice for someone who wants to begin collecting cards.

“Take your time and do your research,” he said. “When you’re new, you’re going to be on a cool journey — it’s fun! You want to see as much as you can, open as much as you can, and collect as much as you can. If you’re buying something today, you’re not in it to flip it today, and you just want to add it to your collection, make sure that whatever you pick up is something you want to keep. If the market crashes tomorrow, you’ll have your own sports card museum.”

After talking to Pasca, I wandered around the show for another hour and a half, just taking it all in. I was pleasantly surprised at what a great time I had, and I would definitely go back again. 

I may never become a collector of sports cards on a grand scale, but I am reminded that I've stashed a few rare Pokémon cards, kept safe from the days when my son just had to “Catch ‘Em All.” You never know where it all might lead...