Tom Brady, Cubs stars highlight Day 2 of National Sports Collectors Convention
ROSEMONT, Ill.—The GOAT was in the house at the National Sports Collectors Convention Thursday.
Those words were spoken more than once Thursday as Tom Brady attended The National at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, and then opened his own card shop across from Wrigley Field in downtown Chicago.
Brady made an appearance Thursday afternoon at the Topps booth, drawing a huge crowd to watch the greatest NFL quarterback of all time tell stories about his NFL career, talk about his love for collecting, and open packs of 2000 Bowman Chrome cards.
A few hours later, Brady attended the grand opening of the CardVault by Tom Brady shop on West Addison Street across from Wrigley Field. One wall of CardVault's Chicago location is painted with a mural featuring Brady, Tiger Woods and such Chicago sports legends as Mike Ditka, Harry Carey, Scottie Pippen and Da Bears superfans.
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With a shop full of fans, collectors, media and VIPs in attendance, Brady opened packs of football and baseball cards with members of the neighborhood Cubs. Chicago stars Kyle Tucker, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Justin Turner, Justin Steele and other Cubs players ripped packs opf Topps Chrome packs with Brady and schmoozed with the NFL legend.
“For us to be across from this amazing stadium, we have a lot of collectors here on this team, it’s a perfect spot for us,” Brady said.
Afterward, Brady stepped out on Addison Street and cut the ribbon on his new card shop, the sixth CardVault By Tom Brady location to open.
“It’s a pleasure to be here with you guys,” Brady said before a hoard of fans across the street from iconic Wrigley Field. “We’re going to be here for a long time, so thanks for having us in the neighborhood.”
— Jeff Owens
PCA LEADS OFF
Pete Crow-Armstrong stopped his signing session momentarily on Thursday to simply admire an item he was asked to autograph.
Mark Rusciano made the trek to Chicago from his home in New York to have the Chicago Cubs second-year sensation sign a lineup card from Crow-Armstrong’s high school career at Harvard-Westlake School in Los Angeles.
In 2019, his junior year, Crow-Armstrong was named the Los Angeles Times Player of the Year after hitting .395. That summer, he played in the 2019 Under Armour All-America Baseball Game and then as a senior, in 2020, he was batting .514 before the baseball season was cut short by the pandemic.
Rusciano asked Crow-Armstrong to autograph a high school lineup card from 2020, which he acquired from a photographer he befriended through Instagram. The photographer gave a hand-written note with the lineup card and some Crow-Armstrong photos from the era, and Rusciano views the photographer’s letter as his personal COA.
Crow-Armstrong took photos of the lineup card and talked about each of his former teammates and where each is today.
Many around Crow-Armstrong said it was the coolest item he was asked to autograph at The National.
“It’s pretty cool [getting it signed] … I’m going to put it (up) on my wall,” Rusciano said. “Cards, I flip. This is for me, though I’m a Mets fan.”
— Ross Forman
eBAY IS LIVE AND ACTIVE
eBay always has a large presence at The National, but it has ramped up its engagement this year as a sponsor of the event and with one of the largest and most active booths on the show floor.
The largest sports card seller in the hobby had a steady flow of traffic on opening day on Thursday and has an impressive lineup of athletes scheduled to appear on stage at eBay Live throughout the weekend, including Dwight Howard, Rob Gronkowski and Pedro Martinez on Friday, Patrick Ewing, Miguel Cabrera, Doc Gooden and Giannis Antetokounmpo and his brothers on Saturday, and Wade Boggs and Tim Raines on Sunday.
It is also conducting “The Hunt,” a search for high-end sports card located at various places on the show floor.
“This is the number one show for sports trading cards in the world … [and] as the world’s biggest marketplace, there is nowhere else you can find this many cards and find anything you want and things that highlight what makes it fun to be in this hobby,” said Ron Jaiven, US GM of Collectibles for eBay.
“The hobby is really important for eBay and being here at the biggest event for the hobby is just a natural fit for us. That is why we have such a big presence. We have partnered with The National to sponsor the event and being here engaging with collectors, that’s how we get feedback on what the customers want and how we showcase the innovations and what we are bring to the hobby. It’s a great way to connect with our collectors.”
One of eBay's newest innovations it is introducing to collectors is pop reports for graded trading cards, which it rolled out earlier this year.
“The pop reports, bringing more information to the buyer at the point where they are looking at the card, has been extremely successfully,” Jaiven said. “One, we hear from the customer, they want that information when they are shopping, they need that to make smart decisions. Two, we see it in the data, we see that that action leads to them converting more frequently. So, we know that it works, but we hear it and we see it.”
— Jeff Owens
GOOD CAUSE
Rick Heinz, president of Illinois-based Scoreboard Charities, asked Pete Crow-Armstrong to autograph a three- to four-foot piece of art showcasing the Chicago Cubs superstar. Heinz showed his business card and told PCA and his representatives that the artwork was going to be auctioned for charity at Uncorked, the ninth-annual Wine Tasting Event, held at Ruth Lake Country Club in Hinsdale, Ill.
Crow-Armstrong signed the piece and, after hearing that it was being used to raise funds to help fight pediatric cancer, added a touching inscription: “RYNO STRONG,” in tribute to Baseball Hall of Famer and Cubs legend Ryne Sandberg, who died on July 28, two days before The National.
“There are a lot of Cubs fans at our auctions, so I think this will go for a significant amount of money,” Heinz said.
UNCORKED will raise funds to support innovative research at the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University and further participation for Camp One Step.
Heinz’ mom also died from cancer, “and there’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about my mom … and Ryno was such a great player,” he said.
— Ross Forman